Trees and More Trees

The population at Riverview was declining and buildings were closing. But there was still a lot of things to preserve on the grounds. Like the trees.

In 1992, the Riverview Horticultural Society was formed with a mission to protect the lands and trees on the site.

The society was run by a group of dedicated volunteers who, through events such as publishing a book entitled The Riverview Lands, hosting tours of the Riverview Trees and providing brochures and presentations at special events, raised the awareness of the special history and benefits of the trees and land at Riverview.

Two years later, the BC Building Corporation commissioned the Riverview Heritage Tree Inventory. More than 1,800 trees were inventoried at the site for their botanical and historical value. Once completed, the total value of these trees as estimated specimens was estimated to be more than $50 million; their value as a collection is far greater.

These trees have been allowed to grow unobstructed and as a result, the sheer size of them is one of the prized features of the Riverview arboretum. They were carefully planted and left plenty of room to grow, the trees able to reach their full potential, making them one of Canada's best collections.

There is a particularly beautiful grove of trees on the West Lawn, Centre Lawn and East Lawn buildings and many have thought, in error,  that was the arboretum when in fact, the arboretum stretches across the entire Riverview site.

 The Riverview Festival of Trees - later called TreeFest - was first held on October 30, 1994.


“…a small group of people who each loved the Riverview trees for their beauty decided to share them with the public. David Tarrant, from UBC Botanical Garden, guided one tree tour and Bill Browne, retired Arborist for the City of Vancouver, led another. We had no idea how many people might attend but a couple of hundred tree lovers showed up. We had to borrow a bullhorn from the RCMP. 

Soon we realized that these trees were more than just landscaping for Riverview Hospital. They were a provincial treasure of interest and value to botanists and arborists nationally and internationally. We also realized that it would be a disaster if they were destroyed. Already, in the 1980s, some 57 hectares (143 acres) of the site had been sold to developers. As this seemed likely to recur we formed the Riverview Horticultural Centre Society (RHCS) dedicated to preserve and protect the lands and trees of the Riverview Hospital site (the Lands) as a community-oriented, financially viable centre for horticultural, educational and therapeutic activities.” 

Excerpted from “Provincial Treasures—John Davidson and the Riverview Lands” by Val Adolph in “Davidsonia: The Journal of Botanical Garden Science”, January 2004

The festival still goes on today. The last one was on September 14, 2015.

Thanks to the PDF, Riverview, A Legacy of Care and Compassion for the above information.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Karen Magill

The Bowling-Pin Method

Later in May of 1886, Dr. A Harrison Thomas was appointed medical officer, George F. Baldwin city treasurer, J.J. Blake city solicitor and T.F. McGuigan city clerk.

A police commission was formed and consisted of the mayor, the magistrate and the city clerk. Boultbee proposed his brother-in-law, Gardner Johnson, for the position of chief of police and Mayor MacLean nominated his old Winnipeg acquaintance, James M. Stewart. Unfortunately for Johnson, the city clerk was dating Stewart's pretty daughter so Stewart got the appointment. Chief Stewart had a force of four - himself, an assistant chief and two constables.

On May 28, at a public meeting, Sam Pedgrift was elected chief of a volunteer fire brigade. Along with this shoemaker were 13 other members. Members paid dues of 25 cents a month and a fund of $200 was collected. These donations were to go to a fire engine.

As I have said before, Granville was a passive target of Port Moody, Victoria and New Westminster papers for years. But Vancouver had its own press. In January, William Brown started the Vancouver Herald, a four-page weekly. At the end of May, N. Harkness and J.H. Ross started the publication of the Vancouver News, and R.W. Gordon the Vancouver Advertiser. The Herald was a liberal leaning paper whereas the Advertiser was conservative. Granville may have been a settlement by the inlet but Vancouver was a city!

The surveying was still going on and during the spring of 1886, 2000 were employed. A large construction camp existed in the small bay where Hamilton Street met False Creek. Wives and families of the superior employees lived in the old Hastings Townsite where the CPR construction offices were.

On March 6, the company held its first land sale, setting June 10 as the deadline for persons in occupation of land previous to the 1884 agreement to buy their lots at the reserved price of $200.

Walter Graveley was the first buyer of unreserved land, paying $700 for lots 1,2 and 3 on the southeast corner of Carrall and Oppenheimer (now East Cordova) Streets. The CPR was flooded with claims of people claiming to have been occupants of the land- "almost in excess of the entire population of Gastown in 1884". Is it any wonder Van Horne warned Hamilton to keeps his eyes open when doing business with the people of Vancouver.

The railway was also clearing the land along Water, Cordova, Hastings and Pender Streets, as far west as Burrard. Much of this was done using the "bowling-pin" method. Ranks after ranks of the close packed trees were sawed halfway through then a few were felled and those would knock down the others. Scores of the forest giants fell and created a mash up of smashed trunks and branches. Undergrowth and jagged stumps were left to dry out through the summer and burned the following wet season.

I would like to thank the book Vancouver, From Milltown to Metropolis by Alan Morley for the above information.

I hope you find the beauty around you.