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RESEARCH - History of Gateway / Whalley Region
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HISTORY OF GATEWAY / WHALLEY REGION
WHALLEY
/ Boundaries / Business / Community Plan / First Nations History in this Region / History / Present & Future / March 2001 Report on social issues in North Surrey / Miscellaneous / Whalley Crime Has Deep Roots /
Boundaries
1951 Surrey Town Planning Committee set boundaries 96th to foot of Peterson
(King Geo.) and Archibald (144) to Sandell (128)
King George and 108th is Whalley Town Centre top of Peterson Hill
---
(From another source: OFFICAL GATEWAY BOUNDARIES
Guildford Town Centre covers the following area
(approx.)
144 St north to the Fraser River, east to 196th St., South to 84th Ave, west
to 96 Ave
Whalley encompasses the area bounded by the Fraser River on the west and north, east to 144th St. and South to 82/88 Aves)
Whalley geographic centre of Greater Vancouver
History
1880's first settlers.
Hunting ground for natives
1900's Low cost housing for commuters to New Westminster
on K & K ferry. As there became a greater commuter population, gas stations
sprouted
1920's settlement in earnest
1937 Patullo Bridge opened. Better roads and new bridges
attracted housing development
1946 on Boom in housing made living in Vancouver and outlying areas unaffordable.
Therefore, boost in residential development in Whalley.
But population has relatively low income (this demographic still holds 1996 census shows $12,000 less annual income than elsewhere in Surrey.
Commercial ribbon development along King Geo. 1950 Dell
Shopping Centre.
1960 Surrey Place
1960 Boom dies with Port Mann bridge opening and Guildford
Shopping Centre.
1982 Business banks, social services, government offices move out
1994 Commercial development revived in 1994 with arrival of Sky Train.
Anticipating land prices would rise, speculators bought low cost housing. However, land prices did not rise.
Absentee landlords neglect property. Grow ops, methamphetamine labs and cracks shacks abound, along with other crime. One factor contributing to this is aging buildings, both residential and commercial.
As the first area to develop in an urban context, it now needs redevelopment.
General state of disrepair becomes backdrop for growing population of people in need of social services. The needle exchange, methadone dispensaries, homeless shelters pop up giving transients little reason to leave and bringing others in. Stay because of shelters, drug availability, social interaction with peers and inexpensive transportation (SkyTrain).
Business
Business firms in North Surrey using name of Whalley
1978 Death of Hilda Whalley
1934 Death of George Arthur Whalley (Art) at Royal Columbia, New Westminster
1925 Moved to area triangular lot built gas station, store and later cabins
People stopped good service. If drove by, Art tooted donkey engine whistle
1932 burned down
1934 rebuilt by Hilda and son Pat
1940 sold, retired to New Westminster
Called Whalley's corner small town name
1948 Businessmen's Association organized competition for new name. 1,500 entries.
Whalley chosen. Name submitted by Naomi Chambers from New Westminster.
Hilda Whalley b. Southampton, England. Settled in Haney
Art farm in Cloverdale, later moved to Whalley
Whalley monument to family built on 108 and King Geo.
1917 Blue Funnel Motor Line operated car transportation
(taxis and buses) from Vancouver (says Vancouver so check out if Surrey is
not meant) to Surry. Schedule from Westminster over railway bridge along Bergstrom
Road (King George) to Pacific (Fraser).
1950 19 auto courts between Pattulo and Highway Junction (Fraser/King Geo.)
1933 Hadden Bolivar operated Bolivar Hatcheries in Whalley
Whalley Crime
Has Deep Roots (newspaper article written in 2003)
------------------------------------------
Turf Hotel: 1949 venue where George Hahn, Charter President
of Whalley Junior Chamber of Commerce elected. Also Reeve of Surrey.
Lots of assaults
1950's common assault, mostly fist fights and burglaries from homes and businesses,
break-ins, safe blowings big thing
later sex shops, tattoo and massage parlours, ret-hot video stores
1951 RCMP (15 members) take over policing in Surrey. Formerly Surrey Municipal Police (3 members)
Whalley always heaviest crime area heaviest policing area. Problems accelerated by abundance of low cost housing, buildings in disrepair, concentration of social services, general decline of area over time.
3-5 years respite from crime needed for a community to take hold again; 135A really bad.
West Whalley Junior High located on former Indian Reserve property. Removed senior grades from elementary schools. KB Woodward built next door.
1951 South Westminster (name for most of NW Surrey) Imperial Oil station on King Geo.
Largest north of Seattle
Central City Tower film location (see Linda Hepner, Surrey's Economic Development Office)
March 2001 Report
on social issues in North Surrey
-------------------------------------------
- absence of other traditional urban uses keep area from
improving
- Planning team to take Whalley back block by block
- Socio-economic indicators of low income, transiency, crime, low education levels and high unemployment form the visible signs of pockets of severe poverty and social deterioration.
Van City www.vancity.com $1m to BC based, non-profit to support a community project
2003 one finalist is the Atira Women's Centre in North Surrey, helping at-risk pregnant women with substance abuse, mental illness, lack of safe housing, exposure to violence, and/or reluctance to seek medical attention (see Van City web site for further info)
Three Oaks Community Garden community vegetable garden
next to needle exchange
Front Room homeless shelter next door.
House of Restoration (Mogens Sorenson)
Proposed murals on walls of three buildings surrounding property, path, pond,
seat, land donated by landowner. No vandalism street people beginning to connect
with garden.
May 2003 Whalley Enhancement Strategy (9 page report). New vision for Whalley from Patullo to 108th. $10m to be invested in community over next two years.
Green corridors, banners and flower pots, indoor soccer, outdoor plazas, neighbourhood block parties, enhanced recreation facilities all geared to bring families back into area.
Intracorp will proceed with remaining two-thirds of $35m residential development beside Gateway Towers.
Started capital project and additional leisure programs begin in Summer 2003.
Gateway to Surrey improved intersections at King Geo at 108, 128, 102 and East and West Whalley Ring Roads.
2001 Whalley Business Improvement Association formed to promote and market Whalley. Peter Nichols, Whalley Printers
2003 Council initiate Whalley Business Improvement Association
1982 business banks, government offices and social organizations all moved out.
825 businesses in proposed Business Improvement Area. Boundary: along King Geo., bounded by 112 to 96; central area bordered by West and East Whalley Ring Roads; also along 104
$250 m project for King Geo and Fraser Highway; called King Geo Commons; 15 year enterprise to include hotel, high rise offices, government facility, pools, ice rink, cinema, restaurants, pubs, interdenominational chapel
August 2003 Roadblocks to combat crime (prostitutes, drug dealers and addicts) in two block strip known as The Strip
First Whalley Residents and Merchants Association disbanded through internal disagreements. Now Whalley Business Improvement Association.
English Commons provide stimulus to Whalley, especially
200 room hotel and conference facility - a gathering
place for peole and community to meet in social activity
and interaction.
DCC's (development cost charges) cut to encourage development
Prostitution moved on to Newton since crackdown in Whalley
1963 Whalley to have semi-autonomous community government
- urban Board of Trustees to elect from area at large to act as a standing
committee responsible for work and services provided in area
Community
Plan for Surrey (track down)
--------------------------------------------------
Whalley Plan two parts: official community plan and development plan
Feb 2003 Business Improvement Association proposes levy of $1.32/£1,000 assessed value on property in area to raise funds
1060 1970's saw spectacular growth
1998 Cleanup by police
Gateway heart of Surrey's new city centre. 20 acres. Intrawest have master plan: 11 residential towers, five office towers operating 100+ businesses.
1990 Proposed City centre between 102 and 104 Avenue: glass enclosed walkways, joining museum, theatre, cultural centre, commercial and residential development. Intrawest built Gateway station.
Jan 2003 Action Team: 5 year initiative to clean up Whalley "one block at a time" involving all city departments: Parks beautifying gfeen space, engineering crews repairing roads, RCMP raiding drug houses, Surrey By-laws dealing with unkempt properties, fence of enforcement to prevent spill out of crime into other areas
1998 Same initiative some cleanup and demolition of dilapidated property.
(notes compiled by J. Inouye, received May 2004)
FIRST NATIONS HISTORY IN THIS REGION
Coast Salish Home Page
History of the Fraser
Valley Region/Coast Salish Home Page
---
History - Vancouver
Coast Salish
Peoples / Sto:lo and Squamish Land - excerpts from Here
"The city of Vancouver is located on Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh (Burrard),
and Musqueam (Sto:lo) land.
The first Coast Salish people arrived in Vancouver at least 10,000 to 8,000
years ago. Prior to European invasion there were many Sto:lo, Squamish, and
Tsleil-Waututh (Burrard) towns and villages in the lower mainland area. The
Musqueam town in what is now South Vancouver had a population of around 1,200
people. A village in Stanley Park was home to about 400 people. Throughout
Vancouver there were many other small hamlets. The Sto:lo name for the west
end of downtown around Georgia and Denman is Chelxwaelch. The east side, around
the Clark and Hastings area is called Leglequi.
The first small pox epidemic reached the Coast
Salish peoples in 1790. It had traveled north from Mexico and killed about
two thirds of the population. For the next hundred years the Coast Salish
peoples would be subjected to many more epidemics, most
of them purposely spread by European settlers, including numerous
outbreaks of influenza and measles. The gold rush of 1858 saw the first
great influx of European settlers into Coast Salish / Sto:lo territory, and
also the first reserves. Indigenous title to the land was ignored and the
land was exploited, but not without resistance. In 1862 the new chief commissioner
of land and works, Joseph Trutch, reduced reservation size by 92 percent,
which sparked many protests.
Between 1884 and 1951 the traditional Potlatch ceremony
was banned by the colonial government. The potlatch was seen as a threat to
attempts of assimilation. Potlatch ceremonies were large inter-community gatherings
where wealth, hereditary rights, and property were redistributed through exchange
of gifts. Sto:lo people continued to have potlatches in secret. In 1888 a
law was passed that made it illegal for Sto:lo people to sell the fish they
caught.
In 1907, Chief Capilano was charged with "inciting Indians to
revolt" after he reported of his visit with King Edward VII of England.
In 1908 many Sto:lo children were forced to migrate
to Catholic residential schools. They would stay for nine months of the year,
spending half the time in class and the other half doing manual labour. Girls
and boys were segregated and forced to do work according to European and patriarchal
gender roles. Girls and boys were not allowed to speak to each other even
if they were siblings. They were also prohibited from speaking their own languages
or performing traditional dances. Many children defied these rules,
associating with the opposite gender and running into the fields of tall grass
in order to speak to each other in their native languages. There were also
attempts by the children to burn down the dormitories and schools."
+ + +
STOLO NATION
The Stolo people
in Langley
+ + +
The Stó:lo
People of the River - exceprts from Here
"Although we don't know for sure when the first people arrived in this
area, estimates range from between 4 000 to over 10 000 years ago as established
by an archeological dig site near the Fraser river known as Xáy:tem.
Belonging to the larger cultural group known as the Coast Salish, the Stó:lo
lived in close contact with their environment -- fishing for salmon, constructing
a variety of tools and items from cedar, and traveling the river to reach
resource areas for cranberries, sweet potatoes and other dietary staples.
They also shared a rich ceremonial tradition in which families and communities
gathered to celebrate and pass on the legends and customs of their people.
Today, the Stó:lo community remains an integral part of Mission. Fishing remains a definitive aspect of the culture, and families continue to gather for ceremonies and storytelling. Each July, first nations groups from all over North America take part in a locally organized Pow-wow. The museum has various examples of Salish basketry on display. Made of cedar and decorated with patterns specific to the weaver's family, these baskets were often woven tight enough to hold water."
+++
http://www.gov.bc.ca/tno/negotiation/First_Nations_in_the_process/stolo.htm
From:
http://www.britishcolumbia.com/regions/towns/?townID=3357&webregionid=2
"Chilliwack : Minter Gardens
Lying on an ancient flood plain in the beautiful Fraser Valley, amongst some
of Canada's richest farmland, is the town of Chilliwack, The City of Festivals
and the starting point for Rainbow Country.
Only an hour east of Vancouver, Chilliwack is one of the largest communities in the Fraser Valley, serving as one of the main economic, educational and cultural hubs of the area.
The history of Chilliwack stretches back thousands of years, beginning with the First Nations community who lived in this beautiful area and gave it the name Chilliwack, meaning "quieter water at the head". As the last ice sheets retreated around 10,000 years ago, the Sto:lo people came to inhabit the Lower Fraser Valley around Chilliwack. The importance of the river for these people is reflected in the meaning of Sto:lo; People of the River.
Life for the Sto:lo changed dramatically about 200 years ago as fur trade routes extended to British Columbia. In 1828 the Hudson's Bay Company founded Fort Langley, and the Sto:lo became part of the fur trade economy. In Chilliwack the company operated a salmon saltery at the mouth of the Chilliwack River, near Chilliwack Mountain. The Sto:lo supplied the fish and labour for this successful operation.
During the years of the Gold Rush, Chilliwack grew as a steamboat landing and supply centre for those who sought their fortunes in the north. Chilliwack's continued growth resulted in the incorporation of the Township of Chilliwack in 1873.
+ + +
Pyramids
in the Fraser Valley
Colonial
Settlers of the Upper Fraser Valley
Stolo Nation
http://home.istar.ca/~bthom/trail-hbc.htm
+ + +
From: http://www.fraservalleyguide.ca/CYesterday.html#Surrey
"As an unorganized area Surrey was mostly
occupied by trappers, squatters and drifters, until its first settler, James
Kennedy, arrived. The first settlements were Mud Bay, Brownsville,
Hall's Prairie and Cloverdale. Surrey was incorporated in 1879. Surrey's population
grew steadily after the ferry "K de K" was placed in service to
cross the Fraser River from Brownsville to New Westminster in 1883. Logging
became the main industry and the cleared lands provided excellent farms. In
1888, Surrey residents celebrated their feats with he first agricultural fair.
With the increased trade, a number of trans and communication channels were
established, including: the New Westminster-southern Railway in 1891, two
telephone agents (where people could. the telephones for a fee) in 1885, the
first newspaper "The Surrey Times" which appeared in 1895 and the
Fraser River Bridge in 1904.
Municipal business outgrew the original town hall and hall, which is now the Cloverdale Seniors Centre, was established in 1912. In 1925 Harry Whalley opened a gas station on approximately where the King George Highway now meets 108th Avenue. The area became known as Whalley's Corner. More about Whalley on Jack Brown's Whalley Page. Later in the 1940s, with the onset of the war, making Vancouver's housing highly priced, Surrey grew rapidly. The fifties and sixties saw continued growth and change, with a referendum that transferred policing powers from the Surrey police force to the RCMP, the incorporation of White Rock as a city, the building of the current municipal hall and works yard and the Surrey Arts Centre. Surrey became a city in 1993. (revised: November, 2001)
Sources: City of Surrey, history page; Jack Brown's The City of Surrey:
A History. The city takes its name from Surrey, England. (Akrigg). Visit Jack
Brown's excellent The City of Surrey: A History for much more information.
Crescent Beach and Ocean Park.
See also SURREY TODAY.
+ + +
History of Surrey INDEX
http://members.shaw.ca/j.a.brown/Surrey.html
+++
From: http://members.shaw.ca/j.a.brown/Whalley.html
For LOTS of other helpful historical research, check out Brown's web
site!!!
Development of Urban Centers in Early Surrey
Whalley/North Surrey
With the cementing of the Pacific Highway in 1923, gas
stations began operating along the newly paved highway. In 1925 Harry Whalley
opened a station right on the triangle where the Grosvenor and Ferguson Roads
meet at King George Highway. The intersecting roads did not exist at that
time but this was the first gas station out of New Westminster, and the region
became known as Whalley's Corner.
The proximity of this area to New Westminster was important in its development. Historically most of the early settlement and development had been along the Fraser River in Brownsville, South Westminster, Bridgeview, Bon Accord/Port Mann. Most of the uplands were heavily forested with the occasional area of peat bog and scrub. Settlement did not take place until the logging had cleared most of the heavy trees. The heaviest settlement occurred after 1945 with the development and availablity of the bulldozer for clearing the properties. During the 1930's the general depression and drought in the Canadian Prairies saw many farm families come to Surrey and locate on small holdings. (Note from G.Wiebe - a 'city of refuge'?) In 1931 Surrey had dedicated land for the establishment of Bear Creek Park. In 1937, to aid the development of the park, the District opened Bergstrom Road, which provided a north-south link to Whalley and North Surrey.
The opening of the Pattullo Bridge in November 1937 and the major water main laid across the river with the bridge, provided the impetus for more rapid settlement of North Surrey. The opening of the Big Bend Highway on June 15, 1940, along with the opening of the King George Highway in October of 1940, saw Whalley became an important transportation focus along the Trans Canada, King George and Pacific Highways. The opening of the new bridge caused a minor residential building boom as people could easily drive over the toll bridge. Lot prices where much less expensive that those in New Westminster and made North Surrey very attractive. The majority of the North Surrey residents worked north of the river in New Westminster, Burnaby or Vancouver, while the lower cost of living warranted the longer commute. The rapid population increase saw the opening of Queen Elizabeth High School in 1940 to meet the needs of a growing district. When the tolls were removed from the Pattullo Bridge in 1952, the Whalley area saw a major commercial and residential building boom.
This aerial photo is of Whalley in the 1960's. The five corner junction
was the original location of Whalley's Station that gave its name to the district.
Commerical development began as ribbon development along the King George/Pacific
Highway.
The bulk of the initial commercial development occurred as ribbon development along the highway north and south of Whalley's Corner. The late 1950s saw the Dell Shopping Center open as the first of the centralized one-stop shopping centers. The 1960's saw the opening of Surrey Place and the growing predominance of that district as Surrey's predominant shopping area. Since that period the Whalley District of North Surrey has been one of the fastest growing, most densely populated regions of Surrey.
1960 saw the completion of the Port Mann Bridge and the development of the Guildford Shopping Center. This enhanced the commecial domination of North Surrey and brought a degree of commercial competition to Whalley, the traditional commercial core. Improved freeway access also resulted in a major residential building boom in the Guildford area.
INITIAL SPANISH CONTACT
First Spanish Contact
Narvaez and Galiano
The Spanish were almost certainly the first Europeans to see South Surrey.
In June 1791 Don Francisco Eliza in command of the San Carlos, and Jose Maria
Narvaez in the Santa Saturnina set to explore or survey the Strait of Juan
de Fuca and El Gran Canal de Nuestra Senora del Rosario la Marinera(the Gulf
of Georgia). Preliminary surveys led Eliza to believe that the San Juan group
was an archipelago. Further exploration was now made in the schooner and a
long boat, under the command of Narvaez. On July 1st, 1791, Narvaez began
his reconnaissance of Rosario Strait, examining the various bays on the continental
side. The accompanying map is a copy of part of an authentic rough sketch
map of the coast, marked to show both the coast line, and the course his vessel
followed.
In early July the expedition anchored off the Indian village of Semiahmoo, before the entrance to what is now known as Drayton Harbor(named by Narvaez as San Jose). With the Santa Saturina at anchor off the Indian village, Narvaez, in the longboat, proceeded northward past the present White Rock and Crescent Beach(the latter he named Punta de San Rafael) into the present Boundary Bay. North of Boundary Bay his chart shows no soundings(due to the shallow nature of the Bays), but the coast shown is the line of the high water mark.
Narvaez's chart, when imposed on a map showing the delta lands inundated by river flood waters and high tides, outlines the high water line along the highland areas.
Major J.S. Matthews in Vancouver Historical Journal comments:
"The course, without soundings, north of Punta de San Rafael would
suggest that Narvaez, in his longboat, passed from Boundary Bay, and after
about seven miles the south bank of a great stream a mile wide, swiftly flowing
westwards. Assured that the river came from the high mountains in the far
east, he returned to his ship. That his chart shows no soundings north of
Semiahmoo is evident there was none; the bottom could be touched with an oar
or pole. He did not explore the north west corner of Boundary Bay; there was
no shore line; the flood waters covered all."
Dionisio Alcala Galiano 1762-1805 In 1792 Galiano accompanied Valdes in a
Spanish exploration to the northwest coast to continue the exploration of
the continental shore-line of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. They sailed in the
Sutil and Mexicana. A ship's boat explored Bellingham Bay, Boundary Bay and
Semiahmoo Bay. After leaving the area Galiano and Valdes met George Vancouver's
ship at anchor off Point Grey.
The next year, 1792, Dionisio Alcala Galiano in the Sutil and Cayento Valdes in the Mexicana were ordered to examine the continental shore-line of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. They proceeded to Bellingham Bay and Boundary Bay. Galiano completed the reconnaissance by outlining Boundary Bay which the former named Ensenada del Engano, Engano meaning false, deceptive. Punt Cepeda(Point Roberts) was outlined and its relation to the mainland was shown.
Inside Birch Bay, they saw the lights of a vessel, and as they left Boundary Bay in the early morning hours, they met a longboat containing an English naval officer. Lieutenant Broughton informed them that the British ships Discovery and Chatham were close by. A few days later, they met Captain George Vancouver returning by boat from Burrard Inlet.
INITIAL EUROPEAN CONTACT
First English Contact
George Vancouver
George Vancouver's Journal
In the same year 1792, that Galiano surveyed the waters off South Surrey, Captain George Vancouver began his survey of the coast on behalf of the British Government. With the Discovery and the Chatham anchored in Birch Bay, Vancouver and Lieutenant Puget in two small boats began a reconnaissance of the coast towards the north.
…with a week's provisions in each boat, I departed at five o'clock
on Tuesday morning(Tuesday June 12, 1792). The most northerly branch, though
it soon terminated in two open bays: the southernmost(Semiahmoo Bay), which
is the smallest, has two small rocks lying off its south point; it extends
in a circular form to the eastward, with a shoal of land projecting some distance
from its shores(Semiahmoo Spit). This bay afford good anchorage from 7 to
10 fathoms of water: the other is much larger (Boundary Bay) and extends to
the northward; these by noon, we had passed around, but the shoals attached
to the shores of each, and particularly to those of the later, prevented our
reaching with 4 or 5 miles of their heads. The point constituting the west
extremity of these bays(Point Roberts), is that which was seen from the ship,
and considered as the western part of the mainland, of which it is a small
portion, much elevated at the south extremity of a very low narrow peninsula;
its highest part is to the SE, formed by high white sand cliffs falling perpendicularly
into the sea: from whence a shoal extends to the distance of half a mile round
it joining those of the larger bay…. From this point, situated in latitude
48 degrees 57 minutes, longitude 237 degrees 21 minutes (which I distinguished
by the name of Point Roberts, after my esteemed friend and predecessor in
the Discovery) the coast takes a direction N. 28W…
On June 4th, Vancouver went shore to take possession(at Point Grey) of the
coast north from 39 degrees 20 minutes to the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and
to claim the interior seas which he named the Gulf of Georgia.
Archibald Menzies, a member of Vancouver's expedition, described the landing at what later became known as Cannery Point>
Here (Point Roberts) they landed to dine near a large deserted Village
capable of contining at least 400 or 500 inhabitants, tho it was now in perfect
ruins - nothing but the skeletions of the houses remained, these however were
sufficient to show their general form structure and position. Each house appeared
distinct and capacious of the form of an oblong square, and they were arranged
in three separate rows of consideraable length; the Beams consisted of huge
long pieces of Timber placed in Notches on the top of supporters 14 feet from
the ground, but by what mechanical power the Natives had raised these bulky
beams to that height they could not conjecture. Three supporters stood at
each end for the longitudinal beams, and an equal number were arranged on
each side for the support of smaller cross beams in each house.
Captain Vancouver's party saw what was the Straits Salish temporary summer
camp at Cannery Point. They must have seen the frames of houses or the drying
racks upon which the fishermen put their fish. The Salish did not stay at
Cannery Point the year round. However, in late June, July, and August it seethed
with activity. At this campsite the fishermen constructed small houses, and
on the beach in front of the houses ran the drying racks, about fourteen feet
high, and the whole length of the beach.
On the morning of June 22, as his men where rowing back to Point Grey they observed a brig and a schooner wearing Spanish colours. The meeting was polite and friendly and information was exchanged. An arrangement was made for a joint expedition northward which outlined that the land to the west was an island - Vancouver Island.
George Vancouver 1757-1798 A hydrographer who had
served with Captain Cook on his first and last voyages to the West Coast of
North America. He was charged with making an accurate survey of the pacific
coast line north form 30 North Latitude to Cook's Inlet. As part of this survey
he coasted along the shores of Semiahmoo and Boundary Bays and wrote in his
log a description of South Surrey and Delta.
The James McMillan Expedition
After George Vancouver's small boats sailed out of Semiahmoo and Boundary
Bays, thirty-two years were to pass before the next expedition ventured into
the bays.
James McMillan, in the winter of 1824, led a party from Fort Vancouver to choose a site for a new Hudson Bay Company fort(Fort Langley) near the mouth of the Fraser River. Traveling north through Puget Sound the party reached Semiahmoo Bay on December 11, 1824. The weather was growing cold, the wind was blowing, and ahead of them was the wide open stretch of water and the rounding of Point Roberts. They decided to wait for the weather to clear and camped near the present site of White Rock.
On Monday December 13 the party set out to cross Boundary Bay and round Point Roberts. The following is the story as set down in the journal of John Work.
Embarked at half past 7 o'clock and set out with the intention of crossing
the traverse, but had gone but a short way when it was thought too rough….
The course was therefore changed and the boats crossed the entrance of the
little bay in which we had been encamped(Semiahmoo Bay), and continued along
the main shore to another bay(Boundary Bay), down which they proceeded to
the entrance of a small river,(Nicomekl) up which they continued about 7 or
8 miles, in a very winding course which was in general N. Easterly. Encamped
at half past 3 o'clock.
The reason for the expedition's entering the Nicomekl river was the Indians'
description of a portage at its head leading into the "Coweechin River"(the
Fraser River). The guides said it was a very bad route and they wanted to
go by way of Point Roberts.
The navigation of the little river is very bad, after getting a short
distance up it was often barred up with driftwood which impeded our progress,
the Indians had cut roads through it for their canoes yet they were too narrow
for our boats. Rather up it is nearly closed up with willows so uncommonly
thick that it was both laborious and tedious to get the boats dragged through
them.
The first description of the landscape of South Surrey is provided in Work's
Journal.
The appearance of the country round the bay(Semiahmoo Bay) from which
we started this morning round to the point, appears low and flat, the bay
appears to be shallow. In the river nothing but thick willows are seen for
some distance from the water, where the banks though low are well wooded with
pine, cedar, alder and some other trees. There is the appearance of beaver
being pretty numerous in this river. Where we are now encamped is a pretty
little plain.
The distance traveled would have taken them into the flats south of the present
Cloverdale and probably east of the Pacific Highway near the Surrey-Langley
boundary. Here they began a portage of "7910" yards or nearly four
and one-half miles through Langley Prairie and the Salmon River. The character
of the plains and soils was noted.
This portage…, lies through a plain(Langley Prairie) which with the
weighty rain is become so soft and miry, that in several places it resembles
a swamp. The road is very miry and every hollow is a pool of water. The soil
here appears to be very rich, is a black mould, the remains of luxurious crop
of fern and grass lies on the ground. The country about here seems low, the
trees are of different kinds, pine, birch, popular alder, etc., some of the
pine are of a very large size. Some of the men who were hunting visited the
upper part of the little river and report that they saw the appearance of
plenty of beaver. Elk have been very numerous here some time ago but the hunters
suppose that since this rainy season they have gone to high ground.
The McMillan Expedition continued north over Langley Prairie and down the
Salmon River to the Fraser River. It was a this location that the site of
the first Fort Langley was designated.
Aboriginal Peoples
Semiahmoo of the Straits Salish
The Semiahmoo People
The People who occupied Surrey came from two distinct language groups. Along the Fraser the Kwantlen tribe was part of the Halkomelem linguistic group. The Kwantlen settlements where largely on the north bank of the Fraser as the south shore was subject to flooding in the freshet season. The Kwantlen used North Surrey as hunting grounds and as a burial ground above high water. A small village Kikait existed on the south shore. The village site was transformed when Ebenezer Brown built the first hotel in 1861 as well as the wharf that became known as Brown's Landing. As transportation links grew this site became Brownsville.
The people who occupied South Surrey were the Semiahmoo. The Semiahmoo belonged to a group of tribes called the Straits Salish, a division of the Coast Salish. The Straits Salish have been set off from their neighbours on the basis of language and their most important subsistence activity - the trapping of the early runs of salmon, the most important of which was the sockeye run to the Fraser. To the Straits Salish division belongs the tribes Sooke, Songish, and Saanish of south-eastern Vancouver Island, and the Semiahmoo, Lummi, and Samish of the Washington mainland to the east. These tribes spoke slightly differing dialects of the same Coast Salish language.
The territory of the Semiahmoo included the eastern shore of Point Roberts, the shores of Boundary Bay, South Surrey, the drainage basins of Dakota, California, and Terrell Creeks, and the shores of Semiahmoo Bay and Drayton Harbor, and the shores of Birch Bay. To the north of the Semiahmoo was a small Halkomelem- speaking group called the Snokomish. Their territory included the shores of Boundary Bay from Point Roberts to the Serpentine, Nicomekl and Campbell Rivers. Shortly before 1850 the Snokomish were almost entirely wiped out by a smallpox epidemic. The few survivors joined the Semiahmoo and the Semiahmoo became the heirs to the Snokomish territory.
Strictly speaking the Semiahmoo should not be called a tribe. Rather they were clusters of autonomous households often within shouting distance of one another. Sites occupied by clusters of households were of three kinds: permanent villages, temporary summer encampments, and forts. The accompanying map shows Semiahmoo encampments known to have existed between 1791, when the first white contacts were made and the 1850s at the beginnings of white settlement. Permanent villages were centered around Semiahmoo Bay and Birch Bay. The clusters of rectangular plank dwellings found there were the winter homes of these semi-sedentary people. Their habit of seasonal convergence established and preserved their tribal distinctiveness. With the coming of spring the inhabitants of each center radiated over the acknowledged Semiahmoo territory, setting up shelters at favoured spots for clam- digging, egg-gathering, bulb-digging and fishing. Temporary summer camps were established on Cannery Point, Point Roberts, where extensive reef-netting grounds existed, and where clam- digging was undertaken. Crescent Beach was another site for digging clams, harpooning sturgeon and gaffing salmon taken from the Nicomekl and Serpentine Rivers. A small seasonal camp existed at the mouth of the Little Campbell River on the former Snokomish territory.
The Semiahmoo Forts were constructed in the early part of the nineteenth century. They became a necessary means of defense due to the increase in raids from northern Indians, especially the southern most Kwakiutl group, known locally as the Yukulta. The Yukulta evidently received firearms a few years earlier than the Salish; they already had muskets in 1792. This advantage, perhaps added to a culture that already valued aggression, enabled the Yukulta to expand from their original home. They raided the Coast Salish, going as far south as Puget Sound, and even ascending the Fraser River a short way. They killed, looted, and carried off women and children as slaves. To defend themselves the Semiahmoo built forts.
One fort was located at the present site of Blaine, north of the mouths of Dakota and California Creeks. It was built between 1820 and 1830. The fort consisted of a stockade around two plank houses, with tunnels leading from inside to loopholes in the bank in front of the stockade. Inside were two poles upon which baskets of flaming pitch were hoisted to light the surrounding area at night. The fort was located on the bluff overlooking Drayton Harbour and Semiahmoo Bay. This allowed fair warning against any impending raid. The second Semiahmoo fort was constructed on the bluff over-looking Semiahmoo and Boundary Bays. The following description of the fort is part of an article written by the late Mr. Henry T. Thrift of White Rock.
The entrenched Indian fort was located on the crest of the bluff about
one quarter mile north of the line of the North Bluff Road. It commanded an
extensive view of the waters of Boundary Bay, Mud Bay, a part of Semiahmoo
Bay, and also Point Roberts. It was excellently situated for observation and
defense, facing the open water on the west, with a sheer bluff practically
to the water's edge. North and South it was defended with a deep ravine on
each side, running inland for a considerable distance. From the termination
of the ravines a deep ditch connecting them was excavated. The earth so moved
formed a high bank or breastwork, the entrance being towards the south side
of the structure, and enclosing possibly about a half acre of ground. The
surface of the enclosure appeared to be quite level.
With the establishment of British law and order, following
the granting of colonial status to British Columbia in 1858, Indian wars decreased
and the forts fell into disrepair. The location today is known as Indian Fort
Drive a subdivision near the west end of 20th avenue.
The population of the Semiahmoo people has declined markedly since the earliest contacts with the white man. 1780 estimates of population placed the Semiahmoo at 300. By 1854 smallpox epidemics together with raids by Northern Indians had reduced their numbers to 250. In 1909 there were 38 in British Columbia; none were found on the American side of the line. By 1963, the number had dropped to 28, and the 1971 population was only 24, comprising four families.
Presettlement Trails through Surrey
Early Trails through Surrey
The movement of white men into Surrey became
more frequent after 1827 once Fort Langley had been constructed. Trails
such as the Semiahmoo-Langley Trail, the Kennedy Trail and the Telegraph Trail
were the existing routes which the earliest settlers used before 1870.
BEACH ROAD
The first major influx of white men into South Surrey did not take place until
1857. The British party attached to the Boundary Survey Commission, in co-operation
with a similar body from the United States, set out to mark the boundary along
the forty-ninth parallel. The party, which consisted of about 100 men, included
men of the RoyalEngineers as well as civilian axemen. They erected their headquarters
on a little strip of open land near the mouth of the Little Campbell River
close to one of the Semiahmoo winter camps. The site was just north of the
forty-ninth parallel; it was clear, contained a fresh water supply, and the
Campbell River channel provided water access over the tidal flats. A brief
description of the site appeared in the Pioneer and Democrat in November 1857.
Semiahmoo Bay - this is the point at which the joint English and American
Boundary Commission is located. The British steamer Satellite lies at anchor
off a spit, from 6 to 8 miles from the fortification of the Commission. The
initial point of boundary established by those entrusted with the survey,
has been located about 2 miles south of their present encampment - being,
it is very rational to conclude, in the neighborhood of the 49th parallel.
The selection for an encampment we regard as miserable, and with commendable
prudence, the steamer Constitution will not venture within from 4 to 6 miles
approaching the shore.
While at this site the troops constructed about a mile and three-quarters
of good road (Beach Road) along the shore of Semiahmoo Bay between the boundary
and their headquarters. This base was used while the boundary was slashed
and marked from Semiahmoo Bay to the Sumas Flats.
FORT LANGLEY TRAIL
The British Columbia gold rush which began in 1858 caused a short flurry of
trail construction in the area. The California miners were determined to reach
the Fraser River mines through American territory. A trail was planned from
Whatcom on Bellingham Bay through Sumas to Hope. This trail was completed
in 1859. The Royal Engineers' map of 1861 shows the Whatcom Trail from the
Nootsack River to the mouth of the Sumas. It crossed the International Boundary
about one-half mile east of the present Huntingdon townsite, on the west bank
of the Sumas River.
In order to control the influx of miners the government announced on July 25, 1858, that a second trail (The Fort Langley Trail) was to be built from Semiahmoo Bay to Fort Langley. This would provide better control of the rush and allow the Engineers to collect the miners tax. The route chosen was from the mouth of the Little Campbell River, following the north bank for about four miles, and then turning north-easterly across country to Fort Langley.
An early account of the trail was given by Henry T. Thrift.
Another development was the construction of the trail or road and the
bridges from the shore of Semiahmoo Bay near where the Douglas Canadian Customs
House is now located through the woods across Hall's Prairie, Hazelmere, Belmont
and Langley Prairie to Fort Langley. This trail or road was constructed to
control the gold seekers who surreptitiously came in, attempting to evade
payment of taxes and customs duties assessed and collected by the British
authorities on those who entered the colony by ways and means officially recognized.
The original trail of 1858 ran from the mouth of the Little Campbell River
along the north bank. In later years other access routes were cut to the trail.
A branch which ran from the International Boundary north along the Coast Meridian(as
is described by Mr. Thrift) which was the original survey line cut by J.W.
Trutch in 1859 and later improved by the settlers as a road. The original
trail and its branches are shown on a 1874-75 map drawn at the office of the
Lands and Works, Victoria, B.C. and on an International Boundary Survey Commission
map surveyed in 1907, "From the Gulf of Georgia to the Northwestern most
point of the Lake of the Woods," Sheet #2
THE KENNEDY TRAIL
The Kennedy Trail was a settlement trail built in 1861 by James Kennedy, who
had pre-empted land on the bank of the Fraser near the present Annieville.
His trail followed the base of the hill overlooking the Delta flats to Oliver
Slough near Mud Bay. He used the trail to drive cattle from Oliver Slough
to his holdings. The beef was then fattened and sold
into the New Westminster and Gold Rush markets. He later extended the trail
up the Fraser to the wharf at Brownsville, opposite New Westminster.
THE TELEGRAPH TRAIL
Another of the earliest trails cut through the region was that of the ill-fated
Overland Telegraph (The Telegraph Trail). With the failure of the 1858 Atlantic
Cable, plans were made to construct an overland telegraph system linking the
existing network in North America with that of Europe via British Columbia,
Alaska and Siberia. The line reached New Westminster from the United States
in June 1865.
A trail was built along the line, both to facilitate the transportation of supplies and for purpose of maintenance….the line of this telegraph trail entered British Columbia at the present site of the Peace Arch; thence it ran along Beach Road and over the hill behind White Rock to the Mud Bay Flats, which it crossed, swinging to the westward to connect, near the Oliver Slough, with the Kennedy Trail, which it followed to New Westminster. From NewWestminster the Telegraph Trail continued eastward along thesouth shore of the Fraser to Yale and the Cariboo Wagon Road.
Pioneer Settlement
Clearing and Draining the Land
Only a few settlers ventured into the heavily wooded glacial uplands of Surrey. Due to the great difficulty of clearing the land it appears that extensive settlement did not occur until the upland areas had been logged over. The many discarded logs and the massive stumps made the logged areas still very difficult one to clear, especially before the widespread use of dynamite and the introduction of the bulldozer in the 1940s. Difficulties of clearing combined with doubtful soil quality made upland agriculture largely unrewarding.
The lowlands were the favoured areas by the Pioneers. There was little clearing necessary in the lowlands. Hardback and other scrub bush was knocked over with team-drawn chains and then burned or plowed under with a thirty inch plow and left for two or three years to decompose. While clearing was relatively easy in the lowlands, diking and drainage were a different story. To protect the land from tidal overflow and high runoff, dikes were built in the Serpentine-Nicomekl lowlands, but were unnecessary in the Campbell lowlands. Initially this involved all hand labour and many an acre was safeguarded from the destructive sea water in this toilsome manner. Literally mile after mile of these handmade dikes - some three feet in height - existed to tell the tale of pioneer pluck and endurance. The first machine-made dikes were put in about 1898 around the mouths of the Serpentine and Nicomekl Rivers.
Homesteaded Sections
Drainage was necessary throughout both of the valley bottoms of the Surrey
lowlands, and it was accomplished with under-drains. The under-drains were
ditches sixteen inches wide and from eighteen to thirty inches deep leading
to a drainage ditch or slough. In the bottom of this ditch a tile spade would
be used to dig a four-inch-wide tongue, fourteen to sixteen inches deep. Over
this tongue drain small blocks of cedar, sixteen inches long, were laid. Additional
ten feet long cedar lengths might also be placed over top of the sixteen inch
blocks. Later when sawed lumber was available, six or eight inch cedar boards
were nailed together to form a triangular drain which was placed over the
tongue ditch. The under-drains were established at intervals of three or four
rods across the field. They emptied into ditches or sloughs which were in
turn diverted to the river. There a dike gate was constructed which would
open to allow the water to flow out at periods of low tide, but close to prevent
inflow during high tide. These systems of under-drains and dike gates were
common-place throughout the lowlands and were very successful in removing
excess water and salt from the land.
A great deal of the labour in ditching and draining was undertaken by Chinese. As one early settler put it:
The only ditching machine they knew in the early
days was a Chinaman, and he was an artist. With a spade he could dig a ditch
better and cheaper than any machine would do it. Why a Chinaman would dig
an under-drain, we'd put the lumber in, and then he'd refill it, all at twelve
cents a rod; and it would be as true as any machine would ever make it. They
were such workers that they'd make a dollar a day.
The soil of the Serpentine-Nicomekl lowland was composed of a clay-silt along
the banks of the sloughs and rivers, and peat in the lower sections away from
the rivers. After diking, draining and cultivation over a period of years
the land settled an average of twelve to eighteen inches. This settling of
the land was due to the breaking down of humus, peat, seaweed and other organic
materials as the land was drained and cultivated. The clay-silt banks did
not settle as much as the peat land and thus a somewhat undulating landscape,
which required grading, was created.
The soil of the Halls Prairie district differed from that of the northern lowlands in that the former did not have any extensive peat lands; while its soil being a heavier clay loam did not drain as readily, caking, when wet, and going to powder when dry. The differences not-withstanding, the soils of both the Serpentine-Nicomekl and Campbell lowlands were good soils capable of producing crops under moderately good management practice.
Settlers Reliance on Water Transportation
The early settlers of Surrey came to exploit the agriculture and forest potential of the district. They generally located their homesteads on or near the flanks of the uplands. The early farmers eagerly sought out those homesites which gave them access to fertile, easily cleared lowland prairie, yet provided sites free from periodic flooding. The early loggers tended to chose such sites also as hand-operations could easily be employed to move the timber of the uplands to the navigable waterways.
As pockets of settlement developed names were given to them- Mud Bay, Elgin, Kensington Prairie, East Kensington, Clover Valley, Tynehead, Port Kells, Hazelmere, Halls Prairie, Surrey Centre, Crescent Beach, White Rock. However, the district did not develop a commercial core during this pioneer period. Settlers were dependent upon commercial centers outsidethe district, accessible primarily by water.
In the 1870s water routes were of primary importance in the movement of farm produce, timber supplies, and retail supplies. Markets for farm produce predominantly hay and light grains existed in Victoria, New Westminster, and the Hastings Mill settlement(present day Vancouver). Freight boats would move these bulky cargoes from barns and wharves located on the Serpentine and Nicomekl Rivers. In the early 1880s, by which time several large logging operations had been started in the district, most of the farm produce could be sold locally.
Timber markets for local logging operation were with the large New Westminster based milling companies. The logs were boomed and moved by tug to the city mills.
Hazelmere-Halls Prairie people, living in the vicinity of the International Boundary, generally purchased retail supplies from the store on Semiahmoo Spit, across Drayton Harbor from present day Blaine, Washington. There was no means of getting to the store except by boat. Dick Richards acted as a ferryman and took passengers over Drayton Harbor.
He had no landing for his boat and anchored it out in the water. You signaled
him by turning a board on a pole when you wanted to cross. If a man didn't
have hip boots on, he would have to take off his shoes and stocking and wade;
but Dick would gallantly carry a women passenger. His price was ten cents
a head.
People from the Serpentine-Nicomekl lowlands - Mud Bay, Elgin, Kensington
areas - would also row around Crescent Beach andthe point to the store at
Semiahmoo, but more commonly their needswere supplied by sloop from Victoria
or New Westminster. Provisions brought in by the sloop load had to come around
Point Roberts andeach trip cost at least fifty dollars. Six months or a years
provisions for a family would be brought in and stored carefully.
Small amount of retail supplies might also be back-packed in from New Westminster or brought in by ox-sled. However, in the 1880s a journey from Elgin to New Westminster would take about fifteen to sixteen hours for the return trip; from Hazelmere it would take up to twenty hours.
The severe transportation difficulties facing Surrey settlers in 1889 are illustrated in the story of the Peschkes.
When Anton and John Peschke came in to settle on Halls Prairie, they brought everything in by ox-team. Anton's wife followed in a few months later, and he drove to New Westminster to meet her - an all-night drive to cover the twenty miles, and a charge of a dollar each way to take his ox-team across the river on the ferry. The boat on which Mrs. Peschke should have arrived came in, and she wasn't on it. Her disappointed husband had the long, lonely drive home. Through some error in communication Mrs. Peschke arrived on another boat the day afterward. Neighbour passed the word to neighbour until the news reached Mr. Peschke. Once more he hitched up the ox-team for another 20 hour trip; one with a happy ending the second time however.
Water Transportation
Water Transportation 1870-1910
Throughout the pioneer era the dominant mode of transportation in Surrey was not road but water. In the 1870s and later the Nicomekl, Serpentine, Fraser, and to a limited extent the Little Campbell River, doubled as roads. Only a few pre-settlement trails existed and these were so poorly maintained that they were suitable only for a man on foot. The roads that were constructed during the 1870s and 1880s had only a limited value. They were suitable for travel during the summer months, but during the wet winter season they were virtually impassable. Only the rivers provided a year round transportation link suited to the movement of bulky commodities produced for export by the local settlers. Logs, hay and light grains would be moved over roads or trails to the river banks. There they would be loaded for shipment to such centers as New Westminster, Victoria, Semiahmoo and Bellingham. Water transport remained the dominant means of shipment until an improved rail network provided a better means for exporting the bulk commodities.
The Nicomekl River was the only truly navigable stream. It had been used for generations by the Coast Salish in their seasonal movement to the Fraser fisheries near present Fort Langley. The navigable waterway had been shown to James McMillan in 1824, and his was the first European party to traverse it. The Nicomekl was wider, deeper and had a greater flow than either the Serpentine or the Little Campbell Rivers. Its only draw back was a big meander about four miles upstream. However, in 1888 local farmers dug a canal through the neck of the big bend to improve navigation. The Nicomekl was navigable as far as Halls Prairie Road with a small draught boat. Larger freight boats or tugs averaging fifty tons, but up to one hundred tons, usually only ventured upstream as far as the big bend in the Nicomekl to the float at the Carncross farm. If these larger boats went further upstream they would turn around on the Nicomekl near the big bend(where the river widens in the vicinity of the present Johnston and Mud Bay roads) and go backwards the rest of their run to the terminus at Halls Prairie Road. The bridges crossing the Nicomekl were lift spans with up to thirty feet of clearance.
The freighter Stella was owned by Royal City Mills. It was operated by Mr. Carncross on the Nicomekl prior to roads being built in 1886. The Carncross farm is in the background. The Stella could operate as far inland as the Halls Prairie Road bridge. Most barns were located next to the rivers to provide easy access to water transportation for the bulk products.
The Serpentine and Campbell Rivers were not as navigable as the Nicomekl. The Serpentine was winding, narrow, and shallow with frequent bars. Only small boats or scows could use it at high tide. The Little Campbell River was only navigable at high tide, as at low tide it resembled a small creek. William Brown, a farmer from Hall Prairie, kept a small sloop in the mouth of the Little Campbell in the 1880s and 1890s, and he would bring it upstream as far as the Semiahmoo Road bridge.
Water transportation quickly declined after 1891 with completion of the New Westminster and Southern Railway. Additional rail links provided an improved export route for product of the forest and farm. Navigation on the Nicomekl ended with the construction and completion in 1912, of the flood control dams which replaced the bridges on the Semiahmoo Road. Freighting below the control gates slowly declined and ended in 1940.
The Nicomekl River today is greatly alter compared to the river before 1912. The flood control gates, and the altered drainage patterns have caused silting as the large tidal flow and accompanying scour are no longer present.
The Fraser River was a highly navigable river. Regular steamship service operated from Victoria to New Westminster, Fort Langley and Yale. Settlers timed their trips up and down the Fraser to coincide with the tides. This avoided a back breaking trip and made it a comfortable enjoyable one.
Diking Jurisdictions
Diking the Lowlands
Diking has long been a major problem faced by the farmers of the Serpentine-Nicomekl lowland. Initially all dikes were built with hand labour, and some of them reached three feet in height. The first machine-made dikes were put in, in 1898, on the north bank of the Nicomekl from the Semiahmoo Road Bridge, around Mud Bay and up the Serpentine to the Woodward farm and the Semiahmoo Road. The dredge was a floating rig that took material from the river bottom for the construction of the dike.
The first machine-made dikes were put in about 1898 around the mouths
of the Serpentine and Nicomekl Rivers. This municipal dredge was used to build
dikes in Surrey, BC in 1901.
Settlers desired to keep out sea water as the salt deposited effectively ruined the soil for several seasons until the salt could be flushed out. To achieve this end the Surrey Drainage and Diking By-law was passed in 1889 for the purpose of constructing an earth fill dam with flood gates at the mouth of the Serpentine River. Trouble arose, however, when a severe storm during the winter of 1890 washed a good portion of the newly-constructed dam as well as its flood gates out to sea. The dam was never reconstructed.
The greatest difficulty in local diking was the maintenance of the sea wall between the mouths of the rivers on Mud Bay. This was largely solved after 1907 when construction of the Great Northern Railway began and the railway assumed responsibility for the sea wall portion.
A major project to end sea-water flooding began in 1910 when the Surrey Diking Commission began construction of cement dams and flood gates to replace the Semiahmoo Road bridges. The Semiahmoo Road was to act as a dike between the control dams on the Serpentine and Nicomekl Rivers. The control dams were not placed closer to the river mouths due to the difficulty in construction, and higher costs due to the wider river mouths. In addition local farmers were unable to agree on the location of inter-connecting dikes.
Private dikes existed both upstream and downstream from the Surrey Diking Commission's control dams. The flood of 1935, resulting from heavy snow followed by five days of continuous rain, caused water to flow through the valley as if it was a single stream, and demonstrated the need for improved diking along the river's headwaters. As a result the Surrey Diking Commission in 1939, with federal government assistance, built forty-six miles of dikes along the rivers and their major tributaries. In the late 1940s, due to extensive flooding below the control dams, the Mud Bay Diking Commission was established. The various diking jurisdictions are illustrated in the accompanying map.
As diking and drainage were improved in Surrey's lowlands they provided greater security for local farmers against financial and physical loss.
Early Provincial Roads
Road Development 1871-1890
In 1871 the British Columbia Government entered Confederation with Canada. This union meant the removal of British Columbia's burdensome debt by the Federal Government which now allowed the province to undertake additional public works projects. In 1873 the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia appropriated larger sums of money than usual for road construction. The government recognized the need for roads to open up the vacant lands and stimulate settlement. The settler especially needed well organized land routes: to reach the land he had claimed or acquired; to provide mail services; to bring equipment, supplies, building materials, and livestock to the farm; to ship out farm produce to the local market; to meet social needs - travel to school, church, public meetings or just undertake a neighbourly visit. For these reasons and beginning in 1873, the Provincial government undertook the construction of a number of trunk roads which would provided access to and from New Westminster as well as all parts of Surrey. While these roads once constructed provided a very important facility, they were not all-weather routes and therefore could never replace entirely the local rivers as a year-round bulk commodity transportation system.
In 1872-73 the Semiahmoo Wagon Road was built from Annieville(opposite New Westminster) to the International Boundary. This provided the first north-south wagon route across Surrey, and in 1873 a mail stage began operating along it between New Westminster and the Semiahmoo Spit. This road still exists in part in North Surrey and as a heritage trail in South Surrey.
In 1874-75 A.J. McLellan contracted to build part of the Ladner Trunk Road from the Semiahmoo Road to Langley(later it became known as the McLellan Road; presently, part of it its Highway #10). In the same year John Kirkland build the portion from the Semiahmoo Road to the Scott Road. It was hoped that this east-west road, linking Ladner with Hope, would provide valley settlers with a means of marketing farm produce outside the Fraser Valley. This link from its connection with the Yale Road and Ladner would provide an alternative when the Fraser River at New Westminster froze over or was plugged with flow ice. This road still exists as New McLellan Avenue from Scott Road to the King George Highway, as Highway #10 from King George Highway to the Serpentine Bridge, as Old McLellan Road to Surrey Centre and 60th Avenue into Langley.
In 1875, J.T. Scott contracted to build a wagon road south from Brown's Landing to meet the Ladner Trunk Road at Oliver Slough. Scott was unable to complete his contract, and the Provincial government undertook to finish the road the following year. Scott Road provided a shorter road link between Ladner and New Westminster. Settlers in Ladner could market their products in New Westminster rather than ferrying them up the Fraser, and New Westminster residents had an ice free port in winter as ice blocked the New Westminster Harbour. Today this is the present 120th Street.
In 1875 The Yale Road was completed through Surrey to provide a land link between New Westminster and the Yale-Cariboo Wagon Road into the interior. This land route was of strategic value when winter ice on the Fraser River frequently made regular steamship service to Yale impossible. Today the Yale road still exists in parts of Surrey and the upper valley. Parts of it isincorporated into the Fraser Highway.
Yale Road provided an important link between the
Cariboo Road and New Westminster when the Fraser River was frozen over.
By 1875 the construction of trunk roads underwritten by the Provincial Government was completed. Further road construction had to wait until the Municipality of Surrey was incorporated on November 10, 1879.
Road Development 1871-1890
Municipal Road Construction 1879-1890
The earliest municipal council meetings were concerned in part with the condition of existing trunk roads and the construction of new local roads. Floating logs were creating havoc with the flimsy bridges across the rivers. The minutes of the second council meeting held at Brown's Landing on January 30th, 1880 show this concern.
Moved and seconded that the Clerk put a notice on the Nicomekl Bridge,
Semiahmoo Road, that the Bridge is unsafe for travel and cautioning persons
from injuring the said bridge by letting logs float on the river and obstructing
the navigation, also to serve a notice on the Logging Company Boys concerning
the same.
In June 1880 a by-law was introduced to allow settlers to work out one half
of their taxes on roads. The Municipal Council proceeded to award a series
of local contracts for the maintenance of existing roads, or construction
of new ones. Semiahmoo Road maintenance contract to John Woodward for $140.00.
Coast Meridian Road construction Sec.1 to Alex M. Anderson for $75.00. Coast
Meridian Road construction Sec. 2 to H.C. McDougall for $425.00. Hall's Prairie
Road construction, Yale to Grey's Corner to Alex M. Anderson for $69.00. McLennan
Road maintenance to Alex M. Anderson for $119.87.
By 1890 a number of additional roads were completed through Surrey. William
Shannon, a local resident, was given the contract in 1887 to open the Hall's
Prairie Road from Yale Road to the International Boundary, and provincial
financial assistance was needed in the construction of the bridges. The Crescent
Road from Elgin to Blackie's Spit was completed in 1884. It ran on its current
route and followed Crescent Road and descended the hill on the beach by what
is known today as Sandy Trails a local footpath. In 1886 the southern portion
of the Coast Meridian Road was completed. This provided a north-south route
from the International Boundary at Blaine to the Yale Road.
Crossing the Fraser
Ferry links across the Fraser
The Ferry K de K operating between Surrey and New Westminster in 1884.
The ferry licence was sub-let to Angus Grant of New Westminster who built
the ferry and named it after a close friend with the unusual name of Knyvett
de Knyvett.
A selection of ferry rates appear below.
Passengers over ten years, twenty cents, thirty-five return.
Wagons, from fifty cents empty to one dolar with two horses and a load.
Buggies, sleighs and cutters from twenty-five to seventy-five cents.
Sheep, pigs, and other animals under one year, ten cents.
Oxen, cows, heifers, horses or mules twenty-five cents each.
Reaper or mower with one span horses, two dollars.
Threshing machine, two dollars and fifty cents.
General freight, fifty cents per ton.
The roads of Surrey, like those of the Fraser Valley
in general, focused on New Westminster, at the time the largest city on the
mainland. The Fraser River at New Westminster has been crossed for years,
first by canoe, later by row boat - a single trip one way cost one dollar.
This was a great hindrance to normal movement. During 1883 a number of joint
meetings of Surrey and New Westminster authorities were held in an attempt
to establish a transportation link across the Fraser River. A steam ferry,
called the K de K, sublet from the joint municipal authority to Captain Angus
Grant, went into operation that fall. It was to give hourly service from 6
a.m. to 8 p.m. every day but Sunday, when shorter hours were established.
With the initiation of a regular ferry service, it became the immediate ambition
of every farmer, to own a wagon and team so that he might have his own transportation
to the city. In 1889 the K de K was replaced by the steam ferry Surrey, which
was operated by the City of New Westminster until the opening of the New Westminster
Bridge in 1904.
In 1889, the K de K was replaced by the steam ferry
Surrey. This picture shows the steam ferry Surrey mid-stream
in the Fraser River between New Westminster and Brownsville. The Surrey operated
from 1889 until 1904 and the opening of the New Westminster Bridge.
The Railway Era 1887-1910
The coming of the railways to Surrey resulted in the decline of water transportation. The completed network of railways provided that which the system of trunk roads could not - accessible year-round links whereby products of the forest and farm could easily be moved to market. The peak year of the railway era, 1910, was also the year that navigation effectively ended on the Serpentine and Nicomekl Rivers due to the construction of flood control dams.
Interest in railways in Surrey stemmed from the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway(CPR) in British Columbia. At its regular meeting on November 29, 1880, Surrey Council passed a resolution to co-operate with the New Westminster City Council in applying to have a line surveyed on the south bank of the Fraser River for the CPR. When Port Moody was chosen as the western terminus, Surrey felt it would be deprived of any railway connections as the Federal Government's contract with the CPR forbade the construction of any competing line to the south or southwest during the next twenty-five years.
The first rail line in Surrey was a logging spur built in 1887 for Royal City
Mills. In that year the locomotive Curley was brought up the Nicomekl River
on a scow and was landed about one-quarter mile west of Coast Meridian Road.
It was hauled to the section of rail which ran west from the old Royal City
logging ditch. The section east of the logging ditch to Hazelmere was built
in 1890.
The Royal City Planing Mill's locomotive "Curley". Bob Harvie,
engineer 1894
By 1889 the New Westminster and Southern Railway(NWSR), a subsidiary of the Great Northern Railway(GNR) was under construction. In 1887 a charter was granted by the provincial government to build a railway from a connection (to the as yet to be built Fairhaven and Southern) at Blaine to Liverpool on the Fraser River. After considerable opposition from Ottawa, the clearing of the right of way in Surrey was under way in April 1890. By December 1890 the track was completed from Liverpool (Port Mann) to the Nicomekl River south of Cloverdale. On February 14th, 1891 two special trains met at the border to celebrate the driving of the last spikes. An excursion train ran the 23.51 miles from Liverpool on the Fraser to the border. The northern terminus of the NWSR was on the south bank of the Fraser at Liverpool. Later the terminus was extended to Brownsville where a the ferry connection to New Westminster existed. Both passengers and freight shared the ferry across to New Westminster with the Fraser Valley road traffic. To the south the NWSR connected at Blaine with the GNR line. Initially the Canadian subsidiary lacked locomotive stock, until the Great Northern link from Seattle to Fairhaven was completed late in 1891. In order to maintain service during this period, the Royal City Mill's locomotive Curley was leased for the run between Brownsville and Blaine. The railway resulted in the establishment of stations and post offices in Hazelmere, Clover Valley - Cloverdale - at the junction of the railway and the McLellan Road. Henry Kells also moved his town site from the Fraser River to the railway but he kept the former name Port Kells. Regular service with Seattle did not begin until Dec. 2, 1891.
In 1903 the Victoria Terminal Railway and Ferry Company(VTR&F), a subsidiary of the GNR, opened its 17.49 miles of road from Port Guichon, just west of Ladner, to Cloverdale where it connected with the New Westminster and Southern. In association with a fast ferry and its rail line on Vancouver Island, the VTR&F offered regular freight service between Victoria and Vancouver. This service was virtually abandoned, however, as the City of Victoria cancelled its $15,000 subsidy. This combined with the CPR's direct steamship service between Victoria and Vancouver made the service unprofitable. The VTR&F Co. continued to operate its trains on the mainland but on a very infrequent basis thus earning the company its nickname "Molasses Limited". By 1906, passenger trains from Port Guichon to New Westminster ran only on Mondays. In Surrey, Alluvia Station (at the foot of Woodward's Hill at the intersection with the Semiahmoo Road), became an important stop on the line, and from this new station much farm produce and lumber was shipped.
The VTR&F line, from Port Guichon to Cloverdale, was purchased by the Vancouver, Victoria and Eastern Railway and Navigation Company(VVER) in 1907. This GNR subsidiary extended the line from Cloverdale to Huntingdon in 1909. This line was intended to be part of a through route from Vancouver to the Kootenays. However, the completion of the BC Electric Railway in 1910 and the growing competition from road transport brought a rapid decline in service.
The bottleneck of road and rail transportation south of the Fraser River was the ferry link from Brownsville to New Westminster. This was eliminated with the expiration of the CPR's monopoly clause and the completion of the New Westminster Bridge, which was formally opened on July 23rd, 1904. The bridge, a low-level swing span to permit continued river traffic, was double-tiered, the lower level carrying the railway and the upper level two eight foot lanes for foot and vehicular traffic. Tolls were exacted on all traffic to help defray construction costs.
The New Westminster Bridge opened in 1904. This
double-tier span had the railway bridge on the lower level while the upper
level had two eight foot lanes for foot and vehicular traffic.
The New Westminster bridge was a vital link permitting direct rail access into the growing Municipal area. It focused all traffic on New Westminster, and made the markets of the growing metropolitan centers more readily accessible to Surrey's producers of agricultural and forest products. It also encouraged city residents to travel south through Surrey to the beaches of White Rock and Crescent Beach. It was the essential stimulus to further settlement in Surrey.
In 1907 the Great Northern Railway(GNR) began re-routing its main line from Blaine to the New Westminster bridge to follow the coast line of Semiahmoo and Boundary Bays. The original line, operated under the subsidiary the New Westminster and Southern Railway(NWSR), traversed boggy land from Clayton to Port Kells and re-routing was deemed necessary. This combined with the potential for development of White Rock and Crescent Beach were the deciding factors. The new line began operation in March 1909 and the rails were taken up just north of the border at Douglas Station (end of track in 1909 was the Melrose Shingle mill siding). The end of track was moved north in 1911 to the Campbell River Lumber Spur, just north of the Campbell River. The remainder of the line the to the Nicomekl River was abandoned by 1919, and the section from Port Kells to Brownsville was sold to the Canadian Northern Railway in 1916. The section from Clayton to the McNair's Mill spur north of the Nicomekl River remained in use until the end of 1929 and the tracks were lifted in 1930
The Great Northern sea line route provided lower grades and firmer ground
but maintenance costs were higher. The water-level line offered easy access
to the beaches of White Rock and Crescent and those communities began to develop.
The New water-level line offered easy access to the beaches of White Rock and Crescent. Residents of New Westminster and Vancouver could now spend the day on South Surrey beaches, arriving on the morning train and returning in the evening. Weekend excursions to the beach resorts became a regular seasonal feature. White Rock and Crescent mark their real beginnings from the opening of the sea shore route.
The Great Northern station at White Rock in about 1913. Sunday evening
commuters are waiting for the evening train.
On November 6th, 1910 the BC Electric Railway(BCER) from New Westminster to Chilliwack was formally opened by Premier Richard McBride. This extension of the Vancouver-New Westminster interurban was designed to serve the agricultural communities and the forest industries of the Fraser Valley. The "Market", "Milk", "Mail", and "Owl" trains provided important freight and passenger links between the Upper Valley, Surrey and the Metropolitan areas.
1910 marked the peak of railway development activities in Surrey. The growth of railways was complemented by the rapid increase in settlement. The opening of new market areas in and outside of British Columbia did much to stimulate the expansion of Surrey's agriculture and forest industries. The emergence of Cloverdale as a railway hub, and the early development of the White Rock and Crescent resort areas reflect the prosperity and growth associated with the railway era.
Surrey Railways: Their Affiliations and
Dates of Operation
Great Northern Railway(GNR)and subsidiaries
New Westminster Southern(NWSR) Brownsville to Blaine
via Port Kells and Cloverdale. Opened 1891. Service reduced
after 1909 and closed in stages. The reminant is officially abandoned 1929
and tracks lifted in 1930.
Victoria Terminal Railway and Ferry Company(VTR&F) Port Guichon to Colebrook.
Opened 1903 and operated until Aug. 10, 1935. Officially abandoned and the
tracks lifted in 1938.
Vancouver, Victoria and Eastern(VVER) Cloverdale to Huntingdon. Opened 1909.
Officially abandoned 1929.
Great Northern Railway(GNR) New Westminster Bridge to Oliver's Slough to Blaine.
Opened 1909. Currently operated by the Burlington Northern Railway.
British Columbia Electric Railway (BCER), formerly BC Hydro Railway, currently
BC Southern Railway. Opened 1910.
Roberts Bank Railway Roberts Bank to Cloverdale. Opened 1970.
Canadian Northern Pacific Railway(CNPR), now Canadian National. New Westminster
Bridge to Hope. Opened 1914.
For further information on Fraser Valley Railways visit:
"Great Northern Railway in BC's Fraser Valley"
From: http://www.vanc.igs.net/~roughley/gn_fv.html
"The Emergence of Road Transportation
and
the Decline of the Railways 1911-1940
The age of the automobile began to dawn in Surrey about 1911. The number of residents owning cars was growing as a result of Henry Ford's Model T. Surrey was being influenced by a revolution in land transportation as were most other North American communities. The demand for more and better roads to meet the needs of the automobile would soon change the character of Surrey through changes in its transportation pattern. Increased motor vehicle traffic would bring a complete end to water transportation and a marked decline in railway services.
As the use of automobiles, trucks, and buses increased, the Provincial Government recognized the need for road improvements and it began the construction of new trunk roads more suited to motor traffic. At first the improvements consisted largely of straightening, widening, grading, and graveling existing main roads. Later new, direct link, trunk roads were constructed.
While motor vehicles also required better surfaced roads, they provided the means to build them. Motorized equipment allowed greater ease and cheaper costs in building new and better roads. Gravel had come into widespread use by 1913 as trucks made the hauling and spreading of it possible. In 1912 Surrey Municipality purchased its first two trucks and in 1920 it purchased a mechanical loader for use on the roads.
Taking delivery of municipal trucks. Surrey purchased the trucks in 1922 and delivery took place in Vancouver. Trucks such as these were basic in road construction.
In Surrey trunk roads were constructed to provide a more direct route to the International Boundary, or to the developing resort of White Rock. Between 1912-13, the former Clover Valley Road was improved and opened south to the border at Blaine. This gravel road was finished and formally opened on July 12, 1913, being renamed the Pacific Highway. In 1923 the Pacific Highway was graded and cemented from the Border to Old Yale Road. The latter road was also graded and cemented the same year, thus providing a high quality all-weather highway between the International Boundary and New Westminster. Old Yale Road was also cemented eastward to Chilliwack.
Looking north along the Pacific Highway south of Cloverdale, B.C. as it appeared prior to paving in 1923. This picture was taken in 1918.
Local side roads showed the greatest increase in mileage during this period. As these roads were built by Surrey Municipality, they usually took longer to be improved as there was less money at their disposal. Yet local road grids continued filling in, as settlement continued to increase.
The phenomenal rise in importance of automobiles, trucks and buses in the transportation system of Surrey was responsible for the filling in and improving of the road network during the 1920s and 1930s. Movement of freight and passengers shifted noticeably to road transport. In South Surrey a daily jitney service from White Rock to New Westminster via Cloverdale and the Pacific Highway was begun in 1922 by I.W. Neil, Norm Philip, and Lyle Rolf. Following the paving of Pacific Highway in 1923 the service was increased by the addition of two touring cars: a 1913 Pearce Arrow, converted to a nineteen-passenger bus; and a 1915 Packard, converted to a seventeen-passenger bus. The Green Stage, as the bus line was called in 1923, operated two return trips daily to New Westminster and Vancouver. On May 23, 1924, following the acquisition of two White Buses, the service was expanded to four return trips daily and the line was renamed the Green Stages Ltd. In 1925 the company acquired a run from Port Haney through Port Coquitlam to Vancouver via the Lougheed Highway. Both these runs brought the Green Stages into competition with the B.C. Electric Railway bus services: the Pacific Stage Lines(PSL). As a result of the competition the BCER acquired financial control of the Green Stages Ltd., and as of July 1st 1926 the services became the Pacific Stage Lines. The PSL continued to operate the franchise up to the creation of the Greater Vancouver Transit Authority.
Motor-truck competition also made inroads into the freight traffic in Surrey this continued into the 1920s and 1930s as roads were improved and paving was extended. The Crescent Transfer(later the White Rock-Crescent Beach Transfer) which provided a freight service to New Westminster was started by R.(Pop) Taylor in 1920.
By the early 1920s, improved motor vehicles and an expanding road network were bring an end to railway dominance. As a result of the competition for passengers and freight, several rail lines built prior to 1910 were abandoned. On the New Westminster Southern (NWSR) from Brownsville to Blaine service was significantly reduced after 1909, abandoned in stages and was officially abandoned in 1918. The Victoria Terminal Railway and Ferry Company (VTRF) line from Port Guichon to Cloverdale virtually abandoned passenger service when the City of Victoria removed its subsidy and when the Canadian Pacific Railway began direct service between Victoria and Vancouver and it was officially abandoned in 1931. The Vancouver, Victoria, and Eastern (VVE) line from Cloverdale to Huntington was officially abandoned in 1929.
Custom Entry Ports in Surrey
The City of Surrey has a common border with Washington State of the United States. Therefore, border stations have always been important in Surrey's history.
The first office opened was at Port Elgin on the Nicomekl River at the junction of the Semiahmoo Road. The Nicomekl was the most important route for bringing in provisions and shipping out produce. The Semiahmoo Road was the chief north-south link between New Westminster and Washington State. With increasing traffic on the Nicomekl, as well as the Semiahmoo Road, a customs office was necessary. In 1886 Elgin was designated as the customs entry port and from then on all traffic on the Nicomekl River and all traffic north over the Semiahmoo Road was required to stop and report. With the construction of the coastal Great Northern Rail line, the Customs Port of White Rock came into being in 1908. This port and the Port of Douglas on Coast Meridian Road made the Customs Port of Elgin redundant.
The first Douglas Customs office was located on Coast Meridian Road near
the end of Beach Road/Semiahmoo Road. This office operated from 1908 to 1929.
The picture was taken in 1917.
This was the view after the Peace Arch was constructed, and before Peace
Arch Park was dedicated. Looking south down Coast Meridian Road (168th Street),
the small Customs and Immigration building is on the right, the St. Leonard
Hotel is in the centre and the Peace Arch is in the background. Private residences
occupied what is now the park.
A second entry point was established on the New Westminster and Southern Railway(NWSR) after it opened in 1891. The new port was named Douglas. With the construction of the coastal rail line in 1908, the port of White Rock came into being, with offices in the Great Northern Railway Station. The port of Douglas on the NWSR was moved in 1908 as a result of the abandoning of the line and was relocated near its present location to handle traffic on the Coast Meridian Road.
The cementing of the Pacific Coast Highway by 1923 brought a great deal
of road traffic through the Pacific Highway Customs port. This picture was
taken in the late 1920s.
With the opening of the Pacific Highway in 1913 a new port of entry Pacific Highway was created. Traffic was diverted from the old port, and Douglas languished in obscurity. Its use became confined chiefly to friendly communications between Blaine and White Rock. Renewed traffic came through the port with the dedication of the Peace Arch in September, 1922, and the opening of the Peace Portal Golf course in 1931.
This Customs and Immigration Office was built in 1937 to accommodate
increasing traffic along the Pacific Highway. It was the second office at
this location and was an important secondary port of entry along the border
between British Columbia and the State of Washington. This office was demolished
in 1986.
Further increases resulted with the opening of the Peace Arch Highway in 1932-34. With the opening of the King George Highway in 1940, Douglas once more became the premier port of entry.
This is the Douglas Customs office that operated from 1929 to 1952. This
picture was taken in the late 1940s when the King George Highway brought traffic
to this port.
Early Agriculture in Surrey
Pioneer Crops and Markets 1870-1930s
The pioneer farms which sprang up in Surrey's lowlands during the 1870s and 1880s were mixed farms. Hay and oats were the chief cash crops grown, but potatoes and garden vegetables, as well as dairy cattle, beef cattle, hogs, chickens, and horses were also raised. At first the only significant market was Victoria, but a few tons of any commodity were enough to satisfy that city. Captain Hatt, who lived near the mouth of the Nicomekl River, hauled grain to Victoria in his sloop and returned with groceries and other supplies for local farmers. William Brown and Mr. Bamford, from Halls Prairie, kept a small sloop at the mouth of the Campbell River. They would sail the sloop across the strait to Victoria and return with provisions to sell to their neighbours.
Hay and grains were the dominant crops before the introduction of the
automobile. Threshing is taking place on the Loney brothers' farm at Mud Bay
in 1917. Note the steam tractor.
By the late 1880s and 1890s market conditions had improved as a result of the founding of Vancouver in 1885 and the rapid growth of logging in the Surrey uplands. Hay and light grains remained the chief cash crops. Sales to grain wholesalers such as Brackerman-Ker, Scott and Piedman; and to dray companies such as Great Northern Transfer, Gross and McNeal, as well as sales to local logging camps took the bulk of local production. Shipment of bulky hay and grain was initially by freight boat from the Nicomekl and Serpentine Rivers. Most farms had their barns located next to the river with small adjoining wharves. Those farmers located away from the rivers normally made arrangements to use their neighbours' facilities. The change to rail shipment occurred in east Surrey after 1891 with the completion of the New Westminster and Southern Railway, and along the north bank of the Serpentine with the completion of the Victoria Terminal Railway in 1903. Many farmers located near the mouths of the Nicomekl and Serpentine continued to ship their products by steamer so long as the market for hay and grain held firmly.
Threshing and bagging oats on the Loney brothers' farm at Mud Bay in
1924. Bagged oats was transported by water and later rail into the metropolitan
market to supply city livestock needs.
While hay and light grains remained the leading farm products, many local farmers began to market a variety of produce, dairy products, and meat in New Westminster following the improvement in ferry service across the Fraser in 1884. By the 1890s many local farmers were specializing in hopes of better prices and sounder market conditions. For example, William Collishaw and Robert Beveridge raised onions, the Peskches and Kitzels raise cabbage, John Armstrong, the Shannons and Dinsmores specialized with dairy products, the H.T. Thrifts grew strawberries and hops, and William Routley raised chickens. These products were sold to city merchants, who in turn sold them in the metropolitan or British Columbia interior markets. Sales to the general public became possible in the early 1890s through the farmers' market established on Front Street in New Westminster.
The most productive agricultural areas in Surrey were the alluvial vallies
of the Serpentine and Nicomekl Rivers. These rich areas, when diked to prevent
the invasion of salt water, became the prime agricultural areas.
During the first two decades of the twentieth century the dairy industry underwent rapid transformation as the metropolitan market expanded and improved rail connections provided efficient means of shipping the product to market. In the hope of stabilizing prices and market conditions a Fraser Valley dairy marketing co-operative was formed in 1913. By 1917 this had grown to become the Fraser Valley Milk Producers' Association (FVMPA) and by 1920 two processing plants and a condensing plant for surplus milk, were under its control. The growth and stability of the dairy market by 1920 foreshadowed its future dominance in Surrey's agriculture. As dairy farming was rising in prominence there was a major decline in hay and light grain sales. Grain production had declined drastically by the late 1930s with the advancement in roads and motorized traffic. Hay continued to be produced for the British Columbia interior market.
Vegetable production had always been of some importance in Surrey's lowlands with potatoes the leading crop. However, large-scale produce farms began to develop in the 1920s when Chinese farmers settled in the Serpentine-Nicomekl lowlands. This increased competition for the fresh vegetable market resulted in the formation of a volunteer marketing co-operative to help stabilize prices and prevent price cutting by the larger producers. This volunteer co-operative was the forerunner of the BC Coast Vegetable Marketing Board, formed by government legislation in 1936, which is now so important in marketing Fraser Valley and Vancouver Island vegetables.
For over 100 years agriculture has held an important position in the economic base of Surrey. In the 1870s agriculture was largely of the subsistence sort with hay and light grains being produced for the small New Westminster market and the more distant Victoria market. The growth of the Metropolitan area and the increase in the use of the automobile saw the decline in hay and grain production as a cash crop but the growth of dairy farming as the demand for fluid milk grew.
By the 1970s mixed farming came to predominate with dairy farming, feed lots, vegetables, blue berries and specialty horticulture predominating. The variety of products were primarily produced for the Greater Vancouver Market.
The Character of Surrey's forests
Stands of Douglas Fir such as this, were the mainstay of logging operations
in the uplands of Surrey. These fully mature forests provided large dimension
timbers as well as construction lumber and railway ties.
The mature evergreen rain forest which existed on the uplands of Surrey at the time of the earliest logging operations contained some of the best timber on the Pacific Coast. The cedars and firs, which dominated the uplands, were both giant species when fully matured; some of the virgin timbers were as great as eighteen and very occasionally twenty-five feet in diameter. As examples it might be mentioned that the King and Allan Logging Company took a fir tree of the Hardy property on Mud Bay Road which measured eleven feet in diameter, thirty-six feet from the butt; and in 1897, fifteen timbers trimmed to dimensions of forty-eight inches by forty-eight inches by one hundred and five feet long were sent to the Chicago exposition. In addition to the high quality of the timber, it was easily accessible, with water transportation being readily available.
Stands of mixed Douglas Fir and Western Red Cedar were commonplace on
the uplands of Surrey. Some of the best stands in the Lower Fraser Valley
were found here.
A description of Surrey's early forests has been given by Margaret M. Stewart.
In very early days the Douglas Fir was considered by far the most valuable and useful timber to be found in British Columbia. After a survey of the timber tracts in the Fraser Valley the Royal City Planing Mills of New Westminster decided that the best stand of Douglas Fir to be found anywhere, and some declared it was the best in the world, was the tract of heavy timber found south of the Nicomekl River in Surrey Municipality.
That wonderful stand of Douglas Fir has been logged of three times: first by use of oxen, then by horses, and finally by the use of the donkey engine.
It was the high quality of Surrey's forests which attracted many people and a number of logging and milling firms into the district, and there is no doubt that Forestry played a distinctive role in the settlement and development of Surrey.
Logging Operations in South Surrey
Logging operations were extensive throughout Surrey. However, the specifics of operations has been limited to South Surrey. These operations were typical of those throughout Surrey.
Giant trees such as this Fir was typical of the trees felled by hand
loggers. Sping boards where cut into the base of the tree so that the loggers
could put in the undercut where the tree trunk began to thin above the root.
Hand-logging with Oxen 1870s to 1880s - In 1872 William McDougall arrived with his family and took up a quarter section at Elgin. He immediately began to log his land as well as other land west of Elgin. He probably used oxen as they were better equipped to travel over the peat and bog land than horses. The logs were drawn down skid roads and dumped into the Nicomekl River. They were boomed west of the Semiahmoo Road Bridge and finally taken by tugs to the Royal City Planing Mills in New Westminster.
This picture is typical of oxen logging operation in Surrey. This picture
is taken at Surrey Centre with the original Municipal Hall in the left background.
Oxen logging was not extensive in South Surrey, yet a number of pioneers have memories of the operations. In 1892 when Ted Thrift was about five years old he recalls watching one of the last oxen-logging operations; a twelve-oxen string pulled out three big logs in the vicinity of the present Peace Portal Golf Course. Oxen seem to have been used in logging operations in the 1880s, after which they were replaced by horses. Oxen operations were centered on the Nicomekl at Elgin, along the Ocean Park foreshore, and in the upper Campbell River basin.
Logging with horses in Surrey in 1889. Teams such as these pulled the
logs from the woods over skid roads to the booming grounds.
Hand-logging with Horses 1880s to 1927 - Horses began to be used extensively in Surrey in the 1880s and 1890s. The Royal City Planing Mills(RCPM) in New Westminster were the most important market for the logs. Local loggers, in South Surrey, working under contract to the RCPM were the Gilley brothers, King and Allan, and the Roper brothers.
It was during this period that skid roads began to honeycomb the uplands of South Surrey, and they ran down to the Serpentine, Nicomekl, and Campbell Rivers, as well as into Semiahmoo Bay. John Pearson provided a description of the characteristic skid road.
Skid Roads provided the avenues for moving a series
of logs from the uplands to tide water.
The skid road was constructed of ten foot logs, 10 to 20 inches in diameter and the logs were spaced 9 feet apart and partly buried in the ground to make them rigid. The tip of the skids were adzed to form a trough for the logs to ride in and when they became worn down a hardwood block, called a "glutt", was mortised into the worn part.
For the haul down to the water, the logs were placed one behind the other and fastened together with a five foot chain called the "Dog Chain", and behind the lost log came the "Go Devil". The "Go Devil" was made of two logs with boards on top and a seat in each end for the teamster. Teams of oxen and later horses were used for hauling the logs and for a ten-horse team, three to six logs would make a load. In wet or boggy areas a solid corduroy road would be built.
After moving the logs along skid roads to tide
water, small teams of horses where used to form log booms. Here horses are
being used to build booms on the beach at White Rock about 1910.
The Royal City Logging Ditch - It was during the 1880s that the Royal City Planing Mills built a logging ditch which ran from the uplands down to the Nicomekl river. This was located about one-quarter of a mile west of the Coast Meridian Road. The logging ditch had been dug by Chinese labourers brought in by the RCPM. The ditch was a small creek which was deepened and enlarged, and into this the waters of neighbouring creeks were diverted. On the upland a series of control gates were constructed to conserve the water. The logs were brought to the ditch with the help of skid roads and teams of horses. The following is a description of how the ditch operated.
A series of flood gates were put in, to hold back the water. Each day, the cut logs were put into the ditches, a flood gate was opened, and logs and water would pour down the ditch to the next retention pond. A second gate would then be opened, and a third, until the logs reached the Nicomekl river. In the evening the gates would be closed and water built up for the next day's run of logs. The logs were then moved down the Nicomekl to Elgin and boomed west of the Semiahmoo Road bridge. The logging ditch was used by RCPM until the New Westminster and Southern Railway was completed in 1891, after which the company began shipping the logs by rail. However, the ditch continued to be used by a number of small independent logging firms.
Logging with Donkey engines and Railways,
1887-1927
Logging with steam donkey engines. Logs were pulled out of the bush with
the donkey engines and loaded with horses aboard rail cars for movement to
the booming grounds. This picture was taken in the vicinity of the Pacific
Highway and Brown Road.
Logging reached its peak in South Surrey when railway logging began. The first rail line in Surrey was a logging spur built in 1887 for Royal City Planing Mills. In that year the locomotive "Curley" was brought up the Nicomekl River on a scow and landed about one quarter mile west of the Coast Meridian Road. It was hauled up the old Royal City logging ditch to the section of rail which ran west from the ditch. This standard-gauge logging spur ran with a slight rise to the west. From it a great many feeder spurs led to timber tracts. Steam donkey engines or teams of horses would pull the logs to the rail lines. They would then be hauled by "Curley" and dumped into the logging ditch.
During the time "Curley" was operating in South Surrey (1887-1894), the Royal City Planing Mills was purchased by British Columbia Mills, Timber and Trading Company (1889) which operated Hastings Sawmill Company. For this reason, it is not unusual to see references to both companies regarding the ownership of "Curley" and the subject logging operations.
The Royal City Planing Mill's locomotive "Curley" with Bob
Harvie the engineer in 1894. Logs were initially hauled to the logging ditch
but after the completion of the New Westminster and Southern Railways logs
were hauled to the Port Kells booming grounds.
The spur west of the logging ditch operated from 1887 to 1889. A section east of the logging ditch to Hazelmere was built in 1890 at the time the New Westminster and Southern Railway(NWSR) was constructed. With the completion of the NWSR in 1891, the Royal City logging ditch was abandoned by the company as logs now moved directly by rail to Port Kells. They were then dumped into the Fraser River for movement to New Westminster.
Horses remained an important part of the logging scene. They were the
primary means of loading the logs onto the flat cars. In some areas they were
also used to move the smaller timber to the loading site.
This appears to be the same locomotive as in the pictures above, but
the spark arrester on its smoke stack has been removed. By the end of the
logging era in South Surrey, the railway equipment was considerably larger
and more sophisticated. This engine is a former main line railway locomotive.
Between 1872 and 1904 logging in South Surrey was dominated by large lumber companies operating out of New Westminster. The largest and most extensive operation wee those undertaken by or on behalf of the Royal City Planing Mill. Brunette Mills, however, also operated camps.
The Brunette Saw Mill was one of the major milling companies that harvested
some of the richest and most accessible timber from the uplands of Surrey.
The logs were moved by water and later by rail for processing.
By 1904 the big companies had skimmed the richest and most accessible timber form the uplands. None of this timber was ever milled in Surrey. It was always moved out of this district by water or by rail for processing in New Westminster.
A Royal City Logging Company cook house at East Kensington in 1898. Such
large operations became important markets for local farm products. Operations
such as this one harvested the logs for milling outside of the District.
A narrow gauge logging railway operated in the Ocean Park/Crescent Heights area from 1913-1917. From it a great many feeder spurs led to timber tracts above Crescent Beach. The north south section of the line ran half a block west of Stevenson Road (128th Street, in the vicinity of Crescent United Church) to a log chute that moved the logs to the mouth of the Nicomekl River. The north south line ran to Sunnyside Road (24th Ave.) and then angled eastward toward 20th Ave. and then eastward on to the crown of the uplands. The timber harvested was loaded on Great Northern Railway cars, at the Campbell Spur, at Crescent Beach, for movement to the Campbell River Sawmill at the mouth of the Campbell River.
Milling Operations in South Surrey
Forest Product Mills in South Surrey, 1904-1960
The earliest mill known to have been built in South Surrey was in the Halls Prairie district where Thomas McMillan began homesteading in 1879. It was here in the early 1880s that he started the first small lumber mill, but it is not known how long the mill operated. This appears to have been an isolated venture, and it might be said that the period of local mill construction did not really begin until 1904 when George Thrift built a combined shingle mill and lumber mill in Hazelmere. The mill was located at the crossing of the new Westminster Southern Railway and the Stokes Road (20th Ave). Thrift had begun logging timber from the family homestead. To bring To haul the logs to the mill wooden rails were laid down, and horse-drawn pulleys were used to bring the logs in. In 1906 the mill was sold to Harold Hunter and Frank Fox. These men eventually established the largest and most extensive logging and milling operations in the district.
When Fox and Hunter took over the Thrift Mill they enlarged it, replacing the wooden rails with a narrow-gauge system which they also extended. In 1907 they had a standard-gauge logging spur put in from the New Westminster and Southern Railway(NWSR) just east of where the old Royal City line came in. This Fox and Hunter logging spur operated from 1907 until 1917. The lumber and shingles produced were shipped via the NWSR to markets outside of South Surrey. In 1912 the mill burned to the ground. With the opening of the Great Northern line in 1909, Fox and Hunter established a shingle mill at White Rock. It was located in the vicinity of the present Marine Drive and High Street. Logs were hauled down a skid road from the uplands with teams, and the shingles shipped out via the Great Northern. This mill burned down in 1913. With the loss of both mills in such quick succession, Harold Hunter and Frank Fox undertook a major rebuilding program. In 1913 construction began on the Campbell River Mill and it started operating in the fall of that year. This mill was located on the Campbell River on part of the Semiahmoo Indian Reserve. The mill operated from 1913 to 1927 and grew to be one of the largest lumber concerns on the Pacific Coast, with an average cut of 150,000 feet per day. Initially logs were supplied from the Fox and Hunter operation in Hazelmere, and in Ocean Park. A later source of timber was provided from Hernando Island and the Columbia Valley in the vicinity of Sumas and Chilliwack. The mill operated until 1927 when it was forced to close due to a lack of quality timber within reasonable shipping distances, and to depressed market conditions.
Fox and Hunter operated the Campbell River Mill in East White Rock from
1913 to 1927. It was one of the largest operations of its kind in South Surrey.
The Campbell River Mill was the largest operation of its kind in South Surrey. Its planing operations could fill a variety of orders. It also had a small dry kiln operation. In its advertising it stressed its large timber holding of soft, old growth Yellow Fir throughout the Fraser Valley.
Other small operators also established mills in South Surrey after 1904. In 1906 James Hadden brought his family to Elgin and he and his son Billy built a planing mill on the south bank of the Nicomekl river at the old Semiahmoo Road crossing. This was a small family operation, and the mill was run for local orders only. Supplies of logs were purchased from other logging camps operating on the Nicomekl River. The Haddens operated their mill from 1906 until 1917. The Haddens had operated a second mill in Cloverdale on the site of the present Fraser Downs Raceway parking lot. The logs were taken from a pond in Cloverdale creek and the mill was located near the site of Cloverdale Museum. The mill closed in 1909 as the local timber supply was depleated.
Bob McLean built a planing mill in 1914 on the Nicomekl River where the New Westminster and Southern Railway crosses it. McLean had a tract of timber which he logged, milled, and shipped by rail to the metropolitan market. This mill operated from 1914 to approximately 1923.
In 1917 a group of White Rock men established the White Rock Tie and Lumber Company. This small mill operated near the former site of the Fox and Hunter shingle mill in west White Rock. Its main products were railway ties and trestle ties which were shipped out on the Great Northern. Logs were cut from second growth stands on the uplands and moved by sleigh and later skid road to the mill. The mill was forced to close in 1925 when local supplies of timber were no longer available, along with high timber prices, and non-paying customers made continued operation impossible.
In 1923 Flannigan and McKay built a large planing mill on Campbell River Road just west of the Surrey-Langley border. This mill was able to keep operating when all others in South Surrey had closed as its timber supplies came from South Langley. The mill hauled its logs over a narrow-gauge rail line which ran east from the mill for over three-quarters of a mile. This operation closed in 1940.
Flannigan and McKay logged just east of the Surrey-Langley border. The
mill hauled its logs over a rail line using horses for power. The line ran
east from the mill located on Campbell River Road just west of the Surrey-Langley
border.
A few smaller operation, some using portable mills, operated for very short periods before moving on. A shingle mill operated on the Campbell River at Halls Prairie Road, and a second one operated at Pacific Highway and Bamford Road. Both were small, short-lived operations. In 1929-30 a Japanese oar mill, powered by a small diesel engine, was established near the end of Bayview Drive (bordering Sandy Trail), next to the Great Northern tracks, in Crescent Beach. This was a family operation, the timber coming from first growth material on the bluff overlooking Crescent. The oars were made for small fishing and pleasure boats. This family operation came to a close in the early 1930s when the local timber supply was exhausted.
In short, the golden era of local milling operations lasted from about 1904 to 1927. By 1927 local timber supplies had virtually come to an end. Only the Flannigan and McKay mill with timber supplies from South Langley could maintain operations. During this era, South Surrey was a community dominated by the forest industry. The sight of camps with their skid roads, cookhouses, bunkhouses, stables, blacksmith shops, teams of horses, and many pieces of equipment was commonplace. A great deal of the labour force was Japanese, Chinese, or East Indian, especially that of the large milling concerns. The logging camps and mill communities became excellent markets for the farm produce and the horses of nearby settlers. This local market bolstered farm incomes considerably for a good many years.
Logging in Northern Surrey
Hand loggers selected the best and most easily accessible timber along
the flanks of the uplands along the river valleys. Logs could be easily moved
to tide water and exported via the rivers and bays.
Before the turn of the century logging in the northern portions of Surrey was restricted to the flanks of the uplands along the river valleys. Here timber was easily accessible and could be exported readily by water. Along the Fraser timber had been logged by hand along the northern slopes as they could be moved easily to tidewater and the mills in the New Westminster area. Loggers such as T. Hadden operated crews near Bon Accord and Crandel near Liverpool in South Westminster, and Gilles in Tynehead. Logging was also extensive in the upper headwaters of the Serpentine River, and along Bear Creek. Logs were boomed in the lower Serpentine and towed to the established mills along Burrard Inlet or the Fraser River.
Donkey engines were vital in the heavy timber Surrey produced. The engines
pulled the massive logs out of the cut and to the loading platform. Horses
assisted with the removal.
The hey day of logging in the Surrey area began in the late 1890's and ran until the early 1920's. The settlement of the Canadian Prairies which began as a trickle after the completion of the C.P.R. in 1885, became a torrent after 1897 and continued into the first two decades of the 20th Century. The demand for lumber for homes, barns, fence posts by Prairie settlers was readily supplied by Surrey lumbermen. In addition, the expiration of the 20 year monopoly clause held by the C.P.R, caused a flurry of railway construction in the West. Before 1910, two new transcontinental railways had been chartered. Also inroads from the south by the Great Northern Railway system also simulated construction. The demand for ties and timbers escalated logging and milling in Surrey.
Donkey engines provided some lift to the large logs while the team of
horses moved them into position over the trucks. In restricted areas the team
also moved the logs out onto the main line.
Before 1897 the holding of forest tracts in Surrey for logging was not extensive. However, within five years most of the un deeded lands were take up by logging firms. Some of the timber lands were held in freehold. T.J. Sullivan held lands from Sullivan Station east along Panorama Ridge and in Fleetwood. Others such as W.J. Walker held lands in South Fleetwood. A common practice was to purchase the timber rights from existing settlers. Companies would purchase the timber rights for 160 acres for $500 and the payments would be spread over a number of years as the trees were harvested. However most of the forested uplands were held under Timber License from the Provincial Government. These licenses were held by established mills on Burrard Inlet or along the Fraser River. Royal City Planing Mills, Burnette Saw Mill Co., Vancouver Tie and Timber Co., Fraser River Mills, Hastings Mill(Vancouver), Ross McLaren Mill(on Fraser Mills site), and Western Canada Lumber Co.(on Lulu Island).
Timber harvested from the uplands of Surrey provided the supply for the
established mills on the Fraser River and Burrard Inlet. Fraser Mills, Canadian
Western Lumber Co. Ltd., was one of many mills that relied on Surrey logging
operations.
The railway era stimulated and allowed easy access to the forest lands. The establishment of the New Westminster Southern Railway in 1891 permitted the easy harvest of the timber tracts in east and west Cloverdale, the Clayton Heights, and along the south shore of the Fraser. The completion of the B.C. Electric Railway in 1910, opened up the northwest uplands of Surrey. Most of the best timber had been removed by the early 1920s. But the harvesting of shingle bolts went on well into the early 1930s.
Railway construction in Western Canada stimulated logging of the Surrey
Uplands, and they also provided the means of moving the logs to the mill sites.
Logging trains such as this one was a common site.
Mills in Northern Surrey
The bulk of the timber in Northern Surrey was exported to the established mills along the Fraser River and Burrard Inlet. Royal City Planing Mills, Burnette Saw Mill Co., Vancouver Tie and Timber co., Fraser River Mills, Hastings Mill(Vancouver), Ross McLaren Mill(on the Fraser Mills site), and Western Canada Lumber Co.(on Lulu Island). All these mills relied on the supply of quality timber from northern Surrey.
Logging operations provided the bulk of the timber for established mills
along the Fraser River and Burrard Inlet. Some important milling operations
also existed in Cloverdale, Newton, Port Kells, Sullivan, and Tynehead. These
loggers are working for Fraser Mills, Canadian Western Lumber Co. Ltd.
The railway era stimulated and allowed easy access to the forest lands. The establishment of the New Westminster Southern Railway in 1891 permitted the easy harvest of the timber tracts in east and west Cloverdale, Clayton Heights, and along the south shore of the Fraser. The completion of the BC Electric Railway in 1910, opened up the northwest uplands of Surrey. Most of the mills were located adjacent to the various railways. Most were small, short-lived shingle mills. A few large lumber and shingle mills, however, were established in the early 1900's. By the early 1920's, the best timber in the area had been removed, but the harvesting of shingle bolts went on well into the early 1930's.
However, a few local lumber mills operated in northern Surrey as well as many shingle mills. The Hadden Family operated a sawmill and a shingle mill in Cloverdale. The sawmill was located on the present Cloverdale fairgrounds next to a pond dredged from Cloverdale Creek. It drew timber from the uplands east of Cloverdale and timber accessible from the New Westminster Southern Railway(NWSR). It operated from the mid 1890s to about 1909 when timber supplies ran out. The shingle mill was located south of McLellan Road(60th Ave.) and east of the NWSR right of way(176th St.), and along Cloverdale Creek. The closure of both of the Hadden family mills in 1909 was a result of the exhausting of the local timber supply.
The Hadden Family operated a sawmill and a shingle mill in Cloverdale. The sawmill was located on the present Cloverdale fairgrounds next to a pond dredged from Cloverdale Creek. It operated from the mid 1890s to about 1909 when timber supplies ran out.
The Maple Leaf Milling Co. operated lumber and shingle mills in the Tynehead
District during the late 1890s to early 1900s. It drew timber supplies from
the headwaters of the Serpentine River and along Bear Creek. It was located
in the vicinity of the present Tynehead Elementary School.
The Port Kells area had historically been an important logging area. Hand loggers had taken the most accessible timber near the Fraser River. With the completion of the New Westminster Southern Railway in 1891 it became an important log dump and booming ground for timber harvested from Surrey's southern uplands. This timber was destined for the established mills along the Fraser River and Burrard Inlet. However, a number of smaller operations established themselves along the Fraser. Mr. Wade operated mills in three different locations. Milling and remilling remain an important industry in the modern Port Kells District. The S&R Sawmills is the major operator.
Port Kells was an important log dumping and booming ground. Timber cut
from the Surrey uplands was moved by "Old Curley" to the Fraser
River at Port Kells. Booms would then be made up to move the logs to established
mills along the Fraser River or Burrard Inlet.
The Hyland/Sullivan lumber mill and the Surrey Shingle Manufacturing Co. Were operated by Tom Hiland, Tom and Jerry Sullivan in the Sullivan District. Both mills were in operation by 1902/03. They drew timber supplies from the Sullivan area, and from the uplands west along Panorama Ridge, and north into the West Newton area. The lumber mill had closed by the 1920s due to the decline in timber supplies but the Surrey Shingle Manufacturing Co. continued operating into the 1930s based on local supplies of cedar bolts.
The King Brothers operated the King lumber Mill at the junction of Roebuck(132nd St.) and Burke(76th Ave.) and the B.C. Electric Railway. They located north of the railway. They drew their timber supplies from the Newton District and operated the King Farris Railway to harvest timber from the Whalley and Green Timbers area. This was the last of Surrey's logging railways. The mill operated into the 1920s until local timber supplies were exhausted.
As roads improved throughout Surrey, truck logging became important for
stands missed by the railway loggers, or for second growth timber. This truck
logging operation was in the vicinity of Green Timbers.
These were the major logging enterprises in northern Surrey. However, a number of other smaller sawmill and shingle mills operated. W.E. Laken operated a lumber mill in the Surrey Centre District and cut railway ties and shingle bolts. Dave McNair and Frank King operated a shingle mill on Davis Road(88th Ave.) near Pike Road(160th St.) around 1902-03. The Dimension Lumber Co. Operated on Ranking Road(148th St.) at the B.C. Electric Railway. The Irvine and Wade operated separate mills in the Port Kells District. Other operators existed as singles were skidded from the Clayton District to Fry's Corner on Yale Road. They were shipped out via the NWSR.
The Crescent Oyster Company 1904 - 1957
Photos and information provided by Peter Oldershaw.
Compiled by Jack Berry
The Crescent Oyster Company was incorporated in 1904. W. Lambert was the founder and manager of the company until 1922 when Alf Oldershaw took over. Alf Oldershaw retired in 1949, then Bill Gardiner managed the company until it was sold in 1957. For over fifty years the Crescent Oyster Company provided employment for a small group of East Indian labourers and part time or full time employment for some local residents. The Sikh employees lived in two bunk houses on the premises.
The majority of Company buildings were perched on pilings above the high water
mark at the mouth of the Nicomekl River in Surrey, B.C. As the river channel
silted up, wharves had to be extended out into deeper water to give adequate
moorage at low tide. The first shed on the left is where the wooden packing
crates were assembled out of pre cut lumber. The second shed held the machine
shop and smithy. The floating building to the right was used for sorting Native
and Eastern oysters in preparation for shipment.
Another bunk house was provided by the company. This one was located out on
the Mud Bay oyster beds to house the crew while they were harvesting oysters.
This bunk house was abandoned in the mid twenties but while it stood, it was
the subject of idle curiosity for many visitors to Crescent Beach.
Crescent Oyster Company manager's office and living quarters are on the right.
The house to the left was used as a laboratory or living quarters for supervisory
staff. The building in the middle was the oyster shucking shack with its accompanying
shell pile.
In the beginning oysters were grown in lagoons. The flow of the water was
controlled by tide gates. This method proved too costly for the amount of
oysters harvested. Immature "seed" oysters were imported from Long
Island Sound and transplanted onto the Mud and Boundary Bay's leased beds.
This proved to be a better method.
Oyster rakers could row out to local beds. To the more distant beds they required a tow. Alf Oldershaw is at the tiller of the tow boat. During the winter months, when low tides were required, harvesting occurred only at night. Coleman lamps were used to light the work area.
The crew is breaking up clumps of imported seed oysters to promote uniform
growth and make shucking easier.
1. Rakers, Prahim Singh and Jagindar Singh piling oysters prior to loading
onto a scow.
2. Walter Beare toting baskets to be dumped onto the scow.
3. Ken Curtis and Lloyd Beare on the barrow. They later went to New Zealand
and joined the ANZACs. They were both captured in Crete during WWII.
Alf Oldershaw is on a scow which had been previously anchored over the bed at high tide. After loading, it would be floated off at the next high tide and towed back to the plant. There the oysters would be off loaded into live boxes for storage until they were sorted.
Here Oysters are being sorted into marketable, undersized and loose shell.
Undersized and loose shell were returned to the beds. Left to right: Swaren
Singh, Prahim Singh and Oudam Singh. In the background is the live box where
the oysters were stored.
Seen here is the oyster shucking plant, shell pile and live box at low tide.
Harry Truesdale is opening Pacific Oysters in the shucking shed. Pearls found
in these oysters were of no value. They were too chalky - 1942.
Harry inspecting his handiwork. The old closed-in Great Northern (GNR), now
Burlington Northern (BN) bridge can just be seen in the background.
More of Harry's handywork.
Oyster shells were returned to the beds as a base for oyster spawn. This was
called "culch". The oysters attaching themselves to the culch were
called "spat".
Sikh employees in front of the Crescent Oyster Company's tow boat "Cresoco".
Circa 1933.
Manager, Alf Oldershaw on a wagon loaded with boxes of Eastern oysters and
sacks of native oysters. They were express shipped on the GNR to either Seattle
or Vancouver. This was a flag stop at the oyster company site. Bridge tender's
house and hand propelled speeder is in the background. Circa 1928.
Left to Right: Fisheries biologists Gil Black, Roy Elsey and Edgar Black would
make periodic visits to the company to do marine research relative to oyster
growing. Circa 1933.
The current view of the reminants of the Crescent Oyster Company taken from
near the Burlington Santa Fe Bridge, west of Crescent Beach Marina.
The Crescent Oyster Company was bought out in 1957 by B.C. Packers. They had a plant across the Bay in Ladner. The C.O.C. buildings were either torn down or moved and the beds were taken over by the Packers. The old site is marked with one of the 33 Memory Stones that are situated at points of interest around Crescent Beach B.C.
For additional information on the Crescent Oyster Company contact:
Peter Oldershaw,
225 Camelot Drive,
Seabright, Nova Scotia
Canada B3Z 2Z7
Early Settlement Centers in Surrey
The early settlers of Surrey come to exploit the agriculture and forest potential of the district. They generally located their homesteads on or near the flanks of the uplands. The early farmers eagerly sought out those home sites which gave them access to fertile, easily cleared lowland prairie, yet provided sites free from periodic flooding. The early loggers tended to chose such sites also as hand-operations could easily be employed to move the timber of the uplands to the navigable waterways.
As pockets of settlement developed, names were given to them - Elgin- Mud Bay, Halls Prairie/Hazelmere, Woodward Settlement, Bothwell/Tynehead, Brownsville/Brown's Landing, Surrey Centre, Port Kells, Kensington Prairie, East Kensington, Johnston Settlement/Sullivan, Bon Accord/Port Mann.
Elgin-Mud Bay
Elgin - The only center to develop anything of a central tendency was Elgin.
Mud Bay is the agricultural area associated with Elgin. Three factors were
responsible for Elgin's development: local logging operations; its importance
as a stage stop along the Semiahmoo Road; and the establishment of a customs'
entry port. Located at the junction of the Nicomekl River and the Semiahmoo
Wagon Road, Elgin had became a center for logging operations as early as 1872.
In that year William McDougall arrived with his family to establish a small
hand-logging operation on the uplands around Elgin. For many years after this,
Elgin provided the booming grounds for all logging operations along the Nicomekl.
Logs were sorted and boomed in the Nicomekl river just west of the Semiahmoo
Road bridge.
Elgin's position as a stage stop along the Semiahmoo Road began in 1874, just after the opening of the road. A daily mail stage between New Westminster and Semiahmoo, Washington was inaugurated but was forced to stop in the spring of 1875 because of fallen trees across the road. A twice-weekly stage service was re-established in 1878 and this operated until 1891. For the benefit of passengers a six-room hotel was put up, and with its barn and blacksmith's shop it provided a rest and watering stop for the teams before the long six-mile pull over the southern uplands to the St. Leonard hotel on the International Border at Blaine. The Elgin Hotel also housed a country store and post office to service the immediate community. However, the hotel languished after the stage service was terminated with the opening of the New Westminster Southern Railway in 1891.
The Elgin Hotel was an important rest stop on the Semiahmoo Road. The
hotel with its barn and blacksmith's shop provided a rest and watering stop
for the teams before the long six-mile pull over the southern uplands to the
St. Leonard hotel on the International Border at Blaine. The Elgin Hotel also
housed a country store and post office to service the immediate community.
In 1886 Elgin was designated as a Canada Customs entry port and from then on all traffic on the Nicomekl River and along the Semiahmoo Road was required to stop and report. With the construction of the coastal rail line, the Customs Port of White Rock came into being in 1908, with offices in the Great Northern Railway Station. This port and the Port of Douglas on Coast Meridian Road made the Customs Port of Elgin redundant.
At its height Elgin contained a hotel with a barn and blacksmith shop, a community hall, a school, and a sawmill operated by the Hadden Family. It was an important port on the Nicomekl for transshipment of supplies, and sorting and booming of logs.
Early preemptors in the Elgin-Mud Bay area were Harry Chantrell, John Stewart, Alexander McDougall and family, William McDougall, Hazelton family, Edmund Wade, and William McBride.
Halls Prairie-Hazelmere
Halls Prairie - Sam Hall was one of a number of early trappers who worked
the area for furs after the establishment of Fort Langley in 1827. Sam left
behind shelters which some of the early settlers found. Sam Hall, with his
Indian wife, lived in a log cabin beside the Campbell River, and the open
grassy area around his location is still called Hall's Prairie. Halls Prairie
was not settled as quickly as the northern lowlands, but after the initial
homestead was established the region quickly developed. William Brown was
one of the first settlers arriving in 1878. By the next year, 1879, six other
homesteads dotted the prairie. Three other families named Brown joined William
Brown along with farmers Bamford and Frig, and the loggers Roper and McMillan.
As settlement and families grew Hall's Prairie school opened in 1885. Within
Halls Prairie, Hazelmere developed as a station on the New Westminster and
Southern Railway(NWSR). In addition its post office, a non-denominational
church, a general store (opened in 1906 by George Thrift), and a lumber and
shingle mill gave it a number of other activities. It center is the area around
the current junction of 16th avenue and 184th Street. However, Hazelmere declined
as a community when the NWSR abandoned the southern part of its line as far
as Hazelmere in 1910. After the Hazelmere mill burned to the ground in 1912
the NWSR abandoned the line south of Cloverdale. As White Rock began to grow
and assume the centralizing tendencies, Hazelmere reverted to its agricultural
roots. Halls Prairie school was built about a mile south of Hazelmere station
on Campbell River Road west of Halls Prairie Road. Early preemptors in the
Halls Prairie-Hazelmere district were William Brown, Archie Brown, David Brown
and family, Robert Roper, Mr. Bamford, Thomas McMillan, and Joseph Figg.
The Woodward Settlement
William Woodward preempted a piece of hillside land along the Semiahmoo Trail
over-looking the Mud Bay flats. When a stage run began between New Westminster
and Blaine along the Semiahmoo Road a few years later, the Woodward home became
the first Post Office in the district, and was also a stage stop. Other families
such as the Brewer and Dinsmore families homesteaded east of Semiahmoo Road
and the Woodward's property. With the opening of the Victoria Terminal Railway
in 1903 a station - Alluvia- developed below the Woodward Settlement where
the rail line cut the Semiahmoo Road. The abandonment of the railway and the
growth of other centers saw the decline of the settlement. The section of
Highway #99A at Highway #10 is known as Woodwards Hill.
Bothwell/Tynehead
Most of the northwest corner of Surrey was heavily forested. In 1885 three
brothers, Thomas, James and William Bothwell pre-emptied land along the Coast
Meridian Road near the head waters of the Serpentine River. Other settlers
followed behind them to engage in farming and logging. Eliiah and Edward Martin,
David Esson, John Gillis, W.C. Bournes, Charles Richardson, D.M. Robertson,
and R.S. Inglis all came within a short period of time. The Bothwell's donated
land for a church and community hall. At first the area was known as the Bothwell
Settlement but the name soon changed to Tynehead by Scottish settlers in memory
of their old home in Tynehead, Scotland.
Brownsville/Brown's Landing
Brownsville was located across the Fraser River from New Westminster. In 1861
Ebenezer Brown built the first hotel as well as the wharf that became known
as Brown's Landing. It was the terminus of the Yale Road, Semiahmoo Road,
Scott Road, and the New Westminster and Southern Railway. In 1883 New Westminster
and Surrey Councils agreed on a joint ferry service across the Fraser. This
brought Brownsville into prominence and that was enhanced with the opening
of a NWSR station by that name in 1891. At its height Brownsville had four
hotels along the road and docks leading to the ferry terminals. It had a general
store, stables, salons and a Post Office. Its decline began with the opening
of the New Westminster rail and road bridge in 1904. The remnants of Brown's
landing are the decaying pilings and docks just downstream from the Sky train
bridge over the Fraser.
Surrey Centre
Surrey Centre developed near the junction of the Old McLellan Road and Coast
Meridian Road. Surrey Municipality was established November 10, 1879. The
earliest council meetings were held in private homes around the District but
it was decided that a town hall needed to be established in a central location.
Abraham Huck donated an acre of land at Surrey Centre and a contract was let
for a building of 20 feet by 30 feet. Town Hall was completed and the first
meeting held on May 2nd 1881. The building continued to be the seat of Municipal
government in Surrey until 1912, when a fine new Municipal Hall was built
in Cloverdale. The original Town Hall was moved to the new Surrey Fairgrounds
in 1938, where it is now incorporated as part of Surrey Museum.
Abraham Huck's home was at the junction of Coast Meridian and McLellan
Roads. Next to his home he opened a store and Post Office to serve the Surrey
Center residents.
The Reverend William Bell an Anglican Minister came to Surrey in 1882 and he was instrumental in having the first church -Christ Church- in the municipality built at Surrey Centre. It foundation stone was laid August 16, 1884. The land was donated by the Huck family.The original settlers in Surrey Centre were the Hucks and the Boothroyds. In 1872 Abraham and Nancy Huck bought 320 acres of land. In addition to farming Abe built a room on to the house for a small general store, and a large barn was also built. Abe had a blacksmith shop in one end of the barn where he shod oxen and horses. The Boothroyds were the second family to come to Surrey Centre. George Boothroyd and his brother William had operated a road house near Boston Bar for miners continuing up the Caribou Road to the gold fields. In 1878 George sold his interest in the roadhouse and came down to the coast to start farming at Surrey Centre near the Hucks. The original Boothroyd home still stands on the corner of 168th Street and 60th Avenue.
In 1890 the Loyal Orange Lodge opened a hall at Surrey Centre along the Old McLellan Road. In 1891 with the growth of young families the one room Surrey Centre School was opened.
Surrey Centre remained the administrative center of Surrey, however, with the opening of the New Westminster and Southern Railway and the development of Cloverdale, Surrey Centre was soon eclipsed. A new Municipal Hall was opened in Cloverdale in 1912.
Port Kells
Port Kells - was originally founded along the Fraser River by two men both
named Henry Kells. The younger Henry Kells married the elder Henry Kells sister
Mary Ann. The brothers-in-law formed a partnership and bought one square mile
of land along the river front in what is today the Port Kells District of
Surrey and West Langley. They laid out a town site dividing the property into
city sized lots. The first post office and store was built, by the elder Henry
Kells, near the present wharf. When Henry left the district, the store and
post office were moved a quarter mile west and was owned by John Latta. After
1891 the Post Office was moved to the Port Kells station. The town site along
the Fraser River did not flourish and when the New Westminster and Southern
Railway was being built the partners gave some 16 acres to the NWSR to ensure
a station in Port Kells. The station was located at the junction of Broadway(now
Harvey Road and 190th Street at 88th Avenue). A small commercial core with
a sawmill, store, community hall, and church grew up south of the station
at Holt/Davis Road(now 88th Ave. and Harvey Road).
Port Kells never grew into the thriving town site the Kells brothers envisioned.
It had a strong agricultural base and many early settlers farmed in the area.
The spur line to the Fraser River brought logs to be dumped and boomed for
movement down the river to the mills in New Westminster. In addition a number
of small milling operations operated along the Fraser within the Port Kells
town site.
In 1918 the Great Northern Railway abandoned the line from Hazelmere to Port Kells and sold the section from Port Kells to Brownsville to the Canadian Northern Railway in 1914. Port Kells as a center languished.
In 1964 the opening of the freeway as part of the Trans Canada Highway system split the Port Kells district in half. By the 1970s the extension of trunk water and sewer services encouraged the development of an Industrial Sector along the Fraser, the CN Rail line and the freeway.
Kensington Prairie and East Kensington
Kensington Prairie and East Kensington are the agricultural areas south of
the Nicomekl River and north of the southern uplands. Kensington was a center
of logging activity for years as the logging ditch that moved much of the
logs from the southern uplands ran northward through it to the Nicomekl River.
Henry Thrift was the Clerk, collector and Assessor for the municipality for part of his career. He persuaded Council to advertise the opportunities for settlement in Surrey. The response was quick and settlers began coming into the land that Mr. Thrift had named Kensington. Edward Parr was the first to respond. Then William Figg, whose father was killed clearing land in Halls Prairie. The brothers Tom and Robert Fallowfield, Sam Walker, Elisa Pickard, W.C. Jones, James Crutchey, William Collishaw, Edward Carncross, whose brother Charles was already established.
The Johnston Settlement/Sullivan
James Johnston and sons William and Issac preempted land in 1866 on the uplands
west of the Serpentine Valley, south of Mahood Creek and between Mahood Creek
and Bear Creek. They were joined by the other sons Billy and John. They cleared
the land and homesteaded the area, but as the region developed the name Sullivan
dominated.
The Sullivan area had been a center for logging operations after 1898. Henry
Sullivan was a timber cruiser operating out of Everett, Washington. The timber
he saw in the Sullivan district was some of the best he had seen. Henry brought
his brothers Tom and Jeremy(Jerry) into the operation along with Tom Hiland.
The Sullivan's acquired the Johnston quarter section south of Mahood Creek.
Initially the Sullivan's and Hiland hand logged the immediate Sullivan District
and exported the logs via the Alluvia Station on the Victoria Terminal Railway.
Lumber and shingles were hauled by sled along a skid road from the logging
operations to Alluvia. In 1909 the Sullivan logging crews built the B.C. Electric
Railway right of way from Newton to Cloverdale. The junction with Johnson
Road became Sullivan Station, and to the west the next station was Hyland
Station(west of 144th St and south of 68th Ave, along the present Hyland Avenue).
After 1910 lumber and shingles were moved via the B.C. Electric Railway.
Hiland and the Sullivan brothers acquired property and timber rights east towards Cloverdale and west along Panorama Ridge. With a secure timber supply they opened two mills. The Hyland/Sullivan lumber mill and the Surrey Shingle Manufacturing Co. mill were located a 100 yards west of what is now the northwest corner of 64th Avenue and 152nd Street. Between 1910-1920 Mahood Creek was dredged for the Dyking District from Sullivan to the Serpentine River. Logs and shingles bolts could now be floated up to the mills at Sullivan.
Early in the new century, 1901 or 1903, a store at Sullivan began operation. It was operated by Jerry Sullivan who was the mills timekeeper and office manager. The store began as a small stock of goods stored under the counter of the mill office. However, when the BC Electric Railway line (BCER) was being constructed in 1908, a two-story building was built south of the right of way on the west side of Johnston Road. The store occupied the ground floor, with the upper floor used as a hall. Community gatherings, meetings and dances were held in that hall for many years, until the present Sullivan Community Hall was built in 1928.
The opening of the Station at the BCER junction with Johnston Road saw Sullivan
develop as a regional focus.
Sullivan Station provided an important link for the district eastward
to Cloverdale and into the markets of New Westminster and Vancouver. It was
vital for the movement of product from the Sullivan mills.
A post office opened in 1913 in the store building with Jerry Sullivan the postmaster. There was a blacksmith shop on the east side of Johnston road opposite the store, and next door was the pool room, confectionery, barber shop and brick yard. The hey days of Sullivan were 1920 to 1922 inclusive. Pacific Highway was being surfaced and was closed to traffic. For two years all traffic south from Vancouver to Blaine went via Johnson Road and Sullivan. A garage was built and operated by the Johnston brothers, Bill and Albert, who later formed Johnston Motors in Vancouver in 1923.
The BC Electric Railway was the mainstay for Sullivan District. From 1910 to the 1940s it provided transportation to New Westminster and Vancouver, carried the mail, and was used by the mills to ship shingles and lumber. Sullivan students attended Surrey High School in Cloverdale by riding the interurban.
The closure of the mills due to fires, the opening of Pacific Highway and later King George Highway saw Sullivan eclipsed by other centers.
Bon Accord/Port Mann
Bon Accord, was upstream on the Fraser River from Brownsville.
Initially, it was a location where steamboats on their way to Fort Langley
and Yale nudged ashore to take on wood and leave mail and supplies. A number
of fishermen had the shacks there. After 1891, Bon Accord developed as a station
on the New Westminster and Southern Railway. When the section of railway from
Brownsville to Port Kells was sold to the Canadian Northern Pacific railway
in 1914(Canadian National after 1917), Bon Accord became the link for ferry
and barge service to Vancouver Island. However, the CNR found it difficult
to compete with the service provided by the Canadian Pacific out of Vancouver
Harbour. After the line was purchased by the Canadian Northern the site was
renamed Port Mann.
Development of Urban Centers
in Early Surrey
The earliest settlers located in those early districts that bordered the lowlands and had access to prime agricultural land. However, as transportation patterns changed many of the original settlement centers, that had been the community focus, began to decline as larger centers with more services emerged. Those emerging urban centers were; Cloverdale, Crescent Beach, White Rock, Newton, and Whalley.
Cloverdale
White Rock
Crescent Beach and Ocean Park
Newton
Whalley
Development of Urban Centers
in Early Surrey
Cloverdale
The earliest settlers located in those early districts that bordered the lowlands and had access to prime agricultural land. However, as transportation patterns changed many of the original settlement centers, that had been the community focus, began to decline as larger centers with more services emerged. Those emerging urban centers were; Cloverdale, Crescent Beach, White Rock, Newton, and Whalley.
Clover Valley - A farming community developed between the Serpentine and Nicomekl areas in a valley heavily covered in clover. In 1873 George Boothroyd, with his family, and Albert Anderson took up land. They were joined in 1875 by Thomas Shannon and his family, and in 1877 by John Armstrong.
Cloverdale
Cloverdale developed as a north-south community along the tracks of the New
Westminster Southern Railway. The town developed south of the intersection
with McLellan Road. The NWSR Station was located across the road and slightly
south of the Starr Hotel. Clover Valley Road ran north-south and the business
community located on the west side of the road and railway. The three intersecting
railways and designation of Clover Valley Road as the Pacific Highway stimulated
the growth and development of Cloverdale. She became the hub centre in Surrey
with its administrative and commercial activities.
- On August 6, 1890 it was reported by a New Westminster newspaper that:
On the line of the Southern Railway, near the centre of Clover Valley,
a number of well-to-do farmers have laid out 160 acres as a town site, which
have been surveyed into town lots and these will be placed on the market in
about three weeks time.
This photo was taken from on top of a New Westminster and Southern rail car
looking north. It shows Cloverdale around 1910, with the Cloverdale Hotel
on the left and the Methodist Church in the background.
Thus was born Cloverdale. It developed south of the McLellan Road and its junction with the New Westminster and Southern Railway. With the completion of the Victoria Terminal Railway in 1903, the Vancouver, Victoria and Eastern Railway in 1907, and the BC Electric Railway in 1910
This is Cloverdale Station on the BCER Electric Railway in 1911. The
station was located on the south-east corner of Milton Road and Clover Valley
Road(Hwy #10 and 176th Street).
Cloverdale Station on the Victoria Terminal Railway and Ferry Company(VTRF)
was located south of Cloverdale and west of the Pacific Highway. The current
grade is that of BC Rail's Robert's Bank Railway. The Station was built in
1908 and retired in 1933. It became a Scout Hall for Cloverdale.
Cloverdale became an important railway hub, and developed as a thriving commercial core. Two sawmills, both operated by the Hadden family, operated in Cloverdale while timber supplies lasted. In 1912 Surrey's new Municipal Hall was built in Cloverdale and this established it as the District's administrative center. In 1912 Surrey High School came into being in one room of the Cloverdale Public School. Cloverdale became the focus for all Surrey students who desired an education above the sixth form. In 1913 Cloverdale acquired still another function when the Pacific Highway was opened from the Border to Old Yale road. In addition to being a railroad, administrative, and education center, Cloverdale was on the way to becoming an important highway focus as well. Cloverdale was the home of Surrey's Doctor - Dr. Sinclair, the Municipal Policeman, the Municipal Jail, the Star Hotel, a local creamery, an opera house, Surrey High School, and a number of churches.
The Cloverdale Hotel and its associated barn. Settlers could stay overnight
in Cloverdale while making rail connections up and down the valley or north-south
between New Westminster and the United States.
North of the Cloverdale Hotel and its associated barn was the Methodist
Church. Local residences marked the end of the commercial part of town. Clover
valley Road has not yet been designated "Pacific Highway". Sidewalks
were important to keep pedestrians out of the mud.
This picture was taken in 1912 looking east along the New McLellan Road
(Highway #10). The Hotel Columbia is in the foreground, with the newly opened
Municipal Hall(the twin peaks in the background). The hotels in Cloverdale
showed its importance as a railway and later a highway focus.
This picture was taken looking north along the Clover valley Road (176th
Street). The buildings shown are on the west side of the road and the railway
through the intersection links the New Westminster and Southern to the BC
Electric Railway. Both railways were subsidiaries of the Great Northern Railway.
Cloverdale continued to grow in stature even with the decline and abandonment of some of its railways. Between 1912-13, the former Clover Valley road was improved and opened south to the border at Blaine. This gravel road was finished and formally opened on July 12, 1913, being renamed the Pacific Highway. In 1917, the Great Northern Railway abandoned the remains of the New Westminster and Southern Railway from Cloverdale to Port Kells after the local sawmills closed. However, in 1923 the Pacific Highway was graded and cemented from the Border to Old Yale Road. The latter road was also graded and cemented, thus providing a high quality all-weather highway between the International Boundary and New Westminster. Cloverdale thrived as a major road transportation service center on the Pacific Highway. In 1921 the Surrey Co-operative Association emerged from the local farmers need for a feed association. The Surrey Co-op, as it came to be known, grew to be the largest consumer co-operative in the Fraser Valley.
This areal photo was taken on October 18th 1963. It shows Cloverdale's two
biggest employers the Municipal Hall and the Surrey Co-op. The camera is facing
south east.
Cloverdale's relative decline from its preeminent position in the 1920s and 30s began with the opening of the Patullo Bridge in 1937 and King George Highway in 1940. This provided a shorter route with lower grades from New Westminster to Blaine. 1940 also saw the opening of Semiahmoo High School and Queen Elizabeth High School. Surrey High School was not the only secondary school in Surrey and Cloverdale was no longer the only secondary educational center.
Cloverdale in the 1950's
The 1960s and 1970s saw other factors leading to Cloverdale's relative decline. The change of location of Surrey's Municipal Hall to its present location on Highway #10 near 140th Street. The movement of the RCMP headquarters to the general location of the Municipal Hall. The movement of Surrey's Co-op headquarters and operations to the Abbotsford area. The growth of the retail commercial centers east of Cloverdale on the Surrey Langley border. The 1980s and 1990s saw the Cloverdale region blossom as a residential area. The revitalization of its commercial areas has arrested its decline.
Development of Urban Centers
in Early Surrey
White Rock
The completion of the Great Northern's coastal line marked the beginnings
of the resort communities of White Rock and Crescent Beach. Easy access, via
the railway to the wide expanse of beach encouraged growing numbers of New
Westminster and Vancouver residents to acquire summer cottages in the communities.
The rapid growth of each of these centers was also dependent to some extend
on expanding local logging and milling operations.
White Rock
The rock that the resort community of White Rock was named after. This is
located between West Beach and East Beach below the intervening hill. This
picture was taken in 1911 and at that time cottages where built on the beach.
White Rock marks its beginnings from the opening of the sea-shore rail line, and the Dominion Government's designating White Rock as a port of entry for customs and immigration purposes in 1908. In 1910 a New Westminster syndicate took over the original townsite and began the promotion and sale of lots. The rapid expansion of summer cottages on small lots along the slopes and beach frontage of Semiahmoo Bay reached a peak in 1911. Development was centered on the area immediately behind the Great Northern Station which in 1910 was located at the foot of Oxford Street, but by 1913 the present station about one-quarter mile east of the original one was completed.
This picture taken in 1911 shows the summer cottages built behind the
Great Northern Station along the present Elm Street. Many of these homes where
owned by prominant New Westminster and Vancouver families.
The Fox and Hunter shingle mill began operating in the vicinity of the present Marine Drive and High Street. By 1911 a number of prominent Vancouver and New Westminster people had established summer cottages about the core. 1912 saw the opening of the fifty-room White Rock Hotel located on the hill east of the community core. The communities second hotel was constructed in 1914 opposite the Great Northern Station. It was destroyed by fire in January 1931.
White Rock had its present pier built with Federal funds and it was officially opened on November 14, 1914. It was built to provide a deep-water wharf facility, and extended 1,616 feet from shore. However, its primary function was, then as it is now, to serve as a tourist facility for pleasure boats, for a promenade, and for fishing and swimming. Since its construction it has acted as the focus for White Rock's summer tourist activities.
The pier at White Rock became a focus for all marine and recreational
activities. This picture was taken about 1917.
The White Rock Pier with its floats became the focus of activites. Floats
provided temporary moorage for local boaters, while the local swimming association
taught many local children how to swim as well as water safely.
In 1913 the construction of the Campbell River Mill caused another mild land boom in the east end of White Rock in the area north and west of the mouth of the Little Campbell River. The building boom resulted in the creation of a second focus of community activity. The opening of Pacific Highway brought improved road access and in the 1920s the area between the East and West developed areas - Balmers' Beach(East Beach) - developed as tourism increased. Access via the newly cemented Pacific Highway brought many more summer tourists and seasonal residents.
Balmer's Beach or East Beach emerged as a summer tourist focus with the
opening of the Pacific Highway. People had access to the beach from the Highway
and Campbell River Road. This picture was taken in the 1940s, looking east
near the bottom of the hill.
White Rock continued to grow both as a summer resort and as a permanent residential area. The creation of the White Rock Water Works in 1913 and the provision of electric power in 1915 from the Campbell River Mill greatly influenced the attraction of more year-round residents.
The development of private summer cottages on small lots along the slopes and beach frontage of Semiahmoo Bay characterized White Rock in the late 1920s and early 1930s. It was during this period that the community's resort role was firmly established.
The closure of the Campbell River Mill in 1927 brought a great change to the community. The population dwindled to about 400 permanent residents and many homes were left vacant as mill workers and their families moved out. The Great Depression brought even more difficult times to the resort community. The 1930s saw people migrating to the west coast from the prairie provinces, where the general depression was made worse by drought conditions and repeated crop failures. Many of these prairie people came to White Rock where inexpensive and available housing made the community an attractive haven. By 1937 the permanent population had increased to about 1,000. Many summer cottages had thus become permanent homes. The number of summer homes had continued to decline, until they now form a very small percentage of the community's dwellings.
A view of early White Rock's community core. The picture is looking east
showing Washington Avenue about 1923-24. The buildings include a dance hall,
store, the GNR station and the pier.
A view of the same community core in 1940. This area is immediately behind
the Station.
The improvement of roads and the widespread adoption of the automobile have been responsible for White Rock's resort role changing to a day-use or at best a weekend summer recreation role. The community is now only thirty to forty-five minutes from the metropolitan core and has emerged as a residential and retirement community. With theexpected population growth of the Lower Mainland, there will be greatly increased demands on White Rock's beaches and other recreation facilities.
In the 1950's the rapid growth of North Surrey saw the District increase its spending in that region to provide basic amenities. The White Rock area felt that it was being neglected in favour of the burgeoning north, and by special Provincial warrant the City of White Rock was created on April 15th, 1957.
Development of Urban Centers
in Early Surrey
Crescent Beach and Ocean Park
Crescent Beach
Walter Blackie, for whom Blackie's Spit is named, was the first white occupant
of Crescent Beach. He had paid $50 to Royal Engineer J.B Musselwhite on Feburary
14, 1871 for 150 acres of Crescent Beach. Blackie's home was built toward
the base of the spit near where the Burlington Northern Railway approaches
Crescent Beach from the south. The land was left to Blackie's nephew's widow,
who in turn sold it to Charles Beecher on August 11, 1906. The George Gordon
family lived in the log house built by Walter Blackie. In the early 1900s
visitors could find board and lodging with the Gordons, or use their yard
as tenting space.
In 1900 most of the settlement was on top of the bluff as Crescent proper was subject to flooding when high winds and high tides swept freely across the curve of beach land. The spit itself was composed largely of gravel. In 1901 a lodge was built on the hill above Crescent Beach and registered to Captain Watkin Williams. This lodge was located on what is now the corner of Stevenson Road(128th Street) and Crescent Road. It was used for housing hunters, eastern tourists, and later the local school teacher.
The coming of the Great Northern Railroad in 1909 made the beach easily accessible to the public, and it was not long before a real estate company - the Crescent Beach Development Association - was formed to subdivide the spit. Development began before 1911 as in that year the first waterfront lots were put up for sale and the first buildings constructed. Early Surrey Municipal maps show O'Hara Lane with lots on either side. It is logical to assume that other portions of the spit were under water at high tide, and it was not until permanent dikes were erected in 1913 that other lots on McBride, McKenzie and Gordon could be sold.
1912 was considered the boom year for Crescent Beach. This was due to local construction and promotion of the resort by the Crescent Beach Development Association. In addition to a boat house and twelve homes, the Crescent Hotel, and a pier were constructed. The dikes at the back of the beach along the Nicomekl were gradually improved, and more lots were staked and homes built. Over the years stores were built by George Gardiner and Dick McBride. In 1918 Camp Alexandra opened its seasonal camp to orphans, mothers and children.
The Crescent Beach Hotel and its associated wharf, was the center for
summer activities in Crescent Beach. It was located on the site of the current
public washrooms at the foot of Beecher Street.
Crescent Beach was then primarily a summer resort. Families would arrive by train in the summer, but return to the city as soon as school began in the fall. Even the Crescent Beach Hotel was closed every winter, with 1919-20 being the first winter it was kept open. However, a large enough permanent population existed to warrant the opening of a school in 1912. The first one room school was located on the South East corner of Tullock Road and Crescent Roads(the present 28th Ave. and 126th Street). In 1924 Crescent Park School was opened. This is the current Crescent Annex at 124th and 24th. The present Crescent Park Elementary(128th St. and 24th Ave.) opened in 1948. The Bannerman shingle mill which operated from 1914 until 1923 further added to the number of winter residents. With no further milling operations after 1923, and employment in any phase of the forest industry coming to and end by 1927, Crescent Beach's permanent population declined markedly. This decline continued until in 1932-33 Crescent Park School was forced to close due to lack of students.
Crescent Beach was primarily a summer resort. In the 1920's People could
access Crescent via the Great Northern Railway. The sun, sand and swimming
lessons provided by the Swimming Association drew many summer visitors. Blackie's
spit is seen in the background.
The summer resident influx never failed despite local economic conditions. The improvement in roads generally, and the construction of the present Crescent Road in particular permitted road traffic to bring even greater numbers of summer tourists. Crescent Beach remains important as a tourist focus.
The Crescent Beach Hotel burned down in 1949 and was not rebuilt. This did not deter the tourist-based community. Today, however, the community's resident population increases significantly in the summer time, and to this must be added the summer day-trip beach-goer. Currently Crescent Beach has developed as a year-round residential community.
Ocean Park
Ocean Park is situated on the north shore of Semiahmoo Bay midway between
Crescent Beach and White Rock. From the bluff it overlooks Semiahmoo and Boundary
Bays, Birch Point is to the south and Point Roberts is to the west. Between
the points Galiano Island, Mayne Island and Saturna Island can be seen. The
highest Island to the south is Orcas Island, one of the San Juan Islands.
The Semiahmoo of the Straits Salish occupied the southern peninsula. They
named the area Kwomais, which literally means Place of Vision as a result
of its huge bluffs and unobstructed views.
Kwomais Point at Ocean Park prior to development in 1905. Local residents
are enjoying the park like setting and the spectacular views.
In 1886 Ben Stevenson acquired a 350-acre parcel of land at Ocean Park. It was bounded on the north by Sunnyside (24th Avenue), on the east by Stevenson (128th Street), on the south by North Bluff (16th Avenue), and on the west by the waterfront. Here he built a large home with a veranda all around the outside. It overlooked Semiahmoo Bay to the west. Ben and Emelia raised a family of eight children. When the oldest child reached school age, Ben donated the land at Sunnyside (24th Avenue) and Ocean Park Road (124th Street) for a school so the children could be educated locally. This is now the Crescent Park Elementary School annex.
In 1905-06 a former Methodist Minister W. Pascoe Goard, from Winnipeg, through his agent H. T. Thrift, obtained 136 acres in what is now Ocean Park. The parcel was bounded by the present Broach (130th Street), North Bluff (16th Avenue), and the waterfront. He divided his holdings in five-acre blocks which he sold for $1,250 each to a number of men who became know as the Syndicate. The western end of this block of land was designated as a park and was named Ocean Park. Mr. Goard's object in acquiring the property was:
"to provide a place, on behalf of the Methodist Episcopal Church,
where members, preachers and others could spend their vacations near the seas
amid the beauties of nature and enjoy a period of recreation undisturbed by
outside cares." - H. T. Thrift
Mr. Goard's original plan was to make it into a Methodist Chautauqua Centre.
The Methodist Church turned down this plan, but they accepted the administration
of the property and in 1910 offered summer school. Campers slept in tents
and did their own cooking. In 1925 church union occurred and the Ocean Park
Camp became the property of the United Church of Canada, B.C. Conference.
The camp is the second oldest camp accredited with the B.C. Camping and the
oldest camp using the original campsite.
In 1909 the Great Northern Sea line route was being completed and Mr. Goard saw the potential of sales of recreational property. The Syndicate members decided to have their lots subdivided into 50' by 100' lots and put up for sale. Financial problems and the outbreak of World War I delayed the subdivision until the 1920s.
Until the opening of the Great Northern Sea line route the only way to get to Ocean Park was via the New Westminster Bridge (built in 1904), the Old Yale Road, Johnston Road, and Crescent Road. From the lodge at the corner of Stevenson Road (128th Street) and Crescent Road, the route south was a trail which in places ran through farmer's yards and involved the opening and closing of farm gates. With the coming of the railway people were able to detrain at Crescent Station and then hike the two miles to Ocean Park. Initially the Great Northern Railway authorities had refused requests for a station at Ocean Park. However, in 1912 campers built a small shed station at the foot of the hill beside the tracks and GNR accepted it and agreed to stop one train a day each way on flag. Later a Campers' Special, known locally as Dinky, was operated during the summer. It made morning and evening runs with stops at Crescent Beach, Ocean Park and White Rock. This gave people from Vancouver and New Westminster the opportunity for weekend or summer long vacations at the beach.
From the 1890's to before World War I, the Ocean Park area and the whole southern peninsula was an active logging area. As logging ended more extensive settlement began to occur. Initially seasonal homes dominated but as settlement expanded and roads improved more permanent homes were established.
The opening of the Stevenson Road (128th Street) in 1924 significantly improved car transportation to New Westminster and also to White Rock. At the time there was no North Bluff Road (16th Avenue) or Marine Drive. Residents would hike by the tracks to White Rock. In the late 1920's Marine Drive was constructed but at first it was necessary to travel from Ocean Park by the old skid road along North Bluff and down Bergstrom (136th Street) to the new Marine Drive. Two bridges had been built over the ravines on the hill down to White Rock. A bridge west of Bergstrom was not yet finished. This new road meant that it was no longer necessary to take the Stevenson, Crescent, and Elgin route to Johnston Road in order todrive to White Rock.
In 1924 an Ocean Park Hall building committee was established after Mr. Horner had agreed to give the site for the hall outright. Fund raising commenced and plans were drawn for a 40' by 28' hall. March 3, 1926 the new hall was officially opened.
The community center of Ocean Park consisted of Ocean Park Hall, a small grocery store was located at North Bluff (16th Avenue) and Stevenson Road (128th Street). In addition a 6' by 6' building was placed on the corner of 126A and 16th Avenue in 1921 by Mr. Pratt and functioned as the local Post Office. Later the Post Office was enlarged to 6' X 12' and moved to the SE corner of Stevenson (128th Street) and North Bluff Road (16th Avenue).
The Ocean Park Post Office, a 6' by 6' building, was placed on the corner
of 126A and 16th Avenue in 1921 by Mr. Pratt. Later the Post Office was enlarged
to 6' X 12' and moved to the SE corner of Stevenson (128th Street) and North
Bluff Road (16th Avenue).
Names that are synonymous with the growth and development of Ocean Park in the 1920's are; Bolton, Broatch, Carlson, Cope, Christopherson, Crux, Giblin, Henry, Howard, Hughes, Laronde, Leeson, Lowe, McArthur, Muir, Sandford, and Ringstad.
In the 1930's with the Great Depression and the drought on the Prairies a number of families settled in the Ocean Park area where a more self-sustaining life style was possible. The 1940's, specifically after the war, saw a rapid growth of the area. In 1948 Crescent Park School opened due to increased student enrolment. In 1951 the Crescent Beach/Ocean Park Volunteer Fire Department was formed under Colin McFadden. By November 1958 the 128th Street Fire Hall was completed by the volunteers themselves. 1956 Crescent Legion #10 opened to accommodate the number of veterans who had settled in the area. The corner of North Bluff and Stevenson Roads has always been the core of commercial development. In 1927 Mrs. Cope opened a small store on her farm at the northeast corner. The Ocean Park General Store was run as a summer operation only in the beginning. The store had the only gas pump and phone in the area. By 1939, Mr. Parrott and John Greene ran the store. Jim Carruth bought the store and moved it across the street to the northwest corner where is Arco service station is now located. Shortly after Carruth built a much larger store just to the north. The old store re-emerged as a Shell Station.
In the 1940s and 1950s, a number of small commercial developments opened. John McKean's Grocery store on 16th Ave at 126A Street. A hardware store with adjoining cafe on the SE corner of 16th and 128th. Pleasant Cabin Court consisting of a few cabins along the east side of 128th to 14th Ave.
1967 was a pivotal year for Commercial Development. Jimmy Milne and W. Johnson's Ocean Park Plumbing located at 12853 16 Avenue. Across the street the Saba Brothers began the first stage of the Ocean Park Shopping Centre and within two years the completed project had a total of 22 stores including a Safeway and BC Gov't Liquor Store.
Ocean Park continues to grow as a vital residential area. Its mild climate and easy access to the beach make it a preferred residential community.
References:
The Ocean Parker Vol.7, Issue 9 September 2000
O.M. Sanford The Ocean Park Story Looking Back at Surrey, Surrey Historical Society Vol. 1.
Development of Urban Centers
in Early Surrey
Newton
The upland areas of Surrey were some of the last areas to develop due to the problems of clearing the heavily forested land. The Semiahmoo Road ran through the Newton region and gave access to early hand loggers and settlers. However, the development of the BC Electric Railway in 1910 opened up the area for more extensive development. Newton Station was at the junction with Bergstrom Road(136th Street), near Newton Road(72nd Ave.). It was primarily a platform with a shed shelter and a few benches, but it gave a focal name to the area. With improved access lumber and single mills located in the area along the rail line. The Hiland/Sullivan lumber Company established a mill in Newton, the legacy of which is Hyland Avenue along the BC Southern Railway tracks. The King and Farris Lumber Company also operated a mill west of Bergstrom Road along the BC Electric Tracks. Most of its timber came out of the North Surrey area.
A small store had opened to service the mill workers, and local settlers.
It was located where Newton Fire Hall now stands. This was purchased by Lew
Jack in 1918, and developed into a much larger operation, selling groceries,
meat, clothes, shoes, stove wood, coal and lumber. In 1925 Lew Jack built
a new house near the store for his growing family. That house is now the Old
Surrey Restaurant on 72nd Avenue. The property formerly had a logging camp
located on it.
The late 1920's saw the decline in local milling operations as the supply of local lumber was exhausted. However, about that period the general depression and drought in the Canadian Prairies saw many farm families come to Newton and locate on small holdings. In addition the opening of the Patullo Bridge in 1937 and the opening of the King George Highway in 1940 saw Newton develop as a service center along the new highway.
Extensive settlement in the Newton region did not take place until logging had cleared most of the heavy trees. The heaviest settlement occurred after 1945 with the development and availablity of the bulldozer for clearing the properties. Surrey encouraged industrial growth along the BC Electric rail line to the north west of the Newton commercial core. Initially commerical development was a strip development along King George Highway and along Newton Road(72nd Ave.).
Since the Second World War the Newton District has seen significant commercial, industrial and residential development.
Development of Urban Centers
in Early Surrey
Whalley/North Surrey
With the cementing of the Pacific Highway in 1923, gas stations began operating
along the newly paved highway. In 1925 Harry Whalley opened a station right
on the triangle where the Grosvenor and Ferguson Roads meet at King George
Highway. The intersecting roads did not exist at that time but this was the
first gas station out of New Westminster, and the region became known as Whalley's
Corner.
The proximity of this area to New Westminster was important in its development. Historically most of the early settlement and development had been along the Fraser River in Brownsville, South Westminster, Bridgeview, Bon Accord/Port Mann. Most of the uplands were heavily forested with the occasional area of peat bog and scrub. Settlement did not take place until the logging had cleared most of the heavy trees. The heaviest settlement occurred after 1945 with the development and availablity of the bulldozer for clearing the properties. During the 1930's the general depression and drought in the Canadian Prairies saw many farm families come to Surrey and locate on small holdings. In 1931 Surrey had dedicated land for the establishment of Bear Creek Park. In 1937, to aid the development of the park, the District opened Bergstrom Road, which provided a north-south link to Whalley and North Surrey.
The opening of the Pattullo Bridge in November 1937 and the major water main laid across the river with the bridge, provided the impetus for more rapid settlement of North Surrey. The opening of the Big Bend Highway on June 15, 1940, along with the opening of the King George Highway in October of 1940, saw Whalley became an important transportation focus along the Trans Canada, King George and Pacific Highways. The opening of the new bridge caused a minor residential building boom as people could easily drive over the toll bridge. Lot prices where much less expensive that those in New Westminster and made North Surrey very attractive. The majority of the North Surrey residents worked north of the river in New Westminster, Burnaby or Vancouver, while the lower cost of living warranted the longer commute. The rapid population increase saw the opening of Queen Elizabeth High School in 1940 to meet the needs of a growing district. When the tolls were removed from the Pattullo Bridge in 1952, the Whalley area saw a major commercial and residential building boom.
This aerial photo is of Whalley in the 1960's.
The five corner junction was the original location of Whalley's Station that
gave its name to the district. Commerical development began as ribbon development
along the King George/Pacific Highway.
The bulk of the initial commercial development occurred as ribbon development along the highway north and south of Whalley's Corner. The late 1950s saw the Dell Shopping Center open as the first of the centralized one-stop shopping centers. The 1960's saw the opening of Surrey Place and the growing predominance of that district as Surrey's predominant shopping area. Since that period the Whalley District of North Surrey has been one of the fastest growing, most densely populated regions of Surrey.
1960 saw the completion of the Port Mann Bridge and the development of the Guildford Shopping Center. This enhanced the commecial domination of North Surrey and brought a degree of commercial competition to Whalley, the traditional commercial core. Improved freeway access also resulted in a major residential building boom in the Guildford area.
About the Author
Jack Brown
Jack Brown is a resident of Surrey. He has been a teacher in Surrey for 35 years. He graduated from the University of British Columbia in 1962 with a Bachelor of Education Secondary with majors in History and Geography. His specialties were Social Studies; particularly Social Studies 11, Law 12, History 12, Co-op Education, and Career Education.
During 1970-71 he took a year off teaching to complete a Masters Degree in Arts with a concentration in Geography. As part of his Masters program he wrote a thesis titled The Historical Geography of South Surrey, British Columbia. That thesis is located in the Library at Western Washington University and at the University of British Columbia Library, Special Collections.
The Web Page Surrey's History by Jack Brown is based on that thesis. All references and quotes can be documented through that thesis. This was an original research thesis based on original source documentation and interviews with original settlers or their descendants."
You can contact the author by e-mail at: j.a.brown@shaw.ca
http://members.shaw.ca/j.a.brown/SemiIndex.html
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A History. The city takes its name from Surrey, England. (Akrigg).
From: http://members.shaw.ca/j.a.brown/SemiIndex.html
"The Semiahmoo: a division of the
Straits Salish
The Semiahmoo belonged to a group of tribes called the Straits Salish, a division of the Coast Salish. The Straits Salish have been set off from their neighbours on the basis of language and their most important subsistence activity - reef-net fishing for the yearly runs of salmon. These tribes spoke slightly differing dialects of the same Coast Salish language which were unintelligible to speakers of neighbouring languages - the Halkomelem, the Nootka, the Puget Sound, the Nooksack language groups - if they spoke only their own language. The Straits Salish were distinguished by their annual round of subsistence activity based on the yearly runs of salmon; the most important of which was the sockeye run to the Fraser River.
They took these sockeye runs in reef-nets set in salt water channels off the southern shore of Vancouver Island and in the Gulf and San Juan Islands. This fishing technique contrasts with those used by neighbours both to the north and to the south, fishing in streams with small mobile nets or with weirs and traps. Associated with reef-netting was...a great stress on the private ownership of the fishing locations.
To the Straits Salish belong the tribes Sooke, Songish, and Saanich of southeastern
Vancouver Island, and the Semiahmoo, Lummi, and Samish of the mainland to
the east. The territories extended from the tip of Vancouver Island, across
the Gulf and San Juan Islands to the coastal fringes of northwest Washington
and southwestern British Columbia. They occupied a continuous area across
the present International Boundary.
Suttles, Post contact culture Among the Lummi Indians
The Territory of the Semiahmoo
The territory of the Semiahmoo included the eastern shore of Point Roberts,
the shores of Boundary Bay, the drainage basins of Dakota, California, and
Terrell Creeks, the shores of Semiahmoo Bay and Drayton Harbour, and the shores
of Birch Bay. To the north of the Semiahmoo was a small Halkomelem speaking
group call the Snokomish. Their territory included the shores of Boundary
Bay, and the drainage basins of the Serpentine, Nicomekl and Campbell Rivers.
They intermarried with the Semiahmoo, shared a weir site near the mouth of
the Campbell River, and shared a common hunting territory. This was perhaps
stimulated by trade with Fort Langley as the trade route went through Snokomish
territory. Shortly before 1850 the Snokomish were almost entirely wiped out
by a smallpox epidemic. The few survivors joined the Semiahmoo and the Semiahmoo
became heirs to the Snokomish territory.
Semiahmoo Political and Social Structure
The Straits Salish had no political organization, and internal unity or structure
was lacking. Strictly speaking the Semiahmoo should not be called a tribe
- a European term for classifying native peoples. Rather they were clusters
of autonomous households often within shouting distance of one another.
Political Stucture
Political organization as Europeans understand it was lacking. Among the Semiahmoo there were only autonomous households. These, singly or in small groups, formed recognizable villages, and groups of these villages formed recognizable units that we now call tribes, but neither village nor tribe had any formally separate machinery of government. Kinship, community of interests (resulting from common residence), community of habitual acts, and speech were the basis of recognized units. These were the ties that bound the Semiahmoo People. Weaker ties of the same sort united the peoples of the Straits Salish.
Suttles, Post Contact Culture Among the Lummi Indians
Social Stucture
Semiahmoo society was divided into politically and economically independent
households. Each plank house held several families united by bonds of kinship.
Household heads were usually brothers or male cousins, who took wives from
outside the household. The marriages within the community brought a unity
by kinship and co-operation, but there was no formal political organization.
In addition to being loosely organized, Semiahmoo society was stratified. It was divided into an upper and lower class of free men and a class of slaves. Slaves were primarily war captives or the descendants of war captives. They were usually treated well but they were given the menial and less pleasant work to do. Free men were identified as high or low people.
High class people were people with advice, that is, people who knew how to
behave properly and who knew their history. Low class people were people without
advise, and therefore they did not know how to behave properly. They were
people who had lost their histories.
Suttles, Economic Life of the Coast Salish
Upper class men possessed a knowledge of good manners and of their own heritage. They had inherited privileges which were valued highly. Lower class men lacked this.
Semiahmoo Encampments
Sites occupied by the clusters of households of the Semiahmoo were of three
kinds: permanent villages, temporary summer encampments and forts.
Semiahmoo encampments known to exist between 1791, the first white contact; and the 1850's, the beginnings of white settlement.
Permanent Villages
The permanent villages were centered around Semiahmoo and Birch Bays. These
clusters of rectangular plank dwellings were winter retreats of these semi-sedentary
people. This habit of seasonal convergence was very important as it established
and preserved their tribal distinctiveness. The original sites of permanent
villages were Tongue Spit, Drayton Harbor, Birch Bay and Campbell River. The
principle Semiahmoo village was on Tongue Spit - a narrow natural tidal formation
which separates Drayton Harbor from Semiahmoo Bay.
Two rows of houses belonging to upper-class people stood on the west side
of the butt of the spit facing Semiahmoo Bay and extending to the little point
to the south-west.... On the inside of the spit, facing Drayton Harbor, was
a row of houses belonging to lower-class people.... The two settlements met,
forming an inverted V with the apex at the point where the spit narrows. At
this point was a burial ground.
The narrow part of the spit, between the burial ground and the trees which grew on the broad outer end, was divided into a number of family owned locations for raised duck nets. A few people lived out on the end of the spit. Among the crabapple trees there was a well which gave brackish water. Beyond the end of the spit were clam beds, possibly also family owned. People trolled for salmon directly in front of the village.
Suttles, Economic Life of the Coast Salish
This permanent camp on tongue Spit must have existed before initial white contacts, as it is not shown on a 1791 map made by the Spanish explorer Jose Maria Narvaez, nor on Admiralty Charts from surveys by G.H. Richards of H.M.S. Plumber between 1858-62, nor is it shown on Wilkes map in 1841.
The houses clustered on the eastern shore of Drayton Harbour across from tongue Spit, between the mouths of Dakota and California Creeks, were shown on the Narvaez map in 1791 and on Wilkes map in 1841. These houses were associated with a fort (located on the present site of Blaine) which was constructed about 1830 as a result of the increased harassment from northern Indians.
The location of permanent villages on Birch Bay is vague. Sites are not shown on any of the early charts, and other accounts are conflicting. However, it is believed a small number of Semiahmoo lived on Birch Bay. They were extinct by the middle of the century, either as a result of a smallpox epidemic or as a result of an attack by the Klallam.
Within living memory the only existing Semiahmoo settlement has been Campbell River. This camp had been in existence since the 1850's, and as a definite site since 1857 when the British Boundary Commissioners established a base camp near by in 1857. In the 1880's it is believed to have consisted of three sites. G.H. Richard and H. Kellet in the Admiralty Surveys reported that:
....one on each side of the graveyard on the northwest(White Rock) side of
the mouth of the Campbell River, and one beyond the little hill on the southeast
(boundary) side of the mouth of the river.
Suttles, Economic Life of the Coast Salish
Eventually these sites were included within the present Semiahmoo reserve.
The winter dwellings of the Semiahmoo were rectangular wooden houses perhaps 30 to 50 feet wide and 50 to 200 feet long. The house was usually built parallel to the water. Its roof was usually the shed type, that is, having a single slope, with the higher side of the house facing the water.
The illustration shows the typical construction of a winter dwelling.
By the 1880's or thereabouts most of the old plank houses had been destroyed, and were replaced by houses built mainly in the old style but of lumber, shakes, with gable roofs, and vertical wall planks.
Temporary Summer Encampments
With the coming of spring inhabitants of each permanent center radiated over
the acknowledged Semiahmoo territory, setting up shelters at favoured spots
for claming, egg gathering, bulb digging, and fishing. The most significant
temporary summer camps were established on Cannery Point, Point Roberts and
at Crescent Beach.
The Cannery Point camp on the Point Roberts Peninsula is located at the southeastern tip, and was an important reef-netting site. The reef extends toward the southeast from Cannery Point and the reef-netting grounds were by far the largest in the whole area. In the latter part of the nineteenth century, locations on this reef were owned by Semiahmoo, Lummi, Saanich, and even Malahat. Behind the point at the base of the hill is a spring which supplied the camp.
No one stayed at Cannery Point the year round due to its exposure. However, in June, July, and August it seethed with activity. In these temporary campsites the fishermen constructed small houses of mats or large pieces of cedar bark on a pole frame. Four upright poles were used to make a shed-roofed structure. On the beach in front of the houses ran the frying racks, about 14 feet high, the whole length of the beach.
Captain George Vancouver in his journal, described the Cannery Point campsite.
Here (Point Roberts) they landed to dine near a large deserted Village capable
of containing at least 400 or 500 Inhabitants, tho it was now in perfect ruins
- nothing but the skeletons of the houses remained, these however were sufficient
to show their general form structure and position. Each house appeared distinct
and capacious of the form of an oblong square, and they were arranged in three
separate rows of considerable length; the Beams consisted of huge long pieces
of Timber placed in Notches on the top of supporters 14 feet from the ground,
but by what mechanical power the natives had raised these bulky beams to that
height they could not conjecture. Three supporters stood at each end for the
longitudinal beams, and an equal number were arranged on each side for the
support of smaller cross beams in each house.
C.F. Newcombe ed. Menzies Journal of Vancouver's Voyages April to October, 1792
What Captain Vancouver saw must have the frames of houses or the drying racks upon which they put their fish.
This is a small camp along the Eastern shore of Point Roberts. Formerly, Cannery Point on Point Roberts had been a seasonal center for many Straits Salish Peoples to communally fish the Fraser summer salmon runs.
A second temporary summer camp was located at Crescent Beach. This had been Snokomish territory until a smallpox epidemic wiped out the group and the Semiahmoo took over their territory. A weir site was located at the mouth of the Nicomekl River, and the tidal mud flats was a good clam digging area. Wild berries, especially cranberries, found in the flood plains of the Serpentine and Nicomekl River made Crescent Beach an attractive summer site.
Temporary summer camps where in locations easily accessable by water. The frames of the habitations would be used from season to season.
Semiahmoo Forts
The third type of structure associated with the Semiahmoo Band were the forts
- one located on the present site of Blaine, the second located on the bluff
in present Ocean Park, Surrey. The Semiahmoo forts were constructed during
the early part of the nineteenth century. They came into being due to the
increase in raids from northern Indians, or in response to the forts built
in the area by the Hudson's Bay Company - for example, Fort Langley in 1827.
Raids by northern Indians became more frequent after 1800, especially the
southernmost Kwakiult group, known locally as the Yukulta.
The Yukulta evidently received firearms a few years earlier than the Salish;
they already had muskets in 1792. This advantage, perhaps added to a culture
that already valued aggression, enabled the Yukulta to expand from their original
homes....they raided the Coast Salish, going as far south as Puget Sound,
and even ascending the Fraser River a short way. They killed, looted, and
carried off women and children as slaves. These activities persisted until
the 1850's or even later.
Suttles, Post Contact Culture Among the Lummi Indians
The fortifications were probably built around 1820-1830. One Semiahmoo fort
was at the present site of Blaine, north of the mouths of Dakota and California
Creeks. The fort is said to have been built in 1830 and destroyed by white
miners during the Fraser Gold rush of 1858. The Semiahmoo fort was described
as consisting of a stockade around two plank houses, with tunnels leading
from inside to loopholes in the bank in front of the stockade. Inside were
two poles upon which baskets of flaming pitch were hoisted to light the surrounding
area at night.
Suttles, Economic Life of the Coast Salish
The second Semiahmoo fort was constructed on the bluff overlooking Semiahmoo and Boundary Bays. The following description of the fort is part of an article written by the late Mr. Henry T. Thrift of White Rock.
Among the earliest evidences of development in this area was the entrenched
Indian fort or camp, located on the crest of the bluff about one quarter mile
north of the line of the North Bluff Road. It commanded an extensive view
of the waters of Mud Bay, a part of Semiahmoo Bay and also Point Roberts.
It was excellently situated for defense, facing the open water on the west,
with a sheer bluff practically to the water's edge. North and South it was
defended with a deep ravine on each side, running inland for a considerable
distance. From the terminations of the ravines a deep ditch connecting them
was excavated. The earth so moved formed a high bank or breastwork, the entrance
being towards the south side of the structure, and enclosing possibly about
a half acre of ground. The surface of the enclosure appeared to be quite level.
Henry T. Thrift, Surrey Leader, Nov. 11, 1954
With the advent of British law and order with colonial status for British Columbia in 1858, Indian wars decreased and the forts fell into disrepair.
Semiahmoo Subsistence Activities
The subsistence activity dominant among the Semiahmoo people was the production
of food. This took several forms because of differences in cooperation, ownership
of equipment and resources, and methods of exploiting nature's food sources.
Gathering
Gathering vegetal food and shellfish was primarily the work of women. Some
foods could be gathered at any time, others only in season; some foods could
be gathered at a variety of places, and others only in specific locations.
Vegetal foods which received the greatest attention were roots, bulbs, fruits, and berries. The Camas bulb, a variety of Lily, was dug from the natural prairies behind the winter villages. The bulb was steamed, then dried before storage. Camas bulbs are sweet-tasting, and as one of the few sweeteners used, they were no doubt greatly valued. Other bulbs gathered were from the tiger-lily and fritillaria. Roots of a native carrot, clover, and the brake-fern were also gathered. Crabapples grew in abundance in tidal foreshore areas. They were gathered in August or September and put away to ripen in winter. Rose hips were also eaten. A variety of berries were gathered to be eaten fresh, or dried for winter use, or sold by the basket to the Hudson's Bay Company. Blackberries, salmonberries, blackcaps, salalberries, cranberries were picked by the women as they came into season. Some of the berries would be dried, and the raisin like product would be stored for winter. With the growth of the San Francisco market, as a result of the discovery of gold in California, the cranberry trade developed. The Hudson Bay Company at Fort Langley induced the Indians to gather the berries that grew in profusion on the marshy lands of the Fraser delta.
Gathering vegetal food and shellfish was primarily the work of women.
Here Women are drying berries in the sun prior to winter storage.
Shellfish were an important food source as most varieties could be gathered at any time of the year when tides were sufficiently low. The greatest activity was in the summer, and while most shellfish were eaten fresh, clams were cured for winter use. The large expanse of tidal mud flat in Boundary Bay and Semiahmoo Bay provided an excellent gathering area for marine invertebrates. Cackles, edible mussels, native oysters, sea cucumbers, crabs and clams were gathered easily. Crabs and clams, however, were the most important. Crabs were steamed and eaten fresh, while clams of all varieties, were also steamed and eaten fresh, or roasted and dried for winter use. Favorite Semiahmoo gathering areas existed off Tongue Spit, Point Roberts, Crescent Beach, and Birch Bay.
Hunting
Hunting was a year round subsistence activity carried on by men. Waterfowl,
and animals, and sea animals were hunted with a great number of techniques
and a variety of weapons.
The Semiahmoo territory with its extensive river mouth marshes and tidal flats was rich in waterfowl. A great number of techniques for taking waterfowl was used, including nets suspended from poles, net suspended under the water, nets on poles held in the hand, spears, arrows, slings, and perhaps snares. Tongue Spit was one of the best places on the coast for raised duck nets, and several pairs of poles were raised.
Hunters used the raised duck net at dawn or dusk, when waterfowl are likely
to fly but visibility is poor. A man stood at each pole holding the line and
when a flock of birds hit the net, the men released the lines, letting the
net drop with the birds in it.
Suttles, Economic Life of the Coast Salish
Swimming and diving ducks were caught with nets suspended under the water,
usually in feeding areas frequented by the ducks.
Hunting land animals was definitely less important than fishing or hunting waterfowl. However, deer and elk were hunted with bows and arrows or driven into nets in group drives, or caught in pitfalls and snares. Bears were also hunted with bow and arrow or trapped with deadfalls. Smaller animals were taken frequently, but the trapping of beaver, raccoons, river otters, mink, fishers, martens, muskrats for their pelts became more frequent after Fort Langley was established in 1827, and the use of metal traps was encouraged by the Hudson's Bay Company.
Fishing
Fishing was the dominant subsistence activity of the Semiahmoo People. A variety
of fish were taken by a number of fishing techniques. However, salmon was
the most important fish caught, and reef-netting was the most important technique
for catching salmon. The Semiahmoo had two important reef-netting locations:
a large flat-topped rock near Birch Point, believed to belong to the Birch
Bay people; the Cannery Point, Point Roberts was a Semiahmoo location shared
with the Saanich and Lummi groups. The Point Roberts reef-netting grounds
was by far the largest and most productive in the whole area. It was from
these grounds the bulk of the winters food supply came.
The reef extends towards the south-east from Cannery Point. Along it fishermen
set their gears to form a great arc. There was room for at least 14 gears
side by side, sometimes with the canoes of adjacent gears gunwale to gunwale.
Beyond this arc in deeper water there was room for an indefinite number of
more scattered gears. Each of these positions was a location, owned and inherited,
and with its own name....
The stream of sockeyes that comes northward through Rosario Strait follows the mainland shore into Boundary Bay, then wheels to the left across the shallow flats and pours over the reef and around Point Roberts to the Fraser.
Suttles, Economic Life of the Coast Salish
Communal net sites were located on the south eastern tip of Point Roberts.
The fish would be taken a shore at the temporary summer camp site and dried
in the wind and sun. Cannery Point, Point Roberts was a Semiahmoo location
shared with the Saanich and Lummi groups. The Point Roberts reef-netting grounds
was by far the largest and most productive in the whole area.
The strategically located reef-nets intercepted this seasonal salmon migration.
Reef nets were anchored to the reef and angled away from the direction
of the salmon migration. The end of the net was attached to floats to keep
it on the surface. Part way along the net a rope was attached. When a school
of salmon swam up the net the middle of the net was drawn up by the occupants
of the canoe trapping the salmon.
The fish were split, spread apart with splints, and placed on drying racks to dry in the wind and sun. Smudge fires would be built under the racks to discourage flies. When the fish were cured, they were taken down and packed for winter storage. Sun-dried fish would keep all winter.
Salmon were split and spread apart with splints, and placed on drying
racks to dry in the wind and sun. Smudge fires would be built under the racks
to discourage flies and enhance the taste.
The distribution of reef-netting seems to have corresponded closely to the areas within the course of the sockeye run and also to have corresponded rather closely to the distribution of the Straits Salish language.
People used reef-nets where ever they could most profitably use them and those
who used them spoke the same language. This suggests that the distribution
of the reef net and the distribution of the language are historically related.
Either the language spread with the spread of the technique or the language
was able to hold its own against others only where the technique gave its
speakers a sound economic base.
Suttles, Economic Life of the Coast Salish
Sturgeon seems to have ranked next to salmon in importance as far as the Semiahmoo
were concerned. Sturgeon are scavengers feeding off the bottom in shallow
bays. They were plentiful in Boundary Bay where they were harpooned from canoes.
Fish racks dotted the shoreline in areas where fish could be easily taken.
Fish split and dried in the wind and sun could then be stored for winter.
This was the staple food supply for the Semiahmoo.
Herring were taken in winter and spring as they spawned in eel-grass beds. They were taken by impaling them on sharpened teeth set into a rake-like implement. Smelt were also taken in August and September as they spawned on the sandy beaches of Semiahmoo Bay and Boundary Bay. They were taken with herring rakes or with small hand-held nets.
The Semiahmoo also built fishing weirs in the latter part of the nineteenth century. The weir sites were at the mouths of the Campbell and Nicomekl Rivers, both in former Snokomish territory. When the Snokomish became extinct as a result of a smallpox epidemic, the Semiahmoo took over their territory and their weir sites. The weir consisted of a framework of upright posts, driven into the river bottom, in a line straight across the steam. An opening in the weir led into a large rectangular enclosure. A cylindrical trap was also attached to the weir.
Fish weirs similar to this one on the Cowichan River, were constructed
by the Semiahmoo in the mouths of the Nicomekl and Serpentine Rivers.
The fish which were stopped by the weir could be gaffed by fishermen in moored
canoes. The fish which found their way through the opening and into the enclosure
could be taken with gaffs from there. Those that turned back went into the
cylindrical trap and found themselves high and dry and unable to move.
Suttles, Economic Life of the Coast Salish
Fall salmon runs into Dakota and California Creeks as well as the Campbell
and Nicomekl Rivers were taken with dip nets, gill nets, and trawl nets.
The History of the Semiahmoo
Pre-white Contact History, pre 1791
Before European contact with Northwestern North America their influences were
noticed among the Straits Salish people. In 1790 estimates of population placed
the Semiahmoo at 300. About 1782 the west coast experienced its first smallpox
epidemic, and losses everywhere were heavy. This was nearly ten years before
the first Spanish explorers ventured into the strait. European influences
were also seen in the few trade goods which reached the straits from Interior
Indians and Vancouver Island peoples. To the Semiahmoo, European trade goods
probably became available through other Indian groups after 1785.
In the pre-white contact period the Semiahmoo people were dominantly a fishing, especially reef-fishing, oriented community. Land hunting and trapping were not important. The cultivation of plants was not part of their culture. Their culture also lacked clan organization, political organization, or religious organization. Households were autonomous units, and life within them was at the subsistence food gathering level. Inter-tribal warfare, while not unknown, did not dominate life or influence it unduly.
Effects of Early European Contact
Initial White Contact. 1791-1850
The Spanish were the first Europeans to see the Semiahmoo people. In June 1791 Don Francisco Eliza in command of the San Carlos, and the schooner Santa Saturnina under the command of Jose Maria Narvaez set out to make an examination of the Strait of Juan de Fuca and El Gran Canel de Nuestra Senora del Rosario la Marinera(the Gulf of Georgia). In early July the Narvaez expedition anchored in Semiahmoo Bay, near the mouth of the Campbell River, commanding the entrance to what is now known as Drayton Harbour - named by Narvaez as San Jose. Narvaez's Chart shows the location of the Semiahmoo Indian Village and Lake Terrell.
In 1792 Captain George Vancouver began his survey of the coast, and on June
12, 1792 he entered and began a reconnaissance of Semiahmoo and Boundary Bays.
Contact with the Semiahmoo was not made, as no description of them or their
campsite was given, except that of the unoccupied fishing camp on Point Roberts.(see
Subsistence Activities - fishing)
James McMillan, in the winter of 1824, led a party from Fort Vancouver on the Columbia River north to locate a site for a fort - Fort Langley - near the mouth of the Fraser River. Traveling north through Puget Sound the party reached Semiahmoo Bay on December 11, 1824. Due to bad weather, the party camped near the mouth of the Campbell River for two nights. Details of the location of the Semiahmoo camps is not recorded, but local people showed the expedition the route to the Fraser via the Nicomekl and Salmon Rivers.
Establishment of Fort Langley
Fort Langley was established as a Hudson's Bay trading
post in 1827, and after 1839 the post became an important center for agriculture;
supplying Russian posts in Alaska, and Hudson's Bay posts on Alaskan territory
leased from the Russians. The fur trade and agricultural interests at Fort
Langley had a distinct influence on the Semiahmoo people. A culture that had
previously been subsistence hunting and gathering now became oriented towards
the sale of these commodities to Fort Langley. White contact, through Fort
Langley, brought a number of new commodities to the Semiahmoo.
After the first decade or so the staple items of trade had become blankets,
muskets, powder, shot, cloth, molasses, rice, bread, and biscuits. Secondary
items used as presents included tobacco, beads, buttons, brass wire, chisels,
needles, thread, knives, scissors, stockings, and apples.
Wilson, The Impact of the White Man
Potatoes were probably introduced by the Fort Langley traders soon after 1827.
Potatoes were generally planted and dug up by women, and their cultivation
and use fitted rather easily into native gathering practices.
Trapping of land animals, which was not very important in pre-contact times, grew in importance with the market for furs provided by the traders. The introduction of the steel trap further stimulated this activity. Practices associated with hunting, the use of the snowshoe; and with skin-dressing, the use of smoke in tanning were introduced by Hudson's Bay Company employees.
Measures of wealth also changed. Added to canoes, nets, fine skin garments, slaves and native blankets as items of wealth were guns, traps and Hudson's Bay blankets. Other items introduced by whites were tobacco and alcohol.
Firearms, introduced by the beginning of the nineteenth century changed the character of hunting land game and sea-mammals. The gun also changed the balance of power among the coastal Indians. Raids by northern Indians who had received guns as early as 1791 grew with intensity. The increase in raids resulted in defensive measures - largely the building of forts or stockades. The two Semiahmoo forts were probably built in the 1820's or 1830's and their design might have been inspired by the forts built by the whites.
Population Decline
The decline in Indian population was very noticeable in this contact period.
In 1854 the Semiahmoo band's numbers were reduced to 250.* Raids by Northern
Indians and smallpox epidemics were largely responsible for the decline. Smallpox,
however, was not the only disease that cut deeply into the Indian population.
Epidemics of measles, influenza, tuberculosis and others also took their heavy
tools. Shortly before 1850 the Halkomelem speaking Snokomish were almost entirely
wiped out by a smallpox epidemic. A few survivors joined the Semiahmoo and
the Semiahmoo became the heirs to the Snokomish territory.
*Suttles, Post-Contact Culture Among the Lummi Indians
In the early 1850's the bulk of the Semiahmoo settled just north of the present
International Boundary near the mouth of the Campbell River, to use the former
Snokomish village site and weir site. This was the location of the Semiahmoo
camp when the first white influx and settlement occurred.
The Arrival of White Settlement
The late 1850's, after 1857, and the early 1860's were probably the most significant
years in Semiahmoo history. During this period white influences remade the
native economy, and modified the native culture. The subsistence food gathering
life was replaced as the Semiahmoo people actively took up employment within
the white society. The Catholic Church made great progress and virtual wholesale
conversion was achieved among the Semiahmoo. The Semiahmoo Camp became a focus
for surveyors, miners, and trails from Semiahmoo Bay. By the end of the 1860's
the Semiahmoo economy and culture hardly resembled that which existed in 1850.
Missionaries
There was apparently little contact between the Semiahmoo
and Christian missionaries until the early 1850's. Regular contact with priests
began only after the arrival of the Oblate Fathers, who established their
headquarters at Esquimalt in 1857. A report by Father Louis D'Herbonez, dated
February 15, 1861 and printed in the Oblate Quarterly, says that the Semiahmoo
had then built their chapel in preparation for the missionaries visit. The
church referred to was built in the 1860's and was located east of the mouth
of the Campbell river, slightly east of the present day Legion Camp*.
*Mamie Charles, Interview February 12, 1971
Arrival of White Settlement
Boundary Commission
The most significant early white impact upon the Semiahmoo came from the International
Boundary Survey Commission beginning in 1857. The British party attached to
the Boundary Survey Commission, in cooperation with a similar body from the
United States, set out to mark out the boundary along the forty-ninth parallel.
The party consisted of about 100 men, including men of the Royal Engineers.
This British party erected their headquarters on a little strip of open land
near the mouth of the Campbell River, right next to the Semiahmoo winter camp
- the former Snokomish site. The site was chosen as it was just north of the
forty-ninth parallel, it was partially clear, contained a fresh water supply,
and the Campbell River channel provided water access over the tidal flats.
Boundary Commission ships HMS Satellite and USS Active in Semiahmoo Bay
to support land operations. Semiahmoo People are in the canoes in the vicinity
of the ships.
While at this site the Commission employed about 30 civilian axemen, the largest proportion coming from the Semiahmoo Band. In 1857 the Commission troops constructed about a mile and three-quarters of good road long the shore of Semiahmoo Bay(Beach Road) between the boundary and their headquarters. This road ran through part of the Semiahmoo winter camp.
Early Trails
In 1858 the British Columbia gold rush began. This brought a rush of white
miners into the Semiahmoo territory and caused a short flurry of road construction
in the area. In order to control the influx of miners the British Columbia
Government announced on July 25, 1858 that a trail was to be built from Semiahmoo
to Fort Langley. The route chosen was from the mouth of the Campbell River,
very near the Semiahmoo winter camp, following the north bank for about four
miles, and then turning northeasterly across country to Fort Langley. On this
trail men of the Semiahmoo Band were employed as axemen.
The Effects of Early Contact. 1857-Present
This route brought a great rush of white miners through the Semiahmoo camp.
One result was the spread of smallpox during the 1862 epidemic, resulting
in heavy Semiahmoo losses. The route also encouraged the growth of Semiahmoo;
a community across the International Boundary on the former Semiahmoo campsites
at Tongue Spit and the present site of Blaine. This community became the last
American depot for miners to acquire supplies before leaving for the Fraser
and Cariboo gold fields. The building of this miner's staging camp - Semiahmoo
- resulted in the destruction of the Semiahmoo fort in 1858, and the destruction
of the few remaining traces of a camp on Tongue Spit.
Semiahmoo was booming at the time(July 1858); town lots were being sold, even in Victoria, and it proclaimed itself as the future metropolis of Puget Sound, and the entry port to the mines. Draper, Early Trails and Roads
Semiahmoo men where employed on many of the trails and roads constructed
within the area of the present Cities of Surrey and White Rock.
Adapting to the influx of Settlement
Throughout the 1860's Semiahmoo men were employed as axemen in a number of
ventures. In July 1859 J.W. Trutch entered into a contract to survey a large
tract of land, in preparation for settlement, within the present City of Surrey.
Trutch began his survey of the Coast Meridian from the point were the International
Boundary intersects the shoreline of Semiahmoo Bay. A number of the Semiahmoo
were employed as axemen on the survey, and Trutch established his camp at
the former Boundary Commission camp at the mouth of the Campbell River. In
1865 the ill-fated Overland Telegraph reached New Westminster from the United
States. Its route passed through part of the Semiahmoo camp as it followed
the Beach Road constructed in 1857. A few Semiahmoo men may have been employed
on this project.
As the white population increased and traditional hunting and gathering became more difficult, the Semiahmoo adopted some of the agricultural practices of their new neighbours. However, farming never became a full time occupation with any of the Semiahmoo. Cattle were kept, but they grew wild grazing in the unfenced bush land of the reserve. Small gardens for domestic produce were kept, and small orchards were established - the remnants of those orchards can still be seen today.
The growth of logging in the district in the late 1870's provided employment for many of the Semiahmoo men. Logging also provided other means of income, such as charging logging companies for moving logs over Indian property. For example, as logging increased a skid road was constructed east of Stayte road in the 1890's. Logs were moved down the skid road to the Campbell River and then boomed for movement to market. The Campbell River was part of the Semiahmoo Reserve, and the skid road crossed Chief Charley George's property. Chief George set up a gate at the end of the skid road where a charge of $1.00 was made for dumping logs into the river. The gate was usually tended by Chief George's wife or his daughter Mary.*
*Mamie Charles Interview February 12, 1971
The Decline of Reef-netting
As the white influx continued, and the men of the Semiahmoo band took employment
with various groups, reef-netting still remained an important subsistence
occupation among band members. However, even the fisheries was not free from
white encroachment.
Sometime probably in the early 1880's a white man name John Waller squatted
on Cannery Point because of the spring there. He is said to have cut down
the drying racks and whatever of the houses were there, built a fence with
them, and refused to let the Indians camp on the point. This was probably
before 1886...
After being driven off Cannery Point, the reef-netters established their camp on the next point north,...later called Goodfellow's Point for the white man who used the place.
Suttles, Economic Life of the Coast Salish
In the late 1880's a few canneries had been established on the south arm of
the Fraser River at Ladner and Steveston, and around Drayton Harbor. They
began buying sockeye so that Semiahmoo fishermen were fishing for money as
well as for subsistence. This commercial fishing brought renewed interest
in reef-netting among the Semiahmoo.
In 1892, fish traps constructed by white men began creeping out into the bay north of the reef, blocking the locations. In 1894 the end came for most reef-netters when the Alaska Packers completed a continuous line of traps which cut off most of the reef.
The U.S. Attorney-General filed suit for the U.S. Indians on the grounds that their treaty rights had been violated, but in 1897 the court decided in favor of the trapmen. In 1934 the traps were outlawed and at present a few whites are operating reef nets at Point Roberts.
Suttles, Economic Life of the Coast Salish
The Semiahmoo Reservation
In 1855 the Oregon Territorial Governor met with representatives from most
tribes north of Seattle. The Lummi people were persuaded to sign away all
but the peninsula upon which their villages stood.* Although the Semiahmoo
did not sign the treaty, they were expected to occupy the reservation with
the Lummi. No separate reservation was ever provided for them in the United
States.
*Suttles, Economic Life of the Coast Salish
However, most of the Semiahmoo had settled just north of the border by the
1860's. Yet, a reserve for the Semiahmoo was not established until the 1880's.
The reason for this lag was a disagreement between the Provincial and Federal
Governments on the amount of land to be allotted in a reserve.
Ottawa maintained that at least 80 acres per family of five was required.
The Province replied that coast tribes would not use that much land, and set
a maximum of 20 acres per family for future reserves.
Wilson, The Impact of the White Man
The Semiahmoo reserve that was finally established in 1887 is small, 328 acres,
and is bounded by Semiahmoo Bay to the south, Campbell River Road to the north
and Highway 499 to the east. The original reserve grant was 390 acres, but
over the years land has been taken away for the Great Northern right of way
in 1907, for part of the 23 acres of the Canadian Peace Arch Park dedicated
in 1921, and for part of the right of way for the King George Highway in 1939,
and the Deas Island Highway(99)in 1962.
The Semiahmoo People in the 20th Century
By 1900 the traditional way of life for the Semiahmoo was gone forever. The
influx of white settlement about them made a hunting and gathering culture
impossible. The establishing of the Semiahmoo reserve and the end of reef-netting
due to traps marks the period when the Semiahmoo find it necessary to adapt
fully to white society, and to seek employment within the white economy.
In 1909 there were 38 band members in British Columbia as compared to 250 in 1854.* In 1963 the number had reached 28**, and the population in 1971 was 25***. The most marked decline occurred during the smallpox epidemics of 1862 and 1888.
* F.W. Hodge ed. Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin #30
** Wilson, The Impact of the White Man
*** Mamie Charles Interview February 12, 1971
By the turn of the century the remaining members had adjusted to and worked
within white society. The old ways of living being largely forgotten as each
year passed. When White Rock's first one-room school opened in 1910, Bernard
Charles (later Chief) and his sister Bertha were among the first class on
nine local children. Mr. Bernard Charles' daughter Eleanor was the first Semiahmoo
Band member to graduate from Semiahmoo High School, and his son Bernard was
the second.
From the turn of the century until 1930, band members were employed in local logging and sawmilling operations and in the Blaine canneries. To the Semiahmoo the most important sawmill was the Campbell River Sawmill which operated on the reserve from 1913 to 1927. After the closure of the mill in 1927 band members had to find employment in the logging industry(but in areas remote from the reserve), local construction, and on municipal works. Today, the few band members living on the reserve find employment within the United States or within Greater Vancouver.
Some limited revenue for the band has been forthcoming in recent years by leasing portions of the reserve. 172 acres of the 328 acres in the reserve have been set aside for recreational lease. Surrey Municipality in 1947, 1948, 1957 and 1977 leased the 172 acres on a 20 year renewable arrangement. This arrangement was suspended in 1998. Additional 20 year renewable leases have been granted to private individuals or organizations to develop private residences or group camps. The International Order of Odd Fellows, the Canadian Legion, Hiawatha Public Campsite, and a number of private residences have been built on this land along Beach Road overlooking Semiahmoo Bay."
HISTORY OF MULTICULTURALISM IN CANADA
Canadian
Heritage - Multiculturalism
Canadian
Multiculturalism Arts and Culture Resources
HISTORY OF NEW WESTMINSTER - 'Royal City'
From:
Timeline
"New Westminster Timeline Introduction
New Westminster played a key role in the development of British Columbia and Western Canada, from its beginnings as the "Royal City" to the present day..."
(Note from G. Wiebe - 'royal cities' have Scriptural significance...see more under RESEARCH page - Biblical Input section)
"...1850
gold rush
1858
The Gold Rush and Royal Engineers
Governor James Douglas requested aid from the British Government to keep law and order because of the gold rush and the influx of miners. The Royal Engineers under Colonel Richard Clement Moody were dispatched from England.
The Colony of British Columbia was proclaimed at Fort Langley..."
(Note from G.Wiebe) -- It appears FORT LANGLEY is the other part of the TRIANGLE??? (which I had in a dream - Gateway region, New West. and I felt there was another one - I think Fort Langley - this would make sense after reading this!! - This is another place God is situating artists - and shares the same river, etc. and has been like a gateway...)
"...source: BC Archives
1859
A Site for the Capital
Colonel Moody gave his reasons for selecting the site of "New Westminster" as the capital of the Colony. This siting of the capital was proclaimed by the Governor.
The first residence was built by WJ Armstrong. First religious service was held (Wesleyan Methodist). First sale of town lots was held. The first school was built at the Royal Engineers' Camp. Surveying of the site was progressing "as fast as the weather will permit".
"The Royal City"
The new town: the capital: was named New Westminster - the name was chosen by Queen Victoria. (Formerly the site was known as Queensborough or Queenborough) From this naming by the Queen, the city gained its nickname, "The Royal City"..."
(Note from G.Wiebe) -
I have a sense this name is likely prophetic for what it's supposed to yet
become in God's purposes for this region.)
"...1860
Proclaimed a City / First "Mayor"
New Westminster was proclaimed as a city by the Governor and in this proclamation became the oldest city west of the Lakehead. The first municipal election was held: Leonard McClure elected as President (Mayor).
1866
Colonies Unite
The Colonies of British Columbia and Vancouver Island were united as one with New Westminster as the Capital..."
(Note from G.Wiebe) - possibly also prophetic of what's to come in a spiritual sense as these regions are moving into their God-ordained purposes??
"...1871
A Province
The combined colonies became a province of Canada known as British Columbia.
1872
The City was incorporated
The City of New Westminster was incorporated.
1878
New Openings
The B.C. Penitentiary and Provincial Lunatic Asylum (Woodlands) were opened.
1883
Board of Trade Opened
The board of trade (now Chamber of Commerce) was established.
1884
Ferry System
First regular ferry system across the river at New Westminster was started by the ferry "K de K"
1886
Railway Link
The CPR reached New Westminster.
1898
The Great Fire
The City's downtown area was destroyed by fire..."
(Note by G. Wiebe) A lot of FIRSTS were started in New West...also, all three - New West, Fort Langley and Brownsville (Gateway/Whalley region) were very dependant on the RIVER - might this also be prophetic of the coming dependency of these regions on the RIVER OF LIFE??
"...1904
First Bridge
The first bridge, the Fraser River Bridge, was opened. (This is the railway bridge "under" the Pattullo Bridge)
1929
Exhibition Buildings Destroyed
The Exhibition Buildings in Queens Park were destroyed by fire.
1937
The Pattullo Bridge was opened.
1963
A Sister City
New Westminster commenced a Sister City relationship
with Moriguchi, Japan. New Westminster was the first city in Canada
to do so with a a Japanese city.
Moriguchi Marker - http://www.nwheritage.org/heritagesite/history/content/cityhall.htm
In 1963, New Westminster and Moriguchi, Japan, became sister cities, the first
twinning of a Canadian and a Japanese City in Canada. This marker commemorates
that achievement which continues through regular visits by delegations and
student exchanges.
Quezon Marker : This marker commemorates Quezon
City in the Philippines, New Westminster's sister city since 1991
http://www.nwheritage.org/heritagesite/history/content/cityhall.htm
1973
Canada Summer Games
Canada Summer Games were held in New Westminster and Burnaby.
1980
The B.C. Penitentiary closed.
1986
Westminster Quay and Skytrain
Westminster Quay projects were under way and SkyTrain service commenced. The Alex Fraser Bridge opened. The old B.C. Penitentiary site was sold as a housing development
1990
The SkyBridge was opened.
1995
Justice Institute Opened
Justice Institute opened on the site formerly occupied by the Douglas College temporary campus.
1996
Woodlands Closed.
1997
Quezon becomes Sister City
A Sister City relationship with Quezon City in the Philippines was begun.
1999
Casino, Skytrain Extension, and more...
The Royal City Star Destination Riverboat Casino arrived at the New Westminster waterfront. Construction began on the Fraser River Discovery Centre as part of the Casino building. Construction of the SkyTrain extension to Coquitlam, etc. began. Glenbrook and Queensborough Middle Schools planning and construction were underway. New playing fields opened at "Terry Hughes" park and at the Justice Institute/Canada Games Pool."
+++
Coat of Arms
http://www.city.new-westminster.bc.ca/symbols.htm
http://flagspot.net/flags/ca-bc-nw.html
+++
From:
http://www.foundlocally.com/Vancouver/Travel/Near-NewWest.htm
"Twelve kilometres east of Vancouver, New Westminster
predates Vancouver, and was originally proposed as the provincial capital.
It was founded in 1859 by Colonel Moodie of the Royal Engineers, and named
by Queen Victoria that summer. In 1860, it became the first incorporated municipality
west of the Great Lakes. During the 1860s it was the boomtown that supplied
the Fraser River Gold Rush. It was originally known as the "Royal City"
and until 1866 was the capital city of the mainland colony of B.C. Thereafter,
until 1868 it was the capital of the joint mainland and Vancouver Island colony.
Unfortunately, by the late 1860s, the gold rush had ended, and its importance
as a commercial centre declined, prompting the Crown to shift the colony's
capital to Victoria. In many ways, the city resembles
San Fransisco, with its hills, waterfront, and gold rush history.
Today New Westminster, often shortened to "New West," is a bustling freshwater port. It is nestled in the middle of Greater Vancouver, between Burnaby to its north, Coquitlam to its east, and Surrey and Delta to its south. The Pattullo Bridge, formerly a toll bridge, has long been nicknamed the "Pay-Toll-O Bridge". The city is now a cluster of modern (and historic looking "post-modern") architecture in the middle of Vancouver's sprawling suburbia. The "SkyTrain" commuter light rail transit line between Surrey and Downtown Vancouver (27 minutes away) has three stops in New Westminster."
Royal
City Start Casino
Gateway
Casinos
HISTORY OF ORIGINAL CITIES WITH THESE NAMES
A
Brief History of Guildford, Surrey - England
History
of Brownsville, England
History of Surrey INDEX
http://members.shaw.ca/j.a.brown/Surrey.html
For more info:
GenealogyResearch@city.surrey.bc.ca
Surrey Public Library
www.spl.surrey.bc.ca
+++
From:
http://www.homelifebc.com/offices/207/history.stm
"When Surrey was incorporated
in 1879 it required at least thirty male residents over 21 to sign
the incorporation petition. As there were only 35 males who qualified, Surrey
just squeaked through and the municipality was born.
From the beginning, Surrey Council was interested in development. Around 1885, a number of fishermen who lived in shacks by the Fraser River were persuaded by Council to take up land on what is now 104th Avenue. As an inducement, Surrey promised to name the road after the first purchaser, and the honour went to Hans Christian Hjorth. Hjorth did not stay long, and returned to his native Norway. He was never heard from again, but his name lingers on.
The first regular crossing of the Fraser River was in 1882 via the steam ferry, "K de K", which transported wagons and passengers from the Brownsville Dock, at the foot of Old Yale Road, to New Westminster. It did not take Surrey long to realize that the ferry was inadequate and that they needed a railway to the United States. New Westminster faced the same problem, and in cooperation with Surrey and the New Westminster Board of Trade, the New Westminster Southern Railway was quickly built, from Brownsville to the U.S.
Since it did not at first connect with New Westminster, a strong steel bridge with a centre swing span was built in 1904, and it still serves the area. The Patullo Bridge was not built until 1937, and was initially a toll bridge. After the tolls were removed Surrey began to move ahead rapidly, hampered only by a severe water shortage. The Municipality continued to shape into what is now known as Surrey's five town centres - Whalley, Guildford, Newton, Cloverdale and South Surrey.
Several significant symbols of the past remain today to remind us of our heritage such as Surrey's first church, the Anglican Christ Church. It was built in 1884 and is still standing today."
From:
http://www.foundlocally.com/Vancouver/Travel/Near-Surrey.htm
"Surrey stretches from the Fraser River
along Vancouver's southeast, south to Boundary Bay and the U.S. border. It
is sandwiched between Langley to the east and Delta to the west. The City
of Surrey, "The City of Parks," boasts a relaxed lifestyle, with
more than 400 parks encompassing more than 3,000 acres, many of which are
in their natural state. With 371 square km, Surrey is also the largest
city in BC's Lower Mainland and the second largest in population at 350,000
people. The city takes its name from Surrey, England.
Surrey used to be mostly rural, with some environmentally important areas, like Mud Bay. Its rural lifestyle is still reflected in the Cloverdale Rodeo ("rated No. 1 in North America") and great antique shopping in the Cloverdale area. Surrey incorporates five townships, each with its pockets of people: Whalley in the northwest, Guildford (which is the center of business), South Surrey (also known as Sunnyside, with its beaches), Newton and Cloverdale.
Surrey is in close proximity to five major highways, four railways, deep-sea docking facilities and an international airport. The Skytrain rapid transit line means Vancouver is less than 35 minutes away via public transit
Surrey History
Surrey was mostly occupied by trappers, squatters and drifters, until its
first settler, James Kennedy, arrived in 1861,
buying a pile of land for $1 an acre. It was incorporated in 1869 with under
1,000 residents of 200 square km. The Cloverdale area
was first settled around 1870 by the Shannon
brothers, Joseph, William, and Thomas, and was named the "Clover Valley"
after the wild clover growing everywhere.
Surrey's first city hall, built in 1881, is now part of the Centennial Museum. When the New Westminster-Southern Railway linked Bellingham and New Westminster in 1891, a station was built near the present town center and given the name "Cloverdale". Cloverdale became a major transportation centre, with three railways running through it in its heyday (two are still in operation today).
In 1883, the ferry "K de K" began to cross the Fraser River from Brownsville to New Westminster. Logging became the main industry and the cleared lands opened excellent farmland, and in 1888, Surrey had its first agricultural fair. The New Westminster-southern Railway was built in 1891, the first two telephone agents (where people could use the telephones for a fee) opened in 1885, and the first newspaper "The Surrey Times" which appeared in 1895.
In 1904, the Fraser River Bridge was built, and road links between communities grew stronger. The Cloverdale are experienced a major land boom in 1910-1911, and many of the buildings in the downtown core date from this period. In 1923, the Pacific Highway (176 Street) from Bellingham to New Westminster was paved, and it became the main highway connecting the lower mainland with Washington State. In 1925 Harry Whalley opened a gas station where the King George Highway now meets 108th Avenue, now known as Whalley's Corner. In 1945, the first Cloverdale Rodeo was held with the slogan "The West Goes Wilder". Today it has grown to be the second largest rodeo in Canada, second only to the Calgary Stampede.
In the 1940s, as Vancouver's housing price climbed quickly, Surrey also grew. This continued into the fifties and sixties saw continued growth and change, including the incorporation of White Rock as a city. Surrey became a city in 1993.
Annual festivals, events:Colverdale Rodeo (May), Surrey Fall Fair (mid-Sept), Surrey Hydrangea Blossom Festival (August), Harness Racing (Oct-April). "
+++
History
of Vancouver
http://www.seegastown.com/dates/dates.htm
As you are aware, while Gloria was here, and since then, it seems God has increasingly been revealing, bit by different, some of the spiritual roots and history of the Gateway region, and dealing with us re various issues that seem to be strongholds in this region...ie. the Isaiah 6 principle - ie. woe is me, for I am a man of unclean lips....a people of unclean lips...the principle seeming to be that if God wants to use us in a region, He needs to first deal with those same sin issues in our lives...
We feel He has also shown us, bit by bit, how what He wants to do in the Gateway
region is also connected with what is happening in Guildford, New West, Fort
Langley, etc. It seems He is gradually revealing more and more of how this
is part of a MUCH bigger picture than we had originally thought!!!!!
The following is an excerpt from an email I just sent Gloria the other day
to update her a bit...hope it helps put my previous email in context...would
appreciate your prayers about this, too, that if this is right, God will continue
to confirm it and continue to lead us to the next steps and show us how to
pray and keep bringing those He wants us to be involved with here as He continues
to lay the foundations and build things... (I changed the words to GOD here
since this email to you is not being sent to Gloria in Turkey)
"...about 2 weeks ago, in conjunction with a bunch of other things that
God was revealing re the Gateway region, etc., and in the midst of connecting
me with others, I had a VERY interesting night....I had a dream about a stretch
of New Westminster (directly across the river from Brownsville - at the base
of Pattula Bridge on the Surrey side) and felt compelled to do some internet
research on that at night...which led to some very interesting things which
I feel God put on my heart which I'll try to write down sometime and share
with you perhaps another time..it seems like God just keeps unfolding things
more and more and showing how this is all just part of such a bigger picture!!!
I also felt like Fort Langley is a part of a 'triangle' that I felt Him put
on my heart that night, too...and when I mentioned this to Jan shortly thereafter
when we were talking about this, she also felt like something significant
is related to all of this there...having to do with some of the strongholds
in the region - I believe that both the negative and the positive things in
these regions are things that God is wanting to address - to bless us with
the positive things and see the negative things restored by His glory and
power for His Name's sake... I also felt that the name ROYAL CITY for New
West, considering it's origins, etc., too, is possibly a prophetic name that
God has for this region - based on His original intentions for this region!
I had this dream about me walking along the railroad tracks by the river at
the New West. Quay - and then a scene of the remains of the old penitentary
which is located a little ways down the road... this region where both scenes
took place is where New West. began...and of course it is named after Westminster
in the UK....another UK name with possible spiritual effects here...Jan is
hoping to do some research on that when she goes to visit her family in Britain
in about a month or so for some weeks... I had a feeling that God was saying
that all of what happened there in New West., as the first capital city of
BC, and of course that particular region which was the initial area established
in New West., right by the river, across from Brownsville/Surrey's initial
major historical base/Gateway, also had great significance to what He is wanting
to do in Gateway and perhaps even the Lower Mainland? I'll have to see whether
New West. or Vancouver was established first...wouldn't it be interesting
if New West was? (and as you can see from the email I just sent you, it WAS
established first!)
Anyway, I also had some sense about the Gateway region, New West. and another
region locally being part of a 3-some that were significantly tied together...I
had a sense the other place may be Fort Langley - and when I shared this with
Jan, she said she sensed that that could be right. Anyway, we'll see where
this all leads...
But after that I did a word study, more this time than when you were here
last Feb., on gates, gateways, etc. in the Bible...wow, Gloria, it is totally
blowing me away!!! It is just becoming more and more clear how vital this
region is!!!!..."
Anyway, I hope this helps to put it in context!
Thank you soooo much for your prayers!! as we keep seeking Him step by step!!!
With much love and appreciation,
Grace
Hey there Jan!
A couple interesting things for you to pr. about as able...
Some important dates...keep in mind what we've been talking about and what
Father seems to be revealing about Surrey, New Westminster and Fort Langley
being key places in terms of sp. history of the Gateway and indeed Surrey
(etc.) region!
Now it is becoming clearer why those 3 places were key to this area! They
were the first regions incorporated in this area! - even before Vancouver!
So whatever happened in these regions greatly affected Vancouver and have
indeed affected the whole Lower Mainland!
Hudson's Bay at Fort Langley established 1827
In 1859, New Westminster is named the capital of British Columbia.
City of New Westminster incorporated July 16, 1860
Canadian confederation July 1, 1867
City of Surrey incorporated 1879
City of Vancouver incorporated April 6, 1886
Interesting, hey??!! The plot thickens....
Lots of love,
Grace
IMPORTANCE OF GATEWAY / NEW WESTMINSTER PORT
Did you know?
That there were hundreds of steamboats on the Fraser River. Even more than
the Mississippi
From:
http://www.getawaybc.com/story.cgi?id=1151§ion=9
"In 1913, the Fraser River Port Authority was created to oversee development
of the rapidly growing New Westminster port. What began
as a small local port is now, ninety years later, Canada's second largest
port, employing 10,700 people and moving 23 million tonnes of cargo each year.
Thats definitely something to celebrate! So the Fraser River Port Authority
is kicking off a series of 90th anniversary events beginning this May.
May Events
View a fascinating, historical exhibit about
the working river at the Fraser River Discovery Centre throughout the month
of May, as well as other informative displays. Or join a walking tour of the
boardwalk at Westminster Quay (departing from the Discovery Centre). For hours
and more information, phone the Discovery Centre at (604) 521-8401."
Gateway / Whalley region used to be called BROWNSVILLE
- birthplace of Surrey - First Nations very established here beforehand:
Coast Salish/Stolo/Kwantlen peoples
PEOPLE OF THE RIVER - Stolo
Initial steamboat to New West
Ferry
Railroad
First roadway
Town
Sawmill
Major 'gateway' to the west
NEW WESTMINSTER
CONNECTIONS TO GATEWAY REGION - see HISTORY OF NEW WESTMINSTER
From: http://www.nwheritage.org/heritagesite/history/index.htm
Across the river from Brownsville - share the same river and bridge, Brownsville
began as an offshoot? of New West...