Rich Lands
The path that British Columbia took to become the province it is today has been marked by the abundance of natural resources that make up its geography. This webpage provides additional information on how the relationship that humans have with these important parts of our economy, sustenance and culture have changed over the years and are constantly evolving.
Lesson 1 – Pre and Post Contact 1700-1810s
Lesson 2 – Industry Development 1778-1900
Industry development timeline, from 1778-1900. Click on the point for each date to read about the industry advancements that went on during that time.
🌲1778- 1820
Douglas fir trees are used to make masts for sailing ships. James Cook started this practice when he arrived in Nootka Sound. Western red cedar bark was a popular material for waterproof clothing among many BC First Nations as it is rot resistant.
🐟1830
Fort Langley trades salmon with Indigenous groups and sends salted salmon to countries overseas. The Sto:lo and other Nations traded salmon with fur traders. Fort Langley also began salting fish for preservation and shipping it abroad. Two hundred barrels of salted salmon are shipped abroad. It is especially popular in the Hawaiian Islands.
🏞1833
The Lafarge company was born in Le Teil, Ardèche, France. Joseph-Auguste Pavin de Lafarge began regular extraction operations in the limestone quarries. This company would expand in the 1950s to 1970s and begin extracting gravel from the area now known as Lafarge Lake in Coquitlam.
🌲1847
The Hudson’s Bay Company builds the first sawmill in BC in Victoria called Millstream Mill. It was built in Esquimalt harbour, on a creek that was named Millstream creek in honour of the mill. Ironically, the creek was not powerful enough to power the mill all year round so it became a flour and sawmill at HBC’s Craigflower farm 6 years later.
⛏1849
The Hudson’s Bay Company began mining in Fort Rupert on the northern tip of Vancouver Island after the Kwakawaka’wakw of the area brought an HBC clerk coal and explained that the material was precious to them and would not permit them to work the coal but would instead mine it themselves and sell it to them. The coal was considered the best in the British Empire and created further incentive to colonize Vancouver Island.
⛏1850
A prospecting party begins searching for coal in Nanaimo, Snuneymuxw Chief Che-wich-i-kan talked about black stones being plentiful in his area while on a trip to Victoria.
🟡1851
Placer Gold discovered in Haida Gwaii. There was a quartz vein full of gold at Lax Kw’alaams, then called Fort Simpson. A HBC representative was taken to the vein by two locals and their child. While the three were chipping gold pieces, the child stayed with the canoe and minded the gold they brought back. On their last trip back to the canoe, they found that the child had dumped all of the gold into the water. This turned out to be one of the only fruitful quartz veins in Haida Gwaii. There was another at Skidegate that the Haida people would quickly gather all of the gold from after each dynamite blast by European miners before they could get to it
⛏1852
First shipment of Nanaimo coal is sent on a ship named Cadboro to Victoria. Most of the coal was collected and loaded by individuals from the Snuneymuxw First Nation who were paid with Hudson’s Bay blankets and other goods for every twenty barrels of coal.
⛏1854
To own and access the rich coal deposits in Snuneymuxw Territory (now the city of Nanaimo), the Treaty of 1854 is created. Treaties were designed to take over property rights of Indigenous people to their land for settlers, resources, for both. The Treaty of 1854 was one of the 14 Douglas Treaties on Vancouver Island.
🟡1856
Gold discovered in the Thompson River by a member of the Secwepemc nation. The presence of gold was kept secret until it was traded with fur traders at Fort Kamloops. This began the Fraser River Gold Rush that brought roughly 20,000 prospectors to the area.
🟡1857
A sample of 800 ounces was sent to San Francisco by James Douglas for assaying. Prospectors, mostly Americans, flooded to the area. James Douglas was worried the Americans would try to take over the territory.
🟡1858
New Caledonia is renamed British Columbia by Queen Victoria after James Douglas petitioned for the area to be made into a recognized British Colony to secure the land away from the Americans.
🟡1859
Credit: Rare Books & Special Collections, University of British Columbia, Douglas, James, RBSC-ARC-1300-13-104
Governor of British Columbia, James Douglas, creates the Gold Fields Act to control how gold is mined. It required miners to obtain a free miner’s certificate for a fee of 1 pound, that grants them free entry to explore for minerals. They could then stake a claim to any area on Crown Land. The size of land a miner could claim was regulated under the act. BC still operates under the Free Mining System.
🟡1860
Barkerville becomes the center of the Cariboo gold rush. Named after William Barker who found gold in the nearby Williams Lake, Barkerville saw the first Chinese community in Canada. The community provided services to the 20,000 prospectors.
🟡1861
Gold is discovered on Upper Peace River. The river was prospected for years but there was not much gold to be found, and it did not inspire more intense mining or exploration, especially considering how difficult the area was to access. There were no trails, and the weather and terrain were very rough.
⛏1862
Hudson’s Bay Company sells the mining rights to the Nanaimo area coal to an Englishman named James Nichol. He forms the Vancouver Coal Mining and Land Company for the purpose of mining and selling coal from the Nanaimo area.
🟡1865
Barkerville’s population is 30,000 people, surface placer gold is running out (gold that is found mostly above ground and mined through gold panning).
🐟1867
James Syme cans salmon for the first time in Annieville, marking the beginning of the salmon canning industry in BC. It was in operation in an old saltery for 3 years and produced award winning canned salmon. A provincial depression, thanks to the end of the gold rushes, halted sales.
🟡1869
Omineca region gold rush begins. The Peace River Prospecting Party found gold in Vital Creek. Many creeks in the area had gold so plentiful that miners would find 100 ounces a well. That’s equal to $100,000 a week today.
🐟1870
First commercial salmon cannery opens in Annieville. The Annieville Cannery was opened on the Fraser River across from New Westminster by Alexander Loggie and Co. There was also a slattery on site for processing lower quality fish which were fish that was covered in salt and/or soaked in a salt-water brine as a way of preserving it. In their first operating season, they exported 30,000 1-pound cans to England.
🛤1871
British Columbia becomes the sixth province to join Canada. The province agreed to join Confederation on Prime Minister John A. Macdonald’s promise to build a railway across the country, through the Rockies, to connect the western most province.
🛤1876
The Indian Act is created to control the lands and lives of Indigenous, Metis, and Inuit peoples. The goal was to assimilate vast and varied culture into European society by forbidding their governance and culture. Government officials would determine people’s rights and benefits based on good moral character.
🐟1877
The Columbia River Skiff boat is introduced and makes fishing easier in more open waters. It has a round bottom hull and sharp ends for easy gliding while using drift nets which are walls of fishing nets that cross the salmon’s path. The majority were owned by canneries and rented to fishers.
🐟1881
Machines make the process of canning salmon faster and more efficient. The gang knife cuts fish into uniform pieces the length of the can using circular blades. Conveyor belts and soldering machines for sealing cans dramatically increased efficiency.
🐟1882
Phoenix Cannery opens in Richmond. The Phoenix Cannery was the oldest cannery in Steveston, situated on what would become known as “Cannery Row.” It was also known as English Cannery after its owner Marshall English. It burned down in 1895 and was rebuilt by the Anglo British Columbia Packing Company.
🐟1883
The Bon Accord Hatchery is created to try and increase the number of salmon. Salmon numbers had been in decline and the hatchery’s aim was to increase the number of fish returning to the Fraser River.
🛤1885
Canadian parliament passes the Chinese Immigration Act meant to discourage Chinese people from entering Canada by charging a $50 head tax and limiting the number of Chinese people allowed on a vessel coming to Canada. This was the first piece of Canadian legislation to exclude immigrants based on ethnicity.
🛤1886
Canadian Pacific Railway completed. Export of BC lumber to eastern Canada and internationally. Railway extensions were built to reach logging camps for easier transport and export.
🐟1887
Japanese immigrants arrive to work building boats, as fishermen, and in the canneries. They came to escape poverty in their villages in Japan by fishing during the annual salmon run. Many also worked as boat builder along the waterfront. Steveston saw a large boom in Japanese immigration.
🏞1888
Temple Frederick Sinclair employs James Fox to assist him in the removal of rock from the quarry along Pitt River that is later to become the Gilley Quarry in Coquitlam. Sand, gravel, or crushed rock excavated from a quarry is called aggregate. Aggregate is used in construction to create stable foundations for things like roads and railroad tracks.
🌲1889
Canadian Western Lumber Company, also known as Fraser Mills, founded on the banks of the Fraser River. It became the largest mill in the commonwealth and second largest in the world. Most of the workers for the first 20 years of operation were Chinese, Japanese, and Indian.
🐟1890
Wilmont Commission creates regulations to try and control the salmon fishing industry. Samuel Wilmot did extensive surveying of the fishing industry and decided to implement regulations on net size, the number of boats and canneries, and annual closures for canneries. There were frequently hundreds of boats on the Fraser River at one time before this commission. It was not well received and only lasted 2 years.
🌲1892
Steam-powered donkey engine, introduced from the US, replace oxen. The steam donkeys increased the speed of work and volume of timber that could be logged, but they also increased the danger to the workers.
🐟1893
Fraser River Fisherman’s Benevolent Association is formed to help fishermen deal with cannery owners, specifically to maintain the price they were paid for their fish. They were the first union of fishers in BC. Their other priorities were to ban American boats from the Fraser River and exclude Japanese fishers from the industry.
🐟1894
Licenses for canning production is lowered due to a decrease in demand for canned salmon. The economy slowed down during this time around the world. Shipping salmon internationally and domestic buyers lessened. The number of canneries on the Fraser River went from 24 – 9 between 1893 and 1895.
⛏1898
The East Kootenay Coalfields begin production. It is still the largest producer of coal in BC. The decision and interest to mine was based mostly on the upcoming need for fuel for the imminent southern leg of the Canadian Pacific Railway. Towns like Fernie popped up rapidly in the wake of the growing economy.
Lesson 3 – Worker’s Stories & Tools 1900s
The Vancouver Island Coal Strike
Vancouver Island War
Highlighting the 1912-1914 Big Strike in Vancouver Island coal mines.
Miners vs Dunsmuirs
A snapshot of working in Dunsmuir-run coal mines in the 19th century.