History and Heritage of BC: Vancouver Island in the 1800s

After the dawn of a new millennium, it's interesting to peek at just a few of the events that helped shape Vancouver Island's past. Our Island has been occupied by humans for more than 12,000 years. One thousand years ago, it was home to many different groups of Native Indians. Five hundred years ago, the first Europeans arrived on the scene.

1830s
	William McNeill of the Hudson's Bay Company, captain of the Beaver, visits the Island and reports favourably on one particular area at its southern tip.

1840s
	James Douglas organizes a team of men who will build Fort Victoria on the east side of a sheltered harbour called the Port of Camosack.
	The treaty between Great Britain and the United States defines the continuation of the 49th parallel as the boundary between the two countries.
	Paul Kane, well-known Toronto artist and Victoria's first tourist, paints Fort Victoria and other local features.
	The HBC builds Fort Rupert just south of Port Hardy in order to develop coal mines in the area.
	Captain W.C. Grant, Vancouver Island's first independent settler, buys land and settles at Sooke.
	Vancouver Island is made a colony, and the HBC moves its headquarters from Fort Vancouver on the Columbia River to Fort Victoria.

1850s
	Richard Blanshard becomes the first Governor of Vancouver Island, but resigns and returns to England after only 18 months.
	Coal miners down tools at Fort Rupert, precipitating the Island's first strike.
	Coal discovered near the Nanaimo River.
	Discovery of gold on the Fraser River lures thousands of immigrants, mainly from the south, to Victoria and the mainland, and sparks formation of a mainland colony.
	Negroes offered land and freedom under the British flag.
	The Island's first newspaper, The Victoria Gazette, is quickly followed by the French-language Le Courier de la Nouvelle Caledonie, and by The British Colonist.

1860s
	Alberni Indians erect barricades around their land in an attempt to thwart its purchase by the British.
	Gold finds in the Cariboo draw immigrants from Britain, Australia and New Zealand, and overland from the east.
	Smallpox decimates Indians on the Island and up the coast.
	The bride-ship Tynemouth brings young brides from England.
	Victoria is incorporated as a city.
	Gold find on Leech River sends gold-diggers scurrying to Sooke.
	Vancouver Island and mainland colonies unite to form one colony called British Columbia, with Victoria as its capital.

1870s
	First coal-miners strike at Nanaimo lasts seven months.
	British Columbia becomes the sixth province to join confederation, much to the dismay of many who feel it should have joined the United States.
	Commercial sealing commences out of Victoria.
	Steamship Pacific collides with Orpheus off Cape Flattery - one man saved, 275 lives lost.
	Victorians are horrified to learn that the transcontinental railway will not, after all, cross to the Island.
	The first telephone in British Columbia rings in Victoria.

1880s
	Esquimalt & Nanaimo Railway built by Robert Dunsmuir.
	Telegraph lines connect the west coast with Europe.
	Door-to-door mail delivery, electric street lights and streetcars come to Victoria.
	Indian Act makes potlatching illegal.

1890s
	The discovery of gold in the Klondike brings gold-seekers to Victoria.
	New parliament buildings - not yet opened - illuminated in honour of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee.
	Victoria & Sidney Railway service inaugurated.
	Crowded streetcar crashes through Point Ellice Bridge into Selkirk Water - 55 lives lost.

More Island Moments by Danda Humphreys

	1500s - 1700s	1940s
	1800s	1950s
	1900s	1960s
	1910s	1970s
	1920s	1980s
	1930s	1990s

	Events in British Columbia's History	History & Heritage Main Page

This information, researched and written by Danda Humphreys, appeared in a special Millennium Issue of the Victoria Times Colonist, December 31, 1999.

"Step Back in Time" Heritage Walks and Talks.
Tel: (250) 382-8029
Email: danda@dandahumphreys.com
Website: www.DandaHumphreys.com

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