George Vancouver

“ Vancouver, accompanied by Lieutenant Broughton, left Falmouth on the 1st of April 1791 and proceeded by way of the Cape of Good Hope to Australia, where he carefully surveyed part of the south-west coast, especially King George's Sound, whose value as a harbour he pointed out. ”

“ Being a Monday, no boat ran to Victoria from Vancouver, and so I had to part with my friends and nearly all the other passengers at Westminster Junction, whence they went on to New Westminster. I reached Vancouver at two o’clock, and after securing comfortable, not to say luxurious, quarters in the brand-new C.P.R. hotel, strolled down to find out about H., and discovered that he and his brother were located at the famous Driard Hotel in Victoria. ”

“ Already they have most of the things that make citizens pleased and proud—a beautiful site, fine streets, the most splendid of public parks, water-ways innumerable in front, and, behind, a country good to look at and rich in potentialities. Vancouver's industries, even if they do not justify the size of the place, are important and prosperous; and its propinquity to the salmon fisheries and vast timber tracts of British Columbia is something which alone would make a great town. In tone it is new world compared with Victoria, but old world compared with Seattle. ”

“ They catch the earliest hint of sunrise, they hold the last color of sunset. Twin mountains they are, lifting their twin peaks above the fairest city in all Canada, and known throughout the British Empire as "The Lions of Vancouver." Sometimes the smoke of forest fires blurs them until they gleam like opals in a purple atmosphere, too beautiful for words to paint. ”

“ Vancouver city, the terminus of the C.P.R., on the mainland, has 25,000 inhabitants (1901) . Until May 1886 its site was covered by a dense forest. In two months it had grown quite a town, then a fire destroyed every house save one. It lies on the fine Coal Harbour, a widening of Burrard Inlet. It is easy to see what a fine city is to be here one day.
I found the Vancouver hotel large, comfortable enough, but ordinary. Stanley Park is the Government reservation, and contains very old and gigantic trees— what a magnificent land, another of the heritages of the British race. ”

“ When the British company abandoned it the United States government took possession of Vancouver for a military post; and now the tourist beholds, scattered over the plain, a thriving town of two thousand inhabitants, and bordering on it the wellkept garrison grounds of the troops, with neat officers' quarters encircling the parade. Vancouver is the seat of government of Clarke County, and possesses many advantages, which are to be brought more prominently to light by railroad communication with the Puget Sound region and Eastern Washington in the near future. ”

“ Neither high nor low, but rising handsomely out of the water; indented with numerous coves, bays, and arms of the sea; its shore being dotted with trees, rather than heavily wooded, with some handsome villas in sight from the steamer, Vancouver's Island makes a good impression at the moment of approach—has, in fact, one of the handsomest approaches to its principal city of any country fronting on the Pacific.
It is impossible to have seen Victoria, the capital of the British possessions on the Pacific, and not give it a passing notice at least. ”

“ If I had not been stronger in constitution than most men I think I should have died, so much was I worried by my love for Elsie, who was going away thinking me a scoundrel, who had tried to gain the love of my brother's wife. Of course she did not come near me, though I knew the Flemings were still in the city. I learnt so much from Will, who had the grace to come and see me, thanking me, too, for having saved the Vancouver.
"You must get well soon, Tom," said he, "for I need you very much just now." ”

“ In 1901 the population of the city was about 27,000; to-day, 200,000 people are citizens of Vancouver and suburbs. Its wharfs are crowded with shipping, more than 18,000 vessels using the port in a single year, while its customs revenue amounts to five millions of dollars annually.
The business and residential sections of Vancouver are extremely interesting and no tourist would willingly miss seeing something of the largest Canadian city on the Pacific Coast. On the evening of February 14, 1916, the first long-distance telephone conversation was held between Vancouver and Montreal. ”

“ This great city of Vancouver was but the dream of the Sagalie Tyee (God) at that time. The dream had not yet come to the white man; only one great Indian medicine man knew that some day a great camp for Palefaces would lie between False Creek and the Inlet. This dream haunted him; it came to him night and day—when he was amid his people laughing and feasting, or when he was alone in the forest chanting his strange songs, beating his hollow drum, or shaking his wooden witch-rattle to gain more power to cure the sick and the dying of his tribe. ”

“ John McLoughlin, the centre of almost every event of importance in the early history, connected with both American and British occupation, and later as the location of the United States military post and preserving the names of Grant, Sheridan, McClellan, Hooker, and others of our famous generals, Vancouver has indeed a rich historic setting. But aside from such associations with the past, every tourist must note the location of Vancouver as one of rare beauty. In fact, the spot is almost ideal for a great city. ”

“ Of the thirteen thousand population six thousand are Chinese, and they form in the city a dense, insoluble, unassimilating mass. Victoria has one railway, that to the prosperous Nanaimo coal-mines. The island has abundance of coal, some copper, and timber. But Vancouver has taken away from Victoria all its importance as a port. The Government and Parliament buildings are detached, but pleasant and commodious edifices. There is a decorous British air about everything. Throughout British Columbia the judges and the lawyers wear the gown and band and the horse-hair wig. ”

“ Vancouver is very beautifully situated. The ground sloping to the shut sea, girt with those huge, straight trees that give a sense of luxuriance to this northern Pacific coast which no tropic country can excel, is a perfect situation for a big city. Vancouver is a big city. It is so big that many people are afraid for its immediate future. They say that it is already far bigger than it has any right to be, and that by the dubiously beneficent aid of innumerable real estate men, it is increasing at a pace that is bound to end in disaster. ”

“ These others whom I have held back until now that your attention might not falter, are the dauntless, high-adventuring men who crossed the mountains to where the land lieth soft to the sea. These are the men of the new appointed city of Prince Rupert; the men of the fortunate, fair-built city of Victoria, and those of sure-seated Vancouver. ”

“ Such people give a city a false air of greatness, and are, in fact, a surplus population with nothing to do but bid up land against one another.
Of course there are plenty of genuine citizens in Vancouver, with all the enterprise and intelligence that help to make cities great. ”

“ There are no similar formations within the range of vision, or indeed within many a day's paddle up and down the coast. Amongst all the wonders, the natural beauties that encircle Vancouver, the marvels of mountains shaped into crouching lions and brooding beavers, the yawning canyons, the stupendous forest firs and cedars, Siwash Rock stands as distinct, as individual, as if dropped from another sphere. ”

“ As to American traders, he could not expel them from a territory held jointly by Great Britain and the United States; but he could and did beat them in a fair business deal. Courtesy was their due, and this they received. Scientists and travelers were also welcomed at the fort. Colonists, while they were not encouraged, could not be left to suffer from illness or hunger at the very gates of Vancouver. In short, while he desired to serve the company faithfully he could not neglect to perform his duty as a Christian and a gentleman. ”

“ Your evil heart will beat in the very centre of your foul body, and he that pierces it will kill the disease of greed forever from amongst his people.' And when the sun arose above the North Arm the next morning the tribes-people saw a gigantic sea-serpent stretched across the surface of the waters. One hideous head rested on the bluffs at Brockton Point, the other rested on a group of rocks just below Mission, at the western edge of North Vancouver. ”

“ A few minutes brought us alongside a wharf at the head of the north channel, and to the little maritime city with an Indian name, which faces the south, and lies at the mouth of the Hoquiam Biver. Like Aberdeen, it requires much planking, being laid out on land which Vancouver, in 1792, described as “low and apparently swampy, the soil thin over a bed of stones and pebbles,” and the country at a small distance covered with wood, “principally pine of an inferior growth.” ”

“ The chief industries are lumbering—the forests are among the finest in the world, fishing—the rivers abound in salmon and sturgeon, and mining—rich deposits of gold, silver, iron, copper, mercury, antimony, and many other valuable minerals are found; there are great coal-fields in Vancouver. In Vancouver and in the river valleys of the mainland are extensive tracts of arable and grazing land; but neither agriculture nor manufactures are much developed. Made a Crown colony in 1858, it joined the Dominion as a province in 1871. ”

“ Steamers for all ports, China, Japan etc., regularly leave Vancouver. Vancouver is destined to be a large city. It is a gateway of world-wide commerce. The first Canadian Pacific Railway steamer arrived at Vancouver from Yokohama in 1887. The surveys of the Canadian Pacific, Railway which made Vancouver accessible were begun in 1871. A visitor to Vancouver, noticing wide streets and handsome structures, a score of chartered banks, with vessels from many lands in the harbor and business active everywhere, wonders at the change wrought in a single generation. ”

“ To-day it has a population of fourteen thousand people, and builds its houses out of brick with dressed granite fronts. But a great sleepiness lies on Vancouver as compared with an American town: men don't fly up and down the streets telling lies, and the spittoons in the delightfully comfortable hotel are unused ”

“ In 1886, soon after its establishment, a fire swept, the whole town out of existence, but the inferior wooden buildings at first erected have been largely replaced by stone and brick structures, giving a handsome appearance to the principal streets. Vancouver has well-paved streets and is well supplied with water, electric lighting, electric cars and all the improvements of a modern City. ”

“ John McLoughlin founded Vancouver, and Vancouver became the homing port and center of attraction for the sea rovers, forest rangers and pioneer immigrants of all the great northwest. It founded civilization in an empire of the greatest possibilities, and became the unwilling nursing mother of the first American gov- ernment on the Pacific coast. And when human activities and commercial pos- sibilities reached the point that demanded the combination of capital to open the country to trade and commerce, Vancouver became the home for the first great transportation company of the northwest. ”

“ We find Vancouver’s commercial districts busy and crowded. At the wharves we see twenty ocean steamers loading lumber to be carried to all parts of the world, and learn that sixteen million feet are shipped from here in one month. Vancouver is increasing in importance as a wheat-shipping port. It sends a million bushels or more to the Orient, and twice as much to Europe by way of the Panama Canal. ”

“ It is interesting to watch the life of this remarkable city, situated 1,500 miles from Vancouver and close upon the Arctic circle: upon the plank sidewalks are slouch-hatted, long-booted miners who throng dance-halls and saloons and pay from pouches of gold-dust; busy merchants, traders and storekeepers of all nationalities; well-dressed ladies and children ”

“ To the west lay the curving white sands of English Bay, and beyond, in the clear air of the long British Columbia twilight, they could see the strong mountainous profile of Vancouver Island.
“The topography of our City,” explained Robert Rennie, “lying between Burrard Inlet and False Creek, is very much like that of New York on Manhattan Island. The narrows are deep enough for the largest ship afloat, and the Inlet—a veritable inland sea—has unlimited room for docks.
“The name ‘Narrows’ seems a feeble word for such a magnificent spot,” observed Donald. ”

“ It is situated on the North side of the River, one hundred miles above its mouth. The buildings occupied as stores, warehouses, shops, residences of the agents, men, etc., make quite a village. The ground back for half a mile is level, and then rises with a gradual inclination until it is elevated several hundred feet above the River. It is set with grass, and makes a very pretty appearance. Vessels drawing fifteen feet water ascend the Columbia this far, without any difficulty. Vancouver is the principal depot of the Hudson's Bay Fur Company, West of the Rocky Mountains. ”

“ The great island of British Columbia, and its energetic port city, received the name of Vancouver himself, and Vancouver named most of the places on Puget Sound in honor of his personal friends. He must have had a heart formed for friendship, thus to have immortalized those whom he esteemed and loved. It is the discovery and the naming of mountains, islands, and ports of the Puget Sound that suggest poetic and patriotic celebrations.
The old journals of Vancouver lie before us. ”