BRITISH COLUMBIA TO 1896

From the Gold Rush to the CPR

The Colony of Vancouver Island to 1858

British government decided that its territory on the Pacific coast required a more official presence than the HBC

It created the Crown colony of Vancouver Island

Britain gave the HBC a trade monopoly in the new colony, but it had to sell land to British settlers who came to live there

The new governor James Douglas was not eager to see any more Americans in the area, so he actively encouraged British settlement of the colony

Royal Navy played a big role in the social life of Fort Victoria

The Cariboo Gold Rush

Most famous gold rush in British Columbia Sometimes mentioned as the reason of the creation of the Colony of British Columbia In 1848, gold was discovered along the Sacramento River in central California The population of the Cariboo gold rush was largely British and Canadian Many of the population that came for the Cariboo rush also stayed on as permanent

settlers Great shifts in population occurred in parts of British Columbia and Vancouver Island

during the Cariboo Gold Rush

British Columbia Joins Confederation

Many people in BC and Ottawa were afraid that the United States might try to take over the colonies. If they joined Confederation, the colonies would then be part of a larger country. Entering confederation could end their fears.

Elected representatives from the mainland were all in favor of Confederation

By joining Canada they would get their own provincial government.

The Canadian government agreed to practically all the delegation’s terms

The Canadian government promised to start work on a railroad within two years, to be completed in ten years.

British Columbia was the sixth province to join confederation

On July 20, 1871, British Columbia officially joined Canada.

The Emergence of Vancouver

Vancouver is the youngest major community in British Columbia

In the early 1860s Vancouver remained the home of the Musqueam and Squamish people

It had been this way for thousands of years

William Van Horne traveled down the Inlet to Gastown and found a deep-water anchorage with an expanse of flat land ideal for rail yards

He named this site Vancouver The CPR was completed in late 1885

and the future townsite of Vancouver was laid out

The new city had a population of more than 5000 by the end of 1890

The Chinese in British Columbia

First Chinese immigrants to North America came during the California Gold Rush of the early 1850s

They realized their opportunities in BC were limited by racism, so many Chinese miners started reworking claims abandoned by the White miners intent on quick wealth

In 1883 of the roughly 2000 gold miners left in BC, 1500 were Chinese

CPR was faced with a shortage of labor for the BC section of the railway so it hired large groups of Chinese laborers

Approximately 17 000 Chinese immigrants came to British Columbia to work on the railway

An estimated 600 Chinese workers died during the four years of railway construction