British Columbia Historical News British Columbia Historical Federation Journal of the P0 Box 5254, STATIoN B., VICT01UA BC V8R 6N4 British Columbia Historical Federation A CHARITABLE SOCIETY UNDER THE INCOME TAX ACT Published Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall. ExECuTIvE EDIToR: Fred Braches HoNoisssY PATRON: HIS HONOUR, THE HoNOlLE GARDE B. GARD0M, Q.C. P0 Box 130 HoNO1sY PRESIDENT: LEONARD MCCAI’SN Whonnock BC, V2W 1V9 C/O VANCOUVER MARITIME MUSEUM Phone (604) 462-8942 1905 OGDEN AVE., VANCOUVER BC V6J 1A3 [email protected] OFFICERs Book REvIEw EDIToR: PRESIDENT: RON WELw00D Anne Yandle R.R. # I,S-22 C-i, NELSON BC VIL 5P4 3450 West 20th Avenue PHONE (250) 825-4743 [email protected] Vancouver BC, V6S 1E4 FIRST VICE PRESIDENT: WAYNE DESR0CHERS Phone (604) 733-6484 #2 - 6712 BARER Ro, DELTA BC V4E 2V3 [email protected] PHONE (604) 599-4206 FAX. (604)507-4202 SECOND VICE PRESIDENT: MELVA DwYER SUBSCRIPTION SEcREmISY: 2976 MCBRIDEAVE., SURREY BC V4A 3G6 JoelVinge PHONE! 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CoMMITTEE OFFICERS For back issues of the journal write to the ARCHIVIST: MARGARET STONEBERG Whonnock. editor in Box 687, PRINCETON BC VoX iWo PHONE (250) 295-3362 THIS PUBLICATION IS INDEXED IN THE CBCA, MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY:TERRY SIMPSON PUBLISHED BY MICR0MEDIA. 193 BIRD SANCnJABY, N.NAIMo BC V9R 6G8 1195-8294 ISSN PHONE (zso) 754-5697 [email protected] PRoDUCTION MAIL REGISTRATION NUMBER HIsToRICAL TRAILS cu MARKERS:JoHN SPITTLE 1245716 1241 MOUNT CROWN R0AB, N0RTUVANCOUvER BC V7R tR9 PuBL1CTIoNs MAIL REGIsTISATI0N No. 09835 PHONE (604) 988-4565 [email protected] SCHoIsHIP (ESSAY) COMMITTEE: FRANCES GUNDRY 255 NIAG STREET,VICT0RIA BC V8V 1G4 The British Columbia Heritage Trust has pro PHONE (250) 385-635 [email protected] vided financial assistance to this project to support PUBLICATIONS ASsISTANCE: NANCY STuART-STUBBs conservation of our heritage resources, gain further 265IYORKAVENUE,VANCOIJVER BC V6K IE6 knowledge and increase pubhc understanding of the PHONE (604) 738-5132 [email protected] history British Columbia. complete of WRITING COMPETITION—LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR’S AWARD: SHIRLEY CUTHBERTsON #306 - 225 BELLEvILLE STREET,VICT0RIA BC V8V 4T9 PHONE (250) 382-0288 BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORICAL NEWS PUBLISHING COMMITTEE see column on left side Visit our website: http://www.selkirk.bc.ca!bchf/maifl 1 .htm BRITIsH CoLuMBIA Volume 33, No. 2 pring 2000 $5.00 HISTORICAL NEWS ISSN 1195-8294 Journal of the British Columbia Historical Federation EMEMER that I wondered last summer if postage stamps were 2 Simon Fraser’s Latitudes, 1808: R ever issued relating to BC history? Where was the Chief’s village? Georgie Sutherland of Sidney kindly by Nick Doe compiled for us a list of about thirty stamps, relating to this province, 6 Victoria Interlude: a troubled time in the lives of covering art, artists and a few other Nessie and Norman Lee people, artifacts, buildings, locations, by Donald F Harris rivers, ships. Some “heritage” but little British Columbia history. New stamps are issued frequently and 15 Big Little Cherry thirty-odd BC stamps issued in half a by Ron Weiwood century is not a great number. In that timespan not more than haifa dozen 19 A Waihachin Index stamps honouring events and by Keith R. Wood persons from British Columbia’s history were issued—five in the 24 The Blunt End of the Discovery 1970s.Three of the six historical by John E. Roberts stamps commemorate the centenaries of BC’s entry into confederation, the city ofVancouver, and the founding 28 Book Reviews of the province.The three others commemorate Alexander Mackenzie, Archives & Archivists 34 David Thompson, and Captain Cook. by Gary A. Mitchell, CRM Given this track record it is not surprising that efforts to convince 35 Tokens:J.N. Killas & Co. of Premier, BC Ottawa to commemorate your by Ron Greene favourite person or event in the history of BC with a stamp have not 36 Reports: Nanaimo’s Malaspina Murals been successful. Canada Post is clearly by Phyllis Reeve not interested in our past. Lest weforget—On Remembrance 38 News and Notes Day we commemorate those who fell in the terrible wars of our time, Great War 1914— 40 Federation News — Port Alberni Conference starting with the 1918.The result of Keith Wood’s exemplary research on those who left Walhachin to serve in the Great War is a reminder that most of the soldiers we commemorate today have become “unknown soldiers.” Perhaps Any country worthy of a future should be interested in its past. we could do something about that in W. Kaye Lamb, 1937 the communities where we live. the editor BC HISTORICAL NEWS - SPRING 2000 Simon Fraser’s Latitudes, i8o8: Where was the Chief’s village? by Nick Doe Nick Doe lives on n the summer of 1808, Simon Fraser, fur “the Chief’s village”. Gabriola Island. His trader and employee ofthe North West Com The first thing ofinterest was a note in interests include Fraser’s I pany based in Montreal, travelled with journal to the effect that Mr. Stuart had a merid archaeo-astronomy in twenty-three companions from Fort George (later the Alexander Thom ian altitude O.L.L. 127°13’ while staying at the Prince George) to the mouth tradition, old tide of the Fraser River village; that is, Stuart had measured, with his what— tables, 1 8thcentury and back. So far as is known, this was the first I-will-call-a sextant,5 the height of the sun above navigation and time that people of mainly European extraction the horizon at noon.6 This information is suffi surveying techniques, had visited the GreaterVancouver area since the cient for us to calculate the latitude of the vil and the pre-1850 visits of the Spanish and British royal navies in lage, a fact that appears to have been ignored by history of the BC coast. 1792. previous commentators on Fraser’s expedition. Nick enjoys using Unfortunately, the only record we have of Determinations of latitudes in the late-l8th and mathematics to tease Fraser’s epic journey is a narrative summary of early-l9th century were commonly good to one out historical details hisjournal composed from field notes some time or two miles. Because the lower Fraser River from numerical data flows after the journey was over. All that is left of the generally in an east—west overlooked by earlier direction, determinations original notes, which contained details researchers. He’s also of the of latitude in this area are not usually sufficient courses very kind to animals. followed and the distances travelled, is a to fix locations unequivocally; however, they are transcript covering the ten days from 30 May to far from being useless. They are sufficient, for 1808.1 10 June Although at least one of the two example, to distinguish between say Matsqui at expedition’s clerks,John Stuart (Stewart), also kept 49°06.5’ N, and Haney, which at 49°12.8’ N is AciowLEDGEMENTs navigational and other notes, almost all of these seven miles farther north.7 I want to thank TOMAs too have now been lost.2 All that we have of Before we can reduce Stuart’s altitude to lati BARTR0LI of Floresta, Stuart’s work is a few scattered details contained tude, we have to see what can be learned from Spain, and BARB.aA in Fraser’s surviving notes and journal, and what the surviving data about the calibration of Stuart’s ROGERS ofVancouver, second-hand evidence can be gleaned from David sextant. Sextants are precision instruments, and BC, for generating my Thompson’s “Map of the Northwest Territory always come with a small interest in Simon residual error, known of the Province of Canada,” Fraser’s voyage. completed in 1814. as the index error, and this has to be accounted It was Barbara Rogers Thompson for sure must have had access to for in any very precise calculation of latitude. who astutely pointed Stuart’s notes for Stuart’s name appears in the Looking through Fraser’s journal, I found a out to me that, hitherto, map’s title inscription, and, so far as is known, rio total of six meridian altitude measurements, some, historians appear to other European-led expedition visited the lower very fortunately, at locations that can be fairly have neglected the Fraser River before December 1824. precisely located from Fraser’s descriptive narra astronomical observa Unfortunately, as Tomás Bartroli has noted in tive. In order to have the highest possible degree tions ofJohn Stuart his recently published review ofthe Fraser expe of confidence in the determination of the lati recorded in Fraser’s dition,3 Fraser’s descriptions of some ofthe events tude of the Chief’s village, I analyzed all six of journal.