EDGAR CROW BAKER AN ENTREPRENEUR IN EARLY BRITISH COLUMBIA by GEORGE WAITE STIRLING BROOKS B.A., University of Victoria, 1970 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES in the Department of Histcry We accept this thesis as conforming to the required standard THE UNIVERSITY OF-BRITISH COLUMBIA April, 1976 (E) George Waite Stirling Brooks, 19 7 6 In presenting this thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of British Columbia, I agree that the Library shall make it freely available for reference and study. I further agree that permission for extensive copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by the Head of my Department or by his representatives. It is understood that copying or publication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. Department of The University of British Columbia 2075 Wesbrook Place Vancouver, Canada V6T 1W5 Date ) D ABSTRACT The subject of this thesis is the nature of entre- preneurism in British Columbia from 187"+ until about 1905. The business affairs of one Victoria entrepreneur, Edgar Crow Baker, are used to examine the character of these men, their business endeavours and the society that they lived in. The era of the entrepreneur in British Columbia began with the Fraser River gold rush in 1858. It con• tinued until about the turn of the century, when the era of the corporate entrepreneur was ushered in with the arrival of large corporations from outside the province that began to buy up the smaller local companies. Victoria was the principal headquarters for these entrepreneurs from 1858 until about the end of the 1880 ' s.i During the 1890*s, control of the province's business affairs passed from Victoria to Vancouver and by the end of that decade, Victoria was no longer a creative business force in the province. The change from an economy that was oriented on maritime lines, largely through the port of Victoria, to a continental system in which Victoria did not occupy a strategic location, was the event that destroyed Victoria's business position. It was the Canadian Pacific Railway that brought about this change and Van• couver Island's isolation from it that caused the decline of Victoria as a business centre. Before the coming of the railway, British Columbia had no director rapid means of' communication with the principal areas of population and business in the western world, and this isolation was an important factor in determining the character of the province's early society. The long and dangerous sea or land trip required to reach the region acted as a deferent to the normal pattern of immigration, a screen that kept out less venturesome settlers. This was also true of California before 1869 and it was from this area that British Columbia drew the majority of its immigrants in the gold rush of 1858. These prospectors, entrepreneurs and confidence men had been attracted to California by the same force that now drew them to British Columbia. In every society there are a number of bolder and more materialistic individuals,- who respond to the oppor• tunity presented by a gold rush; British Columbia in 185 8, and for several decades thereafter, found itself inhabited to a great extent by persons of this type. It was this situation that gave the province's early society such a large proportion of entrepreneurs and created an atmosphere conducive to entrepreneurism. The business and communications link that was thus forged with California gave British Columbia's society a second distinctive feature. This was its strong - iv - identification with California and particularly, Victoria's relationship to San Francisco. It is unlikely that the majority of British Columbia's immigrants from California were true Americans (like the government officials, many were British), but nevertheless, they brought to the province a strong belief in the American ideal. This ideal is perhaps the most significant factor in understanding this early era of entrepreneurism. It cast the entre• preneur in the role of a hero in the national epic: the opening of the frontier; the developing of resources and industry; the providing of urban services. Society honoured the successful entrepreneur by social recog• nition and the approval of his right to economic reward. The presence of an Anglo-American society in Victoria can be traced to the foregoing factors. The upper ranks of this society were more British than American or Canadian in composition and followed the social customs of the English gentry. But in commerce, it was the American tradition of entrepreneurism that governed the conduct of business, and equally as important, society's approach to these activities. Edgar Crow Baker arrived in Victoria from Halifax in 1874, a time when Victoria was well established in her role as the business, as well as political, centre of the province. With considerable determination and I - V - skill, he quickly became an accepted member of the upper ranks of the city's society, and after a short period of business setbacks, he began steadily to increase his involvement and influence in business. By these two means, he became either the friend or the partner of the majority of the province's most prominent poli• ticians and businessmen; although, these men were vir• tually one close knit group. Baker, then, lived and worked with the leading entrepreneurs of the province. His life is the case study that reveals some of the characteristics of these men, illustrates the variety of their business interests and gives some indication of the nature of the society that supported them. Baker left a set of annual journals for the period 1874 to 1920, in which he describes his daily business affairs. It is these records that provide the principal means of analyzing the nature of entre• preneur ism in early British Columbia. - vi - TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. INTRODUCTION 1 II. THE BACKGROUND YEARS 12 III. ENTERING THE COMMUNITY 3 5 IV. EARLY BUSINESS AFFAIRS 76 V. POLITICS 141 VI. THE MATURE ENTREPRENEUR 223 VII. CONCLUSION 30 5 BIBLIOGRAPHY 321 - vii. - ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The question of thanking all those who have assisted me in the preparation of this paper is somewhat compli• cated by the length of time I have taken to complete it, and consequently, the number of people I have questioned on the subject. First, however, I must thank Dr. Margaret Ormsby for suggesting that I read the Baker Journals and pointing me in the direction of this thesis. The co-operation of the Provincial Archives was, of course, critical to the success of my work and to the staff there, I express my .appreciation for their help. Many others have offered advice and assistance in various forms and to them, also, my sincere thanks. I must also mention the many hours of typing and of patient listening that my late wife, Norah, endured as her share of helping me through the initial years of this project. Finally, my appreciation to Mrs. Geri O'Hara for her long hours of precision typing that transformed my rather unclear draft and notes into neatly typed pages. - 1 - CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION The first question to be answered is, "Who was Edgar Crow Baker?" And the second is just as important, "What is there of interest about him?" Edgar Crow Baker was an English naval officer who came to Canada onithalf pay in 1872. Two years later, he moved from Halifax to Victoria where he lived until his death in 1920. The strange fact is, that Baker was as well known fifty six years ago as he is unknown today. On the 4 th November, 1920, the day following his death, The Daily Colonist printed a large, two column wide picture of Baker in the top centre of its front page. His obituary hailed him as an "honoured citizen", a man "who for nearly fifty years has occupied an eminent place in the community as businessman, City Councillor, Provincial [sic] and Dominion member of Parliament, and, last but not least, a citizen of the highest type."1 The eulogy occupied a full column on the front page and a column and a half inside the paper. By comparison, a business and political giant such as the Honourable James Dunsmuir had received no greater recog• nition from The Daily Colonist when he died just five months 2 earlier. The Daily Colonist, 4 November, 1920, p. 1. Ibid., 8 June, 19 20, p. 1. - 2 - The thing of interest about Baker is what his life reveals about Victoria's business community in the period from 187M- to about 1910. Entrepreneurism was the hallmark of the age and, up until the 1890's, the majority of this entrepreneurial activity was directed from Victoria; the business, as well as the political, centre of the province. Baker, in partnership with many of the province's leading businessmen, was in the forefront of this activity through• out most of the period mentioned. His involvement with business, politics and society provides an informative insight into the nature of this entrepreneurism and the society associated with it. Baker's business interests included almost every major economic activity in the province. He was also involved in one or two business ventures that were unique to him and a few of his associates. He speculated in land in Victoria and elsewhere in the province. In particular, as a member of parliament during the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway, Baker worked his way into an inside group who were able to exploit the Coal Harbour and False Creek lands of Vancouver.