Crown Land Surveys
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BKITISH COLUMBIA. CROWN LAND SURVEYS YEAR ENDING 31ST DECEMBER, 1894. VICTORIA, B. 0.: Printed by R[CHARD WOLFENDEN, Printer to the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty. 1895. r.8 Vict. CROWN LAND SURVEYS. 777 CROWN LAND SURVEYS. 1894 To His Honour EDGAR DEWDNEY, Lieutenant-Governor of the Province of British Columbia. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR HONOUR: Herewith I respectfully beg to submit the following Reports on the Surveys of Crown Lands during the year 1894. G. B. MARTIN, Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works. Lands and Works Department, Victoria, B. C, May, 1895. 58 VICT. CROWN LAND SURVEYS. 779 SURVEYS. SURVEYOR-GENERAL'S REPORT. LANDS AND WORKS DEPARTMENT, VICTORIA, B.C., January 25th, 1895. The Hon. G. R. Martin, Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works, Victoria, B.C. SIR,—I have the honour to lay before you the individual reports of the different surveyors who have been engaged upon the various Crown Land Surveys throughout the Province, and in accordance with the custom which has prevailed in the Department for several years to add a general statement giving an outline of the business of this branch of your office down to the close of the calendar year 1894. IMPORTANT CHANGE. The most important change which has taken place in this Department since the date of my last report consisted in the retirement from the Ministry of Lands and Works of the Honourable Forbes George Vernon, and your own assumption of the portfolio, which took place on the 8th of November last. MAPS. A supply of general and sectional maps sufficient to meet the probable demand for some time to come being now on hand in the Department, less attention is devoted by the members of the staff to this branch of work than has been found necessary to bestow upon it in former years. This class of work, however, is not entirely neglected, but engages the services of at least one draughtsman in collecting and compiling information for the subsequent editions of those maps, the supply of which is becoming exhausted. The following maps have been prepared in the Lands and Works office, and have been lithographed by the Colonist Printing and Publishing Company, Limited, of Victoria, in a highly satisfactory manner :— (a.) Map showing surveys in the Bulkley Valley 200 (6.) Map showing surveys in the Nechaco Valley 200 (c.) Small map of B. C, showing Meteorological Stations 4,000 (d.) Map of the Big Bend Country (Columbia River) 100 The draughtsman engaged upon the preparation of the new map of the Province of British Columbia, referred to in my last report, was instructed to devote his time to other duties pending the receipt of certain desirable information necessary to render the compilation as full and authentic as possible. This, coupled with the fact that a very serious illness deprived the Department of his services for a period of nearly two months, was the means of postponing the final completion of the map much beyond the time at which it was anticipated the work would be finished and in the lithographer's hands. Under the head of " Surveys," reference was made last year to a useful map of the southern portion of Vancouver Island, published in 1880 and now out of print. To supply the constant demand for reliable information respecting this section of the country, a some what similar map has been prepared embodying Mr. Burnet's recent surveys to date, including the road traverse work lately performed by Mr. Peter Leech. This work is now in the hands pf the lithographer, and will shortly be ready for general distribution, 780 CROWN LAND SURVEYS. 1894 DUPLICATE FIELD-BOOKS. Sub-section (16) of section 4 of the "Land Act" requires the "field-notes and duplicates" to be duly attested before they can be accepted by the Department. The duplication of the field-notes is cumbersome and quite unnecessary, besides adding considerably to the cost of the survey and the time required in preparing the returns thereof for this office. The original notes made by the surveyor are very seldom forwarded to this Department for the reason that they are taken in all kinds of weather under circumstances so unfavourable to keeping a note-book clean that often it would be impossible to decipher them without the aid of the individual who performed the work. And, further, for the economical prosecution of his work in the field, the surveyor rarely runs the lines upon the ground in the same order that he adopts in plotting his plan, consequently his notes have to be re-arranged and placed in such an intelligent shape that the draughtsman can grasp the survey in all its details with the least possible loss of time. It follows, therefore, that one fair copy thus prepared from the originals, duly attested by the surveyor, accompanied by a neat plan drawn on tracing linen, would fill all the require ments of this office, and would be in conformity with the regulations adopted in the other Provinces of Canada, and by the Dominion Lands Branch of the Department of the Interior. WORK IN THE DRAUGHTING OFFICE. The routine work involved in the careful examination and plotting of all the field-notes received in this Department from the different surveyors throughout the country requires constant care and intelligence. When it is borne in mind that the field-notes of every parcel of land, from the smallest school site to the largest timber limit, have to be carefully checked and official plans prepared therefrom, some idea may be acquired of the character and volume of work annually passing through the office. The survey notes in a great many cases, before they can be accepted, are returned for additional information, or for such corrections as are required to make them comply with the rules of the office, or with the provisions of the Acts relating to the character of the work performed.- This entails a large amount of correspond ence, which, from its nature, requires considerable skill and judgment. It is somewhat difficult to satisfactorily show by means of a schedule the comparative volume of business annually passing through the office. It is not fair to assume that, because one year shows a larger receipt of field-books, the necessary work connected with their exam ination and plotting is greater, and occupies more time than that consumed in similar work connected with a less number of volumes. With this fact in view, the following table and subsequent matter will indicate, to a certain extent, the amount of work which has been performed in the draughting office during the past year. Area of Sub No. of Field- Area of division, "Land Area of No. of Claims. Pre-emption Area of Area of books. Mining Claims. Timber Leases. Amendment Coal Claims. Claims. Act, 1894." Acres. Acres. Acres. Acres. Acres. 171 239 36,131 2,381 12,430 3,030 6,309 Number of Crown grant tracings—320. Number of tracings for Government Agents—160. Plans of Bridges, School Houses, and Gaols situated at various points throughout the Province. It will be noticed that work in connection with the survey of pre-emption claims has been attended with less activity than in former years, as indicated by the fact that the number of field-books received during the past year is not so great as that of 1893 by twenty-two volumes. This falling off is doubtless due not only to the inactivity in immigration circles, but also to the general depression which has been experienced in almost all branches of business throughout the country. A map in two sections, showing the coast line and adjacent country extending from the North Arm of Burrard Inlet to Forbes' Bay, on Homfray Channel, a distance of one hundred 58 VICT. CROWN LAND SURVEYS. 781 and twenty miles, has been prepared for office reference, and is found to be very useful in locating at a glance any parcel of land which has been surveyed, the official plan of which is plotted in many cases upon isolated sheets. This map includes all the recent surveys in the valley of the Squamish River, and is drawn upon a scale of one mile to an inch, showing all lands and timber claims in their relative positions, besides the numerous Indian Reserves scattered throughout the country included within the limits of the sheets. A similar map of the Sayward District, drawn upon the same scale, has also been prepared, showing fifty miles of the coast line of Vancouver Island extending from the fiftieth parallel of north latitude to the mouth of Salmon River, and includes V aides, Cortez, and Read Islands, with the location of all alienated lands, besides those which have been recently surveyed for settlement purposes. The Department having received numerous requests for information respecting the country covered by this map, it has been considered advisable to reduce the plan to such a scale as would allow it to be lithographed in a single sheet. This work is now in hand, and will shortly be published. SURVEYS. The work of laying out the Crown lands has not been so extensively prosecuted as in former years, for the reason that the appropriation devoted to that service has not been so great, and in view of the fact that large areas are now surveyed in different parts of the Province and ready to meet the requirements of intending settlers, a portion of the vote has been disbursed in extending the photo-topographic system of survey inaugurated two years ago. The appended reports of the different surveyors engaged upon Government work during the past season speak for themselves, and will doubtless prove of some interest to those at least who make a practice of reading departmental blue books.