Land Pre-Emption on Gabriola

Context: Gabriola, history, Snunéymuxw First Nation Citations: Poulton, Lynda, Land pre-emption on Gabriola, SHALE 24, pp.49–51, June 2010 Doe, Nick, More pre-emption notes, SHALE 24, pp.51–54, June 2010 Copyright restrictions: Copyright © 2010: Gabriola Historical & Museum Society. For reproduction permission e-mail: [email protected] Errors and omissions: Reference: Date posted: December 7, 2012. Notes were only two. There was a late trip on Friday nights, leaving Nanaimo at 9 pm. That was the night that the locals did their shopping, drinking, and watching movies. On Sunday afternoons, between trips to Gabriola, the ferry would circumnavigate the island with tourists from Nanaimo. It used to pass through Silva Bay and toot its horn. That was the highlight of my Sundays. The ferry tied up in Nanaimo and Varnish-clam shells are common on Gabriola’s beaches, the owner Captain Bert Davis got but they are a recently-introduced species. The insides a subsidy from the government. of the shells are purple and the papery “varnish” on the There was a time when the local outside is brown. freight truck slipped off the ferry and the driver was rescued. All the scoter species (white winged, black and surf) rely on clams and mussels as a The Atrevida lost power during a big major food source. In particular, they like westerly and had to be rescued around the the new invading "varnish clam" which is Harmac area, and that was the last straw that now abundant in your area as they have thin broke the camel’s back as the islanders had shells. I think golden-eyes and buffleheads been pushing for a larger ferry and it was also eat clams and mussels. Some fish like shortly after that, that we got the Eena. This starry flounder and ratfish, and invertebrates ferry carried 12 cars and had been used on like octopus and sea stars, also prey on the Fraser River and was not very clams. seaworthy. Any time there was a westerly I’ve also seen gulls, o y s t e r c atchers, and of more than 20 mph, we got a day off crows doing the same. Varnish clams are school. Later they added a couple of keels edible and tasty, but the Snunéymuxw clam and it seemed to improve its stability. As diggers at False Narrows tell me there is, as the island's population increased, larger yet, no market for them in BC. ◊ ferries were added. ◊ Ferry memories—by Fred Withey Land pre-emption on Up to about 1956 we had a ferry called the Gabriola—by Lynda Poulton Atrevida. It was a side-loading ferry. I saw For thousands of years, the Coast Salish it last summer [2003] in Montague Harbour people5 have occupied the land on eastern on Galiano Island. The Atrevida was a five- Vancouver Island and nearby Gulf Islands. car ferry, although by bouncing a car over Beginning in the late 1840s, and with the you could get one more on. The ferry coming of the settlers, the bands that were schedule was about four trips a day, except on Wednesdays and Sundays, where there 5 Chemainus, Cowichan, Halalt, Lake Cowichan, Lyackson, Penelakut, and Snunéymuxw. SHALE No.24 June 2010 49 Notes within the Hu’qumi’num-speaking group, unreserved Crown land. One hundred and objected to the alienation of their traditional sixty acres could be claimed, 760 acres b y territories. These pre-emption agreements military officers.6 When this request was still create interest, concern, and lots of registered with a Magistrate, eight shillings confusion among interested citizens, native would be paid. Maps and drawings of the and non-native alike. rectangular shaped claim were sketched and In 1840, New Zealand began negotiations submitted. The land was marked with four with Aboriginal peoples with regard to land posts, and the boundaries would run with the sales. In 1849, possibly influenced by this, cardinal points of the compass. James Douglas, Chief Factor and highest- Interestingly enough, even when the ranking officer with the Hudson’s Bay eventual land improvement formalities Company (HBC), began to arrange for the regarding dwelling, barn, and purchase of land for the increasing numbers cultivated/cleared land, were written, of immigrants. The HBC at the time were in witnessed, with moneys exchanged, the charge of the administration of Vancouver government could reclaim any part of this Island under an arrangement that obligated the land for public roadways or any other the company to encourage immigration. public use! These plans began difficult times for the In our Gabriola Historical and Museum Indigenous people, who were often Society database, we have entered the misunderstood, and who often did not details with the many documents we have understand the land purchase agreements located regarding one hundred and thirty– and pre-emption process as it unfolded. B y seven land pre-emptions, on Gabriola, 1859, in opposition to land alienation De Courcy Island, Mudge Island, and without compensation, and to the public Valdes Island. These include handwritten execution of several Native men, there were maps, handwritten letters, pre-emption uprisings by young warriors in Chemainus, agreements, and land improvement forms. Cowichan, and on Kuper and Saltspring We glean lots of interesting information Islands. regarding the early days from these forms. On January 4, 1860, Governor James We have a glimpse at who witnessed whose Douglas introduced new land regulations for land improvements; possible loyalties the mainland colony of British Columbia between neighbours, perhaps, or at least, a permitting pre-emption of land by any cooperative effort with land settlement could British subject, or any foreigner who had be noted. sworn allegiance to the Queen. In 1861, Baldwin Wake of Valdes Island is an substantially the same regulations were example of a military man who had the proclaimed on Vancouver Island. military claim. Letters written with pre- There are thirty detailed statements within emption requests dating from 1863 are this Proclamation, which defined the terms amongst our most early records. Richard of the agreements, and make clear the Chapple wrote such a letter in March 1863, sincerity of the goal. as did Thomas Dignen (Degnen). A curious Briefly, the terms go like this. British hand-drawn map is included with Degnen’s subjects could acquire the right to hold and request, showing a “big swamp”, a purchase unoccupied, unsurveyed, and 6 160 acres = one ¼ Section = ½ × ½ mile. 50 SHALE No.24 June 2010 Notes neighbour’s garden, “Gabriola Straits”, and Vancouver Island and his letter includes the “dry grassland”. following:8 A letter written by Thomas Jones in 1863, “I have the honour of transmitting a petition also shows a map, with small trees sketched, from the House of Assembly of Vancouver and he calls Gabriola by an old Spanish Island to your Grace, praying for the aid of name, Calla Descanso. Maple and pine Her Majesty’s Government in extinguishing trees were identified and noted as having the Indian title to the public lands in this Colony; and setting forth, with much force been blazed. Land dimensions are recorded 7 and truth, the evils that may arise from the in chains and links. neglect of that very necessary precaution. Our pre-emptors mostly came from Scotland As the native Indian population of and England, some on the HBC ships. Vancouver Island have distinct ideas of Others came overland from the USA, from property in land, and mutually recognize Quebec, Ontario, and still others, from parts their several exclusive possessory rights in unknown. certain districts, they would not fail to regard the occupation of such portions of the Colony Life was probably pretty rough for these by white settlers, unless with the full consent settler families with lots of tired backs by of the propriety tribes, as national wrongs; the end of each day, but it was probably and the sense of injury might produce a worth the hardships to begin a new and feeling of irritation against the settlers, and exciting way of life on Gabriola. perhaps disaffection to the Government that would endanger the peace of the country. References: Knowing their feelings on that subject, I Chris Arnett, The Terror of The Coast—Land made it a practice up to the year 1859, to Alienation and Colonial War on Vancouver purchase the native rights in the land, in Island and the Gulf Islands, 1849–1863, Talon every case, prior to the settlement of any Books, Burnaby, 1999. district; but since that time in consequence of the termination of the Hudson’s Bay BCARS, Victoria UBC CRMM – 970017, Reel Company’s Charter, and the want of funds, it #1. BC Directories, 1860-1900. has not been in my power to continue it. BCARS Pre-emption certificates, land Your Grace must, indeed, be well aware that agreement letters, land improvement I have, since then, had the utmost difficulty documentation, individual pre-emption maps, in raising money enough to defray the most and other documentation regarding pre-emptions indispensable wants of Government.…” on Gabriola Island. The tone of the response of the Government in London to Douglas’s dispatch won’t be More pre-emption notes—by unfamiliar to many. On October 19, 1861, Nick Doe the Duke of Newcastle wrote:9 On March 25, 1861, Governor Douglas “…I am fully sensible of the great wrote to the Secretary of State for the importance of purchasing without loss of Colonies on the subject of land purchases on time the native title to the soil of Vancouver Island; but the acquisition of the title is a purely colonial interest, and the Legislature 8 7 1 chain = 66 ft.; 80 chains = 1 mile; 1 chain = 100 Papers connected…, ibid, p.19.

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