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British Columbia Historical Quarterly THE BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORICAL QUARTERLY JULY - OaOBER,, 1951 BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORICAL QUARTERLY Published by the Archives of British Columbia in co-operation with the British Columbia Historical Association. EDiTOR WILLARD E. IRELAND, Provincial Archives, Victoria. ASSOCIATE EDITOR Mnoa W0LFENDEN, Provincial Archives, Victoria. ADVISORY BOARD I. C. GoorFau-ow, Princeton. T. A. RIcxD, Victoria. W. N. SAGE, Vancouver. Editorial communications should be addressed to the Editor. Subscriptions should be sent to the Provincial Archives, Parliament Buildings, Victoria, B.C. Price, 5O the copy, or $2 the year. Members of the British Columbia Historical Association in good standing receive the Quarterly without further charge. Neither the Provincial Archives nor the British Columbia Historical Association assumes any responsibility for statements made by contributors to the magazine. The Quarterly is indexed in Faxon’s Annual Magazine Subject-Index and the Canadian Index. BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORICAL QUARTERLY “Any country worthy of a future should be interested in its past.” VOL. XV VICTORIA, B.C., JULY-OCTOBER, 1951 Nos. 3 AND 4 CONTENTS PAGE Labour and Socialism in British Columbia: A Survey of Historical Development before 1903. ByJohnTupperSaywell 129 A rchibald Menzies’ Trophies. By Richard H. Dillon 151 Early Days on Saltspring Island. ByA. F. Flucke 161 Fur-trade Biographies: An Index. Compiled byT. R. McCloy 203 NoTm AND COMMENTS: British Columbia Historical Association 213 Okanagan Historical Society 218 Kamloops Museum Association 220 Cariboo Historical Society 222 Ranald MacDonald’s Monument, Toroda Creek, State of Washington 223 A Note on “George Mason, Priest and Schoolmaster 227 Contributors to this Issue 228 THE NORTHwEsT BOOKSHELF: Peter Skene Ogden’s Snake Country Journals, 1824—25 and 1825—26. By Margaret A. Ormsby 229 The History of Canada or New France by Father Francois Du Creux, S.J. By Walter N. Sage 232 Ravenhill: The Memoirs of an Educational Pioneer. ByVeraDrury 234 Carison: An Alaskan Gold Mine: The Story of No. 9 Above. Kolehmainen and Hill: Haven in the Woods: The Story of the Finns in Wisconsin. By WillardE. Ireland 236 Some Modern Historians of Britain. By WalterN. Sage 238 Papers Read before the Historical and Scientific Society of Manitoba. Series III, No. 6. By Willard E. Ireland 239 LABOUR AND SOCIALISM IN BRITISH COLUMBIA: A SURVEY OF HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT BEFORE 1903* Human organization pre-dates recorded history; indeed, it may be said that organization for economic, social, or political ends appears to be one of the characteristic, if not innate, features of human behaviour. Organization for specific economic ends, however, such as the ameliora tion of industrial abuses, is a product of the modem economic system and has risen and acquired prominence only within the last two centuries. In short, the labour movement, so-called, is a product of that rather popular phenomenon to which so much has been attributed—the Indus trial Revolution. It was motivated, if not necessitated, by the “concen tration of labor in urban centers and the changing economic position of the worker.” The quarter-century following the Napoleonic Wars witnessed in creased and often militant activity in both Great Britain and the United States—activity that was clearly reflected in the early appearance of craft unions in Upper and Lower Canada. In England intensive organi zation occurred among skilled tradesmen, while simultaneously Robert Owen and others sought to unite labour on a broader national front. Roughly the same pattern was followed in the United States, although more emphasis was given to town and city guilds. In retrospect, how ever, this early activity appears to have been relatively unimportant; it was ill-nourished and short-lived, for neither labour nor capitalism was sufficiently advanced to stimulate and sustain a strong labour movement. On the contrary, it was the period following the mid-century confficts that witnessed the emergence of modern trade-unionism. This move ment cannot be discussed here; perhaps it is sufficient to state simpiy that the foundations of the national and international labour organiza tions that exert such a weighty influence to-day were laid in this era. In many ways the federation of the British North American colonies was a result of the economic changes that transformed international * This essay won the Alan Boag Scholarship at the University of British Colum bia in 1951. The scholarship is awarded on the recommendation of the Heads of the Departments of Economics and History and the Director of International Studies for the best essay or report on some aspect of socialism. (1) Harold Faulkner and Mark Starr, Labor in America, New York, 1944, p. 39. British Columbia Historical Quarterly, Vol. XV, Nos. 3 and 4. 129 130 JoaN TuPPER SAYwELL July-Oct. society during the latter half of the nineteenth century, for historical scholarship has revealed that the creation of the Canadian nation arose in part from the failure of the individual colonies to solve the problems posed by the new age of industrialism. During the three decades follow ing Confederation the young dominion took on much of its present com plexion and arrangements: the population increased by over one miffion; Sir John A. Macdonald’s National Policy had as its declared object the economic integration of a diversified nation; behind the protective shield of the National Policy, “Maritimers” struggled, with mixed success, to substitute modern industry for their archaic wood, wind, and water economy; subsidized by a substantial tariff, manufacturing developed in Eastern Canada; and the Canadian Northwest, opened at last to direct communication with the world market, steadily increased in population and productivity. In July, 1871, after four years of indecision, the Crown Colony of British Columbia chose federation with Canada in preference to annexa tion to the United States or the maintenance of the status quo. To-day the moment and difficulty of that choice may escape us, for it appears only natural and proper that this Province should be a part of the Canadian nation. Yet for some years it appeared possible—to some, inevitable—that the Pacific slope would become American. In choosing as they did, the colonists cut the tried and proven ties, both economic and social, that had linked them to the United States in favour of an unknown quantity. For many years the wisdom of their action remained in question, as federation did not become a reality until new bonds of steel were united at Craigellachie in 1885. This economic union inaugu rated a phenomenal process of development in British Columbia which reached its peak during the buoyant prosperity of the “age of Laurier “: fishing, mining, and lumbering underwent vigorous expansion; popula tion increased by 500 per cent before the turn of the century; almost overnight hitherto unknown mineral claims mushroomed to prominence as prosperous urban centres; and, as a result, the political, economic, and social structure and long-standing balances became sadly disarranged. The history of British Columbia is varied and interesting, full of charm and local colour; but in it are visible the same forces that charac terized the history of Eastern Canada—the fur, mining, and settlement frontier, the struggle for representative and responsible government, and the often contrary pulls and conditioning influences of empire and repub 1951 LABOUR AND SocIALIsM IN BRITISH COLUMBIA 131 lie. Yet by 1900 the main lines of this development had been determined and the necessary choices made. Thus, within a narrow and definitive span of fifty years, the student of history has spread before him a graphic and vivid picture of human behaviour. Limited in time and space, our observations can be piercing and our facts verifiable, although our analysis may never permit generalization or profundity. Nevertheless, the value of this two-dimensional limitation outweighs its defects and in so doing justifies this regional study. Until 1858 British settlement on the Pacific Coast was in the main confined to Vancouver Island and peopled by British immigrants. The discovery of gold in that year occasioned a sudden transformation. Thousands of Americans deserted the waning riches of the Sacramento Valley to seek their fortunes on the lucrative sand-bars of the Fraser River. The greater proportion of this alien population retreated before the onslaught of the depression six years later, but only to return again near the turn of the century, when British Columbia once more began to reap the bounties of nature. Although the American invasion was far more spectacular, it was neither as large nor as constant as the immigra tion of British stock. The following figures give some indication of the extent of immigration into the Province between 1881 and 1901 — Year Total Population British-born American-born 1881 49,459 5,783 2,295 1891 98,173 20,163 6,567 1901 178,657 30,630 17,1642 These facts are of great importance in such a study as this, for with him the immigrant brought the influence of his social, economic, and political environment. Toward the end of the century the penetration of the Americans can be used in part to explain the outburst of radical ism. Thirty-five years earlier the British influence can be seen in the origin of the labour movement. L. G. Reynolds has stressed the attach ment of the British immigrant to his union and has quoted one as having said:— (2) The statistics of British-born are quoted in L. G. Reynolds, The British immigrant—his social and economic adjustment in Canada, Toronto, 1935, p. 298; those for American-born are to be found in R. H. Coats and M. C. Maclean, The American-born in Canada, Toronto, 1943, p. 56. 132 JoHN TuPPER SAYwELL July-Oct. Unionism is bred right into your blood over there. I was born into it myself; I’ve been a member for thirty-five years.
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