CHAPTER 19 An Overview of the Port Douglas Town-Site (DkRm-1) Michael J. Taylor Golder Associates Ltd. Introduction and Background Attention is also drawn to the potential of the Port From 1858 to 1865 the township of Port Douglas was one of Douglas locality to yield archaeological evidence of pre- several important early settlements in the Colony of British contact, proto-historic, Gold Rush era, and early 1900s Columbia. Located on the north shore of Little Harrison industry occupations and activities. Detailed archaeological Lake (Figures 1 and 2), Port Douglas was situated at the investigations within selected portions of Port Douglas center of the only route offering access to the upper Fraser would provide data reflecting regional and global historic River gold fields. This chapter considers the township forces during these periods, and augment existing within a broader political and social context, and discusses knowledge of indigenous utilization of the Harrison-Lillooet two prominent factors that contributed to the geographical valley. The Harrison-Lillooet Valley includes the area from placement of Port Douglas and the Harrison-Lillooet road. the south end of Harrison Lake to Lillooet B.C., They include: (1) threat of American influence over British encompassing Harrison, Little Harrison, Lillooet, Anderson, held territory during the mid-19th century; and (2) violent and Seaton Lakes, and the Lillooet River (Figure 1). confrontations between miners and members of the This chapter deals primarily with early post-contact period Nlaka’pamux Nation during the “Fraser Canyon War” and colonial interest at Port Douglas (Figures 3 and 4), and its persistence of Nlaka’pamux territorial authority within the archaeological research potential and heritage significance. mid-Fraser Canyon. While this locality was once a major economic and strategic focus for European colonial development, First Nation peoples have occupied Little Harrison Lake and adjacent Harrison Lake and Lower Lillooet Valleys since time immemorial, and their participation in the local colonial process should not be overlooked or understated. Port Douglas (DkRm-1) Little Harrison Lake Figure 2. View of Port Douglas town-site at the north end of Little Harrison Lake, looking north. Figure 1. Map showing location of Port Douglas on the Harrison-Lillooet road, including nearby Gold Rush era Gold Rush Era – Historical Context of Port Douglas settlements, landmarks, and developments. Map from The township of Port Douglas developed in the wake of the HCB (1980: Volume I: 49). 1858 Fraser River Gold Rush, a phenomenon that had Archaeology of the Lower Fraser River Region Edited by Mike K. Rousseau, pp. 159-164 Archaeology Press, Simon Fraser University, 2017 cascading social and political ramifications. For Colonial territory via the Whatcom and Okanagan Trails. This officials, the Fraser River Gold Rush created a pressure to inhibited the Colonial government’s ability to regulate amalgamate the Vancouver Island colony with territories on resource extraction and monitor Americans entering British the mainland. The development of transportation infra- territory (Harris and Warkentin 1983:304). In 1859, structure was central to this end, and construction of a relations between the US and Britain in the northwest were reliable system of pedestrian and wagon-road routes across tense. Territorial disputes over San Juan Island (situated on the Coast Mountains into the mainland interior was the boundary of American and British land) nearly escalated considered with a sense of urgency. Transportation into physical violence (Little 1996:69). From 1857 to 1858 infrastructure was needed to, “…improve the internal British authority was further undermined by an ongoing communications of the country…”, and in regard to the conflict between American miners and members of the mountain pass beyond Fort Yale, “…interpose an almost Nlaka’pamux Nation. A series of violent confrontations, insurmountable barrier to the progress of trade” (Douglas known as the “Fraser Canyon War,” demonstrated the 1858 in Sterne 1998: 103). Prior to completion of the Colony’s lack of authority in the Fraser Valley beyond Yale Canadian Pacific Railway in 1885, and several well- and the persistence of Nlaka’pamux cultural hegemony engineered wagon roads in the 1860s, the only (Forsythe and Dickson 2007; Marshall 2002; Harris 97:109- transportation route to the interior’s open county was via 114). At the onset of the 1858 Gold Rush, British colonial treacherous pack trails ill-suited for the heavy traffic of a authority in the northwest appeared uncertain. burgeoning Gold Rush (Johnson 1996:176-179). To Establishing transportation and commercial infrastructure encourage growth of British controlled resource-based held symbolic and strategic significance. Infrastructure was economies, an aggressive program of trail and road an expression of British territorial dominance, “…no development was initiated. This provided access to expense was spared to build a system of roads that would previously inaccessible lands and resources which guarantee British commercial and military control of the stimulated ranching and industry and, most notably, mountainous interior.” (Little 1996:75). Not only would encouraged traffic through the newly amalgamated British transient miners be required to purchase mining licenses in colony. Victoria, thereby allowing the colonial office to share in potential profits (Meen 1996:109), use of the roads would enable the colonial government to monitor foreign traffic. Infrastructure was a statement of power in remote areas where the dominance of Britain was, at least initially, fleeting (Forsythe and Dickson 2007:49-69; Oliver 2010:117). The Royal Engineers, a British military corps, were tasked with initial construction of this infrastructure, which included cutting a survey line through the wilderness between British and American territory at the 49th parallel. They subsequently demarcated the landscape according to European ideological and legal doctrine by use of cadastral survey, town planning, and road construction (Oliver 2010). Figure 3. Location of Port Douglas town-site at the It was during this building phase the Harrison-Lillooet road north end of Little Harrison Lake indicating local infra- and Port Douglas were surveyed and constructed, the new structure. Map from HCB (1980, Volume I: 59). route became the first British controlled means of transportation to the Fraser drainage gold fields. The Oregon Treaty of 1846 solidified the boundary th between American and British territory along the 49 Post-Contact Occupation of Port Douglas and the parallel. However, fear of American annexation of British Harrison-Lillooet Valley th held land had renewed by the mid-19 century (Oliver 2010: Early colonial use of the Harrison-Lillooet Valley was 117). Several factors made British Sovereignty appear facilitated by pre-existing transportation infrastructure, vulnerable to American influence in the northwest. For which included a network of trails developed and travelled instance, in 1859, a proliferation of Euro-American over thousands of years by First Nation peoples. Early settlement had begun in Washington territory following the commercial success depended on an existing trail system violent resolution of conflicts between the US military and and willing First Nation participation. This was especially indigenous Nations (Little 1996:69; Harris and Warkentin true during the Fur Trade era (Fisher 1977), gold rushes, and 1983:304-5). during early industrial development (Arrowstone 2010:15- As settler populations were increasing just south of the 16; Marshall 2002; Knight 1996; Fisher 1977). After a border, upwards of 20,000 American gold seekers began reconnaissance of the “Harrison and Lillooet Route” in ascending the Fraser River, travelling mostly from San 1859, Lieutenant Palmer recommended a road be Francisco (Belshaw 2009:36). Prior to construction of the constructed over an existing indigenous trail which, “…runs Harrison-Lillooet road, the most practical access to the along the right bank [of the Lillooet River] the whole way Upper Fraser gold fields saw miners pass through American 160 | Taylor from the Harrison Lake to the Tenass Lake.” (Palmer Lillooet had 431 occupants and in 1863 there were at least 1859:230). Palmer also concluded, that since, “…Indian 10,000 people in Barkerville (Belshaw 2009:37-38). At its trails throughout North America invariably follow the best demographic peak, permanent residents at Port Douglas line of travel through a wild country… at least a great numbered between 200 (Belshaw 2009:41) and up to 300 by portion of the [Harrison-Lillooet] road should be carried 1860 (HBC 1980); and it hosted a significantly larger along that bank.” Colonial developments, including transient population including miners and entrepreneurs. construction of Port Douglas, often involve and reflect First Port Douglas reflected an ethnic diversity typical of early Nation land-use patterns, and “indigenous settlement Gold Rush boom towns. In 1861 there were approximately histories” (Belshaw 2009: 36). 97 Chinese, 40 American, 20 Mexican, 17 European, and six people of African descent (HBC 1980). In late summer of 1858 the first iteration of the Harrison- Lillooet road was under construction, the route roughly followed an established indigenous trail. Approximately 500 miners were hired for this initial construction, each of whom paid a 25-dollar deposit to ensure their