Early Vancouver Volume Three By: Major J.S. Matthews, V.D. 2011 Edition (Originally Published 1935) Narrative of Pioneers of Vancouver, BC Collected During 1933-1934. Supplemental to Volumes One and Two collected in 1931-1932. About the 2011 Edition The 2011 edition is a transcription of the original work collected and published by Major Matthews. Handwritten marginalia and corrections Matthews made to his text over the years have been incorporated and some typographical errors have been corrected, but no other editorial work has been undertaken. The edition and its online presentation was produced by the City of Vancouver Archives to celebrate the 125th anniversary of the City's founding. The project was made possible by funding from the Vancouver Historical Society. Copyright Statement © 2011 City of Vancouver. Any or all of Early Vancouver may be used without restriction as to the nature or purpose of the use, even if that use is for commercial purposes. You may copy, distribute, adapt and transmit the work. It is required that a link or attribution be made to the City of Vancouver. Reproductions High resolution versions of any graphic items in Early Vancouver are available. A fee may apply. Citing Information When referencing the 2011 edition of Early Vancouver, please cite the page number that appears at the bottom of the page in the PDF version only, not the page number indicated by your PDF reader. Here are samples of how to cite this source: Footnote or Endnote Reference: Major James Skitt Matthews, Early Vancouver, Vol. 3 (Vancouver: City of Vancouver, 2011), 33. Bibliographic Entry: Matthews, Major James Skitt. Early Vancouver, Vol. 3. Vancouver: City of Vancouver, 2011. Contact Information City of Vancouver Archives 1150 Chestnut Street, Vancouver, B.C. V6J 3J9 604.736.8561 [email protected] vancouver.ca/archives Item # EarlyVan_v3_024 157 MEMORANDUM OF CONVERSATION WITH JOHN MURRAY OF PORT MOODY, 12 JULY 1934. Mr. Murray was born on the Thames City at sea, and is today one of the four remaining passengers (children) of that historic voyage. PORT MOODY, 1883. “This photograph was taken in the fall of 1883 by John Uren of New Westminster; I was there when he came over and took the picture; that it is in the fall is established by the sheet ice on the water. “The land marks from left to right are as follows: No. 1. Fraser Bros. hall, the only hall in Port Moody; it was there that the concerts and dances were held, and the speeches made. On the Sunday [June 13, 1886] that Vancouver burned, while we were at Church Service, and while singing hymns, had our hymn books open before us, ashes from the Vancouver Fire fell on to the pages of our hymn books. No. 2. This is Lamont’s restaurant, a square shop front building across Queen Street from the hall, and is where the present Royal Bank of Canada stands. No. 3. I do know what this building was; Alex. [Iris] Tay’s dwelling house. No. 4. This building belonged to Sandy Annand. No. 5. Queen Street is the dividing line between the Clarke and the Murray properties. The hall on one side and the restaurant on the other face each other across Queen Street, and is shown in the photo as a roadway crossing the C.P.R. single track. No. 6. A railway trestle crossing where a creek formerly ran, and now just behind the present post office. No. 7. In the distance, a small C.P.R. building, used for railroad purposes. No. 8. The forest is Capt. Clarke’s boundary line, D.L. 202. Capt. Clarke had the hillside slashed about 1883 and 1884. No. 9. This is the Elgin House. Capt. Clarke built it, and the Insley Bros. ran it. No. 10. The jail is behind No. 10, out of sight. This is Tay’s store, where the second post office was after D.B. Grant sold out. No. 11. D.B. Grant’s store; the first post office was here. No. 12. This is the Caledonia Hotel, built by J.T. Scott and Kelly, commonly called Col. Scott, but J.T. Scott belonged to one of the military companies raised in New Westminster, and U.S. soldier. No. 13. Eckstein store (father of Louis Eckstein). No. 14. Stable for Caledonia Hotel. No. 15. John Murray’s butcher shop. No. 16. Chinese shacks. The Burrard Hotel now [1934] stands here. No. 17. Portion of C.P. Railway wharf, where first trans-Pacific steamer Abyssinia docked. Statutory terminus of the C.P.R. [Latterly B.C. Refining Co. site.] No. 18. Just beyond the crossing, west side Queen Street, north side of track, is the location of the old C.P.R. station, built by public subscription of citizens of Port Moody in 1891. The C.P.R. had nothing to do with the building of that station. No. 19. Ice floating on inlet. “This photograph was taken before the first C.P.R. locomotive was landed.” – John Murray. 158 (Note: Mr. Murray may not be exactly correct. The first locomotive, the “Lytton,” is reported as being landed on 18 October 1883, in which month ice would hardly be present. However, he says he recalls ice. Perhaps it is the white shadow reflection of light on the surface of the water.) EARLY PORT MOODY. “In 1881, I was working for W.B. Townsend, butcher, New Westminster, but left him. Then in March 1882, joined the survey party for the subdivision of District Lots 201 and 202, Clarke and Murray, soldiers land grant. “The survey party was in charge of Mr. Stevens, land surveyor from Victoria, and we came over from New Westminster on a scow, coming via the North Arm and Point Grey with a surveyor’s outfit on board, located at the foot of Queen Street, having our camp in the scow house on the scow. We anchored at the foot of Queen Street on account of its convenience and the fresh water from the creek which emptied there. We commenced to survey the townsite, staked out streets, alleys, blocks, and most of the lots, and finished about October 1882. That was the first survey of the townsite.” NORTH ROAD. “At that time, 1882, when we reached Port Moody, there were no buildings there whatever. I do not agree with Tom Deasy that there might have been an even earlier settlement on Burrard Inlet than Hastings. It is true that Col. Moody favoured the spot named after him, and that he had a farm on what is now called the Port Moody Road, but his farm was miles away, down on the Brunette River, where you turn up to the present Coquitlam Golf Links. Col. Moody did open a trail from ‘The Camp’ to what is now called Aliceville, that is, the end of the North Road, and for the purpose of conveying mails to New Westminster, when the Fraser River was frozen, and also for a base line for his survey—he opened two base lines; one was the North Road. After the capital of B.C. was moved to Victoria in 1869, the North Road deteriorated into nothing more than a trail for Indians” (see “Supplejack”—Khaytulk); “a track you could not get a horse over, because all the bridges put up by the Royal Engineers on the North Road had been burned out.” (Note: a great bush fire ran through this area about 1865.) “There was no way in which a horse could be got to the Burrard Inlet end of the North Road until 1881. During Governor Seymour’s residence on the Mainland, he kept the North Road open for the purpose of conveying the mails when the Fraser River was frozen over; he made the North Road into a sleigh road, but after he left, it went wild again, so that when we came on the scow in March 1882, soon after it was known that Port Moody was to be the terminus of the C.P.R., there was no direct trail that I ever heard of from Sapperton to the present site of Port Moody. On the northern shore there was one logger’s shack, occupied by Billy Thompson, subsequently the site of the ‘Old Orchard,’ where McNair’s shingle mill is now. There were a number of loggers’ buildings belonging to the Moodyville Saw Mill, who had been logging there for a number of years, but had ceased operations, right at the head of the bay. “When the Royal Engineers disbanded, those who did not return to England put in their claims for military grants; Father located at Port Moody. I remember the Sunday night he came back after spending the day over there putting in the stakes, but I am positive he did not erect a building of any sort there until 1883. Capt. Clarke’s property was originally the grant of Robert Butler, bugler in the Royal Engineers. Butler sold it to Capt. Clark for twenty-five dollars. Butler’s grandson is now in the Game Department, Provincial Court House, here. Clarke did not erect buildings until 1883, so that I repeat, when our surveyor’s scow party got to Port Moody in March 1882, there was not even a trail to New Westminster nor a log cabin along the south shore. “In the ’70s, when I was a school boy, Father used to take us for a walk to Port Moody, and it was our custom to go out by the old North Road trail. We always made previous arrangements with an Indian to meet us at the end of the trail with a canoe, and take us up to Port Moody for the day.