Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
In 1858 gold was discovered on the banks of the Fraser River, and more than 25,000
shiny-eyed prospectors rapidly swept in. To maintain order and control, the mainland
officially became part of the British Empire at this time. James Douglas was sworn in
as the governor of the region, which included Vancouver Island. In a proclamation at
Fort Langley on November 19, 1858, British Columbia officially came into being.
The first lumber mills were set up along the Fraser River in 1860, and their logging
operations cleared the land for farms across the region. It wasn't long before operators
began chewing northward through the trees toward Burrard Inlet. In 1867 Edward
Stamp's British-financed Hastings Mill, on the south shore of the inlet, established the
starting point of a town that would eventually become Vancouver.
With the promise of access to a new national railway network, BC joined the Canadi-
an Confederation in 1871. It would be another 16 years before the railway actually
rolled into the region.
Among the reminders of early Vancouver are Kitsilano's Old Hastings Mill Store Mu-
seum and Gassy Jack's statue in Maple Tree Sq. The Byrnes Block, the oldest Van-
couver building still in its original location, recalls the city's swift reconstruction after the
1886 Great Fire.
The City's Boozy Start
In 1867 Englishman 'Gassy' Jack Deighton rowed into Burrard Inlet with his First Na-
tions wife, a small dog and a barrel of whiskey. He knew the nearest drink for thirsty
mill workers was 20km away so he asked them to help him build a tavern. Within 24
hours the Globe Saloon was in business. And when a village sprang up around the es-
tablishment it was quickly dubbed 'Gastown.' In 1870, in an attempt to formalize the
ramshackle township, the colonial administration renamed it 'Granville,' although al-
most everyone still called it Gastown.
Selected over Port Moody, a rival mill town, as the new western railway terminus for
the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), the town of Granville was incorporated as the
City of Vancouver in April 1886. According to legend, this name was chosen by CPR
manager William Van Horne, who reasoned the new city needed a grand moniker to
live up to its future as a great metropolis. He is said to have selected the name 'Van-
couver' to recall the historic seafarer who literally put the area on the map.
The first piece of business for Vancouver's new council was to establish the city's
first park - and so Stanley Park was born. But the city faced a less enjoyable task at the
