VANCOUVER - Vancouver and Victoria - page 48

Steamworks Brewing Co., a brew pub-restaurant boasting harbor views. Next door to The
Landing is Hudson House, built in 1897 as a warehouse and retail outlet for the Hudson's
Bay Company.
Continuing down the hill, on the corner of Water and Cambie Streets, is a steam clock,
oneofonlytwointheworld(theotherisareplicaofthis,theoriginalone).Builtbyalocal
clockmaker in the mid-1970s, it is powered by a steam system originally put in place to
heat buildings along a 10-kilometer (6.2-mile) underground pipeline that snakes through
downtown. Watch for the burst of steam every 15 minutes, which sets off steam whistles
to the tune of Westminster chimes.
Continue east along Water Street to the 1899 Dominion Hotel, and then half a block
south down Abbott Street to Blood Alley, the hangout of many infamous early-1900s
rogues. Most buildings still standing along Water Street were built immediately after the
Great Fire of 1886, but the Byrnes Block (2 Water St.) is generally regarded as the oldest;
it stands on the site of Deighton House, Gassy Jack's second and more permanent saloon.
Behind this building is Gaolers Mews, the site of Vancouver's first jail.
Water Street ends just around the corner at cobbled Maple Tree Square, the intersec-
tion of Water, Carrall, Powell, and Alexander Streets. Here you'll find a bronze statue of
Gassy Jack watching over the square and the site of his original saloon from the top of
a whiskey barrel. The Alhambra Hotel, which occupies the actual saloon site, was built
in 1886 from bricks used as ballast in ships that sailed into Burrard Inlet. Across from the
statue is the Hotel Europe, a narrow triangular building. After its 1892 opening, the hotel
quickly became recognized as the city's finest hostelry.
“GASSY JACK” DEIGHTON
Born in England in 1830, John Deighton took to the high seas at a young age in
search of adventure and fortune. Partnering with an American businessman, he set
up a crude saloon at New Westminster, quenching the thirst of Cariboo-bound pro-
spectors and getting the nickname “Gassy,” which in British slang described an ob-
noxiousdrunk.ForcedoutofNewWestminster byhisbusinesspartner,hesetoffto
make his fortune elsewhere. On July 4, 1867, with just his native wife and a barrel
of whiskey, Gassy Jack beached his small boat on the shore of Burrard Inlet below
the sawmill owned by Captain Edward Stamp. Because Stamp had banned alcohol
from his company town, Gassy Jack found an eager market for his liquor. The next