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RESEARCH - History of Gateway / Whalley Region
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HISTORY OF GATEWAY / WHALLEY REGION
WHALLEY
/ Boundaries / Business / Community Plan / First Nations History in this Region / History / Present & Future / March 2001 Report on social issues in North Surrey / Miscellaneous / Whalley Crime Has Deep Roots /
Boundaries
1951 Surrey Town Planning Committee set boundaries 96th to foot of Peterson
(King Geo.) and Archibald (144) to Sandell (128)
King George and 108th is Whalley Town Centre top of Peterson Hill
---
(From another source: OFFICAL GATEWAY BOUNDARIES
Guildford Town Centre covers the following area
(approx.)
144 St north to the Fraser River, east to 196th St., South to 84th Ave, west
to 96 Ave
Whalley encompasses the area bounded by the Fraser River on the west and north, east to 144th St. and South to 82/88 Aves)
Whalley geographic centre of Greater Vancouver
History
1880's first settlers.
Hunting ground for natives
1900's Low cost housing for commuters to New Westminster
on K & K ferry. As there became a greater commuter population, gas stations
sprouted
1920's settlement in earnest
1937 Patullo Bridge opened. Better roads and new bridges
attracted housing development
1946 on Boom in housing made living in Vancouver and outlying areas unaffordable.
Therefore, boost in residential development in Whalley.
But population has relatively low income (this demographic still holds 1996 census shows $12,000 less annual income than elsewhere in Surrey.
Commercial ribbon development along King Geo. 1950 Dell
Shopping Centre.
1960 Surrey Place
1960 Boom dies with Port Mann bridge opening and Guildford
Shopping Centre.
1982 Business banks, social services, government offices move out
1994 Commercial development revived in 1994 with arrival of Sky Train.
Anticipating land prices would rise, speculators bought low cost housing. However, land prices did not rise.
Absentee landlords neglect property. Grow ops, methamphetamine labs and cracks shacks abound, along with other crime. One factor contributing to this is aging buildings, both residential and commercial.
As the first area to develop in an urban context, it now needs redevelopment.
General state of disrepair becomes backdrop for growing population of people in need of social services. The needle exchange, methadone dispensaries, homeless shelters pop up giving transients little reason to leave and bringing others in. Stay because of shelters, drug availability, social interaction with peers and inexpensive transportation (SkyTrain).
Business
Business firms in North Surrey using name of Whalley
1978 Death of Hilda Whalley
1934 Death of George Arthur Whalley (Art) at Royal Columbia, New Westminster
1925 Moved to area triangular lot built gas station, store and later cabins
People stopped good service. If drove by, Art tooted donkey engine whistle
1932 burned down
1934 rebuilt by Hilda and son Pat
1940 sold, retired to New Westminster
Called Whalley's corner small town name
1948 Businessmen's Association organized competition for new name. 1,500 entries.
Whalley chosen. Name submitted by Naomi Chambers from New Westminster.
Hilda Whalley b. Southampton, England. Settled in Haney
Art farm in Cloverdale, later moved to Whalley
Whalley monument to family built on 108 and King Geo.
1917 Blue Funnel Motor Line operated car transportation
(taxis and buses) from Vancouver (says Vancouver so check out if Surrey is
not meant) to Surry. Schedule from Westminster over railway bridge along Bergstrom
Road (King George) to Pacific (Fraser).
1950 19 auto courts between Pattulo and Highway Junction (Fraser/King Geo.)
1933 Hadden Bolivar operated Bolivar Hatcheries in Whalley
Whalley Crime
Has Deep Roots (newspaper article written in 2003)
------------------------------------------
Turf Hotel: 1949 venue where George Hahn, Charter President
of Whalley Junior Chamber of Commerce elected. Also Reeve of Surrey.
Lots of assaults
1950's common assault, mostly fist fights and burglaries from homes and businesses,
break-ins, safe blowings big thing
later sex shops, tattoo and massage parlours, ret-hot video stores
1951 RCMP (15 members) take over policing in Surrey. Formerly Surrey Municipal Police (3 members)
Whalley always heaviest crime area heaviest policing area. Problems accelerated by abundance of low cost housing, buildings in disrepair, concentration of social services, general decline of area over time.
3-5 years respite from crime needed for a community to take hold again; 135A really bad.
West Whalley Junior High located on former Indian Reserve property. Removed senior grades from elementary schools. KB Woodward built next door.
1951 South Westminster (name for most of NW Surrey) Imperial Oil station on King Geo.
Largest north of Seattle
Central City Tower film location (see Linda Hepner, Surrey's Economic Development Office)
March 2001 Report
on social issues in North Surrey
-------------------------------------------
- absence of other traditional urban uses keep area from
improving
- Planning team to take Whalley back block by block
- Socio-economic indicators of low income, transiency, crime, low education levels and high unemployment form the visible signs of pockets of severe poverty and social deterioration.
Van City www.vancity.com $1m to BC based, non-profit to support a community project
2003 one finalist is the Atira Women's Centre in North Surrey, helping at-risk pregnant women with substance abuse, mental illness, lack of safe housing, exposure to violence, and/or reluctance to seek medical attention (see Van City web site for further info)
Three Oaks Community Garden community vegetable garden
next to needle exchange
Front Room homeless shelter next door.
House of Restoration (Mogens Sorenson)
Proposed murals on walls of three buildings surrounding property, path, pond,
seat, land donated by landowner. No vandalism street people beginning to connect
with garden.
May 2003 Whalley Enhancement Strategy (9 page report). New vision for Whalley from Patullo to 108th. $10m to be invested in community over next two years.
Green corridors, banners and flower pots, indoor soccer, outdoor plazas, neighbourhood block parties, enhanced recreation facilities all geared to bring families back into area.
Intracorp will proceed with remaining two-thirds of $35m residential development beside Gateway Towers.
Started capital project and additional leisure programs begin in Summer 2003.
Gateway to Surrey improved intersections at King Geo at 108, 128, 102 and East and West Whalley Ring Roads.
2001 Whalley Business Improvement Association formed to promote and market Whalley. Peter Nichols, Whalley Printers
2003 Council initiate Whalley Business Improvement Association
1982 business banks, government offices and social organizations all moved out.
825 businesses in proposed Business Improvement Area. Boundary: along King Geo., bounded by 112 to 96; central area bordered by West and East Whalley Ring Roads; also along 104
$250 m project for King Geo and Fraser Highway; called King Geo Commons; 15 year enterprise to include hotel, high rise offices, government facility, pools, ice rink, cinema, restaurants, pubs, interdenominational chapel
August 2003 Roadblocks to combat crime (prostitutes, drug dealers and addicts) in two block strip known as The Strip
First Whalley Residents and Merchants Association disbanded through internal disagreements. Now Whalley Business Improvement Association.
English Commons provide stimulus to Whalley, especially
200 room hotel and conference facility - a gathering
place for peole and community to meet in social activity
and interaction.
DCC's (development cost charges) cut to encourage development
Prostitution moved on to Newton since crackdown in Whalley
1963 Whalley to have semi-autonomous community government
- urban Board of Trustees to elect from area at large to act as a standing
committee responsible for work and services provided in area
Community
Plan for Surrey (track down)
--------------------------------------------------
Whalley Plan two parts: official community plan and development plan
Feb 2003 Business Improvement Association proposes levy of $1.32/£1,000 assessed value on property in area to raise funds
1060 1970's saw spectacular growth
1998 Cleanup by police
Gateway heart of Surrey's new city centre. 20 acres. Intrawest have master plan: 11 residential towers, five office towers operating 100+ businesses.
1990 Proposed City centre between 102 and 104 Avenue: glass enclosed walkways, joining museum, theatre, cultural centre, commercial and residential development. Intrawest built Gateway station.
Jan 2003 Action Team: 5 year initiative to clean up Whalley "one block at a time" involving all city departments: Parks beautifying gfeen space, engineering crews repairing roads, RCMP raiding drug houses, Surrey By-laws dealing with unkempt properties, fence of enforcement to prevent spill out of crime into other areas
1998 Same initiative some cleanup and demolition of dilapidated property.
(notes compiled by J. Inouye, received May 2004)
FIRST NATIONS HISTORY IN THIS REGION
Coast Salish Home Page
History of the Fraser
Valley Region/Coast Salish Home Page
---
History - Vancouver
Coast Salish
Peoples / Sto:lo and Squamish Land - excerpts from Here
"The city of Vancouver is located on Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh (Burrard),
and Musqueam (Sto:lo) land.
The first Coast Salish people arrived in Vancouver at least 10,000 to 8,000
years ago. Prior to European invasion there were many Sto:lo, Squamish, and
Tsleil-Waututh (Burrard) towns and villages in the lower mainland area. The
Musqueam town in what is now South Vancouver had a population of around 1,200
people. A village in Stanley Park was home to about 400 people. Throughout
Vancouver there were many other small hamlets. The Sto:lo name for the west
end of downtown around Georgia and Denman is Chelxwaelch. The east side, around
the Clark and Hastings area is called Leglequi.
The first small pox epidemic reached the Coast
Salish peoples in 1790. It had traveled north from Mexico and killed about
two thirds of the population. For the next hundred years the Coast Salish
peoples would be subjected to many more epidemics, most
of them purposely spread by European settlers, including numerous
outbreaks of influenza and measles. The gold rush of 1858 saw the first
great influx of European settlers into Coast Salish / Sto:lo territory, and
also the first reserves. Indigenous title to the land was ignored and the
land was exploited, but not without resistance. In 1862 the new chief commissioner
of land and works, Joseph Trutch, reduced reservation size by 92 percent,
which sparked many protests.
Between 1884 and 1951 the traditional Potlatch ceremony
was banned by the colonial government. The potlatch was seen as a threat to
attempts of assimilation. Potlatch ceremonies were large inter-community gatherings
where wealth, hereditary rights, and property were redistributed through exchange
of gifts. Sto:lo people continued to have potlatches in secret. In 1888 a
law was passed that made it illegal for Sto:lo people to sell the fish they
caught.
In 1907, Chief Capilano was charged with "inciting Indians to
revolt" after he reported of his visit with King Edward VII of England.
In 1908 many Sto:lo children were forced to migrate
to Catholic residential schools. They would stay for nine months of the year,
spending half the time in class and the other half doing manual labour. Girls
and boys were segregated and forced to do work according to European and patriarchal
gender roles. Girls and boys were not allowed to speak to each other even
if they were siblings. They were also prohibited from speaking their own languages
or performing traditional dances. Many children defied these rules,
associating with the opposite gender and running into the fields of tall grass
in order to speak to each other in their native languages. There were also
attempts by the children to burn down the dormitories and schools."
+ + +
STOLO NATION
The Stolo people
in Langley
+ + +
The Stó:lo
People of the River - exceprts from Here
"Although we don't know for sure when the first people arrived in this
area, estimates range from between 4 000 to over 10 000 years ago as established
by an archeological dig site near the Fraser river known as Xáy:tem.
Belonging to the larger cultural group known as the Coast Salish, the Stó:lo
lived in close contact with their environment -- fishing for salmon, constructing
a variety of tools and items from cedar, and traveling the river to reach
resource areas for cranberries, sweet potatoes and other dietary staples.
They also shared a rich ceremonial tradition in which families and communities
gathered to celebrate and pass on the legends and customs of their people.
Today, the Stó:lo community remains an integral part of Mission. Fishing remains a definitive aspect of the culture, and families continue to gather for ceremonies and storytelling. Each July, first nations groups from all over North America take part in a locally organized Pow-wow. The museum has various examples of Salish basketry on display. Made of cedar and decorated with patterns specific to the weaver's family, these baskets were often woven tight enough to hold water."
+++
http://www.gov.bc.ca/tno/negotiation/First_Nations_in_the_process/stolo.htm
From:
http://www.britishcolumbia.com/regions/towns/?townID=3357&webregionid=2
"Chilliwack : Minter Gardens
Lying on an ancient flood plain in the beautiful Fraser Valley, amongst some
of Canada's richest farmland, is the town of Chilliwack, The City of Festivals
and the starting point for Rainbow Country.
Only an hour east of Vancouver, Chilliwack is one of the largest communities in the Fraser Valley, serving as one of the main economic, educational and cultural hubs of the area.
The history of Chilliwack stretches back thousands of years, beginning with the First Nations community who lived in this beautiful area and gave it the name Chilliwack, meaning "quieter water at the head". As the last ice sheets retreated around 10,000 years ago, the Sto:lo people came to inhabit the Lower Fraser Valley around Chilliwack. The importance of the river for these people is reflected in the meaning of Sto:lo; People of the River.
Life for the Sto:lo changed dramatically about 200 years ago as fur trade routes extended to British Columbia. In 1828 the Hudson's Bay Company founded Fort Langley, and the Sto:lo became part of the fur trade economy. In Chilliwack the company operated a salmon saltery at the mouth of the Chilliwack River, near Chilliwack Mountain. The Sto:lo supplied the fish and labour for this successful operation.
During the years of the Gold Rush, Chilliwack grew as a steamboat landing and supply centre for those who sought their fortunes in the north. Chilliwack's continued growth resulted in the incorporation of the Township of Chilliwack in 1873.
+ + +
Pyramids
in the Fraser Valley
Colonial
Settlers of the Upper Fraser Valley
Stolo Nation
http://home.istar.ca/~bthom/trail-hbc.htm
+ + +
From: http://www.fraservalleyguide.ca/CYesterday.html#Surrey
"As an unorganized area Surrey was mostly
occupied by trappers, squatters and drifters, until its first settler, James
Kennedy, arrived. The first settlements were Mud Bay, Brownsville,
Hall's Prairie and Cloverdale. Surrey was incorporated in 1879. Surrey's population
grew steadily after the ferry "K de K" was placed in service to
cross the Fraser River from Brownsville to New Westminster in 1883. Logging
became the main industry and the cleared lands provided excellent farms. In
1888, Surrey residents celebrated their feats with he first agricultural fair.
With the increased trade, a number of trans and communication channels were
established, including: the New Westminster-southern Railway in 1891, two
telephone agents (where people could. the telephones for a fee) in 1885, the
first newspaper "The Surrey Times" which appeared in 1895 and the
Fraser River Bridge in 1904.
Municipal business outgrew the original town hall and hall, which is now the Cloverdale Seniors Centre, was established in 1912. In 1925 Harry Whalley opened a gas station on approximately where the King George Highway now meets 108th Avenue. The area became known as Whalley's Corner. More about Whalley on Jack Brown's Whalley Page. Later in the 1940s, with the onset of the war, making Vancouver's housing highly priced, Surrey grew rapidly. The fifties and sixties saw continued growth and change, with a referendum that transferred policing powers from the Surrey police force to the RCMP, the incorporation of White Rock as a city, the building of the current municipal hall and works yard and the Surrey Arts Centre. Surrey became a city in 1993. (revised: November, 2001)
Sources: City of Surrey, history page; Jack Brown's The City of Surrey:
A History. The city takes its name from Surrey, England. (Akrigg). Visit Jack
Brown's excellent The City of Surrey: A History for much more information.
Crescent Beach and Ocean Park.
See also SURREY TODAY.
+ + +
History of Surrey INDEX
http://members.shaw.ca/j.a.brown/Surrey.html
+++
From: http://members.shaw.ca/j.a.brown/Whalley.html
For LOTS of other helpful historical research, check out Brown's web
site!!!
Development of Urban Centers in Early Surrey
Whalley/North Surrey
With the cementing of the Pacific Highway in 1923, gas
stations began operating along the newly paved highway. In 1925 Harry Whalley
opened a station right on the triangle where the Grosvenor and Ferguson Roads
meet at King George Highway. The intersecting roads did not exist at that
time but this was the first gas station out of New Westminster, and the region
became known as Whalley's Corner.
The proximity of this area to New Westminster was important in its development. Historically most of the early settlement and development had been along the Fraser River in Brownsville, South Westminster, Bridgeview, Bon Accord/Port Mann. Most of the uplands were heavily forested with the occasional area of peat bog and scrub. Settlement did not take place until the logging had cleared most of the heavy trees. The heaviest settlement occurred after 1945 with the development and availablity of the bulldozer for clearing the properties. During the 1930's the general depression and drought in the Canadian Prairies saw many farm families come to Surrey and locate on small holdings. (Note from G.Wiebe - a 'city of refuge'?) In 1931 Surrey had dedicated land for the establishment of Bear Creek Park. In 1937, to aid the development of the park, the District opened Bergstrom Road, which provided a north-south link to Whalley and North Surrey.
The opening of the Pattullo Bridge in November 1937 and the major water main laid across the river with the bridge, provided the impetus for more rapid settlement of North Surrey. The opening of the Big Bend Highway on June 15, 1940, along with the opening of the King George Highway in October of 1940, saw Whalley became an important transportation focus along the Trans Canada, King George and Pacific Highways. The opening of the new bridge caused a minor residential building boom as people could easily drive over the toll bridge. Lot prices where much less expensive that those in New Westminster and made North Surrey very attractive. The majority of the North Surrey residents worked north of the river in New Westminster, Burnaby or Vancouver, while the lower cost of living warranted the longer commute. The rapid population increase saw the opening of Queen Elizabeth High School in 1940 to meet the needs of a growing district. When the tolls were removed from the Pattullo Bridge in 1952, the Whalley area saw a major commercial and residential building boom.
This aerial photo is of Whalley in the 1960's. The five corner junction
was the original location of Whalley's Station that gave its name to the district.
Commerical development began as ribbon development along the King George/Pacific
Highway.
The bulk of the initial commercial development occurred as ribbon development along the highway north and south of Whalley's Corner. The late 1950s saw the Dell Shopping Center open as the first of the centralized one-stop shopping centers. The 1960's saw the opening of Surrey Place and the growing predominance of that district as Surrey's predominant shopping area. Since that period the Whalley District of North Surrey has been one of the fastest growing, most densely populated regions of Surrey.
1960 saw the completion of the Port Mann Bridge and the development of the Guildford Shopping Center. This enhanced the commecial domination of North Surrey and brought a degree of commercial competition to Whalley, the traditional commercial core. Improved freeway access also resulted in a major residential building boom in the Guildford area.
INITIAL SPANISH CONTACT
First Spanish Contact
Narvaez and Galiano
The Spanish were almost certainly the first Europeans to see South Surrey.
In June 1791 Don Francisco Eliza in command of the San Carlos, and Jose Maria
Narvaez in the Santa Saturnina set to explore or survey the Strait of Juan
de Fuca and El Gran Canal de Nuestra Senora del Rosario la Marinera(the Gulf
of Georgia). Preliminary surveys led Eliza to believe that the San Juan group
was an archipelago. Further exploration was now made in the schooner and a
long boat, under the command of Narvaez. On July 1st, 1791, Narvaez began
his reconnaissance of Rosario Strait, examining the various bays on the continental
side. The accompanying map is a copy of part of an authentic rough sketch
map of the coast, marked to show both the coast line, and the course his vessel
followed.
In early July the expedition anchored off the Indian village of Semiahmoo, before the entrance to what is now known as Drayton Harbor(named by Narvaez as San Jose). With the Santa Saturina at anchor off the Indian village, Narvaez, in the longboat, proceeded northward past the present White Rock and Crescent Beach(the latter he named Punta de San Rafael) into the present Boundary Bay. North of Boundary Bay his chart shows no soundings(due to the shallow nature of the Bays), but the coast shown is the line of the high water mark.
Narvaez's chart, when imposed on a map showing the delta lands inundated by river flood waters and high tides, outlines the high water line along the highland areas.
Major J.S. Matthews in Vancouver Historical Journal comments:
"The course, without soundings, north of Punta de San Rafael would
suggest that Narvaez, in his longboat, passed from Boundary Bay, and after
about seven miles the south bank of a great stream a mile wide, swiftly flowing
westwards. Assured that the river came from the high mountains in the far
east, he returned to his ship. That his chart shows no soundings north of
Semiahmoo is evident there was none; the bottom could be touched with an oar
or pole. He did not explore the north west corner of Boundary Bay; there was
no shore line; the flood waters covered all."
Dionisio Alcala Galiano 1762-1805 In 1792 Galiano accompanied Valdes in a
Spanish exploration to the northwest coast to continue the exploration of
the continental shore-line of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. They sailed in the
Sutil and Mexicana. A ship's boat explored Bellingham Bay, Boundary Bay and
Semiahmoo Bay. After leaving the area Galiano and Valdes met George Vancouver's
ship at anchor off Point Grey.
The next year, 1792, Dionisio Alcala Galiano in the Sutil and Cayento Valdes in the Mexicana were ordered to examine the continental shore-line of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. They proceeded to Bellingham Bay and Boundary Bay. Galiano completed the reconnaissance by outlining Boundary Bay which the former named Ensenada del Engano, Engano meaning false, deceptive. Punt Cepeda(Point Roberts) was outlined and its relation to the mainland was shown.
Inside Birch Bay, they saw the lights of a vessel, and as they left Boundary Bay in the early morning hours, they met a longboat containing an English naval officer. Lieutenant Broughton informed them that the British ships Discovery and Chatham were close by. A few days later, they met Captain George Vancouver returning by boat from Burrard Inlet.
INITIAL EUROPEAN CONTACT
First English Contact
George Vancouver
George Vancouver's Journal
In the same year 1792, that Galiano surveyed the waters off South Surrey, Captain George Vancouver began his survey of the coast on behalf of the British Government. With the Discovery and the Chatham anchored in Birch Bay, Vancouver and Lieutenant Puget in two small boats began a reconnaissance of the coast towards the north.
…with a week's provisions in each boat, I departed at five o'clock
on Tuesday morning(Tuesday June 12, 1792). The most northerly branch, though
it soon terminated in two open bays: the southernmost(Semiahmoo Bay), which
is the smallest, has two small rocks lying off its south point; it extends
in a circular form to the eastward, with a shoal of land projecting some distance
from its shores(Semiahmoo Spit). This bay afford good anchorage from 7 to
10 fathoms of water: the other is much larger (Boundary Bay) and extends to
the northward; these by noon, we had passed around, but the shoals attached
to the shores of each, and particularly to those of the later, prevented our
reaching with 4 or 5 miles of their heads. The point constituting the west
extremity of these bays(Point Roberts), is that which was seen from the ship,
and considered as the western part of the mainland, of which it is a small
portion, much elevated at the south extremity of a very low narrow peninsula;
its highest part is to the SE, formed by high white sand cliffs falling perpendicularly
into the sea: from whence a shoal extends to the distance of half a mile round
it joining those of the larger bay…. From this point, situated in latitude
48 degrees 57 minutes, longitude 237 degrees 21 minutes (which I distinguished
by the name of Point Roberts, after my esteemed friend and predecessor in
the Discovery) the coast takes a direction N. 28W…
On June 4th, Vancouver went shore to take possession(at Point Grey) of the
coast north from 39 degrees 20 minutes to the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and
to claim the interior seas which he named the Gulf of Georgia.
Archibald Menzies, a member of Vancouver's expedition, described the landing at what later became known as Cannery Point>
Here (Point Roberts) they landed to dine near a large deserted Village
capable of contining at least 400 or 500 inhabitants, tho it was now in perfect
ruins - nothing but the skeletions of the houses remained, these however were
sufficient to show their general form structure and position. Each house appeared
distinct and capacious of the form of an oblong square, and they were arranged
in three separate rows of consideraable length; the Beams consisted of huge
long pieces of Timber placed in Notches on the top of supporters 14 feet from
the ground, but by what mechanical power the Natives had raised these bulky
beams to that height they could not conjecture. Three supporters stood at
each end for the longitudinal beams, and an equal number were arranged on
each side for the support of smaller cross beams in each house.
Captain Vancouver's party saw what was the Straits Salish temporary summer
camp at Cannery Point. They must have seen the frames of houses or the drying
racks upon which the fishermen put their fish. The Salish did not stay at
Cannery Point the year round. However, in late June, July, and August it seethed
with activity. At this campsite the fishermen constructed small houses, and
on the beach in front of the houses ran the drying racks, about fourteen feet
high, and the whole length of the beach.
On the morning of June 22, as his men where rowing back to Point Grey they observed a brig and a schooner wearing Spanish colours. The meeting was polite and friendly and information was exchanged. An arrangement was made for a joint expedition northward which outlined that the land to the west was an island - Vancouver Island.
George Vancouver 1757-1798 A hydrographer who had
served with Captain Cook on his first and last voyages to the West Coast of
North America. He was charged with making an accurate survey of the pacific
coast line north form 30 North Latitude to Cook's Inlet. As part of this survey
he coasted along the shores of Semiahmoo and Boundary Bays and wrote in his
log a description of South Surrey and Delta.
The James McMillan Expedition
After George Vancouver's small boats sailed out of Semiahmoo and Boundary
Bays, thirty-two years were to pass before the next expedition ventured into
the bays.
James McMillan, in the winter of 1824, led a party from Fort Vancouver to choose a site for a new Hudson Bay Company fort(Fort Langley) near the mouth of the Fraser River. Traveling north through Puget Sound the party reached Semiahmoo Bay on December 11, 1824. The weather was growing cold, the wind was blowing, and ahead of them was the wide open stretch of water and the rounding of Point Roberts. They decided to wait for the weather to clear and camped near the present site of White Rock.
On Monday December 13 the party set out to cross Boundary Bay and round Point Roberts. The following is the story as set down in the journal of John Work.
Embarked at half past 7 o'clock and set out with the intention of crossing
the traverse, but had gone but a short way when it was thought too rough….
The course was therefore changed and the boats crossed the entrance of the
little bay in which we had been encamped(Semiahmoo Bay), and continued along
the main shore to another bay(Boundary Bay), down which they proceeded to
the entrance of a small river,(Nicomekl) up which they continued about 7 or
8 miles, in a very winding course which was in general N. Easterly. Encamped
at half past 3 o'clock.
The reason for the expedition's entering the Nicomekl river was the Indians'
description of a portage at its head leading into the "Coweechin River"(the
Fraser River). The guides said it was a very bad route and they wanted to
go by way of Point Roberts.
The navigation of the little river is very bad, after getting a short
distance up it was often barred up with driftwood which impeded our progress,
the Indians had cut roads through it for their canoes yet they were too narrow
for our boats. Rather up it is nearly closed up with willows so uncommonly
thick that it was both laborious and tedious to get the boats dragged through
them.
The first description of the landscape of South Surrey is provided in Work's
Journal.
The appearance of the country round the bay(Semiahmoo Bay) from which
we started this morning round to the point, appears low and flat, the bay
appears to be shallow. In the river nothing but thick willows are seen for
some distance from the water, where the banks though low are well wooded with
pine, cedar, alder and some other trees. There is the appearance of beaver
being pretty numerous in this river. Where we are now encamped is a pretty
little plain.
The distance traveled would have taken them into the flats south of the present
Cloverdale and probably east of the Pacific Highway near the Surrey-Langley
boundary. Here they began a portage of "7910" yards or nearly four
and one-half miles through Langley Prairie and the Salmon River. The character
of the plains and soils was noted.
This portage…, lies through a plain(Langley Prairie) which with the
weighty rain is become so soft and miry, that in several places it resembles
a swamp. The road is very miry and every hollow is a pool of water. The soil
here appears to be very rich, is a black mould, the remains of luxurious crop
of fern and grass lies on the ground. The country about here seems low, the
trees are of different kinds, pine, birch, popular alder, etc., some of the
pine are of a very large size. Some of the men who were hunting visited the
upper part of the little river and report that they saw the appearance of
plenty of beaver. Elk have been very numerous here some time ago but the hunters
suppose that since this rainy season they have gone to high ground.
The McMillan Expedition continued north over Langley Prairie and down the
Salmon River to the Fraser River. It was a this location that the site of
the first Fort Langley was designated.
Aboriginal Peoples
Semiahmoo of the Straits Salish
The Semiahmoo People
The People who occupied Surrey came from two distinct language groups. Along the Fraser the Kwantlen tribe was part of the Halkomelem linguistic group. The Kwantlen settlements where largely on the north bank of the Fraser as the south shore was subject to flooding in the freshet season. The Kwantlen used North Surrey as hunting grounds and as a burial ground above high water. A small village Kikait existed on the south shore. The village site was transformed when Ebenezer Brown built the first hotel in 1861 as well as the wharf that became known as Brown's Landing. As transportation links grew this site became Brownsville.
The people who occupied South Surrey were the Semiahmoo. The Semiahmoo belonged to a group of tribes called the Straits Salish, a division of the Coast Salish. The Straits Salish have been set off from their neighbours on the basis of language and their most important subsistence activity - the trapping of the early runs of salmon, the most important of which was the sockeye run to the Fraser. To the Straits Salish division belongs the tribes Sooke, Songish, and Saanish of south-eastern Vancouver Island, and the Semiahmoo, Lummi, and Samish of the Washington mainland to the east. These tribes spoke slightly differing dialects of the same Coast Salish language.
The territory of the Semiahmoo included the eastern shore of Point Roberts, the shores of Boundary Bay, South Surrey, the drainage basins of Dakota, California, and Terrell Creeks, and the shores of Semiahmoo Bay and Drayton Harbor, and the shores of Birch Bay. To the north of the Semiahmoo was a small Halkomelem- speaking group called the Snokomish. Their territory included the shores of Boundary Bay from Point Roberts to the Serpentine, Nicomekl and Campbell Rivers. Shortly before 1850 the Snokomish were almost entirely wiped out by a smallpox epidemic. The few survivors joined the Semiahmoo and the Semiahmoo became the heirs to the Snokomish territory.
Strictly speaking the Semiahmoo should not be called a tribe. Rather they were clusters of autonomous households often within shouting distance of one another. Sites occupied by clusters of households were of three kinds: permanent villages, temporary summer encampments, and forts. The accompanying map shows Semiahmoo encampments known to have existed between 1791, when the first white contacts were made and the 1850s at the beginnings of white settlement. Permanent villages were centered around Semiahmoo Bay and Birch Bay. The clusters of rectangular plank dwellings found there were the winter homes of these semi-sedentary people. Their habit of seasonal convergence established and preserved their tribal distinctiveness. With the coming of spring the inhabitants of each center radiated over the acknowledged Semiahmoo territory, setting up shelters at favoured spots for clam- digging, egg-gathering, bulb-digging and fishing. Temporary summer camps were established on Cannery Point, Point Roberts, where extensive reef-netting grounds existed, and where clam- digging was undertaken. Crescent Beach was another site for digging clams, harpooning sturgeon and gaffing salmon taken from the Nicomekl and Serpentine Rivers. A small seasonal camp existed at the mouth of the Little Campbell River on the former Snokomish territory.
The Semiahmoo Forts were constructed in the early part of the nineteenth century. They became a necessary means of defense due to the increase in raids from northern Indians, especially the southern most Kwakiutl group, known locally as the Yukulta. The Yukulta evidently received firearms a few years earlier than the Salish; they already had muskets in 1792. This advantage, perhaps added to a culture that already valued aggression, enabled the Yukulta to expand from their original home. They raided the Coast Salish, going as far south as Puget Sound, and even ascending the Fraser River a short way. They killed, looted, and carried off women and children as slaves. To defend themselves the Semiahmoo built forts.
One fort was located at the present site of Blaine, north of the mouths of Dakota and California Creeks. It was built between 1820 and 1830. The fort consisted of a stockade around two plank houses, with tunnels leading from inside to loopholes in the bank in front of the stockade. Inside were two poles upon which baskets of flaming pitch were hoisted to light the surrounding area at night. The fort was located on the bluff overlooking Drayton Harbour and Semiahmoo Bay. This allowed fair warning against any impending raid. The second Semiahmoo fort was constructed on the bluff over-looking Semiahmoo and Boundary Bays. The following description of the fort is part of an article written by the late Mr. Henry T. Thrift of White Rock.
The entrenched Indian fort was located on the crest of the bluff about
one quarter mile north of the line of the North Bluff Road. It commanded an
extensive view of the waters of Boundary Bay, Mud Bay, a part of Semiahmoo
Bay, and also Point Roberts. It was excellently situated for observation and
defense, facing the open water on the west, with a sheer bluff practically
to the water's edge. North and South it was defended with a deep ravine on
each side, running inland for a considerable distance. From the termination
of the ravines a deep ditch connecting them was excavated. The earth so moved
formed a high bank or breastwork, the entrance being towards the south side
of the structure, and enclosing possibly about a half acre of ground. The
surface of the enclosure appeared to be quite level.
With the establishment of British law and order, following
the granting of colonial status to British Columbia in 1858, Indian wars decreased
and the forts fell into disrepair. The location today is known as Indian Fort
Drive a subdivision near the west end of 20th avenue.
The population of the Semiahmoo people has declined markedly since the earliest contacts with the white man. 1780 estimates of population placed the Semiahmoo at 300. By 1854 smallpox epidemics together with raids by Northern Indians had reduced their numbers to 250. In 1909 there were 38 in British Columbia; none were found on the American side of the line. By 1963, the number had dropped to 28, and the 1971 population was only 24, comprising four families.
Presettlement Trails through Surrey
Early Trails through Surrey
The movement of white men into Surrey became
more frequent after 1827 once Fort Langley had been constructed. Trails
such as the Semiahmoo-Langley Trail, the Kennedy Trail and the Telegraph Trail
were the existing routes which the earliest settlers used before 1870.
BEACH ROAD
The first major influx of white men into South Surrey did not take place until
1857. The British party attached to the Boundary Survey Commission, in co-operation
with a similar body from the United States, set out to mark the boundary along
the forty-ninth parallel. The party, which consisted of about 100 men, included
men of the RoyalEngineers as well as civilian axemen. They erected their headquarters
on a little strip of open land near the mouth of the Little Campbell River
close to one of the Semiahmoo winter camps. The site was just north of the
forty-ninth parallel; it was clear, contained a fresh water supply, and the
Campbell River channel provided water access over the tidal flats. A brief
description of the site appeared in the Pioneer and Democrat in November 1857.
Semiahmoo Bay - this is the point at which the joint English and American
Boundary Commission is located. The British steamer Satellite lies at anchor
off a spit, from 6 to 8 miles from the fortification of the Commission. The
initial point of boundary established by those entrusted with the survey,
has been located about 2 miles south of their present encampment - being,
it is very rational to conclude, in the neighborhood of the 49th parallel.
The selection for an encampment we regard as miserable, and with commendable
prudence, the steamer Constitution will not venture within from 4 to 6 miles
approaching the shore.
While at this site the troops constructed about a mile and three-quarters
of good road (Beach Road) along the shore of Semiahmoo Bay between the boundary
and their headquarters. This base was used while the boundary was slashed
and marked from Semiahmoo Bay to the Sumas Flats.
FORT LANGLEY TRAIL
The British Columbia gold rush which began in 1858 caused a short flurry of
trail construction in the area. The California miners were determined to reach
the Fraser River mines through American territory. A trail was planned from
Whatcom on Bellingham Bay through Sumas to Hope. This trail was completed
in 1859. The Royal Engineers' map of 1861 shows the Whatcom Trail from the
Nootsack River to the mouth of the Sumas. It crossed the International Boundary
about one-half mile east of the present Huntingdon townsite, on the west bank
of the Sumas River.
In order to control the influx of miners the government announced on July 25, 1858, that a second trail (The Fort Langley Trail) was to be built from Semiahmoo Bay to Fort Langley. This would provide better control of the rush and allow the Engineers to collect the miners tax. The route chosen was from the mouth of the Little Campbell River, following the north bank for about four miles, and then turning north-easterly across country to Fort Langley.
An early account of the trail was given by Henry T. Thrift.
Another development was the construction of the trail or road and the
bridges from the shore of Semiahmoo Bay near where the Douglas Canadian Customs
House is now located through the woods across Hall's Prairie, Hazelmere, Belmont
and Langley Prairie to Fort Langley. This trail or road was constructed to
control the gold seekers who surreptitiously came in, attempting to evade
payment of taxes and customs duties assessed and collected by the British
authorities on those who entered the colony by ways and means officially recognized.
The original trail of 1858 ran from the mouth of the Little Campbell River
along the north bank. In later years other access routes were cut to the trail.
A branch which ran from the International Boundary north along the Coast Meridian(as
is described by Mr. Thrift) which was the original survey line cut by J.W.
Trutch in 1859 and later improved by the settlers as a road. The original
trail and its branches are shown on a 1874-75 map drawn at the office of the
Lands and Works, Victoria, B.C. and on an International Boundary Survey Commission
map surveyed in 1907, "From the Gulf of Georgia to the Northwestern most
point of the Lake of the Woods," Sheet #2
THE KENNEDY TRAIL
The Kennedy Trail was a settlement trail built in 1861 by James Kennedy, who
had pre-empted land on the bank of the Fraser near the present Annieville.
His trail followed the base of the hill overlooking the Delta flats to Oliver
Slough near Mud Bay. He used the trail to drive cattle from Oliver Slough
to his holdings. The beef was then fattened and sold
into the New Westminster and Gold Rush markets. He later extended the trail
up the Fraser to the wharf at Brownsville, opposite New Westminster.
THE TELEGRAPH TRAIL
Another of the earliest trails cut through the region was that of the ill-fated
Overland Telegraph (The Telegraph Trail). With the failure of the 1858 Atlantic
Cable, plans were made to construct an overland telegraph system linking the
existing network in North America with that of Europe via British Columbia,
Alaska and Siberia. The line reached New Westminster from the United States
in June 1865.
A trail was built along the line, both to facilitate the transportation of supplies and for purpose of maintenance….the line of this telegraph trail entered British Columbia at the present site of the Peace Arch; thence it ran along Beach Road and over the hill behind White Rock to the Mud Bay Flats, which it crossed, swinging to the westward to connect, near the Oliver Slough, with the Kennedy Trail, which it followed to New Westminster. From NewWestminster the Telegraph Trail continued eastward along thesouth shore of the Fraser to Yale and the Cariboo Wagon Road.
Pioneer Settlement
Clearing and Draining the Land
Only a few settlers ventured into the heavily wooded glacial uplands of Surrey. Due to the great difficulty of clearing the land it appears that extensive settlement did not occur until the upland areas had been logged over. The many discarded logs and the massive stumps made the logged areas still very difficult one to clear, especially before the widespread use of dynamite and the introduction of the bulldozer in the 1940s. Difficulties of clearing combined with doubtful soil quality made upland agriculture largely unrewarding.
The lowlands were the favoured areas by the Pioneers. There was little clearing necessary in the lowlands. Hardback and other scrub bush was knocked over with team-drawn chains and then burned or plowed under with a thirty inch plow and left for two or three years to decompose. While clearing was relatively easy in the lowlands, diking and drainage were a different story. To protect the land from tidal overflow and high runoff, dikes were built in the Serpentine-Nicomekl lowlands, but were unnecessary in the Campbell lowlands. Initially this involved all hand labour and many an acre was safeguarded from the destructive sea water in this toilsome manner. Literally mile after mile of these handmade dikes - some three feet in height - existed to tell the tale of pioneer pluck and endurance. The first machine-made dikes were put in about 1898 around the mouths of the Serpentine and Nicomekl Rivers.
Homesteaded Sections
Drainage was necessary throughout both of the valley bottoms of the Surrey
lowlands, and it was accomplished with under-drains. The under-drains were
ditches sixteen inches wide and from eighteen to thirty inches deep leading
to a drainage ditch or slough. In the bottom of this ditch a tile spade would
be used to dig a four-inch-wide tongue, fourteen to sixteen inches deep. Over
this tongue drain small blocks of cedar, sixteen inches long, were laid. Additional
ten feet long cedar lengths might also be placed over top of the sixteen inch
blocks. Later when sawed lumber was available, six or eight inch cedar boards
were nailed together to form a triangular drain which was placed over the
tongue ditch. The under-drains were established at intervals of three or four
rods across the field. They emptied into ditches or sloughs which were in
turn diverted to the river. There a dike gate was constructed which would
open to allow the water to flow out at periods of low tide, but close to prevent
inflow during high tide. These systems of under-drains and dike gates were
common-place throughout the lowlands and were very successful in removing
excess water and salt from the land.
A great deal of the labour in ditching and draining was undertaken by Chinese. As one early settler put it:
The only ditching machine they knew in the early
days was a Chinaman, and he was an artist. With a spade he could dig a ditch
better and cheaper than any machine would do it. Why a Chinaman would dig
an under-drain, we'd put the lumber in, and then he'd refill it, all at twelve
cents a rod; and it would be as true as any machine would ever make it. They
were such workers that they'd make a dollar a day.
The soil of the Serpentine-Nicomekl lowland was composed of a clay-silt along
the banks of the sloughs and rivers, and peat in the lower sections away from
the rivers. After diking, draining and cultivation over a period of years
the land settled an average of twelve to eighteen inches. This settling of
the land was due to the breaking down of humus, peat, seaweed and other organic
materials as the land was drained and cultivated. The clay-silt banks did
not settle as much as the peat land and thus a somewhat undulating landscape,
which required grading, was created.
The soil of the Halls Prairie district differed from that of the northern lowlands in that the former did not have any extensive peat lands; while its soil being a heavier clay loam did not drain as readily, caking, when wet, and going to powder when dry. The differences not-withstanding, the soils of both the Serpentine-Nicomekl and Campbell lowlands were good soils capable of producing crops under moderately good management practice.
Settlers Reliance on Water Transportation
The early settlers of Surrey came to exploit the agriculture and forest potential of the district. They generally located their homesteads on or near the flanks of the uplands. The early farmers eagerly sought out those homesites which gave them access to fertile, easily cleared lowland prairie, yet provided sites free from periodic flooding. The early loggers tended to chose such sites also as hand-operations could easily be employed to move the timber of the uplands to the navigable waterways.
As pockets of settlement developed names were given to them- Mud Bay, Elgin, Kensington Prairie, East Kensington, Clover Valley, Tynehead, Port Kells, Hazelmere, Halls Prairie, Surrey Centre, Crescent Beach, White Rock. However, the district did not develop a commercial core during this pioneer period. Settlers were dependent upon commercial centers outsidethe district, accessible primarily by water.
In the 1870s water routes were of primary importance in the movement of farm produce, timber supplies, and retail supplies. Markets for farm produce predominantly hay and light grains existed in Victoria, New Westminster, and the Hastings Mill settlement(present day Vancouver). Freight boats would move these bulky cargoes from barns and wharves located on the Serpentine and Nicomekl Rivers. In the early 1880s, by which time several large logging operations had been started in the district, most of the farm produce could be sold locally.
Timber markets for local logging operation were with the large New Westminster based milling companies. The logs were boomed and moved by tug to the city mills.
Hazelmere-Halls Prairie people, living in the vicinity of the International Boundary, generally purchased retail supplies from the store on Semiahmoo Spit, across Drayton Harbor from present day Blaine, Washington. There was no means of getting to the store except by boat. Dick Richards acted as a ferryman and took passengers over Drayton Harbor.
He had no landing for his boat and anchored it out in the water. You signaled
him by turning a board on a pole when you wanted to cross. If a man didn't
have hip boots on, he would have to take off his shoes and stocking and wade;
but Dick would gallantly carry a women passenger. His price was ten cents
a head.
People from the Serpentine-Nicomekl lowlands - Mud Bay, Elgin, Kensington
areas - would also row around Crescent Beach andthe point to the store at
Semiahmoo, but more commonly their needswere supplied by sloop from Victoria
or New Westminster. Provisions brought in by the sloop load had to come around
Point Roberts andeach trip cost at least fifty dollars. Six months or a years
provisions for a family would be brought in and stored carefully.
Small amount of retail supplies might also be back-packed in from New Westminster or brought in by ox-sled. However, in the 1880s a journey from Elgin to New Westminster would take about fifteen to sixteen hours for the return trip; from Hazelmere it would take up to twenty hours.
The severe transportation difficulties facing Surrey settlers in 1889 are illustrated in the story of the Peschkes.
When Anton and John Peschke came in to settle on Halls Prairie, they brought everything in by ox-team. Anton's wife followed in a few months later, and he drove to New Westminster to meet her - an all-night drive to cover the twenty miles, and a charge of a dollar each way to take his ox-team across the river on the ferry. The boat on which Mrs. Peschke should have arrived came in, and she wasn't on it. Her disappointed husband had the long, lonely drive home. Through some error in communication Mrs. Peschke arrived on another boat the day afterward. Neighbour passed the word to neighbour until the news reached Mr. Peschke. Once more he hitched up the ox-team for another 20 hour trip; one with a happy ending the second time however.
Water Transportation
Water Transportation 1870-1910
Throughout the pioneer era the dominant mode of transportation in Surrey was not road but water. In the 1870s and later the Nicomekl, Serpentine, Fraser, and to a limited extent the Little Campbell River, doubled as roads. Only a few pre-settlement trails existed and these were so poorly maintained that they were suitable only for a man on foot. The roads that were constructed during the 1870s and 1880s had only a limited value. They were suitable for travel during the summer months, but during the wet winter season they were virtually impassable. Only the rivers provided a year round transportation link suited to the movement of bulky commodities produced for export by the local settlers. Logs, hay and light grains would be moved over roads or trails to the river banks. There they would be loaded for shipment to such centers as New Westminster, Victoria, Semiahmoo and Bellingham. Water transport remained the dominant means of shipment until an improved rail network provided a better means for exporting the bulk commodities.
The Nicomekl River was the only truly navigable stream. It had been used for generations by the Coast Salish in their seasonal movement to the Fraser fisheries near present Fort Langley. The navigable waterway had been shown to James McMillan in 1824, and his was the first European party to traverse it. The Nicomekl was wider, deeper and had a greater flow than either the Serpentine or the Little Campbell Rivers. Its only draw back was a big meander about four miles upstream. However, in 1888 local farmers dug a canal through the neck of the big bend to improve navigation. The Nicomekl was navigable as far as Halls Prairie Road with a small draught boat. Larger freight boats or tugs averaging fifty tons, but up to one hundred tons, usually only ventured upstream as far as the big bend in the Nicomekl to the float at the Carncross farm. If these larger boats went further upstream they would turn around on the Nicomekl near the big bend(where the river widens in the vicinity of the present Johnston and Mud Bay roads) and go backwards the rest of their run to the terminus at Halls Prairie Road. The bridges crossing the Nicomekl were lift spans with up to thirty feet of clearance.
The freighter Stella was owned by Royal City Mills. It was operated by Mr. Carncross on the Nicomekl prior to roads being built in 1886. The Carncross farm is in the background. The Stella could operate as far inland as the Halls Prairie Road bridge. Most barns were located next to the rivers to provide easy access to water transportation for the bulk products.
The Serpentine and Campbell Rivers were not as navigable as the Nicomekl. The Serpentine was winding, narrow, and shallow with frequent bars. Only small boats or scows could use it at high tide. The Little Campbell River was only navigable at high tide, as at low tide it resembled a small creek. William Brown, a farmer from Hall Prairie, kept a small sloop in the mouth of the Little Campbell in the 1880s and 1890s, and he would bring it upstream as far as the Semiahmoo Road bridge.
Water transportation quickly declined after 1891 with completion of the New Westminster and Southern Railway. Additional rail links provided an improved export route for product of the forest and farm. Navigation on the Nicomekl ended with the construction and completion in 1912, of the flood control dams which replaced the bridges on the Semiahmoo Road. Freighting below the control gates slowly declined and ended in 1940.
The Nicomekl River today is greatly alter compared to the river before 1912. The flood control gates, and the altered drainage patterns have caused silting as the large tidal flow and accompanying scour are no longer present.
The Fraser River was a highly navigable river. Regular steamship service operated from Victoria to New Westminster, Fort Langley and Yale. Settlers timed their trips up and down the Fraser to coincide with the tides. This avoided a back breaking trip and made it a comfortable enjoyable one.
Diking Jurisdictions
Diking the Lowlands
Diking has long been a major problem faced by the farmers of the Serpentine-Nicomekl lowland. Initially all dikes were built with hand labour, and some of them reached three feet in height. The first machine-made dikes were put in, in 1898, on the north bank of the Nicomekl from the Semiahmoo Road Bridge, around Mud Bay and up the Serpentine to the Woodward farm and the Semiahmoo Road. The dredge was a floating rig that took material from the river bottom for the construction of the dike.
The first machine-made dikes were put in about 1898 around the mouths
of the Serpentine and Nicomekl Rivers. This municipal dredge was used to build
dikes in Surrey, BC in 1901.
Settlers desired to keep out sea water as the salt deposited effectively ruined the soil for several seasons until the salt could be flushed out. To achieve this end the Surrey Drainage and Diking By-law was passed in 1889 for the purpose of constructing an earth fill dam with flood gates at the mouth of the Serpentine River. Trouble arose, however, when a severe storm during the winter of 1890 washed a good portion of the newly-constructed dam as well as its flood gates out to sea. The dam was never reconstructed.
The greatest difficulty in local diking was the maintenance of the sea wall between the mouths of the rivers on Mud Bay. This was largely solved after 1907 when construction of the Great Northern Railway began and the railway assumed responsibility for the sea wall portion.
A major project to end sea-water flooding began in 1910 when the Surrey Diking Commission began construction of cement dams and flood gates to replace the Semiahmoo Road bridges. The Semiahmoo Road was to act as a dike between the control dams on the Serpentine and Nicomekl Rivers. The control dams were not placed closer to the river mouths due to the difficulty in construction, and higher costs due to the wider river mouths. In addition local farmers were unable to agree on the location of inter-connecting dikes.
Private dikes existed both upstream and downstream from the Surrey Diking Commission's control dams. The flood of 1935, resulting from heavy snow followed by five days of continuous rain, caused water to flow through the valley as if it was a single stream, and demonstrated the need for improved diking along the river's headwaters. As a result the Surrey Diking Commission in 1939, with federal government assistance, built forty-six miles of dikes along the rivers and their major tributaries. In the late 1940s, due to extensive flooding below the control dams, the Mud Bay Diking Commission was established. The various diking jurisdictions are illustrated in the accompanying map.
As diking and drainage were improved in Surrey's lowlands they provided greater security for local farmers against financial and physical loss.
Early Provincial Roads
Road Development 1871-1890
In 1871 the British Columbia Government entered Confederation with Canada. This union meant the removal of British Columbia's burdensome debt by the Federal Government which now allowed the province to undertake additional public works projects. In 1873 the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia appropriated larger sums of money than usual for road construction. The government recognized the need for roads to open up the vacant lands and stimulate settlement. The settler especially needed well organized land routes: to reach the land he had claimed or acquired; to provide mail services; to bring equipment, supplies, building materials, and livestock to the farm; to ship out farm produce to the local market; to meet social needs - travel to school, church, public meetings or just undertake a neighbourly visit. For these reasons and beginning in 1873, the Provincial government undertook the construction of a number of trunk roads which would provided access to and from New Westminster as well as all parts of Surrey. While these roads once constructed provided a very important facility, they were not all-weather routes and therefore could never replace entirely the local rivers as a year-round bulk commodity transportation system.
In 1872-73 the Semiahmoo Wagon Road was built from Annieville(opposite New Westminster) to the International Boundary. This provided the first north-south wagon route across Surrey, and in 1873 a mail stage began operating along it between New Westminster and the Semiahmoo Spit. This road still exists in part in North Surrey and as a heritage trail in South Surrey.
In 1874-75 A.J. McLellan contracted to build part of the Ladner Trunk Road from the Semiahmoo Road to Langley(later it became known as the McLellan Road; presently, part of it its Highway #10). In the same year John Kirkland build the portion from the Semiahmoo Road to the Scott Road. It was hoped that this east-west road, linking Ladner with Hope, would provide valley settlers with a means of marketing farm produce outside the Fraser Valley. This link from its connection with the Yale Road and Ladner would provide an alternative when the Fraser River at New Westminster froze over or was plugged with flow ice. This road still exists as New McLellan Avenue from Scott Road to the King George Highway, as Highway #10 from King George Highway to the Serpentine Bridge, as Old McLellan Road to Surrey Centre and 60th Avenue into Langley.
In 1875, J.T. Scott contracted to build a wagon road south from Brown's Landing to meet the Ladner Trunk Road at Oliver Slough. Scott was unable to complete his contract, and the Provincial government undertook to finish the road the following year. Scott Road provided a shorter road link between Ladner and New Westminster. Settlers in Ladner could market their products in New Westminster rather than ferrying them up the Fraser, and New Westminster residents had an ice free port in winter as ice blocked the New Westminster Harbour. Today this is the present 120th Street.
In 1875 The Yale Road was completed through Surrey to provide a land link between New Westminster and the Yale-Cariboo Wagon Road into the interior. This land route was of strategic value when winter ice on the Fraser River frequently made regular steamship service to Yale impossible. Today the Yale road still exists in parts of Surrey and the upper valley. Parts of it isincorporated into the Fraser Highway.
Yale Road provided an important link between the
Cariboo Road and New Westminster when the Fraser River was frozen over.
By 1875 the construction of trunk roads underwritten by the Provincial Government was completed. Further road construction had to wait until the Municipality of Surrey was incorporated on November 10, 1879.
Road Development 1871-1890
Municipal Road Construction 1879-1890
The earliest municipal council meetings were concerned in part with the condition of existing trunk roads and the construction of new local roads. Floating logs were creating havoc with the flimsy bridges across the rivers. The minutes of the second council meeting held at Brown's Landing on January 30th, 1880 show this concern.
Moved and seconded that the Clerk put a notice on the Nicomekl Bridge,
Semiahmoo Road, that the Bridge is unsafe for travel and cautioning persons
from injuring the said bridge by letting logs float on the river and obstructing
the navigation, also to serve a notice on the Logging Company Boys concerning
the same.
In June 1880 a by-law was introduced to allow settlers to work out one half
of their taxes on roads. The Municipal Council proceeded to award a series
of local contracts for the maintenance of existing roads, or construction
of new ones. Semiahmoo Road maintenance contract to John Woodward for $140.00.
Coast Meridian Road construction Sec.1 to Alex M. Anderson for $75.00. Coast
Meridian Road construction Sec. 2 to H.C. McDougall for $425.00. Hall's Prairie
Road construction, Yale to Grey's Corner to Alex M. Anderson for $69.00. McLennan
Road maintenance to Alex M. Anderson for $119.87.
By 1890 a number of additional roads were completed through Surrey. William
Shannon, a local resident, was given the contract in 1887 to open the Hall's
Prairie Road from Yale Road to the International Boundary, and provincial
financial assistance was needed in the construction of the bridges. The Crescent
Road from Elgin to Blackie's Spit was completed in 1884. It ran on its current
route and followed Crescent Road and descended the hill on the beach by what
is known today as Sandy Trails a local footpath. In 1886 the southern portion
of the Coast Meridian Road was completed. This provided a north-south route
from the International Boundary at Blaine to the Yale Road.
Crossing the Fraser
Ferry links across the Fraser
The Ferry K de K operating between Surrey and New Westminster in 1884.
The ferry licence was sub-let to Angus Grant of New Westminster who built
the ferry and named it after a close friend with the unusual name of Knyvett
de Knyvett.
A selection of ferry rates appear below.
Passengers over ten years, twenty cents, thirty-five return.
Wagons, from fifty cents empty to one dolar with two horses and a load.
Buggies, sleighs and cutters from twenty-five to seventy-five cents.
Sheep, pigs, and other animals under one year, ten cents.
Oxen, cows, heifers, horses or mules twenty-five cents each.
Reaper or mower with one span horses, two dollars.
Threshing machine, two dollars and fifty cents.
General freight, fifty cents per ton.
The roads of Surrey, like those of the Fraser Valley
in general, focused on New Westminster, at the time the largest city on the
mainland. The Fraser River at New Westminster has been crossed for years,
first by canoe, later by row boat - a single trip one way cost one dollar.
This was a great hindrance to normal movement. During 1883 a number of joint
meetings of Surrey and New Westminster authorities were held in an attempt
to establish a transportation link across the Fraser River. A steam ferry,
called the K de K, sublet from the joint municipal authority to Captain Angus
Grant, went into operation that fall. It was to give hourly service from 6
a.m. to 8 p.m. every day but Sunday, when shorter hours were established.
With the initiation of a regular ferry service, it became the immediate ambition
of every farmer, to own a wagon and team so that he might have his own transportation
to the city. In 1889 the K de K was replaced by the steam ferry Surrey, which
was operated by the City of New Westminster until the opening of the New Westminster
Bridge in 1904.
In 1889, the K de K was replaced by the steam ferry
Surrey. This picture shows the steam ferry Surrey mid-stream
in the Fraser River between New Westminster and Brownsville. The Surrey operated
from 1889 until 1904 and the opening of the New Westminster Bridge.
The Railway Era 1887-1910
The coming of the railways to Surrey resulted in the decline of water transportation. The completed network of railways provided that which the system of trunk roads could not - accessible year-round links whereby products of the forest and farm could easily be moved to market. The peak year of the railway era, 1910, was also the year that navigation effectively ended on the Serpentine and Nicomekl Rivers due to the construction of flood control dams.
Interest in railways in Surrey stemmed from the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway(CPR) in British Columbia. At its regular meeting on November 29, 1880, Surrey Council passed a resolution to co-operate with the New Westminster City Council in applying to have a line surveyed on the south bank of the Fraser River for the CPR. When Port Moody was chosen as the western terminus, Surrey felt it would be deprived of any railway connections as the Federal Government's contract with the CPR forbade the construction of any competing line to the south or southwest during the next twenty-five years.
The first rail line in Surrey was a logging spur built in 1887 for Royal City
Mills. In that year the locomotive Curley was brought up the Nicomekl River
on a scow and was landed about one-quarter mile west of Coast Meridian Road.
It was hauled to the section of rail which ran west from the old Royal City
logging ditch. The section east of the logging ditch to Hazelmere was built
in 1890.
The Royal City Planing Mill's locomotive "Curley". Bob Harvie,
engineer 1894
By 1889 the New Westminster and Southern Railway(NWSR), a subsidiary of the Great Northern Railway(GNR) was under construction. In 1887 a charter was granted by the provincial government to build a railway from a connection (to the as yet to be built Fairhaven and Southern) at Blaine to Liverpool on the Fraser River. After considerable opposition from Ottawa, the clearing of the right of way in Surrey was under way in April 1890. By December 1890 the track was completed from Liverpool (Port Mann) to the Nicomekl River south of Cloverdale. On February 14th, 1891 two special trains met at the border to celebrate the driving of the last spikes. An excursion train ran the 23.51 miles from Liverpool on the Fraser to the border. The northern terminus of the NWSR was on the south bank of the Fraser at Liverpool. Later the terminus was extended to Brownsville where a the ferry connection to New Westminster existed. Both passengers and freight shared the ferry across to New Westminster with the Fraser Valley road traffic. To the south the NWSR connected at Blaine with the GNR line. Initially the Canadian subsidiary lacked locomotive stock, until the Great Northern link from Seattle to Fairhaven was completed late in 1891. In order to maintain service during this period, the Royal City Mill's locomotive Curley was leased for the run between Brownsville and Blaine. The railway resulted in the establishment of stations and post offices in Hazelmere, Clover Valley - Cloverdale - at the junction of the railway and the McLellan Road. Henry Kells also moved his town site from the Fraser River to the railway but he kept the former name Port Kells. Regular service with Seattle did not begin until Dec. 2, 1891.
In 1903 the Victoria Terminal Railway and Ferry Company(VTR&F), a subsidiary of the GNR, opened its 17.49 miles of road from Port Guichon, just west of Ladner, to Cloverdale where it connected with the New Westminster and Southern. In association with a fast ferry and its rail line on Vancouver Island, the VTR&F offered regular freight service between Victoria and Vancouver. This service was virtually abandoned, however, as the City of Victoria cancelled its $15,000 subsidy. This combined with the CPR's direct steamship service between Victoria and Vancouver made the service unprofitable. The VTR&F Co. continued to operate its trains on the mainland but on a very infrequent basis thus earning the company its nickname "Molasses Limited". By 1906, passenger trains from Port Guichon to New Westminster ran only on Mondays. In Surrey, Alluvia Station (at the foot of Woodward's Hill at the intersection with the Semiahmoo Road), became an important stop on the line, and from this new station much farm produce and lumber was shipped.
The VTR&F line, from Port Guichon to Cloverdale, was purchased by the Vancouver, Victoria and Eastern Railway and Navigation Company(VVER) in 1907. This GNR subsidiary extended the line from Cloverdale to Huntingdon in 1909. This line was intended to be part of a through route from Vancouver to the Kootenays. However, the completion of the BC Electric Railway in 1910 and the growing competition from road transport brought a rapid decline in service.
The bottleneck of road and rail transportation south of the Fraser River was the ferry link from Brownsville to New Westminster. This was eliminated with the expiration of the CPR's monopoly clause and the completion of the New Westminster Bridge, which was formally opened on July 23rd, 1904. The bridge, a low-level swing span to permit continued river traffic, was double-tiered, the lower level carrying the railway and the upper level two eight foot lanes for foot and vehicular traffic. Tolls were exacted on all traffic to help defray construction costs.
The New Westminster Bridge opened in 1904. This
double-tier span had the railway bridge on the lower level while the upper
level had two eight foot lanes for foot and vehicular traffic.
The New Westminster bridge was a vital link permitting direct rail access into the growing Municipal area. It focused all traffic on New Westminster, and made the markets of the growing metropolitan centers more readily accessible to Surrey's producers of agricultural and forest products. It also encouraged city residents to travel south through Surrey to the beaches of White Rock and Crescent Beach. It was the essential stimulus to further settlement in Surrey.
In 1907 the Great Northern Railway(GNR) began re-routing its main line from Blaine to the New Westminster bridge to follow the coast line of Semiahmoo and Boundary Bays. The original line, operated under the subsidiary the New Westminster and Southern Railway(NWSR), traversed boggy land from Clayton to Port Kells and re-routing was deemed necessary. This combined with the potential for development of White Rock and Crescent Beach were the deciding factors. The new line began operation in March 1909 and the rails were taken up just north of the border at Douglas Station (end of track in 1909 was the Melrose Shingle mill siding). The end of track was moved north in 1911 to the Campbell River Lumber Spur, just north of the Campbell River. The remainder of the line the to the Nicomekl River was abandoned by 1919, and the section from Port Kells to Brownsville was sold to the Canadian Northern Railway in 1916. The section from Clayton to the McNair's Mill spur north of the Nicomekl River remained in use until the end of 1929 and the tracks were lifted in 1930
The Great Northern sea line route provided lower grades and firmer ground
but maintenance costs were higher. The water-level line offered easy access
to the beaches of White Rock and Crescent and those communities began to develop.
The New water-level line offered easy access to the beaches of White Rock and Crescent. Residents of New Westminster and Vancouver could now spend the day on South Surrey beaches, arriving on the morning train and returning in the evening. Weekend excursions to the beach resorts became a regular seasonal feature. White Rock and Crescent mark their real beginnings from the opening of the sea shore route.
The Great Northern station at White Rock in about 1913. Sunday evening
commuters are waiting for the evening train.
On November 6th, 1910 the BC Electric Railway(BCER) from New Westminster to Chilliwack was formally opened by Premier Richard McBride. This extension of the Vancouver-New Westminster interurban was designed to serve the agricultural communities and the forest industries of the Fraser Valley. The "Market", "Milk", "Mail", and "Owl" trains provided important freight and passenger links between the Upper Valley, Surrey and the Metropolitan areas.
1910 marked the peak of railway development activities in Surrey. The growth of railways was complemented by the rapid increase in settlement. The opening of new market areas in and outside of British Columbia did much to stimulate the expansion of Surrey's agriculture and forest industries. The emergence of Cloverdale as a railway hub, and the early development of the White Rock and Crescent resort areas reflect the prosperity and growth associated with the railway era.
Surrey Railways: Their Affiliations and
Dates of Operation
Great Northern Railway(GNR)and subsidiaries
New Westminster Southern(NWSR) Brownsville to Blaine
via Port Kells and Cloverdale. Opened 1891. Service reduced
after 1909 and closed in stages. The reminant is officially abandoned 1929
and tracks lifted in 1930.
Victoria Terminal Railway and Ferry Company(VTR&F) Port Guichon to Colebrook.
Opened 1903 and operated until Aug. 10, 1935. Officially abandoned and the
tracks lifted in 1938.
Vancouver, Victoria and Eastern(VVER) Cloverdale to Huntingdon. Opened 1909.
Officially abandoned 1929.
Great Northern Railway(GNR) New Westminster Bridge to Oliver's Slough to Blaine.
Opened 1909. Currently operated by the Burlington Northern Railway.
British Columbia Electric Railway (BCER), formerly BC Hydro Railway, currently
BC Southern Railway. Opened 1910.
Roberts Bank Railway Roberts Bank to Cloverdale. Opened 1970.
Canadian Northern Pacific Railway(CNPR), now Canadian National. New Westminster
Bridge to Hope. Opened 1914.
For further information on Fraser Valley Railways visit:
"Great Northern Railway in BC's Fraser Valley"
From: http://www.vanc.igs.net/~roughley/gn_fv.html
"The Emergence of Road Transportation
and
the Decline of the Railways 1911-1940
The age of the automobile began to dawn in Surrey about 1911. The number of residents owning cars was growing as a result of Henry Ford's Model T. Surrey was being influenced by a revolution in land transportation as were most other North American communities. The demand for more and better roads to meet the needs of the automobile would soon change the character of Surrey through changes in its transportation pattern. Increased motor vehicle traffic would bring a complete end to water transportation and a marked decline in railway services.
As the use of automobiles, trucks, and buses increased, the Provincial Government recognized the need for road improvements and it began the construction of new trunk roads more suited to motor traffic. At first the improvements consisted largely of straightening, widening, grading, and graveling existing main roads. Later new, direct link, trunk roads were constructed.
While motor vehicles also required better surfaced roads, they provided the means to build them. Motorized equipment allowed greater ease and cheaper costs in building new and better roads. Gravel had come into widespread use by 1913 as trucks made the hauling and spreading of it possible. In 1912 Surrey Municipality purchased its first two trucks and in 1920 it purchased a mechanical loader for use on the roads.
Taking delivery of municipal trucks. Surrey purchased the trucks in 1922 and delivery took place in Vancouver. Trucks such as these were basic in road construction.
In Surrey trunk roads were constructed to provide a more direct route to the International Boundary, or to the developing resort of White Rock. Between 1912-13, the former Clover Valley Road was improved and opened south to the border at Blaine. This gravel road was finished and formally opened on July 12, 1913, being renamed the Pacific Highway. In 1923 the Pacific Highway was graded and cemented from the Border to Old Yale Road. The latter road was also graded and cemented the same year, thus providing a high quality all-weather highway between the International Boundary and New Westminster. Old Yale Road was also cemented eastward to Chilliwack.
Looking north along the Pacific Highway south of Cloverdale, B.C. as it appeared prior to paving in 1923. This picture was taken in 1918.
Local side roads showed the greatest increase in mileage during this period. As these roads were built by Surrey Municipality, they usually took longer to be improved as there was less money at their disposal. Yet local road grids continued filling in, as settlement continued to increase.
The phenomenal rise in importance of automobiles, trucks and buses in the transportation system of Surrey was responsible for the filling in and improving of the road network during the 1920s and 1930s. Movement of freight and passengers shifted noticeably to road transport. In South Surrey a daily jitney service from White Rock to New Westminster via Cloverdale and the Pacific Highway was begun in 1922 by I.W. Neil, Norm Philip, and Lyle Rolf. Following the paving of Pacific Highway in 1923 the service was increased by the addition of two touring cars: a 1913 Pearce Arrow, converted to a nineteen-passenger bus; and a 1915 Packard, converted to a seventeen-passenger bus. The Green Stage, as the bus line was called in 1923, operated two return trips daily to New Westminster and Vancouver. On May 23, 1924, following the acquisition of two White Buses, the service was expanded to four return trips daily and the line was renamed the Green Stages Ltd. In 1925 the company acquired a run from Port Haney through Port Coquitlam to Vancouver via the Lougheed Highway. Both these runs brought the Green Stages into competition with the B.C. Electric Railway bus services: the Pacific Stage Lines(PSL). As a result of the competition the BCER acquired financial control of the Green Stages Ltd., and as of July 1st 1926 the services became the Pacific Stage Lines. The PSL continued to operate the franchise up to the creation of the Greater Vancouver Transit Authority.
Motor-truck competition also made inroads into the freight traffic in Surrey this continued into the 1920s and 1930s as roads were improved and paving was extended. The Crescent Transfer(later the White Rock-Crescent Beach Transfer) which provided a freight service to New Westminster was started by R.(Pop) Taylor in 1920.
By the early 1920s, improved motor vehicles and an expanding road network were bring an end to railway dominance. As a result of the competition for passengers and freight, several rail lines built prior to 1910 were abandoned. On the New Westminster Southern (NWSR) from Brownsville to Blaine service was significantly reduced after 1909, abandoned in stages and was officially abandoned in 1918. The Victoria Terminal Railway and Ferry Company (VTRF) line from Port Guichon to Cloverdale virtually abandoned passenger service when the City of Victoria removed its subsidy and when the Canadian Pacific Railway began direct service between Victoria and Vancouver and it was officially abandoned in 1931. The Vancouver, Victoria, and Eastern (VVE) line from Cloverdale to Huntington was officially abandoned in 1929.
Custom Entry Ports in Surrey
The City of Surrey has a common border with Washington State of the United States. Therefore, border stations have always been important in Surrey's history.
The first office opened was at Port Elgin on the Nicomekl River at the junction of the Semiahmoo Road. The Nicomekl was the most important route for bringing in provisions and shipping out produce. The Semiahmoo Road was the chief north-south link between New Westminster and Washington State. With increasing traffic on the Nicomekl, as well as the Semiahmoo Road, a customs office was necessary. In 1886 Elgin was designated as the customs entry port and from then on all traffic on the Nicomekl River and all traffic north over the Semiahmoo Road was required to stop and report. With the construction of the coastal Great Northern Rail line, the Customs Port of White Rock came into being in 1908. This port and the Port of Douglas on Coast Meridian Road made the Customs Port of Elgin redundant.
The first Douglas Customs office was located on Coast Meridian Road near
the end of Beach Road/Semiahmoo Road. This office operated from 1908 to 1929.
The picture was taken in 1917.
This was the view after the Peace Arch was constructed, and before Peace
Arch Park was dedicated. Looking south down Coast Meridian Road (168th Street),
the small Customs and Immigration building is on the right, the St. Leonard
Hotel is in the centre and the Peace Arch is in the background. Private residences
occupied what is now the park.
A second entry point was established on the New Westminster and Southern Railway(NWSR) after it opened in 1891. The new port was named Douglas. With the construction of the coastal rail line in 1908, the port of White Rock came into being, with offices in the Great Northern Railway Station. The port of Douglas on the NWSR was moved in 1908 as a result of the abandoning of the line and was relocated near its present location to handle traffic on the Coast Meridian Road.
The cementing of the Pacific Coast Highway by 1923 brought a great deal
of road traffic through the Pacific Highway Customs port. This picture was
taken in the late 1920s.
With the opening of the Pacific Highway in 1913 a new port of entry Pacific Highway was created. Traffic was diverted from the old port, and Douglas languished in obscurity. Its use became confined chiefly to friendly communications between Blaine and White Rock. Renewed traffic came through the port with the dedication of the Peace Arch in September, 1922, and the opening of the Peace Portal Golf course in 1931.
This Customs and Immigration Office was built in 1937 to accommodate
increasing traffic along the Pacific Highway. It was the second office at
this location and was an important secondary port of entry along the border
between British Columbia and the State of Washington. This office was demolished
in 1986.
Further increases resulted with the opening of the Peace Arch Highway in 1932-34. With the opening of the King George Highway in 1940, Douglas once more became the premier port of entry.
This is the Douglas Customs office that operated from 1929 to 1952. This
picture was taken in the late 1940s when the King George Highway brought traffic
to this port.
Early Agriculture in Surrey
Pioneer Crops and Markets 1870-1930s
The pioneer farms which sprang up in Surrey's lowlands during the 1870s and 1880s were mixed farms. Hay and oats were the chief cash crops grown, but potatoes and garden vegetables, as well as dairy cattle, beef cattle, hogs, chickens, and horses were also raised. At first the only significant market was Victoria, but a few tons of any commodity were enough to satisfy that city. Captain Hatt, who lived near the mouth of the Nicomekl River, hauled grain to Victoria in his sloop and returned with groceries and other supplies for local farmers. William Brown and Mr. Bamford, from Halls Prairie, kept a small sloop at the mouth of the Campbell River. They would sail the sloop across the strait to Victoria and return with provisions to sell to their neighbours.
Hay and grains were the dominant crops before the introduction of the
automobile. Threshing is taking place on the Loney brothers' farm at Mud Bay
in 1917. Note the steam tractor.
By the late 1880s and 1890s market conditions had improved as a result of the founding of Vancouver in 1885 and the rapid growth of logging in the Surrey uplands. Hay and light grains remained the chief cash crops. Sales to grain wholesalers such as Brackerman-Ker, Scott and Piedman; and to dray companies such as Great Northern Transfer, Gross and McNeal, as well as sales to local logging camps took the bulk of local production. Shipment of bulky hay and grain was initially by freight boat from the Nicomekl and Serpentine Rivers. Most farms had their barns located next to the river with small adjoining wharves. Those farmers located away from the rivers normally made arrangements to use their neighbours' facilities. The change to rail shipment occurred in east Surrey after 1891 with the completion of the New Westminster and Southern Railway, and along the north bank of the Serpentine with the completion of the Victoria Terminal Railway in 1903. Many farmers located near the mouths of the Nicomekl and Serpentine continued to ship their products by steamer so long as the market for hay and grain held firmly.
Threshing and bagging oats on the Loney brothers' farm at Mud Bay in
1924. Bagged oats was transported by water and later rail into the metropolitan
market to supply city livestock needs.
While hay and light grains remained the leading farm products, many local farmers began to market a variety of produce, dairy products, and meat in New Westminster following the improvement in ferry service across the Fraser in 1884. By the 1890s many local farmers were specializing in hopes of better prices and sounder market conditions. For example, William Collishaw and Robert Beveridge raised onions, the Peskches and Kitzels raise cabbage, John Armstrong, the Shannons and Dinsmores specialized with dairy products, the H.T. Thrifts grew strawberries and hops, and William Routley raised chickens. These products were sold to city merchants, who in turn sold them in the metropolitan or British Columbia interior markets. Sales to the general public became possible in the early 1890s through the farmers' market established on Front Street in New Westminster.
The most productive agricultural areas in Surrey were the alluvial vallies
of the Serpentine and Nicomekl Rivers. These rich areas, when diked to prevent
the invasion of salt water, became the prime agricultural areas.
During the first two decades of the twentieth century the dairy industry underwent rapid transformation as the metropolitan market expanded and improved rail connections provided efficient means of shipping the product to market. In the hope of stabilizing prices and market conditions a Fraser Valley dairy marketing co-operative was formed in 1913. By 1917 this had grown to become the Fraser Valley Milk Producers' Association (FVMPA) and by 1920 two processing plants and a condensing plant for surplus milk, were under its control. The growth and stability of the dairy market by 1920 foreshadowed its future dominance in Surrey's agriculture. As dairy farming was rising in prominence there was a major decline in hay and light grain sales. Grain production had declined drastically by the late 1930s with the advancement in roads and motorized traffic. Hay continued to be produced for the British Columbia interior market.
Vegetable production had always been of some importance in Surrey's lowlands with potatoes the leading crop. However, large-scale produce farms began to develop in the 1920s when Chinese farmers settled in the Serpentine-Nicomekl lowlands. This increased competition for the fresh vegetable market resulted in the formation of a volunteer marketing co-operative to help stabilize prices and prevent price cutting by the larger producers. This volunteer co-operative was the forerunner of the BC Coast Vegetable Marketing Board, formed by government legislation in 1936, which is now so important in marketing Fraser Valley and Vancouver Island vegetables.
For over 100 years agriculture has held an important position in the economic base of Surrey. In the 1870s agriculture was largely of the subsistence sort with hay and light grains being produced for the small New Westminster market and the more distant Victoria market. The growth of the Metropolitan area and the increase in the use of the automobile saw the decline in hay and grain production as a cash crop but the growth of dairy farming as the demand for fluid milk grew.
By the 1970s mixed farming came to predominate with dairy farming, feed lots, vegetables, blue berries and specialty horticulture predominating. The variety of products were primarily produced for the Greater Vancouver Market.
The Character of Surrey's forests
Stands of Douglas Fir such as this, were the mainstay of logging operations
in the uplands of Surrey. These fully mature forests provided large dimension
timbers as well as construction lumber and railway ties.
The mature evergreen rain forest which existed on the uplands of Surrey at the time of the earliest logging operations contained some of the best timber on the Pacific Coast. The cedars and firs, which dominated the uplands, were both giant species when fully matured; some of the virgin timbers were as great as eighteen and very occasionally twenty-five feet in diameter. As examples it might be mentioned that the King and Allan Logging Company took a fir tree of the Hardy property on Mud Bay Road which measured eleven feet in diameter, thirty-six feet from the butt; and in 1897, fifteen timbers trimmed to dimensions of forty-eight inches by forty-eight inches by one hundred and five feet long were sent to the Chicago exposition. In addition to the high quality of the timber, it was easily accessible, with water transportation being readily available.
Stands of mixed Douglas Fir and Western Red Cedar were commonplace on
the uplands of Surrey. Some of the best stands in the Lower Fraser Valley
were found here.
A description of Surrey's early forests has been given by Margaret M. Stewart.
In very early days the Douglas Fir was considered by far the most valuable and useful timber to be found in British Columbia. After a survey of the timber tracts in the Fraser Valley the Royal City Planing Mills of New Westminster decided that the best stand of Douglas Fir to be found anywhere, and some declared it was the best in the world, was the tract of heavy timber found south of the Nicomekl River in Surrey Municipality.
That wonderful stand of Douglas Fir has been logged of three times: first by use of oxen, then by horses, and finally by the use of the donkey engine.
It was the high quality of Surrey's forests which attracted many people and a number of logging and milling firms into the district, and there is no doubt that Forestry played a distinctive role in the settlement and development of Surrey.
Logging Operations in South Surrey
Logging operations were extensive throughout Surrey. However, the specifics of operations has been limited to South Surrey. These operations were typical of those throughout Surrey.
Giant trees such as this Fir was typical of the trees felled by hand
loggers. Sping boards where cut into the base of the tree so that the loggers
could put in the undercut where the tree trunk began to thin above the root.
Hand-logging with Oxen 1870s to 1880s - In 1872 William McDougall arrived with his family and took up a quarter section at Elgin. He immediately began to log his land as well as other land west of Elgin. He probably used oxen as they were better equipped to travel over the peat and bog land than horses. The logs were drawn down skid roads and dumped into the Nicomekl River. They were boomed west of the Semiahmoo Road Bridge and finally taken by tugs to the Royal City Planing Mills in New Westminster.
This picture is typical of oxen logging operation in Surrey. This picture
is taken at Surrey Centre with the original Municipal Hall in the left background.
Oxen logging was not extensive in South Surrey, yet a number of pioneers have memories of the operations. In 1892 when Ted Thrift was about five years old he recalls watching one of the last oxen-logging operations; a twelve-oxen string pulled out three big logs in the vicinity of the present Peace Portal Golf Course. Oxen seem to have been used in logging operations in the 1880s, after which they were replaced by horses. Oxen operations were centered on the Nicomekl at Elgin, along the Ocean Park foreshore, and in the upper Campbell River basin.
Logging with horses in Surrey in 1889. Teams such as these pulled the
logs from the woods over skid roads to the booming grounds.
Hand-logging with Horses 1880s to 1927 - Horses began to be used extensively in Surrey in the 1880s and 1890s. The Royal City Planing Mills(RCPM) in New Westminster were the most important market for the logs. Local loggers, in South Surrey, working under contract to the RCPM were the Gilley brothers, King and Allan, and the Roper brothers.
It was during this period that skid roads began to honeycomb the uplands of South Surrey, and they ran down to the Serpentine, Nicomekl, and Campbell Rivers, as well as into Semiahmoo Bay. John Pearson provided a description of the characteristic skid road.
Skid Roads provided the avenues for moving a series
of logs from the uplands to tide water.
The skid road was constructed of ten foot logs, 10 to 20 inches in diameter and the logs were spaced 9 feet apart and partly buried in the ground to make them rigid. The tip of the skids were adzed to form a trough for the logs to ride in and when they became worn down a hardwood block, called a "glutt", was mortised into the worn part.
For the haul down to the water, the logs were placed one behind the other and fastened together with a five foot chain called the "Dog Chain", and behind the lost log came the "Go Devil". The "Go Devil" was made of two logs with boards on top and a seat in each end for the teamster. Teams of oxen and later horses were used for hauling the logs and for a ten-horse team, three to six logs would make a load. In wet or boggy areas a solid corduroy road would be built.
After moving the logs along skid roads to tide
water, small teams of horses where used to form log booms. Here horses are
being used to build booms on the beach at White Rock about 1910.
The Royal City Logging Ditch - It was during the 1880s that the Royal City Planing Mills built a logging ditch which ran from the uplands down to the Nicomekl river. This was located about one-quarter of a mile west of the Coast Meridian Road. The logging ditch had been dug by Chinese labourers brought in by the RCPM. The ditch was a small creek which was deepened and enlarged, and into this the waters of neighbouring creeks were diverted. On the upland a series of control gates were constructed to conserve the water. The logs were brought to the ditch with the help of skid roads and teams of horses. The following is a description of how the ditch operated.
A series of flood gates were put in, to hold back the water. Each day, the cut logs were put into the ditches, a flood gate was opened, and logs and water would pour down the ditch to the next retention pond. A second gate would then be opened, and a third, until the logs reached the Nicomekl river. In the evening the gates would be closed and water built up for the next day's run of logs. The logs were then moved down the Nicomekl to Elgin and boomed west of the Semiahmoo Road bridge. The logging ditch was used by RCPM until the New Westminster and Southern Railway was completed in 1891, after which the company began shipping the logs by rail. However, the ditch continued to be used by a number of small independent logging firms.
Logging with Donkey engines and Railways,
1887-1927
Logging with steam donkey engines. Logs were pulled out of the bush with
the donkey engines and loaded with horses aboard rail cars for movement to
the booming grounds. This picture was taken in the vicinity of the Pacific
Highway and Brown Road.
Logging reached its peak in South Surrey when railway logging began. The first rail line in Surrey was a logging spur built in 1887 for Royal City Planing Mills. In that year the locomotive "Curley" was brought up the Nicomekl River on a scow and landed about one quarter mile west of the Coast Meridian Road. It was hauled up the old Royal City logging ditch to the section of rail which ran west from the ditch. This standard-gauge logging spur ran with a slight rise to the west. From it a great many feeder spurs led to timber tracts. Steam donkey engines or teams of horses would pull the logs to the rail lines. They would then be hauled by "Curley" and dumped into the logging ditch.
During the time "Curley" was operating in South Surrey (1887-1894), the Royal City Planing Mills was purchased by British Columbia Mills, Timber and Trading Company (1889) which operated Hastings Sawmill Company. For this reason, it is not unusual to see references to both companies regarding the ownership of "Curley" and the subject logging operations.
The Royal City Planing Mill's locomotive "Curley" with Bob
Harvie the engineer in 1894. Logs were initially hauled to the logging ditch
but after the completion of the New Westminster and Southern Railways logs
were hauled to the Port Kells booming grounds.
The spur west of the logging ditch operated from 1887 to 1889. A section east of the logging ditch to Hazelmere was built in 1890 at the time the New Westminster and Southern Railway(NWSR) was constructed. With the completion of the NWSR in 1891, the Royal City logging ditch was abandoned by the company as logs now moved directly by rail to Port Kells. They were then dumped into the Fraser River for movement to New Westminster.
Horses remained an important part of the logging scene. They were the
primary means of loading the logs onto the flat cars. In some areas they were
also used to move the smaller timber to the loading site.
This appears to be the same locomotive as in the pictures above, but
the spark arrester on its smoke stack has been removed. By the end of the
logging era in South Surrey, the railway equipment was considerably larger
and more sophisticated. This engine is a former main line railway locomotive.
Between 1872 and 1904 logging in South Surrey was dominated by large lumber companies operating out of New Westminster. The largest and most extensive operation wee those undertaken by or on behalf of the Royal City Planing Mill. Brunette Mills, however, also operated camps.
The Brunette Saw Mill was one of the major milling companies that harvested
some of the richest and most accessible timber from the uplands of Surrey.
The logs were moved by water and later by rail for processing.
By 1904 the big companies had skimmed the richest and most accessible timber form the uplands. None of this timber was ever milled in Surrey. It was always moved out of this district by water or by rail for processing in New Westminster.
A Royal City Logging Company cook house at East Kensington in 1898. Such
large operations became important markets for local farm products. Operations
such as this one harvested the logs for milling outside of the District.
A narrow gauge logging railway operated in the Ocean Park/Crescent Heights area from 1913-1917. From it a great many feeder spurs led to timber tracts above Crescent Beach. The north south section of the line ran half a block west of Stevenson Road (128th Street, in the vicinity of Crescent United Church) to a log chute that moved the logs to the mouth of the Nicomekl River. The north south line ran to Sunnyside Road (24th Ave.) and then angled eastward toward 20th Ave. and then eastward on to the crown of the uplands. The timber harvested was loaded on Great Northern Railway cars, at the Campbell Spur, at Crescent Beach, for movement to the Campbell River Sawmill at the mouth of the Campbell River.
Milling Operations in South Surrey
Forest Product Mills in South Surrey, 1904-1960
The earliest mill known to have been built in South Surrey was in the Halls Prairie district where Thomas McMillan began homesteading in 1879. It was here in the early 1880s that he started the first small lumber mill, but it is not known how long the mill operated. This appears to have been an isolated venture, and it might be said that the period of local mill construction did not really begin until 1904 when George Thrift built a combined shingle mill and lumber mill in Hazelmere. The mill was located at the crossing of the new Westminster Southern Railway and the Stokes Road (20th Ave). Thrift had begun logging timber from the family homestead. To bring To haul the logs to the mill wooden rails were laid down, and horse-drawn pulleys were used to bring the logs in. In 1906 the mill was sold to Harold Hunter and Frank Fox. These men eventually established the largest and most extensive logging and milling operations in the district.
When Fox and Hunter took over the Thrift Mill they enlarged it, replacing the wooden rails with a narrow-gauge system which they also extended. In 1907 they had a standard-gauge logging spur put in from the New Westminster and Southern Railway(NWSR) just east of where the old Royal City line came in. This Fox and Hunter logging spur