BRITISH COLUMBIA 



938- 



BRITISH COLUMBIA 



come is from timber, royalties and licenses, 

 which bring in about $2,500,000, and the pro- 

 ceeds from the sale of public lands amount to 

 more than $1,000,000 a year. A large number 

 of miscellaneous taxes, including a poll tax 

 on Chinamen and a graduated income tax, 

 bring the total revenue nearly to $11,000,000. 



History. Until the last quarter of the 

 eighteenth century the existence of the area 

 now included in British Columbia was unknown 

 to the civilized world. The first white men 

 who saw the Pacific coast so far north were 

 Spaniards. In 1778, four years after the Span- 

 ish discovery, the famous English navigator, 

 Captain James Cook (which see), began the 

 exploration and accurate description of the 

 coast. In 1788 the first white settlement was 

 made at Nootka, on the west shore of Van- 

 couver Island, by a party of Englishmen, but 

 it was broken up almost immediately by the 

 Spaniards, who claimed by right of discovery 

 the entire coast northward so far as the Rus- 

 sian possessions. For a year or more it seemed 

 as if Spain and England would go to war over 

 this distant land, but in 1793 they divided the 

 territory by arbitration. Spain took the area 

 south of Nootka Sound, including the present 

 states of Washington and Oregon; England 

 took the coast northward to the Russian terri- 

 tory, now Alaska. 



The dispute over ownership had not deterred 

 the British from exploring the territory. Be- 

 tween 1792 and 1794 Captain George Van- 

 couver, under orders from the British govern- 

 ment, surveyed the coast about as far north 

 as Milbank Sound. He was the first to cir- 

 cumnavigate the island which is named for 

 him. Meanwhile other explorers, in the employ 

 of the Northwest Company, had reached the 

 coast after a long and dangerous trip from the 

 interior. The most famous of these men was 

 Sir Alexander Mackenzie, whose achievements 

 are recorded in his biography in these volumes. 



Under the Rule of the Hudson's Bay Com- 

 pany. For half a century the great Northwest, 

 including British Columbia, was ruled as the 

 private property of the great fur-trading com- 

 panies, the Northwest Company until 1821, 

 and thereafter the Hudson's Bay Company 

 (which see). In 1846 the latter built a fort 

 where Victoria now stands. This action created 

 great excitement in the United States, which 

 claimed the entire coast north to the line of 

 54 40'. There was a shadow of justice in this 

 claim; it was based on the indefinite character 

 of the boundaries of the Louisiana Purchase 



(which see). President Polk, though he was 

 elected on the issue of "fifty-four forty or 

 fight," found it wiser to compromise. (For 

 further details, see OREGON, subhead History.) 



During these years the Northwest was con- 

 stantly growing in population, and the des- 

 potic, though just, government of the Hudson's 

 Bay Company gradually became unsuited to 

 new conditions. Vancouver Island was finally 

 created a crown colony in 1859, and the dis- 

 covery of gold on the Fraser River in 1856 led 

 to the organization of a separate government 

 for the mainland two years later. The name 

 New Caledonia, by which the region was pre- 

 viously known, was changed to British Colum- 

 bia. For a number of years the royal govern- 

 ment was more a matter of form than of 

 fact. The governor, both of Vancouver Island 

 and of British Columbia, was Sir James 

 Douglas, who was also chief factor of the 

 Hudson's Bay Company. Douglas was an able 

 administrator, and he is justly regarded as the 

 founder of British Columbia; it is no discredit 

 to his fame to admit that he ruled with an 

 iron hand. In 1866 the rule of the Hudson's 

 Bay Company came to an end when the two 

 colonies were united under a single government 

 as British Columbia, and five years later it 

 became one of the provinces of the Dominion 

 of Canada. 



A Province of the Dominion. The adher- 

 ence of British Columbia to the Dominion was 

 not secured without difficulty. It was argued 

 that the Pacific coast colony could never have 

 interests in common with the eastern prov- 

 inces. Communication between them was 

 slow, and for practical purposes Ottawa was as 

 far from Vancouver as from London. After 

 much discussion British Columbia voted to 

 join the confederation of provinces, and the 

 Dominion government in return promised to 

 build, or have built, a railroad to connect the 

 Pacific coast with the railways of Ontario. 

 This new railroad, the Canadian Pacific, was 

 not completed until 1885, and more than once 

 British Columbia was all but ready to leave 

 the Dominion, because the agreement had not 

 been kept. But with the driving of the last 

 spike the province was firmly bound to the 

 Dominion, and the question of separation no 

 longer disturbed the country. 



The autocratic nature of the government 

 under the Hudson's Bay Company's regime 

 left its mark on British Columbia until 1903. 

 It is not unfair to say that until that year 

 the government was more or less personal. 





