“strung a wire from the vessel as it lay in Burrard Inlet, and strung a string of lights
along the waterfront of Granville.’ With the Brush dynamo this was entirely within
the possibilities. ;

~ The Columbian of New Westminster, under date of February 1, 1882, said: “The
California Brush Electric Light Company have sent an agent to Burrard Inlet for
the purpose of lighting the two great lumber mills there.” (This issue was on Wednes-
day, and the Columbian was issued on Wednesdays and Saturdays.)

On the following Wednesday, February 8, it said: “Moodyville Mills are lighted
with electricity,” and in the same issue a Moodyville correspondent reported: “The
electric light shone from Moodyville Mills on Saturday last for the first time. It is
said to work admirably. The cost, I am told, would be about $4000.”

On Saturday, February 11, 1882, a correspondent reported: “It is cheering to
note any progress which is made in this province. Notable among the instances of
enterprise is the introduction of electric light in the Mill at Moodyville. Its beams
pierce the darkness and shed their rays even across the waters, and fall on the
opposite shore.”

Again in the same issue we read: “The Mayor and Council of Victoria will shortly
proceed to Burrard Inlet to inspect the electric light.” Also in the same issue of
February 11, a correspondent at Victoria wrote:

“The telephonic system in Victoria is now complete. Eight fire-alarm boxes have
been established at different points throughout the city. This arrangement cannot
fail to be of immense advantage in case of fire, and the Telephone Company and the
Corporation are deserving of great credit. It only remains to light the city by means
of electricity to entitle Victoria to take rank amongst the most advanced communities.”

On February 18, the Columbian said: “The Victoria Mayor and Council went up
to Moodyville this week to see the electric lights erected at the mills. There are ten
lamps, or burners, each being equal to 2000 candlepower, and the whole thing is a
success.” In an article in this brochure, dealing with the story of Moodyville’s
development, it is said that the Victoria party, arriving about midnight, were greeted
by Senator Hugh Nelson, part owner of the mills, who had the electric lights turned
on for their inspection.

But there were electrically lit steamboats running up the Fraser before this.
Captain John Irving was running a strong opposition to Captain “Bill” Moore between
Victoria and Yale, and on June 18, 1881, his vessel, the Elizabeth J. Irving, was
launched at Victoria. “She was the largest sternwheeler yet to appear on the river,
being 190 feet long, and she was equipped with electric light,” wrote Norman R.
Hacking in the B. C. Historical Magazine for April of 1947. Of her arrival at Yale,
the Victoria Colonist reported:

“The Electric Light gave the Yaleites notice of the steamer’s approach for an hour
or two before her arrival. The light does admirable service on the river where both
banks are brightly illuminated.”

A succeeding vessel to be used in Irving’s river service, the R. P. Rithet, was
launched at Victoria on April 20, 1882, some few weeks after the Moodyville Mills
had been lit by the Arc Light. Upon her arrival at New Westminster on her maiden
voyage, the Columbian said:

“She .. . is brilliantly lighted throughout with electricity, having two powerful
headlights placed in huge reflectors. These lights shone with dazzling brilliancy as
the noble steamer came into our harbour.”

All these lights were Direct Current illuminations, for although Edison had
succeeded in perfecting the incandescent lamp in 1879, and Swan in England is
reputed to have done so over there, the Alternating Current, so desirable in the
production of our domestic lighting, had not been brought into practical use on this
Coast until early in 1890, when the first installation on the American Continent was
made which utilized power from falling water at Oregon City, and transmitted
Alternating Current to Portland, a distance of 14 miles.

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