THE “LAST RESORT OF THE LUMBERMAN:” PERCEPTIONS OF BRITISH
COLUMBIA’S COASTAL FORESTS, 1849-1914

by

Troy V. Lee
B.Sc., University o f British Columbia, 1997

THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF
THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF
MASTER OF ARTS
IN
HISTORY

UNIVERSITY OF NORTHERN BRITISH COLUMBIA
November 2012

© T roy V. Lee, 2012

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ABSTRACT
Historiography on the origins o f British Columbia’s forest industry seems more or
less to assume that its coastal forests were constant, static phenomena independent o f
society or even history. A small handful of studies that have examined the socially
constructed nature o f forests paint an ambiguous and contradictory picture. Scholars have
argued that the province’s forests were perceived either positively, or negatively, or
having little value to the first settlers. One scholar has even argued that they were
perceived as virginal wilderness. More importantly, none has examined the relationship
between forest perceptions and provincial government policy. The “Last Resort o f the
Lumbermen” argues that many Euro-British Columbians perceived the province’s coastal
forests ambiguously: on the one hand, they were vast, extensive, and dense, consisting o f
the largest and finest trees— a valuable and inexhaustible source o f wealth for the
province—yet on the other hand they were a limited resource requiring protection. These
perceptions played a significant role in the province’s Royal Commission o f Inquiry on
Timber and Forestry and the subsequent 1912 Forest Act.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Abstract....................................................................................................................................................ii
Table o f Contents.................................................................................................................................. iii
Introduction.............................................................................................................................................. 1
Chapter 1: “One Mass of Wood”: Land Surveyors and the Conceptual Foundation o f
British Columbia’s Coastal F orests.......................................................................................25
Chapter 2: British Columbia’s Forests: “An Inexhaustible Supply of Timber” .......................... 50
Chapter 3: “O f Serious National Consequence”: Fire and the Protection o f the Province’s
Inexhaustible Timber Supply..................................................................................................76
Conclusion.............................................................................................................................................98
Bibliography....................................................................................................................................... 101

Introduction
“An epoch, sir, is drawing to a close,” concluded William Roderick Ross during the
second reading of the Forest Bill before the British Columbia Legislative Assembly in
January 1912,
— the epoch o f reckless devastation o f the natural resources with which we, the people
o f this fair young Province, have been endowed by Providence—those magnificent
resources of which the members o f this Government and this Assembly are but
temporary trustees. That rugged, rudimentary phase o f pioneer activity is doomed to
end. The writing is on the wall; the writing—to put the simple fact—is in this Forest
Bill. Armed with that weapon, as forged by this honourable Assembly, the
Government of British Columbia will undertake the work o f forest conservation.1
Harlan Brewster, leader o f the two-man Liberal Party opposition was
unconvinced. He argued that this Bill was simply a recapitulation o f previous government
policies that had created wild speculation on Crown land.2 In Brewster’s mind,
Conservative government policies were responsible for this so-called “epoch o f restless
devastation.” Ross, the Minister of Lands, defended the Bill by arguing that “the
Government has had in view a sane and business-like policy o f conservation, free from
sentimental extravagance, and taking into account the many practical difficulties,
impediments and risks the lumberman must encounter in his strenuous occupation.”3
However, privately, Premier Richard McBride admitted that the government had been
“severely taken to task” by amendments to forest legislation, in 1905, that had

1 Province o f British C olum bia, B ritish C o lu m b ia ’s F o rest P o lic y : S peech b y th e Hon. W illiam R. R oss,
M in ister o f L a n d s on th e S eco n d R e a d in g o f th e F o re st B ill, (V ictoria: n.p., 1912)[hereafter, B ritish
C o lu m b ia 's F o rest P o licy ], 24; Thomas R. R oach, “ Stewards o f the P e o p le ’s Wealth: T he F ou n d in g o f
British C olum bia’s Forest Branch,” The J o u rn a l o f F o re st H isto ry , 2 8 , no., 1 (January 1984): 2 1 .
2 R oach, “ Stew ards,” 21.
3 B ritish C o lu m b ia 's F o rest P o lic y , 22.

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encouraged speculation and reckless logging.4 The Royal Commission’s industry
spokesperson, A. C. Flumerfelt, took a different tack, arguing before Vancouver’s
Canadian Club that the improvements to fire protection introduced by the Forest Bill
would potentially “increase” the value o f the province’s timber holdings.5 Other MPs
noted that their rural farming constituents would be unable to clear land during the long
fire seasons proposed by the Bill.6 Despite these minor concerns, the provincial
legislature passed An Act respecting Forests and Crown Timber Lands, and the
Conservation and Preservation o f Standing Timber, and the Regulation o f Commerce in
Timber and Products o f the Forest, otherwise known as the Forest Act without any major
amendments, on 27 February 1912.7 While Conservative Party members cheered and
clapped and the two lone Liberals booed and jeered, Premier McBride and Ross
undoubtedly smiled at the successful passage o f this Act.
While Ross suggested that the conservation o f the province’s forests was a
“momentous subject” for the McBride government, their deeper desire was to improve
the province’s economy.8 Indeed, the premier believed that the province’s “wonderful
timber wealth” was a key to the economic future o f British Columbia.9 Ross summed up
why these forests were so important to the government:

4 R. Peter G illis and Thom as R . R oach, L o st In itia tives: C a n a d a 's F o rest Industries, F o re st P o lic y , a n d
F o rest C on servation (N ew York: G reenw ood P ress, 19 8 6), 147. In 1905, the restriction that o n ly one
person/firm could p o ssess a STL w as repealed, g iv in g licen sees the right to o w n as many o f them as
possible. S ee Hak, Turning Trees, 382.
5 G illis and R oach, L o st In itiatives, 146.
6 R oach, “ Stewards,” 22.
7 The Province o f British Columbia, An A c t re sp e c tin g F o rests a n d C row n T im ber Lands, a n d th e
C on servation a n d P re se rv a tio n o fS ta n d in g Tim ber, a n d th e R eg u la tio n o f C om m erce in T im b er a n d
P rodu cts o f th e F orest, 2 7 F eb ru a ry 1912 [hereafter, F o re st A ct]; R oach, 2 0 , 21.
8 British C o lu m b ia 's F o rest P o licy, 3; 1.
9 “M cB ride’s Speech on H is R ailw ay P o lic y ,” B ritish C o lu m bia M a g a zin e 8, n o ., 3 (M arch 1912): 220.

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For years, the Province had been in a bad way. The public revenue was insufficient;
development was slow and starved for want o f money; and the opening up o f the
Province was being delayed, because the necessary surveys, roads and other public
works could not be undertaken. Each annual Budget was a nightmare. Deficits and
liabilities were piling up in the millions. ... As for the lumbering industry, o f
course, these prevailing conditions could not do more than retard its progress, but
its operations were upon a small scale. So also was the forest revenue, which was
only $455,000 in the year 1904. There existed then the extraordinary situation that
in a country o f magnificent forest resources, the revenue derived from them was
only about one-seventh o f the scanty Provincial revenue o f some three million
dollars.10
The message was clear: the province’s economic welfare lay in the coupling of
“sane and business-like” policies stipulated by the Forest Act, with its untapped forest
resources.11 Revenue was not the government’s only concern. Protecting forests from
fire— the “great essential of forest conservation”—was also important.

1“7

At a meeting

with representatives o f the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) and the Mountain
Lumberman’s Association in 1911 Ross stated that his “ambition” was “to see British
Columbia take the lead in modem forest ligislation [sz'c] and to establish a new record, the
best, for the preservation of timber from the destruction by fire.” 13 In his “Forest Bill”
reading, Ross bragged that “During the past year the Province had been covered with a
network of patrols, about one hundred and twenty men being on regular duty, ... and the
results o f [these] patrol[s] being evidenced in a striking manner in the diminution o f
fires.” 14 Not surprisingly, the Forest A ct stipulated a range o f additional measures to
protect forests from fire.15 Ross solemnly concluded his speech by noting that this new

10 Ibid., 3.
11 B ritish C o lu m b ia ’s F o re st P o lic y , 22.
12 Ibid., 10.
13 W estern L um berm an 8, no., 10 (O ctober 1911): 26, quoted in John Parminter, P rotection a s
C onservation: S a feg u a rd in g B ritish C o lu m b ia 's F o re sts fr o m F ire, 1 8 7 4 -1 9 2 1 (Victoria: M in istry o f
Forests Protection Branch, 1982), 24.
14 B ritish C o lu m b ia ’s F o rest P o licy, 10.
15 F o rest A ct, 118-129.

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Act was “not only for ourselves and for the needs o f this day and this generation, but
also, and no less, for our children’s children, and for all posterity— that we may hand
down to them their vast heritage o f forest wealth, unexhausted and unimpaired.” 16
Notions of conservation, preservation, or forest protection, and commerce may
appear contradictory or even unfamiliar to a contemporary audience versed in relatively
recent concepts of sustainability, biodiversity, and ecological integrity. But language is
historically situated and only a deep analysis o f the factors that shaped particular ideas
can illuminate the past. Thus, the “Last Resort o f the Lumberman” reconstructs the
intellectual world from which the Royal Commission o f Inquiry on Timber and Forestry,
and the subsequent 1912 Forest A ct emerged. While not a history o f the Forest Act, it
pieces together the cultural, historical, and biophysical factors that shaped the minds o f
policy makers and policy itself.
While several studies examine the history o f British Columbia’s forest tenure,
none has examined the relationship between forest perceptions and policy.17 The Royal
Commission and the Forest Act have been more-or-less interpreted as a response by the
government to the province’s chaotic forest tenure system, lobbying by timber interests,
and different degrees o f influence from the continental conservation movement.

| o

As

Gordon Hak noted, “The immediate problem facing the government and industry in 1907

16 B ritish C o lu m b ia 's F o rest P olicy, 24.
17 R oach, “Stew ards,” 15-23; Gordon Hak, T urning T rees in to D o lla rs: The B ritish C olu m bia C o a sta l
L um ber Industry, 1 8 5 8 -1 9 1 3 (Toronto: U n iversity o fT o r o n to Press, 2 0 0 0 ), 113-115; G illis and R oach , L o st
In itiatives, 145-149; Stephen Gray, “The G overnm ent’s Tim ber B u sin ess: F orest Policy and A dm inistration
in British Columbia, 1 9 12-1928,” B C S tudies, no., 81 (Spring 1989): 27 -3 0 ; Parminter, P ro te c tio n , 23 -26 ;
Richard A. Rajala, “Clearcutting the British C olum bia Coast: W ork, Environm ent and the State, 1 8 8 0 1930,” in M akin g W estern C anada: E ssa y s on E u ro p ea n C o lo n iza tio n a n d Settlem ent ed. C atherine
Cavanaugh and Jeremy M ouat (Toronto: Garamond Press, 1996), 116-117; G .W . Taylor, T im ber: A
H istory o f the F o re st Industry in B ritish C olu m bia (V ancouver: J.J. D ou glas Ltd., 1975), 88.
18 G illis and R oach, L o st In itiatives, 141-142; Rajala, “C learcutting,” 116-117; Gray, “The G overn m en t’s,”
26-27; R oach, “ Stewards,” 16; 22; Hak, Turning T rees, 115; Parminter, P ro te c tio n , 24.

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and 1908, though, was what to do about Special Timber Licenses [STLs]. ... The solution
was the calling o f a royal commission in 1909 to investigate the industry and make
recommendations for changes.” 19 In hopes o f relieving the pressure over who could
obtain tenure and for how long, the McBride government pressured the commission to
deal with STLs as soon as possible.20 Interestingly, timber interests that corresponded
with the commission were more concerned about the effects o f fire than forest tenure. 21
Furthermore, studies that examined perceptions o f the province’s coastal forests
often paint a contradictory and ambiguous picture. While some have argued that
perceptions were generally positive, others have argued that they were “monotonous,”
“gloomy and unpleasant.”22 More recently, one scholar even argued that the prevailing
forest perception was that of a “virginal wilderness.”23 Still others argue that British
Columbia’s forests were obstacles to settlement and had little value until “changes in
global timber supply, markets, and legislation meant that standing timber ... could be
bought or sold.”24 However, the central argument o f the “Last Resort of the Lumberman”
is that many Euro-British Columbians perceived the province’s coastal forests in
somewhat contradictory terms. On the one hand, they were vast, extensive, and dense,

19 Hak, Turning Trees, 113-114.
20 Hak, Turning Trees, 114.
21 Rajala, “C learcutting,” 117.
22 M aria Tippett, “Em ily Carr’s Forest,” J o u rn a l o f F o re st H isto ry 18, no., 4 (October 1974): 136; J.I.
Little, “W est Coast Picturesque: C lass, Gender, and R ace in a British C olonial Landscape, 1 8 5 8 -7 1 ,”
Jou rn al o f C anadian Studies 41, no., 2 (Spring 2007): 24; D ou glas C ole, “Early Artistic P ercep tion s o f the
British C olum bia Forest,” J o u rn a l o f F o rest H isto ry 18, n o., 4 (O ctober 1974): 128.
23 Sean Kheraj, “R estoring Nature: E co lo g y , M em ory, and the Storm H istory o f V ancouver’s Stanley
Park,” The C anadian H isto ric a l R e v ie w 88, n o., 4 (D ecem b er 2007): 603.
24 Hak, Turning Trees, 6. S ee also G illis and R oach, L o st In itia tives, 131; R ichard A. R ajala, F ed s, F o rest,
a n d F ire: A C entury o f C anadian F o re stry In n ovation (Ottawa: Canadian S cien ce and T e ch n o lo g y
M useum , 20 0 5), 9; K en Drushka, C a n a d a ’s F orests: A H isto ry (Durham: T he Forest H istory S o ciety ,
20 03 ), 26, 27; Taylor, 49; and W .A . Carrothers, “F orest Industries o f B ritish Colum bia,” in T he N o rth
A m erican A ssa u lt on the C anadian F o rest: A H isto ry o f th e L u m b er T rade B etw een C a n a d a a n d th e U n ited
States ed. A .R.M . L ow er (Toronto: The R yerson P ress, 1 9 3 8 ), 233.

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consisting o f the largest and finest trees— a valuable and inexhaustible source o f wealth
for the province— yet on the other hand they were a limited resource requiring protection.
More importantly, these perceptions played a significant role in forest policy during the
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Historiography on British Columbia’s forests— almost always studied together
with forestry—has more or less assumed that forests were constant, static phenomena
existing independently o f humans or even history. Focused almost entirely on economics,
mills and markets, logging/milling technology, and the ‘great m en’ of the timber
industry, popular analyses of British Columbia’s forests and forest industry have been
published since the 1970s.25 Given the cultural— overtly masculine—and economic
significance o f forestry to the province, their emphasis is hardly surprising. While
providing intriguing background, these studies shed little light on the role that humans
played in fixing the meaning o f forests.
Academic studies published since the 1950s have examined the industry from
almost every historical approach including economic, social (labour and race), political
(particularly politicians and policy), environmental (conservation), and geographical.

25 James M orton, The E n terp risin g M r. M o o d y, The B u m ptiou s C aptain S tam p: The L ives a n d C olo u rfu l
Tim es o f V an cou ver's L u m ber P io n eers (North V ancouver: J. J. D ou g la s Ltd., 1977); D on ald M ackay,
E m pire o f W ood: The M acM illan B lo e d e l S to ry (V ancouver: D o u g la s and M cIntyre, 1982); E .G . Perrault,
W ood a n d W ater: th e S to ry o f th e S e a b o a rd L u m b er a n d S h ip p in g C om pan y (Vancouver: D o u g la s and
M cIntyre, 1985); Ken Drushka, Stum ped: The F o re st In du stry in T ransition (Vancouver: D o u g la s and
M cIntyre, 1985); Drushka, W orking in th e W oods: A H isto ry o f L o g g in g on th e West C o a st (M adeira Park:
Harbour Publishing, 1992); Drushka, Tie H a ck ers a n d T im ber H a rvesters: The H istory o f L o g g in g in
B ritish C o lu m b ia ’s In terior (M adeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 1992); Parminter, “A T ale o f a T ree,”
F o rest H isto ry A sso cia tio n o f B ritish C olum bia, no., 45 (January 1996): 1-5; Richard Som erset M ack ie,
Islan d Tim ber: A S o cia l H isto ry o f th e C om ox L o g g in g C om pany, V ancouver Islan d (V ictoria: S o n o N is
Press, 2000).
26 E conom ic histories include Joseph C ollins L aw rence, “M arkets and Capital: A History o f the Lumber
Industry o f British Colum bia, 1 7 7 3 -1 9 5 2 ,” (PhD d iss., U n iversity o f British Columbia, 1951); T h om as R.
C ox, M ills a n d M arkets: A H isto ry o f the P a c ific C o a st L u m b er In d u stry to 1 9 0 0 (Seattle: U n iversity o f
W ashington Press, 1974); Taylor, Tim ber: A H isto ry o f th e F o re st In du stry in British C o lu m b ia ; Patricia

6

Some studies have made passing references to forest perceptions suggesting that EuroBritish Columbians had either an ambivalent attitude towards forests or outright antipathy
because they were impediments to agricultural development.27 Eventually perceived as
commodities, trees were initially considered to be of low value. However, these analyses
are brief and based on superficial research.

Marchank, G reen G old: The F o rest In d u stry in B ritish C o lu m b ia (V ancouver: U B C Press, 1983); W .K .
Lamb, “Early Lum bering on V ancouver Island, Part One: 1 8 4 4 -1 8 5 5 ,” The B ritish C olum bia H is to r ic a l
Q u arterly 2, no., 1 (January., 1938): 31 -5 5; Barry M . G ough, “F orests and S ea Power: A V a n co u v er Island
E conom y, 1 7 7 8 -1 8 7 5 ,” Jo u rn a l o f F o re st H isto ry 3 2 , no., 3 (July 1988): 117 -1 2 4 ; and R ichard R ajala, U p
C oast: F o rests a n d In du stry on B ritish C o lu m b ia ’s N o rth C oast, 1 8 7 0 -2 0 0 5 (Vancouver: U B C Press,
2006 ). Political histories include Thom as R. R oach, “ Stew ards o f the P e o p le ’s Wealth: T h e F ou n d in g o f
British C olum bia’s Forest Branch,” J o u rn a l o f F o re st H isto ry 2 8 , no., 1 (January 1984): 14-23; B ritish
C olum bia M inistry o f Forests, A H isto ry o f F o re st T enure P o lic y in B ritish Colum bia, 1 8 5 8 -1 9 7 8 (V ictoria:
M inistry o f Forests, 1989); Stephen Gray, “The G overn m en t’s Tim ber B u sin ess: Forest P o lic y and
Adm inistration in British Columbia, 1 9 1 2 -1 9 2 8 ,” B C S tu d ie s no., 81 (Spring 1989): 2 4 -4 9 ; Richard A .
Rajala, F eds, F orest, an d F ire: A C en tu ry o f C an adian F o re stry In n o va tio n (Ottawa: C anadian S c ie n c e and
T echnology M useum , 2005); and Ralph Schm idt and John Parminter, An E a r ly H istory o f th e R ese a rc h
Branch, B ritish C olu m bia M in istry o f F o re sts a n d R a n g e (V ictoria: British C olum bia M in istry o f F orests
and R ange, 2 0 0 6 ). Social histories include Richard A . R ajala, “C learcutting th e British C olu m b ia C oast,” in
M akin g W estern C anada: E ssa ys on E u ro p ea n C o lo n iza tio n a n d S ettlem en t, ed . Catherine C avanaugh and
Jeremy M ouat (Toronto: Garamond Press, 1996), 10 4 -1 3 3 ; and Richard A . Rajala, “P ulling Lumber: IndoCanadians in the British C olum bia Forest Industry, 1 9 0 0 -1 9 9 8 ,” B C H isto ric a l N ews 3 6 , n o ., 1 (W inter
2002/2003): 1-14. Environmental histories inclu d e G illis and R oach; D avid Brownstein, “ Sunday W alks
and Seed Traps: T he M any Natural H istories o f B ritish C olum bia Forest C onservation, 1 8 9 0 -1 9 2 5 ,” (P hD
diss., U n iversity o f British C olum bia, 2006); and Richard A . R ajala, “C learcutting.” G eographic studies
include W alter Gordon Hardwick, “T he Forest Industry o f C oastal British Columbia: A G eograp h ic Study
o f P lace and Circulation (PhD diss., U n iversity o f M in n esota, 1962); R oger Hayter, ‘“ T he W ar in the
W ood s’: Post-Fordist Restructuring, G lobalization, and the C ontested R em apping o f B ritish C olu m b ia’s
Forest E con om y,” A nnals o f th e A sso cia tio n o f A m erica n G eo g ra p h ers 9 3 , n o ., 3 (2003): 7 0 6 -7 2 9 ; D avid
A. R ossiter, “L essons in P ossession: C olonial R esource G eographies in P ractice on V ancouver Island,
1859-186 5 ,” Jo u rn a l o f H isto ric a l G e o g ra p h y 33 (2 0 0 7 ): 7 7 0 -7 9 0 ; and D avid A . Rossiter, “P roducing
Provincial Space: Crown Forests, the State and Territorial Control in British Columbia,” S p a c e a n d P o lity
12, no., 2 (2008): 21 5 -2 3 0 . T w o helpful studies from the early 1 9 0 0 s include A .C . Flumerfelt, “F orest
R esources,” in C an ada a n d Its P ro vin ces: A H isto ry o f th e C an a d ia n P e o p le a n d Their In stitu tio n s B y O ne
H u n dred A sso cia tes: The P a cific P ro vin ce P a r t Two, V olum e 2 2 ,’’ ed. A dam Short and Arthur G . D o u g h ty
(Toronto: G lasgow , B o o k and C o., 1914), 4 8 7 -5 1 8 , and H .N . W hitford and R .D . Craig, F o re sts o f B ritish
C olum bia {Ottawa: C om m ission o f C onservation, 1918).
27 G illis and R oach, 1; 131; Trevor J. Barnes and R oger H ayter ed . T roubles in the R ainforest: B ritish
C o lu m b ia 's F o re st E con om y in Transition (V ictoria: W estern G eographical Press, 1997), 2; H ak, 5-6;
Drushka, C a n a d a 's F orests, 26-27; 44; W . Scott Prudham, K n o c k on W ood: N a tu re as C o m m o d ity in
D o u g la s-F ir C ou n try (N ew York: R outledge, 2 0 0 5 ), 10. S ee also John Perlin, A F orest J o u rn e y: The R o le
o f W ood in the D e velo p m en t o f C ivilization (N e w York: N orton, 19 8 9 ), 189; 255-257.

7

The Journal o f Forest History published in 1974 the first studies centered on
perceptions of forests. Maria Tippett’s “Emily Carr’s Forest” examines how this wellknown artist perceived the forests o f Vancouver Island and the west coast arguing that
“Like no other artist, she captured during the 1930s, the unique character o f the primeval
forests o f Canada’s Pacific coast. ... it was in the rendering o f the pine, fir, and cedar
forests that she found new vision. Many o f her contemporaries portrayed coastal Indian
villages, painted mountain views, but few, like Carr, rendered the forest from within.”
Undoubtedly, Carr’s childhood spent on her father’s property adjacent to Victoria’s
Beacon Hill Park in the 1890s and excursions into Vancouver’s Stanley Park during the
early 1900s influenced her paintings.29 By 1928, forest scenes had fully captured her
interests: “I had become more deeply interested in woods than in villages,” Carr wrote.30
Tippet points out that Carr perceived forests as private solitary places where she
experienced “some attributes o f God— power, peace, strength, serenity and joy,” and
sometimes even fear.31 Carr’s paintings depict dense stands o f massive conifers with
broken beams o f sunlight penetrating to the forest floor.32 However, Douglas Cole takes a
different position in “Early Artistic Perceptions of the British Columbia Forest,” arguing
that “most English visitors and immigrants continued to see the forest in terms o f
impenetrable melancholy,” into the early twentieth century.33 These negative motifs,
according to Cole, were due to an “aesthetic prejudice against the evergreen,” that had

28 Tippett, “E m ily Carr’s,” 133.
29 Ibid., 133, 135.
30 E m ily Carr, G ro w in g P a in s, 2 5 4 , 2 3 8 , quoted in Tippett, 135.
31 Carr, H undreds a n d Thousands, 6 6 , quoted in Tippett, 136.
32 Tippett, “Em ily Carr’s,” 13 3 -1 3 5 , 137.
33 C ole, “Early A rtistic,” 131.

8

been codified in the minds o f the British by the eighteenth century.34 For Cole, the
British quite simply did not see the coastal forests as either beautiful or picturesque.35
Cole found evidence o f these negative perceptions in the journals o f mariners and fur
traders such as Cpt. George Vancouver and James Douglas.36 Exploration artists such as
H.J. Warre, Paul Kane, and W.G.R. Hind ignored forests altogether focussing instead on
Indian villages and mountamscapes.

37

While these studies make the important point that forests are perceived through
particular historical lenses and that Europeans often viewed New World landscapes
through Old World ones, they have some significant limitations. Tippett’s analysis of
Carr is far too narrow to shed any light on how Euro-British Columbians generally
perceived the province’s coastal forests. Cole referred to only a few documentary sources
and a small handful of artists, hardly enough to argue that, “M ost English visitors and
immigrants continued to see that forest in terms o f impenetrable melancholy [emphasis
mine].”38 More importantly, he did not unpack so-called “picturesque” perceptions o f the
landscape. The significance of this artistic school and its relationship to British thought
remains unclear. In “West Coast Picturesque: Class, Gender, and Race in a British
Colonial Landscape,” published over three decades after Cole’s article, J.I. Little argued
that Europeans did perceive coastal British Columbia’s landscape in generally positive,
picturesque terms.

39

34 Ib id .,128.
35 Ibid.
36 Ibid., 128-129.
37 Ibid., 1 2 9 ,1 3 1 .
38 Ibid., 131.
39 Little, “W est C oast,” 24.

9

Examining the letters, journals, and narratives o f middle-class British men from
the mid to late nineteenth century, Little argues that those men perceived and described
the landscape in the same way a painter of the picturesque school would: “where the
diverse landforms o f moderate size can be readily organized into the unity o f foreground,
middle ground and background, and outlines blurred and colours softened by the moist
atmosphere.”40 This artistic and literary approach to landscapes allowed the “m ind’s eye
to ‘rove,’ to ‘explore,’” owning the view.41 Little effectively refutes the idea that positive
perceptions o f British Columbia’s landscape emerged in the late nineteenth century—
despite not addressing Cole at all— and the notion that men and women perceived the
landscape differently 42 He also highlights the “sharp contrast between the almost idyllic
images o f the rugged physical landscape and the often jarringly pejorative descriptions o f
Native peoples.”43
Little’s study uses a broad range o f early nineteenth century descriptions o f
British Columbia by colonists, explorers, and surveyors such as Cpt. W.C. Grant, Dr.
Robert Brown, Colonel Richard Moody, Richard Burnaby, Cpt. Richard C. Mayne and
John Keast Lord to name a few 44 According to Little, the picturesque way o f describing
the landscape “would serve to dispel any fears that the newcomers were experiencing a
cultural regression” reflecting a “confident sense o f refined superiority that made their
mission a truly civilizing one.”45 However, one o f the limitations o f this approach is that
descriptions and perceptions of forests are subsumed into the broader landscape. Forests,

401. S. M acLaren, quoted in Little, “W est C oast,” 9.
41 Paul Carter quoted in Little, 9. S ee also 7.
42 Little, “ W est C oast,” 5.
43 Ibid., 31.
44 Ibid., 10-24.
45 Ibid., 33.

10

and other landscape components, may have had more meaning to Euro-British
Columbians than simply giving confidence or allaying fears. Sean Kheraj, in contrast,
argues that the notion of virginal wilderness was the most meaningful perception o f
British Columbians in his study on Vancouver’s Stanley Park.46
In his study, Kheraj examined the “complicated relationship between history,
memory, and ecology in the production of the landscape in Stanley Park.”47 Focusing on
this large urban park in West Vancouver, Kheraj attempts to demonstrate the role that
nature (wind) played in reshaping the park’s forested landscape while tracking the
subsequent responses o f the Park Board and public at large.48 He argues that, “there was a
dialectical relationship between popular perceptions o f nature in the park and Park Board
forest restoration policies that reinforced the image o f the forest as an untouched natural
environment.”49 In this case, the board attempted to restore the park back to some
previous state, “preceding the natural disturbance [wind storm] that changed the
appearance o f the landscape.”50 More importantly, Kheraj believes that Vancouverites’
perceptions o f Stanley Park’s forests are part of a broader North American narrative. He
writes, “For Americans, and 1 would argue Canadians as well, the prevailing nature myth
is o f the notion o f the virginal wilderness that European explorers allegedly witnessed
prior to colonization of the New World.”51 The creation of Stanley Park, Kheraj alleges,
was in fact “central to that process.”52

46 Kheraj, “R estoring N ature,” 577.
47 Ibid.
48 Ibid., 577.
49 Ibid.
50 Ibid., 596.
51 Ibid., 603.
52 Ibid.

11

“Restoring Nature” outlines several themes that are important to this thesis, not
the least o f which is the mythic nature o f large coastal conifers. Kheraj points out that a
stand o f massive Western Red Cedars— the Seven Sisters— found within the park had
“powerful symbolic significance for Vancouverites.”53 Some sources, in fact, described
them in religious terms.54 Kheraj suggests that the trees that loomed large in the
imagination o f Vancouverites “authenticated the pristine condition of the forest.” 55 He
also notes that Stanley Park represented the “latent possibility for the city’s future.” 56
However, he provides no analysis o f the connection between large conifers and the
boosting of local and provincial economies. Stands o f large conifers may have
represented more for British Columbians than Kheraj suggests. Another important theme
is the role that wind played in reshaping the park as well as park policy.57 Biogeoclimatic
factors that shaped past and current landscapes cannot be neglected when discussing
human perceptions of non-human phenomena. More importantly, it is not clear how
perceptions o f Stanley Park contributed to broader British Columbian or even Canadian
nature myths, especially given that the vast majority o f the province’s forests were not
protected areas, but open to resource management and alienation. Furthermore, it is not
clear if perceptions o f urban parks were similar to that o f Crown lands.
Other studies have argued that British Columbia’s forests were impediments to
settlement that had little value until they were included within a market system.58

53 Ibid., 579.
54 Ibid., 5 7 8 -9 ,6 0 5 -6 . See G eorge A ltm eyer, “Three Ideas o f Nature in Canada, 1 8 9 3 -1 9 1 4 ,” The J o u rn a l
o f C anadian S tu dies, 11 (A ugust 1976): 110-111.
55 Kheraj, “R estoring N ature,” 605.
56 Ibid., 604.
57 Ibid., 577.
58 Drushka, C a n a d a 's F orests, 26-27; G illis and R oach, 131; Carrothers, “F orest Industries,” 23 3 ; R ajala,
F eds, 9; Taylor, A H isto ry, 49.

12

Recently Gordon Hak argued that “In the nineteenth century, trees were potential
commodities; forests and tree in themselves had no exchange value in the marketplace.
Trees had to be transformed into lumber, or at least logs, in order to have value.”59 Once
standing timber could be “bought and sold,” Hak writes, “Forests became a commodity
that had their own market. Living trees could be turned into dollars, and dollars could be
converted into trees in Vancouver, Seattle, and London Offices.”60 However, the
argument that early British Columbians believed that forests had no or little value until
commoditisation is open to question. They may have had a greater value— in the minds
o f Euro-British Columbians— earlier, than these scholars have suggested.
Overall, the historiography paints an incomplete if not ambiguous picture o f EuroBritish Columbian perceptions of the province’s coastal forests. In some cases, the scope
is too narrow, but broader studies lack sufficient evidence. Moreover, forests are often
subsumed into larger landscape scale perceptions. Few studies tease apart notions o f
forests from these broader categories. Furthermore, there is a puzzling lack o f
engagement between many o f the studies. More importantly, several kinds o f sources are
conspicuous by their absence including Dominion and provincial government reports and
land surveys on agriculture and forests/forestry and books, circulars, and newspapers that
boosted the agri-settlement capabilities of coastal British Columbia.
A number o f additional studies provide important insight and analysis into
broader North American ideas about the landscape. These studies examine the range o f
social factors that influenced particular notions o f the landscape and their relationship to
the promotion of local and regional economies. George Altmeyer’s “Three Ideas o f
59 Hak, Turning Trees, 5.
60 Ibid., 6.

13

Nature in Canada, 1893-1914,” published in 1976, emphasizes the role that social factors
played in a range o f different but related landscape perceptions.61 Altmeyer challenges
the ‘negative nature’ hypothesis forwarded by several prominent Canadian authors
including Northrop Frye, Marcia B. Kline, and Margaret Atwood, but interestingly not
Cole. Altmeyer argues that
one facet o f the Canadian attitude towards Nature was positive and typically North
American. This positive perception involved the ideas of Nature as Benevolent
Mother capable of soothing city-worn nerves and restoring health, of rejuvenating a
physically deteriorating race and o f teaching lessons no book learning could give; as a
Limited Storehouse whose treasures must in the future be treated with greater respect;
and as a Temple where one could again find and communicate with Deity.62
What is important about this study is that it suggests that there were several perceptions
about nature operating concurrently within Canadian culture. Furthermore, Altmeyer
highlights the social factors that influenced these ideas. In the case of the “Benevolent
Mother” motif—or the idea that nature could cure all the ills o f urban/city living— he
argues that the rapid growth o f many Canadian cities during the early 1900s resulted in a
high level o f social anxiety, coined the “Disease o f the Age,” by the Canadian M agazine
in 1908.63 During this period, nature was perceived as being restorative or “a home tonic
prepared for boredom.”64 Some believed that it would rejuvenate the degenerating AngloSaxon race and teach youth essential outdoorsmanship.65
In the same way, the “Limited Storehouse,” or the notion that nature should not be
exploited but efficiently utilized and protected for future generations, was influenced by a
constellation o f social factors and ideas. Altmeyer argues that the Dominion economic

61 A ltm eyer, “Three Ideas,” 21-36.
62 Ibid., 98.
63 Ibid.
64 Ibid., 101.
65 Ibid., 102-103.

14

policy of resource exploitation, the growing recognition during the 1890s that the
country’s resources were not inexhaustible, the influence of scientific forestry, and the
gospel of efficiency and unselfishness, were all factors that influenced this idea.66
Lastly, is Altmeyer’s idea o f “Nature as Temple.” He argued that in the late
nineteenth century, Canadians were experiencing a degree o f spiritual uncertainty owing
to the growing interest in Higher Criticism and Darwinian evolution.67 Coupled with a
“vague transcendentalism, based loosely on the teachings o f Emerson and Thoreau,”
some Canadians embraced the idea o f nature as a place to commune with God.
Unlike Tippet and Cole, Altmeyer used a broad range o f sources including
magazines, poetry and literature, rod and gun club circulars, and some government
reports. Although his study is national in its scope, and focuses on the landscape in
general (as opposed to forests), it provides an excellent framework for assessing
perceptions of the province’s coastal forests and determining whether there is evidence
for Benevolent Mother-Limited Storehouse-Temple motifs in the perceptions o f EuroBritish Columbians during the same era.
During the 1990s, two important studies were published by William Cronon that
not only explored the social constmction o f nature, but deconstructed a long-held belief
about humanity’s place in it. In N ature’s Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West,
Cronon attempts to understand Chicago’s place in nature, or more specifically when was

66 For a helpful analysis o f the notion o f “e fficie n c y ,” in natural resource utilization see Sam uel P. H ays,
C onservation a n d th e G o sp el o f E fficien cy: The P ro g re s siv e C o n se rv a tiv e M ovem ent, 1 8 9 0 -1 9 2 0
(Cambridge: Harvard U niversity Press, 1959).
*7 Ibid., 110-111.
68 Ibid., 111.

15

it no longer “in” nature.69 He argues that, in fact, there is no being inside or outside o f
nature. The city and the country “can exist only in each other’s presence. Their isolation
is an illusion, for the world o f civilized humanity is very nearly created in the continuing
moment of the encounter. They need each other, just as they need the larger natural world
which sustains them both,” he writes.70 Cronon’s deeper intellectual agenda is to
demonstrate that the “boundary between human and non-human, natural and unnatural is
profoundly problematic.”71 Although humans employ different meanings and
connotations of nature, they are never outside o f it. More than that, “nothing in nature
remains untouched by the web of human relationships.”72 While this study is not
concerned with the situatedness of humans within the non-human landscape, his analysis
on civic boosting is particularly useful when looking at the ways in which Euro-British
Columbians perceived the forest.
Cronon explains that the search for the great city of the Great West drove townsite speculation during the nineteenth century.73 The rhetoric o f these so-called ‘boosters’
was always “inclined towards enthusiastic exaggeration and self-interested promotion.” 74
Boosters were not merely talking heads, but employed well-developed theories o f
economic growth created by men such as Jesup W. Scott and William Gilpin. According
to booster theory there were three main factors that created prosperous cities: the region’s
natural resources, transportation routes into the city, and climate. Regional resources such
as timber, fertile soils, minerals and waterpower sites represented the “potential for

69 W illiam Cronon, N a tu re's M etropolis: C h ic a g o a n d th e G rea t W est (N e w York: Norton, 1 9 9 1 ), 8.
70 Ibid., 18.
71 Ibid., xix.
72 Ibid., xix, 19.
73 Ibid., 34.

74

16

economic development.” 75 Cronon points out that almost all boosters had some vested
interests in promoting growth of one particular city becoming “cheerleaders” o f the
places in which they lived.76
N ature’s Metropolis also touches briefly on Chicago’s lumber trade and how
forest perceptions— through the lens o f timber— was “ready to shift into the domain o f
resources, commodities, and second nature.”77 This relationship between forests/trees as
timber/lumber and economic boosting raises an important issue o f the role that these
ideas may have played in British Columbia, and raises the question as to whether
resource boosting was tempered by late nineteenth century concerns over the
exhaustibility o f resources as per Altmeyer.
In the “The Trouble with Wilderness; or, Getting Back to the Wrong Nature”
published almost ten years later, Cronon shifted his focus from Chicago to one
particularly American perception of nature: “wilderness.”78 The time has come to rethink
wilderness,” begins Cronon in this watershed paper.

70

He argues that wilderness— an

almost sacred “place” in the American collective consciousness— is a
quite profoundly human creation-indeed, the creation o f very particular human
cultures at very particular moments in human history. It is not a pristine sanctuary
where the last remnant o f an untouched, endangered, but still transcendent nature
can for at least a little while longer be encountered without the contaminating
taint o f civilization. Instead, it’s a product of that civilization, and could hardly be
contaminated by the very stuff o f which it is made.80

75 Ibid., 36.
76 Ibid.
77 Ibid., 152.
78 W illiam Cronon, “The Trouble w ith W ilderness; or G etting B ack to the W rong Nature,” in U n com m on
G round: R ethinking th e Hum an P la c e in N a tu re, ed. W illiam Cronon (N ew Y ork: Norton, 1 9 9 5 ), 1.
79 Ibid., 1.
80 Ibid., 4; 1.

17

Here Cronon picked up his themes o f the socially constructed nature of landscapes,
human situatedness, and effects on the non-human world. It would be a mistake to
consider this argument as a mere academic abstraction. His deeper agenda is the
reconceptualization of “culture’s problematic relationship with the nonhuman world.”81
The idea of wilderness is, in fact, part o f the problem, Cronon argues.82 Evidence for his
thesis is found in a constellation of ideas and historical factors that are particular to
Europe and America including Romantic ideas o f the sublime (landscapes so beautiful
they are terrifying), Biblical notions o f wilderness, transcendentalism, the vanishing
frontier myth, primitivism/anticivilization impulses (shedding the ills of the city), leisure
and recreation, and notions o f the pristine or uninhabited landscape.83 He notes that, “the
language we use to talk about wilderness is often permeated with spiritual and religious
values that reflect human ideals more than the material world o f physical nature.”84
Cronon’s analysis illustrates how a complex array o f cultural beliefs, values, and ideals
come together to create a particular perception o f the landscape. His analysis, however,
focuses on the ideological baggage that immigrants brought from the Old World. It
remains unclear how Old World ecologies and landscapes shaped European notions o f
the landscape. This is an important avenue o f analysis shedding light on Euro-British
Columbian perceptions o f the landscape.
While published almost a decade after N ature’s Metropolis, George Colpitts’
Game in the Garden: A Human History o f Wildlife in Western Canada to 1940, provides

81 Ibid.
82 Ibid.
83 Ibid., 2-10.
84 Ibid., 10.

18

a more in-depth analysis of natural resource boosting that is particularly helpful.85 Game
in the Garden seeks to identify early ideas about wildlife in a wider context o f hunting,
conservation, and preservation history.86 Focusing primarily on the prairie provinces,
though also touching on British Columbia, Colpitts’ argues that the “stories, symbols, and
rituals surrounding animals found meaning in particular settings where expectations and
fears accompanied development. Frontier and pioneer societies invested wild animals
with new symbolic meanings at critical moments o f environmental and economic
change.”87 One critical moment, according to Colpitts, was the immigration and
settlement boom in western Canada that began during the late 1890s. He writes:
Territorial and provincial governments had always promoted the region. After the
First World War, however, members o f communities began to boost their locales
to recruit new citizens who could help to make payments on growing debts. In
this period, western boosters made numerous claims about their region...
Motivated by a spirit o f boosterism and the realities o f the hinterland economy,
many westerners drew on the rising conservation movement to promote their
region. They created images o f inherent natural wealth in their settlements and an
almost inexhaustible supply o f resources available to settlers and newcomers.88

This theme o f western “superabundance” was critical to the civic and regional
promotion in western Canada, including British Columbia.

on

However, British

Columbia’s vast forests, not its wildlife, played the critical boosting role. More than that,
boosting the province’s resources began almost forty years earlier than in Canada’s
western prairies.

85 G eorge Colpitts, G am e in the G arden: A H um an H isto ry o f W ildlife in W estern C anada to 1 9 4 0
(Vancouver: U B C Press, 20 0 2 ).
86 Ibid., 11.
87 Ibid., 4.
88 Ibid., 103.
89 Ibid., 104.

19

The last relevant study is Bruce Braun’s monograph Intemperate Rainforest:
Nature, Culture, and Power on Canada’s West Coast. Similar to Cronon, Braun argues
about the false notion o f nature’s externality, but adopts a post-colonial approach
developing a “new set of concepts that might inform radical environmentalism that is
attuned to the impact o f people on the environment, as well as to relations o f power and
domination that infuse our environmental ideas and imaginations.”90 While this thesis is
not concerned with the lingering effects o f colonialism, Braun offers an excellent analysis
on the social construction of the coastal temperate rainforest. He writes that:
nature’s externality is merely an effect produced through the discursive and
material practices of everyday life. This does not mean that mountains, trees,
rivers, salmon and grizzly bears do not exist. Rather, it calls attention to the ways
in which B.C.’s landscapes are shot through with language, meaning, and history,
even as they are assigned to the category nature ... British Columbia’s most iconic
“natural” entity— the temperate rainforest—what appears as primal nature is in
fact far more social than we might think at first.91
Forests, according to Braun, are cultural constructs or artefacts that are the “outcome o f
an array of scientific, cultural, and political practices.”92 More than that, they are created
by multiple actors-human and non-human-through many different historical and spatial
practices 93
In summary, these studies provide some important background for this thesis. Not
only can multiple landscape/nature perceptions exist concurrently, but also they can
symbolize a society’s economic potential. Additionally, these studies demonstrate the
important relationship between context and perceptions. A range o f past and present

90 Braun, In tem perate, x.
9' Ibid.
92 Ibid., 260.
93 Ibid., 3.

20

factors can contribute to the formation o f particular notions o f the landscape. The next
section will outline the primary sources that were utilised in this research.
Reports published by British Columbia’s colonial and provincial government and
by the Dominion government will form a significant portion o f the documentary evidence
examined in this study. Colonial government reports contain information on the
agricultural settlement capabilities o f coastal British Columbia with particular focus on
climate, soils, harbours, agricultural prospects, and the capabilities and potential o f
natural resource based economies (minerals, timber, salmon). These reports were often
based on surveys commissioned in the mid-nineteenth century and carried out by Cpt.
W.C. Grant, Robert Brown (Vancouver Island Exploring Expedition), D.G.F. Macdonald
(International Boundary Line), Lt. R.C. Mayne (Royal Navy), and Lt. H.S. Palmer (Royal
Engineers).
Provincial and Dominion reports from Land and Works, Agriculture and Forestry
departments contain similar natural resource information based on data collected by
Provincial Land Surveyors (PLS), the Geological Survey o f Canada (GSC), Canadian
Pacific Railway (CPR) and Forest Branch surveyors from the late 1800s to early 1900s.
The latter two Dominion departments contain additional information on the geology and
topography o f the province. These sources often contain data systematically collected by
men trained in land surveying, geology, engineering, natural history and biological
science. These surveyors travelled over significant portions o f the coast often for long
periods, making extensive observations and commentary about the provinces diverse
landscapes and the potential for resource exploitation. The descriptions and perceptions
o f the province’s natural resources—particularly forests— made by these surveyors are

21

better situated than the journals and narratives made by itinerant travel writers and
adventurers in that they are often more extensive, covering a larger cross-section o f
British Columbia’s geographic diversity. More importantly, these sources informed
government policy makers who were eager to develop the country’s natural resources.
However, the agri-settlement and resource exploitation focus o f these reports also has
some limitations. Although many explorers and land surveyors were skilled in their
respective fields, it is not clear if any were trained in the forest mensuration
(measurement) techniques used by professionally trained foresters. They may have
overestimated the extent, quality, and market potential o f the coastal conifers they
observed. Extensive tracts of large timber are not the only factors needed to develop a
resource-based economy. Access to timber, markets, and merchantability are also
important factors.
Books, magazines, and newspapers that actively promoted British Columbia’s
agri-settlement and the economic potential o f the province’s natural resources are another
cohort o f sources utilized in this thesis. Published in London, England and Victoria
throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth century, these sources were widely
distributed throughout Europe, America, and eastern Canada. Written by current or
former government officials, this literature reprinted portions o f colonial and
provincial/Dominion government explorations and surveys. The provincial and Dominion
governments also published their own boosting pamphlets, and distributed pamphlets
written by private citizens, throughout Europe. British Columbia’s colonial and
provincial government also boosted their natural resources at fairs and exhibitions such as
the London International Exhibition (1862) and the W orld’s Columbian Exposition in

22

Chicago (1894). Timber merchants often collaborated with the provincial governments in
actively boosting the provinces forest wealth by submitting samples of whole logs and
lumber to be displayed at these events. These sources undoubtedly made exaggerated
claims about the province’s timber resources and unashamedly promoted their own selfinterest. They also contained a large amount o f second-hand information and it remains
unclear if some o f the authors had first-hand knowledge of British Columbia’s forests,
especially literature published in Europe. Despite these limitations, boosters are an
important source o f evidence o f how residents and future residents perceived the
province’s coastal forests. Furthermore, their mass distribution suggests that they made a
significant impact on the minds of future immigrants and investors. Written by educated
middle to upper-class men, or perhaps literate lower-class men, who immigrated to
British Columbia from either Great Britain, eastern Canada or the United States, these
sources provide a lens through which perceptions of the province’s coastal forests will be
analyzed. However, unlike Cronon and Braun, this thesis will not address issues o f
sustainability or the appropriate way o f co-existing with the non-human world.
The “Last Resort o f the Lumberman” is thematically organized. Chapter One
argues that government land surveyors’ perception that British Columbia contained vast,
extensive, and dense forests o f large, high quality trees formed a conceptual foundation
that influenced civic, provincial, and Dominion boosters, and government policy makers.
Chapter Two argues that boosters not only employed the notion that British Columbia
had the largest and best quality timber, but also that it was inexhaustible. Hoping to cash
in on these notions and several external market factors, the provincial government made
it easier for anyone to secure timber by amending forest policy, the result being

23

widespread foreign ownership and speculation. Lastly, Chapter Three argues that despite
calls to reform timber policy— in response to speculation—timber interests and the
government alike believed that fire was the greatest threat to the province’s forest wealth,
even as the provincial government boosted its inexhaustible forests.
This research is particularly relevant not only to the historical sub-discipline o f
environmental history, but also to broader issues related to resource management in
British Columbia. The province’s forests continue to hold an iconic position in the minds
of many British Columbians. More than that, they arguably are considered a constant,
despite the decline in American export markets, the decrease in value and supply o f
forests decimated by the Mountain Pine Beetle epidemic and allowable annual cuts, and
the expansion of parks and protected areas.

24

Chapter 1
“One Mass of Wood”: Land Surveyors and the Conceptual Foundation
of British Columbia’s Coastal Forests

The first Europeans who observed and described British Columbia’s coastal temperate
rainforests were mariners who explored its rugged shoreline and hunted sea otters. They
“glowingly” described the quantity and quality o f the coast’s timber undoubtedly raising
an awareness o f the region’s resources in the minds o f the British government and
potential colonizers alike.1 However, the reports and narratives o f colonial and
provincial/Dominion government land surveyors who systematically explored the coast
throughout the colonial and provincial eras were more influential. Their perception that
the coast had vast, extensive, and dense forests o f large, high-quality trees formed a
conceptual foundation that contributed significantly towards British Columbia’s growing
reputation as a “forest province.”2 Some o f these early surveyors actively participated in
the promotion o f the colony’s forest resources, while the reports o f others were included
in boosting literature and later provincial and Dominion studies.
Several factors contributed to these Euro-British Columbian forest perceptions
including the state o f Great Britain’s forests, European urbanization, and coastal
biogeoclimatic features. That many parts o f Western Europe were virtually deforested by
the nineteenth century is an understatement.3 The deforestation o f the British landscape

1 G ough, “Forests and S ea Pow er,” 120.
2 F in a l R e p o rt o f th e R o y a l C om m ission o fI n q u iry on T im ber a n d F o restry 1 9 0 9 -1 9 1 0 (V ictoria: Richard
W olfenden, 1910), D 6 0 [hereafter F in a l R e p o rt],
3 John Croumbie B row n, In trodu ction to th e S tu d y o f M o d e m F o re st E co n o m y (Edinburgh: O liver and
B oyd, 1883), 14-15.

25

began as early as the Roman conquest.4 During the reign of Henry VIII England began
exporting native timber, but by the late 1600s the Royal Navy began importing it— out o f
necessity—from the Baltics.5 Timber (mainly oak) was used by the Royal N avy but it
also fuelled the iron, copper, salt, and glass industries throughout the period between the
sixteenth and nineteenth century.6 Additionally, England’s forests— feared by Romans
and described as silva horrida, or a rough and rugged wood inhabited by wild men—
were cleared for farms, factories, canals, towns, and railroads. 7 By 1854, Great Britain
had only 880,382 hectares of forested area (including hardwoods, conifers, mixed woods,
high forests and uneconomic forests). By the end of the century, less than five percent o f
its landscape remained forested.8 It is no wonder, the British Admiralty, began looking
overseas for alternative sources.
Not only was Great Britain virtually forestless, but access to its scant forests was
limited by the Monarchy through the formation o f so-called “Royal Forests.” Created
sometime after the Norman Conquest, Royal Forests were spaces over which specific
laws were enacted to exclude unwanted flora, commoners, and livestock in order to
protect game exclusively for the hunting privileges o f the monarchy.9 Woodlands were

4 Ibid., 142.
5 Perlin, F o rest Journey, 163-164, 223.
6 Ibid., 168, 173, 176, 245.
7 John Croumbie B row n, The F o re sts o f E n g la n d a n d th e M a n a g em en t o f them in B ye-g o n e T im es
(Edinburgh: O liver and B oyd, 1883), 135, 140.
8 Inaki Iriarte-Goni and M aria-Isabel A yuda, “N o t O nly Subterranean Forests: W ood C onsum ption and
E conom ic D evelopm ent in Britain (1 8 5 0 -1 9 3 8 )” (paper presented at the con feren ce called A gricliom etrics,
in Zaragoz, Spain June 2 0 1 1 )5 ; S teve Smith and Justin Gilbert, The N a tio n a l Inventory o f W o o d la n d a n d
T rees-E n glan d (Edinburgh: T he Forestry C om m ission , 2 0 0 1 ), 49.
9 Carl J. Griffin, “M ore-than-Hum an H istories and the Failure o f Grand State Schem es: S ylvicu ltu re in the
N e w Forest, England,” C u ltu ral G eo g ra p h ies 17, no., 4 (2010): 4 5 1 -4 7 2 .

26

set aside for the exclusive use of the Monarchy, as early as 1506.10 During the m id­
nineteenth century, an additional 10,000 acres o f woodlands were enclosed as Royal
Forests.11 Additionally, many woodlands were owned by private individuals, further
reducing access. While the state o f the British landscape contributed to perceptions o f
British Columbia’s landscape, the fact that many immigrants may have come from
metropolitan Europe also played a role.
Many Britons, by the mid-nineteenth century, lived in large metropolitan centers.
Three million lived in London alone while 522,000 lived in Glasgow, 351,000 in
Manchester, and 493,000 in Liverpool.12 Lynda Nead notes that mid-Victorian London
was a “place of blocked mobility, congestion and obstacle.” 13 Urbanites from London and
other large European cities must have been amazed by the extent, size, and apparent
emptiness of British Columbia’s coastal forests. The same could be said about Canadians
and Americans who emigrated from large cities and regions where the forests had been
severely denuded by urbanization, agriculture, and logging. More than that, the forests of
coastal British Columbia were more-or-less accessible and available to any settler or
immigrant. But the state o f Old World landscapes and cities were not the only factors that
affected Euro-British Columbian forest perceptions. A range o f biogeoclimatic factors,

10 John Langton, “Forest in Early-M odern E ngland and W ales: H istory and H istoriography,” in F o re sts a n d
C hases o f E n g la n d a n d Wales, c. 1 5 0 0 to c. 1850: T o w a rd s a S u rvey a n d A n a ly s is , ed. John L angston and
Graham Jones (Oxford: St. John’s C o lleg e R esearch Center, 2 0 0 5 ), 6-7.
11 B row n, The F o rests, 64.
l2Arthur M . Lower, G re a t B rita in 's W oodyard: B ritish A m erica a n d the T im b er Trade, 1 7 6 3 -1 8 6 7
(Montreal: M cG ill-Q u een ’s U niversity Press, 1973), 5.
13 Lynda N ead, Victorian B abylon : P eo p le, S tre e ts a n d Im a g es in N in eteen th -C en tu ry L on don (N e w
Haven: Y ale U n iversity Press, 2 0 0 0 ), 13.

27

which has resulted in the evolution o f the one o f the w orld’s m ost highly productive
forested ecosystems, also played a significant role.14
Both global and local factors have influenced the evolution of the coast’s
temperate rainforests. Heat absorbed by the Pacific Ocean in the equatorial region, flows
north, resulting in coastal temperatures that rarely fall below zero. Warm, moist air
flowing east off o f the Pacific, is forced up by the mountains where it cools and
precipitates as rain or snow. These mountain slopes receive massive amounts o f rain, up
to two meters annually in some areas. The west coast o f Vancouver Island and Haida
Gwaii, in fact, receive the heaviest rainfalls in North America.15 Because these forests
receive most o f their rainfall from November to March, huge conifers that have evolved
to photosynthesize and grow during mild winters, dominate the landscape. Some western
hemlock stands can on average produce five tonnes o f biomass annually and some sites
even produce over thirty tonnes.16 Because o f low M ean Fire Return Intervals, or the
average time between stand initiating fire-events, conifers in these forests can live and
grow for centuries, reaching massive proportions.17 High rainfall and the mgged nature o f
the coastal topography also cause the constant leaching o f nutrients from these poor
granitic soils. Because o f this, most conifers uptake nutrients from the dense layer o f
organic matter (humus) covering the forest floor. Western hemlock almost always
germinates on decaying logs, stumps, or even standing snags that retain both water and

14 D avid C annings and Sydney C annings, B ritish C o lu m b ia : A N a tu ra l H isto ry (Vancouver: D o u g la s and
M cIntyre, 1996), 129.
15 Ibid., 58-63.
16 Ibid., 129.
17 Ibid., 130.

28

nutrients.18 Wind, insects and disease, fire, and humans have historically caused
disturbance in these stands. Indeed, when coupled with a vigorous growth o f shrubs such
as salal, sword fern, and huckleberry many o f these ecosystems formed dense landscapes
of plant biomass that frustrated surveyors during the nineteenth and early twentieth
century. These forest types continue to impress and frustrate foresters and other resource
surveyors to this very day.
Cpt. James Cook was impressed by the “high, straight trees”—most likely Sitka
spruce, western Hemlock, and Douglas fir—that formed “one vast forest,”— growing
along the rocky shoreline of Juan De Fuca Strait on 29 March 1778.19 A few days later,
after mooring the Resolution and Discovery in Nootka Sound, Cook sent men ashore to
cut timber in order to repair the ships while others brewed spruce-beer out o f the leaves
of pine trees.20 Esteban Jose Martinez, a Spanish mariner, similarly noted the abundant,
large trees growing along the coast while moored in Nootka Sound (Friendly Cove) in
1789.21 The Spanish even constmcted several buildings with planks purchased from a
local Nootka Chief.22 While sea otter pelts were the key resource that the British mariners
sought, timber squared into ship’s spars or masts also formed a supplemental trade.23 Cpt.
John Mears cut spars and deals (boards with a thickness o f three or more inches) from
Nootka Sound in order to trade them on the Chinese market, in 1788.24 Like Cook, Mears
believed that British Columbia’s forests had great potential: “the woods o f this part of
America are capable o f supplying with there [sic] valuable materials all the navies o f
18 Ibid., 1 3 3 ,1 3 8 .
19 Glyndwr W illiam s, C a p ta in C o o k ’s Voyages, 1 7 6 8 -1 7 7 9 (London: The F o lio Society, 1 9 9 7 ), 4 0 6 .
20 Ibid., 411.
21 Taylor, A H isto ry, 8.
22 Ibid., 8.
23 L ow er, G rea t B ritia n 's, 43; G ough, “Forest and S ea P ow er,” 119.
24 G ough, “Forest and S ea Pow er,” 119.

29

Europe,” he wrote.25 Great Britain, in fact, had been importing timber to outfit their
Royal Navy since at least the late 1600s.26 This was done out o f necessity rather than
choice: for as early as 1792, a Parliamentary Commission on the state of England’s
forests had soberly concluded that Crown woods and private estates could no longer be
relied upon as a source o f timber.27 The sheer amount o f timber that was required to
build and repair ocean-going vessels explains the timber supply problem.
Two thousand tonnes o f oak or approximately 1,740 mature trees were required to
repair only four ships while constructing a single large warship required two thousand
oaks. Not surprisingly, as the size o f English warships and fleet increased so too did the
volume o f wood required to build and repair them.28 The 1792 Parliamentary
Commission also reported that the Royal Navy alone consumed more than 50,000 loads
o f oak in 1788.29 More than any other tree, shipwrights preferred oak: “no wood in the
world could compare with it,” they argued. Oak was also used for a broad range of
construction purposes, especially timber-framed buildings.30 It is no wonder that by the
late 1600s the Royal Navy began importing timber from the Baltic, and later from the
North American colonies.31 With the outbreak o f the American W ar of Independence,
Great Britain shifted its source of North American timber from it southern colonies,
northward to New Brunswick, and the Ottawa Valley,32 and eventually set its eyes on the
Pacific Northwest. However, because o f the long distance to ports, market forces and

25 Ibid., 119.
26 Perlin, F o rest Jou rn ey, 223.
27 Brown, The F o rests, 245.
28 Perlin, F o rest Jou rn ey, 175.
29 Brown, The F o rests, 245.
30 Perlin, F o rest Journey, 175.
31 Ibid., 223.
32 G ough, “Forest and Sea P ow er,” 117.

30

demands, international relations, and custom duties, the trade in timber from the
northwest coast was insignificant.33 Because o f a decline in sea otter population, there
was little trade in timber from 1815 to the mid-1840s; however, the commercial boom in
the Sandwich Islands, Oregon, and California reinvigorated the trade resulting in the re­
commoditization of northwest coast timber.34 The Royal Navy continued to obtain timber
from coastal British Columbia until 1874, even obtaining timber reserves, for the
exclusive use of the Admiralty, from False Creek, and English Bay.35
Some of these European mariners and merchants who had sailed to the northwest
coast published their journals and maps. Perhaps most influential o f all were the
narratives of Cook.36 First published in a three-volume set in 1773, Cook’s narrative was
influential in England and continental Europe. A second edition was published at the end
of 1773, and a third in 1785. They were also translated into French, German, and
Italian.37 Noting the immense popularity o f the various versions o f Cook’s voyages,
Glyndwr Williams wrote, “As such they were printed and reprinted, translated, pirated,
serialized, issued in shortened form as children’s books, to become part o f the staple diet
of generations o f readers until well into the twentieth century.”38
Cook’s descriptions of the northwest coast influenced the minds o f many
Europeans. However, the land surveys conducted following the colonization o f
Vancouver Island were more influential in the minds o f Euro-British Columbians.
Surveyors were busy during the nineteenth century: engineers located roads and laid out

33 Ibid. S ee also Lawrence, “Markets and Capital,” 3.
34 Ibid., 119.
35 Ibid., 124, 120.
36 W illiam s, C aptain C o o k ’s ,” ixx; xxi.
37 Ibid., x x x ix -x x x ii.
38 Ibid., xxxix.

31

town sites, surveyors assessed the agri-settlement capabilities and inventoried the
province’s many natural resources, and scientists mapped and measured the coast’s
forests. These men systematically explored considerable portions o f the coast, providing
detailed descriptions o f the extent, quantity, and quality o f the forests they encountered.
Cpt. Walter Colquhoun Grant—Vancouver Island’s first independent settler—
made the first such survey in 1850.39 Commissioned by the H udson’s Bay Company
(HBC), Grant made “ .. .out a distinct plan o f his own lot, and o f the lands which were in
occupation of the fur trade.”40 His survey—read before the Royal Geographical Society
o f London in 1857— focused on Vancouver Island’s settlement and agricultural
development capabilities.41 Grant’s introduction noted that, “The position and natural
advantages of Vancouver Island would appear eminently to adapt it for being an
emporium o f extended commerce. It contains valuable coal fields, and is covered with
fine timber.”42 The “whole centre o f the island” was “densely covered with timber, the
removal of which would be so laborious as to make the bringing o f the said land under
cultivation scarcely a profitable undertaking.”43 A soldier by profession and eschewing
such general observations for most o f his discussion, Grant favoured detailed
commentary. 44 Lacking formal natural history training, Grant nonetheless made many
astute descriptions of a wide variety o f landscapes and forest types from the stunted shore

39 Barclay to D ou glas, 8 February 1850, in F o rt V ictoria L etters, 1 8 4 6 -1 8 5 1 , ed . Hartwell B o w sfie ld
(W innipeg: H u d son ’s B ay Company Record S ociety, 1 9 7 9 ), 40ff; W illard E. Ireland, “Captain W alter
Colquhoun Grant: V ancouver Island’s First Independent Settler,” B ritish C o lu m bia H isto ric a l Q u a rterly
17, no., 1 and 2 (January-April 1953): 87.
40 Barclay to D ou glas, 8 February 1850, quoted in B o w sfield , F o rt V ictoria, 4 0 ff,
41 W. Colquhoun Grant, “D escription o f V an cou ver Island,” J o u rn a l o f th e R o y a l G eo g ra p h ica l S o c ie ty o f
L ondon 2 7 (1 8 5 7 ): 26 8 -3 2 0 .
42 Ibid., 268.
43 Ibid., 269.
44 Ireland, “Captain W alter,” 90.

32

pines on the cliffs overlooking the ocean, to the Garry oak meadows and open prairies
near Fort Victoria 45 He described the timber around Sooke Harbour—where he
homesteaded—as “very fine” and suitable for piles and spars.46 He also identified several
o f the Island’s tree species in great detail noting their distribution, extent, and density as
well as their utilitarian and commercial value. Western red cedar, he noted, “grows into a
noble tree.”47 The wood o f Garry oak is “hard and tough ... and excellently adapted to
form the knees and timbers o f vessels; the trees, however, are small and scrubby, and
hide their abashed heads before the towering Coniferae by which they are surrounded.”48
Like the British mariners before him, he noted that Douglas fir “furnishes material for
excellent spars.”49 He also noted the “great height from 150 to 200 feet” o f these
conifers.50 Interestingly, Grant’s perceptions had changed by the time he delivered
another paper to the Royal Geographical Society, two-years later. “The timber o f the
woodland is so inferior,” Grant noted, “to what is found on the neighbouring coasts, that
the principal resources o f the island must, I think be said to be the mineral wealth o f its
rocks and fisheries of the seas.”51 His failed attempt at setting up a mill and timber export
business at Sooke Harbour undoubtedly affected these conclusions.52 While the HBC was
interested in exploiting Vancouver Island’s resources, the British Admiralty and Colonial
Department were concerned about transportation routes to the newly discovered gold
fields on the Fraser River. As the number o f American prospectors seeking their fortunes
45 Grant, “D escription o f,” 2 7 0 , 2 7 1 , 283, 2 8 9 , 2 9 0 .
46 Ibid., 284.
47 Ibid., 292, 269.
48 Ibid., 292.
49 Ibid., 292.
50 Ibid.
51 W .C. Grant, “R em arks on V ancouver Island, P rincipally C oncerning T o w n sites and N a tiv e P op u lation s,”
Jo u rn a l o f the R o y a l G eo g ra p h ic a l S o ciety o f L on don 31 (1861): 208.
52 Ireland, “Captain W alter,” 106-114.

33

in the goldfields o f the Lower Fraser River increased, so too did the need for suitable
roads. For James Douglas, the Governor o f the newly established Vancouver Island
Colony, it was clear that they must be quickly developed in order to manage the rapid
influx o f people.53 The Colonial Secretary, Edward B. Lytton, believed that the expertise
of the Royal Engineers was exactly what this fledgling colony needed. In a letter written
to Douglas in the fall of 1858, Lytton argued that the Royal Engineers were needed for
"the opening up o f the resources o f the country by the construction of roads and bridges."
54 For Lytton, the progress and welfare o f the colony depended on the establishment o f an
adequate network o f roads.
Three contingents of the Royal Engineers— approximately 150 soldiers— under
the command o f Col. Richard Clement Moody left London in the fall of 1858, arriving at
Fort Langley in November.55 The following summer they surveyed and laid out the townsite o f New Westminster, and a wagon road past the canyons o f the lower Fraser River.
The same year they also surveyed and began constructing a route from Hope to Boston
Bar.56 Engineers surveyed and laid-out other roads and town sites, and pre-empted land
over the next five years.57 Their descriptions o f the Lower Mainland and Fraser Valley
contain an important notion that went hand-in-hand with ideas o f a vast, extensive forest:
namely the dense, impenetrable one.

53 Frederic W . H ow ay, The W ork o f th e R o y a l E n g in eers in B ritish C olu m bia, 1858-1863: A n A d d re ss
D e liv e re d to the A rt H isto rica l a n d S cien tific A sso cia tio n o f V ancouver, 9 F eb ru a ry 1910 (V ictoria:
Richard W olfenden, 1910), 2.
54 Lytton to D ou glas, 16 O ctober 1858, quoted in H ow ay, The W ork, 2.
55 Ibid., 2-3.
56 Ibid., 6.
57 Ibid., 7; 8.

34

While surveying in the south Bentick Arm area (Bella Coola) Lt. Spencer Palmer
noted that this area was “densely wooded.”58 Elsewhere he noted tracts o f “heavy forest
and dense underbrush,” similar to the lower Fraser valley.59 Overall, Palmer perceived
the province’s forests not only as “magnificent,” but also as “weary” to the eyes.60 After
surveying the New Westminster town site, Col. Moody wrote that the woods were “most
vexatious to a surveyor and the first dwellers in a town ... the thickets are the closest and
most thorniest I have ever come across.”61 Lieut. R.C. Mayne was commissioned to
locate a road from Jervis Inlet to the upper Fraser Valley in I860.62 While exploring
Quatsinough Inlet he noted the “fine” Douglas fir and western white pine, as well as
yellow cedar, which was “the best wood on the coast” for boat-planks.63 The western red
cedars, above Port Douglas, were the “finest” he had ever seen.64 But Mayne’s
descriptions that focused on stand density or thickness had more negative tones.65
Descending from the slopes above Port Pemberton he complained that there was “a great
deal o f thick bush and rough walking.”66 On another occasion, he noted that the forest

58 H. Spencer Palm er, R e p o rt o f a Jo u rn ey o f S u rvey fr o m V ictoria to F o rt A lex a n d er via N o rth B en tic k
A rm (N ew W estminster: R oyal Engineer Press, 18 6 3 ), 8.
59 Ibid., 12.
60 Ibid., 87, 16.
61 Cited in Margaret Orm sby, B ritish C olum bia: A H isto ry (V ancouver: The M acm illans o f C anada, 1958),
176.
62 Richard C. M ayne, “ Sketch o f the Country betw een Jervis Inlet and Port Pemberton, on the L illo o et
River, a Branch o f the Fraser R iver, B ritish Colum bia: W ith a M ap,” J o u rn a l o f the R o y a l G e o g ra p h ic a l
S o ciety o f London 31 (1861): 291.
63 Richard C. M ayne, F o u r Years in B ritish C o lu m bia a n d V ancouver Isla n d (London: John M urray, 1862),
182-183.
64 Richard C. M ayne, “Report on a Journey in British C olum bia in the D istricts Bordering on the
T hom pson, Fraser, and Harrison R ivers,” J o u rn a l o f th e R o y a l G e o g ra p h ic a l S o ciety o f L o n d o n 31 (1 8 6 1 ):

220 .
65 M ayne, “ Sketch,” 2 9 8 , 299, 300, 301; M ayne, “R eport,” 214; M ayne, F o u r Years, 50, 7 2 , 8 1 , 8 7 -8 8 , 9 091, 174, 90-91.
66 M ayne, “Sketch,” 299.

35

was like a “thick jungle.”67 After spending four years exploring the coastal landscape
Mayne concluded that, “The difficulties o f this work can scarcely be estimated by any
who has not seen British Columbian bush.”

The colony’s first judge, Matthew Baillie

Begbie, was also commissioned with reconnoitring a road from Fort Langley to the
Lillooet area in 1859.69 Begbie noted that the “trees in the neighbourhood are o f a
singular vigour and beauty, both hemlock, cedar, &c., and also maple and other
deciduous trees.”70 The banks of the Lillooet River, according to Begbie, had the “most
magnificent growth o f timer, principally cedar and hemlock.”71 In some areas the
vegetation was so dense that there was “no space for even a goat-path, unless it were
hewn away,” he complained.72 Other areas were “comparatively free from underwood,
but tolerably thickly wooded with large trees.”73 In Great Britain, underwood was a “low
cover... generally consisting o f holly, hazel, willow, alder, and thorn.”74 In this case, the
underwood was likely shade tolerant western hemlock or western red cedar regenerationfrom saplings to immature trees— as well as other woody shrubs which commonly grows
in the understory o f these coastal forests. It is interesting to note that forests could have
little underwood but still be densely wooded. Both the understory and overstory
contributed to the notion of a dense or thick forest in the minds o f some Euro-British
Columbians.

67 Ibid., 298.
68 M ayne, F ou r Years, 50.
69 M atthew B . B egb ie, “Journey in the Interior o f British C olum bia,” J o u rn a l o f the R o y a l G e o g ra p h ic a l
S o ciety o f London 31 (1861): 2 3 7 -2 4 8 .
70 Ibid., 245.
71 Ibid., 245.
72 Ibid., 245.
73 Ibid., 238.
74 Forests and C hases in England and W ales, c. 1000 to c. 1850.
http://info.sjc.ox.ac.U k/forests/gIossary.htm #U , (a ccessed 2 7 A u gu st 20 1 2 ).

36

The perception that the province coastal forests had some o f the finest but also
some of the thickest stands often went hand-in-hand in the forest descriptions made by
land surveyors throughout the mid and late nineteenth century. It is hardly surprising that
dense coastal forests frustrated surveyors. Surveying was a technical, intensive, and time
consuming trade that was made more difficult by broken terrain and dense forest types.
Road engineering in the mid-nineteenth century was similar to contemporary
engineering. A suitable route, with reasonable grades was located in the field, surveyed
then mapped. Actual road construction followed. Surveyors kept detailed notes o f
topography, vegetation and forests, geology, and military features. Engineers measured
and mapped horizontal distance, or the distances travelled between two points, using a
Gunter's chain or a steel chain. The former chain was a 66-foot series of steel links joined
by rings, pulled by brass handles at either end. This type of chain was growing in
popularity among English land surveyors during the mid-nineteenth century, and
according to one engineer was used almost exclusively in work done abroad.75
When measuring the distance between two points, surveyors (a “Leader and a
Follower”) suspended the chain, with the lead-man inserting flagged pins into the ground
to mark the centerline o f the road. The Follower pulled up the pins, tallying the distance
travelled.76 A compass was used to measure bearings, and a transit/theodolite was used to
turn angles.77 Engineering crews had to carry all o f this heavy brass, glass, and iron
equipment the entire length o f their survey. In broken terrain, intermediate distances
between obstructing topographic and biotic features (vegetation and trees) had to be
75 W . D avis H askoll, L a n d a n d M a rin e S u rveyin g (London: L ock w ood and C o., 1868), 1.
76 D avid M anay, M a n u a l o f L an d S u rveyin g w ith Tables (N ew York: J.W. Schermerhorn and C o., 1875),
27-29.
77 Ibid., 38.

37

measured: the more features, the more the measurements.78 Broken terrain containing
dead woody debris, streams, conifer regeneration, shrubs, and large diameter mature trees
undoubtedly posed a challenge to these English engineers. After the establishment o f
roads to the Fraser River goldfields, the colonial government’s concerns shifted to the
American-British boundary issue and once again to the agricultural and settlement
capabilities o f the coast.
Commissioned with exploring the disputed international boundary, colonial
government surveyor Duncan George F. Macdonald, similarly noted the coast’s dense
*
forests
but their extent and quality was more impressive. 79

The forests are of vast extent, and sufficient to supply the whole world with valuable
timber for generations to come. They are dense, and contain trees far greater than are
usually met with in England; many o f the cedars being from twelve to fifteen feet in
diameter, and upwards of two hundred feet high ... The forests of British Columbia
are such that the entire territory appears to the spectator to be one mass o f w ood.80
Two years later, the colonial government commissioned an exploration expedition to
inventory the resources o f Vancouver Island “based on the wide spread conviction that
some practicable scheme for the development o f the resources o f the country was
essential to its prosperity and progress.”

Q 1

Led by Dr. Robert Brown, this expedition

included an astronomer, naturalist, artist and several other pioneers and miners.

87

Brown’s report, published in 1865, contains many descriptions o f the Island’s forests.
The forests of the Cowichan Valley— called the “spar lands” by Brown— had “excellent

78 Ibid., 30 -3 1 .
79 Duncan G eorge Forbes M acdonald, B ritish C o lu m b ia a n d V an cou ver's Is la n d C om prisin g a D e sc rip tio n
o f th ese D ep en d en cies (London: Longm an, Green, L ongm an, R oberts and G reen, 1862), 8.
80 Ibid., 8.
81 Robert B row n, V ancouver Isla n d E xp lo ra tio n (V ictoria: Harries and C o., 1 8 6 5 ), i-ii.
82 Ibid., ii.

38

soil and would abundantly pay to clear them for the value of the timber alone.”83 Many
other areas were “heavily timbered” and containing “excellent” timber, according to
Brown.84 About the Nitinat River area, he wrote that “In other places the ground is
thickly wooded with spruce (Abies menziesii), cedar, &c., o f gigantic size. W e measured
a spruce thirty-eight feet in circumference and cedars o f like proportions.”85 W hile the
focus of the colonial government was developing local industries, the Dominion
government was interested in a rail link to the Pacific. This railway would be built if the
colony joined confederation. In turn, the province would grant land on Vancouver Island
and the mainland to the Dominion. These railways led to an unprecedented era o f land
surveying and exploration by both the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) and the
Geological Survey o f Canada (GSC), during the 1870s and 1880s.
The GSC was established in 1842 during a time o f American industrial expansion,
based on coal and iron, with the expectation that it would assist the development o f these
natural resources in Canada.85 Thus the GSC set out to inventory or “enumerate the
wealth” o f the colony’s various mineral resources, as well as plants, animals, fishes,
birds, and even Native culture. 87 By the mid-1850s it was conducting rigorous surveys,
producing maps and reports, and maintained a public museum in Ottawa. 88 N ot only was
the GSC a “significant force” in the Canadian mining industry, but it was also was an

83 Ibid., 2.
84 Ibid., 3, 20, 24.
85 Ibid., 6.
86 M orris Z aslow , R ea d in g th e R o ck s: The S to ry o f th e G e o lo g ic a l S u rvey o f C anada (Toronto: T he
M acm illan Company o f Canada, 1975), 3,4 , 7 -8 .
87 Braun, In tem perate, 7; Z aslow , R ea d in g , 3 -4.
88 The C an adian E n cyclopedia, s.v. “G eolo g ical Survey o f C anada,”
http://w w w .th ecan ad ian en cyclop ed ia.com /articles/geological-su rvey-of-canad a (accessed 16 F eb ., 20 1 2 );
Z aslow , 3.

39

important “arm” of the national government.89 Indeed, the GSC and the CPR served the
same general goals of the Dominion and provincial government. The former identified
the resources o f the nation, while the latter facilitated the development o f these resources.
Consequently, GSC surveyors often accompanied CPR surveyors on many expeditions.90
Charles Horetsky, a former HBC trader, led the first CPR expedition that explored
a route to the Pacific in 1872.91 Accompanied by the Dominion botanist John Macoun,
the expedition collected geological, topographical, and engineering data and natural
history information, and assessed the availability o f timber for rail building.92 The coastal
forests certainly impressed Horetsky, especially the large quantities of yellow cedar and
Douglas fir that he observed on the Queen Charlotte Islands (Haida Gwaii). He noted
that, “This group of islands is certainly rich in undeveloped wealth.”93 He was also
impressed by southern Vancouver Island. Victoria had “fine, open land with small oak
trees,” and the adjacent hills o f “scanty soil supported “a fine growth of timber, so that
they are almost invariably wooded to their summits.”94 Other CPR surveyors noted
coastal British Columbia’s heavy, dense forests that grew from valley bottoms to
mountaintops. John Trutch and H.J. Cambie observed “heavily wooded hills” and “dense
underbrush,” while surveying the Cascade Mountains in 1874.95 Like other land
surveyors, they noted that not all trees were merchantable, especially those on the G ulf

89 Z aslow , R e a d in g , 4, 5.
90 D ouglas C ole and Bradley Lockner ed., The Jo u rn a ls o f G eo rg e M. D a w so n : British C o lu m b ia , 1 8 7 5 1878, vol. 1 (Vancouver: U B C Press, 1989), 11.
91 Charles H oretsky, C anada on the P a cific: B ein g an A cco u n t o f a J o u rn ey fr o m Edm onton to th e P a c ific
b y the P e a c e R iv e r Valley (Montreal: D aw son Brothers, Publishers, 1874), iii.
92 Ibid., 58.
93 Ibid., 158.
94 Ibid., 172.
95 R eports on S u rveys a n d P relim in a ry O p era tio n s on th e C an adian P a c ific R a ilw a y up to J a n u a ry 1 8 7 7
(Ottawa: M acLean, R oger & C o., 1877), 105, 109 [hereafter R ep o rts on S u rveys],

40

Islands and rocky shorelines: “in the ravines and flats the trees attain a large size and are
valuable; but by far the greater proportion o f those on the mountain slopes are small,
stunted and worthless.”96 Walter Moberly, the late Assistant Surveyor-General o f British
Columbia and Dominion Engineer-in-Chief, noted that downstream of Fort Langley “the
trees, as a general thing, were of enormous size, and the underbrush dense.”97 He also
noted that other areas o f the coast had “magnificent” or “fine” timber.98 The GSC, under
the leadership of Alfred R.C. Selwyn, expanded its surveys to central and western
Canada, in the early 1870s.99 Perhaps the best-known GSC surveyor, George Mercer
Dawson, spent an impressive six years surveying British Columbia alone.100 His detailed
observations o f the coast’s forests, reflected in his published reports, contributed
significantly to the notion that British Columbia had extensive forests of large, high
quality trees.
Bom in Nova Scotia, Dawson spent his youth in Montreal where his father served
as Principal at McGill College. At a young age, he showed great interest in natural
history and other academic disciplines and eventually enrolled in the Royal School o f
Mines in London, England where he studied geology, natural history, palaeontology,
chemistry, mining, metallurgy, and applied mechanics.101 Dawson’s journals and reports
provide a “remarkable multidimensional analysis” 102 o f the province’s diverse forest
types, the characteristics and qualities o f various tree species, and the relationship
96 John Trutch and H.J. C am bie, “Report on E xploration across the C ascade M ountains by the Sim ilk am een
and Tulam een V a lley s,” in R e p o rts on S u rveys, 109.
97 W alter M oberly, The R ocks a n d R ivers o f B ritish C o lu m b ia (London: H. B lacklock and C o., 18 8 5 ), 29.
98 Ibid., 2 4 , 2 9 -3 0 , 32.
99 D ictio n a ry o f C an adian B io g ra p h y O nline, s.v. “G eorge M ercer D a w so n ,” b y Suzanne Z eller and G ale
Avrith-W akeam.

41

between climate and the distribution o f biota. On his arrival in Victoria in August 1875
he noted in his journal that, “The woods seem to be very beautiful here, & there are
extensive areas in the vicinity o f the town not thickly wooded but dotted with oaks and
pines & other trees. The trees have an English way o f growing, I hardly know how else to
explain it, but they seem to go in more for horizontal & gnarly branches.” 103
The Nimpkish area, on the east coast o f Vancouver Island, similarly impressed
him. He wrote that there were “Some fine Douglas firs on Cormorant Island & elsewhere
about here but prevalent trees the Menzies [Sitka] Spruce & Hemlock, with some Cedars
&c. These attain a fine growth but their dimensions are but no means appreciated till they
can compare with some object of human constructions, such as a house or vessel.” 104
Originally published in GSC documents, Dawson’s observations and descriptions
reappeared in CPR, provincial, and then Dominion reports. In the 1877 CPR Progress
Report, he noted that much of Vancouver Island’s lowland was “now covered with
gigantic forests, and at present rates o f labour it is scarcely attempted to render it
available.” 105
Dawson also made a connection between climate and biological productivity.
The “damp air and equable temperature o f the coast,” he wrote, results in a
“correspondent luxuriance of vegetation, and especially forest growth.”106 In a GSC
report, published a decade after his coastal survey he concluded that the coast was

103 C ole and Lockner, The Jou rn als, Vol. 2 , 4 3 -4 4 .
104 Ibid., 4 4 2 .
105 G.M . D aw son , “N otes on Agriculture and Stock R aising, and Extent o f Cultivable Land in B ritish
Colum bia,” in R ep o rt on S urveys, 2 4 8.
106 Ib id , 248.

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“everywhere covered with dense coniferous forests, o f considerable size.” 107 D awson’s
best known treatise on British Columbia’s forests, “Notes on the Distribution o f Some o f
the More Important Trees of British Columbia,” not only makes the connection between
tree species distribution, geography, and climate but also listed the province’s conifers in
terms of utility, economic, and aesthetic value.108 Published initially in the Canadian
Naturalist in 1881, it was updated and reprinted in a GSC report issued the same year.109
Douglas fir ranked first in value, quality, and utility in Dawson’s mind:
This is the most important timber tree of British Columbia, and the only one o f which
the wood has yet to become an article o f export on a large scale. ... The best grown
specimens are found near the coast. ... Here the tree frequently surpasses eight feet in
diameter, at a considerable height above the ground, and reaches a height o f from 200
to over 300 feet. ... It is admirably adapted for all ordinary purposes. ... For spars and
masts it is unsurpassed both as to strength, straightness and length.110
Overall GSC reports such as this one were widely distributed in both Canada and abroad.
A total of 3,268 copies o f their publications— 2,372 in Canada alone—were issued
abroad in 1882. Almost 900 copies were sent to libraries and scientific societies in
American, Europe, Indian, Japan, and Australia.111 These kinds o f descriptions likely
perked the interest o f those looking for economic opportunities in the Pacific Northwest.

107 G eorge M . D aw son , R e p o rt o f art E x p lo ra tio n fr o m P o r t S im pson on th e P a c ific Coast, to E d m o n to n on
the Saskatch ew an E m bracin g a P o rtio n o f th e N orth ern P a r t o f B ritish C o lu m b ia and th e P e a c e R iv e r
C ountry (M ontreal: D aw son Brothers, 1881), 4b [hereafter R eport].
108 G eorge M . D aw son, “N otes on the D istribution o f S om e o f the M ore Important Trees o f B ritish
Colum bia,” in D aw son , R ep o rt, 167b-177b [hereafter “N o te s on the D istribution”].
109 G eorge M . D aw son, “N o tes on the D istribution o f S om e o f the M ore Important Trees o f British
Colum bia,” The C anadian N a tu ra list 9, no., 9 (1881): 3 2 1 -3 3 1 .
110 D aw so n , “N o te s on A griculture,” 168 B -1 6 9 B .
111 G eo lo g ic a l a n d N a tu ral H isto ry S u rvey o f C an ada: R e p o rt o f P ro g re s s f o r 1 8 8 0 -8 1 -8 2 (M ontreal:
D aw son Brothers, 1883): 27.

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Dawson also testified about the province’s settlement capabilities before the
House o f Commons’ Immigration and Colonization Committee in 1883.'12 Questioned
during this session about the capabilities o f British Columbia’s fisheries, mineral, and
forest resources, Dawson noted, “in general, that every part of British Columbia is amply
and well provided with excellent wood for construction and other purposes. The coast has
the pre-eminence in that respect, owing to the facility o f export and to the gigantic size o f
the forest.” 113 When asked about coastal Douglas fir he replied, “The timber which
occurs immediately on the coast, is however, indisputably the best. There are magnificent
forests there, composed almost entirely o f the Douglas fir. The quality o f the timber is
excellent and the size of the trees is great.” 114 Not surprisingly, his views about the
province’s forest wealth were published in local newspapers such as Victoria’s Daily
Colonist. '15 Provincial and Dominion government reports—published beginning in
1867— contained similar coastal forest descriptions. Provincial Land Surveyors (PLS)
working under the aegis o f the Land and Works Department extensively surveyed
portions of the coast. While their focus was on transportation, infrastructure, and
agricultural capabilities,116 they also made observations about the different stand types
and tree species they encountered. John Fannin wrote that the country was “heavily

112 D om inion o f C anada, P ro vin ce o f B ritish C o lu m b ia : E v id en ce o f D r. D a w so n , A ssista n t D ir e c to r o f th e
G eo lo g ica l S u rvey o f C anada, B efo re th e Im m ig ra tio n a n d C o lo n iza tio n C o m m ittee o f th e H o u s e o f
Comm on (Ottawa: M acLean, R oger & C o., 1883) [hereafter D om in ion o f C a n a d a ].
113 Ibid., 4.
114 Ibid., 5.
115 “The R esources and C apabilities o f the D o m in io n ,” 28 June 1 8 8 3 , The D a ily C olonist [V ictoria]
[hereafter TDC].
116 British C olum bia S essional Papers, 1873 [hereafter B C SP , 1 8 7 3 ], R e p o rt o f the C h ief C o m m issio n e r o f
L ands a n d Works o f th e P ro vin c e o fB ritish C olu m bia, f o r the Y ea r E n d in g o n 31 D ecem b er 1 8 73
(Victoria: Richard W olfenden, 1873), 5-20; 3 2 8 -3 3 4 ; S essio n a l P a p e rs F irst Session o f th e S e c o n d
P arliam en t o f th e P ro v in c e o f B ritish C olum bia, S essio n 1 8 7 6 (V ictoria Richard W olfenden, 1 8 7 6 ), 3 7 7 530 [hereafter B CSP, 1876]', S essio n a l P a p e rs S e c o n d S ession o f th e S eco n d P arliam en t o f th e P ro v in c e o f
B ritish C olum bia, Session 1 8 7 7 (V ictoria Richard W olfen d en , 18 7 7 ), 2 4 9 -4 0 7 [hereafter B C S P , 1 8 7 7 ].

44

timbered” and, in some places, it was an “impenetrable jungle.” 117 According to Fannin,
some fir and cedar in the Chilliwack area was valuable, but to the northeast the timber
was poor quality.118 Like all other surveyors before him, he noted how difficult it was to
chain through dense timber:
Here the trees grow so close together that it was with great difficulty we picked our
way through them; their trunks towering upwards two hundred feet without knot or
limb, while their green branches interlaced at the top, formed an impenetrable veil
through which the sun’s rays never penetrate.119
A.R. Howser wrote that the mountains in the San Juan River area were “covered with a
magnificent growth o f timber; comprising white pine, Douglas pine, hemlock, spruce,
some o f them clear o f knots or branches from 60 to 90 feet in height.”120 Some o f these
trees were the largest that he had ever seen.121 One surveyor even compared the timber
from Burrard Inlet, Howe Sound, and Vancouver Island with that in Idaho, noting that the
latter was “inferior.” 122 Only a small handful of land survey reports were published from
1878 to 1890, but those that were contained similar forest descriptions.123
Many Dominion government officials also shared the belief that coastal British
Columbia had the most valuable forests. One Dominion auditor, Arthur Harvey, argued
that “the timber of British Columbia and Vancouver’s Island is unsurpassed in any other
117 John Fannin, “Reports o f a Exploration o f a Portion o f N e w W estm inster D istrict, the E ast C oast o f
V ancouver Island from M en zies B a y to Fort Rupert and o f the C assiar D istrict, 1873,” in B C S P , 1873, 1.
118 Ibid., 5-6.
119 Ibid., 7. S ee also 11.
120 “Report o f the C h ie f C om m issioner o f Lands and W orks o f the P rovince o f British C olu m b ia, for the
Year Ending on 31 D ecem ber 1877” in S e ssio n a l P a p e rs T hird S ession , S e c o n d P arliam ent, a n d Fifth
Session, T hird P a rlia m en t o f th e P ro vin c e o f B ritish C olum bia, S essio n 1 8 7 8 (Victoria: Richard
W olfenden, 1878), 282; 369 [hereafter B CSP, 18 7 8 ].
121 Ibid., 283. S ee also 369.
122 S essio n a l P a p ers, S ec o n d Session, Fourth P a rlia m e n t o f th e P ro v in c e o f B ritish C olum bia, 1 8 8 3 -1 8 8 4
(Victoria: Richard W olfenden, 1884), 255 [hereafter B C S P , 18 8 4 ].
123S ession a l P apers, S eco n d Session, Fifth P a rlia m e n t o f th e P ro v in c e o f B ritish Colum bia, S essio n 1 8 8 8
(Victoria: Richard W olfenden, 1888), 167-8 [hereafter B C S P , 1 8 88]; 169; S essio n a l P a p ers, F irs t Session,
Sixth P arlia m en t o f th e P ro v in c e o f B ritish C olum bia, S essio n 1891 (V ictoria: Richard W o lfen d en , 1891),
294; 296 [hereafter B CSP, 1891].

45

part o f the world and is one o f the most important resources o f the colony,” in a report
published in 1867.124 The Minister o f Public Works H.L. Langevin, who visited British
Columbia in 1871, noted that, “the forest lands o f British Columbia are o f great extent,
and are very rich,” especially the coastal forests where “the Douglas and Menzies pine,
the cedar, and the maple, may be found in exhaustless quantities.” 125 More importantly,
he believed that these forests had “been barely tapped; hardly enough has been cut to
make an impression on these vast forests.” 126
A report on Canada’s forests commissioned by the Dominion agriculture branch
several years later similarly noted that, “British Columbia is amply and well provided
with wood for consumption and other purposes, but the Coast Region.. .has the pre­
eminence at present owing to its facilities for export. The great stores of wealth in British
Columbia must lead, sooner or later, to a very large trade.” 127 The Director o f the GSC,
Robert Bell, was less impressed with British Columbia’s forests than were others. In a
paper read before the British Association for the Advancement o f Science in 1884, he
noted that the province’s Douglas fir forests were “small in comparison” to Canada’s
other forested areas.128 However, the Hon. J.K. Ward— a former lumberman and member
of the Quebec legislature— held the view o f most Dominion officials in an address before
the annual meeting o f the American Forestry Congress in September 1886.129 He argued

124 Arthur H arvey, A S ta tistica l A cco u n t o f B ritish C o lu m b ia (Ottawa: G.E. Desbarts, 18 6 7 ), 16.
125 H.L. L angevin, B ritish C olum bia: R e p o rt o f th e H on. H.L. L an gevin M in ste r o f P u blic W orks (Ottawa:
I.B. Taylor, 1872), 4; 5.
126 Ibid., 4.
127 H .B . Sm all, C an adian F o rests: F o re st Trees, T im b er a n d F o re st P ro d u c ts (Montreal: D a w so n Brothers,
Publishers, 1884), 33. This is a paraphrase o f G.M . D aw son . See D o m in io n o f Canada, 4.
128 Robert B ell, The F o rests o f C a n a d a (M ontreal: G azette Printing C om pany, 1886), 12.
129 “The Hon. J.K. Ward,” The M anx Q u a rterly, n o., 9 (O ct., 1910): 811; J.K. Ward, “Lum bering in
Canada,” in P ro c e ed in g s o f the A m erican F o re stry C o n g ress (W ashington: Judd, Detweiler, Printers,
1886), 39.

46

that Canada “west o f the Rocky Mountains contains vast quantities of valuable timber,
the manufacture o f which is rapidly increasing to meet the want o f the Pacific coasts and
islands, and there is little doubt that when the Canada Pacific railroad is finished much o f
this lumber will find its way east into the treeless prairies.” 130
While the provincial Department o f Lands and Works continued to include
reports from land surveyors, the Department o f Agriculture assumed the forestry portfolio
in 1891.131 Its first report, written by the Deputy Minister o f Agriculture James Robert
Anderson, devoted only a single page to forests, noting that the province lacked
hardwoods and even suggested some new species to plant.

W hile the next three

contained nothing about forests or forestry, Anderson’s fifth report, published in 1897,
contained a section on protecting forests from its “annual destruction” by fire.133 The
perception that the province’s forests must be protected from fire would become a key
theme for Anderson in all o f his subsequent reports, a notion that will be discussed at
length in Chapter Three. Anderson’s sixth report, published in 1900, contained the most
intensive analysis o f the province’s forests to date.134 Like many others, he was
convinced o f the economic potential o f the province’s forest wealth.

130 Ibid., 811; Ward, 39.
i3IR.J. Skinner, “Timber Inspectors Report,” in R e p o rt o f th e C h ie f C o m m issio n er o f L a n d s a n d Works,
1 8 9 0 (Victoria: Richard W olfenden, 1891): 280; “First R eport o f the D epartm ent o f A griculture, 1 8 9 1 ,” in
Session al P apers, S eco n d Session, Sixth P a rlia m e n t o f th e P ro v in c e o fB ritish Colum bia, S essio n 1892
(Victoria: Richard W olfenden, 1892), 8 5 7 -8 5 8 [hereafter B C SP , 18 9 2],
132 “First R eport,” in B C SP, 1892, 8 57-858.
133 Fifth R e p o rt o f the D ep a rtm en t o f A g ricu ltu re o f th e P ro v in c e o f B ritish Colum bia, 1 8 9 5 -6 (V ictoria:
Richard W olfenden, 1897): 1154 [hereafter Fifth R ep o rt, 1 8 9 5 -6 ] in BCSP, 1897.
134 Sixth R ep o rt o f A gricu ltu re o f th e P ro v in ce o f B ritish C olu m bia, 1 9 0 0 (V ictoria: Richard W olfen d en ,
1901) [hereafter Sixth R eport, 1900].

47

Bom in Ft. Nisqually in the Oregon Territory, J.R. Anderson was the son of
Alexander Caulfield Anderson, a HBC fixr trader.135 Anderson senior moved his family to
Fort Victoria where he became the city’s Collector o f Customs, in 1858.136 J.R. learned
commercial orcharding from his father, and loved natural history and botany.137 In 1891,
he was hired as the Agricultural Department’s Collector of Statistics,138 and four years
later he joined the Natural History Society of British Columbia.139 While at the
Agriculture department, Anderson became interested in forests, especially in the
prevention o f forest fires.140 His Sixth Report o f the Department o f Agriculture reprinted a
lecture about the province’s forests that he had delivered to the Canadian Forestry
Association on 7 March 1901.141
In this report, Anderson noted the important relationship between forests, water
supply, plant growth, and the economic value o f “timber wealth.” 142 His views on the
province’s forests were unequivocally positive. British Columbia, he noted, “probably
possesses within its limits larger unbroken areas of primeval forest than any other country
in the world, and is destined in the near future to be the principal source o f supply of
timber and wood pulp.” 143 Not surprisingly, Anderson cited perhaps the best-known
expert on the province’s forests, G.M. Dawson, throughout his lecture.144 He noted in his

135 D avid B row nstein, “Sunday W alks and S eed Traps: T he M any Natural H istories o f B ritish C olum bia
Forest Conservation, 1 8 9 0 -1 9 2 5 ,” (PhD d iss., U n iversity o f British C olum bia, 2006): 38; 4 0 .
136 Ibid., 40.
137 Ibid., 40; 41.
138 Ibid., 4 1 .
139 Ibid., 4 8 .
140 Ibid., 48.
141 Sixth R eport, 1900, 109-115.
142 Ibid., 109.
143 Ibid., 109; S ee also Seventh R e p o rt o f th e D e p a rtm en t o fA g ric u ltu re o f th e P rovin ce o f B ritish
Colum bia, 1902 (Victoria: Richard W olfenden, 1903), A 214; S ee also 116; 117 [hereafter S even th R ep o rt,
1902].
144 Sixth R ep o rt, 1 9 0 0 , 109-111.

48

conclusion that those who had not yet been to British Columbia “have yet to see a forest
in all its magnificence, and no other word seems to me to convey a proper idea o f a virgin
forest o f the West. Picture to yourself thousands o f trees, Douglas fir predominating, o f
prodigious size, so close together that it is with difficulty and often impossible for an
animal to go between.” 145 Apart from the uncharacteristic reference to “virgin” and
“primeval” forests, this prosaic conclusion typified perceptions o f the coast up to the turn
of the century.
The perception that coastal British Columbia contained vast, extensive, and dense
forests o f large, high quality timber formed a conceptual foundation that civic, provincial
and Dominion interests would build upon as they promoted the settlement and economic
development o f the province. More importantly, those who promoted or boosted the
province’s forest wealth would employ the idea that these forests were, in fact,
inexhaustible.

145 Ibid., 115; S ee also Seventh R ep o rt, 1 9 0 2 , A 2 1 5 .

49

Chapter 2
British Columbia’s Forests: “An Inexhaustible Supply of Timber”
In April 1861, a ship slowly made its way west along London’s Thames River. On board
was an unusual cargo: a 118-foot long Douglas fir from Vancouver Island’s Alberni
Canal. Bound for the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, in southwest London, this fir was to
be the “largest pole adapted for a flagstaff that had ever been known in Europe.” 1
Unfortunately, en route, this would-be flagpole was sheared in h alf by a passing steamer.
The diminished pole was summarily sent back to Thomas Bilbe and Company’s Nelson
Dockyard in Rotherhithe, to be repaired. Bilbe’s dockyard specialized in building iron­
framed wooden ships for the Merchant Marine, therefore, it is likely that the flagpole was
reassembled using iron bracing.2 Once again, London’s longest cargo, traveled along the
Thames to be resurrected on high ground at Kew’s Arboretum. This time the high rigging
failed, and the pole crashed to the ground breaking into six pieces. On hearing o f its
demise, Cpt. Edward Stamp, a timber broker who worked for Bilbe and Company,
promised to supply Kew with another pole from Vancouver Island of “at least equal size
and beauty.”3
Stamp had first seen Douglas fir spars while working at the Puget Sound Lumber
Port in Washington, USA. Timber brokers, Anderson and Company, gave him the task o f
obtaining spars from the Alberni Canal area in 1860. After securing a timber concession
from Governor James Douglas of the Hudson Bay Company (HBC), Stamp built a mill

1 “K ew Gardens,” The Tim es [London], 8 M ay, 1861, 12. S ee also “A b ies D o u g la si,” The J o u rn a l o f
H orticultu re a n d C o tta g e G arden s 1 (M ay 1861): 140; P o p u la r M ech a n ics (A u g ., 1915): 2 3 2.
2 Stuart Rankin, M a ritim e R oth erh ith e H isto ry Walk: S h ipyards, G ra n a ries a n d Wharves (L ondon:
Southwark C ouncil Culture and Heritage, E nvironm ent and Leisure, 2 0 0 4 ), 2 , 3 2 .
3 “K ew Gardens,” 12.

50

that became an important source o f timber exports to England, France, Spain, Chile,
Australia, China, and the Sandwich Islands and went to build mills at Burrard Inlet and
Lumberman’s Arch (Stanley Park area).4 Eventually he formed his own company,
Messrs. Stamp & Co., at Barclay Sound, which “actively push[ed] the timber trade.”5
Stamp outdid Bilbe’s flagpole by delivering a 159-foot, three-tonne fir to the
famous botanical garden. Learning from their mistakes, the British Admiralty
commissioned the head mast-maker, Mr. John Isaac, with raising the pole. W hile a crowd
of onlookers watched at a safe distance, workers inserted the butt o f the pole into a cut
made in a fifteen-foot high hill adjacent to the Arboretum. Using winches, ropes, and
pulleys attached to sheers and some nearby trees, and several hours of brute strength,
sailors and high-riggers raised the flagpole on 2 May 1861 without incident. The Times o f
London noted that
Being equal in height to the well known Pagoda at Kew, this flagstaff may be
seen, far and wide, and, if less conspicuous, it is far more graceful. The main
object in erecting this noble spar is to illustrate the size, unrivalled beauty, and
utility for naval purposes o f the tree which produces it. The Douglas pine abounds
in all parts o f British Columbia, including Vancouver Island.6
Stamp’s flagpole overlooked Kew for the next half-century until another Douglas fir
flagpole—some 78 feet longer— cut from the Stillwater (Powell River) area replaced it in
1919.7 He also donated a Douglas fir slab, joist, and some flooring samples to the

4 Lawrence, “M arkets and Capital,” 19-22 and 24.
5 A lexander Rattray, V ancouver Isla n d a n d B ritish C olu m bia: W here They A re ; What T hey A re ; A n d W hat
th ey M a y B ecom e (London: Smith, Elder, and C om pany, 1911). T h is colonial im migration circular w as
written betw een 18 6 1 -1 8 6 2 , but not published until 1911.
6 “K ew Gardens,” 12.
7 P ow ell R iver Forestry M useum , “K ew flagp ole cut from the Stillwater area in 1919,” P o w ell R iver
Forestry M useum W eb Site,
http://w w w .google.com /im gres?q = K ew + flagp ole& n u m = 10& h l= en & gb v= 2& b iw = 2133& b ih = 1033& tb m = i
sch& tbnid=svm vbs2K Fy7G M M :& im grefurl=http://prforestrym useum .org/flagpole.htm & docid=w O A K M q
D M R kM u_M & im gurl=http://prforestrym useum .org/im ages/kew .jpg& w =467& h= 376& ei= H hy7T qaxN Ieji

51

Vancouver Island display at the 1862 London International Exhibition, a year later.8
Stamp was not the only person who raised awareness o f British Columbia’s extensive,
high quality timber. In fact, almost immediately after HBC built its fort on Victoria’s
Inner Harbour (1843) interests in Great Britain and later Victoria were promoting or
boosting the settlement o f Vancouver Island. Focused on economic development o f
Vancouver Island and the lower Fraser Valley, boosters were “inclined towards
enthusiastic exaggeration and self-interested promotion” of the coast’s climate, natural
resources, and transportation capabilities.9 Thus, a key factor for boosters was the
perception o f natural resource superabundance.10 In the Western prairies, boosting began
in earnest during the late 1890s in response to the settlement boom. In the south coast,
natural resources were boosted almost forty years earlier by private interests, civic
leaders, and eventually provincial and Dominion government officials.
Not only did the notion that the province’s vast forests o f massive, high quality
timber play a significant role in the rhetoric o f boosters, but also the idea that these forests
represented an inexhaustible source o f untapped wealth.11 This was a hopeful notion for a
province with persistent financial struggles throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth
century. More importantly, the government— hoping to cash in on British Columbia’s
reputation for having an inexhaustible, high quality timber supply— encouraged
widespread speculation and the foreign ownership o f tenure by amending forest policy.

A K h 9K m O D A & zoom =l& iact=rc& d u r=247& sig=l 1 7 7 1 1 7 6 4 4 9 4 1 1348 4 4 0 3 & sq i= 2 & p a g e= l& tb n h = 1 2 8 & t
b n w = 159& start=0& n d sp= 79& ved =lt:429,r:13,s:0& tx=79& ty=77 (accessed 9 N o v 2011). S ee a lso Harry
Tiemann, “W here are the Largest Trees in the W orld,” J o u rn a l o f F o rest H isto ry 33, no., 11 (1 9 3 5 ): 9 0 9 .
8 L ondon In tern a tio n a l E xhibition 1862: C a ta lo g u e o f th e V ancouver C o n tribu tion with a S h o rt A c c o u n t o f
V ancouver Isla n d a n d B ritish C olum bia (L ondon, June 1862), 4.
9 Cronon, N a tu r e ’s M etro p o lis, 34, 36.
10 Colpitts, G am e, 103, 104.
11 Ibid., 103.

52

Some o f the first boosting literature that encouraged the settlement o f Vancouver
Island was published in Great Britain. One pamphlet simply called Colonization o f
Vancouver’s Island, issued in the same year that the colony was established (1849),
claimed that “Vancouver’s Island holds a conspicuous place,” for emigrants, and its
“natural capabilities and resources ... are o f no ordinary kind.” 12 These extraordinary
natural resources included its harbours, salmon and other fish, whales, coal, temperate
climate, and not surprisingly “plenty o f the finest timber o f different kinds.” 13 The
London Times argued that the island had an “abundance of valuable oak and pine
timber,” and that “Vancouver Island and its harbour will command the commerce of the
coast.” The Morning Chronicle similarly reported that the region was “abounding in
excellent coal, and timber fitted for naval purposes.” 14 Edinburgh’s Weekly Register
indicated that the “Timber was very luxuriant and increases in value as you reach more
northern latitude; the Cedar and Pine has become o f an immense size.”15 It is unclear if
any editors from these newspapers, or even the author o f this pamphlet had ever been to
the Pacific northwest. However, the repetition o f these narratives contributed towards the
notion that Vancouver Island was abound in timber wealth in the minds o f m any Britons.
James Douglas argued during his first visit to southern Vancouver Island in 1842,
that it had an abundance of timber that would be suitable for both local use and export.16
Eager to establish a trade in ship’s spars, the HBC established its first machine-operated
sawmill just above Parson’s bridge in 1849. Two years later the company entered into a

12 C olon ization , 3.
13 Ibid., 3.
14 Times [London], 30 January 1849, quoted in C o lo n iza tio n , 14-16; Times [London], 21 A u gu st 1848,
quoted in C olonization, 13-14; The M o rn in g C h ro n icle, 15 February 1849, quoted in C o lo n iza tio n , 20.
15 The Edinburgh W eekly R eg ister, 5 Septem ber 1849, quoted in C o lo n iza tio n , 23-24.
16 Taylor, A H isto ry, 9.

53

partnership with Cpt. William Brotchie, a timber broker and former employee, becoming
the chief timber supplier to the Royal N avy.17 He supplied timber at a bargain basement
price of five to six pounds for a 70-90 foot spar and, in turn, the company charged him a
10 percent export duty per load.18 The Royal Navy then purchased the spars. In a letter to
HBC Governor George Simpson, Douglas wrote that, “The place produces the finest
spars perhaps in the world, and might be made to pay handsomely.” 19The navy, however,
was uncomfortable with independent supply operations, such as that operated by the
HBC and, more than that, during peacetime they could import Baltic timber at lower
costs.

JO

Consequently, in 1857 the Admiralty advised their chief storekeeper that they

would no longer be importing timber from Vancouver Island.21 Despite never
establishing a permanent timber reserve on southern Vancouver Island, the Royal Navy
continued to purchase spars from the Lower Mainland until approximately 1874.22
The notion that some o f costal British Columbia’s tree species were o f the highest
quality was not unwarranted. Because o f the growing interest in Pacific timber markets,
in 1847, the British Admiralty had samples o f Douglas fir and Garry oak sent to their
marine station in Valparaiso, Chile for comparison testing to Baltic species.

J "I

The

Portsmouth Yard Report of 27 December 1847 stated “ it hence appears that in so far as
strength is concerned the Pine [Douglas fir] from Vancouver’s Island, is the superior

17 Lawrence, “Markets and Capital,” 6; G ough, “Forest and Sea P ow er,” 120, 1 2 2 ,1 2 3 .
18 G ough, “ Forest and S ea P ow er,” 123.
19 D ouglas to Sim pson, 17 March, 1853, quoted in G ough, “ Forest and Sea P ow er,” 123.
20 Ibid., 123-124. For more analysis on the H B C pacific coast tim ber trade see Richard S om erset M ack ie,
T radin g B eyo n d th e M o u n tain s: The B ritish F u r T rade on the P a cific, 1 7 9 3 -1 8 4 3 (Vancouver: U B C Press,
1997), 156-217.
21 Ibid.
22 Ibid., 124.
23 Lamb, “Early L um bering,” 32 -3 3 .

54

wood...Its durability must be decided by experience.”24 The French were also interested
in the quality and utility of this species. A French engineer, M. du Perron, at a Toulon
dockyard compared the flexibility, density, and resistance of fir against Baltic pine in
I860.25 The results of his experiment indicated that the average bending and breaking
qualities of both sets of sample was “almost identical,” however, “the density differs
notably to the advantage of the Vancouver wood.”26 Perron concluded that, “The masts
and spars of Vancouver are woods rare and exceptional for dimensions and superior
qualities, strength, lightness, absence o f knots and other grave vices.”27 Douglas fir’s
exceptional qualities were often noted in reports and literature published by boosters that
examined the province’s forest wealth. Often relying on published exploration narratives
and land surveys, these reports typically ranked tree species by their utility and economic
value, and Douglas fir by all accounts was the most important.28
In Vancouver Island and British Columbia: Their History, Resources and
Prospects, published in 1865, Matthew Macfle listed eighteen broadleaved and conifer
species, and argued that Douglas pine (fir) had the “chief economic value” and was “in
great demand for spars.”29 Over twenty years later, Dawson listed thirty trees species
with varying degrees of utility and commercial value, with Douglas fir as the most
important.30 Like many others, Dawson believed that Douglas fir was “unsurpassed both

24 P ortsm ou th Y ard R ep o rt, 27 D ecem ber 1847, quoted in Lamb, 3 2 -3 3 .
25M acfie, V ancouver Island, 133.
26 Ibid., 134.
27 Ibid.
28 Sixth R eport, 1 9 0 0 , 109; Seventh R ep o rt, 1 9 0 2 , A 2 1 4 -A 2 1 6 ; H arvey, A S ta tistic a l A cco u n t, 16-17; Sm all,
C anadian F o rests, 3-4; Pemberton, 26; 143-147; G osn ell, 1897, 23 1 ; G osn ell, 1 9 1 1-1914, 2 5 5 . M acfie,
V ancouver Islan d, 156; 46; A .A . M cArthur, The R e so u rce s o f B ritish C o lu m b ia 1, no., 3 (M ay 1883): 8, 10
[hereafter The R esou rces, M a y 1883].
29 M acfie, V ancouver Islan d, 131-132.
30 D aw son , “N o te s on the D istribution,” 168.

55

as to strength, straightness and length.”31 He also stated that this species was “the only
one of which the wood has yet become an article of export on a large scale.”32
Several biophysical factors can account for the suitability o f coastal Douglas fir
for ships spars. Generally, so-called old growth trees have a greater percentage o f high
density, thick-walled fibres (cells) produced late in the growing season (latewood) than
the lower density, thin-walled fibres produced early (earlywood).33 Because o f this, the
mature wood o f old growth trees is less likely to warp or shrink excessively.34
Additionally, trees that developed within closed-canopy stands— the extensive, dense
forests observed by many Euro-British Columbians— had less taper, a more cylindrical
morphology, and fewer knots (that reduce wood strength) than open-grown ones.35
It remains unclear how much Douglas fir was cut and exported in comparison to other
species during the early 1800s.36 One estimate o f the total mill output of all species, “up
to 1871,” was 250,000,000 bdft.37 Much later, however, W.A. Carrothers estimated that
between 1861 and 1870, only 58,702 linear feet o f fir was milled and 3,562 spars were
exported from coastal British Columbia.38
Perhaps owing to a lack of printing facilities, most local boosters published their
pamphlets and circulars in England throughout the 1850s and 1860s, the one exception
being the British Colonist newspaper. A booster published by J. D. Pemberton, the

31 Ibid., 169.
32 Ibid., 168.
33 L.A. Jozsa and G.R. M iddleton, “A D iscu ssion o f W ood Q uality Attributes and Their Practical
Im plications,” F o rin tek C an ada C orp., S p e c ia l P u b lica tio n No. S P -3 4 (D ecem b er 1994): 2; 4; 12.
34 Josza and M iddleton, A D iscu ssio n , 12.
35 Ibid., 2 1 -2 2 ,3 2 .
36 Gough, “Forest and S ea P ow er,” 119.
37 R.E. G osnell, The Y earbook o f B ritish C olu m b ia a n d M a n u a l o f P ro v in c ia l Inform ation (V ictoria, 1897)
[hereafter Yearbook, 1 8 9 7 ], 241.
38 Carrothers, “Forest Industries,” 267.

56

Surveyor-General o f Vancouver Island, indicated that many Britons were interested in the
colonization and economic potential o f the Pacific Northwest colonies.39 Like others, he
wrote that, “at first sight the whole country appears to be clothed with forest.”40 Douglas
fir was the “strongest in existence,” and made the best and most durable spars.41
Pemberton claimed that fir o f twenty-three to twenty-eight feet in circumference were
common. 42 Macfie argued that it was “universally admitted that Vancouver Island and
British Columbia produce the best qualities o f timber to be found in the world.43 More
than that, he believed that the coast could support “numberless” mills and exporting
companies.44 Pointing out the exhaustion o f timber in other parts o f Canada he argued
“how much more brilliant a career is open to Vancouver Island— o f whose manifold
resources this is but one— provided those latent elements that are capable o f enriching the
colony are not suffered to remain unproductive.”45
By the 1880s, many boosting pamphlets were being published in Victoria. A.A.
McArthur, published a monthly magazine called The Resources o f British Columbia, a
yearly subscription costing two dollars.46 His circular outlined the “present conditions
and brilliant prospects” 47 of Victoria employing familiar boosting rhetoric. He stated
that, “with a fine climate, rich soil, grand scenery, immense forests of valuable timber,
inexhaustible and varied mineral wealth and an enviable maritime position, its future is

39 J. Despard Pemberton, F a cts a n d F igu res R e la tin g to V ancouver Isla n d a n d British C o lu m b ia S h o w in g
What to E x p ect a n d H o w to G et T here (London: L ongm an, G reen, Longm an, and Roberts, 1 8 6 0 ), 1.
40 Ibid., 9.
41 Ibid., 26, 27, 146.
42 Ibid., 150.
43 M acfie, V ancouver Isla n d , 131.
44 Ibid., 134.
45 Ibid., 137.
46 A .A . McArthur, The R eso u rces o f B ritish C o lu m bia 1, no., 1 (M arch 1883): 1-16 [hereafter The
R esources, M arch, 1883]; A .A . M cArthur, The R eso u rces, M ay, 1883, 1-16.
47 McArthur, The R esou rces, M arch , 1 8 8 3 : 2, 4.

57

not hampered by the knowledge that its resources consist wholly o f a single variety.”48
McArthur also suggested that shipbuilding could be done in Victoria “as profitably as
anywhere else in the world. Our advantages for engaging largely in the lumber trade and
especially in certain kinds of ship-building are far superior to those through which New
Brunswick has grown and flourished.”49 He also quoted Macfie’s pronouncement “it is
now universally admitted that our forests produce the best timber found anywhere in the
world.”50 A later issue made similar claims about the extent and quality o f the province’s
forests, but also cited Dawson’s— a GSC surveyor— beliefs about the province’s mining,
timber, and fishery wealth at length.51 Newton H. Chittenden, a former provincial
government surveyor, stated that the timber resources o f the province were “very
extensive” and one of its “great natural resources.” 52 He also bragged that the shores o f
Burrard Inlet “had the largest bodies o f valuable fir timber in the Province,” where mills
had been exporting “immense” quantities o f timber since 1865.53 The provincial
government liked Chittenden’s book so much that they had it sent to agents and high
commissioners in London, Liverpool, and Paris, and to the immigration office in
Victoria.54
Perhaps one o f the best-known publications promoting British Columbia was R.E.
Gosnell’s The Yearbook o f British Columbia and Manual o f Provincial Information,

48 Ibid., 1: 5.
49 Ibid., 1: 8.
50 Ibid., 1 :1 2 . S ee M acfte, V ancouver Islan d, 131.
51 McArthur, The R esources, M ay, 1883\ 7; 10.
52 N ew ton H. Chittenden, Settlers, P ro sp ecto rs, a n d T ou rists G u ide o r T ra vels Through B ritish C o lu m b ia
(Victoria, 1882), 5-6, 2.
53 Ibid., 64 -6 5 .
54 “Reports o f the Im migration A gen ts at V ictoria and N e w W estm inster, B ritish Columbia, for the Y ear
1883,” in B CSP, 1883, 297.

58

published in Victoria in 1897, then again in 1911.55 As the provincial Legislative
Librarian, former journalist, and provincial historian, Gosnell aimed to piece together a
“comprehensive resume o f the facts” o f British Columbia.56 Indeed, his Yearbook
contained chapters on the province’s history, parliamentary and judicial systems,
education, mining, fisheries and “Forest Wealth.”57 Gosnell’s access to government land
surveys and other reports about the province’s forests undoubtedly shaped his
perceptions. According to Gosnell, the province’s timber represented the “most important
and most readily available” resource, next to its mineral wealth.58 Parroting Macfie, he
argued that, “British Columbia may now be said to possess the greatest compact area o f
merchantable timber in the North American continent.”59 Gosnell maintained a hopeful
tone throughout his chapter on forests: The “future o f the lumber industry is very great,”
he declared, and will be the “last resort o f the lumberman on this continent, and those
who own timber limits will reap rich harvests.”60 In his 1911 edition Gosnell maintained
that “Were it conceivable that British Columbia had no other available asset her forests
alone would be an enviable possession, sufficient to support a large population in
comfort.”61 British Columbia’s forests were enviable indeed. Another book published in
London a year before the First World War, argued that the province’s forest, the “highest,

55 G osnell, Y earbook, 1897; R.E. G osnell, The Y earbook o f B ritish C olu m b ia a n d M anual o f P ro v in c ia l
Inform ation (V ictoria, 1911) [hereafter Y earbook, 19 1 1 ].
56 Terry E astw ood, “R. E. G osn ell, E. O. S. S ch olefield and the F ounding o f the Provincial A rch iv es o f
British Colum bia, 1 8 9 4 -1 9 1 9 ,” B C S tu dies, no., 54 (Sum m er 1982): 40; 50; G osnell, Y earbook, 1 8 9 7 , 7.
57 See “Table o f C ontents” in G osn ell, Yearbook, 1 8 9 7 .
58 Ibid., 231.
59 Ibid., 231.
60 Ibid., 235; 237. S ee also G osn ell, Yearbook, 1 9 1 1 , 247.
61 G osnell, Yearbook, 1 9 1 1 , 247.

59

densest and most luxuriant,” were the “eighth wonder o f the world.”62 This illustrated
book recommended that European timber capitalists invest in British Columbia’s forest
wealth because it was “decidedly cheap.”63
The provincial government also played an active role in boosting its forests. The
Department o f Agriculture took a leading role in issuing pamphlets that encouraged
settlement. One published in 1883, noted that there “was no want of trees anywhere in
British Columbia for the use of the settler, the miner, and for local purposes generally.”64
However, despite the province’s “great” supply o f timber, this report was vague about
their economic value.65 Reissued the following year under a different name, this report
was more optimistic, noting that “The great stores of forest wealth of British Columbia
must in the near future lead to the opening o f industries and great trade,” a verbatim
quote taken directly from a Dominion report published a year earlier.66 A pamphlet
published almost ten years later similarly noted that the province was rich in forest
wealth.67 Government reports issued by the Department o f Agricultural and Forestry
Branch continued to boost the province’s forests throughout the early 1900s.68
Pamphleteering was not the only way that boosters attempted to get their message across.
62 John B en sley Thornhill, B ritish C olu m bia in th e M akin g, 1913 (London: Constable and C om pany Ltd.,
1913), 56.
63 Ibid., 62.
64 P ro vin c e o f B ritish C olu m bia C anada: Its C lim a te a n d R e so u rces w ith Inform ation f o r E m ig ra n ts
(Victoria: Richard W olfenden, 1883), 90.
65 Ibid., 90, 94.
66 B ritish C olum bia, The P a c ific P ro vin c e o f C an ada: In form ation f o r E m ig ra n ts, C lim ate a n d R eso u rce s
(Victoria: Richard W olfenden, 1884), 47. S ee P ro v in c e o f B ritish C olum bia, Inform ation f o r In ten d in g
S ettlers (Ottawa: Department o f Agriculture, 1883), 12.
67 B ritish C olu m bia a n d its A g ricu ltu ra l C a p a b ilities (V ictoria: Richard W olfenden, 1902), 5; 19; 26; 29;
B ritish C olum bia Tim ber an d O th er F o re st P ro d u c t f o r E x p o rt: A W orld S u p p ly f o r a W o rld M a rk e t
(Victoria: Department o f Lands, Forest B ranch), 3 [hereafter B ritish C o lu m b ia Timber].
68 F in a l R ep o rt o f the R o y a l C om m ission o f In q u iry on T im ber a n d F o restry, 1 9 0 9 -1 9 1 0 (V ictoria: Richard
W olfenden, 1910), D 20 [hereafter F in a l Report}', B ritish C o lu m b ia ’s F o rest P o lic y , 5, 9 , 11, 23; and R e p o rt
o f th e F o rest B ranch o f th e D ep a rtm en t o f L an ds, 1 9 1 2 (V ictoria: W illiam H . Cullin, 1913), 38 [hereafter
R e p o rt o f th e F o re st B ranch, 1912}.

60

Timber interests and the colonial/provincial government also participated in fairs and
exhibitions during the mid to late-nineteenth century.
Created to display the world’s industrial progress in the “Arts and Manufactures,
the Fine Arts, Raw Produce and articles of Commerce,” the London Exhibition opened its
doors to the world for six months in 1862.69 James Douglas, Amor de Cosmos, Cpt.
Richard C. Mayne, and several other prominent men represented British Columbia. 7 0 A
year earlier, the committee had received a report from the exhibition planners
recommending not only the content o f their potential displays but also specifications on
their size and set-up.71 They suggested that the Vancouver Committee include a “Great
tree with bark entire, dressed masts,” and sections of other trees, exhibiting grain and
age.”72 Undoubtedly, the committee was excited about displaying these kinds o f samples,
and what better way to boost the province’s forest wealth than a 309-foot Douglas fir spar
(in ten sections), as well as several tonnes o f coal and other items. These items, however,
were held up by customs officials and could not be displayed in time.73 N ot deterred, the
committee suspended a full length drawing o f this fir tree from the British Columbia
Court ceiling.74 A British newspaper noted that this display served “to show
unmistakably what a noble tree this is, and how superb an ornament as well as
inexhaustible source o f wealth to the two Colonies.”75 Perhaps worried that Britons

69 Tal P. Shaffner and W . O w en, The Illu stra te d R e c o rd o f th e In tern a tio n a l Exhibition o f th e In d u stria l
A rts an d M anufactures, a n d F ine A rts, o f a ll N ation s, in 1 8 6 2 (London: T he London Printing and
Publishing Com pany, Ltd. ), 3.
70 London In tern a tio n a l E xh ibition , 2.
71 W . D riscoll G osset and J. Vernon Seddall, In d u stria l E xhibition C ircu la r R espectfu lly A d d r e s s e d to th e
Inhabitants o f B ritish C olu m bia (N e w W estm inster: R . W olfen d en , 1861).
72 Ibid., 14-15.
73 London In tern ation al E xh ibition , 3; H arvey, 17; A nderson, The D o m in io n , 109.
74 Harvey, 17.
75 Cited in H arvey, A S ta tistica l, 17; A nderson, 109.

61

would not grasp just how large coastal fir was, the committee noted in its program that a
complete Douglas fir spar could be seen at Kew Gardens;76 the very one donated by
Stamp one year earlier. British Columbia participated in another exhibition in 1893: the
World’s Columbian Exhibition, held in Chicago.77
Celebrated on the four hundredth year anniversary o f Columbus’ so-called
discovery of the New World and during an economic depression, this exhibition
displayed representative inventions and treasures from thirty-six countries and forty-six
American states.78 At one point, 150,000 people visited the exhibition per day and by the
end o f the fair, twelve million people had toured its various pavilions.

70

British

Columbia’s display had eight hundred square feet dedicated to the province’s forest
products alone, including a 135-foot Douglas fir spar and furniture made from various
tree species.80 The Moodyville Saw-Mill Company, which donated the spar, noted on
o t

their display that they considered this sample “medium sized.”
The Dominion government was similarly boosting British Columbia’s forest
wealth in anticipation of the colony entering Confederation. Dominion auditor, Arthur
Harvey, argued in his 1867 report that the “timber wealth of British Columbia and
Vancouver’s Island is unsurpassed in any other part o f the world and is one o f the most
important resources of the colony.”82 He also cited several statistical studies on the

76 L ondon In tern ation al E xh ibition , 3.
77 “R eport o f the E xecutive C om m issioner for B ritish C olum bia at the W orld ’s Colum bian E xp osition ,
C hicago,” S essio n a l P a p ers, F ourth Session, Sixth P a rlia m en t o f th e P ro v in c e o f British C o lu m bia, S ession
1894, P a r t One (Victoria: Richard W olfenden, 18 9 4 ), 1 1 49 -1 1 5 5 [hereafter B C S P , 1894].
78 Cronon, N a tu re's M etro p o lis, 3 4 1 , 342.
79 Ibid., 343.
80 “Report o f the E xecutive C om m issioner” in B C SP, 1 8 9 4 , 1151, 1152, 1154.
81 Ibid., 1154.
82 H arvey, A S ta tistica l, 16.

62

singular quality of Douglas fir printed in British newspapers.83 A Dominion Department
of Agriculture booster issued sixteen years later stated “It is evident a settler in British
Columbia would never be at a loss for wood for any necessary use, and it is further plain
that the great stores of wealth in that province must, in the near future, lead to the
opening up o f industries and a great trade.”84 The government would go to great lengths
to boost its natural resources. In 1890, the Department o f Agriculture and High
Commissioner displayed the country’s agricultural resources to a delegation o f tenant
farmers from Great Britain.85 A mill site in the G ulf o f Georgia impressed one delegate:
“I visited a large lumber mill, and there measure a log 74 inches across the face and thirty
feet in length. ..One log was turned out for a special purpose 115 feet long and 54 inches
square.”86 Another delegate noted that British Columbia probably had the “finest
coniferous timber in the world.”87 While the government and private citizens boosted the
province’s forest wealth in books and pamphlets, others used newspapers to promote
their ideas. Perhaps one o f the most committed and persistent boosters o f coastal British
Columbia was the British Colonist newspaper, first published on 11 December 1858
amidst Victoria’s gold-rush chaos.88
According to its creator and editor, Amor de Cosmos, the Colonist would “take a
deep and permanent interest” in the welfare o f British Columbia.89 In fact it became the
leading paper in the two colonies and the key newspaper for the province o f British
83 Ibid., 17.
84 P ro vin c e o f B ritish C olum bia, Inform ation f o r In ten d in g S e ttlers (Ottawa: Department o f A griculture,
1883), 12.
85 The Visit o f th e T enant-F arm er D e le g a te s to C a n a d a in 1 8 9 0 (Ottawa: T he Department o f A griculture,
1891), preface.
86 Ibid., 228.
87 Ibid., 255.
88 The B ritish C olon ist O nline E dition : 1 8 5 8 -1 9 1 0 , h ttp ://w w w .b ritish colon ist.ca/ (accessed 1 M arch 2 0 1 2 ).
89 Ibid.

63

Columbia until the 1890s.90 Bom in Nova Scotia and private school educated, de Cosmos
(William Alexander Smith) followed his father west to the gold fields of California and
eventually settled in Fort Victoria in 1858. From there, de Cosmos began a career as a
journalist, politician, property owner, and entrepreneur that lasted until almost the turn o f
the century. A fearless critic o f Governor Douglas, and consummate booster o f property
ownership, social stability, and free market enterprise, de Cosmos91 believed strongly in
the private ownership of natural resources and the development o f agriculture and
railways.92 He went on to serve in the Vancouver Island House o f Assembly (1863-66),
the British Columbia Legislative Council (1867-68; 1870-71), the British Columbia
Legislative Assembly (1871-74), and the House o f Commons (1871-82), before being
elected premier of British Columbia (1872-74) 93
The editorials and articles published in the Colonist contain notions o f the coastal
forests similar to that of the land surveyors examined in Chapter One. That the province
had extensive, dense forests o f immense trees o f the best quality— affording great
economic future for the province— was a familiar motif found within the newspaper’s
pages.94 One article noted that the colony had “a vast extent o f country, which for fertility
is unsurpassed on the continent, with a mild and salubrious climate, extensive forests o f
90 Ibid.
91 D ictio n a ry o f C anadian B io g ra p h y O n lin e, s.v. “A m or D e C o sm o s.”
92 Ibid.
93 Ibid.
94 “Forks on the Sim ilkam een,” TBC, 2 O ctober 1860; “Farming in V ancouver Island,” T B C , 2 6 July 1862;
“Inducem ents for Agricultural Pursuits,” TBC, 19 February 1863; “Our C apabilities and Our W an ts,” TBC,
27 April 1863; “The S ook e M in es,” TBC, 19 A ugust 1864; TBC, 16 April 1869; A. D avison , “O f an
Exploring E xpedition along the C oast o f B ritish C olum bia,” TBC, 19 N o v em b er 1871; “T he R ecen t
Explorations on the Island,” The D a ily B ritish C o lo n ist [V ictoria], [hereafter TDBC ] 7 June 1873; T D B C , 2
Septem ber 1873; “From H ope to K ootenay,” TDBC, 6 A ugust 1876; TDBC, 1 July 1877; “ V ictoria, British
C olum bia,” T D C , 9 M arch 1879; TD C, 11 January 1883; “Progress o f British Columbia—Its P o litica l
Future,” TD C , 22 June 1883; “The R esources and C apabilities o f the D o m in io n ,” TDC, 28 June 1883; “Mr.
Shakespear, M .P ., in the Old Country: H e L ectures on Canada and the “G lorious P rovince’” T D C , 2 9 July
1883; “M uch in a Small C om pass,” TDC, 1 January 1884, 4.

64

the best timber, and pasturage lands on which cattle and sheep might be reared.”95 The
Colonist also reprinted speeches made by prominent colonial, civic and government
leaders about the province’s natural resources. O f particular note is Governor Richard
Blanshard’s speech before a British House o f Commons committee on the 15 June
185 7.96 When asked if the dense coastal forests were an obstruction to colonization,
Blanshard replied, “None whatsoever, and the size to which the trees grow there would
render them exceedingly valuable for spars.”97 Similar to the boosters examined in the
beginning o f this section, the Colonist also reprinted articles published in British
newspapers.98 One article from the Liverpool Mercury noted that British Columbians
believed that they had the “best timber in the world.” 99 The bragging done by boosters
certainly captured the newspaper’s attention. By all accounts, Euro-British Columbians
perceived that they had the best and most valuable timber in the world. M any also
believed that the province’s coastal forests were, supposedly, inexhaustible-, a notion that
would persist in boosting literature almost until World War One.
As early as 1861, de Cosmos was boosting the provinces forests and forest
industry in front-page editorials:
There is a very great impression abroad that our illimitable pine forests can only
be turned to account by using them for fuel, or by sawing them up into lumber, or
cutting them down for spars and shipbuilding purposes. There can be no question
that in such ways our forests may employ more intelligent labour and capital. Yet
notwithstanding our lamentable dependence on Puget Sound for lumber, and the

95 “Our Imports,” TBC, 13 M arch 1861.
96 “Governor B lanchard’s T estim ony before a C om m ittee o f the H ou se o f Com m ons, June 15th, 1 8 5 7 ,”
TBC, 1 June, 1859.
97 Ibid.
98 “The London Standard on the V ice R egal V isit,” T D C , 16 Septem ber 1882; “Civic B an q u et,” T D C , 28
October 1882.
99 “M essrs. Cameron and M cClure in E ng.,” TBC, 9 M arch 1863.

65

lack of lumbering enterprise in the colony-there is a wide field for enterprise in
both colonies by making use o f our pine forests.. . 100
In this case, he suggests that the province’s so-called illimitable forests were not only
underdeveloped but also underutilized. According to de Cosmos, they could be used to
produce additional products such as turpentine, camphene, tar, pitch, and rosin.101 Five
years later, after de Cosmos had left the newspaper for politics, another editorial noted
that the province’s coal, and timber was “o f superior quality and inexhaustible,” but was
under-developed because of the island’s isolation from the mainland and because o f poor
government.102 Almost a decade later, a former colonial customs collector, A.C.
Anderson, published an award winning essay boosting the colonial and immigration
potential of the coast.103 Anderson claimed that, “the forests o f British Columbia are
productive o f an inexhaustible supply o f timber o f the most serviceable kind.” 104 He also
noted the high quality Douglas fir spars that could be found on the coast.105 However, he
was annoyed by the fact that these spars were often called “Oregon spars” in European
markets, presumably because o f coastal British Columbia’s relative proximity to Oregon
or because British Columbia was part o f pre-1846 “Oregon Country.”106 In Anderson’s
mind, credit should be given where credit was due. A few years later, a government
pamphlet, issued by the provincial Minister o f Agriculture, directly quoted Anderson on

100 “H om e Production-Tar, Turpentine, C am phene,” TBC, 4 April 1861.
101 Ibid.
102 “Bad G overnm ent the Cause o f Our D eca y ,” TBC, 5 June 1867.
103 A lexander C aulfield Anderson, The D o m in io n a t th e West: A B r ie f D e sc rip tio n o f th e P ro v in c e o f
B ritish C olum bia, its C lim ate a n d R eso u rces (V ictoria: Richard W olfen d en , 1872).
104 Ibid., 17.
105 Ibid., 18.
106 Ibid., 106.

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his notion o f forest inexhaustibility.107 However, it made a pointed comment towards
intending settlers, “The settler who is near any main line of communication should not
look upon his fine timber as a valueless possession which may be wasted improvidently.
The timber on his farm may, within his own lifetime, be worth as much as the soil o f the
farm.” 108This essay obviously impressed the government because it was sent to
provincial agents and High Commissioners in London, Liverpool, and Paris.109 Over a
decade later, the Colonist was still promoting the notion that the province would never
run out of timber. One editorial noted that British Columbia’s “Timber, the superior o f
which has not yet been found anywhere, is likewise found throughout the province in
superabundance.” 110
Dominion officials were also employing similar notions. The Dominion Crown
Timber Agent for British Columbia noted in a letter to the Deputy Minister o f the Interior
that the province had an almost “inexhaustible supply o f the very finest Douglas pine or
fir, spruce and red cedar, to be found in the world.” 111 The entire letter was later reprinted
in a report on British Columbia’s timber supply published in the British Board o f Trade
Journal in July 1891.112 Promoters o f the province’s inexhaustible forest wealth were
certainly effective at getting their message across in both Great Britain and America.
Dr. Lyon’s report on the “Forests o f Canada,” presented to the British House o f
Parliament in April 1885, noted that while some believed that there was a “proximate
107 G uide to the P ro vin ce o f B ritish C o lu m b ia f o r 1 8 7 7 -8 (Victoria: T.N. H ibben and C o., P ublishers,
1877), 9.
108 Ibid.
109 “Reports o f Im migration A gents at V ictoria and N e w W estm inster, British Columbia, for the Y ear
1883,” in B CSP, 1883, 297.
110 “British Columbia: Its C lim atic, Social and Agricultural A dvantages,” T D C , 1 January 1884.
111 T .S. H igginson to A .M . B urgess, 1 N o v em b er 1890. Reprinted in B CSP, 1 8 9 1 , Vol. 2 4 , Issu e 1, 4 3 .
112 “The Timber R esources o f British C olum bia,” The B o a r d o f T ra d e J o u rn a l o f Tariff a n d T ra d e N o tic e s
a n d M iscellan eou s C om m ercia l Inform ation 11, no., 6 0 (July 1891): 206.

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exhaustion o f forests in the Dominion,” in fact British Columbia’s forests were
“inexhaustible” (citing A.C. Anderson).113 The British Journal o f Forestry stated that
“the province o f British Columbia is the only one in the Dominion not over-cutting its
timber resources; and it appears to possess a supply o f considerable magnitude, declared
by its local authorities to be practically inexhaustible for the future wants o f the timber
trade.” 114 A report presented before the United States Senate in 1890 noted that the
province’s coastal forests had an “almost inexhaustible” timber supply west o f the
Cascade Mountains.115 The American Geographical Society expressed similar sentiments
arguing that “The farms, the forests, the mines, and the fisheries o f British Columbia will
give employment to millions...W ith numerous water powers, and unlimited supplies o f
iron and coal of the best quality, and inexhaustible forests o f the finest timber, no country
is better suited for iron-making and wood-working.” 116
By the turn of the century, however, the rhetoric o f boosters shifted— in response
to the influence of scientific forestry— expressing notions of potential inexhaustibility.
Gosnell argued that given the annual growth o f the province’s forests and “effective
measures for reasonable protection” from fire, “the timber supply at the present rate o f
consumption, would remain perpetual.” 117 A member o f the Canadian Forestry
Association (CFA) pointed out to J.R. Anderson during his lecture that the province “has

113 R ep o rts on th e F o rests o f C an ada With P re c is b y D r. Lyons, M .P ., o f C e rta in P apers S u b m itte d
Therewith (London: Eyre and Spottisw oode, 1885), 9.
114 Francis G eorge Heath ed., F o restry; A J o u rn a l o f F o re st a n d E sta te M an agem en t (L ondon: J. and W .
Rider, 1879), 830.
115 “R elations with Canada,” in R ep o rts o f C o m m ittees o f th e S en a te o f the U n ite d S tates f o r th e F irst
Session o f the F ifty-F irst C ongress, 1 8 8 9 -9 0 (W ashington: G overnm ent P rinting O ffice, 18 9 0 ), 116. S ee
also “British C olum bia and V ancouver’s Island,” The M e rch a n t's M a g a zin e a n d C om m ercial R e v ie w 55
(July-D ecem ber, 1866), 205.
116 Jou rn a l o f the A m erican G e o g ra p h ica l S o c ie ty o f N ew York, Vol., 22 (N e w Y ork: Clark and Zugalla,
1890), 436.
117 G osnell, Yearbook, 1897, 241.

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as you know, fine coniferous forests. May they be everlasting, and they can be by careful
attention and judiciously enforced legislation.” 118 Likewise, H.R. MacMillan, the
province’s first Chief Forester, argued that i f forests were protected from fire and harvest
yields were maximized, timber would be produced in “perpetuity.” 119 Ross— the Minister
of Lands— made similar suggestions in his Forest Bill speech.120 Alexander Ratray’s
pamphlet, Vancouver Island and British Columbia, Where They Are; What They Are; And
What They May Become, published in London in 1911, similarly linked forest
inexhaustibility with a “long-yield” of timber.121
That coastal British Columbia had greater quantities o f larger trees than many
other places in North America and Europe was a significant factor that affected notions of
inexhaustibility. However, the province’s economic context throughout the nineteenth
and early twentieth century also factored significantly in this perception.
Almost from their inception, the two colonies struggled financially. The HBC
recognized that it lacked the capital and infrastructure to support the influx o f miners
heading to California’s goldfields.122 There was simply not enough private
accommodations and food for the travel-weary and hungry miners. While the lumber
trade in the 1850s attracted some private capital, high American duties seriously affected
exports of lumber, fish, and coal as well as increased the costs o f goods imported from
San Francisco.123 Only nineteen vessels laden with spars sailed from Vancouver Island to

1,8 Sixth R ep o rt, 117.
119 F irst R ep o rt o f th e F o rest Branch, 1912, 24.
120 B ritish C o lu m b ia ’s F o rest P o lic y, 12; 16.
121 A lexander Rattray, V ancouver Isla n d a n d B ritish C olu m bia, W here They A r e ; What T hey A re ; A n d
What They M a y B ecom e (London: Smith, Elder, and C o., 1911), 75.
122 Margaret A . Ormsby, B ritish C olu m bia: A H isto ry (Toronto: T he M acm illan Company o f Canada Ltd.,
1958), 112.
123 Orm sby, B ritish C olum bia, 128.

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San Francisco markets in 1853.124 By comparison, approximately 400,000 ship loads
(245,000,000 bdft) of squared timber was exported from Quebec to Great Britain during
the same year.125
The hopes and dreams of the boosters were not yet realized. Fort Victoria, by
1858, was simply a “backwater with little future.” 126 However, the discovery o f gold on
the Fraser River ushered in a new era o f prosperity— on the surface—for this fledgling
colony. Within weeks, as miners poured into the city, two hundred stores and twenty-five
other buildings were built.127 Roads, bridges, and other infrastructure had to be quickly
built to meet the influx o f people. However, the British government would only fund the
expenditures of the Royal Engineers and the governor’s salary, thus, the colony’s
financial position remained precarious.128 Despite the establishment of a growing number
of sawmills to meet the demand for lumber in Australia, the Sandwich Islands, Chile, and
China,129 the colonial government was $80,000 in debt, the imperial government still
refusing to foot the bill.130 To make matters worse, the governor faced some grim news in
1865. Accountants estimated that colonial revenues would only meet half o f the expected
costs for the upcoming fiscal year.131 The following year, Robert Brown began his survey
of the island’s natural resources in hopes o f establishing other markets. Unfortunately,
despite his positive appraisals of the colony’s timber and mineral resources, their debt to

124 Lawrence, “Markets and Capital,” 7,
125 Lower, G re a t B rita in ’s, 258.
126 Ormsby, B ritish C olum bia, 130.
127 Ibid., 141.
128 Ibid., 173.
129 Lawrence, “Markets and Capital,” 11-14.
130 Ormsby, B ritish C olu m bia, 207.
131 Ibid., 213.

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the Bank o f British Columbia was increasing, so much so, that the bank refused any more
loans.132
The inclusion o f British Columbia in Confederation did little to improve the
province’s economic situation. The railway was still not constructed and government
credit was exhausted: there was nowhere to turn for more loans in 1875.133 W hile the
1875 railway grant to the Dominion— o f some o f the best timber on Vancouver Island—
seemed promising to investors, it would not be fully realized until 1882.134 Fortunately,
the province’s economic situation improved following the building of the Esquimalt and
Nanaimo (E&N) railway on Vancouver Island and the Canadian Pacific
Railway (CPR) that linked the Lower Mainland with eastern Canada. The construction o f
these railways resulted in vigorous local markets.135 The first passenger train to arrive in
Port Moody signalled an economic boom for Vancouver that continued until the early
1890s.136

At the same time, increasing settlement in the prairies offered a substantial market
for the province’s timber, that the CPR could transport. 137 However, this economic boom
was short lived, for in 1893 an American financial crisis resulted in a retraction o f capital
investment.138 Ten years later, British Columbia’s public debt was approximately
$12,000,000 and once again, government credit was exhausted.139 However, because o f
premier Richard McBride’s fiscal measures and changes in forest policy that resulted in
132 Ibid., 216.
133 Ibid., 269.
134 Taylor, Tim ber, 34-36.
135 Ibid., 3 6
136 Ormsby, B ritish C o lu m b ia, 2 9 5 , 2 9 6 -2 9 7 , 2 9 9 , 312.
137 Taylor, Tim ber, 46.
138 Ormsby, B ritish C olu m bia, 312.
139 Ibid., 337.

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an increased investment o f American capital in the province’s forests, there was a
significant surplus by 1910.140
Timber Leases and Timber Licences (TL) were the two most common forms o f
forest tenure available during the nineteenth and early twentieth century. Leases were
established in 1865 by the colonial government.141 There were no limits on their size,
annual rent, and royalties; however, only persons who were actually engaged in logging
and milling could obtain one. In 1865, Stamp obtained a 100-acre mill-site for $100 and
the rights to timber at $.01 per acre annually.142 In 1888, the provincial government
passed a Bill that required the lessees to pay an annual rent and royalty upon harvest, and
required them to maintain a mill. This lease was for a total o f thirty years. In 1895, leases
were modified, allowing non-mill owners/operators to obtain timber rights. However, six
years later this restriction was re-introduced. But more importantly, Timber Leases could
be successively renewed after twenty-one years.143
Licences were first introduced in 1884 under the Timber Act from which the
government derived revenue from the cutting o f Crown timber. This was a nontransferable, four-year licence for a maximum o f 100 acres o f timber. Annual rent was
$10 per acre, and royalties were $0.15 per tree and $0.20 per 1000/ board feet (bdft) o f
lumber.144 Initially, there were no limits to the number o f TLs that a person could obtain,
but in 1898, this tenure—renamed Special Timber License (STL)— was on the one hand
made more restrictive (only one licence per person), but on the other liberalized: up to

140 Lawrence, “M arkets a n d C apital, ” 42; Orm sby, B ritish C olum bia, 3 3 7 -3 3 8 .
141 A H isto ry , 2.
142 Hak, Turning Trees, 68.
143 A H isto ry, 2.
144 Ibid., 3; Hak, Turning Trees, 69.

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1000 acres were available per license. More importantly, the annual fees and royalties for
this form o f tenure were increased.145 The STL policy was modified three years later so
as to allow their transfer from one person or firm to another.146 Now licensees could
secure timber limits and sell them when their market value had increased. Further
changes to policy that encouraged speculation were made in 1905 when the restrictions
on STLs were repealed giving licensees the right to own as many as possible as long as
they could pay the annual rent and royalties.147 Existing licenses were renewable for up to
sixteen years and all new licenses up to twenty-one years. Now timber interests could
own larger areas of timber for longer.148
These policy changes were a strategic move by McBride’s Conservative
Government to increase revenue and capital investment in the economically beleaguered
province.149 Indeed, only a month before passage o f the 1905 amendment, the opposition
had criticised McBride for the government’s chronic financial problems. A Liberal
opposition member, Thomas Wilson Paterson, argued that government revenues “should
have expanded in much great[er] proportion than expenditure and the government should
get enough out o f the natural resources o f the country to pay almost the total cost o f
administration.” 150 McBride’s cash grab took advantage o f several external factors that
had significantly increased the demand for timber including the prairie settlement boom,
a declining American timber supply, construction o f the Panama Canal, and the increase
in the value o f Douglas fir. But British Columbia’s reputation o f having the w orld’s last

145 A H isto ry , 3; Hak, T urning Trees, 105.
146 G illis and R oach, L o st In itia tives, 140.
147 Hak, Turning Trees, 106.
148 Ibid., 106; “R etrospect o f S ession al W ork,” VDC, 11 April 1905.
149 Gray, The G o v e rn m e n t’s, 25; R oach, “ Stew ards,” 17; G illis and R oach, L o st Initiatives, 140.
150 “Provincial Legislature,” VDC, 4 M arch, 1905.

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great inexhaustible timber supply—an idea that was well known in the United States —
was also an important factor. The gospel o f forest boosters was finally bearing fruit,
resulting in an unprecedented demand and allocation o f timber to American and foreign
interests.
By 1906, the number o f STLs had doubled. A year later, there were more than
17,700 registered province-wide.151 By some estimates, 75 percent of the province’s
accessible forests were under the control o f American interests, representing
approximately 15,000 square miles o f Crown land.152 The government’s desire for
increased revenue and capital investment were realized: revenues for STLs increased
from $177,686 in 1904, to $2.4 million by 1908.153 It is estimated that by 1914, US
interests had invested $7,000,000 in the province alone.154 But, once again British
Columbia’s economic boom did not last. By 1913, the prairie boom was faltering and
mmours of war in Europe decreased the flow o f capital into the Pacific province.155
Added to this were a decrease in coal output, and a slump in copper and silver m arkets.156
By the beginning o f the war, a financial collapse in Vancouver led to skyrocketing
unemployment relief costs.157 Throughout this period, local interests and the government
boosted the province’s natural resources and settlement capabilities, its coastal forests
playing a significant role in the optimistic rhetoric o f Euro-British Columbians. That the
utilization o f the coast’s forest wealth would be a panacea for the struggling province was
misguided. Mineral export revenues from 1872 to 1897 consistently outdid forestry and
151 Hak, T urning Trees, 106; G illis and R oach, L o st In itia tives, 140.
152 Hak, Turning Trees, 107.
153 Gray, The G overnm ent, 25; 26.
154 Lawrence, “M arkets and Capital,” 86.
155 Lawrence, “Markets and Capital,” 64; O rm sby, B ritish C o lu m b ia , 3 6 8 -3 6 9 .
156 Orm sby, B ritish C olum bia, 384.
157 Ib id , 384.

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from 1878, so too did fisheries.158 Although the province’s fisheries were under
Dominion management and jurisdiction, revenues were almost five times greater than
forestry, in 1913.159 The reality o f the province’s financial struggles did not deter those
who boosted the coast’s forest wealth. Although there was an increase in revenue
following these policy changes, many other problems emerged, the least o f which was
timber speculation and the perception o f a timber supply shortage.160 While civic interests
and the provincial government perceived that British Columbia’s economic future lay in
the utilization of its inexhaustible, high quality forests, others believed that this forest
wealth should be protected from several threats, the greatest o f which was fire.

158 G osnell, Yearbook, 1897, 430.
159 G osnell, Yearbook, 1 9 1 1 /1 9 1 4 , 2 5 3, 3 7 7 , 3 8 4 .
160 G illis and R oach, L o st In itia tives, 140-141.

Chapter 3
“Of Serious National Consequence”: Fire and the Protection of the
Province’s Inexhaustible Timber Supply
While boosters believed that the economic future o f the province lay in the utilization of
its inexhaustible forest wealth, others believed that it should be protected from both
uncontrolled logging and fire. Initially, concerns over safeguarding forests were local, but
as more timber was allocated for harvest and logged, they became widespread. B y the
turn of the century, however, both the provincial and Dominion government argued that
fire was the most significant threat facing its forests. Following the liberalisation o f
provincial forest policy and the resulting logging and foreign speculation boom, the
government placed a moratorium on timber allocation and in 1909 initiated the Royal
Commission of Inquiry on Timber and Forestry. Although the Conservative government
hoped that the commission would sort out the chaotic state o f provincial tenure— and
deflect political pressure— the commission and timber interests that petitioned them, were
also concerned about how to better protect its forest wealth from fire. The commission
also argued that the province had a smaller timber supply than initially thought. Indeed,
the Forest Act would legislate measures to protect forests from speculation, over­
harvesting, and fire while providing the Crown with a flow of revenue. Despite this, the
provincial government would continue to argue that its forests had the world’s last great
supply o f high quality, inexhaustible timber.
Concerns over the denuding o f southern Vancouver Island’s forests were voiced
as early as the 1850s. Walter Colquhoun Grant observed that Sooke Harbour was “nearly

76

exhausted” o f the fir and pine that grew near the shore.1 Given that his mill was located
only fifty meters up Veitch Creek— at the northeast end of the harbour and on steep sideslope— it is likely that only the timber most accessible to his mill was exhausted.2
Governor James Douglas of Fort Victoria, was also concerned. He introduced a timber
duty o f 10 percent per load on all trees cut on public lands. Douglas argued that this duty
was “altogether protective, it being thereby intended to prevent the waste and destruction
of timber on public lands, and to throw the timber trade, as much as possible, into the
hands o f actual Colonists.”3 Given that this duty was imposed well before notions o f
‘wise-use’ and natural resource conservation reached this region, it is likely that Douglas
was more concerned about the timber supply— or the lack thereof—for British colonists.
This duty did little to protect the timber supply for a mill in the Somass area (Albemi
Canal). The mill’s manager, Gilbert Malcolm Sproat (who replaced Stamp), complained
to the Colonial Secretary in 1861 that there was “no wood in the district to supply the
wants o f a large mill.”4 Five years later, the mill was no longer operating.5
While mill operators complained about a declining timber supply, some residents
of Victoria complained bitterly about a stand of trees that was being felled near Ogden
Point (James Bay) in 1869. 6 In an anonymous letter to the C olonist’s editor, a
correspondent wrote that “The once pretty forest lying between Cpt. Raymur’s residence
and the dwelling of late Mr. Greenwood, bears full evidence o f the axeman’s exertions,

1 Grant, D escrip tio n , 284.
2 A G u ide to H e rita g e S h ield Site o f th e S o u th w est C o a st o f V an cou ver Isla n d : “ Where th e R a in fo rest
M eets the S ea" (S ook e: S ooke R egional M useum , 2 0 0 9 ). N o pagination.
3 Hak, Turning T rees, 67.
4G.M . Sproat to the C olonial Secretary, 1 N ovem b er 1864, quoted in L aw rence, “Markets and C apital,” 23.
5 Lawrence, “M arkets and Capital,” 23.
6 “T he Tree V andals,” TBC, 28 July 1869.

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for the land is nearly cleared.”7 While this may be simply a “not in my backyard”
response, the contributor went on to note that these trees provided an important
windbreak from southerlies.8 A few months later, another letter to the editor about
uncontrolled land clearing in James Bay included a poignant and perhaps prophetic quote
from the British Under-Secretary of India, Mr. Grant Duff: “Forests are always looked
upon as inexhaustible till they begin to be exhausted.”9 Uncontrolled land clearing and a
declining timber supply were not the only threats that concerned some Euro-British
Columbians. Some of Vancouver Island’s first colonists and visitors noted the worrying
presence of fire on the landscape.
Grant complained that “natives all along the coast have a custom o f setting fire to
the woods in summer, which doubtless adds to the density o f the fog, and increases the
temperature o f the atmosphere.” 10 An officer from the British ship Constant—on arriving
on the summit of Cedar Hill in 1849— observed that, “miles o f ground were burnt and
smoking, and miles were still burning. The Indians bum the country in order to find more
easily the roots which they eat.” 11 Unbeknownst to them, many Coast Salish First Nations
fire-managed the landscape in order to create favourable habitat for forage foods such as
the common camas (Camassia quamash) and game such as coastal blacktail deer, and
Roosevelt elk.12 One British Colonist journalist who visited the Sooke mines in August
1864 wrote that the “whole country is on fire on both sides of the river [Sooke] and all

7 Ibid.
8 Ibid.
9 “D estruction o f Trees,” TBC, 17 O ctober 1869.
10 Grant, D escrip tio n , 275.
11 The C olon isation o f V ancouver Isla n d (London: Burrup and Son, 1849), 17-19.
12 N ancy J. Turner, “Tim e to Burn,” in Robert B oyd ed., In dian s, F ire, a n d th e L a n d sca p e in th e P a c ific
N orth w est (Corvallis: Oregon State U n iversity Press, 19 9 9 ), 1 9 4 -1 9 8 . S ee also Stephen J. P yn e, A w fu l
Splendor: A F ire H isto ry o f C anada (V ancouver: U B C Press, 1997).

78

along the trail... The heaviest timber is being consumed, and immense trees are falling, 6
or 7 at a time.” 13 Four years later, there were so many reported fires along the Pacific
Northwest coast—as far north as the Skeena River—that they affected marine navigation
and visibility on land.14 Despite this, measures to exclude fire from the landscape were
not taken until 1874 when the Bush Fire Act was passed.15
Having jurisdiction over both private and Crown land, the Bush Fire Act
prohibited the lighting o f fires from June to September. Anyone who let a fire escape
from their property, “whereby damage shall be done or timber destroyed,” would be fined
up to one-hundred dollars, no small sum in the 1870s.16 This rarely enforced legislation
applied only to Vancouver Island.17 The scope o f the Bush Fire A ct was not broadened to
include the entire province until 1887, and only after virtually all o f Vancouver burned to
the ground after land-clearing fires escaped west o f the city on 13 June 1886.

| Q

Otherwise, the provincial government showed little concern over protecting the
province’s forests from fire during the 1880s.
Interestingly, local concern over forest protection began to shift from Vancouver
Island to the United States in the early 1870s. A Colonist article that focused on the
destruction o f forests in the United States argued that “Canadian timber should be
scrupulously guarded, as its value must before long be enormously increased, when the

13 “T he S ooke M in es,” TBC, 18 A ugust 1864.
14 Parminter, P rotection , 4.
15 Parminter, P ro tectio n , 5; “A n A ct to prevent the careless use o f Fire in W o o d s and F orests,” 2 M arch,
1874 in The C o n so lid a ted S tatu tes o f B ritish C o lu m bia (Victoria: Richard W olfenden, 1 8 7 7 ), Ch. 7 8 , 2 8 0
[hereafter Bush F ire A ct],
16 Bush F ire A ct, 280.
17 Parminter, P ro tectio n , 5.
18 Ibid.

79

supply at the command o f our neighbours is exhausted.” 19 Four years later another article
noted that while the demand for lumber in the United States increased at “a rate o f
twenty-five percent per year” the forests decreased at a “rate o f 7,000,000 acres per
year.”20 Articles published during the early twentieth century expressed similar
sentiments.21
Anxiety over the exhaustion o f American forests served to amplify concerns over
the province’s forests. Government reports issued during the early 1900s included
sections on the exhaustion o f forests or declining timber supply in other countries,
which served to caution against over-cutting and waste and to emphasize the abundance
of the province’s forests relative to other jurisdictions. By the 1880s, the timber supply in
Chemainus, Vancouver, and New Westminster had decreased so much so that some mills
had shut down.23 By 1900, the accessible forests along Burrard Inlet were entirely
harvested.24 Lumber companies not only had to look far inland for timber supply, but also
northwards along the province’s rugged coastline, both of which were increasingly
expensive options.
Things were to get worse for those who wanted to protect the province’s forests,
for in 1884 the Settlement Act was passed, granting a twenty-mile wide strip o f forested
land, in the Fraser Valley, to the Dominion as part o f the CPR deal.25 Two million acres
of choice forested land on eastern Vancouver Island was also transferred, but in this case

19 TDBC, 3 D ecem ber 1874.
20 TD C , 10 July 1878.
21 “T ariff C hanges,” VDC, 23 June 1905; “Forestry in R elation to M in in g,” V D C , 18 June 1905.
22 Sm all, 2; Sixth R ep o rt, 1900, 117; Seventh R e p o rt, 1 9 0 2 , A 224; F in a l R e p o rt, D 19-D 20. S e e also B ritish
C o lu m b ia ’s F o re st P o licy, 11.
23 G illis and R oach, L o st In itiatives, 132; Hak, Turning, 70.
24 G illis and R oach, L o st In itia tives, 132; H ardw ick, The F o re st In d u stry, 26.
25 Hak, Turning, 7 0 .

80

is was granted to Robert Dunsmuir in order to make possible the construction o f the E&N
railway. Given that this massive area o f choice timber was privately owned, it was
beyond provincial government regulation.26 By the end o f the decade, the Dominion
began selling off its railway belt to lumber interests and cutting began in earnest.27 One
company alone purchased 100,000 acres o f land on the east coast o f the Island.

The

construction of the CPR and E&N railways created a large local demand for timber, and
opened up markets in Manitoba and the North-West Territories (present-day Alberta and
Saskatchewan). British Columbia’s supposedly inexhaustible fir, cedar, and spruce stands
were indeed exhaustible. Throughout the 1880s, the Colonist published articles that
called for forest protection.29 Still, provincial government reports issued by both the
departments o f Lands and Works and Agriculture expressed little concern over forests
destruction and timber supply until 1897.30 However, the Dominion government was
concerned, and fire was perceived as the single most significant threat to the country’s
forest wealth.
A report commissioned by John Robson, Minster o f Agriculture in 1884, noted
that in the northern United States fires had so devastated the forests, that authorities were
concerned that they would “affect not only the climate and rainfall of the State, but its
most important commercial interests” such as “the railroads, river-towing, mills, ship and
house building.”31 This study soberly concluded that “with the experience before us
gained from this investigation in a country bordering our own, the lesson o f precaution is
26 Ibid., 71.
27 Ibid., 73.
28 Ibid., 73.
29 “The Work o f the S essio n ,” TD C , 1 January 1 8 8 4 ,4; T D C , 19 February 1884, 2; “C ivic B anquet in
H onor o f the G overnor-G eneral,” TDC, 11 O ctober 1885.
30 Fifth R eport, 1895-1896, 1154.
31 Sm all, C anadian F o rests, 2.

81

taught, and the waste that has so indiscriminately prevailed hitherto in our forests should
be stayed.”32 There was a silver lining for British Columbia in the declining timber
supply in the United States and eastern Canada. The Dominion believed that given the
“rapid consumption of timber and partial denudation o f the forests of the eastern
provinces,” British Columbia’s forests would become an important source o f wealth to
the province and the country.33 Two years later, the Director o f the GSC, Robert Bell,
also expressed concern about the effects o f fire. He noted that the
amount o f timber which has been lost through forest fires in Canada is almost
incredible ... The total quantities which have disappeared are almost incalculable, but
even a rough estimate of the amount for each hundred or thousand square miles shows
it to have been enormous, and o f serious national consequence.34
The inadequate enforcement o f legislation such as British Columbia’s Bush Fire A ct was
not lost on Bell, “Laws on the subject do exist,” he argued, “but no adequate means
appear to provide for enforcing them.”35 He concluded by suggesting that, “If the vast
northern forests can be preserved from fire in the future, our supply of small timber is
practicably inexhaustible.” 36 A. T. Drummond, in a paper read before the American
Forestry Congress a year earlier, had similarly argued that the province’s “yet untouched
forests” would be a continued source o f revenue i f protected from fire.37 He also
suggested that the starting of forest fires should be a criminal offence and that sites
should be reforested following fire.38

32 Ibid., 2.
33 Ibid., 38.
34 B ell, The F o rests, 8-9.
35 Ibid., 10.
36 Ibid., 14.
37 A .T . Drummond, “Forest Protection in C anada,” in P ro c e e d in g s o f th e A m erica n F o re stry C o n g re ss
(W ashington: Judd and D etw eiler, 1886), 36.
38 Ibid., 37.

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The Dominion government was convinced that Canada’s forest wealth was the
country’s “greatest heritage,” a “precious heirloom to be deeply revered, properly used
and, through careful maintenance, to be handed down to posterity improved and
enriched.”39 But this was not simply rhetoric: Dominion scientists believed that forests
directly yielded important products and revenue to the country, distributed rainwater and
preserved soil, and had a key influence on climate, agriculture, fisheries, lakes and rivers,
and the health o f Canadians.40 However, because timber was “most easily exhausted,” it
must be maintained and protected 41 Indeed, the country’s forests needed protection from
the “devastation of fire,” and uncontrolled, injudicious logging.42 The Dominion took
steps to protect its forest by passing the Forest Reserve Act in 1906.43 This act stipulated
the creation o f Dominion Forest Reserves on federal land within Canada
... in order to protect and improve the forests for the purpose of maintaining a
permanent supply of timber, to maintain conditions favourable to a continuous
water supply, and to protect, so far as the Parliament o f Canada has jurisdiction,
the animals, fish and birds within the respective boundaries of such reserves, and
otherwise to provide for the protection o f the forests ... 44
In British Columbia, the Dominion government created six forest reserves that year (in
the railway belt), and four more in 1913, totalling one million hectares o f forested land.45
Provincial government officials were also convinced that fire was the greatest threat
facing its forests. That the government fell victim to its own rhetoric about forest
inexhaustibility likely explains why they did not establish an official position until almost
the turn o f the century. Leading the forest protection charge was the Department o f
39 R ep o rt on the F o re st Wealth o f C an ada (Ottawa: S.E . D aw son , 1895), 8a-2.
40 Ibid., 8 a -1.
41 Ibid., 8a-2.
42 Ibid., A ppendix D , 69.
43 Parminter, P ro tectio n , 14.
44 Statutes o f C an ada 1 9 0 6 , Ch. 14, Section 4 , quoted in Parminter, P ro te c tio n , 14.
45 Parminter, P ro tectio n , 15.

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Agriculture’s J.R. Anderson, son o f the well-known forest booster A.C. Anderson. His
Fifth Report o f the Department o f Agriculture, published in 1897, included a section on
preserving forests from an “annual destruction” by fire, the first such treatment to date.46
This report would be the first of many, over the next decade, that argued that fire was the
greatest threat to the province’s forest wealth.
However, unlike those of his father, the younger Anderson’s reports suggested
that the province’s coastal forests were in fact exhaustible especially if fires were left
unchecked. His report contained correspondence from people throughout the province
that expressed concerns about fires, their causes, and how to prevent them.47 A nderson’s
next report on forestry was the most extensive to date. Echoing Gifford Pinchot— head of
the USDA Division o f Forestry— he argued that most important question was “how best
to conserve our forest wealth to the best advantage and for the greatest good.”48 Similar
to Dominion officials, Anderson believed that forests and water supply were “intimately”
related, having a bearing on plant growth.49 Despite not being “prepared to vouch for the
correctness of the figures,” he cited a government study on harvest levels and the effect
o f forest fires on coastal British Columbia that was prepared for the 1893 Chicago
Forestry Commission.50 This study stated that
In 1892 the cut was 64,000,000 feet. Add for waste and cut unreported, say
40,000,000 feet. This would give 100,000,000 feet. At this rate the present limits
would last 120 years. This, however, supposes an average o f 30,000 feet per acre,
no bush fires, and no increase in the annual output. It is estimated that fire
46 Fifth R ep o rt, 1 8 9 5 -1 8 9 6 , 1154.
47 Ibid.. 1154-1155.
48 Sixth R eport, 1900, 109; Carolyn Merchant, “C onservation and Preservation, 1 7 85-1950,” in The
C olum bia G u ide to E n viron m en tal H isto ry (N e w York: C olum bia U n iversity Press, 20 0 2 ), 128; 138.
Pinchot becam e the C h ie f Forester o f the U S D A Forest S erv ice in 1905. S ee Char M iller, “ Saw dust
M em ories: Pinchot and the M aking o f Forest H istory,” J o u rn a l o f F o re stry 9 2 (February 1994): 9.
49 Sixth R eport, 1900, 109.
50 Ibid., 113.

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destroys fully fifty per cent, o f the timber. This reduces the time from 120 to 60
years.51
Despite his scepticism, Anderson, believed that the “chief element of destruction is fire,
which should be guarded against, both by mill-owners and the Government.”52 He also
made several recommendations on how to best protect forests.53 But the Deputy Minister
o f Agriculture was not the only official to argue this. Advocacy for forest protection
would come from a somewhat surprising source: provincial booster and Legislative
Librarian R.E. Gosnell.
Published in the same year as Anderson’s report, Gosnell’s Yearbook included a
detailed treatise on forest protection.54 Gosnell argued that forest conservation was a
“matter o f very great importance, because the timber is an asset o f great value peculiarly
subject to deprecation and waste.”55 Employing the language o f scientific forestry and
wise-use utilitarian conservation, Gosnell noted that the “utilization of the timber supply
economically and advantageously in an industrial way,” was o f prime importance.
However, unlike Anderson, he believed that forests were threatened not only by fires, but
also by land clearing and reckless logging.56 In a report that Gosnell prepared for the
Dominion government two year earlier, he noted that the “ravages of fire have not been
appreciable [on the coast] to anything like the extent they have been in the interior.”57
Anderson’s Seventh Report contained similar sentiments about forest protection. But it
also emphasized the growing conviction by many British Columbians that “that this

51 Ibid.
52 Ibid.
53 Sixth R eport, 1900, 115.
54 G osnell, Y earbook, 1 8 9 7 , 2 3 1 -2 4 2 .
55 Ibid., 237.
56 Ibid., 2 3 7 , 241.
57 R ep o rt on th e F o rest W ealth, A ppendix C, 134.

85

source o f wealth o f the Province should be safe-guarded to a much greater degree” from
co

fire.

He also suggested that some forests should be preserved from use: “Conserve

forest wealth of the country,” he wrote, “for the general good, not only for the present
generation but of those to follow, and to preserve for posterity even a vestige o f the
glories o f the primeval forest.”59 While Anderson believed that the protection o f forests
was possible, the Provincial Timber Inspector, R.J. Skinner, did not. In the same report,
he wrote, “Fire is the great enemy and can be no more prevented in a forest than in a
town, which in spite o f fire brigades and insurance companies, it bums up not
infrequently.”60 Despite these concerns about timber supply and forest protection, the
provincial government— in an effort to increase revenue and capital investment— made it
easier for firms and investors to access timber rights through a series of policy changes.
But cashing in on the province’s reputation as the last inexhaustible “timber frontier”
created more problems than it solved, not the least of which was widespread timber
speculation and the allocation of timber to foreign interests. 61
Timber speculators—many o f them American— were firms and individuals who
held STLs that neither logged nor owned mills.62 They simply retained timber leases and
licences in hope that they could capitalize on their increasing value.63 Nickey Interests o f
Tennessee, and C.A. Marsh from Chicago, bought 280 million board feet o f cedar in the

58 Seventh R eport, 1902, 219.
59 Ibid., 224. T he notion o f the prim eval or ancient, untouched forest is used infrequently w ith in th e sou rces
exam ined in “T he Last Resort o f the Lum berm an.” H ow ever, it m ay be related to romantic ideas o f
prim itivism that were “em bodied m ost strikingly in the national [A m erican] m yth o f the frontier,”
according to W illiam Cronon. There is little ev id en ce to su g g est that this co n cep t had any cultural
significan ce for Euro-British Colum bians. S ee Cronon, “T he T rouble,” 7.
60 Ib id , 225.
61 Gray, The G overn m en t, 25.
62 R oach, “Stew ards,” 17; G illis and R oach, L o st In itia tives, 14 0 -1 4 1 .
“ R oach, “Stew ards,” 17.

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Capilano Valley in 1908. Another consortium o f American investors bought five
thousand acres of fir and cedar forests on the north arm o f Burrard Inlet.64 The
Rockefeller family alone owned over three hundred square miles o f coastal British
Columbia’s forests by 1907.65 As noted earlier, a large proportion of the province’s
accessible coastal timber was allocated as STLs. In fact, almost all the “good logging
territory” had either been leased or licensed to speculators by 1907.66 When added to the
large amount o f coastal timber lands granted to the Dominion for its railways and Forest
Reserves, the spectre o f a timber supply shortage loomed large in the minds o f many
British Columbians. Despite Premier McBride’s message of forest “preservation” and an
“economical” industry— delivered to the CFA’s convention in 1906—timber interests
believed that the government’s policies were putting forests and their livelihood at risk.67
Their main concern was with the twenty-one year STL. Not only were timber companies
required to harvest all the merchantable timber within this period, but renewal was not
guaranteed. Furthermore, because logging would most likely occur when timber prices
were high, there would be an overproduction o f saw logs and mill capacities would be
exceeded. Overall, prices would fall, affecting the bottom line o f timber companies and
the long-term viability of the industry.68 Firms and consortiums who were securing large
amounts of forested land, also wanted their investment protected from the ravages of
fire.69 Thus lobbying from various timber interests began in earnest in 1907 and 1908.70

64 Lawrence, “M arkets and Capital,” 74.
65 Ibid., 84.
66 G illis and R oach, L o st In itia tives, 141.
67 Parminter, P ro te ctio n , 11-12; G illis and R oach, L o st In itia tiv e s, 141-142; R oach, S tew a rd s, 18.
68 Hak, Turning, 109.
69 Parminter, P ro tectio n , 11.
70 G illis and R oach, L o st In itia tives, 141-142.

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The government’s immediate response was a moratorium on the granting o f any
new timber licenses, imposed by an Order-in-Council on 24 December 1907.71 But before
McBride would settle any disputes over tenure, he initiated a commission to “defuse the
situation,” and to avoid the “political pitfalls of an arbitrator’s role in a volatile
situation.”72 While the Royal Commission o f Enquiry on Timber and Forestry would
explore the contentious issue o f tenure, the belief that its forest wealth should be
protected from fire, and that there was a smaller timber supply than initially thought,
figured prominently in its recommendations; perceptions that stand in stark contrast to
notions o f inexhaustibility.73
Staffed by F.J. Fulton, A.S. Goodeve, and A.C. Flumerfelt, the Royal
Commission’s mandate was to examine matters “concerning the timber resources o f the
Province, the preservation o f forests, the prevention o f forest fires, the utilization o f
timber areas, afforestation, and the diversification o f tree-growing, and generally all
matters connected with the timber resources o f the Province.”74 The commissioners
travelled the province interviewing the public and encouraged input about the various
issues facing the industry. They also attended the First National Conservation Congress—
whose keynote speaker was Gifford Pinchot—held in Seattle, Washington in August
1909.75 Letters sent to the commission raised concerns about policy and tenure, logging
methods, government revenue, and “reaforestation” (reforestation). More importantly,
71 Carrothers, “Forest Industries,” 2 3 7 .
72 R oach, “ Stewards,” 18; Hak, Turning, 113-114; G illis and R oach, L o st In itia tiv e s, 142.
73 It remains unclear h ow tim ber was quantified and valued during the late nineteenth and early tw entieth
century. It is also, outside o f the sco p e o f this study. H ow ever, it is likely that o n ly accessib le tim ber w as
surveyed.
74 S ee the royal proclam ation o f this co m m issio n under the P u b lic E n qu iries A ct. BCA G R 0 2 7 1 , B o x 1,
File 9, 1-2.
75 S ee the introduction accom panying the transcription o f G ifford P in ch ot’s speech at the co n g ress. B C A
GR 0271 , B o x 1, File 3, 1343.

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many correspondents emphasized the threat that fire posed to the province’s forests and
the need for improved fire protection.
A Provincial Supervisor of Scalers noted that the issue o f fire protection “cannot
receive too much intelligent consideration as it is so intimately connected with the future
prosperity o f the province.”76 He believed that the onus o f forest protection fell fully on
the government who “must see to it that the efforts of nature are not made useless by the
in roads of fire.”77 The Provincial Timber Inspector wrote that if the government
preserved “the old workings [forests] from fire ... nature will reafforest much more
rapidly than man can, and do it better.”78 John Stinson had similar views about
reforestation. He argued that “Our first duty is to protect what we have already got. It
would require a gigantic system o f tree planting to replace what is annually destroyed by
forest fires. A dollar spent in protection of forests from fire will do vastly more for
maintaining our timber resources than one spent on reforestation [tree planting],” in a
letter to A.C. Flumerfelt, dated 17 August 1909.79 Stinson was convinced that fire was the
“evil” agency that depleted the province’s forests.80 Not surprisingly, Gifford Pinchot
echoed similar sentiment; however, he perceived fire not as an evil agency but as the
chief “waste” of forests.81 In fact, the “prevention of waste” by fire was one o f Pinchot’s
key “Principles” of conservation.82 Perhaps the most passionate advocate o f forest

76 Supervisor o f Scalers to F.J. Fulton, 31 July, 1909. B CA G R 0 2 7 1 , B o x 1, F ile 2, 4.
77 Supervisor o f Scalers to F.J. Fulton, 31 July, 1909. BCA G R 0 2 7 1 , B o x 1, F ile 2 ,4 .
78 Provincial Timber Inspector to F.J. Fulton, 3 A u g., 1909. BCA G R 0 2 7 1 , B o x 1, File 2, 3.
79 John Stinson to A.C. Flum erfelt, 17 A ugust 1909. B CA G R 0 2 7 1 , B o x 1, F ile 2 , 3. It is unclear w ho
Stinson w as, how ever, his k n ow led ge about forest fire and tenure su g g ests that h e was directly in volved
with the log g in g industry.
80 Ibid.
81 Gifford P in ch ot’s Address to the First N ation al C onservation C ongress, 2 7 A ugust 1909, Seattle,
W ashington. BCA G R 0271, B o x 1, F ile 3, p. 1345.
82 Ibid., 1346.

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protection in British Columbia was the Femie Board o f Trade. In an undated letter to F.J.
Fulton they argued that, “no community in the North American Continent has better
reason to realize the terrible havoc that can be wrought by the neglect to adopt efficient
measures to prevent the spread of bush fires.”83 Their fears were not imaginary. A year
earlier, a wildfire destroyed almost the entire town in a mere ninety minutes.84 W hile the
cause of this fire remains unclear, the board wrote that fires were generally caused by
logging slash, railways, and Indians.85 Not surprisingly, the Board of Trade
recommended that the government appoint “no less than seven fire wardens” for their
district alone.86 After attending the commission’s open house held in Cranbrook, William
Pearce sent a summary o f a paper he had earlier prepared for the Forestry Convention
held in Regina on 3 September. In this summary, he noted that the Pine River area had
been “totally destroyed o f timber resources.”87 Cautioning the commission about the
destruction of timber in Ontario’s Ottawa Valley, he went on to recommend that the
province look into a system o f fire protection.88 Other correspondents expressed similar
concerns about forest protection 89 The commission’s Interim Report, published in 1910,
suggested that the government improve the existing system o f forest fire protection in
order to reduce the number and extent o f fires.90 Their Final Report recommended that

83 F em ie Board o f Trade to F.J. Fulton, no date. B CA G R 0 2 7 1 , B o x 1, F ile 4 , 1.
84 F em ie w as destroyed by fire on 30 July 1908. S ee Parminter, P ro tec tio n , 17.
85 F em ie Board o f Trade to F.J. Fulton, no date. B C A G R 0 2 7 1 , B o x 1, F ile 4.
86 Ibid., 1.
87 W illiam Pearce to F.J. Fulton, 24 Septem ber, 1909. B C A G R 0271, B ox 1, file 4 , p.1; 4 .
88 W illiam Pearce to F.J. Fulton, 24 Septem ber, 1909. BC A G R 0271, B ox 1, file 4 , p.1; 7; 8.
89 “N o e l H um phreys to R.E. G osnell, 27 Septem ber 1909. B C A G R 0 2 7 1 , B o x 1, File 4, 1; 2; 4;
A Summary paper on forest fires titled “E v id en ce Presented to the C om m ission ,” includes briefs on
“Settlers and Fire,” “ Burning,” “Report o f the C h ie f Fire W arden,” and “Secon d Crop: Fire M en a ce.”
S ee BCA G R 0 2 7 1 , B o x 1, F ile 8, R6; R l l ; D 3 -D 5 .
90 “R oyal C om m ission o f Inquiry on Timber and Forestry: Interim R eport,” 1910. BCA G R 0 2 7 1 , B o x 1,
F ile 1 8 ,2 .

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the government protect the province’s forests from fire “through the agency o f a
permanent forest organization upon the lines o f the Northwest [.sic] Mounted Police.”91 In
their opinion, allowing lumbermen to “place in jeopardy o f fire,” the province’s forests,
was “unsound.”92 Quoting Bernhard Femow, Dean o f Forestry at the University o f
Toronto, the commission argued that the “supreme need” of British Columbia’s forests
was its protection from fire.93 According to Femow, this so-called “forest province”
would permanently yield lumber i f fire was kept out.94 Here notions of forest
inexhaustibility were cloaked in the guise o f scientific sustained yield forestry. Thus the
Royal Commission urged the McBride government to create legislation that would
prevent the misuse of the public estate by operators, provide for the future o f the
lumbering industry, secure to the Provincial Treasury revenue that now goes
needlessly to waste, and give protection from fire not only to the standing forest
that forms the present crop but also to the growing timber on cut-over lands upon
which our commercial existence as a forest Province will one day depend.95
Tenure reform and forest protection were not the only issues raised by the
commission. They also challenged notions o f inexhaustibility by pointing out that past
estimates o f the province’s timber supply— anywhere from 50 to 182 million acres—
were the result of the “wildest guesswork.”96 Instead, they estimated that the province
had only fifteen million acres o f accessible forest that contained two hundred billion
board feet o f merchantable timber.97 Despite their conservative estimates, the commission
could not resist boosting the province’s forests noting that these estimates made up h a lf

91 F in al R eport, D 44.
92 Ibid., D 58.
93 Ibid., D 60.
94 Ibid.
95 Ibid., D 58. S ee also D 5 9 .
96 Ibid., D 1 4 -D 1 5 .
97 Ibid., D 17.

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of Canada’s entire timber supply and that the value o f western stumpage was on the
rise.

no

They concluded in their section on the Forests o f British Columbia that
Two things are therefore plain; one, that the value o f standing timber in British
Columbia is destined to rise to heights that general opinion would consider
incredible to-day; the other, that under careful management heavy taxation need
never fall upon the population o f the Province. The profits from a permanent
Crown timber business should make British Columbia that phenomena o f state
craft and good fortune."

That British Columbia was committed— at least on paper—to protecting its forest wealth
undoubtedly pleased the Dominion government. The same year that the province
launched its Royal Commission, the Dominion initiated its own commission. Created for
the express purpose of promoting national efficiency and a “saner system o f national
economy with respect to the administration and development o f the public domain, ” 100
the Canadian Commission of Conservation made recommendations on the efficient use of
forests, minerals, wildlife as well as many other resources that were considered
economically valuable.101 Reports that focused on the country’s forest wealth expressed
similar notions of forest protection. John Hendry, a Vancouver based businessman and
mill owner, noted that, “the preservation o f the forest from destruction by fire, is
undoubtedly the first and greatest need, as this danger is one that recurs every
summer.” 102 Its Second Annual Report, published in 1911, contained a treatise on British
Columbia’s forests written by A.C. Flumerfelt, o f the Royal Commission. W hile noting
that both fire and humans had wasted timber in many areas o f Canada, Flumerfelt argued

98 Ibid., D 17; D 3 7 -4 2 .
99 Ibid., D 20.
100 C om m ission o f C on servation S eco n d A n n u a l R ep o rt, 1911 (M ontreal: John Lovell and Son , Ltd., 19 1 1),

2.
101 Ibid., 120-121.
102 Ibid., 9 2 . See D ic tio n a ry o f C an adian B io g ra p h y O n lin e, s.v. “John H endry,” N ovem ber 2 0 1 2 ,
http://w w w .b iograp h i.ca/E N /009004-119.01 -e.php?id_nbr=7438.

92

that British Columbia was in an “extraordinary position of being able to undertake the
conservation o f public forests before and not after fire and waste have squandered the
bulk of them.” 103 Once again, British Columbia’s enviable forest resources were boosted.
Echoing the conclusions of the Royal Commission, he pointed out that both young
growth and old must be protected from fire.104 Later reports would discuss in detail how
fires caused by steam locomotives and logging slash could be prevented.105 Many o f the
commission’s recommendations would be incorporated into the conservative
government’s 1912 “Forest Bill.”
In the second reading o f this bill the Hon. William R. Ross— the Minister o f
Lands— argued that the “greatest essential of forest conservation was the prevention o f
fire, and this the government first attacked.” 106 Human caused fires would, according to
Ross, prevent the reestablishment o f forests, unless controlled.107 Passed on 27 February
1912, the Forest Act consolidated the Land, Bush Fire, Timber Manufacturer, and
Measurement o f Timber Acts, and created a Provincial Forest Branch to be managed by a
Chief Forester.108 More importantly, the Forest Branch was to “control and regulate,
receive and administer” the conservation o f existing forests, reforestation, and the
prevention of forest fires.109 The policies outlined in the Forest Act that emphasised forest
protection, fire prevention, efficient government oversight, and revenue generation were

103 A .C. Flumerfelt, “The Forestry Problem s o f B ritish C olum bia,” in the C om m ission o f C o n serva tio n
S eco n d A nnual R eport, 1911 (Montreal: John L ovell and Son, Ltd., 1911), 101.
104 Ibid., 102.
105 F orest P ro tectio n in C anada, 1 9 1 2 (Toronto: Bryant Press, 1913), 1-3; 5; 38; F orestry on D o m in io n
L ands (Ottawa, 1915), 3-4; F o rest P ro te ctio n in C an ada, 1 9 1 3 -1 9 1 4 (Toronto: W illiam B rigg s, 1915), 10 11 12 .
106 British C o lu m b ia ’s F o rest P o licy, 10.
107 Ibid., 16-17.
108 R oach, “ Stewards,” 20; Hak, Turning, 96 , 97.
109 F orest A ct, 83.

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consistent with broader perceptions o f the province’s forests. “Forest Reserves,” or
unallocated areas set aside for the “perpetual growing of timber,” would solve the
problem of the declining timber supply, protect the water supply, and allow the
government more control over its natural resources.110 “Fire Prevention” policies would
ensure that both the current investment of timber holders and future timber supply were
to be protected. These policies included closed fire seasons (1 May to 1 October),
mandatory fire control, railway fire patrols, and fire hazard mitigation (piling and burning
of all potential fuel sources), and would apply to all railway companies and municipal
corporations under provincial jurisdiction.111 Additionally, a “Forest Protection Fund” in
the form of an annual $0.01 per acre tax was created to “protect forests and woodland
against fire.” 112 This revenue would be used to equip and maintain a “fire-prevention
force” of wardens, constables and other officials who would construct fire-trails, look-out
stations, telephone lines, and other improvements.113 More than that, any person or
corporation who started a fire on Crown-grant land (Crown land licensed for timber
harvest) was required to pay all the labour costs associated with fire-fighting.114
Furthermore, the annual rents, royalties, and taxes as well as renewal fees for licenses and
leases ensured that the government had a revenue stream from its Crown forests.115
Lastly, the “Manufacture within Province” clause of the Forest A ct stimulated local
milling and manufacturing and aided in the development o f a stronger forest industry.

110 Ibid., 89-90.
111 Ibid., 118-128.
112 Ibid., 125.
113 Ibid., 126.
114 Ibid.
115 Ibid., 9 0 -9 1 , 9 2 ,9 6 ,1 0 5 .

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Subsequent provincial government reports continued to employ notions o f forest
protection and inexhaustibility. The Timber Inspectors’ Report for 1912 noted that
Divisional Wardens on the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island were “to begin the
campaign against the dangerous accumulations o f slash that are threatening everywhere
to convert some of our forests into an almost continuous expanse o f fire-traps.” 116 The
first report of the new Chief Forester, H.R. MacMillan, while more statistical and
quantitative, employed familiar boosting rhetoric: “British Columbia contains one o f the
few great bodies of commercial timber left in the world which are not yet materially
reduced by destructive lumbering...W e are blessed with great natural forest wealth,”
MacMillan boasted.117 Interestingly, he also suggested that the province had “not less
than 100 million acres” o f forest containing “not less than three hundred billion feet, and
probably much more” of merchantable timber.118 This is almost seven times the area, and
one-hundred billion more board feet than was estimated by the Royal Commission only
three years earlier!119 Providing adequate fire protection and using conservationist
methods of lumbering would, in MacMillan’s mind, provide timber in perpetuity.120 His
next report, issued in 1914, noted that only 954,950 acres o f merchantable Crown forests
had been officially cruised and mapped by forest surveyors.121 In other words, the Forest
Branch had quantified only a small proportion o f the province’s timber.122 The first

116 R e p o rt o f th e M in iste r o fL a n d s o f the P ro v in c e o fB ritish C olum bia, 1 9 1 1 (Victoria, 19 1 2 ), G 23.
117 R ep o rt o f the F o re st B ranch, 1912, 5.
118 Ibid., 5.
119 F in a l R ep o rt, D 17.
120 Ibid., D 17; D 24.
121 R ep o rt o f the F o re st B ranch o f th e D ep a rtm e n t o f Lands, 1 9 1 4 (V ictoria: W illiam H. C ullin, 19 1 5 ), 114
[hereafter R ep o rt o f the F o rest Branch, 1914],
122 TD C, 13 January, 1905.

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comprehensive inventory of the province’s forests would not be published until 1918, and
only then by the Dominion government.123
While it is unclear how much area was surveyed between the publication o f the
Royal Commission’s Final Report and the establishment of the Forest Act, MacMillan
optimistically noted that, “the quantity o f merchantable timber in the province is far
larger than was at one time supposed.” 124 The ambiguity expressed in these reports
suggests that no one really knew— at least up to this point—how much merchantable
timber the province possessed. Despite the Royal Commission’s guarded optimism, the
government continued to produce circulars boosting the province’s inexhaustible forest
wealth. Perhaps no single pamphlet better typified this notion than British Columbia
Timber (And Other Forest Products) For Export: A World Supply fo r a World Market,
issued by the Provincial Forest Branch sometime between 1912 and 1916.125 Heavily
utilizing hyperbole and virtually ignoring notions of preservation, conservation, and
forest protection, this forty-page pamphlet illustrates the persistence of perceptions o f
inexhaustible, high quality forest wealth:
British Columbia has timber in enormous quantities, in the largest sizes,
unsurpassed in quality, suitable for practically every use to which wood can be
put. .. .In its forests are the timber giants o f the earth, world famous, oldest in
years, largest in size, yielding the best and clearest timber obtainable ... The stand
o f merchantable timber in the Province is estimated to reach the enormous total o f
four hundred billion (400,000,000,000) feet board measure. The annual cut is at
present in the neighborhood o f only one and one-half billion (1,500,000,000)...

123 H .N . W hitford and Roland D . Craig, F o rests o f B ritish C o lu m bia (Ottawa: C om m ission o f C on servation
Canada, 1918).
124 R e p o rt o f the F orest, 1 9 1 4 ,114.
125 B ritish C olu m bia Tim ber, 1-40. T his circular w as published b etw een 1912, when the F orest B ranch w as
first created, and 1916, w hen T.D. Pattullo assum ed the M inistry o f Lands portfolio. See The R e p o rt o f th e
F o re st Branch o f the D ep a rtm en t o f L ands, f o r th e Y ear E n din g D e c e m b e r 3 1 s' 1915 (V ictoria: W illiam H .
Cullin, 1915) and The R ep o rt o f the F o re st B ran ch o f th e D ep a rtm en t o f L an ds, f o r the Y ea r E n d in g
D ec e m b e r 31s' 1 9 1 6 (Victoria: W illiam H . C ullin, 1917).

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The forest can supply indefinitely a yield considerably greater than that
[emphasis m ine].126

126 Ibid., 3-4.

97

Conclusion
The perception that coastal British Columbia had vast tracts o f the world’s largest and
best quality timber originated in the narratives o f explorers, marine fur traders, and the
influential reports o f land surveyors. These perceptions formed a conceptual foundation
upon which civic, provincial, and Dominion boosters constructed the notion that the
coast’s forests were inexhaustible. More than that, many hoped— believed in fact— that
the economic salvation o f the province lay in its untapped forest wealth. Building on this
reputation and the notion that British Columbia was “the last resort of the lumberman,”
and on a range of external factors that resulted in a high demand for lumber, the
provincial government relaxed forest policy making it easier for timber interests to secure
tenure and speculate on their value.1 But at the same time, a counter-debate was occurring
in that some influential people were calling for the protection o f the province’s forests
from uncontrolled logging, speculation by foreign firms, and fire; notions that stand in
sharp contrast to inexhaustibility. By the turn o f the century, the government and many
timber interests considered fire to be the single greatest threat to the province’s forest
industry. While the Royal Commission was called to sort out problems in forest tenure,
correspondents emphasized the need for fire protection. Their reports not only addressed
this latter issue but also that there was a smaller timber supply than initially suggested.
Many o f the recommendations o f the Royal Commission were incorporated into the
Forest Act. The government believed that the policies stipulated in this act would protect
the forest wealth allocated to licensees, ensure a future timber supply, and provide a
stream of revenue for the provincial government.

1 G osnell, Yearbook, 1 8 97 , 237.

98

R. Peter Gillis and Thomas R. Roach argue that the Forest A ct’s mandate to create
a Forest Branch was a “credit to the early forest conservation movement” in Canada, and
an “offshoot” of the ideals promoted by Gifford Pinchot.2 Stephen Gray, however, argues
that the language of this Act was simply rhetoric because the “large-scale capitalist
development of the forests was not compatible with good forest management.”3 More
than that, the Forest Branch “deferred to the perceived needs” o f timber companies in
“most” aspects o f policy administration.4 While the creation o f a forest department
staffed by foresters and greater fire protection was consistent w ith conservation!sm, the
lack o f policies to reduce harmful logging practices, and the lack o f implementation o f
artificial reforestation until much later, suggest otherwise. Nonetheless, the 1912 Forest
Act contained the seed of forest conservation.
Despite concerns about forest protection, an uncertain timber supply, and
unrealised revenues, the government continued to boost the coast as “the greatest forest
region in the world” with the “biggest and finest timber,”5 indicating the persistence o f
these perceptions. Notions of inexhaustibility persisted into the late 1980s and 1990s. The
Council o f Forest Industries (COFI)— a consortium o f interior forest companies that seek
to “ensure that forest policies in BC support the forest sector”— launched a “Forests
Forever” campaign, in 1987, to counteract the widespread opposition to clear-cut

2 G illis and R oach, L o st In itia tives, 148.
3 Gray, The G overnm ent, 49.
4 Ibid.
s B ritish C olum bia Tim ber, 3.

99

logging,6 Over the next three years, COFI spent millions o f dollars promoting the notion
that the province’s forests would last forever — with proper management— by employing
signs on highways and logging roads, stickers (that can still be seen on truck bumpers
today) and newspaper adds.7 More recently, Canada Post produced a souvenir stamp
sheet commemorating the International Year o f Forests that featured a “stunning vertical
panorama,” o f a massive coastal Douglas fir, “that is rich in colour and teeming with
vegetation.”8 This image, and COFI’s campaign tag-line indicate the persistence of
historically rooted perceptions of the landscape.

6 C ouncil o f Forest Industries, h ttp ://w w w .cofi.org/ab ou t-u s/w h o-w e-are/ab ou t-u s-overview / (a c c e sse d 1
M ay 2012); “Forests: Fighting Forever? B u sin esses and Preservationists W a g e a Public R ela tio n s W ar
O ver the P rovince’s R esources,” The V ancouver Sun, 30 M ay, 1 9 8 9 , quoted in W ill K oop , The W orking
F orest: E n d o f the Com m ons?, The N ew C o rp o ra te M a n a g em en t P la n f o r B ritish C olum bia (V ancouver:
B .C . Tap-W ater A lliance, 20 0 3 ), 15-16.
7 K oop, The W orking, 15-16.
8 “International Year o f Forests Souvenir S heet,” Canada Post,
http://w w w .canadapost.ca/shop/collecting/com m em orative-stam ps/2011-april-june/intem ational-year-offo rests-so u v en ir-sh eet/p -4 0 3 7 9 6 1 4 5 .jsf? ex ecu tio n = elsl, (accessed 16 M ay 20 1 2 ).

100

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