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:-■ ".2 ,.

REPLY TO LETTER OF

"OLD SETTLER,"

PUBLISHED IX THE

"TIMES" NEWSPAPER,

ON THE SELECTION OF A TERMINUS ON THE PACIFIC COAST
FOR THE PROPOSED CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY.

A BRITISH NORTH AMERICAN".

LONDON:
BENJAMIN SULMAN,

IiIevropolitan Works,
& 64, MILTON STREET, FOEE SIHEET, CITY.

INTRODUCTOKY NOTE.

The following letter has been written in reply to a communi-
cation signed " Old Settler," which appeared in the columns
of the Times on the subject of the choice of the terminus on
the Pacific coast for the proposed Canadian Pacific liailvvay.

The writer, a resident of Victoria, Vancouver Island,
possesses great local information, and naturally desired that
the disparaging remarks of " Old Settler," located on the
mainland, should be refuted in the same journal that gave
tliem currency.

With the pressure on the space of the daily press it seemed
hopeless to ask the insertion of so long a reply in the Times,
or to seek the insertion in any other paper, whilst it also
appeared desirable tliat the letter should take a less ephemeral
form, and pass in a convenient shape into the hands of
persons taking a special interest in the subject-matter.

From a spirit of fairness, and to facilitate a clear under-
standing of the question discussed, the letter commented
upon is printed in an appendix.

It has a^so been considered that the formation of a correct
judgment on the matter at issue would be aided if in the
appendi.x: works of authority were instanced, from which
valuable information is obtainable, and if extracts were given
from some of those least accessible.

Upon reference to the appendix attached to jVIr. Fleming's
report on the surveys and preliminary operations for the
Canadian Pacific Kailway {vide p. 282) it will be observed
that lie was desirous of eliciting the experience of the officers
of H.AI. Navy who had serve<l on the I'acific coast respecting
" the several harbours where the land lines are projected to

terminate, the approaches tliereto from seaward, as well as
aiiftJiorage for vessels at different points alon^,' the coast."

Eight points on the niaitdand coast are instanced, but Mr.
Fleming adds, "The application should, however, not be con-
fined to information respecting tliese points ; it should embrace
all that is known with regard to the various inlets and
waters of the Pacific coast within the limits of British
Columbia."

The inquiries submitted through the Colonial Office to the
Admiralty should surely have brought into prominence tlie
naval and commercial value of Esquimalt Harbour. With
one exception the replies have compared the relative advan-
tages of mainland termini only.

It therefore becomes desirable to supplement the informa-
tion obtained. For this purpose is given the graphic descrip-
tion of Esquimalt Harbour by the correspondent of the Times
in 1858 ; the opinion of Admiral Eichards upon its naval and
commercial value in 1858 in reply to the request of the late
Sir E. B. Lytton, then Minister for the Colonies ; and testi-
mony to the same effect by other officers of H.M. Navy.

It is next of importance to show how great are the miarine
difficulties by which any mainland port would be reached,
and upon this head reference may be made to the " Vancouver
Pilot," published by the Admiralty from the surveys of
Admiral Eichards, and to a less accessible book, the " Eeport
of the Superintendent of the U.S. Coast Survey during the Year
1858," published at Washington in 1859.

Eeference should also be made to the strongly expressed
statement of Captain John Devereux, at page 308 of appendix
to Mr. Fleming's report ; and to the opinion of Commander
Pender, E.N., at page 300 of the same book. ; >

The disadvantages of access by the Haro Strait from a
military point of view, owing to the position of the American
island of St. Juan, have been forcibly put by the Eev. G. M.
Grant, Secretary to the Expedition of the Engineer-in-Chief of
the Canadian Pacific Eailway, in his well-known book " Ocean

to Ocean." Writinj^ of San Juan, Mr. Grant states at page 338,
"It commands the entrance to British waters, British shores,
a British river, and a ]*>ritish province. There is a hill on
San Juan about a thousand feet high, a battery on which
would command the whole strait/'

From the same point of view it is important to consider
the opinion of General Tatten, Chief Engineer of the United
States Army, of the disadvantages under which British
settlements and commerce might be placed. This opinion is
quoted at some length in the ai)pendix.

In order to appreciate the commercial value of Esquimalt
Harbour, the works cited in the appendix should be carefully
studied i and its importance as a station for refitting the
ships of H.M. Navy, and recruiting the health of men
impaired by service in Chinese waters, should not be over-
looked.

VANCOUVER ISLAND AND THE MAINLAND
OF BIIITISII COLUMBIA.

In the Tiincs newspaper there was published in January,
1877, a letter signed "Old Settler," dated from New West-
minster, British Columbia, 4th December, 1876, contain inj.5
intemperate and unj:jenerous remarks on his island neighbours
of Victoria, the British Columbia capital. To controvert
some of his other assertions the ibllowing counter-statements
are respectfully submitted, that the subject of the proposed
terminus of the Canadian Pacific liailway may be considered
by the British public from another point of view.

As might be expected, mainlanders iidiabiting the southern
and in extent the third part of continental British Columbia
are not in accord with Vancouver Islanders on the Railway
Terminus question, althouglv ])erfectly aware that it v/ill be
determined on its merits by the statesmen of the Dominion
and mother country, when possessed of the fullest attamable
information. It is doubtless the duty of mainlander as well
as of islander to furnish each his quota of information, and it
is for the impartial to judge how far supposed self-interest
may have unwittingly warped the statements presented by
either.

I differ from " Old Settler " as to the extent of the harbour
of Burrard Inlet, and as to his estimate of its value to the
Dominion and tlie empire, as the site of the western terminus
of the Canadian Pacific Eailway.

In his epistle to the Times he has the following :—'' A good
route has been found, passing through or close to the settled
parts of the province, and terminating at the magnificent
harbour of Burrard Inlet — a harbour capable of containing all

tlie navies in the world, with plenty of room to spare ; a
liarbour which Victorians in their blind rajjie sti«'matise as
ditliciilt and dangerous of access, but into which sailing ships
have been brought under sail and without a pilot."

With regard to the last assertion I have to admit tliat
authentic evidence does exist ; that about ten years ago two
merchantmen, each of, at the most, from 300 to 400 tons
burthen, sailed into the inlet without a pilot ; but they were
piloted out, and their masters never repeated the venture.
Like instances may very rarely have occurred. It is well
known as an almost unvarying custom that sailing ships are
towed to and fro between Eoyal Eoads, Esquimalt, and the
inlet. So far is Buriard Inlet from being in respect of safe
harbourage comparable with JNIilford Haven or Cromarty
Bay in the old land, that it has of good anchorage at Gran-
ville or Coal Harbour only about one square marine mile in
extent, and at Moodyville on the north shore only half a
square marine mile or less. The remainder of the inlet,
36 fathoms deep in mid- channel, is, owing to strong tidal
currents and eddies, unsafe for anchorage.

Outward bound ships with their tugs do anchor at its edge»
in about 20 fathoms, awaiting turn of tide, but meanwhile a
man has to be at the helm so to steer as to obviate the risk
of having the cable snapped.

" Old Settler " avoids mention of the dangerous Narrows
leading from the Georgian Gulf into the inlet. Through
these, but 300 yards wide in one place, the tide rushes
strongly up and down, and the eddies are rapid. For two
hours spring tides are said by experienced men to average ten
knots through the Narrows. So much for " Old Settler " on
these matters of fact. He is not the only mainlander who
has publicly vaunted of the harbour of Burrard Inlet and its
approaches. In the Ottawa House of Commons, 6th April, 1876,
a B.C. mainland member said, in his place, that " the navi-
gation from the southern extremity of Vancouver Island to
Burrard Inlet is excellent." This does not agree with what

is stated in the " Vancouver Island Pilot," paj^'es 1, 30 — !U, and
102, or with \vh iL is shown in the Adniiridty Chart of" Vun-

les
wo
ten
ion
^ho
[its
76,
Ivi-
to
Lat

Tnland and ndj

Mainland," both th

rk of

couver

Captain (now Admiral) liichards, U.M., and of his ollicnrs.
Neither does it correspond with the well-uonsidered represen-
tations of commanders of coasting steamers, and of pilots, who
•"Gr years have been passing up and down in all weathers
when ])racticable. They say the Haro Channel abounds in
shoals and reefs, narrowing it at one point to less than two
miles, between Turnpoint on Stuart's Island, U.S.A., and
Coo])er lleef, IIN.A, Its depth of water varies from GO to
180 fathoms. The spring tides run at least at the rate of 6
knots an hour, while off the points are strong eddies and
dangerous tide rips. In and adjoining this channel are
several anchorages suitable for vessels of about 1,000 tons if
towed, but none where ocean steamers or sailing ships of
the largest size should ever be found in foggy or stormy
weather.

Staff Commander Pender, E.N., in evidence, by request of
the Admiralty, recently given to the Colonial Otlico lor general
information respecting the harbours of the mainland, after
avowing preference for Biiivard's Inlet as the site for the
railway terminus over other mainland inlets, as far as yet
surveyed, further states, however, that " the risks attending
navigation, with large steamships against time, amongst the
islands lying between Juan de Fuca Strait and the Strait of
Georgia are very great." The foregoing is the concluding
sentence of Captain Pender's evidence, as copied in the
Victoria British CWo?MS^,9thMay, 1877,from the latest Progress
Eeport of Mr. Sandford Fleming, Engineer-in-CL ? of the
Canadian Pacific Railway Survey.

In that report is also given the evidence of Admiral
Richards, and of Admirals Farquhar and Cochrane. With
Admiral (then Captain) Richards, Mr. Pender was for several
years engaged in the survey of this coast, and latterly, when
himself in command, he continued the w^ork for some years

1 1

longer. His opinions on tiie matter in qnnstion are therefore
entitled to the greatest consideration. jNIr. Fleming, in his
late comprehensive lleport, states, as one of the deductions
derivable from the naval testimony furnished, taken in con-
junction with the Admiralty charts, that the approach to
Burrard Inleu by the south of Vancouver Island is through
passages more or less intricate, between or at no great
distance from, islands known as the San Juan group.

The strategic or military objections to the Fraser Valley
and Burrard Inlet route have, in the Dominion Parliament,
been adverted to by Premier Mackenzie, and in his latest
report (1877) by Mr. Fleming. However great the desire of
the British for amity with surrounding nations, the contin-
gencies of war are points that our statesmen are not accus-
tomed to ignore, or dismiss the consideration of as of small
moment. Friendly as the future relations of England and
America may be, there is yet no sign of abatement in their
existing intense cmmercial rivalry. It is hence of primary
necessity, and clearly of the higliest import to Imperial and
Dominion interests, that advantage should be taken of the
best commercial standpoint still remaining to Great Britain
on the Pacific slope.

The Americans possess on the Fucan Strait, opposite to,
and seventeen miles from Esquimalt, " Port Angeles,"
jocularly called "Cherbourg," and in the-' U.S. Pilot," p. 188,
termed "an excellent and extensive harbour." At page 190
of the same authority is the statement that " coal of fair
quality is reported to have been found within three miles of
the harbour." Furt Angeles could, by a railway from ] 50 to
175 miles in length to Tenino, a short distance S...^. if
Olympia, the capital of Washington Territory, be connected
with the line between Tacoma, W.T., and Poseburg, Southern
Oregon, ultimately, it is said, to be joined in Calilornia with
tliG ( entraj Pacific Trans-continental line.

A few years ago, when some American capitalists projected
the North l*aoific liailway line, and were liaving the Puget

Sound (W.T.) country examined for a pass through the
Cascade Mountains, and for a good terminal harbou^' on the
eastern shore of th? territory, Holmes Harbour, sixty miles
south of Port Angeles, was so much talked of as the terminus
that land there and in the neighbourhood greatly rose in
value. It was at Ais time proposed to carry the line from
Snoqualim Pass by a long circuit north to opposite Fidalgo
Island (see map of W. Territory), thither by bridge, thence
south, and by bridge across Deception Pass to Whidbey
Island, and on to Holmes Harbour, which opening on the
east shore of that island would have had to be connected by a
ship canal of a few miles in length with Admiralty Inlet,
the straight f«nd safe southern furcation of De Fuca.

Although, north of Holmes Harbour, on the east coast of
"Washington Territory, there are other harbours, and amongst
these Bellingham Bay, whence coal is exported in sailing
vessels, the above-mentioned capitalists held distinctly in
view the adopting a terminus of comparatively easy access
from the ocean, aud considering the expensive operations
proposed, it is a fair inference that they regarded this as a
point of primary importance. The sending a branch railway
line into British territory was then and has been since talked
of.

A hope is evidently entertained that with such a branch,
and after the occurrence of vexatious delays and marine
disasters on the passage to a terminus at Burrard's Inlet, the
Canadian P.RE. would become secondary and subsidiary to
the American Bailway lines hereafter to terminate on Admi-
ralty Inlet and the Fucan Straits. What is plainly a hope
for Americans is a great dread to Victorians, and for most
other British Columbians who give attention to these matters.

Fogs occasionally prevail on this coast every peason from
Au<j;ust until November, being in dry seasons lengthened by
forest fires. During mild winters real fogs occur much later,
but do not last lor.g. In September, 1868, coasting steamers
were for ten days delayed by fog in Victoria Harbour. On

another, or possibly the same occasion, while several steamers
were fog-bound at Nanaimo, an American captain ventured
out and wrecked his ocean steamer.

A late leader in the Toronto Glohc of 27th April stated
that "what there is of population in Ih-itish Columbia is
located chiefly along the Traser and Thoin[)son Valleys," and
a like statement was last session made in the Ottawa House
of Commons. It is nevertheless entirely wrong. The facts
are against both the editor and the M.P., as reference to the
B.C. Voters' List, 1876, will prove. There is no census of the
whole population, but a tolerably correct one of the school
population taken annually. In 1376 the school population
of the island stood to that of the whole mainland in the
proportion of 18 to 7. A few young people from the main-
land are at school in Victoria.

Since July, 1873, there has been no settlement on the
public lands of the island that would have attracted greatest
attention, as these have been reserved from sale or alienation
in a twenty-mile belt from Esquimalt to Seymour Narrows,
between which points the Dominion Government of that day
located a railway.

Mr. James Eichardson, the geologist employed by the
Ottawa authorities under the Geologist-in-Chief, A. E. C.
Selwyn, Esq., in his report of 1871-2 speaks of the coal
denosits of this belt on the east coast of Vancouver as
" extending from the v icinity of Cape Mudge in the north-
west, to within fifteen miles of Victoria in the south-east,
with a length of about 130 miles." Eegarding this tract, in
examination of which Mr. Eichardson was long employed, he
adds, " It possesses generally a good soil, and may hereafter
be thickly settled."

Vi(.torians, instead of, as "Old Settler" writes, wishing to
have a railway pass through " a wild, unsettled country," for
the general good, desire to have it, after term.'nating at the
best harbour on the B.C. Pacific slope for ocean commerce,
develop the varied resources of the east coast of Vancouver

and adjacent islands, where there will yet be coal and
manufacturing towns, and a wealthy and loyal population in
town and country, as leal for home or imperial defence as
their fellow-subjects of Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, and the
other eastern provinces. This tract would early afford im-
portant wayside traffic. From the car-ferrying point at the
snug harbour of Otter Cove, having about a mile of wharf
frontage (see chart and Fleming's two reports), settlement
would spread along the island and mainland coast wherever
frugal, industrious families could reasonably hope to prosper.
Not far from the cove the fine valley uf Salmon iiiver, V.I.,
invites agricultural settlement. At and far beyond the cove
the same timber flourishes which in such vast quantity, sawn
and in spars, is exported from the " Inlet," B.C., and Puget
Sound, U.S.A.

In the last session of the Ottawa Senate the Hon. E. W.
Scott, Secretary of State, in reply to inquiry as to why no
naval testimony had been obtained as to the value of island
harbours in comparison with those on the mainland, said
that he thought full information as to the former was in
possession of the Government.

It is desirable, since the colonists of Victoria have been
attacked in ihe columns of the Times by " Old Settler," as
being regardless of the higher interests of the province, the
dominion, and the empire, and as purely from the most
miserably selfish considerations striving to have the Western
Railway terminus at Esquimalt, Vancouver Island, that such
defence as one Victorian can present should have wide
currency.

The strait of Juan de Fuca, dividing British North America
from the United States, is between eight pnd seventeen miles
wide, and eighty-four miles long, and for safety of navigation
is excelled probably by few, if any, inland seas on the globe.
As a guide from the ocean to the strait there are deep sea
soundings forty-five miles out from the line of coast, and on
each shore of the entrance a Ur:t-class lighthousd. Inside

1 f

no hidden dangers exist, except at one spot half a mile from
land on the American shore ; the soundings deep in mid-
channel shoiJ towards land, and good anchorages are to be
found on either sliore. See " V. 1. Pilot," pages 1 to 6, and
" U.S. Coast Pilot," for Washington Territory, &c., pages 182
to 200.

On this strait, sixty-two rniles from the ocean, are the
well-known harbour of Esquinialt, and its contiguous and
invaluable outer harbour or roadstead, on the Admiralty Chart
marked " lioyal Bay." Thither ships are continually brought
under sail and without a pilot. Thence they are towed
ocean ward only on special occasions.

This roadstead is deemed in some respects superior to that
of the Downs. It is perfectly sheltered from westerly winds,
but to a certain extent affected by south-easterly gales. Still,
■\vhat have been considered as such, blowing down the straits,
have, in the roads, been weathered by ships with only one
anchor down.

Ships can be anchored in Eoyal Bay v'ithout liability to
pilotage or other charges.

Within easy reach of all ports to the southward, and only
from six to ten days' sail of San Francisco, the greatest of
these ports, Pioyal Bay, is more and more being resorted to
by shipmasters seeking freight, for here they can select a cargo
either north or south, and charters can be speedily arranged,
as telegraphic communication exists with all the most
important parts of the world.

Esquimalt has of wharf frontage four and a half miles, and
of safe anchorage about three square marine miles, although
within this area a few small spots will some day need the
dredger. lioyal Bay outside has three square miles of good
holding ground.

East of it there is some inferior anchorage, and west, some
miles more of the same, with harbours good against westerly
winds. Since the completion, in 1860, of the Kace Rock,
V. I. lighthouse, no marine mishaps have occurred between

Eoyal Bay and the ocean. No such allegaiicn as this can be
made as to navigation between the lloads and Burrard's Inlet, or
Kanaimo, on the routes to which disasters of the most serious
nature have happened to steamers and sailing vessels. Details
of tiiese can be found at the Marine Department of the Board
of Trade in London.

The subsidized American mail steamers thrice monthly
reach Esquimalt at all hours and in any weather.

In 1873 H.M. flagship Repulse (Admiral Hillyar) by night
steamed into and up the Fuca Straits, anchoring in Esquimalt
long before daylight, although all on board were strangers on
this coast.

" Old Settler " objects to Vancouver as being an " outlying
island." To thinking men, and Britons born especially, this
must, with all it involves, be a recommendation.

At home, since first a steamer crossed the Atlantic, points
of arrival and departure for large ships, doubtless in avoid-
ance of the delays and dangers of inland navigation, have
ever been sliifting oceanwards, until, at length, Cork and
Falmouth are such stations, and Valentia Bay soon will be.

The shortening of some distance of railway construction
and travel is of small account ; indeed, it is as nothing com-
pared to the saving in time, in bad weather, facility of loco-
motion by night, and to the perennial minimizing of sea-risks
that will ensue from having the Western Eailvvay terminus
at the most eligible harbour oh our Pacific coast ; a harbour
which is within easy reach of or from the ocean, by powerful
steamers, during night, fog, or storm, and which possesses the
advantage of being situated where the climate is the most
agreeable, mild, and sunny, on a wide and safe inland sea,
the Fucan Strait, a great highway of commerce for the
Am.ericans, and equally so for the British, in the widest sense
of that already very comprehensive term. All these advan-
tages Esquimalt uriquestionably possesses, and what other
harbour in the province can claim a tithe of them ? Some
points in this paragraph are briefly but strongly touched on

in Chief Engineer Fleming's Eailway Report of January, 1874,
pages 6 and 10

Further north on Vancouver Island, at Fliksiwi and Euperfc,
coal fit for steamboat use exists, and on an island near, rich
magnetic iron ore. Coal is found at Quatsino, west coast of
Vancouver Island, and likely enough extends to the northern-
most part of the island.

The straight channels, having many anchorages, and several
harbours leading from Otter Cove to the open sea at Queen
Charlotte's Sound (see chart), offer very suitable points for the
placing of ordnance. They are frequently used by coasting
steamers, and by American steamers bound for Alaska. Four
of our most experienced steamboat commanders have told me
that in bad weather or darkness they consider these channels
safer than those of the Haro Archipelago. ''

One American war steamer has been wrecked in the
neighbourhood, but then the main channel was left for a
shorter cut. In case of war, should access to the Georgian
Gulf be temporarily impeded, or apprehension thereof enter-
tained abroad, merchantmen bound for Burrard Inlet would
have to proceed " northabout," making land at Queen
Charlotte's Sound. Thence tlieir towage, counting from the
harbour of Nawitti bar, Goletas Channel, would be 235 miles,
whereas to Otter Cove towage would only be 106 miles. '. '

An accurate observer, of competent authority, Mr. G. M
Dav/son, F.G.S., now for the third season geologizing on the
mainland, in a lecture last February at Montreal, on British
Columbia, thus in the order of their importance classified the
resources of the province : — 1, Mines ; 2, Forests ; 3, Fisheries .
4, The Chase ; 5, Stock Raising ; 6, Agriculture. From
Esquimau to Otter Cove the first three of these resources
abound. The fourth is as elsewhere. TJie fifth only as sub-
sidiary to grpin culture, and the sixth, as elsewhere through-
out the province, exists but moderately. On the mainland
"coast, copper mining, it is thought, will be developed. Coal
is reported on Smith's Inlet, Fitzhugh Sound. Timber and

fish are ill abundance on the coasts. Stock raising, ran -d
htth in importance, is, as a general tiling, and except at
carriboo, the chief pursuit east of the Cascade Mountains
north and south of Eoute No. 6, the proposed railway line
vid Bute Inlet. , . ,^ .

Everywhere in summer horned cattle become very fat but
nowliere can the precaution be omitted of havinrr laroe
supplies of natural hay as winter provender. In the south
during mild seasons much hay is not expended.
^ In the great lake country between N. lat. 53° and 55° there
IS said to be much summer feed for cattle. Beeves are driven

at little expense to market north and south. This year several

hundred head are being taken into California.
The navigation from Otter Cove to Frederick Arm for the

steam car ferry-boat is known to be perfectly safe ; some

illustrate by comparing it to that between Blackwall and

Gravesend.

Ferrying between Burrard Inlet and Nanaimo of railway
cars is not considered safe.

Adoption of the central route No. 6 of Fleming's report
will greatly promote more thorough prospecting for the
precious metals throughout the vast extent of country.

The bridging from mainland to island hereafter to be
effected, and now by "Old Settler" in his letter made a bug-
bear of, will not be attempterl until the " Great North- west*'"
has been extensively peopled, and the requirements of a vast
traffic demand and justify the outlay. The day of that great
engineering work may not be far distant if the statesmen of
the motherland and of the Dominion, imbued with a hioh
sense of mutual duty and responsibility, by earnest and
befitting co-operation urge on railway progress in Central
British North America, and as an essentially necessary con-
comitant effectually promote emigration to that beautiful
salubrious, far-spreading, and fertile land. It is quite reason-
able that railway extension should there be more rapid than
on the Pacific slope, but it would be the extreme of unfaix-

It III

ili

18 .-,;;,;■ .v.. .,-■■

ness not very soon to commence in this province simul-
taneously on island and mainland.

So young and so very isolated a province as British
Columbia, encountered north and south by a tariff prohibi-
tory to some of its products and almost so to all, needs for its
development a great public work, and it fortunately happens
that such, in the shape of railway construction, is called for
in the real interests of the old country and the Dominion.

A British North American.

r^t:

APPENDIX.

THE " MAINLAND " AND VANCOUVER ISLAND.

To the Editor of the " Ti -s"

unl^'Z^'"'' ''^'' ''^^^'''^ "^'^^ "^^""^ i«t^^'«st every article in
Uld Country ' newspapers having reference to our affairs in
this far-away spot of the globe is read by British Columbians •
but you cannot have any idea of the dismay and recrret
which are felt by "MrSianders" when they see that'ihe
whole of the arguments so ably brought forward are in the
interest of a very smaU portion of this magnificent province
—Vancouver Island ; or I might with greater truth say in
the interest of Victoria, a single town at the " fallinff-off
place " of British Columbia, ^

Englishmen who have never baen in this part of her
Majesty's dominions are too apt to be misled in this matter
and to suppose that because Victoria has done all the talkin-'
has been unceasing and untiring in asserting her own interest"
m the public speeches of her leading men, and in the columns
ot her two local papers -because, in short, Victoria has not
her greedy expectations satisfied, that therefore the whole
province is almost in a state of rebellion.

Will you allow me. sir, to say a word as to what the
Mainland of British Columbia thinks, premising that, were
It not for the trade cf the Mainland, Victoria would now be
what It was originally, an Indian village, and that a small
one. You are aware of the cause of contention between this
province and the Dominion of Canada. It may be summed

Ijijh

up as the Trans-Continental Railway. The Premier and
Government of the Dominion have heen working energetically
to carry out the programme bequeathed to them by their
predecessors, Sir John A. Macdonald and his colleagues, which
was to have a rail communication from the Atlantic to the
Pacific, and within a certain time; Sir John's Government,
moreover, fixing the terminus at Esquimalt, on Vancouver
Island, with a railway thence to Nanaimo, and thence by
bridge or ferry to the Mainland.

I suppose, sir, that Sir John A. Macdonald himself would
now acknowledge that his proposed road, and the time in
which it was to be constructed, and the placing the terminus
on an outlying island, involving bridging between Mainland
and Island of prodigious cost, are simply impossibilities with
the means at the disposal of the Dominion. He would, no
doubt, also acknowledge that the route through the Mainland
in order to connect it with the bridge or ferry to the Island
•would of necessity go so far north as to leave the settled and
cultivated portions of the Mainland as much out of reach of
• the benefits to be derived from the railway as if it were made
through Alaska. Mr. Mackenzie, who succeeded Sir John
A. Macdonald, saw the absurdity of the terms granted to
British Columbia, and did the best he could in sending out
numerous survey parties all over the continent to discover
the shortest and best route to the sea-coast. This, I think I
may say, has been accomplished, and a good route has been
found, passing through or close to the settled parts of the
province, and terminating at the magnificent harbour of
Burrard Inlet — a harbour capable of containing all the navies
in the world, with plenty of room to spare ; a harbour which
Victorians in their blind rage stigmatise as ditficult and
dangerous of access, but into which sailing ships have been
brought under sail and without a pilot.

, Now, sir, you can understand the bitterness and selfishness
of Victorians. They do not seem to care for the benefit of the
province at large, their sole idea is to force the railway to the

Islaiul and through to Esquimalt, so that their lands and
town lots and speculative purchases may be made to return
$20 for ^l. When it was proveu that the expense of taking
tlie railway across the Straits to Vancouver Island would
involve such frightful expense that even wealthy Great
Britain would recoil from it, these disinterested patriots at
Victoria fell upon the unfortunate Dominion Government
with shrieks of broken terms and bad faith.

And now, air, what does the Mainland say ? — that Mainland
froin which the Victorians draw all their living, and whose
trade gives them the means to speculate in corner lots and
unoccupied land ? Sir, the Mainland is satisfied so far.
They see that Mr. Mackenzie inherited an impossible task
from his predecessors. They acknowledge the energy and
promptitude with which h^ has conducted surveys all over
the country. They know that, after all, the route must be
settled by the engineers. They know that, if a practicable
route can be found through the settled pOi..^ons of the
province, no minister would be so treasonably guilty as to
divert it to an unsettled and wild country in order to satisfy
the hungry, greedy cormorants in Victoria, who are making
so much noise and turmoil over their disappointed hopes, and
crying for " Carnarvon terms or separation." The Island may
separate if she wishes. Lord Dufferin told them plainly what
separation meant in their case. The Mainland can do with-
out Victoria, but Victoria cannot exist without the Main-
land. Nanairao, on the Island, has solid means of
prosperity in her splendid coal mines ; but Victoria, which
: is the cause of all this trouble, were she left to her own
resources, would fall back to what she was before — a Siwash
Uanche. • „;

Allow me once more to say, the Mainland is satisfied so
far; that they have confidence in the Dominion Ministry
fulfilling all their obligations, so far as can be done with
justice to the rest of the Dominion ; that they believe there
has been no unnecessary delay ; that they have faitii in the

III

lil

22 ^ . '

railway, which is a necessity not alone to them, but to the
Dominion at larj^'o, and, may I add, to the imperial Govern-
ment also?— Your obedient servant,

Old Skttlkk.

New Westmimtcr, British Columbia, Dec. 4. ' .!

DESCRIPTION OF ESQUIMALT HARBOUR.

By Corresporulent of the "Times," 1858.

I left San Francisco on Thursday, the 24th June, at halt-past
four p.m., and arrived in Esquimalt Harbour, near Victoria^
on the following Tuesday at six in the morning — distance
800 miles.

Having for several years entertained a conviction of the
vast importance to England of the possession of Vancouver
Island, both politically and conmiercially, and of the absence
of any other point on the coast which can ever rival it north
of San Francisco, I watched with much interest the different
bays and anchorages as we passed them. There is not a safe
harbour, not a spot adapted for a commercial port, between
San Francisco and the island. Humboldt Bay is capacious,
and vessels can lie with tolerable safety when once in ; but it
is inaccessible in heavy weather, and is ditficult of exit.

There are several harbours along the coast which are good
enough in summer, dui-ing the prevalence of north-west winds ;
but in winter the south-east winds blow up the coast, and
make them all unsafe and difficult of access. The captain's
remark was, "There is either a heavy swell or the access is
difficult." There are no hidden dangers on the coast.

Steamers can keep close in sliore, where the sea is smooth
and little current, but sailing vessels should keep a gootl
ofling, i)'irticularly from April to October, when the wind
blows from the northward and westward, and cause a strong
current.

The harbour of Esquimalt is a circular bay, or rathor a
basin, hollowed by nature out of the solid rock. We slid in
through the narrow entrance between two low, rocky promon-
tories, and found ourselves suddenly transported from the
open sea and its lieavy roll and swell into a Highland lake,
placid as the face of a mirror, in the recesses of a pine forest.
The transition was startling. From the peculiar shape of the
bay, and the deep indentations its various coves make into the
shore, one sees but a small portion of the harbour at a glance
from the point we brought up at. We therefore thought it
ridiculously small after our expectations had been so highly
wrought in San Francisco.

The whole scenery is of the Highland character — the
rocky shores, the pine trees running down to the edge of the
lake, their dark foliage trembling over the glittering surface
which reflected them, the surrounding hills, and the death-
like silence. I was both delighted and dicappointed —
delighted with the richness of the &.".enery, but disappointed
at the smallness of the harbour. Can this little loch, impri-
soned within natural ramparts of rncks, buried in the solitude
of a forest, be the place which I hoped would become so
famous ; the great destiny of which has been prognosticated
by statesmen and publicists, and the possession of which is
bitterly envied us by neighbouring nations ; this the place
where England is to centre a naval force hitherto unknown
in the Pacific, whence her fleets are to issue for the protection
of her increasing interests in the western world ; this the
seaport of the Singapore of the Pacific; the modern Tyre into
which the riches of the East are to flow and be distributed to
the western nations ; the terminus of railway communication
which is to connect the Atlantic with the Pacific ?

A survey of the bay satisfies one iliat it is a capacious har-
bour capable of containing a large lieet — hundreds of vessels
when its capacity is made available by engineering — the
building of wharves, throwing out of jetties, scarping the
rocky shores ^c.

And it has the natural advantages of a good bottom for
anchorage, is almost land-locked, and by a little building
at the entrance caji be made completely so : deep water,
five, six, seven, and eight fathoms, easy of access, Victoria
Bay, over which vessels pass in entering, being itself a safe
anchorage, a:id of great capacity. The harbour is admirably
adapted for fortifications, which could be built at its entrance
in such a manner as to make it impregnable. Guns could
be so placed on the promontories and on an island just out-
side, in Victoria Bay, as to completely command the entrance,
and under the fire of which no vessel could live; — and what
is of infinite importance — there is a portion of the harbour
which could not be shelled, and which is well adapted for
the building of a dockyard.

The ground on two sides of the liarbour is eligible for a
city, and — what is a curious feature in the landscape, cad
may becoihe yet of great commercial importance — an arm of
the sea, called the Victoria Arm, runs up into the country
from Victoria several miles to within 6U0 yards of Esqui-
malt Harbour. This is navigable for small vessels ; and
should Victoria continue to be the capital of the colony and
the commercial city, nothing is easier than to carry mer-
chandise in a variety of craft from the harbour to the city
by the Victoria Arm (which would be an inland naviga-
tion) free from the swell of the open sea between the two
places.

Extract of Eepoiit of C'aptain (now Admiral) IticiiARDs,
il.K, ON THE Harbours of Vancouver Island and
British Columbia, prepared by the desire of the
LATE Sir E. B. Lytton, Bart, ^px Parliamentary
Papers relating to British Coluinhia, Part II., paf/e 14.

T will now offer a few observations on the harbour
Esqiiinialt, which from its position and capabilities would
appear destined to become the emporium not only of Vancou-
ver Island, but also in a great measure of the new colony
which has just been called into existence under the name of
British Columbia. Though not a first-class harbour in point
of size, it has ample room for twelve ships of the lir;o, besides
many smaller vessels. It affords good shelter, and the hold-
ing ground is good ; it is easy of ingress and egress ; the
shores of its numerous bays and creeks are well adapted for
wharfage, with sufficient depth of water for merchant ships
to lie alongside. There are good sites for docks ; although,
from the small amount of rise and fall of tide, ten to eleven
feet, some excavation would be necessary, to which the
nature of the bottom appears to offer no difficulty. Lime-
stone is obtainable, and in common with all the harbours of
Vancouver Island its shores are thickly timbered.

It is not, however, free from the defect common to the
island generally, viz., the scarcity of natural springs of water
ir summer ; but water can be always obtained by sinking
wells to a sufficient depth, and there is an inexhaustible lake
within a short distance of the w^estern side of the harbour,
whose waters could be conducted to the seaside at a very
trifling expense.

There is yet another cause which must add to the import-
ance of Esquimalt in a maritime point of view, which is that
it is at the extremity, as it were, of sailing navigation. Al-
though the Gulf of Georgia and the channels leading into it
have been navigated by sailing vessels, yet the disadvantages
are obviouc and very great, and the loss of time incalculable.

The general absence of steady winds among these channels,
the great strength and uncertainty of the tides, and the exist-
ence of many hidden dangers could not fail to be productive
of constant accidents/ and in a commercial point of view such
a class of vessels could never answer. Tho time, I appre-
hend, is past also when ships of war Vrithout ste^.m power ■
would be likely to v.sit these waters.

Esquimalt is, therefore, well adapted as a port of entry
for sailing ships making the long sea voyage from England or
other distant couut^-ies, and is equally well suited as the
dep6t and starting-point of a line of steamers for the Frazer
River or other ports in British Columbia.

The harbour of Victoria, three mil^s from Esquimalt,
thour, ;h it can never cope with the latter as a naval depot or
as a haven for large merchant ships, on account of its intri-
cate and shallow entrance, is nevertheless far from being un-
important. Vessels of considerable draught can enter by
attending to the tides, and when within there is ample space
and depth for a large number of ships.

Near the head of Victoria it is only separated from Esqui-
malt by a narrow neck of land, through which it seems pro-
bable at no distant time a canal will connect the two harbours.

Eoyal Bay and Esquim^Jt Harbour are also described by
Admiral Eichards at pager 20 and 21 of " Vancouver Island
Pilot."

Extract from "British Columbia .\nd Vancouver Is-
land," BY Captain li. C. Mayne, R.N., H.M. Sur-
veying Ship Hecate, October, 1862. Description of
Esquimalt Harbour. .,

Eight nJles north of the Race Islands is the harbour of
Esquimalt, and three miles norths ard of that lies Victoria,
the capital of Vancouver Island, and the present seat of
government for both that colony and British Columbia.

"As a harbour, Esquimalt is by far the best in the south(.rii
part of the island or mainland.

It offers a safe anchorage for ships of any size, and
although the entrance is perhaps somewhat narrow for a large
vessel to beat in or out of with a dead foul wind, it may
usually be entered easily and freely. It is, moreover,
admirably adapted to become a maritime stronghold, and
might be made almost impregnable. Its average depth is
from five to seven fathoms, and in Constance Cove, on the
right-hand side as the harbour is entered, there is room for
as large a number of ships as we are ever lik"^v to have in
these waters to take refuge in if necessary.

As yet the want of fresh water in the summer-time is felt
as an inconvenience; but there are several large lakes a
little up the country, at a level considerably above that of
the harboui', and from them, when the resources of the
country are developed, water can be easily brought down to
the ships.

Each new adm.iral that is appointed to the North Pacific
station appears to be more and more impressed with the
evident value and importance of Esquimalt as a naval
station.

NAVIGATION OF TPIE IIAEO STEAITS.

Full details will be found in the "Vancouver Island
Pilot." Rmio Akchipelago, pages 1, 38, 36. Channel,
PAGE 102. Strait, page 30.

Extract from " Directory for the Pacific Coast of
THE United States," by George Davidson, Assistant
Coast Survey. Vide IIeport of Superintendent of
U.S. Coast Survey, during year 1858.

" Archipelago De Haro.

' The Two Straits.

The experience of three seasons' surveying in this imme-
diate locality has not increased our relish for navigating these

•'i

channels in sailing vessels. With plenty of wind no naviga-
tion could be better, but in a calm ves3els will be frequently
jammed close to rocks, with only a few fathoms inside of
their positions, but forty or fifty outside, and a swirling
current that renders towing with boats utterly impossible.

Frequently, too, boats have been nearly swamped by the tide
rips that exist through them. Off East Point, as an instance,
a five-oared whaleboat entirely faUed to hold her own
against the current, which we judged to be rushirig (the only
term applicable) at the rate of seven miles per hour.

Throughout the Canal de Haro the roar of the conflicting
currents can be heard for miles, and the main current runs
frequently six miles per hour. It is ten miles longer than the
Kosario Strait, and makes a right angle in its course, but is a
mile wider.

Kosario Strait is less curved, has several anchorages and
known dangerous rocks, and a current of about a mile and a
half less per hour. Tor steamers either channel, or even some
of the narrow intermediate channels, may be used ; but for a
sailing vessel the Ilosario passage is preferable, although the
total distance from the middle of the Strait of Juan de Fuca
to the middle of the Gulf of Georgia is five miles longer.

The wmds are apt to fail in both channels, and during
summer frequent calms prevail.

NAVIGATION OF THE HARO STEAIT, FEOM A
MILITARY rOINT OF VIEW.

Extract of Report by General Tatten, Chief Engineer
U.S. Army, to Govi^rnment of the United States
upon the effect of the possession of the island of
San Juan: made previous to the arbitr.^tion on
: ::^ Water Boundary between British Columbia and the
._ United States. Vide Papers presented to Senate of
the UNiTiiD States, 20th February, 1868.

The desire of Great Britain to retain the island aiises, I
am convinced, much less from a belief that such a military
or naval station is necessary to ber interest in thft rp/ifi'^n,
than from a knowledge that to us they will afford military
advantages quite important, and not otherwise to be had.

This leads me to remark, in the second place, that by the
establishment of the division line between the two countries
in the Straits of Haro, we shall, in some sort, have compensa-
tion for the advantages Great Britain enjoys by owning the
whole of Vancouver's Island, and maintaining a predominant
naval force at its southward extremity, since it will then be
in our power to react with more or less effect, according to
our energy and enterprise, upon these interior waters by
securely fortifying an anchorage at San Juan Island, or some
other place close upon the Haro Channel.

The presence, under the shelter of such fortifications, of
fast armed steamers would exercise an important influence
upon the communications between the Straits of Fuca and the
Gulf of Georgia, Frazer Eiver, &c., would at all times threaten
and harass that communication, and completely command it
whenever it should happen to be without the actual presence
of a strong convoy.

THE COMMERCIAL CAPABILITIES OF ESQUIMALT.

Extract from " Vaincouver Island and British Columbia,"
BY Alexander Eattray, Esq., M.D., R.N.. H.M.S. Topaze.

Vancouver Island has a threefold aim as a commercial
: colony: —

First. This island must carry on the traffic of both colonies.
Of the two, this colony alone is adapted for development
as a commercial colony ; and Victoria and Esquimalt will
continue as they now are, the commercial depots for both the
mercantile centres of the entire coast and the markets for
supplying the population of both colonies, including 214,000
square miles, that will ultimately be as densely peopled as
Canada and many of the United States.

■mi

30 \„;,,v,r;--^-'

Secondly. Possessing eminent capabilities, its aim should
be to become the principal commercial colony of the Pacific,
and to make its shipping cany on at least the local traffic.

Thirdly. Her purpose should be to become the depot for
concentrating the commerce of the Atlantic and Pacific ; the
entrepot in which the traffic from Polynesia, Australia,
and Eastern Asia, and the Pacific generally meets with that
from Europe and the United States ; where the produce of the
one is collected for transmission to Europe, the goods of the
other for disparsion over the Pacific.

At present the Pacific is, and probably long will be, supplied
with manufactured goods which are carried to it from Europe
and the States by Panama, Cape Horn, and the Cape of Good
Hope ; and for this there is no convenient depot.

This colony is admirably adapted for becoming a com-
mercial centre of this kind, and ought to be made a mart
for the dispersion of imported manufactured goods to all parts
of the Pacific. /

Extract from Prize Essay on Yancouvkr Island, by
Charles Forbes, M.D., It.N. Published b^ Colonial
Government.

British Columbia has great mineral wealth and abundant
agricultural resources. Vancouver Island has great mineral
wealth, agricultural resources, and vast commercial capa-
bilities. Her vltimate destiny is clear, — it is nothing less
than to be the great commercial mart of the world, to svipply
the Pacific with the manufactures of the world.

ESQUIMALT AS A NAVi\L STATION" AND AS A
SANATOUlUiNi FOli THE PACIFIC AND CHINA
FLEETS.

Extract from " Vancouver Island and British Columbia,"
BY Alexander Kattray, Esq., M.D., K.N., H.MS. 2'opaze.

The convenience of ample hospital accommodation at the
head-quarters of the sqiuidrou, and on British soil, and in a

climate whose salubrity is unsurpassed on the entire station,
is therefore evident. - ,

Esquimalt thus su^)plics a want long felt on this station.

The unhealthiness of the climate of China, and the sickness
and mortality which usually prevail in the China fleet, when
contrasted with the great salubrity of Vancouver Island and
the fineness of its climate, make it a question of great import-
ance whether or not Esquimalt, with its hospital accommo-
dation, its conveniences as a naval harbour, and its
comparative proximity to China, with which communications
both naval and mercantile will soon be more frequent than
at present, might not become the recruiting station and
sanatorium for the China as well as for the Pacific squadron ;
and whether the healtl y climate of the eastern coast of the
North Pacific might not be made available to counteract the
unhealthy influence of that of its western coast.

The heavy sick lists of ships stationed along the coast of
China, the large per-centage d invalids sent home, and the
great mortality, are often unequalled even on the once so
sickly, and still so much dreaded, coast of Africa.

The great salubrity of the climate of the colony is well
shown by its marked effect on the health, weight, and general
physique of ♦^^his ship's company, who were weighed indi-
vidually before arriving, and again ai'ter being 9 J montlis
in Esquimalt Harbour. On tliis occasion 91 per cent, were
found to have gained weight to an average of 9? lbs. per man,
the greatest gain Ijeing 25 lbs.

O O O

EXTHACT FROM PlUZE EsSAY, BY AlKXANDER , ■'

Forbes, Esq., M.I). ■' y ■■—:-':'-- f^:r:(^:::.

It has been stated to be the intention of the imperial
Government to establish in Vancouver a sanitarium for the
restoration of the health of invalids from the forces serving
in India and China ; the plan if carried out will be found
to succeed admirably. For all diseases of functional derange-

nient and nervous debility the climate is most suitable,
eminently partaking of that qualification remarked some two
hundred years ago of England by a royal personage, a keen
observer, " A climate that a man can be out of doors in every
day of the year," Even for chest affections many most desir-
able localities can be pointed out; undulating land, sheltering
hills, gravel soil, fragrant pine woods, fragrant even to
oppressiveness in the balmy northern breezes of summer.
Kemoved from the sea-coast the sudden alternations of heat and
cold would in a great measure be avoided, an 1 the open out-of-
door life, so generally pursued in new colonies by all people,
would soon set up the shattered frames of invalids fiom the
tropics, restore the weakened nervous power, and remove
hepatic and other obstructions.

FUiiTHER Testimony to the Value of Esquimalt as a
Sanatorium, by Captain Mayne, R.N., H.M.S. Hecate.
Extracted fhom "Vancouver Island and British
Columbia." ... ,,

I have more than once spoken of Esquimalt as being

admirably adapted for a naval station and dockyard. I wish

to add, that important as this is for our squadron in the

Pacific, I think it would be still more so for the squadron

in the Chinese waters. Our ships there, which are sometimes

almost disabled by sickness, could reach the healthy climate

of Vancouver in six weeks, and might, if required, be relieved

by vessels from the Pacific squadron. In 1859 the Tribune

and Pyladcs were ordered across from China ; they arrived

at Esquimalt with crews greatly debilitated, and all hands a

good deal below par. They remained about a year there,

and left, I believe, with the crews of both ships in perfect
health.

I may also mention that the healthy appearance of our

crew was a subject of general remark to all ships arriving on

the station.

jre.

LTST OF IMPORTANT WORKS TO BE REFERRED
TO FOR EXTENDED INFORMATION ON BRITISH
COLUMBIA.

"Report on Surveys and Preliminary Operations on the
Canadian Pacific Railway, up to January, 1877." By
Sandford Fleming, Engineer-in-Chief, Ottawa. Printed by
Maclean, Roger, and Co.

" V^ancouver Island Pilot." Containing sailing directions
for the coasts of Vancouver Island and part of British
Columbia, compiled from the surveys made by Captain
George Henry Richards, R.N., in H.M. ships Plumper and
Hecate, between the years 1858 and 1864. Sold by J. D.
Potter, agent for the Admiralty Charts, 31, Poultry, London.

" Papers relative to the Affairs of British Columbia," pre-
sented to both Houses of Parliament. Parts I. to IV.,
1859, 1860, 1362. Printed by Eyre and Spottiswoode,
London.

" Four Years in British Columbia and Vancouver Island."
An account of their forests, rivers, coasts, gold fields, and
iesources for colonization. By Commander R. C. Mayne,
R.N., C.B. John Murray, London, 1862.

"Report of Superintendent of the U.S. Coast Survey
during the year 1858, Washington, U.S., 1859." Containing
" Directory for the Pacific Coast of the United States," by
George Davidson, Assistant, Coast Survey. : ;

"Prize Essay on Vancouver Island; its resources and
capabilities as a Colony." By Charles Forbes, M.D., M.R.C.S.,
Eng., late Staff Surgeon Royal Navy. Published by the
Colonial Government.

" Vancouver Island and British Columbia." By Alexander
Rattray, M. D. Edin., R.N. Smith, Elder, and Co., London.

" Vancouver Island and British Columbia ; their history,
resources, and prospects." By Matthew Macfie, F.R.G.S.
Longman and Co., London.

••Tmvcb in Dri.ish Clumlna ; with tho Narrative of a
Yacl.t yoy„(,o roun.l Vancuver Island." ]iy C«„t V F
]iam,tt Lennard. Hur.,t and Blackott, Londnn ' ^•

•■ Ocoa,. to Oocan." Boi„g a Diary kept duri„„ a Journey

i n^moer-in-Ghief of the Cauaclian Pacific and Intercoioniftl
iaaways^ By the Rev. G. M. Grant. Secretary t th Z
ditiou. Sampson Low and Co.. London. ^

I of a
C. E.

urney
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onial
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