Summaries of Talks and Field Trips - 1937 to 1940
Glimpses of the Past through description, related books and internet connections
1940
David Douglas
[February 1940, A. G. Harvey]
Scottish born and trained David Douglas (1799-1836) came to the Pacific Northwest twice, once in 1824 for three years and in 1829 for another three years gathering and cataloguing plants. Because he introduced 7000 species of plants to England he became a celebrity. He was accidentally killed, committed suicide or murdered in Hawaii. (see Athelstan George Harvey’s Douglas of the fir: a biography of David Douglas, botanist, Harvard University Press, 1947; Journal Kept by David Douglas during his Travels in North America, 1823-1827…Antiquarian Press, 1959;)
History and development of the Peace River area of British Columbia
[March 4, 1940, Dr. M. Y. Williams]
(see David L. Macdonald’s Peace River past: a Canadian Adventure, Venture
Press, c.1981; Lillian York’s Lure of the South Peace: tales of the early pioneers to 1945, South Peace Historical Book Committee, c. 1981; see also
http://www.travel-british-columbia.com/tours/Peace_River_Country_Circle_Tour.aspx
Sir James Douglas, the father of British Columbia
[April 19, 1940, 4th annual dinner, Dr. Walter N. Sage]
South America born James Douglas (1803-77) was educated in Scotland and joined the fur trade, rising up in the ranks to become a Chief Trader for the Hudson’s Bay Company. Himself of mixed descent, he married Amelia Connolly, also of mixed descent. He became governor of Vancouver Island and later British Columbia and contributed much to the development of the colonies. (see Dereck Pethick’s James Douglas: servant of two Empires, Mitchell Press, c. 1969; Dorothy Blakey Smith’s James Douglas: father of British Columbia, Oxford University Press, 1971;)
Recollections of pioneer days in British Columbia, 1859-1871
[September 18, 1940, Rev. J. H. White]
The inside story of the Komagata Maru
[October 28, 1940, AGM, Dr. Robie L. Reid]
In order to get around restrictive immigration policies, a Sikh entrepreneur chartered a Japanese ship to sail to Vancouver in 1914. Not being allowed to disembark, the South Asians held back the police and military until a military ship escorted the vessel from the harbour and it sailed back to India. Further assassinations took place against police informants and an immigration inspector. (see Hugh Johnson’s The Voyage of the Komagata Maru: the Sikh challenge to Canada’s colour bar, UBC Press, 1989; see also http://www.mysteriesofcanada.com/BC/komagata_maru_incident.htm and
http://www.punjabilok.com/misc/freedom/komagata_maru1.htm
1939
Kamloops: the meeting of the waters
[February 7, 1939, Henry Johnson]
(see Encyclopedia of British Columbia, 374;
see also http://www.bcadventure.com/)
Father Coccola
[March 20, 1939, Rev. Father O’Boyle]
Nicolas Coccola (1854-1940) spent 60 years working as a missionary in the Interior of BC for the Oblates of Mary Immaculate among First Nations peoples. He grubstaked a mine but sold his share to build a church. (see They Call me Father: memoirs of Father Nicolas Coccola, Margaret Whitehead, ed., UBC Press, 1988; Encyclopedia of British Columbia, 137; see also
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10378a.htm)
Drake’s plate of brass
[April 21, 1939, 3rd annual dinner, Dr. T. A. Rickard]
Sir Francis Drake spent some time in the San Francisco area in 1579 and a brass plate found in the area has turned out to be a fake.
(see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drake’s_Plate_of_Brass)
Golden days in the Cariboo
[November 7, 1939, AGM, Judge F. W. Howay]
Bedrock men of Barkerville
[December 1, 1939, Louis LeBourdais, MLA)
(see Encyclopedia of British Columbia, 47-48; see also http://www.barkerville.ca/collections.htm)
1938
Why British Columbia was discovered
[March 25, 1938, 2nd annual dinner, Dr. W. Kaye Lamb]
Captain Evans of Cariboo
[October 3, 1938, AGM, Dr. Robie L. Reid]
(see Robie L. Reid’s “Captain Evans of Cariboo: The Presidential address to the Vancouver Section of the British Columbia Historical Association, October 3, 1938,” BCHQ, 2: 4, 1938; Encyclopedia of British Columbia, 114;)
History of lode mining in the Kootenays
[Nov. 24, 1938, Judge Forin]
(see http://www.newdenver.ca/museum/museum.php)
1937
Transportation into the Cariboo in the early sixties
[January 1937, Robie L. Reid]
(see Robie L. Reid’s “Captain Evans of Cariboo: The Presidential address to the Vancouver Section of the British Columbia Historical Association, October 3, 1938,” BCHQ, 2: 4, 1938; Encyclopedia of British Columbia, 114; see also http://archives.cbc.ca/IDC-1-73-678-3896/politics_economy/trans_canada/clip1😉
Romance of Indian Life
[February 1937, Dr. G. H. Raley]
(see George H. Raley’s Na-na-kwa; or, Dawn on the Northwest Coast, Kitimaat,
BC 1898-1907)
Work of the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada
[April 30, 1937, 1st annual dinner, Judge F. W. Howay]
(see Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada, fonds for Charles W. Humphries, Margaret Prang, Walter Sage & Margaret Ormsby, UBC Archives; see also http://www.pc.gc.ca/clmhc-hsmbc/index_E.asp)
British Columbia’s position among the five Canadas
[October 28, 1937, AGM, Dr. Walter N. Sage]
(see George M. Wrong, Chester Martin and Walter N. Sage’s, The Story of
Canada, Ryerson Press, c. 1929;)
How self-government came to British Columbia
[December 15, 1937, Kenneth Waites]