L’ile de Vancouver. – Vue du Port Harvey, dans le détroit de Johnston, cote septentrionale.

Title

L’ile de Vancouver. – Vue du Port Harvey, dans le détroit de Johnston, cote septentrionale.

Description

View of Vancouver Island looking towards Port Harvey, Canada.

ca. 1880

Artist

Anonymus

Historical Description

Spanish Captain José María Narváez was the first European to sail along the coasts in the area of present-day Vancouver in 1791. A year later, British Captain George Vancouver explored the Straits of Georgia, Burrard Inlet and Puget Sound. The first European to reach the area by land was Simon Fraser, a fur trader with the North West Company, who explored the entire length of the Fraser River, named after him, with his companions in 1808. As a result of the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush (1858-1860) and especially the Cariboo Gold Rush (1861-1862), some 25,000 men, many from California, moved into the Fraser River basin. The first permanent European settlement, the McCleery farm, was established in 1862 on the riverbank, east of the Musqueam winter camps in what is now the Marpole district. In 1863, the first sawmill began operations in Moodyville (now North Vancouver), establishing the traditional forestry industry. The various sawmills in the area were major manufacturers of wood products for shipping. Many of the masts of the numerous windjammers and the ever-growing ships of the Royal Navy were made of wood from the Vancouver area. Among the many orders was one from the Chinese Emperor, who ordered dozens of huge beams for the Gate of Heavenly Peace in the Forbidden City in Beijing. On April 6, 1886, the city was officially incorporated with the new name of Vancouver.