Did you have a great B.C. Day? This special mid-summer day has always had an historical flavour to it with lots of opportunities to link to elements of our past and stories of those who came before in this province.
Over the years our participation and enjoyment of B.C. Day has included presentations, walking and cemetery tours, and other similar items. It is always interesting to think of those who were here before us in the Royal City, and with that in mind, here is a small group, randomly selected, who are part of our community story.
The history of the fishing industry in this area includes folks like James Syme and John Deas. Syme was an interesting man who, in addition to his involvement in the processing of salmon, was an architect and artist. He and his wife would later move to Victoria where his various skills were also put to good use.
Deas and his family, blacks from the U.S., were equally part of the Fraser River salmon industry with their cannery site lending its name to a major island downstream from New Westminster – De-as Island. Stories of the Deas children rowing downriver to school at Port Ladner are part of the lore of the area.
Frances Herring, a member of the very active Herring family, is known to many through her writ-ings of the early times in this part of B.C., blending fact and fiction into wonderful tales of life on the banks of the Fraser. Her stories are broad and filled with great descriptions, and through them, she adds wonderful colour to our history.
Jeremiah Rogers, Jerry to his friends, was a logger who provided timber for mills primarily in the “Vancouver harbour” area from his logging camp on English Bay. We are, of course, referring to a site called Jerry’s Cove, or as we know it today: Jericho.
The steamboats of the Fraser needed river pilots to assist in the safe movement of these vital ves-sels. One of the early pilots, well versed in the ways of the river, was John or Jack Deighton, known more often due to his loud, boisterous, gift of the gab, as Gassy Jack. He eventually tired of the river trade so he headed off to Burrard Inlet where he built a saloon of great renown. Visit the site today and say hello to the statue of Gassy Jack in, you guessed it, Gastown.
Here we have a mere handful of people for B.C. Day. There is also Flora Ross, she who devoted long-serving care to the asylum patients; Arthur McBride of the B.C. Penitentiary and father of Sir Richard McBride, who lived and grew up in Sapperton; Colonel J.T. Scott who may not have been a real colonel but was truly a leader in the town; and there are so very many more. Three cheers for B.C. Day.
