When people travelled in the early decades of our city and province, there were places to stay as they took in the communities and enjoyed the landscape, the steamboat travel between the Island and the Mainland, and viewed reminders of a gold rush that prompted much of the colony’s start.
In the late 1870s, travellers from Seattle or San Francisco, for instance, would likely initially arrive at Victoria, then make their way through the Gulf Islands to the Fraser River and Burrard Inlet. In all these places there were hotels in which to stay while seeing the sights.
In Victoria, there was the Colonial Exchange, the Pacific Telegraph Hotel, and the Douglas House among a long list of accommodations.
The Colonial Exchange offered a hotel and restaurant and called itself “the best accommodation for travellers.”
The Pacific Telegraph Hotel on Store Street described itself as the cleanest hotel in the area and that it operated on the “European principle.”
The Douglas House was somewhat different in that it was a former private home redone as a hotel, fully “fitted and furnished” with rooms that were “cheerful and sunny.”
On the mainland, Burrard Inlet had a spot that probably drew visitors because of what it offered. The Hastings Hotel was “situated at the end of the road from New Westminster” and was kept up as a “First Class House” which had “a table which will be supplied with the best the market affords and all the delicacies of the season.” The bar had the “choicest brands of wines, liquors, and cigars.” And to add one more item of interest meant to attract the visitor and traveller, there was a skating rink attached to the hotel.
A visitor, completing a trip to the Island and the Mainland, had a couple of options to take to see New Westminster.
Travel could be arranged on the road that ended at Hastings as this would arrive in downtown New Westminster, the former capital on the Fraser, or it was possible to travel on one of the steamboats that regularly went from Burrard Inlet to the river.
Once our traveller got to the Royal City there were many places to find accommodation, meals and shops that were well known.
The hotel that stood out was the Colonial Hotel owned by P. Arnaud, on the main road, Columbia Street. “This handsome structure is now complete and is without exception the best hotel in the province.” This hotel advertised that it had accommodation for 80 guests, suites for families, drawing and dining rooms for private parties, a spacious billiard saloon; the bar had the best to offer and the food available was “superintended by an artist from Europe.”
And so we can see that a traveller in early B.C. had many options and usually had a good time.
