Squabbling land grabbing CPR 2014. 1893 Telegrams ... Arbutus .... was the secrecy of the Crown and others compromised?

Census Telegram

Page 1 of 2

February 26, 1893 to April 18, 1893

We started to read this 1893 Census Telegram document in July and with the weather being so hot we put it aside for a rainy day.

It's not raining today but we took another look at the 'Telegram' because last week Vancouver City announced that it was going back to Court to settle the CPR Arbutus Corridor fiasco once and for all.

From our perspective of reading the 'Telegram' there appears to be an association, a link to be made that conversations between Government officials and insiders and corporations who were supposedly 'building' Canada from the ground up, were being 'overheard' by a third party, the railway, using 50 year old technology created in 1836, whereby every telegram that was sent or received, came across the counters of the CPR ... holding onto the juiciest parts???? for future references.


The volumes of telegrams must have been boring stuff to keep track of, not just the Census details, but also mining, fishing, staking property claims, mineral reports, HBC forays into the wilds of BC, Vancouver Three Greenhorns activities, acres of land purchased for a song (Arbutus Corridor) and all done with the magical sound of  'Dot Dash Dash Dot Dot Dash .....'

Morse Code Translator, complete with sound, converts the written words of the Hon. J. H. Turner to J. Lowe, Deputy Minister Agriculture, Ottawa: February 26th, 1893:
 
 Please Wire Total Indians on Mainland, B.C.  Also total Indians on Vancouver Island

 .--. .-.. . .- ... . / .-- .. .-. . / - --- - .- .-.. / .. -. -.. .. .- -. ... / --- -. / -- .- .. -. .-.. .- -. -.. --..-- / -... .-.-.- -.-. .-.-.- / .- .-.. ... --- / - --- - .- .-.. / .. -. -.. .. .- -. ... / --- -. / ...- .- -. -.-. --- ..- ...- . .-. / .. ... .-.. .- -. -..

Reply:

Total Indians on Mainland, 29,460.  On Vancouver Island, 5,742.

 - --- - .- .-.. / .. -. -.. .. .- -. ... / --- -. / -- .- .. -. .-.. .- -. -.. --..-- / ..--- ----. --..-- ....- -.... ----- .-.-.- / --- -. / ...- .- -. -.-. --- ..- ...- . .-. / .. ... .-.. .- -. -.. --..-- / ..... --..-- --... ....- ..--- .-.-.-  

Wikipedia on Morse Code

 Timeline of historical events in British Columbia while Telegrams were making the rounds within :
 18xx
1832 A.C. Anderson of the HBC arrives at the Columbia River
1833 Fort McLoughlin established in 1833 in Lama Passage, it was later abandoned in 1843
1834 James Douglas becomes Chief Trader of the HBC
1835 Coal deposit at Fort Rupert publicized

1836 HBC Chaplain and missionary Reverend Herbert Beaven arrives at Fort Vancouver
1836 Small pox epidemic in northern BC and southern Alaskan coast (to 1838)
18xx

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Backgrounder to the first time that Vancouver City approached the bench....

The Chief Justice —   Introduction  Arbutus Corridor

Over a century ago, in 1886, the provincial Crown granted the Canadian Pacific Railway Company (“CPR”) a corridor of land for the construction of a railway line from False Creek, in the City of Vancouver (“City”), south to Steveston, on Lulu Island (named after Miss Lulu Sweet, a young actress in the first theatrical company to visit British Columbia).  It is this corridor of land, now known as the “Arbutus Corridor”, that lies at the heart of this appeal.

In 1902, a railway line was built on the corridor.  As the century advanced, traffic declined.  From time to time, there was talk of using the corridor for an urban transit line, but nothing came of it and, ultimately, the line was placed elsewhere.  In 1999, CPR formally began the process of discontinuing rail operations on the corridor under the Canada Transportation Act, S.C. 1996, c. 10 . SNIP

Were there Privacy regulations that prevented CPR from 'listening in' on the contents of telegrams between governments and companies?  Did CPR shred the information as soon as it was sent/received; or did the CPR keep the scraps of paper for audit purposes, making sure that the right charges for service was done;  or did they hang on to the important tidbits when it came to 'negotiating' for the Arbutus Corridor in 1886?

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Must be pretty tough on CPR having all their discarded 'heritage' property, waiting for development, with no means to tweak their uses for public use.

Like their Telegraphists Field Office, situated within Yoho National Park, west of the double Spiral Tunnels, staging grounds for the rail yards, is just waiting for a cycling/cross country outfitting camp to be developed....

Heritage!!!! FOR SALE by CPR, the catch is they want it moved off their Right of Way property

Yoho Telegraphists Workshop

 Fourteen foot ceilings

Cycling aspirations? Yoho Pass, Spiral Tunnels, Emerald Lake, Lake O'Hara all within a day's ride, Return

Rolling Stock Cycling????????????

"CPR shall thereafter operate and maintain the Arbutus Corridor...." Operate and Maintain? No Operation, No Maintenance either

Hmmmm.  We can understand the urgency that CPR has recently shown, weeding, therefore needing  Vancouver's Arbutus Corridor, but, ... what about the OPERATE portion?

When was the last CPR train?  Is there a time limit between trains that voids the Right of Way?

Proposed agreement between the Government of BC and CPR Co. 1885

The only weeding that the Arbutus Corridor needs is removal of the CPR?

P.S.  Page 1:

1. The said Company shall extend the main line of the Canadian Pacific Railway to Coal Harbor and English Bay, and shall for ever thereafter maintain and equip such extension as part of the main line of the Canadian Pacific Railway, and operate it accordingly. 

However CPR sold a portion of the Arbutus Corridor Right of Way, therefore its been impossible for CPR to maintain and equip such extension.... eh.

CP sold a chunk of a line at the entrance to Granville Island in 1995 to Starbucks, cutting off the connection between the Arbutus line and the track that ran east to Main Street. - Globe and Mail

Victoria, BC aka James Bay, Beckley Farm, all staked out by HBC and CPR 1863

It took a while to figure out which way was up with this map from 1863 of Victoria, BC when compared to Google Earth.   It was the little bit of filling out the waterfront profile, for various shipping reasons, and the DND.

Beckley Farm   48°24'58.62"N 123°22'47.64"W

Go to Google Earth and check out the waterfront line for Beacon Hill Park and find the shoals just off shore.....

1863

Red Wedge shape, is part of the BC Legislature Precinct

Go to Google Earth and check out the waterfront line for Beacon Hill Park and you'll find the shoals just off shore.....which forms the boundary....    Sea Levels, higher in 1863?

2014

Who owned which property in 1860?

1863 Committee Book Minutes

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Wikipedia History of James Bay

History

The original inhabitants of James Bay were the Swenghwung people who were part of the Lekwungen people of the Coast Salish and whose descendants today are known as the Songhees First Nation. Even after the aboriginal inhabitants allegedly sold the land to the Hudson's Bay Company, remains of fortifications at Holland Point and of burial grounds at Laurel Point remained. The neighbourhood takes its name from the shallow inlet James Bay that forms part of Victoria's Inner Harbour, named for James Douglas, Settled early after the establishment of Fort Victoria in 1843, much of the present day neighbourhood was originally part of Ogden's Fields Farms, subsequently known as Dutnall's Farm and then Beckley Farm.

Residential development of James Bay began in 1859 when Governor Douglas decided to construct the colonial administration offices for the Colony of Vancouver Island across the harbour from Fort Victoria.  Known as the Birdcages because of their somewhat fanciful design, the Birdcages were replaced in 1898 by Francis Mawson Rattenbury's Parliament Buildings, which still serve as the meeting place of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia.

Between the construction of the Birdcages in 1859 and the completion of the Parliament Buildings in 1898, a considerable amount of residential development took place in James Bay. The family home of James and Amelia Douglas stood on the location of the present Royal British Columbia Museum, behind which is located the house of John Sebastian Helmcken, the colony's first doctor, speaker of the Assembly, and son-in-law of the governor. SNIP