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Canada Post Releases new BC 150 Stamp at Fort Langley |
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Fort Langley is the exact location where, a century and a half ago, a huge fur trade organization called the Hudson's Bay Company established a small post to trade with the First Nations of the West Coast. The enterprise grew, evolved, and influenced history, leading to the creation of the colony of British Columbia. Furs were shipped to Europe via Cape Horn, produce was traded to the Russians in Alaska, local cranberries found their way to California, and Fraser River salmon was enjoyed as far away as Hawaii! In 1858, rumours of gold on the Fraser River caused a massive influx of Americans to the area. Fearing annexation by the United States, British Columbia was proclaimed a Crown Colony on this site by James Douglas on November 19, 1858. |
 The stamp release was an interesting event, attended by members of the Guyanese Canadian Cultural Association of BC, since James Douglas was born in (then) British Guyana to a Scottish father and a freed black slave mother.
To commemorate that event, the statue of Douglas in front of the reconstructed fort has been copied and is now travelling to Guyana to be erected in Demerara, Guyana where he was born and where an elementary school will be renamed Sir James Douglas School in his honour. In November, Guyana Post will be releasing a stamp to commemorate his appointment as Governor of British Columbia. It turns out there are many Guyana - BC connections:
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| scale farm, initiated the famous west coast salmon packing industry and began B.C.'S. foreign commerce. Fort Langley also blazed the first usable all-Canadian route from the coast to the interior and with its sister posts helped preserve British/Canadian interests west of the Rockies.
After the union of the North West and Hudson's Bay Companies in 1821, a Royal License was issued to the reconstituted Hudson's Bay Company, giving it a monopoly on trade west of the Rockies. The Hudson's Bay Company thus became Britain's custodian of the Pacific Northwest. This monopoly, however, could not exclude American competition. The Pacific region, then known as the Columbia District or the Oregon territory, had been jointly occupied by Britain and the United States since 1818 and commerce between latitudes 40° and 54° 40' was open by international treaty. Although British traders dominated the interior, furs often found their way to American ships, which controlled the coast. During his first visit to the Columbia District in 1824, Governor George Simpson of the Hudson's Bay Company worked out a plan to end American competition. He aimed by intensive hunting and underselling, to win control of the coast and the Columbia River region and to establish them as frontier zones to protect the company's valuable resources in the northern interior. |
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 Monument marking the original fort |
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| Looking to the Fraser River to provide a new access to the interior, a reconnaissance party led by Chief Trader James McMillan made a preliminary survey of the lower Fraser Valley in November 1824. Three years later, a site on the south bank of the Fraser, near the Salmon River, was selected for a prospective depot named Fort Langley in honour of Thomas Langley, a director of the Company. | ||
| Construction of the first Fort Langley commenced on August 1, 1827. The new fort measured 41 meters by 36.6 meters (134.5 ft by 118 ft) and was solidly enclosed by a palisade 4.6 meters (15 ft) high. Buildings in the new complex included the Big House, where the officers were quartered; a building with three compartments to house other ranks; a spacious store; one "good" house; and a smaller house with two rooms and a kitchen. Two bastions equipped with artillery completed the new fort. | ||
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| From 1827 to 1833, Fort Langley played a major role in the British coastal offensive against the American traders. More than half of the 3,000 beaver collected by the Hudson's Bay Company on the coast in 1831, were from the new Fraser River establishment. Under the astute direction of Chief Trader Archibald McDonald, Langley systematically undersold its American competitors and soon commanded the trade with Indian tribes throughout Vancouver Island, the Fraser River and Puget Sound.
As its immediate area became exhausted, Fort Langley's primary function shifted from fur collecting to provisioning. A network of posts and vessels was gradually built up to expand the Company's control of the coast and the Langley fishery and farm supplied many of their basic needs. |
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 Bread oven and herb garden within the stockade |
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| Farming was begun on the fertile prairie 11 kilometers (7 mi) from the fort, in the area then known as Langley Prairie. Crops were frequently washed out in the low-lying land, but the agricultural operations steadily expanded until the Langley farm covered over 800 hectares (1977 acres).
Producing potatoes, barley, peas and wheat and maintaining a stock of 200 pigs and 500 head of cattle, it supplemented the produce of many Pacific forts and provided food for the SS Beaver and other Company vessels. In 1839, the Hudson's Bay Company agreed to lease the Alaskan Panhandle from the Russian American (Fur) Company for an annual rent in otter skins and specified farm products. Fort Langley was called upon to produce wheat and butter for the Russian contract. In order to facilitate farming operation, the original fort, now in a dilapidated condition, was abandoned and a new one built four kilometers upstream, closer to the large prairie. |
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| Salmon, abounding in the Fraser River, had long been a staple of coast Indian and fur trader, and could be cheaply traded with the Indians for "vermilion, rings and other trifles". Salting and packing salmon became an industry under Chief Trader McDonald and his successor James Murray Yale. By 1838 Langley supplied all the salt salmon required by the Company's operations west of the Rockies. As the Hudson's Bay Company became linked to the wider commerce of the Pacific, Langley-cured salmon found its way to markets in the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii) and Australia. | ||
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| Such large-scale shipping necessitated a cooperage in the fort to produce sufficient barrels. The cooperage has been recreated and is fully functional today. Making tools and barrel hoops also meant a blacksmith shop was needed, and it, too has been recreated. | ||
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| The urgent duties of brigade terminus were added to the normal occupations of fishery and farm. Trade goods and supplies shipped from Fort Victoria were packed at Fort Langley for distribution inland; bateaux were built for river freighting to Fort Hope; iron goods were manufactured for inland forts; and provisions and fodder were grown for the horse brigades. In addition, outgoing furs were sorted, cleaned and packed in 113-kilogram (90 pound) bales for shipment to England. | ||
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| New Fort Langley had been occupied just ten months when it was consumed by fire and had to be completely rebuilt. In May, 1840, construction commenced on a new complex which eventually enclosed an area 192 by 73 meters (630 by 239 ft) and contained three to four bastions and about 15 buildings. It is on this site that the present reconstruction has been made. | ||
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| Two decades of intense activity followed the establishment of the new fort. Grain production increased, beef and pork were salted for the Company ships and two dairies were kept in full production. Salted salmon continued to be popular in the Sandwich Islands and an annual export of 2,000 barrels was not uncommon in the years between 1845 and 1854. Cranberries traded from the Indians and packaged at Fort Langley sold at substantial profits in San Francisco. | ||
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| In 1858, Fort Langley achieved world fame as the starting point for the Fraser River gold fields. In March of that year news reached San Francisco that gold had been discovered in the sand bars of the upper Fraser, and within eight months 30,000 prospectors had poured into the area. The Fort Langley post became crowded with strangers eager for news of the latest discoveries, and its sale shop, issuing miners' tools and provisions, had a daily turnover of $1,500. | ||
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| During the "rush", James Douglas, Governor of Vancouver Island and manager of the Hudson's Bay Company's Pacific business, took prompt action to secure British sovereignty and enforce the Company's trade monopoly. Yet the licensing system which he introduced was clearly insufficient to permanently govern the growing population. The era of fur trade guardianship was drawing to a close. In August 1858, the British Parliament revoked the Company's monopoly and passed an act providing for a crown colony on the Pacific mainland. James Douglas was named first Governor of British Columbia. | ||
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| The "Big House" at Fort Langley provided the background for the official ceremony proclaiming the establishment of British Government on the Pacific mainland. On November 19, 1858, 100 people assembled in the hall to hear the announcement that the Company's license was revoked and to witness the administration of oaths to the officers of the new government. Outside, a 17-gun salute, which pierced the drizzling quiet, marked the historic transition from fur trade domain to British Colony. | ||
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| The inaugural ceremony at once honoured Fort Langley and signalled its decline. The Hudson's Bay Company received title to land at Fort Langley in 1864 but the revocation of its monopoly created competition for the fishery and farm. In 1858, navigation was extended to Forts Hope and Yale, and Fort Langley's function both as mining supplier and transshipment depot abruptly ceased. The selection of New Westminster as the capital pushed Fort Langley "out of the way of travellers". | ||
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| After 1858, the fort fell slowly into disrepair. The palisade was dismantled in 1864, and by 1871 the blacksmith shop had been converted into a dwelling and the cooperage to a sales shop. A year later, the "Big House" was pulled down and a new residence built for the post manager. Finally, in April 1886, a new Hudson's Bay Company sales shop was constructed in the nearby village and Fort Langley ceased operations as a company post. | ||
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| In May 1923, the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada declared Fort Langley to be of national historic importance and erected a commemorative plaque near the surviving fort structure. Fort Langley was established as a National Historic Park in May 1955, and the process of restoration was begun for celebration of the centennial of the Colony of British Columbia. | ||
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| Today, Fort Langley belongs to the system of National Parks and Historic Sites operated by the Department of Canadian Heritage, Parks Canada. Interpretive staff and volunteers provide a glimpse of the past, answering questions, providing demonstration and discussion of the time when Fort Langley was the focal point of the world. For more information, visit the site in person and experience the past that was Fort Langley. | ||
 It is entirely fitting, therefore that the release of the stamp honouring British Columbia's 150th birthday be held where the event took place.
Hosted by park rangers, representatives of the Guyanese Canadian Cultural Association of BC spoke of James Douglas' history. They were especially gratified that in a time when racism was pronounced in many parts of the British Empire, the first Governor of BC and his wife both had a mixed racial background. Douglas was born in the Dutch colony that soon became British Guyana, now Guyana. His father was a Scottish sugar planter and his mother was a freed black slave. Young Douglas was classed as a "free coloured boy," by virtue of his mother's status. James was taken to Scotland by his father in about 1812 and after 6 years of education, was indentured to the North West Company. He arrived in Canada in 1819 and 2 years later became a Hudson's Bay Company employee when the two rival fur companies merged. Douglas worked his way from one remote outpost to another, eventually reaching Fort St. James in northern BC. |
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| There he met and married Amelia Connoly, daughter of the Chief Factor in charge of the region.
Amelia was born in 1812 in what is now northern Manitoba. Her mother was Miyo-Nipiy, a Cree woman and her father was William Connoly, an Irish-French-Canadian fur trader They were married in what was called "the custom of the country," probably based on a Cree ceremony. James and Amelia had 13 children, 6 of whom survived infancy. After living for 20 years in Fort Vancouver (now Vancouver, Washington), they moved to Victoria in 1849. James was made Chief Factor and was soon appointed Governor of the Colony of Vancouver Island as well. The discovery of gold on the Fraser River and influx of American panners prompted Douglas to petition Queen Victoria to make BC a Crown Colony. The charter was signed on August 2 and proclaimed on November 19 at Fort Langley, where Douglas was sworn in as governor. Although Canada proclaimed itself a multi-cultural nation officially in 1971, it was apparent in the multi-cultural nature of BC in the times of Sir James and Lady Douglas. |
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| The stamp design was then unveiled by a representative of the Guyanese Canadian Cultural Association of BC and the park's chief ranger. | ||
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| Canada Post then presented the park with a framed collection, containing the first day cover and the block of stamps, also showing the reverse side of the block, where a series of period photos are printed. | ||
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| Interestingly, the original photo of Douglas shows him facing in the other direction, but Canada Post decided to reverse the image so that he was not looking off the page. Unfortunately, this placed his decoration, the Star of the Order of Bath, on the wrong side, something a bit of judicious Photoshopping could have fixed.
Nevertheless, the ceremony was enjoyable and informative, made all the more so by its location. Being able to see how life was lived at the time of the actual event made it all the more real. |
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| All Nations has stamps for sale dating from BC's Colonial era.
Read the newsletter about the official announcement of the stamp. |
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| Back to index
Newsletter #146 |
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