Horse Power
While oxen were used very early on to haul sledges over barely detectable paths, it was the horse that provided most of the power on … Read More
Paddlewheelers
From the earliest days of settlement on the Fraser River, it was the great flat-bottomed sternwheelers that were the workhorses of the river. They had … Read More
Getting Around
In the beginning, there was only water and for the most part, small boats. Whether it was a European styled rowboat or a First Nations … Read More
The Hudson’s Bay Men
Two men — Samuel Robertson and John McIver — vie for the honour of being the first non-native settler in the district. It seems most … Read More
Fort Langley Ties
Fort Langley was the source of all of our earliest non-native settlers. From the Kanakas who rode the Hudson’s Bay Company ships seeking adventure to … Read More
Sounding the Depths
The earliest maps of the lower Fraser River area quite rightly focused on the river itself. That was the only transportation route so its bends, … Read More
A Man’s World
The early European settlement days were characterized by a surplus of men. Whether they were Fort employees, sailors, or gold seekers, the new arrivals were … Read More
The Long Decade: 1930-1939
The 1920s had been a decade of growth in Maple Ridge. The footprint of agriculture was expanded as developer’s reclaimed low-lying land with dykes and … Read More
The Lillooet Trail
In the 1870s, the growth of ranching on the middle Fraser and Lillooet rivers was stymied by a lack of access to the most important … Read More
Relief Work During the Depression
It was a bad fall in Maple Ridge in 1929. The Abernethy and Lougheed Logging Company, local pride and powerhouse, had tumbled into insolvency as … Read More