Thomas Haney’s Deed
The first plan drawn of the subdivision of Thomas Haney’s land to include a townsite was done in 1883. On an upstairs wall at Haney House, there has long been a framed version of a second plan, done at a later date and for unknown purposes.
For conservation reasons, we have removed that original from display and will be replacing it with a copy but in the process, we learned some things about the plan that connected it to this deed which was in our archival collection.
It had been thought that the plan was undated but scanning and altering the contrast allowed the date of 1907 to be found at the lower left of the plan. It appears that the reason for this new plan was to increase the number of town lots in the town site and to subdivide the waterfront lots to sell for wharfage for commercial/industrial operations.
Access to the Fraser River in Port Haney was constrained by the height of the bank. Where it was too low, any wharf constructed could be under water at several times of year. The stretch from the southern end of 224th [Ontario Street] west towards the foot of 222nd was sufficiently high that it did not flood more than once a year at most.
The lower section of the plan shows the waterfront area in question including the lots already sold to Charlton’s Store.
By 1907, the industrial operations with heavy or bulky materials to ship wanted dedicated access to the river and the rail line. A sturdy wharf on the Fraser River could be used to load goods from barges onto trains or simply to load barges for shipping to New Westminster and beyond.
As noted on the deed, by 1910, Thomas Haney had already sold a part of his waterfrontage to the Selkirk & Pelletier Shingle Mill which was located in Webster’s Corners. The larger portion was sold for $550 to the firm Abernethy & Lougheed Company who had purchased the Tyner Mill [where Brickwood Park is today] in around 1905. They developed that mill using logs from their Mount Lehman operation and soon needed better shipping options, hence the desire for wharfage.
When Abernethy & Lougheed Logging Company moved on to log the Stave and Alouette systems prior to Dam construction, they sold the mill in 1913 and it became Maple Ridge Lumber Company which operated until 1962. It is not known if the waterfront lot was included in that sale or if A&L retained it for their own purposes.
Abernethy & Lougheed Limited office on Callaghan Street in Port Haney in 1917. The nine people standing in front are identified as: back row L to R, George Abernethy, Nelson Lougheed, Ruby [Selkirk] Lougheed, Mrs. Abernethy. Only the child in white is identified as Milford Lougheed, born 1914.
