Every two weeks, Rare Books and Special Collections is featuring a historic document based on a B.C. place name used in the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre.  Our third featured B.C. place is the Nimpkish area.  The community of Nimpkish is on the end of Nimpkish Lake, on the northern part of Vancouver Island.  An area known for forestry (as part of the North island Central Coast Forest District), it is also the home of the Nimpkish Lake Provincial Park, and the traditional territory of the ‘Namgis First Nation.

The document shown comes from the Yorkshire Trust Company fonds, and the files from this collection show the establishment of the Nimpkish Lake Logging Company in the early 20^th century.  The files contain minutes and correspondence regarding shares and timber leases.

From the Yorkshire Trust Company fonds, file 2-28

The Yorkshire Trust Company was based in England, but established an office in Vancouver in 1880. Being one of the first financial companies to operate in British Columbia, its records include valuable historical information on a variety of early British Columbia businesses.  These records are available for consultation in the Rare Books and Special Collections division of the library.

In the Barber Centre, the Nimpkish Study Area is room 387, and is part of the Science One and Arts One area on the third floor.

Entry to Science One and Arts One

Our second featured place is Moresby Island. During the course of doing research for this blog post, we discovered that there are actually two Moresby Islands in British Columbia; one island is located in the Queen Charlotte archipelago and one island is located in the Gulf Islands. Our collection of early British Columbia Admiralty charts includes charts of both islands.

Moresby Island, shown on Admiralty chart 3619, is the name of one of the BC Gulf Islands and is located on the west side of Swanson Channel and east of the southern end of Saltspring Island. A small island (it is 3.7 km long and 2.2 km across), it was first settled in 1863 and was named after Rear Admiral Fairfax Moresby R.N., who was the naval commander-in-chief of the Pacific Station of the Royal Navy between 1850 and 1853.

Moresby Island (Gulf Island)

Moresby Island, shown on Admiralty chart 1923b, is also the name of one of the 150 islands that make up the Queen Charlotte archipelago, and is much larger. It is actually the 175th largest island in the world, and the 32nd largest island in Canada. Interestingly, this island was also named for Rear Admiral Fairfax Moresby, by Moresby’s son-in-law, Commander James Prevost.

Moresby Island (Queen Charlotte archipelago)

In the Barber Centre, the Moresby Room is room 185 and is located on the first floor of the Barber Centre.

Room 185, Barber Centre

In a new series of blog posts, Rare Books and Special Collections will be featuring a historic document, photograph or map related to one of the B.C. towns represented in the room names of the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre.

Receipt from A.C. Christensen & Son, Bella Coola

To kick things off, we’ll start with Bella Coola which is a small town on the Central Coast of B.C.  The Bella Coola area is famous for the MacKenzie Rock, where in 1793 Alexander MacKenzie wrote his name on a rock to commemorate completing the first recorded journey across North America.  In the early to mid 20^th century, the Bella Coola area was home to the Tallheo Cannery, which is where our featured document comes from.  The Tallheo Cannery was built in 1912 by the Canadian Fishing Company.  The archives of the Tallheo Cannery include administrative records such as correspondence, financial documents, and fishermen’s statements.  The document shown is a receipt for purchases made by the Cannery from a Bella Coola store, A.C. Christensen & Son, who were dealers in “dry goods, boots and shoes, hardware and groceries.”

In the Barber Centre, the Bella Coola room is number 193, a meeting room on the first floor of the building.

Check back every two weeks for another B.C. town and another historic document!

Bella Coola room, Barber Centre