British Columbia Canada

Biography of John Boyd

John Boyd, a well-known citizen of Riverside, though not a pioneer, has been a resident of the city since 1876, and there are few men who have been more closely identified with the real interest and improvements of the city than John Boyd. He arrived at a time when the first named commodity at least was needed and appreciated. He erected a substantial building on Main Street, and entered into business; and as the demands of the city increased he was ever to the front with his improvements. The present magnificent Boyd block, with its frontage of 111 1/2 feet … Read more

Haida Tribe

Haida Indians, Haida Nation (Xa’ida, ‘people’). The native and popular name for the Indians of the Queen Charlotte Islands., British Columbia, and the south end of Prince of Wales Island, Alaska, comprising the Skittagetan family. By the natives themselves the term may be applied generally to any human being or specifically to one speaking the Haida language. Some authors have improperly restricted the application of the tend to the Queen Charlotte islanders, calling the Alaskan Haida, Kaigani. Several English variants of this word owe their origin to the fact that a suffix usually accompanies it in the native language, making … Read more

Semiahmoo Tribe

Semiahmoo Indians. A Salish tribe living about the bay of the same in north west Washington and south west British Columbia.  In 1843 they numbered about 300 and in 1909 there were 38 of the tribe on the Canadian side.

Seechelt Tribe

Seechelt Indians, Seechelt First Nation, Seechelt People (Si-‘ciatl). A Salish tribe on Jervis and Seecheltinlets, Nelson island, and the south part of Texada island, British Columbia. They speak a distinct dialect and are thought by Hill-Tout on physical grounds to be related to the Lillooet. Anciently there were 4 divisions or septs – Kunechin, Tsonai, Tuwanek, and Skaiakos – but at present all live in one town, called Chatelech, around the mission founded by Bishop Durieu, who converted them to Roman Catholicism. The Kunechin and Tsonai are said to be of Kwakiutl lineage. Pop. 236 in 1902, according to the Canadian Department … Read more

Cowichan Tribe

Cowichan Indians. A group of Salish tribes speaking a single dialect and occupying the SE coast of Vancouver island between Nonoos bay and Sanitch inlet.

Biography of Sir James Douglas, K. C. B.

SIR JAMES DOUGLAS, K.C.B. – The first governor of British Columbia is worthy of more than a passing notice in this work. With a peculiar though undesigned poetical fitness, he first came to the land of his fame on the famous old steamer Beaver. On her he came to Esquaimalt harbor in the summer of 1849. He had gone from Fort Vancouver, where he had been head clerk, to be chief factor of the Hudson’s Bay Company in British Columbia. Having founded the city of Victoria, he made his home there, conducting with great ability the work of the company. … Read more

Tsilkotin Tribe

Tsilkotin Indians, Tsilkotin People, Tsilkotin First Nation (‘people of young-man’s river’). An Athapascan tribe of British Columbia, occupying a territory lying chiefly in the valley of Chilcotin River at about lat. 52°. Their nearest relatives are the Takulli, or Carriers, whose territory is adjacent on the north, and who are the only Athapascan people with whom they come in contact. Toward the west a pass leads through the Coast range to Bellacoola, and intercourse with the tribe of that name, which was formerly frequent is still kept up to some extent. In early days there was also some communication with the Kwakiutl … Read more

Biography of Col. Henry Landes

COL. HENRY LANDES. – The subject of this sketch is prominent and noteworthy, even among the foremost self-made men of the great and growing Pacific Northwest, – a section so progressive and promising that it has attracted the most vigorous minds and the ablest men throughout the country. He was born in a small town in Germany on the 8th of October, 1843. In 1847 his father and family emigrated to Kentucky, Henry being then four years old. There the boy grew almost to the years of manhood, and developed in a marked degree the spirit of adventurous ambition which … Read more

Nanaimo Tribe

Nanaimo Indians, Nanaimo People, Nanaimo First Nation (contraction of Snanaímux). A Salish tribe, speaking the Cowichan dialect, living about Nanaimo Harbor, on the east coast of Vancouver Island and on Nanaimo Lake, British Columbia.  Population 161 in 1906. Their gentes are Anuenes, Koltsiowotl, Ksalokul, Tewethen, and Yesheken.

Tatlitkutchin Tribe

Tatlitkutchin Indians (‘Peel river people’). A Kutchin tribe, closely allied to the Tukkuthkutchin, living on the east band of Peel river, British Columbia, between lat. 66º and 67º.  For a part of the season they hunt on the mountains, uniting sometimes with parties of the Tukkuthkutchin.  They confine their hunting to the caribou, as they no longer have moose hunters among them.  In 1866 they numbered 30 hunters and 60 men.

Sekani Tribe

Sekani Indians, Sekani First Nation, Sekani People (‘dwellers on the rocks’). A group of Athapascan tribes living in the valleys of upper Peace river and its tributaries and on the west slope of the Rocky mountains, British Columbia. Morice says they were formerly united into one large tribe, but on account of their nomadic habits have gradnally separated into smaller distinct tribes having no affiliation with one an other. Harmon said that they came front east of the Rocky Mountains, where they formed a part of the Tsattine. Gallattin gave their habitat as the headwaters of Peace river. Dunn located them in … Read more

Kwakiutl Tribe

Kwakiutl Indians, Kwakiutl People, Kwakiutl First Nation (according to their own folk etymology the name signifies ‘smoke of the world’, but with more probability it means ‘beach at the north side of the river’). In its original and most restricted sense this term is applied to a group of closely related tribes or septs living in the neighborhood of Ft Rupert, British Columbia. These septs are the Guetela, Komkutis, Komoyue, and Walaskwakiutl, and their principal village Tsahis, surrounding Ft Rupert. Other former towns were Kalokwis, Kliksiwi, Noohtamuh, Tsaite, and Whulk, of which the last two were summer villages shared with the Nimkish … Read more

Bellabella Tribe

Bellabella Indians, Bellabella People, Bellabella First Nation (an Indian corruption of Milbank taken back into English). The popular mame of an important Kwakiutl tribe living on Milbank sound., British Cololumbia. Their septs or subtribes are Kokaitk Oetlitk Oealitk The following clans are given: Wikoktenok (Eagle) Koetenok (Raven) Halhaiktenole (Killerwhale) Pop. 330 in 1901. The language spoken by this tribe and shared also by the Kitamat, Kitlope, China Hat, and Wikeno Indians is a peculiar dialect of Kwakiutl, called Heiltsuk from the native name of the Bellabella. These tribes resemble each other furthermore in having a system of clans with descent … Read more

Biography of Keith W. White

Keith Wood White, a retired farmer now residing in Grangeville, is a native of the far-off state of Connecticut, his birth having occurred in the town of Ashford, Windham County, on the 15th of May 1838. His ancestors came from old England and settled in New England at an early epoch in the history of this country, and there the family remained for several generations. Keith W. White, the father of our subject, was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, and married Catharine Farnum, a native of Connecticut. They became the parents of two children, and the father provided for their support … Read more