The History of Gibsons - A Brief Look Back
Gibsons - The Family Behind the Name
Harry Roberts - The Original Mr. Roberts Creek
An Introduction to the History of Sechelt
Irvines Landing - The Family Behind the Name
Pender Harbour - The Venice of the North
The Legend of Princess Louisa Inlet
An Introduction to the History of Port Mellon

Gibsons History

a brief look back

Finnish farmers - a hard-working part of early Gibsons

An influx of Finnish immigrants arrived in the Gibsons area around 1905. Most moved there from a communal settlement in Sointula on Malcolm Island and were later joined by family from Finland. These hard-working farmers made an impact on the Gibsons Heights area - they enthusiastically cultivated the flat land on the bench above the waterfront, developing the natural blackberries, loganberries and strawberries and planting plums and other lucrative crops.

After the war, there was a glut of berries on the market. The West Howe Sound Cannery Association was formed, and in 1922 the Howe Sound Co-operative Cannery was opened near Payne Creek to process the abundance of fruit. The company paid growers four cents a pound for their berries during the first year of operation and proudly retailed their jars of Four Square jam. The high quality of the product earned the British Empire Trophy the first year of production.

A mountain of fresh jam
Freshly produced 4 lb. cans of strawberry jam from the Howe Sound Co-operative Cannery near Gibsons, circa 1935.
The cannery produced award winning jams from local berries.

The W. H. Malkin Company of Vancouver acted as distributor, selling the jam under the Malkin's Best label. Increased berry yields forced double shifts for some months. Business expanded and women and girls were hired at 40 cents an hour, a good wage in 1924. Vehicles were scarce, so farmers used any available means to transport their fruit to the cannery - bicycles, wheelbarrows and goat carts. Shipments left regularly for Vancouver, and Gibsons Landing jam could be purchased in many parts of the province.

To increase production, new steam-cooking equipment was added to the factory. It was used for the first time to process the record harvest of 1931. Unfortunately, none of the workers fully understood the new machinery, resulting in undercooked jam. Retailers returned gallons of product. Money was scarce during these Depression years, and this was a hard blow. The cannery's financial pressure continued to worsen, until the reduced co-operative membership finally voted to cease production in 1952.

Berries Galore!
A local grower displays a few of the berries headed for the Howe Sound Co-operative Cannery.
Some growers in the Gibsons area would produce up to a ton of berries per season for the cannery.

Saunas and other contributions

The early Finnish settlers made an impact on their Gibsons community in other areas than agriculture. Their presence on the Gibsons Heights plateau encouraged the development of a store and post office there. The Ruises, Hintsas, Wilanders, Nygrens and Wirens purchased land, developed farms and built the first community hall in the district. Constructed in 1910, the Workmen's or Labour Hall near Chaster Creek offered weekly musical gatherings and Finnish dances that attracted English-speaking settlers as well. Another hall was built a year later, known as the Socialist Hall, in which were held plays, dances and an annual May Day picnic. The Finns also introduced their neighbours to the luxury of the sauna bath.

There existed some tension in the community between the more staid, old-guard pioneers and these Finnish "foreigners" with their socialist views. The local Methodist minister, James Shaver Woodsworth, found himself swayed by the Finn's socialist, pacifist philosophy. Woodsworth attempted to reconcile the two factions by promoting a slightly restructured version of their beliefs. His views became the basis for the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) which later evolved to the New Democratic Party. The home where early meetings of the CCF were held still stands, opposite Molly's Reach in Gibsons.

Information and pictures courtesy of the Sunshine Coast Museum & Archives, Winn Road, Gibsons BC and from the following books (used by permission of the publishers):
Around the Sound by Doreen Armitage
Bright Seas, Pioneer Spirits by Betty Keller & Rosella Leslie
The Sunshine Coast by Howard White

For more detailed historical information
write the Sunshine Coast Museum & Archives:
scm_a@dccnet.com

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Gibsons: the family behind the name

Information and pictures courtesy of the Sunshine Coast Museum & Archives, Winn Road, Gibsons BC

The first European homesteader
Click on image for larger picture
Charlotte and George Gibson Gibsons, along with Sechelt and Pender Harbour, is one of the three main population centres on the Sunshine Coast. It is often called "The Gateway to the Sunshine Coast". The town derives its name from a man named George William Gibson, the first European to establish a homesite here.

In 1886 George, with his two sons George Jr. and Ralph, beached their hand-built sloop, the Swamp Angel, on the site at the entrance to Howe Sound that was to bear their name. George was seeking arable land to pre-empt. He liked this area so he and George Jr. each claimed 160 acres. Once established, George arranged for his wife Charlotte, their daughters and all their belongings to be transported to their new home.

Three men named George
Other land seekers began to arrive, some of whom were friends from Ontario where George lived prior to moving west. George Hopkins, after whom Hopkins Landing is named, arrived in 1906. F.C. Granthams settled at what would become Granthams Landing in 1909, George Soames of Soames Point in 1888 and Robinson Langdale in 1893. At first, because of the large blocks of land involved, the settlers were far apart and isolated, making it difficult for a community to develop. Only after all the available pre-emptions had been acquired could these large blocks of land be subdivided into smaller lots allowing the community that became Gibsons to establish and grow.

A community built around the harbour
As with all isolated coastal communities along the B.C. coast, a wharf was essential to provide access to the outside world and to enable supplies to be brought in. Knowing this, Gibson built a wharf very close to the site of the present day wharf and the community began to develop around this transportation centre. Logging, fishing, farming and agriculture were the main economic supports, but many still found it necessary to travel back and forth to Vancouver to make ends meet, a situation which continues today for a small percentage of the population.

A lasting legacy
George and his wife Charlotte were a hard-working, intelligent and community-minded couple. They encouraged others to settle here and took pains to see that a community developed to serve their needs. They had eight children, two boys and six girls. Charlotte died in 1910, George in 1913. They are buried in what is now known as Pioneer Park but was originally the Gibson family cemetery, located at the head of the wharf where it all started.

For more detailed historical information
write the Sunshine Coast Museum & Archives:
scm_a@dccnet.com

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Harry Roberts:
The original Mr. Roberts Creek

Anyone familiar with the Coast community of Roberts Creek has heard of the unique annual event held here - Roberts Creek Daze. A funky as the community itself, the weekend celebration brings together an eclectic assortment of artisans, musicians, performers and local characters. Part of Creek Daze tradition is the Friday night crowning of Mr. Roberts Creek, a tongue-in-cheek poke at conventional beauty pageant mentality but also a chance for the guys to strut their stuff - all in fun, of course.

the visionary Harry Roberts Behind the entertainment value of this event is a serious tribute to Louis Harry Roberts (known as Harry), one of the original founders of Roberts Creek, who symbolizes the qualities honoured each year in the selection of Mr. Roberts Creek - originality, vision, non-conformity and respect for the environment.

Harry Roberts, unlike many hard-edged pioneers, had been an art student in England and later became a painter, author and philosopher. His visionary spirit, combined with an entrepreneurial sense of business, thrived on the Sunshine Coast. Starting with a 40-acre parcel of land east of the creek that he purchased from his father in 1904 (when he was 20 years old), Harry became one of the most influential of the early Creek settlers.

Travellers from nearby Vancouver had discovered a number of waterfront properties in Roberts Creek that were uninhabited by the owners. They came by the boat-load during the summer months to enjoy inexpensive camping holidays. Harry seized this opportunity and built a store and later a post office at the mouth of the creek (near the current site of the Roberts Creek General Store) that catered to these transients as well as to local families.

He was also well-known for his unique house and boat designs and his skill in their construction. He built a sawmill which produced lumber for most of the new houses in the area. Timbers from the mill were used to build a government wharf, the 13 bridges necessary to construct Lower Road, and a four-mile stretch of flume to carry timber from McNair's logging operations to Georgia Strait for transport. Lumber from Harry's mill was also barged to customers as far away as Pender Harbour.

Roberts Creek, 1920 Harry used his own wood to build a landmark home, The Castle, constructed in 1917 for his bride Effie "Birdie" Sissons, and for a 36-foot yawl, the Chack Chack, and a work and pleasure boat, the LHR (for Louis Harry Roberts). He also built and furnished small cottages to rent to vacationers and eventually subdivided and developed his own property as the demand for land grew.

The community of Roberts Creek was highly dependent on water transport for supplies, but developing a ship landing was made difficult by the harsh winter storms. Two floats constructed by the government were washed away. Harry used his small launch, the Midget, to push a scow loaded with as many as 75 passengers as well as freight out to larger vessels or passing steamships. In 1914 a government wharf was finally completed, although Harry was forced to move his store to make room for road access to it. He organized Creek residents to pay for, build and maintain the wharf when a disagreement between federal and provincial governments threatened to delay its construction indefinitely.

There was no proper breakwater to protect the wharf from the elements, and eventually it disintegrated. A new wharf was built farther along the shore, leaving Harry's store isolated from the potential market. Harry simply built another store closer to the wharf with a ramp leading directly to his store's front door and an inviting covered deck for waiting passengers. Nearby he built a freight shed on which he wrote the words Sunshine Belt in large letters visible from off-shore. This evolved to the name Sunshine Coast.

In 1923, Harry leased out his mill and store and moved with his family to Merry Island, where he had a small home called Bugaboo that he used as a base for cruising the Gulf Islands. In 1929, he built a fanciful retirement home on Nelson Island for his second wife Cherry and their three children. The house, called Sunray, or The House of 10,000 Faces was a charming cottage with south-facing walls made from some 300 panes of glass. He also built a 32-foot, three-masted schooner, the Chack Chack III, that was never launched. The house still stands in its idyllic cove at Cape Cockburn.

Information and pictures courtesy of the Sunshine Coast Museum & Archives,
Winn Road, Gibsons BC,
and from the following books (used by permission of the publishers):
Bright Seas, Pioneer Spirits by Betty Keller & Rosella Leslie
The Sunshine Coast by Howard White

For more detailed historical information
write the Sunshine Coast Museum & Archives:
scm_a@dccnet.com

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An introduction to the history of Sechelt

Information and pictures courtesy of the Sunshine Coast Museum & Archives, Winn Road, Gibsons BC

Where the name came from
Located 50 km north of Vancouver on the Sechelt Peninsula, this district takes its name from an early English spelling of shishalh, the correct term for the resident First Nations people of the region. The Sechelt Band was the first in Canada to be granted self-government and the authority to manage its own lands. The Band is part of the Northern Coast Salish culture area and their language, shashishalem, is part of the shalishan language family.

The first Europeans
The first of the Europeans to hold property in Sechelt was John Scales, a sapper with the Royal Engineers. He took his 150-acre military land grant on Trail Bay and bought 110 additional acres on Porpoise Bay. Scales didn't take up residence on his land, however, so Thomas and Sarah Cook became the first Europeans to settle permanently in the Sechelt area. The early economy was based on logging and tourism, and people fished and gardened to help feed their families. It was the Whitaker family who truly began the commercial development of Sechelt.

Alfred and Henrietta Whitaker had five sons and three daughters. Their oldest son, Herbert (Bert), owned 3/4 of a mile of waterfront on Trail Bay - a perfect location for his store, hotel, wharf and steamship company headquarters. He also built sawmills, logging camps and rental cottages and was appointed postmaster. Many of the early settlers worked with or for him to help create the vibrant community we find today. When Grace Kent, the new school teacher, arrived in Sechelt in 1912, she observed that Whitaker "owned practically all of Sechelt." Sechelt Hotel

Architecture
There are many beautiful buildings from the past still gracing Sechelt - Rockwood Lodge built in 1936 (now home to the Festival of the Written Arts); Sechelt Elementary School built in 1939; and St. Hilda's Anglican Church built in 1936 are a few.

Changes
In 1952, Highway 101 was paved and the commercial centre founded on ocean access to the Trail Bay waterfront turned itself around and the "heart of Sechelt" became the businesses lining Cowrie Street.

For more detailed historical information
write the Sunshine Coast Museum & Archives:
scm_a@dccnet.com

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Irvines Landing: the family behind the name

Information and pictures courtesy of the Sunshine Coast Museum & Archives, Winn Road, Gibsons BC

Charlie Irvine
Irvines Landing took its name from Charles Irvine, a bearded, pipe-smoking Englishman who arrived in the Pender Harbour area in the late 1880s. He purchased a 160-acre property on a point at the north entrance to Pender Harbour from, as rumour has it, a "Chinese trader." He built a small wharf and log-cabin trading post to provide supplies for logging operations, then was caught up in the excitement of the Klondike gold rush.

After Charlie
Irvine sold the property in 1904 to John and George West, who sold an 80-acre parcel to "Portuguese Joe" Gonsalves, a enterprising sailor and fisherman. Joe and his son-in-law Theodore (Steve) Dames (a burly Russian seaman married to Joe's beautiful daughter Matilda) really developed the area. They built a deep-sea dock, general store, post office and hotel/saloon at the head of the wharf. The Union Steamship Company made this a regular stop, the beginning of Pender Harbour's real presence on the map.

Irvines Landing, 1952
The store and hotel built and operated by Gonsalves and Dames
at Irvines Landing at the northern entrance to Pender Harbour.
Photo by H. H. Winn circa 1952.

For more detailed historical information
write the Sunshine Coast Museum & Archives:
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Pender Harbour: the Venice of the North

Information and pictures courtesy of the Sunshine Coast Museum & Archives, Winn Road, Gibsons BC

A string of pearls makes up Pender Harbour
The geographic area called Pender Harbour is not a single development or town like Gibsons or Sechelt. Several of the small bays, coves, inlets and islands that make up Pender Harbour developed small communities of their own ; some of which are Irvines Landing, Garden Bay and Madeira Park. Because there were no roads connecting these communities for some time, the residents had to use the waterways of Pender Harbour to travel back and forth - thus the area became known locally as "the Venice of the north".

Pender Harbour - 1947
A view of part of the harbour and moored pleasure boats, circa 1947.
In the 1920's this new kind of tourist, the private yacht owners, began to arrive in Pender Harbour
drawn by the area's beauty, seclusion and protected waterways.

"...after WWII the number of yachts frequenting the Harbour grew, and so did the number of marinas, until more than a dozen large yacht clubs and many small marinas were operating in the Harbour's small bays and coves, attracting so many visiting boaters that they often outnumbered the tourists who arrived by car...".

Loggers and fishers
While Pender had its share of loggers and logging operations, fishing also shared a top spot as an income source. Today, while logging and fishing are still a part of the economy, tourism and especially boaters is a major focus . "...oldtimers are never done marvelling at the way newcomers move in to get away from the city but do their best to bring it with them...".

Fishing boats on the Sunshine Coast.
The Warnock family fleet of fishing vessels, then the largest of the local fleets of fishboats.
"...the place was polluted with herring, you'd kill a thousand of them just rowing to shore,
clobbering 'em with the oars, you couldn't help it...".

For more detailed historical information
write the Sunshine Coast Museum & Archives:
scm_a@dccnet.com

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An introduction to the history of Port Mellon

Information and pictures courtesy of the Sunshine Coast Museum & Archives, Winn Road, Gibsons BC

Pulp Mill under construction
The construction of the pulp mill at Port Mellon, circa 1908.

Port Mellon is the mill
Port Mellon, at the mouth of Rainy River, has one claim to fame - it is the site of the longest surviving pulp and paper mill in the province. Although it is now a large, modern, technically advanced operation, this hasn't always been the case. The mill had very modest beginnings.

The mill's beginnings
In 1908, Captain Henry A. Mellon (the site is named after him) and the British Canadian Wood Pulp & Paper Company, drawn by the reliable water supply from the river and the easy access by cargo ships, built a small plant that produced BC's first wood-fibre pulp. The site changed hands several times until Canadian Forest Products bought it in 1951. As there was no road into the site until 1954, the mill supported a substantial company townsite complete with school, hotel, restaurant and community hall. After the road connected the mill to the outside world, the townsite slowly diminished until the last house was demolished in the late 1980s. The old school building and community hall still survive, however.

The mill today
In 1988, Canadian Forest Products entered into a partnership with Oji Paper of Japan. The pulp mill was completely rebuilt, newsprint production was added, and the site was transformed into one of the most modern mills in Canada. Guided tours are available in the summer. Call604-884-2575, fax 604-884-2181.

Seaside
Across the river from the eventual site of the pulp mill was the resort area called Seaside. This was developed into a popular stopover and destination resort for boaters by members of the Cates family who pre-empted the land around 1890. Here they built a hotel and wharf, picnic grounds, gardens and trails. It also became a regular destination for the Cates family's passenger steamer Britannia. Eventually the property was acquired by the owners of the nearby pulp mill.

Union Steamship at Port Mellon.
The Union Steamship vessel Lady Alexandra tied up at the wharf at Port Mellon.
Before the road to the outside world was built, Port Mellon, like many other isolated coastal communities, was dependent on the Union Steamship Company boats. In this photo workers, visitors and tourists are disembarking from the ship to tour the mill as part of a company sponsored industrial Open House held on May 20, 1948

For more detailed historical information
write the Sunshine Coast Museum & Archives:
scm_a@dccnet.com

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WHERE TO STAY

WHAT TO DO

DINING

ABOUT THE
COAST

TRAVEL EXTRAS

CONVENTIONS/
GROUP TRAVEL

CONTACT US

SEARCH/HELP

ADVERTISE ON THIS SITE

Gibsons History

Gibsons: the family behind the name

Harry Roberts:
The original Mr. Roberts Creek

An introduction to the history of Sechelt

Irvines Landing: the family behind the name

Pender Harbour: the Venice of the North

WHERE TO STAY

WHAT TO DO

DINING

ABOUT THE COAST

TRAVEL EXTRAS

CONVENTIONS/ GROUP TRAVEL

CONTACT US

SEARCH/HELP

ADVERTISE ON THIS SITE

Gibsons History

Gibsons: the family behind the name

Harry Roberts: The original Mr. Roberts Creek

An introduction to the history of Sechelt

Irvines Landing: the family behind the name

Pender Harbour: the Venice of the North

ABOUT THE
COAST

CONVENTIONS/
GROUP TRAVEL

Harry Roberts:
The original Mr. Roberts Creek