Camosack
In 1842, James Douglas of the Hudson's Bay Company selected the port of
Camosack (the harbor where Victoria now stands) as a new fur-trade post
- eventually to replace Fort Vancouver as the company's Pacific
headquarters and to bolster the British claim to Vancouver island.
It
was obvious that the international boundary would be set at the 49th
parallel and Fort Vancouver would be firmly in United States territory.
Charles Ross noted in his private correspondence:
"The Fort is a quadrangle of 330 by 300ft.
The
buildings on for the present to be eight in number, exclusion of
bastions - and there dimensions - 60 by 40 by 30 feet. Posts and
Pavilion roofs of these edifies we have already thoroughly completed
three, and two more (main and officers house) are up but as yet
unprovided with covering or inside work.
One octangular Bastion
of three stories was built. In the farming line we have not as yet done
much, there are about three acres broken up and prepared for the plough.
The soil appears excellent being composed of decayed vegetable mould
with a strong clayey bottom, it is however a good deal growth of fern.
The landscape is beautiful and strongly reminds one of some of the
noble domains at home - water alone being (wanting?)to complete the
picture.
The climate is perhaps too fine, of which you may judge,
when I tell you that from June to November we had scarcely anything
else thou bright sunny days."
On 10 June 1843, it was
officially christened Fort Victoria after Queen Victoria. The crown
colony of Vancouver Island was also established in 1849 and Richard
Blanshard, who became its first governor in 1850, resided at Fort
Victoria. In 1847 the fort walls were extended to included a post
office, stable, and another warehouse. The town site was surveyed
adjacent to the fort in 1851-52.
With
the discovery of gold on the British Columbia mainland in 1858,
Victoria became the port, supply base, and outfitting centre for miners
on their way to the gold fields, mushrooming from a population of 300
to over 5,000 literally within a few days. One morning in July, some
2,800 men arrived from San Francisco en route to the gold rush, and
that year 30,000 people passed through Victoria on their way to the
Fraser River goldfields. Victoria also became the port, supply base,
and outfitting center for miners on their way to the Caribou gold
fields.
As the town of Victoria grew - it was incorporated in
1862 - the fort was slowly dismantled to make way for the expanding
town. In 1864 the last part of the old fort was demolished, the lots
were auctioned off, and brick commercial buildings went up.
The north bastion of the fort was at the corner of what is now Bastion
Square and Government Street and the south bastion at Fort and
Government Streets. The original outline of the fort is marked on
Government Street by a row of bricks containing names of Victoria
pioneers.
Of the buildings seen on the Harbeck video, there are several that are built on the old fort site.
1108 Government Street, the current location of Munro's books was
originally part of Fort Victoria and is almost exactly between the
chief factor's residence and the men's quarters.
The Promis Block at 1006-1010 Government Street occupies what was once the southeast corner of the original Fort Victoria.
The Hamley Building, named after its original owner, Wymond Hamley -
Collector of Customs for British Columbia from 1864-1871, was
constructed on the site of the old Fort Victoria Garden.
The site on which the bank is located at 1022 Government Street is
where the former bachelor's quarters of Fort Victoria stood.
This Hallmark Society project has been funded by the Hbc Foundation and the BC150-Heritage Legacy Fund.
Project manager and researcher: Helen Edwards.
Principal Photography & Consultant:
Ron Bukta, West Ventures Photography.