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hollyburn-a name worth remembering INTRODUCTION West Vancouver, through its Parks Department, publishes an "Information Map & Parks Guide". It is excellent, but it has one omission that may sadden the long time resident - it does not include Hollyburn as a district. In the belief that the name Hollyburn should not disappear from the history of West Vancouver, this article is written. THE "PRE-HOLLYBURN" ERA The first recorded land claim in West Vancouver was made in 1872 by James Blake. In present day terms it stretched along the shore from 16 Street to 18 Street, and north to Haywood Avenue. There is no indication that Blake either lived on or developed the land, but in 1889, he sold or transferred his claim to some-one who did - Navvy Jack Thomas. Thomas must have been squatting on the property for some years, inasmuch as Thomas Grafton, the lighthouse keeper, in 1887 included him in a list of six men resident in West Vancouver. As Thomas is generally accepted as the first white resident, he must have been present before that. There was at that time no road at all in what is now West Vancouver, so that these first residents must have relied on boats for communication. Though Solitary, it is not likely that Navvy Jack was lonely. He had an Indian wife, for whom he built a house by the creek through his property, and he obviously kept very busy. He cleared 50 acres of land, he planted an orchard, he dug gravel from a pit on his land, and, on request, he hired out with his boat as a ferry. It is interesting to speculate who might have hired his boat, and how they contacted him to do so. Navvy Jack Thomas almost certainly left to go gold-mining in Barkerville (Gertrude Lawson was to see his grave there while on holiday). Free spirits may want to believe that he left because of the encroachments of civilization. In 1891, he found himself living in a municipality as the newly incorporated North Vancouver extended from Deep Cove to Eagle Harbour. And, in 1892, there was a road across his property - then Keith Road, now Marine Drive. Whatever the reason, Thomas was gone and in due course, his land was sold for unpaid taxes. J.C. Keith, the banker who had loaned the money for the building of Keith Road, bought the land, and in 1905 sold it to John Lawson. And here, when Lawson moved his family into Navvy Jack Thomas' old house, the development of Hollyburn really begins. JOHN LAWSON - DEVELOPER It is a fair distinction, I think, to say that Blake and Keith were land speculators and that John Lawson was a land developer. Speculators buy land and wait for time and event to make a profit.A developer buys land- .& by his own actions, makes its resale profitable. Lawson lived on his property, and worked both as a business man and a public servant to make it a good place to live. He exemplified "enlightened self-interest". Lawson had purchased 160 acres, which he immediately proceeded to clear. His first intent was to build a golf course, an indication perhaps of the clientelle he hoped to attract. He himself said that high costs and high taxes killed that project, but he was left with some advantageously placed acreage to put on the housing market.