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Page 6 West Vancouver Historical Society May 2002 FEATURE PRESENTATION REPORT By: Anne Vernon BURRARD INLET - IT'S WHERE WE LIVE Ai our March tneeting we welcomed an old friend, Doreen Armiiage, who came to talk to us about her newly published book "Burrard Inlet: A History". This made a very good follow up to Doreen's previous visit to us when she spoke about her previous book, "Around The Sound: A History of Howe Sound-Whistler". Doreen began the evening by reminding us that Burrard Inlet, which is right on our doorstep, is a very large body of salt water. The Inlet's boundary runs from Point Atkinson to Point Grey, and takes in all the waters eastward, which include Spanish Bank (not Banks as all Lower Mainlanders call it), English Bay and False Creek. After that it sweeps around Stanley Park, over to West Vancouver, past North Vancouver, up Indian Arm and around to Port Moody, including all the rivers, creeks and little inlets which are part of our fascinating shore line. Altogether a very large body of water - for those who like statistics it is actually 114.7 square kilometers in size, with a shore line totalling 152.6 kilometers. We tend to take it, witli all its busy sea traffic, for granted, but Doreen made us look at tliis magnificent landscape with new eyes. .. .Altogether a large body of water, with a shore line totalling 114.7 square kilmeters ... The Lower Mainland lay under mountains of ice for eons, and our part of it (from Port Moody southward and eastward) was, in fact, formed by glacial activity more than ten thousand years ago. Indian Arm was originally a river, but file glacial melt gouged out the basin which we now know as the Inner Harbour and file Second Narrows. Today, dredging at the mouth of the Capilano River takes place frequently to clear the build up of silt from the rivers and creeks which otherwise would form a large bank close to the mouth of the Capilano River, under Lions Gate Bridge. If this work was not carried out the silt would build up and cut off the remainder of Burrard Inlet, thus making Indian Arm a large lake. What a difference that would have made to our predecessors and ourselves -the whole area would have been quite different. In the beginning, as most of us are aware, logging, with the essential sawmills were fite first industries to open up the landscape, both on the north and soufii shores of the Inlet. Horses and mules were needed and accommodation for both men and animals led to the consu-uction of, firstly, camps, followed by wooden buildings to serve the needs of the rapidly growing population. The next necessity was the building of piers to accommodate file sailing ships which came from all over the world to take the lumber to market. This was the beginning of what we know today as tlie Port of Vancouver, with busy wharves on both sides of file Inlet, heavy machinery for loading and unloading, and rail tracks to bring in the long, long, trains from much of Canada to feed the export businesses which have grown from that time. Could those pioneers who had to hand load lumber, grain, coal, (with only the help of ropes and small hand carts,) and all the other cargoes which left the Inlet for all parts of the world, ever have imagined the present day Port which is among the top three largest, and busiest, harbours in North America? Would they have envied the ease with which the present-day longshoremen handle such heavy- loads? Today the Port of Vancouver ships over 70 million tons of cargo every year - it sees over one million people coming into Vancouver to join the cruise ships which go to Alaska It is a very far journey from the hard stniggles of cargo-handling in the 1850's and onwards. Doreen's photographs paint a very clear picture of the difficulties which were involved in past eras. We covered a lot of ground at our March meeting. Doreen took us from those early days through the years to the coming of steamboats, followed by several light stations, with accommodation for the keepers and their families, a good-sized fleet of tugs, which meant pilots and pilot stations, and more housing - always more housing. The population grew quickly, especially on the North Shore during the first and second World Wars, when shipuilding became an important industry. This led to more rail traffic, more roads and - eventually - the bridges. Bridges were built from Vancouver over False Creek, from Stanley Park to West Vancouver and from Vancouver to North Vancouver. The North Shore became a very popuhir place to live and to do business. ...’’The Inlet has certainly had its fair share of tradgedies." The Inlet has certainly had its fair share of tragedies. The sinking of the steamship "Beaver" was perhaps file first incident remembered. Many of us remembered the times various ships had crashed into the road and rail bridges, the collapse of a span of the 2nd Narrows Bridge. (Now know'n as the "Ironworkers Memorial Bridge" to commemorate the toss of life incurred). There was also the terrible explosion ajid fire aboard the "Green Park", with tugs from the Norfii Shore coming to the rescue, as they did severtU years later when the Imperial Oil barge in Coal Harbour exploded, and, lastly, the fire in Burrard Terminals in 1975 when the grain storage silo went up in flames. All involved loss of life tuid many acts of bravery on the part of those who dashed to the rescue. Several rescuers received medals from the government. There is so much more I have no room to cover. If you are fascinated by the history of Burrary Inlet, and want to learn more, you had better buy the book!