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May 20,2015 West Vancouver Historical Soc vol. 32, No. 2 They arrived in Vancouver on Saturday morning March 20, 1909, crossed on the North Van ferry (paying 10 cents) and walked from Lonsdale via Keith Road to John Lawson's home in West Capilano at what is now 17th street. They returned to Vancouver, unloaded their furniture and took it to North Vancouver on the ferry (fare now reduced to 5 cents because the City of North Van had bought the ferry). The other six family members followed about a week later,m joining W.C. and Jim at their rented house at 3rd St. and Chesterfield Ave. in North Van, where they marvelled at the mild weather.. W.C. says they stayed in North Van "until I sized up and decided what to do. I soon decided that that West Capilano was the pick of greater Vancouver." The newspaper clipping at the beginning of this article indicates that by about two weeks after arrival W.C. had purchased his home plot and had already started clearing it. He was not one to let moss grow on his feet. He changed his original plan to build on Keith Road and instead built on the waterfront. The War Memorial now stands on the land originally intended for the house. "We brought the lumber from Vancouver city in rafts on the water andput up a track up the bank and hauled it up with a windlass. It was very heavy timbered, lots of trees 6 ft. diameter if over three hundredft.high. We cut one down near the house 9 ft. 6" diameter We used lots of stumping powder and fires We kept the house at North Vancouver for 8 months then moved over here and livedpartly in the house andpartly in tents Harry (his son) if Maggie had a sleeping tent ir we had a larger tent for dining if we slept in the house before Christmas (1909) but it was a year after that it was finished. The large Edwardian house featured oceanview balconies on three levels and curved glass and sash in the windows of the tower The glass curvature can be seen from the reflections in the photograph to the right, also in 1910. Having the largest interior spaces in town at the time, it served for many civic functions, including the initial meeting place for the Council when West Van was founded two years later. After building his waterfront home, and being retired at age 55, W.C . turned his eyes towards commimity affairs again. He bought several large blocks of land and developed them into lots which he sold over a period of about 25 years. Together with three other men, in 1909 he started the ferry system to Vancouver with the boat shown on the next page. They sold the system to the municipality soon after West Van's 1912 incorporation.