Fonds PR-1181 - Bella Coola Colony fonds

Title and statement of responsibility area

Title proper

Bella Coola Colony fonds

General material designation

  • textual record

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Title notes

  • Source of title proper: Title based on the contents of the fonds.

Level of description

Fonds

Reference code

PR-1181

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Statement of scale (cartographic)

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Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)

Dates of creation area

Date(s)

  • 1897-1909, 2007 (Creation)
    Creator
    Bella Coola Colony

Physical description area

Physical description

2 cm of texual records

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Administrative history

The Bella Coola Colony was established in 1894 to bring Norwegian immigrants to the area. Approximately 80 immigrants travelled from Minnesota to Bella Coola that year, becaming the largest non-Native settlement in the valley. Prior to that, there had been fewer than 20 non-Natives living in the area, and many of these had only arrived in 1892.

The area was chosen for several reasons. The Canadian government was in the process of encouraging Scandinavian, German and British citizens to settle in the province, and Norwegian anthropologist B F Jacobsen had written favourably about the area, comparing the landscape to that in Norway. At the same time, Reverend Christian Saugstad in Minnesota sought to move his congregation, partly due to a disagreement within the church. As a result, each settler was promised 160 acres of land contingent on the fulfillment of homesteading duties such as clearing the land and erecting buildings.

By 1895, the colonists had erected a post office and built additional roads and bridges and a further 98 colonists arrived. The settlers began to collect taxes and opened a general store. The post office in Kristiana, later known as Hagensborg, opened and a school was built.

The community relocated in 1904 to the north side of the Bella Coola river.

Custodial history

Scope and content

The fonds consists of a minute book of the Bella Coola Colony. It also includes a translation from Norwegian to English which was donated in 2007.

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Language and script note

The minute book is written in Norwegian.

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General note

Archives code(s): MS-1878

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