Series GR-4284 - History and detailed chronology of land districts

This series consists of notes, maps, reports and descriptions of various land districts in British Columbia. This includes a hand written report titled "Report on the gazettings of land districts" by C.E. Tildesley, Legal Surveys, Dept. of Lands and Forests. The majority of the records appear to have been created in the 1930s, and cover the history of land districts from the 1860s to 1930s.

These records were created as an attempt at creating formal descriptions of every land district in BC. Previously, land districts had been created in an ad hoc manner, and the term "land district" had been used to describe any area in the province that had an official land register, which at the time of writing, applied to 83 land districts. Many of these districts never had an official description of their extent or boundary locations. Only some districts had been described through the use of an official survey map, and even fewer had a gazetted description with formal boundaries.

Extensive research was conducted on BC Gazettes and Dept. of Lands records to determine a chronological history for each district and what land districts did, or did not, have official maps and previously gazetted boundaries. Research was also conducted on the terminology used to define land districts over time, and potential overlap with mineral districts, electoral districts, school districts and other official boundaries. The terms land district, land recording district, lot district, land recording division, and land division had often used interchangeably until around 1909.

Records may relate to the following land districts: Alberni, Barclay, Bright, Cameron, Cariboo, Cassiar, Cedar, Chemainus, Clayoquat, Coast Range 1, Coast Range 2, Coast Range 3, Coast Range 4, Coast Range 5, Comiaken, Comox, Cowichan, Cowichan Lake, Cranberry, Douglas, Dunsmuir, Esquimalt, Goldstream, Helmcken, Highland, Kamloops, Kootenay, Lake, Lillooet, Malahat, Metchosin, Mountain, Nanaimo, Nanoose, Nelson, Newcastle, New Westminster, Nootka, Osoyoos, Otter, Oyster, Peace River, Quamichan, Quatsino, Queen Charlotte (Haida Gwaii), Renfrew, Rupert, North Saanich, South Saanich, Sahtlam, Sayward, Seymour, Shawnigan, Similkameen, Somenos, Sooke, Victoria, Wellington, Yale and various Gulf Islands.