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Archival description
Surveying--British Columbia
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Frank Cyril Swannell fonds

  • PR-0389
  • Fonds
  • 1811-1968

The fonds consists of diaries, photographs, field books, scrapbooks and files containing notes and correspondence. Fonds includes survey maps of land in Russia, Turkey, France, and British Columbia.

Swannell, Frank Cyril, 1880 - 1969

Parish observation books

The series consists of surveying observations made by Royal Engineers of the districts of New Westminster and Queensborough. The series includes notebooks of observation by Parish and a notebook identified with P.J. Leech, Royal Engineers, Fort Langley.

British Columbia (Colony). Lands and Works Dept.

New Westminster Land Commissioner record books

  • GR-4122
  • Series
  • 1859-1980

This series consists of a variety of bound volumes related to the administration, management and alienation of land in the New Westminster land district from 1858-1980. The records were primarily created by the provincial Government Agent and the Dominion Land Agent stationed in New Westminster. The records have been arranged into the following subseries:

  1. Indexes and maps.

The indexes cover many of the homestead files in GR-4121, by file number and alphabetically by name of the homesteader or licensee. There are two volumes of reference maps for various municipalities, sub-divisions, right-of-ways and townships.

  1. BC government land registers : district lot system

Variations of this system of surveying land were used from 1859 onwards. All of these volumes appear to have been created and maintained by the BC government. The registers list the lots in numerical order and record the alienation of land from the Crown by purchase, pre-emption, lease, mineral claims, timber use, etc. Information may include the name of the purchaser, dates and numbers of certificates issued (including Crown Grants), dates and amounts of payments, and reference numbers to correspondence files and field books. There is an alphabetical name index in most volumes. The registers cover range 1 Coast District, range 4 Coast District, Yale Division Yale District (YDYD) country lands, Texada Island District, Point Grey townsite, Powell River townsite, Hastings townsite, and New Westminster District group 1, group 2 and 3 group 3.

  1. BC government land registers : township system

Variations of this survey system were used from 1873 to approximately 1912. All of these volumes appear to have been created and maintained by the BC government. The land entered in the majority of the volumes was surveyed and made available for settlement in 1873 and 1874. The registers list land in numerical order by Sections within Townships and record the alienation of land from the Crown by purchase, pre-emption, lease, etc. Information may include the name of the purchaser, dates and numbers of certificates issued (including Crown Grants), dates and amounts of payments, and reference numbers to correspondence files and field books. There is an alphabetical name index in most volumes. The registers cover New Westminster District townships 1 to 50 with some townships missing.

  1. Dominion government : general land registers

These volumes were likely created by the Dominion Land Agent. It appears that at least some records were copied from provincial records to determine what land had been alienated before the transfer of the Railway Belt and what Crown land still needed to be managed by the dominion government. The registers, arranged by legal description, indicate the nature of the grant, the number, date of entry, file number, patent approval date, and name of grantee. The registers cover various townships in the New Westminster District and various lots throughout the Hope district, Yale district, Kamloops district, town of Hope, town of Yale, and Boston Bar.

  1. Lease registers

These volumes were created in the New Westminster government agent's office. They record leases for a variety of purposes including: quarry, campsite, booming ground, agriculture, foreshore, forestry, and grazing. Many volumes are indexed and may include file numbers linking to GR-4121.

  1. Pre-emption records

These records were created by the BC government. Pre-emption was a system of obtaining title to unsurveyed land (similar to the Dominion "homesteading" system) which occurred until 1970. Individuals could purchase land which had not been fully surveyed. However, grants to these lands were not issued until the applicant had made specified improvements, passed inspections, satisfied residency requirements, and had the lands fully surveyed. Records include certificates of improvement for the Vancouver Divisions of the New Westminster District and Coast District; certificates of pre-emption for the New Westminster District and Vancouver Division; and registers of pre-emption records.

  1. Land purchase records

These records were created by the BC government. Once land was surveyed, it could be purchased outright instead of being pre-empted. These records include certificates of purchase for the New Westminster District.

  1. Mining records

The majority of these records were created by BC Government Agents, Gold Commissioners or Mining Recorders. Records include mineral claim minute books, records of conveyances, bills of sale, applications for mineral lands and petroleum and natural gas leases, and coal applications. Records are from the New Westminster District, Hope and Yale. Most volumes include an alphabetical index and some may include references to file numbers in GR-4121.

  1. Range and timber records

These records were created by the dominion and BC governments. Records include range leases, grazing leases and information on timber berths.

  1. Water licence applications

These records are water licence applications created by the BC government.

  1. Cancellation records

Cancellation registers created by the BC and Dominion governments. Some volumes include alphabetical indexes and have file numbers related to GR-4121.

  1. Financial records

Various financial records created by the Dominion government and BC Government Agents. Records include Dominion crown timber financial statements; form J (cash books) created by Government Agents documenting their expenses and fee collection, such as the sale of marriage licences; and a land revenue return of payments from the central Victoria land office.

  1. Other land administration records

Includes dominion created applications for patents and homestead inspectors instructions, as well as BC Government Agent books recording lands resumed under Soldier’s Homestead Act, Crown granted mineral claims which have reverted to the Crown for non-payment of taxes, and surveyed lands open for use.

British Columbia. Government Agent (New Westminster)

Correspondence

  • GR-1169
  • Series
  • 1860-1865

This series contains letters inward and outward of J.D. Pemberton and B.W. Pearse, Colonial Surveyors. It also includes copies of correspondence with Edward Stamp and Gilbert Malcolm Sproat pertaining to purchases of lands and various agreements on lands at Alberni and Barclay Sound in regard to the establishment and operation of a sawmill and a copper mining company. Includes a map of company land holdings in the Alberni valley.

Vancouver Island (Colony). Office of the Surveyor General

Day book of expenditures and correspondence

  • GR-1029
  • Series
  • 1862-1865

This series consists of a day book of expenditures of road and bridge construction, surveys and transport, 1862-1864; goods received from grocers, Hope, B.C., 1865; correspondence and specifications relating to the construction of the Burrard Inlet road, 1864-1865.

British Columbia. Dept. of Lands and Works

Correspondence

The series consists of photocopies of three letters and a written "sketch" sent to friends and a brother in England. Hargreaves arrived in Victoria from England on July 2, 1862. The letter of Sept. 1, 1862 describes his first attempt to reach the Cariboo, from which he turned back, his work as a survey assistant in the Cowichan district, and his reaction to the articles written by Donald Fraser, the London TIMES correspondent. The second letter, Jan. 9, 1865, describes a trip to Cariboo in 1863 and the third item is a "sketch of a trip I made in the winter of 1875" describing a CPR exploratory survey in the Chilcotin. The final item, a letter of Feb 6, 1878, continues the account of his survey work in 1875, describing work in the Salmon (Kimsquit) River Valley at the head of Dean Channel, and in the Kemano River.

Accounts ledger

  • GR-1171
  • Series
  • 1865-1866

This series contains one volume of an accounts ledger, receipts and payments. It also includes a ledger of expenditures for road construction, surveys and explorations, salaries, supplies, etc.

British Columbia. Dept. of Lands and Works

Gerald Smedley Andrews fonds

  • PR-1059
  • Fonds
  • [187?] - 2006; 2013

The fonds consists of records generated by Gerald Smedley Andrews in Victoria and other parts of British Columbia and Canada, and overseas, in pursuit of his personal, wartime, professional and volunteer activities from about 1903 to 2005.

These activities include those of teacher; lecturer; researcher; author; historian; geographer; traveler; artist; photographer; genealogist; linguist; surveyor; engineer; forester; expert in aerial survey photography, mapping and photogrammetry and member of numerous amateur and professional associations and organizations.

The fonds consists predominantly of personal records but also includes records from Andrews' positions with the British Columbia government, including Chief Engineer of the Air Surveys Division, and Surveyor General and Director of the Surveys and Mapping Branch. The records cover a wide range of subjects but particularly relate to surveying (including aerial survey photography, mapping and photogrammetry) and surveyors, and the history and geography of British Columbia. The fonds include correspondence, research notes, lists, publications, newspaper articles and clippings, over 14,000 photographs, financial records, legal documents, tax assessments, membership cards, membership directories, nominal rolls, newsletters, minutes, financial reports, by-laws, annual reports, texts of speeches, questionnaires, memoranda, a patent application, invitations, resumes, graphs, diagrams, calculations, manuals, technical information, programmes, essays, manuscript drafts, grant applications, job applications, orders of service, texts of speeches, essays, drawings and other artwork.

The fonds also includes three videotaped cable television interviews with Andrews (1982-1985). a home video interview with Andrews and over 300 maps and plans.

Andrews, Gerald Smedley

Commission of Lands correspondence

  • GR-1039
  • Series
  • 1871-1872

This series contains correspondence inward to the Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works relating to various public works, buildings, bridges and roads, surveys, government reserves, and general land matters. Includes memoranda, minutes, telegraphs, and sketches. Files W2/71 to W218/72, 29 December 1871 to 29 July 1872.

British Columbia. Dept. of Lands and Works

Diaries

Series consists of 13 volumes of diaries of Canadian Pacific Railway exploration and construction. Also includes an account of a traverse of trail from Edmonton to Landing on the Athabasca River, August 1877, and an account book, 1885-1889.

Lands Department executive records

  • GR-0440
  • Series
  • 1872-1918

This series consists of letterpress copies of letters outward from the Deputy Minister of Lands, Deputy Commissioner of Lands, Surveyor-General, Deputy Commissioner of Lands and Water, and Chief Commissioner of Lands & Works, and associated registers. Volumes 1-241 are accessed through separate registers (series II, vols. 1-22); volumes 242-314 contain their own registers.

British Columbia. Dept. of Lands. Deputy Minister

Minutes of decision of Joint Indian Reserve Commission

  • GR-2982
  • Series
  • 1876-1949; predominant 1876-1907

The series consists of minutes of decision of the Joint Indian Reserve Commission (1876-1878) of governments of Canada and British Columbia and of the Indian Reserve Commission (1878-1907) of the government of Canada regarding allotment of Indian reserves in British Columbia.

Records consist of correspondence, memoranda, reports and coloured maps of the reserve allotments. Although these records are called Joint Reserve Commission records, they probably form part of the British Columbia Department of Lands and Works fonds. Most of the records are stamped with the Lands and Works Dept. stamp and also have Lands and Works file numbers assigned to each, after they were received from the Commission. Some files then had additional related records added to by Department staff, as reserves were surveyed or related issues came up. Additional records were added to several files by Department of Lands staff up to 1949.

In addition, the series includes an item level precis of each document, created by the Dept. of Lands in 1980. The precis are filed in the first file of each box.

British Columbia. Dept. of Lands and Works

Kamloops Government Agent land records

  • GR-0522
  • Series
  • 1877-1977

The series consists of the business records, 1877-1977, of the office of the Kamloops Government Agent, including the records of several additional positions usually held by the same individual: Gold Commissioner, Mining Recorder, and Land Commissioner for the Kamloops Land District. The series also includes records of the Canadian Department of the Interior; most created and received by the Dominion Lands Agent at Kamloops as part of the administration of the Railway Belt.

Record types and subject matter include, but are not limited to the following: land alienation through pre-emption or purchase from the provincial government and homesteading or purchase from the federal government; a variety of leases of Crown land; other more general types of records; and records regarding Indigenous peoples and Indian Reserves.

Records related to land alienation include: applications for pre-emption records; land classification reports; forms completed by land inspectors of the Department of Lands Inspection Branch; declarations of occupation and permanent improvement on pre-emption claims; applications for homestead entry, cancellation, and abandonment; homestead Inspector’s reports; affidavits in support of an Application for Entry for a homestead, pre-emption or purchased homestead; land sales records including applications to purchase and certificates of purchase.

Records related to a variety of leases and other uses of Crown lands include: grazing leases; foreshore leases; dredging leases; indentures to reassign leases; special use permits; timber permits; water records including conditional water licenses, and permanent water licenses; applications for irrigation schemes; petroleum and natural gas leases; quarry leases; bar leases; coal leases; mining leases regarding surface and subsurface rights; applications for lease of crown-granted mineral claims; applications for placer leases under the Placer-Mining Act; and the lapse of a lease or forfeiture of a mineral claim to the Crown.

Other more general types of records include: correspondence regarding Crown grants; inquiries about land availability; surveyor’s reports; preliminary plans and correspondence for the surveys of townships; Soldier Settlement Board records including forms, correspondence and records of soldier land grants; attestation papers and discharge certificates; naturalization papers; personal correspondence; correspondence files on specific topics such as hay permit regulations or precipitation measurements; records regarding taxes; and business records of the office, including inter-department correspondence, circulars, and memorandum related to matters of land administration.

Files also exist for specific Indian Reserves, and can include correspondence; water records; surveys; and inspection reports created in the process of allotting new, and canceling existing Indian Reserves. Some files document instances of overlapping land use and conflict between settlers and Indigenous peoples on specific parcels of land.

Files are generally either correspondence files on a particular subject, or a variety of records related to a particular piece of land. Many files cover a wide time period and may be associated with multiple individuals or companies as land rights were often transferred to others or cancelled and reapplied for. Only the name of the first and last individual listed on the file is included in the file list. This means there may be additional names associated with files not included on the file list. The file list may also only include part of the legal description of land in cases where the description was exceptionally long, or included many different pieces of land. Single individuals may also have multiple files for each piece of land they are associated with.

Cartographic materials, consisting of blueprints and hand-drawn maps or plans, indicating the parcels of land relevant to the file, are commonly found throughout the records.

No file list or indexes were transferred with these records from the Kamloops Government Agent. Most files only included numbers with no clear names, so titles were created by the archives based on the contents of the files or by transcribing information on relevant file backs.

A fire on 17 September 1893 at the Dominion Lands Office in Kamloops destroyed some files. The contents for these files are marked [empty]. Files marked as [file back only] were likely destroyed in the fire, but then had their titles and some additional information transcribed by Lands employees onto file backs from letter books or other surviving records which were not transferred with these records.

British Columbia. Government Agent (Kamloops)

Diary

Diary of Canadian Pacific Railway surveys, Port Moody and Fraser Valley.

New Westminster Land Commissioner files

  • GR-4121
  • Series
  • 1882-1978

This series consists of records related to the administration, management and alienation of land in the New Westminster land district from 1882-1978. The records were primarily created by the provincial Government Agent and the Dominion Land Agent stationed in New Westminster. The majority of these records are homestead files created by the dominion government. These files contain information about homesteaders, their applications and the process of obtaining title to land.

Record types and subject matter include, but are not limited to: land alienation through pre-emption or purchase from the provincial government and homesteading or purchase from the federal government; a variety of leases of Crown land; other general subject files; and records regarding Indigenous Peoples or Indian Reserves.

Records related to land alienation include: applications for pre-emption, purchase or lease; land classification reports; forms completed by land inspectors of the Department of Lands Inspection Branch; declarations of occupation and permanent improvement on pre-emption claims; applications for homestead entry, cancellation, and abandonment; homestead Inspector’s reports; affidavits in support of an Application for Entry; land sales records; correspondence with settlers and other government officials; patents; Crown Grants; certificates; forms; maps and plans; financial records including receipts and cheques; court records, such as probates; survey records; notices of sale or cancellation; and sale agreements.

Records related to leases and other uses of Crown land include: grazing leases; foreshore leases; dredging leases; special use permits; timber permits; timber berths; water licenses; applications for dyking schemes; campsite leases; oyster bed leases; right-of-ways (ROWs) through land for railways, roads, powerlines or pipelines; petroleum and natural gas leases; quarry leases; bar leases; coal leases; mining leases; and mineral claims. Other uses include government reserves, the establishment of parks, and the reservation of land for school sites or other public uses.

Other more general subject files include: inquiries about land availability; preliminary plans and correspondence for the survey and sale of townsites; Soldier Settlement Board records including forms, correspondence and records of soldier land grants; correspondence files on specific topics such as canal construction, the reclamation of Hatzic Lake, the draining of Sumas Lake and the establishment of fish culture and fish hatcheries; and business records of the office, including inter-department correspondence, circulars, and memorandum related to matters of land administration.

Files also exist for specific Indian Reserves, and can include correspondence; water records; surveys; and inspection reports created in the process of allotting new, and canceling or amending existing Indian Reserves. Some files document instances of overlapping land use and conflict between settlers and Indigenous peoples on specific parcels of land.

Files are generally either correspondence files on a particular subject, or a variety of records related to a particular piece of land. Many files cover a wide time period and may be associated with multiple individuals or companies, as land rights were often transferred to others or cancelled and reapplied for.

Only the name of the first individual listed on the file is included in the file list. This means there may be additional names associated with files not included on the file list. The file list may also only include part of the legal description of land in cases where the description was exceptionally long, or included many different pieces of land. Single individuals may also have multiple files for each piece of land they are associated with.

The series also includes some files related to land in the Yale Division and Kamloops Division of the Yale Land District; as well as the Lillooet Land District. These records were created in the offices of the Kamloops and Clinton Government Agents, but at some point became intermingled with the New Westminster records.

Maps, plans and sketches indicating the parcels of land relevant to the file are commonly found throughout the records.

British Columbia. Government Agent (New Westminster)

Henry Fry fonds

  • PR-0924
  • Fonds
  • 1885-1923

The fonds consists of records created by Henry Fry from 1885 to 1911 including diaries, field notes, and an account book relating to surveys carried out on Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands and in the Cariboo. The fonds also includes miscellaneous field books created by other surveyors from 1886 to 1923.

Fry, Henry, 1852-1912

Surveying diaries and notes

The series consists of Henry Fry's diaries of surveys in 1885, 1887 and 1889; field notes of surveys carried out mainly on Vancouver Island, the Gulf Islands and the Cariboo; and field notes of surveys on various mineral claims and fractional mineral claims carried out on Vancouver Island 1885-1911. The series also contains some field notes of surveys carried out by W. Ralph 1886, M. Boyd 1904-1905, J.B. Green 1908, and R.C. Mainguy 1910, 1919 and 1923.

Land surveys relating to the Railway Belt and Peace River Block

  • GR-0437
  • Series
  • 1885-1930

This series consists of correspondence files relating to surveys in British Columbia including:
68 boxes of files, mostly numbered chronologically, which contain branch correspondence with a particular surveyor for a season;
27 boxes of files relating to surveys of quarter sections in the Railway Belt and the Peace River Block. These files are arranged in order of their township, range, and meridian numbers, working from east to west. Peace River Block files are placed at the end of the series (boxes 24-27); and
6 boxes of Dominion Land Surveyors' diaries (146 volumes). Most of these diaries cover surveys along the CPR mainline.

Canada. Department of the Interior

Corporation of Land Surveyors records

Professional land surveyors have played a key role in the development of British Columbia. Their work of delineating and describing lands within the province was essential for both orderly settlement and the administration of the province's natural resources. Their work was essential in laying out town sites, surveying roads, railways, and telegraph routes, and in determining international and inter-provincial boundaries. Their concomitant role as explorers, geographers, and naturalists was also important to the province's history. The surveying profession was not strictly regulated in British Columbia until 1891. Before that date, however, the provincial government had recognized a cadre of professional surveyors, many of whom had been involved with such major projects as the 49th Parallel Boundary survey (1857-1862), the Collins Overland Telegraph survey (1864-1867), the CPR surveys (1871-1885) and the Canadian Geological Survey (1871-1908). These surveyors, of considerable experience and proven ability, were entitled to append the initials LS [Land Surveyor] after their names. In April 1891, the Legislative Assembly passed the Provincial Surveyors' Act [54 Vic., c. 17]. Framed by W.S. Gore, the Provincial Surveyor-General, the act was introduced to regulate practitioners. The act established a Board of Examiners, made up of the Surveyor-General and five other surveyors, and set down policies for articling pupils. Thereafter, only surveyors who were approved by the Board were allowed to practice in the province. Authorized surveyors were styled "Provincial Land Surveyors of the Province of British Columbia", they received a numbered commission and seal and were entitled to append the initials PLS after their names. The act also incorporated a governing body, the Association of Provincial Land Surveyors, for the profession. The PLS group of surveyors eventually numbered eighty-five members. However, the Association was relatively weak and in 1905 it was replaced by the Corporation of Lands Surveyors of the Province of British Columbia. The corporation was established under new legislation, the Provincial Land Surveyors' Act, 1905 [5 Ed.7, c.7] which strengthened the management of the profession. A new Board of Examiners was formed and, as before, only surveyors who were recognized by the Board were entitled to practice in the province. Those so recognized were designated by the initials BCLS. Although the Provincial Surveyors' Act has since been amended, the Corporation of Lands Surveyors continues to be the governing body of the profession. Includes records of the Association of Provincial Land Surveyors (1890-1905) and its successor, the Corporation of Land Surveyors (1905-1983). Records include Board of Examiners and Board of Management minutes, oaths of office and allegiance, letterbooks and financial reports. Also included are the biographical files of almost two hundred deceased BCLS members. The files contain summaries of the surveyors' careers and, in many cases, a considerable amount of genealogical information.

Corporation of Land Surveyors of the Province of British Columbia

William Law Ogilby fonds

  • PR-2208
  • Fonds
  • 1892

The fonds consists of an illustrated diary written in a school exercise book of William Law Ogilby's experience as a chainman on a survey of a portion of the western boundary of the Esquimalt & Nanaimo Railway Belt on Vancouver Island. A photograph, presumed to have been taken on the survey, depicts Ogilby and two other men at their camp at an unidentified location.

Ogilby, William Law

John Irvine fonds

  • PR-2194
  • Fonds
  • 1894-1910

The fonds consists of three photo albums created by John Irvine between 1894 and 1910. Many of the photographs are of railway survey campsites and features in Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia and California but some of the earlier photographs are city views of buildings in Ottawa, including the Parliament buildings after the fire in February 1897. The albums are uniform in size and appearance: black, pebbled covers with the "Photographs" embossed in gold on the top left front. The pages, which are stiff gray cardboard, are bound with red cord. The albums measure 18 by 30 cm. The mounted prints vary in size and tone from 7 x 12 cm to 19 x 15 cm, and from b&w to sepia. Nearly all of the photographs have a double white line border drawn around them and almost all are captioned in white ink. Several of the photographs are identified with "Yours truly Jno Irvine" and may be portraits of Irvine himself.

Irvine, John, 1868-1911

J.H. Drewry records

Series includes letters in and out and well as bussiness correspondence, filed books, survey diaries and records relating to survey of the right-of-way of the Cariboo Highway. Also includes approx. 60 letters written to his parents while training for the R.F.C. in Ontario, from the R.M.S. Missanabie en route to England, and in England while a member of the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Air Force, 1917-1919.

Frank Swannell papers

The records include: diaries, field books, scrapbooks and subject files containing notes and correspondence covering Swannell's career as a surveyor in Northern British Columbia, his army service in the First World War in Europe and Russia and his later travels in British Columbia, Europe and Asia. The diaries and field books are profusely illustrated with photos.

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