The series consists of a selection of pre-emption record files originally created by the Dept. of Lands Government Agent W.R. Dewdney, stationed at Pentiction. The selection is a random sample of 13 cm from the original ca. 2.5 metres of records and covers the period 1920 to 1955. The files contain correspondence and other information regarding land
pre-emptions in the Penticton area.

This series contains records relating to pre-emptions, subdivisions, Crown Grants, and town sites in Similkameen District. Consists of five registers, including Register of Town Lots, Tulameen, B.C.

This series contains the records of the Assistant Land Commissioner, New Westminster, relating to pre-emptions. It includes pre-emption certificates Nos. 1-100, 967-1063, New Westminster District, (2 vols.) Nominal index.

This series contains a list of lands resumed by the Crown under B.C. Soldiers' Homestead Act, 1916. Includes legal description and file references. Also contains an undated letter of John William McIntosh, Member of the Legislative Assembly, to the Deputy Minister of Lands regarding moneys owed on land by a wounded veteran.

This series include a summary of pre-emption records cancelled in the Barkerville Assessment District. The series contains one volume of a register that contains the name and number of the pre-emption record, the lot number and acreage, and the date and cause of cancellation.

This series contains a pre-emption record, Cowichan district, of Joseph Trainer at Oyster Bay, Chemainus. The series contains one page.

This series contains records relating to pre-emptions in the Cariboo, Lillooet, Lytton and Kootenay Districts recorded by various Gold Commissioners and Assistant Commissioners of Lands and Works. The records consist of correspondence, notices of claim, sketches and affidavits and pertains largely to records in the vicinities of Quesnel, Alexandria, Williams Lake, Lytton and Cache Creek. The series also includes a detailed account of town lot sales at Quesnellemouth held on 13 October 1863 as well as an application for wages due, correspondence on various land disputes, several water records, and proposed leases of government reserves.

This series consists of land records from the Colony of British Columbia Lands and Works Department, 1858-1863. Most records are related to the sale of town lots at Langley, 1858-1859, and New Westminster, 1860-1862, including records of exchanges of lots at Langley for lots at New Westminster. The series also include various other land records related to New Westminster, Douglas, Hope, Yale, Lytton and Lillooet, including pre-emptions, lot registers, accounts for sales of town and suburban lots, and lists of deeds issued.

This series contains acknowledgements of moneys received by the Lands Department pursuant to the pre-emption or sale of crown land. These certificates of purchase include district, legal description of land, acreage, date and terms of payment, name of payer, pre-emption record number, certificate of improvement number, crown grant number and departmental file numbers. The certificates are divided into four series.

SERIES 1. CERTIFICATES OF PURCHASE BY LAND DISTRICT, 1859-1913. Volumes have alphabetical indexes.
SERIES 2. CERTIFICATES OF PURCHASE, 1874-1890. TOWN LOTS AND MISCELLANEOUS DISTRICT CERTIFICATES. Volumes have alphabetical indexes.
SERIES 3. CERTIFICATES OF PURCHASE, SERIES 4. CERTIFICATES OF PURCHASE, 1907-1944. Vancouver Island certificate books.

This series contains correspondence and memoranda of the Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works with the Assistant Commissioner of Lands and Works, Nelson, regarding land disputes. File 1 contains correspondence relating to the disputed pre-emption claim of E.P. Dunn at Slocan City, 1895-1897. File 2 deals with a three-sided dispute over lands at Bonnington Falls between the City of Nelson; L.A. Campbell's application for a mill site (under the Mineral Act), and the West Kootenay Power and Light Company.

This series consists of miscellaneous Governor James Douglas correspondence regarding the selection of site for capital and claim of land near Fort Hope, 1859.

This series consists of the records of the Assistant Commissioner of Lands and Works, Yale District, 1859-1886. Records include five volumes of pre-emption records. Volume 1, nos. 1-392 (1859-1872); Volume 2, nos. 275-312 and 1-24 (1870-1871); Volume 3, nos. 25-279 (1871-1884); Volume 4, certificates of record of unsurveyed land, nos. 250-294 (1874-1885); Volume 5, certificates of record of unsurveyed land, nos. 292-295 (1883-1886). Volumes 1 and 4 have nominal indexes.

This series contains letterpress reference books of surveyed land, usually including name of land holder and lot number. The entries are arranged by land district for each reporting date. These lists were published later as notices in the British Columbia Gazette. These books were used by the Dept. of Lands to record file numbers and other information concerning the process.

This series consists of records of the Assistant Commissioner of Lands and Works, Lillooet District. Records include four volumes of pre-emption records. Volume 1, Records of Pre-empted Lands in the Lillooet District, nos. 1-330 (1860-1869); includes notices of water records nos. 1-114 (1865-1869) and later notices of cancellations and Crown grants. Volume 2, pre-emption claim certificates, nos. 331-418 (1870-1874, 1881). Volume 3, pre-emption claims, nos. 89-128 (1862-1863) consisting of sketches pasted into ledger of cash collected for road tolls, 1862-1865. Volume 4, preemption claims, nos. 20-88 (1861-1862), no. 120 (1863) and nos. 187-200 (1865-1866), including sketches.

This series contains miscellaneous records of the Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works. The records consist of correspondence, receipts, accounts, petitions relating to pre-emptions, ferries, roads, public works, leases, and tax assessments. Includes (1) Metchosin District assessment roll, 1863; (2) pre-emption correspondence with William G. Cox and Peter O'Reilly, 1865, 1869; (3) receipt book for rental of crown lands, including waterfrontage and timber cutting, 1868-1869; (4) indenture for ferry charter at Omineca, 1872; (5) accounts relating to roads and bridges 1872-1873; (6) an 1880 petition re the graving dock; (7) report on Thompson River Bridge, 1876, 1882; (8) an 1892 pre-emption of Allison, Carefoot and Cameron in Yale District; (9) copy of a letter re road to Montgomery Landing, Kootenay District, 1896.

Letterpress copies of correspondence outward from the Surveyor-General. Many of the volumes contain nominal indexes of correspondents. Volumes 26 - 31 have been water damaged and are partly illegible.

This series consists of records of the Assistant Commissioner of Lands, Similkameen Division, Yale District, 1905-1920. Records include two volumes of declarations for Certificates of Improvement, nos. 1-182 and 183-561. The declarations give a description of improvements made on preempted lands. Some certificates are from Osoyoos Division, Yale District. There is an index at the back of each volume. Some records may relate to Vernon and Fairview as well.

This series consists of 11 volumes of records of the Assistant Commissioner of Lands and Works, Cariboo District, 1863-1893. Records include certificates of pre-emption, certificates of improvement, lot register of Group 1, Cariboo District, sale of town lots of Richfield, Barkerville, Cameronton, and Quesnellemouth, and certificates of purchase. Also contains water rights recorded for irrigation purposes and an accounts book.

The series consists of pre-emption records created by the Lands Branch and its predecessor bodies between 1859 and 1971. The Chief Commissioner of Lands was responsible for the administration of Crown lands under successive governments (Colony of Vancouver Island, Colony of British Columbia, Province of British Columbia) until 1911. In 1929 the Minister delegated authority for Crown lands to the Lands Branch, headed by the Superintendent of Lands.

The series includes 216 volumes of certificates of pre-emption and 33 volumes of pre-emption registers. Some volumes contain certificates of Improvement and certificates of purchase.

Most of the volumes of certificates are arranged by district and then numerically by pre-emption number although there are many cases where individual documents from files are spread out throughout an entire volume. There are also some pre-emption numbers that are missing from volumes. One or more volumes cover the pre-emption registrations for each land district, and volumes 86-90 and 246-248 relate to railway lands on Vancouver Island, particularly in Cowichan and Nanaimo Districts (1884-1887). Pre-emptions were generally numbered sequentially based on the Land Act enforced at the time. Sequences can be found in the collection based on the Land Acts of 1860, 1870, 1874, 1875 and 1884. The New Westminster land district also includes a sequence based on rural or country land pre-emptions. Some land districts maintained the same numbering sequence throughout the entire time period. If no date is mentioned in the description, the sequence is based on the 1884 Act.

The pre-emption registers (volumes 213-245; microfilm reels B13858-B13860) summarize the information from the certificates. Each volume covers the pre-emption registrations for a district. The pre-emption registers are arranged in Lands Branch volume number order, volumes 1-27 (including three a volumes where two volumes are required for a district), followed by three unnumbered volumes that cover Fort St. John and Victoria. Each register lists pre-emptions in registration number order, with an alphabetical index of pre-emptors' names at the back. The following information is recorded: registration number, date of registration, pre-emptors name, lot number (not always recorded), acreage (for ca. 1915 on), certificate of improvement number (if issued), file number (sometimes), and remarks (either a code number, possibly accompanied by a date, or a phrase: cancelled, abandoned, or no application or declaration received). This information is hand-written in columns with printed headings.

This series includes correspondence files relating to the administration, management, conservation and development of Crown lands and natural resources. Series 1: early chronological series (files created, 1877-1911). Series 2: 1912 series (files created, 1912-1917). Includes correspondence, memoranda, reports, plans, 1877-1980.

The series consists of records relating to the pre-emption, sale, and registration of land in New Westminster, Sayward, and Coast (Range 1-5) Land Districts, created by the Assistant Commissioner of Lands and Works and Vancouver District Land Commissioners, pursuant to the Land Act.

The records include pre-emption applications, 1887-1911 (11 vols.); certificates of pre-emption, 1884-1938 (57 vols.); certificates of purchase, 1874-1944 (95 vols.); registers of sales of unsurveyed lands, 1884-1911 (4 vols.); lot register, City of Vancouver, 1886-1892 (3 vols.) and a register of lot owners, Town of Granville, 1874-1884.

The series consists of hand-written applications to pre-empt land in the District of New Westminster.

The series consists of registers of pre-emption claims to land in the Colony of British Columbia including the districts of Douglas, Hope, Lytton, New Westminster, Similkameen, and Yale. The series also includes pre-emption registers for other districts of the Colony.

This series contains the records of the Gold Commissioner, Government Agent, and Assistant Land Commissioner, Cariboo District (Quesnel). The records consist of lot registers, certificates of purchase, certificates of pre-emption, registers of pre-emptions (canceled and allowed), registers of land applications and lands purchased, register of leaves of absence granted pre-emption on active service, minute books containing lot register of lands along the route of the Pacific Great Eastern Railway, and registers of hay and pasture land leases. The series also includes townsite registers for Quesnel, Barkerville, and Wells and lot registers for some townships in the Peace River Block. Volumes 89-98 and 153-158 are oversize.

Series consists of copies of certificates of improvement forms bound in a book. Each form lists the name of applicant for a pre-emption, the description of the property, and a signature stating that the property has been reviewed. Certificates are dates 12 Apr 1870 to 12 Dec 1873.