Esquimalt to Rocky Point 1933, and the Forgotten Graveyard
"Indians, Spaniards, and traders of the Hudson Bay Company, have all in turn claimed possession"
How long is article? 1,103 words, 7 images. About a 9 minute read.
In 1933, an article appeared detailing and describing the area between Esquimalt and Rocky Point and a little of its history.
Manuel Quimper a Spanish explorer landed at Albert Head on June 30, 1790. Apparently, he cut a cross in a pine tree (one of a group of six trees) buried a bottle, and claimed the land in the name of the King of Spain. His orders were to explore the Strait of Juan de Fuca. In doing so he gave every place between Port San Juan (Port Renfrew) and Esquimalt their original Spanish names: Rada de Eliza (Pedder Bay), Rada de Solano (Parry Bay) and Rada de Valdes y Bazan (Royal Roads). Those names have since vanished into oblivion.
The next written record of a visit to the area is that of James Douglas, who was sent in 1842 from Fort Vancouver to select a suitable site for a trading post on southern Vancouver Island for the Hudson Bay Company. On April 29 1850, the ‘Teechamitsa’ Tribe sold to the Hudson Bay Company for the sum of 27 pound 10 shillings the land between Esquimalt harbour and Albert Head. (This document is known as one of the Douglas Treaties*)
Extending backwards from thence to a range of mountains on the Saanich Arm, about 10 miles distant." The company sold some of it to settlers, and now there are summer cottages, small farms, and a quarry among the woods where the Indians once reigned supreme. (The Daily Colonist, R. Enke, 1933)
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