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Canadian Historic Sites: Occasional Papers in Archaeology and History No. 20
by Mary K. Cullen The Twilight YearsAt the beginning of the 1860s Hudson's Bay Company trade in British Columbia was in a state of transition. The interruption caused by the loss of its exclusive trading licence was aggravated by depression in business generally and uncertainty with respect to Company land claims in the new colony. As reports of gold strikes far up the Fraser spread in 1861, the great Cariboo rush which peaked in 1862 and 1863 introduced new confidence into the British Columbia economy and a plan on the part of the Company to harness its posts in support of a supply system to the mines. This decision and the final settlement of land titles in 1864 were the signal for redevelopment of Langley Farm and reactivation of other commercial enterprises such as salmon packing. Ultimately, however, rising costs of labour and competition from more strategic and larger centres proved too strong and even relocation of the saleshop in the adjacent village did not result in a viable business. For the Hudson's Bay Company at Langley, the birth of British Columbia had ushered in the twilight years. Following the departure of Yale in May 1859, Fort Langley lapsed into a period of inactivity and mismanagement. W.H. Newton, accountant at the fort, supervised operations until January 1860. He was replaced by Chief Trader George Blenkinsop for seven months and in August 1860 reassumed charge with a reduced staff of seven.1 The functions of the post were minimal. Blacksmith James Taylor and his assistant R. Bayley continued to make beaver traps, axes and other iron works for the interior brigades. Two men stationed at the Indian fishing station on the Chilliwack salted salmon for home consumption while Cromarty, cooper at Langley since 1846, turned out barrels for Company use and local sale. There was one labourer, Narcisse Falerdeau, and one store clerk, Kenneth Morrison. Operations were simplified by abolishing the Indian shop and admitting native people to trade in the saleshop.2 An inspection of the place in December 1861 indicated things were only in a "very so so order." Chief Factors Tolmie and McTavish found that Newton had "no knowledge about business or the management of a place like Langley" and that the stores and warehouses were in "a fearful state with dirt and confusion for which there is no excuse."3 When rumour abounded in 1858 and 1859 that old Langley might be made capital or the chief commercial town of British Columbia or both, the board of management considered relocating the fort. The Company store seemed poorly situated for business and owing to a gradual silting up of the river channel directly in front of Fort Langley, its wharf had become less accessible to steamers. Chief Factor Dallas proposed removing the saleshop and office dwelling to the site lower down the stream long used by the Company as a point of embarkation for salt salmon. Unfortunately, the land there was disposed of at the government sale of town lots.4 Clearly a move to any new site would have to be deterred until Company land claims at Langley and other posts in British Columbia were precisely defined. Langley Farm, rented to C.R. Bedford in March 1859, was repossessed by the Hudson's Bay Company in July 1860 after Bedford failed to produce the annual accounts required by the rental agreement.5 Most of the existing stock of horses and milk cows were sold off, but the number of beef cattle was augmented in order to supply the brigades while at Fort Hope.6 Hay was also sent on to Fort Hope for foddering the pack horses of the brigade train.7 In the summer of 1860 Langley Farm made its first attempt at sheep raising, grazing 400 ewes and wethers for eventual sale, live weight, in various towns on the lower Fraser.8 When the rush to the Cariboo mines gathered force in 1861, the Company established an inland transportation service, using Langley as one station for breeding and grazing pack animals. Twenty-two mules purchased from the Hawaiian Islands and sent to Langley in March 1861 were employed during the summer packing provisions between Fort Hope and the junction of the Tulameen and Similkameen rivers (now Princeton); from there the pieces were taken to Kamloops by horses.9 During the winter of 1861-62 Langley kept more mules for use on the Fort Yale-Lytton trail and also horses for packing from Lytton to Kamloops.10 With the inauguration of the Cariboo wagon road from Yale to Clinton in the summer of 1863, the Company began to employ wagons for transport some distance from Fort Yale. Langley made oxen yokes for this service and also supplied hay at various road houses.11 While Langley Farm supported the Company's brigade and mining transport, development of a full-scale agricultural enterprise was delayed until the Hudson's Bay Company was securely placed in possession of its fort and farm lands by the colonial government. The imperial government had early recognized a moral indebtedness to the Company which might be paid through a generous disposition to land grants,12 but if was not until October 1861, at a London meeting between Her Majesty's government and the Hudson's Bay Company, that a preliminary settlement of land claims was worked out. According to this agreement the Company was entitled to the following land at Langley: New Fort Langley The actual site of the Fort (stated by Mr. Dallas to be about 2 acres) with all surrounding Buildings and Enclosures or actually cultivated or ploughed Lands, but not exceeding in the whole 200 acres, and at Langley Farm (about 1 mile distant from the Fort Site) a quantity of Land not exceeding 500 acres .... the Company ... to have the option of purchasing at 4/2 per acre at Langley Farm (in addition to the 500 acres) any quantity of the surrounding Land which may have been enclosed, cultivated, or ploughed, or sown with grass, not exceeding 1500 acres. This option to cease if not exercised within six Calendar months of notice from the Governor to the Company's agent to select lands. Old Langley or Derby Site of salmon store and wharf; and land adjoining not to exceed 2 acres in all.13 The colonial government surveyed the Langley lands in the fall of 1862 and forwarded tracings to the Company in February 1863.14 Having experienced legal difficulties with squatters at Langley, the Company requested that its boundaries there be more conspicuously marked than was the usual practice.15 This was carried out in the spring of 186416 and on 12 April 1864 the Company received a crown grant of three lots in group 2 of the official survey for the district of New Westminster. These included lot 19, the new fort site of 200 acres, lot 20, the old fort site of 2 acres and lot 21, 500 acres of Langley Farm south of the fort. On the same day the Company received formal conveyance of lot 22, the remaining 1,500 acres of Langley Farm which it had purchased at 4s. 2d. per acre.17 The general management of both fort and Farm was taken over by Ovid Allard in October 1854. Allard had served as Indian trader and interpreter at Fort Langley from 1839 to 1852 and had been lately officer in charge at Fort Yale.18 His tenure at Langley was marked by efficiency and resourcefulness. He put new life into sales and increased trade in furs, but his most notable contribution was a revival of salmon curing. On Allard's initiative enough salmon was cured at Langley in 1865 to allow a small shipment to the Hawaiian Islands. The net proceeds of $15 a barrel convinced the board of management to continue exportation.19 Cromarty made the barrels and Allard, competing successfully with other buyers, purchased salmon at ten cents each and delivered the packed fish to Victoria at a cost price of eight dollars per barrel.20 About 100 barrels were produced for foreign trade annually until the end of the decade when the establishment of commerce and the focus of the fishery at the mouth of the Fraser made the Langley venture unprofitable.21 By 1865 the buildings at the fort were fast decaying and much of the old lumber was used to build sheds on the farm.22 Relocation of the fort, first mooted in 1858-59, was now intimately tied to the larger consideration of steam shipping on the Fraser. Extension of steam service to Forts Hope and Yale during the gold rush had quickly indicated the significance of transportation in determining the centres of commercial prominence. Thus, even after New Westminster had been selected as capital and port of entry, the board of management did not abandon the idea of Langley as an important commercial town. By obtaining control of steam shipping from Victoria to Fort Yale, it proposed to make Langley the connecting point between sea and river steamers.23 Since 1859 the Hudson's Bay Company steamer Enterprise, from Victoria, connected at New Westminster with the two sternwheelers, Reliance and Onward, owned by Captain Irving. When Irving offered these boats for sale in 1865 the board strongly urged their purchase, not only to prevent the entire traffic from falling into American hands, but also to "have a more controlling commercial position at Hope, Yale and New Westminster" and to "bring Langley into a more important position by arranging that the boats should stop there long enough to allow passenger's to purchase at the Company's store."24 In the fall Tolmie selected a new site at Langley for a store, dwelling and other necessary buildings.25 The opportunity to buy Irving's boats, however, was later matched against a government subsidy for steam service from San Francisco to Victoria and a contract to build a steamer for the navigation of Kamloops and Shuswap lakes. The board chose the immediate benefit of transportation in the gold district and selling through steamboat tickets from San Francisco to the Big Bend.26 Irving was persuaded to continue service on the lower Fraser and Company plans for moving Fort Langley were postponed. Correspondence between Victoria and London in October 1866 suggested that the relocation of Langley post and its future development were still tied to Company control of Fraser River transportation. In a letter to London secretary Thomas Fraser, Tolmie recommended, it would be adviseable soon to lay off a townsite on the Company's property at Langley, and to sell lots, for which some enquiry has already been made. It must be our endeavour to make Langley the point of meeting, for the exchange of passengers and goods between the Gulf and River steamers. But this can hardly be attempted until the Company own boats on Fraser River.27 Six months later Company purchase of the Reliance and Onward was again postponed, this time by the insertion of a clause in the Shipping Act authorizing the governor to admit foreign shipping to the coast and up-river trade.28 The board of management was convinced that the clause was intended chiefly to deter the Company, had it owned Irving's boats, from transferring the forwarding business from New Westminster to Langley.29 Their conclusion that every endeavour to develop Langley would be impeded by new government measures to protect the interests of New Westminster30 seemed to lead to acceptance of Langley's decline.
Once plans for the commercial improvement of Langley post were shelved, little capital was designated for the renewal of fort buildings. A new roof and chimney were put on the blacksmith's shop in March 1868,31 but the store was leaky,32 the cooper's shop was no longer fit for barrelmaking33 and several other buildings had fallen into disrepair. Allard reported in September 1868 that he was pulling down one of these structures and using the material to build a hay shed at the steamer landing.34 In October 1871 the blacksmith's shop was made into a dwelling house.35 The cooper's shop was fixed up as a salesroom in January 187236 and by September the historic Big House had been pulled down and a new house built for the manager of Langley post.37 A drawing of the fort property dated April 1873 records three buildings — the Hudson's Bay Company house (just one year old), the Company stores (the former cooper's shop) and Cromarty's house (probably the converted blacksmith's shop).38 The principal activity at Langley post in the late 1860s was farming. By 1867 about 25 tons of oats and over 100 tons of hay were being produced yearly.39 From this yield Langley supplied Fort Yale with some of the grain and nearly all the hay used for feeding the Company's wagon teams and pack trains when in for loads. It also fed a huge stock of milk and beef cattle and marketed surplus hay and oats in Victoria and New Westminster.40 In conjunction with the Company's farm at Uplands, Vancouver Island, Langley Farm supplied the steamers Enterprise and Onward and the Company stations of Hope and Yale with butter, salted beef and pork and a variety of vegetables such as potatoes, onions, cauliflower and peas.41 All the horses, mules and bullocks employed in the inland transport business (in 1867, 20 yoke of oxen and 16 horses and mules) wintered at Langley and hogs and beef raised there found a ready market among the principal butchers of southern British Columbia.42 Despite the wide support which Langley Farm provided for the Company's various operations in the Western Department, an assessment of agriculture at Langley in September 1870 indicated the Company made little or nothing by it. Because of the high rate of wages prevailing in the colony of British Columbia, Langley's substantial returns from hay, cattle, butter and sundry vegetables barely covered its outlay in labourers' wages and provisions. In fact, produce could be purchased more cheaply from California and Oregon than it could be raised locally to supply the shipping and inland transport. Under these circumstances there was "no object in any longer carrying on farming on account of the Fur Trade." Approval was soon given to the board of management's suggestion that farming operations at Langley should be discontinued and the farm advertised for sale or lease.43 The conclusion of farming activities at Langley commenced in October 1870 when Allard received instructions from Victoria "to reduce the number of hands employed on the farm to the lowest possible number."44 The Langley stock were advertised for sale in the Mainland Guardian in April 1871.45 Within three weeks 189 cattle had been sold for $5,636, more than $3,000 above their inventory price.46 Farm produce was also worked off in large sales throughout the year to Yale, Victoria and Burrard Inlet. By October 1871 agriculture at Langley had been reduced to a 26-acre47 gardening operation at the fort and the annual report on trade stated, "the farm at this place is now closed."48 The Company tried, without success, to lease Langley Farm for five years at about ten per cent per annum on the amount of the improvements.49 Several parties without means applied for the lease, but they were viewed as unsuitable because they wanted a long lease and low rent, and were unable to give reasonable security that they would not exhaust the land while they occupied it.50 Until it could obtain better terms, the Company decided to harvest the hay annually and to employ William Harvey at the farm to keep the buildings and fences in repair.51 The business of Fort Langley, while partially relieved from the expense of the farm, showed diminishing profits in the early 1870s. The fur trade fell off after 1872 owing to the increase and competition of new buyers52 and the saleshop business was undermined by merchants in New Westminster, who unlike the Hudson's Bay Company, took farmers' produce in exchange for staples.53 Some salmon continued to be cured and packed in barrels for the use of Company posts and ships, but by 1874 the export market for barrel fish was almost entirely replaced by Fraser River canned salmon, a growing operating in which several companies were involved.54 During outfit 1874 trade was set back by the death of Allard, who had guided Langley's destinies for the past decade. W.H. Newton, briefly officer in charge for 1859-60 and 1863-64, succeeded Allard, but died in January 1875.55 Shortly after Henry Wark, former manager of the farm, took charge of the fort business, opposition to the Company at Langley was set up by a retail dealer and publican supported by New Westminster merchants.56
The several difficulties facing trade at Langley and necessity for improvement renewed Company determination to detach the farm from the trade shop connection.57 It still seemed impractical to work the farm to advantage. The land had not been laid down in grass since 1864, hay was getting inferior and there were no markets for it. Wark reported, "the property is only a common for everybody's cattle and a great eyesore."58 On 3 November 1876 the London board approved a second effort to lease the farm, expressing "no desire whatever to carry on trade at Fort Langley unless it can be done profitably."59 In May 1877 Alexander Munro, the Company's land agent at Victoria, reported difficulty in obtaining a tenant for Langley Farm on satisfactory terms and recommended the sale of the property as bringing a better income than could most likely be obtained as rent. According to Munro, a farm of such dimensions required a large outlay to stock and cultivate it while any farmer possessing the necessary capital and willing to pay a fair rent would not accept the short term of years and uncertain tenure offered by the Company. He had hoped to lease the farm as a recruiting station for cattle bound for the Victoria market, but found that upcountry stockraisers preferred to drive their stock directly to market to realize on it immediately. Considering the growing scarcity of land in the market near Langley and its probably enhanced value should the railway follow the Fraser River, Munro strongly advised selling Langley Farm. He added that the situation of the Company farm in an oblique position relative to the government survey of the surrounding district meant the eventual intersection of Company property by several roads, a costly fencing operation to protect the land and potential taxation by municipal authorities.60 During the summer of 1877 the idea of selling Langley Farm was fully discussed in Winnipeg and London. Company officials, well aware of the tax danger of holding large tracts of land near expanding municipalities, were disposed to sell.61 At the same time they were anxious to profit by the venture and to get the full benefit to be derived from the proximity of the railway. They issued authority to sell the farm in parts with the proviso that the sale be delayed one season.62 Detailed preparations for the sale were made from Victoria in the winter of 1877-78. One of the first tasks was to partition the 2,000-acre farm into equitable and saleable lots. Farm lots 21 and 22 were surveyed and divided into 20 subdivisions of approximately 100 acres each while the crooked road which traversed the farm from end to end was run through the centre in a straight line to give each subdivision road frontage.63 The general terms of sale were fixed at one-fifth of the purchase money to be paid on signing the agreement and the remainder in four equal annual instalments with seven per cent interest on the unpaid balance.64 Early in December the public was informed of the intended sale of Langley Farm and invited to visit the property.65 Sale by auction was chosen as the best means of stimulating competition and rewarding a fair decision to the buyer.66 The auction, first announced in April, was to be held on 17 June at the Hudson's Bay Company salesrooms, Wharf Street, Victoria.67 The sales made at the 1878 auction of Langley Farm were disappointingly small. Although each of the 20 lots was offered and several of them without any upset price being stated, only four lots found purchasers; number 1 at $25 per acre and numbers 6, 7 and 8 at $26 per acre. In his report of the sale, Munro attributed the unsatisfactory result to two principal causes: (1) "that there are so few persons on this coast able and willing to give more than a few dollars per acre for farming land" and (2) that many people soon expected to buy cheap reclaimed land in the Matsqui, Sumas and Chilliwack districts.68 Even Ottawa's recent announcement of the adoption of the Fraser valley as the railway route was greeted with skepticism and did not materially benefit the sale.69 The remaining 1,600 acres of Langley Farm were left to be sold by private bargain over the next eight years. The small retail operation at Fort Langley continued to fight a defensive battle against new competitors in the 1880s. The saleshop, managed with rigid economy and supplemented by sales of hay from the farm, showed a reasonable remuneration of over $1,000 for outfits 1878 to 1880.70 As the various sections of Langley Farm were sold, however, the proceeds from haying were substantially less. During 1881-82, the returns of the post slumped to $39.67.71 The improvement of the business to a gain of $1,770.06 for outfit 1883 was largely attributable to customers being steadily employed on railway and other works in the immediate neighbourhood.72 Unfortunately, this increased activity also brought into existence several other stores in and near Langley which threatened to diminish the trade of the Hudson's Bay Company.73 The physical arrangements of the "fort" handicapped the Company in competition with these opponents. Formerly the focus of activity on the Fraser, by 1885 the site of Fort Langley lay on the periphery of commerce. Sandbanks had gradually filled the river branch on the fort side of McMillan Island so that ships now anchored about 400 yards short of Langley post.74 Since the nearest centre of population, the town of Langley, was located west of the steamboat landing, the Company post was "unlikely to command any trade except in such articles as cannot be obtained elsewhere."75 Its buildings there were old too. The manager's residence had been built by Allard in 1872 while the store had functioned as a cooper's shop long before its conversion to a salesroom in 1871. After a visit to the site in December 1885, Assistant Commissioner Thomas R. Smith reported that the store building was "very old, and unfit to store any but heavy goods in."76 On Smith's recommendation the Company decided to quit Fort Langley and to set up new premises in the village near the wharf.
In February 1886 Victoria contractors Smith and Clark began to build the new Hudson's Bay Company store at the far northwest corner of lot 19.77 The building containing salesroom and manager's quarters was ready for occupation the first week in April.78 When the removal of stock to the new store was completed on 15 April,79 the business life of Fort Langley was ended. The fort property (excluding the site of the new store) with the old store building and dwelling house was abandoned to the land department.80 Since the 1878 auction of Langley Farm, the land department had sold an aggregate of 1,670 acres of land at Langley. Nearly 1,600 acres of this total were the unsold subdivisions of Langley Farm lots 21 and 22. The last two sections of the farm were purchased on 15 February 1886, completing the sale of the whole tract for a sum of $53,333.17.81 The Company also sold lot 35, 55 acres preempted by W.F. Tolmie and situated three-quarters of a mile south of the fort; lot 20, two acres located near "Old Langley or Derby" at the mouth of the Salmon River, and a 13-acre section of lot 19 on the northeast corner of the fort property.82 The only remaining Hudson's Bay Company land at Langley in February 1886 was 187 acres of the 200-acre lot 19.83 The eventual disposal of Fort Langley site was considered during the spring of 1886. Munro's description of the tract suggested its value was small. No part of the soil is very good. About 30 acres are under cultivation, but the Crops, usually are small — the soil being light and mixed with sand. There are some open spaces, used as grazing ground for the few animals kept at "the Fort". A large part is elevated and gravelly, producing only under brush and stunted timber of no value. The northeasterly portion lying low, is frequently overflowed by the river. This and the rest of the land could be turned to the best account only by industrious owners or occupants who would keep cows, pigs and poultry, and make butter, bacon, etc. for sale. In the hands of such people the property, as a whole, with such trading as they could carry on there, might be made fairly remunerative. As stated, the Northeastern part of the land is low; but there the river is flowing westward has in the course of time deviated trom its former channel and receded northward on "McMillan Island" ... and thus there intervenes between the present bed and what formerly was the Southern Bank of the river (the Northern boundary of the Company's Land) a barren space or sandspit which is left dry except when overflowed during freshets. It stretches somewhat beyond the Company's western boundary, and the only landing place for steamers is a little westward of the Company's land.84 Given this useless river frontage and the poor quality of the soil, the maximum value which the Company placed on the land was $6,009. It decided to sell the property as a whole for its value.85 Meanwhile, some sections of lot 19 were leased for pasturage and the dwelling house was rented to Otway Wilkie in October 1887.86 On 31 January 1888, 185 acres of the Fort Langley property were sold to Alexander Mavis at a purchase price of $5,850. Two acres were reserved for Company use: one acre at the site of the new store, the other 200 yards east on Langley sandspit.87 During its first two years of business the new saleshop was an ineffectual contender for the village trade. In 1886 it competed with one opponent who controlled the bulk of the business and subsequently sold out to two energetic young Canadians named Blackett and White. By doing a considerable bartering business with the neighbouring farmers, these men succeeded in building up a trade of approximately $30,000 per annum.88 In an effort to regain business, the Company prompted the retirement of Henry Wark and brought in the younger William Sinclair to manage Langley post from 1 November 1886. Sinclair made some improvement by reducing the selling price of staples and other articles, but generally was unable to cope with the opposition.89 He was transferred to New Caledonia District and replaced by the exceedingly smart and energetic clerk James M. Drummond.90 The new manager took charge of the Langley store in July 1887 with instructions to report to Smith "after full consideration on the spot" what in his opinion was best to be done.91 Drummond's report, which was approved by Smith in December 1887, suggested a basic change in the Company's mode of conducting business at Langley. According to its new manager, Langley post could command a trade of $20,000 per annum if it could arrange, like Blackett and White, to take payment in produce instead of money. As a marketing agent, however, the store would need buildings at the wharf for the storage of hay, grain, butter and so on. The Company determined to make this "new departure."92 In the spring of 1888 a freight house, ice house and drive house were constructed at the wharf and arrangements were made to sell farm produce at Fort Hope.93 The barter business rapidly increased the volume of Hudson's Bay trade in Fort Langley village. As early as January 1888 the Company resisted an offer to purchase Blackett and White's business from the conviction that it could obtain all it required through "good management."94 While the opposition sold off its entire stock at reduced prices, Drummond expanded the Company inventory and sold staples slightly above cost and other goods at a compensating profit.95 By June 1889 Langley post was turning over a capital of $11,000 at the rate of 2-1/4 times a year.96 Yet the greater volume of sales had been achieved at the cost of a smaller net profit.97 To bring prices up and protect itself from future competition the Company decided to purchase Blackett and White's stock and buildings, and a settlement was effected in February 1890.98
Although the absence of competition after February 1890 enabled Langley saleshop to obtain better prices for goods sold,99 the agricultural character of its trade kept the post in a vulnerable position. Because the district about Langley contained few large farmers and the majority of settlers had no reserve to meet a bad season, the store developed long lists of outstanding balances.100 In the annual report of trade for outfit 1891, Commissioner R.H. Hall strongly condemned this method of doing business, stating "the hope of our mercantile business is not at petty settlements, but in the more central towns." He suggested "the capita now employed at Langley could be invested with much better results in the city of New Westminster." Credit at the post was henceforth reduced to $100 per person with the stated intention of placing the Company in a position to withdraw from the village "should it be found necessary to do so."101 Once a policy of retrenchment had been adopted the days of Langley post were numbered. Drummond opposed the direction affairs were taking and resigned in March 1892.102 His successor Walter Wilkie was dismissed nine months later for irregularities in keeping the accounts.103 When Frank Powell took over the position of clerk in January 1893104 he was instructed to reduce debts to $5,000, but flooding of the Fraser valley in the following year made collection of outstanding accounts slow. The store suffered further from the credit limit of $100 and the prevailing low prices for farm produce.105 At length, during a visit of the commissioner to London in 1895, it was arranged that Langley saleshop should be closed.106 The business of Langley saleshop was wound up for the end of outfit 1895 which fell on 31 May 1896. Goods suitable to other places were transferred and the remainder sold at reduced cost. Forced sales of stock and losses on country produce resulted in a net loss of $5,417, a sum considered "probably less that would have been experienced eventually if the post had been carried on."107 The Hudson's Bay Company's land at Langley was not retained. The one acre east of the store property was sold to Mrs. Annie Oden in December 1894.108 The store premises were rented for five years; then the balance of the Hudson's Bay Company property, the one-acre site of the village stores and warehouses, was sold to Jacob and Jessie Haldi in July 1901.109 After 69 years of business enterprise at Langley, the Company's evacuation was definitely anti-climactic. A small footnote in the 1896 closing report which seemed a scant tribute to the historical impact of Fort Langley noted, "it is regretted that it does not appear practicable to conduct a remunerative business at this point which is probably the oldest establishment that the Company has in what is now British Columbia."110
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