Context: Neighbours and Nations
Suveying the Western Coast of Canada in 1915 was tough work. The rugged landscape was not nearly as developed as the Praries and Eastern Canada. Thick forests, heavy rainfall, steep slopes, and wild animals were abound. However, Dominion Land Surveyors (D.L.S.), those who were licensed to divide plots of land for the government, were not easily swayed by hard work or harsh conditions. These were men flush with adventerous spirit and good knowledge of their surroundings. Using a tailored set of surveying tools as well as elements from the land these men staked bounderies that would determine the future for every plant, animal, and citizen that resided there.
The Cowichan Valley survey marker resided on the North-Western corner of present day Duncan, B.C. The Douglas Fir was blazed in 1915, only three years after the city of Duncan was officially incorporated (The Canadian Encyclopedia: Historica Foundadtion, 2015).
This image of Duncan in 1915 shows its vast fertile lands and sky scraping trees. However, settlers arriving to this area of the Cowichan Valley in the early 1900's would be met with the challange of dividing the lands between themselves as well as Cowichan First Nations.
Wrapt with the challenges of dense terrain and socio-cultural divides between settlers and First Nations, Dominion Land Surveyors abolished the hazy frontier by sectioning clear legal perimetres., even if the physical markers were lost, broken, or stolen. (see ARTIFACT)
Perhaps the necessity for the Cowichan Valley boundary began with the McKenna-McBride Commission (est. 1913) that ordered the reassesment and resurveying of many Vancouver Island Indian Reserves (NRCAN, "Surveys, Parcels, and Tenure, 2010). By 1915 Arthur Onwhyn Noakes and a crew of his men had made their way to the Cowichan Valley to settle anxious neighbours by marking a boundary.
The Cowichan marker held the boundary of Cowichan Valley and Cowichan Indian Reservation No. 1 until 1960 when it was removed by D.H. Browne. It had long been replaced with a more durable marker (not to mention advanced GIS technology) but was collected at the insistance of noted D.L.S and S.L.S land surveyor R.W. Clarke (Museum of Science and Technology: "Collection of Canadian Landmarks"). A myriad of Canadian survey markers were retrieved to form Clarke's collection of historical landmarks. They represent an important ideology of Canadian culture and are preserved so that the history of Canadian land surveying may continue to inspire.
It was Browne who collected the Cowichan marker in 1960, but coincidently the marker's original surveyor A.O. Naokes was making Cowichan's future plans through his May 1960 Site Plan for B.C. Electric. The transmission line proposed by B.C. Electric would run right through the Indian Resrve and intersect the boundary line at the Cowichan marker. The following year B.C. Electric was bought by the provincial government and amalgamated with the Power Commission to create a crown corporation: today's B.C Hydro (B.C. Hydro: Corporate Information "History" https://www.bchydro.com/about/who_we_are/history.html).
Today the Transmission Line can be seen from Google's satellite imagery. The Cowichan Indian Reserve lands located west of Duncan are densely forested except for the obvious path of the transmission line. It runs north/south through Reserve territory and intersects with the Cowichan survey marker at the Cowichan River.
Section 35 of the Indian Act states that First Nations land can be expropriated by the government if the land is needed to build a highway, hydro transmission line, or railway. That is why the Cowichan Valley survey marker is important; it represents a legal boundary yet does not protect both of its neighbours equally. The Cowichan Indian Reserve has no claim to the transmission line and does not reap the financial benefits even though it is on their land.
Click "A line through the forest" to find the map of the transmission line. (Satillite feature)
1960 was a pivitol year in the Cowichan Valley for both settlers and First Nations. It marked the dismantling of the Indian Residential School System and the birth of B.C. Hydro. History was being made just as the Cowichan Valley survey marker was plucked from its roots and brought to the big city of Ottawa where it would remain until present day.
615 Booth Street has been the home of Surveys and Mapping Branch since 1960. It is where the survey marker collection was kept until 1973 when it was transfered to the Canadian Museum of Science and Technology in Ottawa, ON.
As of now the Cowichan Valley survey marker has been preserved at the Canadian Museum of Science and Technology. Considering its organic material it is in remarkably good shape. Keep in mind its first encounter with A.O. Noakes was one hundred years ago!
Proper methods of preserving, mounting, and storing are essential to collection work. This chunk of Douglas Fir that served as a bearing tree has been treated and set on hinges so that years of growth open like a teasure chest to reveal its original markings.