The First Military Intelligence Report of the Interior of British Columbia

Abstract

A little more than a century has elapsed since the first colonial militia companies were formed in British Columbia. Since the bulk of the colonies' population was concentrated in the southwest portion of the area, it was only natural that the original infantry companies and artillery batteries should be raised in that locality. When British Columbia became a province, interest in military defences was given an impetus not, as was originally the case, by a renewed threat of a Fenian raid, but rather because of several crises in European affairs involving Great Britain and Russia. The areas to be defended, however, remained the same: Victoria was the provincial seat of government, Esquimalt was the only British naval station on the Pacific coast, Nanaimo was important since it supplied coal to the Pacific Squadron, and New Westminster and Vancouver in the 1870s and 1880s were showing every evidence of becoming large commercial ports. Up until the end of the century the interior of the province was neglected by Canadian military authorities. For the first fifteen years after Confederation, the interior remained isolated behind mountain barriers. Until the Canadian Pacific Railway provided a means of transportation which permitted the east-west movement of produce from the farms, fields, and mines of British Columbia, the development of the province stagnated and its population remained small. The construction of the CPR brought with it many economic advantages, but it was equally important as a military transportation route, as had been proven during the Riel Rebellion. To those charged with the defence of the Pacific coast, it was looked upon as a means whereby arms, ammunition, and reinforcements could be rushed from the east should an emergency arise in the west. It was not until the Venezuelan crisis of 1895-96 and the possibility of an armed clash between Great Britain and the United States arose that Canada, for the first time, took a hard look at the interior of the province from a military point of view. Lt-Col. J. Peters, only recently appointed dis-