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History
This page on the history of Harrison Hot Springs and
Harrison Heritage House bed and breakfast covers the
following: Just click on the name of
the section you would like to read!
One
day, when the yard is under control, all the projects on my list are
finished I hope to build on this section.
The Harrison
area - Prehistory and the Stò:loThe real history of the Harrison began many
thousands of years ago with the first original inhabitants of the area.
Although there is no certain date for the first people living in the area
best archaeological estimates are that the earliest people lived here some
10,000 years ago shortly after the retreat of the last ice age. Again,
while there remains significant debate it seems most likely that these
earliest people came form the Asian continent.
While little remains from this early period of
prehistory we do know that these were the predecessors of the Stò:lo
people. According to Stò:lo oral history they have lived in this area
since the beginning of time and have many wonderful stories describing the
creation of their world.
The Stò:lo
are one of the cultural groups that form the people known as "Coast Salish." The Coast Salish people represent a number of different cultural
groups that inhabited most of southwestern B.C. and western Washington.
While there are many differences between the groups that form the Coast
Salish what they have in common are languages that are historically
connected.
The word Stò:lo translates to
"river" or "river people" and in particular referred to the people that
lived in the lower Fraser River valley. For more information on the Stò:lo
and their rich history please CLICK HERE
to visit an excellent web site As best as can be determined
there were no Stò:lo people living in what is now Harrison Hot Springs.
Before Europeans came along it was simply an area of cranberry marshes
with magical hot springs. According to Belle Rendall in her "History of
Harrison Hot Springs and Port Douglas Area" "The Indians of course had
always known about the springs and they knew also of the "Keekwully Tybee"
who sent up the medicine waters all hot from below. We are told they
believed the springs of boiling water - Warum Chuck - were of supernatural
origin, and regarded the hot water in the lake with reverence and awe and
that those who drank the water were given mystic powers of endurance over
their fellow men. According to some of the stories they believe the waters
will boil as long as there is sickness in the land." Three bands lived in Stò:lo territory
relatively close to what is now Harrison Hot Springs and would likely have
visited it regularly. One band was the Scowlitz, which translates to "turn
at bottom" who lived near the mouth of the Harrison River and Harrison
Bay. A second band was the Chehalis, which translates to "laying on the
chest" who occupied land farther up the Harrison River by the Chehalis
tributary. A third group that now live on Seabird Island Reserve were
known in the Halq'eméylem language as Sq'éwqel or "turn in the river".
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The first Europeans
European
exploration of British Columbia's coast began in 1741, when the Danish
explorer Vitus Bering first sailed along the BC coast. Some 30 year later
in 1774 the coast was again visited this time by the Spanish explorer Juan
Perez. However real surveying of British Columbia
didn't start until Captain James Cook, charted Nootka Sound in 1778.
A Spanish expedition and a British expedition lead by Captain
George Vancouver followed in 1792. These two groups cooperated together
and charted much of Georgia Strait and Puget Sound. Still it was another 16 years before a European
got anywhere near Harrison. In 1808 Simon Fraser in his famous expedition
canoed past the Harrison area including the mouth of the Harrison river.
At that time Fraser made no mention of the Harrison River let alone the
Harrison Lake.
Initial exploration of the Harrison river began in
1827 by Hudson Bay Company fur traders. In fact Sir George Simpson,
Governor in British Columbia of the Hudson Bay Company was so convinced of
the possible value of this river that he wrote in a 1829 dispatch to
Hudson Bay Company headquarters. "As it promises to become important to
our interests in this quarter, not only as a practicable route to and form
the interior but as opening to us a new tract of country, which the
Natives say is Rich in Beaver, I have taken the liberty of naming it after
one the Members of Your Honble. Board 'Harrisons River'. It became known
as Harrison River and Harrison Lake. This name
was in respect of Benjamin Harrison an important shareholder and Committee
member of the Hudson Bay Company. Interestingly enough Mr. Harrison was
particularly concerned for the welfare of the Indian peoples of the area
and did not want to see them exploited although he did want them converted
to Christianity. His personal philosophy was deeply religious and he was
of the belief that the Hudson Bay Company should reflect humanitarianism
in its trading operations. However, it was not until 1846
that the full Harrison River and Harrison Lake were explored by Alexander
Anderson who at the request of Governor Simpson investigated this possible
route to the interior. Unfortunately, it was too difficult and dangerous
for the time and the entire area remained relatively unexplored by
Europeans other than fur traders for some time.
It was the Caribou Gold rush of 1858 that
brought the Europeans back to the Harrison River route to the interior.
However instead of a few fur traders it was now tens of thousands of gold
miners. Sir James Douglas then Governor realized he needed a viable route
to the interior for all these miners. He rediscovered the difficult
Harrison-Lillooet route and set about putting the necessary roads and
waterways in place. To review the route and assess it an expedition lead
by Judge Matthew Begbie set out in 1859. Although he did not visit the
springs at the south end of the lake he did name them after Governor
Douglas's daughter Alice and so by became know as Alice Springs. While there was some initial interest in Alice
Springs as the gold rush ended in the early 1860's so did any real
interest in the location. It would be another 15 years before interest
would return and the real history of Harrison Hot Springs would
start.
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The History of Harrison Hot Springs
The location of Harrison Hot Springs appears on
a map as early as 1846, although the springs themselves were not
discovered till late in the 1850's during the Caribou gold rush. The
traditional story of the spring's discovery talks about one member of a
nearly frozen group of miners who were returning down the lake from Port
Douglas, falling into the water from either being over anxious to reach
the shore or from weakness. In any event he was so happy with the warmth,
that his companions soon joined him. A year later
Judge Matthew Begbie named the springs Alice Springs after the daughter of
then Governor Douglas. However, nothing much happened in the years
following its discovery and naming.
The end of the gold rush meant
the end of people coming to the area and the temporary end of interest in
the springs. In 1873 Joseph Armstrong pre-empted 40 acres of
land by the lake including the springs for the grand sum of $40. Several
years later he received the Crown grant to the property. In 1886 he opened
the St. Alice Hotel and the history of the village has been pretty much
driven by this hotel ever since. The hotel was of course an enthusiastic
promoter of the springs. Initial advertising claimed that the hot springs
provided: "a sure cure for paralysis, rheumatism, syphilis, diabetes,
neuralgia, skin diseases, mercurial poisoning, dipsomania, and all
diseases of the womb, liver, and kidneys, besides many other maladies to
which human flesh is heir." What made the location viable was the newly
completed transcontinental railway line that included a stop at Agassiz.
The Hotel was successful and dominated
life in the area. Owning 1400 acres along the lake it was able to pretty
much dictate who and what came to the area. In 1920 the Hotel burnt down
and had to be rebuilt. It reopened in 1926 under the new name Harrison Hot
Springs Hotel. Now with the advent of the automobile the village was more
accessible a number of auto camps with cabins were established and the
village began to grow. In 1949 the Village of Harrison
Hot Springs was incorporated. It had an area of just over 2000 acres and
476 inhabitants. The man who led and managed this process was Colonel
Andrew McCormack Naismith who was also elected the first Chairman of the
Harrison village commissioners.
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The History of Harrison Heritage House
Harrison Heritage House is one of
the oldest homes in Harrison Hot Springs. The property is seen on the
first site drawing of Harrison dated 1896. The main original house is
thought to be approximately 100 years old. A large east wing was added on
in the early 60's. Happily the new addition was built in keeping with the
character and style of the original
house.
The house is best known as
Naismith house and is named after Colonel Andrew McCormack Naismith.
Colonel Naismith came to Harrison in 1946 and played a significant role in
local affairs. He was instrumental in organizing the incorporation of the
Village of Harrison Hot Springs in 1949. He also was elected as the first
Chairman of the Harrison village commissioners.
Colonel Naismith had been an active and
prominent Canadian lawyer before moving to Harrison Hot Springs. He also
had a distinguished military career receiving a Military Cross for his
actions in World War One. During the first gas attacks on Canadians at
Ypres it was Colonel Naismith who instructed soldiers to urinate into
handkerchiefs as a quick and practical technique to combat the deadly gas.
It is not known how many soldiers' lives were saved this way.
On coming to Harrison Colonel Naismith
was involved in many public activities and left a visible mark on local
life. According to Daphne Sleigh in the "People of the Harrison" his many
public roles and offices include: - President
to several national athletic associations
- Justice of the Peace
-
Stipendary Magistrate and Coroner
- First chairman of School District
76
- First chairman of Village of Harrison Commissioners
Since
that time the house has been owned by a number of different people
including a German jeweler who built the addition that is now the bed and
breakfast rooms. This large addition started out as one big family room.
When Dennis and Joanne Sandve took over the house in 1990 they converted
this area to bed and breakfast rooms and that was the beginning of
Harrison Heritage House and Kottage .
Bibliography Daphne Sleigh, "The People of the Harrison",
Abbotsford Printing, 1990
Belle Rendall, "Healing Waters - History of
Harrison Hot Springs and Port Douglas Area", Harrison Lake Historical
Society, 1981
Kieth Thor Carlson (editor), "You are asked to Witness:
The Sto:lo in Canada's Pacific Coast History", Sto:lo Heritage Trust,
1996
Arnold M. McCombs, Wilfrid W. Chittenden, "The Harrison - Chehalis
Challenge", Treeline Publishing, 1988
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