Vancouver's Lion's Gate Bridge, seen from Stanley Park on a winter night

A propos walking - Stanley Park is a great place to go for a beautiful walk to enjoy the fall colours

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Image by Andrew_Sayers

The Lions’ Gate Bridge connects the cities of Vancouver and North Vancouver. Driving over it offers a spectacular view of our busy seaport, Stanley Park, the mountains, and the islands in the Georgia Straight.

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And that’s how the name Coal Harbour came about.

The coal turned out to be of low quality and uneconomical to exploit but it, together with the lumber mills in and around Burrard Inlet, made the area interesting enough to be settled by non-Natives.

Of course this seafood rich area with its mild climate had already been inhabited by the Coast Salish, who are reported to have come from Asia somewhere around 12000 BCE. Earliest archaeological evidence of dwellings go back to the middle ages, 400 years before the Spanish first visited Vancouver.

Once the Pacific West started booming in the latter part of the 1800s, immigrants came from all over the world. An immigrant group that is lesser known are Hawaiians who, together with other non-Caucasian immigrants such as African Americans and people coming up from the West Indies, were referred to as “Kanakas”. A few Hawaiian families, earlier employed in the fur trade, settled at a ranch right in Coal Harbour, shortly after Captain Richards had given it that name in 1860. That ranch was called “Kanaka Ranch.”

The Hawaiian families grew fruit and vegetables, they fished and hunted, and they made coke from the local coal. This they sold to Hastings Mill, located near Gastown. The children trekked daily along a shore path to school at the Mill.

The story of these families is quite interesting. Jean Barman tells it in Stanley Park’s Secret: The Forgotten Families of Whoi Whoi, Kanaka Ranch, and Brockton Point, a book that won a 2006 City of Vancouver Book Award.

The book is replete with fascinating historical photographs that show neat cottages and float homes, picket fences and pocket gardens, and lots of healthy children. More soberly, the book also reveals Vancouver’s unwelcoming stance towards non-Anglo families at that point in history.

As history rolled on, thankfully, Canada evolved to the fascinating and so much more inclusive multicultural society that we have today.

Next time I go for a stroll around coal harbour, when I get to a quiet little spot, I’ll imagine the children from Kanaka Ranch laughing and playing by the water, and offer them my thanks for playing their not always easy part in the growth of this beautiful city.

Thanks for the article, Isabella.

Featuring visionary architecture, the Laguna Parkside is planned to be comprised of a Tower, a Mansion House and five exclusive 2-storey villas. At the ground level, all the condos and villas will be surrounded by lush landscaping, and the kind of innovative water features that have become a trademark of Coal Harbour development.

The 360 panorama on the Laguna website shows a remarkable overview of the spectacular views to be available from these luxury residences.
It will feature many amenities, such as a resort-style pool and fitness centre.

The anticipated Laguna Parkside will offer urban living at its finest.

The Laguna Parkside site, which also features a 3D virtual aerial tour of the architecturally visionary complex, along with the 360 panorama. This is a must-see, but you’ll need Flash Player 6 and 1024 x 728 screen to view it.)