Period 1862 – 1872

Period 1862 – 1872 for South-western Canada

• 1862
  Smallpox ravages the Native tribes of B.C.
• 1862
  Methodists Geo. Millward McDougall and wife Elizabeth establish their Victoria Mission on the North Saskatchewan River 75 miles downstream from Fort Edmonton.
• 1862
  Crews demarcating the 49th degree of Parallel eastward from the “Gulf” of Georgia arrive at Waterton Lakes.
• 1862
  The Hudson’s Bay Company posts Michael Phillipps to Tobacco Plains to assist factor John Linklater.
• 1862
  Over 1,000 men estimated to have trekked up the old Okanagan valley Brigade Trail northward to Williams Creek in the gold-rich Cariboo region.
• 1862
  Gold Commissioner W.G. Cox instructed to lay out a 20 square mile reserve for the Okanagan Band and a 10-mile reserve for the government on Lake Osoyoos.
• 1862 Mar. 11
  W.G. Cox is transferred to the Cariboo. J.C. Haynes becomes the Gold Commissioner and Customs Officer in the Okanagan.
• 1862 May
  Assembly of Upper and Lower Canada: Macdonald/Cartier Coalition defeated.
• 1862 May 31
  Bank of British Columbia created by Royal Charter. Incorporated in London. (Bought by the Canadian Bank of Commerce in 1900.)
• 1862 Apr. 1
  W.H. Lowe arrives at Lake Osoyoos to assist Commissioner Haynes.
• 1862 August
  Bank of British Columbia opens its office in Victoria.
• 1862 Aug. 2
  Victoria incorporated as a City.
• 1862 Aug. 16
  Gold discovered in Grasshopper Creek on the southern fringes of the Blackfeet reservation in what is now Montana. Invasion begins.
• 1862 Late in Year
  U.S. government declares an embargo on the export of cattle.
• 1863
  Father Chas. Pandosy, OMI, establishes first apple orchard in Okanagan Valley at L’Anse au Sable mission.
• 1863
  Fr. Constantin Scollen, OMI, first meets Niitistapi.
• 1863
  U.S. government modifies the cattle export embargo to allow the export of animals raised in American territory bounded by the Pacific.
• 1863
  Most placer gold ever reported recovered in a single year in British Columbia: an estimated $3.9 million.
• 1863 Mar. 4
  Idaho Territory created from eastern Washington Territory. Captial at Lewiston.
• 1863 June 15
  Hudson’s Bay Company shares offered for Public sale for first time. Edward Watkin and the International Financial Society of London buy them all leading to re-organization of the Company.
• 1863 July 1
  Treaty for the Settlement of Claims with the Hudson’s Bay Company, etc. signed. Proclaimed March 5, 1864.
• 1863 Autumn
  George Findlay reveals to John Linklater, the Hudson’s Bay Coy. factor at Tobacco Plains, the existence of gold in Wild Horse Creek.
• 1863 November
  Gold Commissioner Haynes informs New Westminster of the rumour of gold in Wild Horse Creek.
• 1864
  American Fur Company under Pierre Chouteau goes out of business due in part to the activities of rogue whiskey traders. Sells Fort Benton.
• 1864
  Factor Roderick McLean abandons François Deschinquette’s Hudson’s Bay Company post near today’s Cawston and builds another on the benches in the trench of Keremeos Creek.
• 1864
  The Colony of British Columbia enacts the Gold Export Tax of 1864.
• 1864
  Fr. Albert Lacombe, OMI, first meets the Niitsitapi.
• 1864
  Assembly of Upper and Lower Canada: Macdonald/Cartier Coalition returned to power..
• 1864 March
  The Boise News, The Walla Walla Statesman and The Lewiston Golden Age all print stories about Wild Horse gold.
• 1864 Spring
  Colony of B.C: Commissioner Haynes again informs New Westminster of the rumour of gold inWild Horse Creek.
• 1864 Spring
  John T. Galbraith establishes his ferry on the Kootenay River at present-day Fort Steele, B.C.
• 1864 Mar. 23 (25?)
  Jane Shaw “Jeanie” Moir and Edgar Dewdney wed in Christ Church, Hope.
• 1864 Apr. 6?
  A.E. Kennedy succeeds Jas. Douglas as governor of the Colony of Vancouver’s Island (to November 19, 1866).
• 1864 Apr. 21
  Frederick Seymour succeeds Jas. Douglas as governor of the Colony of British Columbia (to November 19, 1866).
• 1864 Apr. 28
  In reponse to the threat of small-pox and the incursion into their territory of roadbuilders in the employ of Alfred Penderell Waddington, several Tsilhqot’in warriors led by Klatassine, attack builder’s camp at the Homathco ferry. Tim Smith the ferry man killed, and 13 others on the 30th. Three wounded and escape. Thus begins the “Chilcotin War.”
• 1864 May 26
  Montana Territory created from part of Dakota Territory.
• 1864 June 15
  Tobacco Plains, Colony of B.C.: John Linklater retires from Hudson’s Bay Company service and departs Tobacco Plains for the Coast, leaves Michael Phillipps in charge.
• 1864 June 23
  John Linklater visits J.C. Haynes at Osoyoos and comfirms the existence of gold in Wild Horse Creek in the East Kootenays.
• 1864 July 2
  Act of the U.S. Congress creates the Northern Pacific Railroad Company.
• 1864 July 9
  Colony of B.C. political: J.C. Haynes appointed Stipendiary Magistrate and Justice of the Peace and posted to Wild Horse as Gold Commissioner and Customs Officer to the East Kootenays.
• 1864 July 20
  Osoyoos, Colony of B.C.: J.C. Haynes and Constable Young depart for Wild Horse leaving constable W.H. Lowe in charge.
• 1864 July 30
  A Saturday.
• 1864 Aug. 10
  Fisherville, Colony of B.C.: Judge Haynes and Constable W.C. Young arrive on Wild Horse Creek.
• 1864 Aug. 15
  Colony of B.C. Klatassine and eight other Tsilhqot’in warriors arrested.
• 1864 Sep. 29 Quesnellemouth
  Colony of B.C. political: Justice M.B. Begbie sentences five (nine?) Tsilhqot’in to hang at Quesnel Mouth, ending the Chilcotin War.
• 1864 Sep. 1–9
  Canada political: Charolottetown Conference.
• 1864 Autumn
  Wild Horse Creek, Colony of B.C.: Robt. Dore, et al, complete the Victoria Ditch at Wild Horse Creek in what is now the East Kootenay.
• 1864 October
  Similkameen valley, Colony of B.C.: Francis Xavier Richter and family settle at today’s Cawston.
• 1864 October
  Colony of B.C. political: Judge J.C. Haynes appointed to the Legislative Council of British Columbia in New Westminster. Peter O’Reilly named as replacement.
• 1864 Oct. 26
  Quesnellemouth, Colony of B.C.: Klatassine and eight other Tsilhqot’in warriors hanged. Ends the “Chilcotin War.”
• 1864 Winter
  Rupert’s Land: Scarlet fever kills an estimated 1100 Niitsi-tapi.
• 1865
  Colony of B.C.: Cariboo Road to Barkerville complete. Fraser River portion destroyed by railway construction in 1880s and not re-built until 1927.
• 1865
  Colony of B.C. political: Colony of British Columbia proclaims the Land Ordinance Act of 1865: allowed British subjects to provisionally acquire 160 acres of land; permitted 7-year long grazing leases.
• 1865
  Colony of B.C.: Edgar Dewdney finds Joe McCauley in residence on “Grande Prairie,” near today’s Grand Forks.
• 1865
  Edwin Bonner establishes his ferry and trading post on the Kootenai River at present-day Bonners Ferry, Idaho.
• 1865
  “Kootenai” Brown first sees the Waterton area of Rupert’s Land.
• 1865
  Blackfeet pressured to surrender the southern part of their reservation in what is now Montana. Illegal.
• 1865 circa
  The Jesuit Fa. Paschal Tosi begins making regular trips into Ktunaxa territory.
• 1865 January
  Colony of B.C. political: John T. Galbraith licenced to operate a ferry on the Kootenay River.
• 1865 Spring
  Similkameen valley, Colony of B.C.: F.X. Richter files a pre-emption on a 320 acre homestead in the Similkameen valley near today’s Cawston.
• 1865 Spring
  Colony of B.C. political: J.C. Haynes posted back to Osoyoos. Had customs house moved to the west neck of Osoyoos narrows.
• 1865 Spring
  Governor Frederick Seymour commissions Edgar Dewdney to extend his Trail from Rock Creek to the Wild Horse gold camp in the Rocky Mountain Trench.
• 1865 Mar. 28
  The Legislative Council of B.C. passes An Ordinance to Ammend and Consolidate the Gold Mining Laws.
• 1865 Apr. 1
  Constable John Jane (Jones?) appointed customs’ and postal agent at Fort Shepherd, B.C. (to July 27, 1868)
• 1865 Apr. 9
  CSA General Lee surrenders at Appomattox, Virginia, ending the American Civil War.
• 1865 May 22
  Judge Peter O’Reilly and Constable Arthur Wellesley Vowell arrive on the Wild Horse to take charge of the East Kootenays.
• 1865 May 27
  Edgar Dewdney, Geo. Turner and crew arrive at Fort Shepherd to begin building the Wild Horse extention of Dewdney’s original trail.
• 1865 July
  Colony of B.C. political: J.C. Haynes trims the Okanagan Band’s reserve at Osoyoos.
• 1865 Nov. 18
  The steamboat Forty Nine launched onto the Columbia at Colville Landing, fifty-odd kilometres below the Boundary.
• 1865 December
  The Forty Nine beats her way up the Columbia River, crossing the Boundary to become the first mechanized boat to enter B.C.’s “Interior.”
• 1865 Dec. 4
  On the Battle River, Rupert’s Land: Crees slaughter 112 Siksikah in camp.
• 1865 Dec. 13
  The Forty Nine turned back by ice in the Columbia above Arrow Lakes.
• 1866
  The Colony of B.C.’s new Land Ordinance Act of 1866 forbade Indians from pre-empting lands without written permission from the Governor. Granted only once.
• 1866
  B.C.: Edgar Dewdney completes his Trail to Wild Horse Creek at a cost of $74,000.
• 1866
  Gold found in the Columbia’s “Big Bend” area. Colony commissions Walter Moberly, J. Turnbull and Rob’t Howell to blaze a trail thereto and assess the Kootenay region.
• 1866
  Wild Horse, B.C.: Post Office established.
• 1866
  Hostilities between the Ktunaxa and the Piikani over bison hunting privileges resume.
• 1866
  Michael Phillipps weds Rowen(a), daughter of Chief David (Michel?) of the Upper Kootenay Ktunaxa.
• 1866
  Osoyoos, B.C.: Roderick Finlayson of the Hudson’s Bay Company builds a store. Immediately taken over by T.J. Kruger.
• 1866
  J.C. Haynes appointed a Circuit Judge.
• 1866 March
  Red Ochre Hill, Rupert’s Land: 300 Kainah killed while on a raid.
• 1866 Apr. 16
  The Forty Nine passes Fort Shepherd heading up the Columbia on its first foray into B.C. this year.
• 1866 Aug. 1
  Parliament in Wesminster passes the Act uniting the colonies of British Columbia and Vancouver Island under Governor Frederick Seymour (to June 10, 1869).
• 1866 Nov. 19
  The Union of the colonies of B.C. and Vancouver Island proclaimed.
• 1867
  Constable W.H. Lowe pre-empts a homestead in the Okanagan.
• 1867
  Michael Phillipps pre-empts a homestead on Tobacco Plains in BC.
• 1867
  Rupert’s Land/N-WT.: Massacre of 12 American settlers by Niitsi-tapi near what is now Cowley, AB.
• 1867 Mar. 29
  The British parliament passes 30 Victoria, Chapter 3. An Act for the Union of Canada, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and the Government thereof; for the purposes connected therewith. (British North America Act, 1867).
• 1867 Mar. 30
  Russia sells Alaska to U.S. for $7.2 million.
• 1867 July 1
  Federal Political: BNA Act proclaimed. Canada confederated. Right Honourable the Viscount Monck appointed governor general.
• 1867 July 1
  John Alexander Macdonald created Knight Commander of the Order of St. Michael and St. George.
• 1867 Aug. 7
  Federal political: election begins.
• 1867 Sep. 20
  Sir John A. Macdonald and Conservatives elected federally. Honourable Alexander Tilloch Galt appointed Minister of Finance (to November 18).
• 1868
  Brothers William and Peter Creake Fernie begin ranching near Galbraith’s Ferry in the Rocky Mountain Trench.
• 1868
  B.C.: Begins a two-year gold rush on Forty-Nine Creek in BC’s West Kootenays.
• 1868
  Rupert’s Land/N-WT.: W.S. Lee, Joe Healy et al, lead prospecting expedition that loses its pliers in “Pincher” Creek.
• 1868
  Blackfoot begin armed resistance to the invasion of their reservation in what is now Montana by gold hunters.
• 1868 May 25
  Capital of the United Colony of British Columbia moved from New Westminster to Victoria.
• 1868 July 31
  Assent granted to 31-32 Victoria, chapter 105: An Act for enabling Her Majesty to accept the Surrender upon Terms of the Lands, Privileges, and Rights of “The Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading into Hudson’s Bay” and for admitting the same to the Dominion of Canada. (Rupert’s Land Act, 1868). Great Britain. By which the British government underwrites Canada’s £300,000 (plus 1/20th of land in “fertile belt” plus acreage around each existing fur fort) purchase of Rupert’s Land.
• 1868 Sep. 3
  J.F. Allison and Susan Louisa Moir marry in the little parsonage of Christ Church Anglican in Hope.
• 1868 Sep. 26
  J.C. Haynes and Charlotte Moresby wed in Hope.
• 1869
  Small Pox decimates Niitsi-tapi.
• 1869
  Representative Ignatius Donnelly of Minnesota urges United States Congress to press for the immediate annexation of Manitoba.
• 1869
  “One Arm” Reid and Mr. Ryan may have discovered gold around the present day site of Fairview.
• 1869
  The Colony of B.C. quits maintaining Dewdney’s trail.
• 1869
  Rupert’s Land: Ne:hiyawak peace mission to the Niitsi-tapi. Maskepatoon—Broken Arm—never returned.
• 1869 Feb. 2
  The Right Honourable the Baron Lisgar (Sir John Young) appointed Canada’s governor general.
• 1869 Mar. 8
  Henceforth the HBC has no legal authority in Rupert’s Land.
• 1869 May 10
  The first North American transcontinental railroad completed when Central Pacific and Union Pacific officials drive the “golden spike” at Promontory, Utah.
• 1869 June 10
  The British Governor of B.C., Frederick Seymour, dies.
• 1869 June 14
  P.J. (Philip) Hankin appointed administrator of B.C.
• 1869 June 22
  “An Act for the Temporary Government of Rupert’s Land and the North-Western Territories when united with Canada” receives royal assent in Westminster.
• 1869 July 5
  Alex’r Tilloch Galt created a Knight Commander of the Order of St. Michael and St. George,
• 1869 Aug. 1
  Judge J.C. Haynes pre-empts a homestead at the north end of Lake Osoyoos.
• 1869 Aug. 23
  Anthony Musgrave appointed governor of the United Colony of British Columbia (to July 20, 1871).
• 1869 Sep. 10
  U.S. buys the American holdings of the Hudson’s Bay Company and its affiliate, the Puget’s Sound Agricultural Company for $450,000 and $200,000, respectively.
• 1869 Autumn
  Rupert’s Land: smallpox revisit the Niitsi-tapi killing some 630 Kainai, twice as many Piikani, and seriously weaken the Siksikah as the winter wore on.
• 1869 Sep. 24
  “Black Friday”: Jay Gould’s and James Fisk’s attempt to corner gold market in collusion with Washington officials fails when Federal gold released for sale; Markets crash.
• 1869 October
  The steamer Forty Nine damaged on Upper Columbia and limps away south across the Boundary never to return.
• 1869 Oct. 1
  The Honourable Sir William McDougall appointed lieutenant-governor of Rupert’s Land and the Northwest Territories.
• 1869 Oct. 11
  Along the Red River in Rupert’s Land/N-WT: Louis Riel and a group of concerned M’tis prevent Dominion surveyors from doing further work in the environs of the Métis’ “long lots”.
• 1869 Nov. 2
  Sir William McDougall, having arrived at an HBC post on the Red River just above the Boundary, is confronted by a group of Métis and told to return to Pembina, Minnesota.
• 1869 Nov. 2
  Métis seize Lower Fort Garry at the Red River Settlement in what is now Manitoba.
• 1869 Nov. 19
  London: HBC formally tenders the surrender of Rupert’s Land. Confirmed by a Westminster Order-in-Council on June 23rd, 1870.
• 1869 Nov. 23
  Louis “David” Riel proposes a provisional government to replace the Council of Assiniboia in Red River: proclaimed December 8. (“Red River Rebellion”)
• 1869 Dec. 1
  Sir William McDougall, in his capacity as the lieutenant-governor designate of the North-West Territories, proclaims the Territories a part of Canada.
• 1869 Dec. 5
  Brooklyn, N.Y.: Frederic Augustus Heinze born.
• 1869 Dec. 6
  The Indian Commissioner of Montana Territory, General Alfred Sully, grants a permit to John Jerome Healy and Alfred Baker Hamilton for a “scientific expedition of exploration” into Niitsi-tapi lands north of the International Boundary.
• 1869 Dec. 27
  Louis Riel succeeds as president of the provisional government of the North-West Territories.
• 1870
  B.C. Colonial government agent Peter O’Reilly and Chief Quinisco lay out the boundaries of the Chuchuwayha Indian Reserve #2 surrounding today’s Hedley.
• 1870
  Chief Factor Finlayson of the Hudson’s Bay Company orders the closure of Ft. Shepherd in BC.
• 1870
  Wm. Sam’l Lee establishes an HBC post at the mouth of Pincher Creek near what is now Brocket, Alberta.
• 1870
  A.R.C. Selwyn succeeds W.E. Logan as the director of the Geological Survey of Canada.
• 1870
  Robert Leslie Thomas Galbraith arrives to join his brothers at Galbraith’s Ferry near Wildhorse, B.C.
• 1870 Jan. 23
  Montana Territory: Brevet Colonel Eugene M. Baker and elements of the 2nd U.S. Cavalry massacres Heavy Runner’s Piikani clan.
• 1870 Mar. 4
  Louis Riel’s administration executes Thomas Scott at Fort Garry in what was then still Rupert’s Land.
• 1870 Spring
  J.J. Healy and A.B. Hamilton return to Fort Benton with a bonanza of hides from north of the Boundary: the invasion of the N-WT by whiskey traders begins.
• 1870 Spring
  Rupert’s Land/N-WT: SmallPox bedevils the Niitsi-tapi.
• 1870 Apr. 6
  Federal Order-in-Council approves formation of North-West Mounted Police.
• 1870 May 12
  The Manitoba Act, 1870, receives royal assent. Creates Canada’s fifth province, and the North-West Territories.
• 1870 May 20
  Adams Geo. Archibald appointed lieutenant-governor of Manitoba.
• 1870 Summer
  Chief factor Richard Chas. Hardisty of HBC Fort Edmonton dispatched several “Red River carts” with part of the winter’s fur collection south down the “Old North Road” to Fort Benton on the Missouri River. south down the Road to the Missouri. The experiment was not repeated.
• 1970 Summer
  Joe Kipp and James Willard Schultz establish Fort Stand-Off on what is now the Kainaas’ Reserve in southern Alberta for the purposes of trafficking in “whisky.”
• 1870 June 23
  Order of Her Majesty in Council at Windsor admitting Rupert’s Land and the North Western Territory into the Union.
• 1870 July 15
  Great Britain transfers Rupert’s Land and the North-West Territories to Canadian jurisdiction.
• 1870 July 15
  Order-in-Council proclaiming Manitoba Act, thus Manitoba and the North-West Territories admitted into the Dominion of Canada: Ottawa.
• 1870 July 30
  Adams Geo. Archibald appointed lieutenant-governor of the North-West Territories. Soon dispatches Captain William Francis Butler of the British Army to reconnoitre the N-WT for a year.
• 1870 Aug. 24
  Colonel Garnet Joseph Wolseley and his Red River Expeditionary Force arrives at Fort Garry, Manitoba. Louis Riel and two of his key supporters had fled into exile.
• 1870 Sep. 2
  Lieutenant-Governor Adams Geo. Archibald arrives at Fort Garry, the seat of government of Manitoba.
• 1870 Sep. 17
  Louis Riel returns to Manitoba to assist the Métis and Archibald form a working government in the province. Stays for two years.
• 1870 Oct. 21
  Lieutenant-Governor Archibald appoints first three members of the first Executive and Legislative Council of the N-WT and Rupert’s Land: Quebec Superior Court Judge F.G. Johnson, Pascal Breland of Red River, and Donald A. Smith of the HBC.
• 1870 Autumn
  Joe Kipp and Charlie Thomas establish Fort Kipp on what is now the north-eastern corner of the Kainaa Reserve in southern Alberta for the purposes of trafficking in “whisky.”
• 1870 Oct. end
  Niitsi-tapi/Blackfoot and Newiyawak/Cree fight on what is now Indian Battle Park, Lethbridge.
• 1871
  North West Government Act enacted.
• 1871
  Sanford Fleming and his surveyors begin a few seasons’ work exploring the Canadian cordillera for a feasible railroad route.
• 1871
  Smallpox epidemic on the Prairies.
• 1871
  Fort Benton, Montana: 30,000 bison hides collected for shipment down the Missouri.
• 1871 Spring
  N-WT: Healy and Hamilton open “Fort Hamilton” on the Kainai wintering grounds at the confluence of the Oldman and the St. Mary’s.
• 1871 Apr. 25
  Order-in-Council resolves to create a federal lands act.
• 1871 May 8
  Treaty of Washington; U.S. recognizes Canada as a nation.
• 1871 May 16
  Order of Her Majesty in Council admitting British Columbia into the Union: Windsor.
• 1871 June 8
  Hudson’s Bay Company vacates Fort Colvile; factor Angus MacDonald removes goods to Kamloops.
• 1871 June 29
  British parliament grants assent to 34-35 Victoria, Chapter 28: An Act respecting the establishment of Provinces in the Dominion of Canada (The British North America Act, 1871).
• 1871 July 5
  Honourable Joseph Wm. Trutch appointed lieutenant-governor of B.C. (to June 26, 1876).
• 1871 July 20
  B.B. political: B.C. joins the Canadian confederation. Lieutenant-Governor Trutch forms a cabinet to run the province until an election can be organized. The Constitution Act of 1871 creates the Kootenay Electoral District with 2 members: John Andrew Mara and Chas. Todd.
• 1871 Aug. 3
  Treaty No. 1 (Stone Fort Treaty) signed at Lower Fort Garry on Red River between HRH Victoria and the Saulteaux, Swampy Crees (Red River) and Chippewas.
• 1871 Aug. 21
  Treaty No. 2 (Manitoba Post Treaty) between HRH Victoria and the Ojibway of the Souris and Assiniboine River watersheds.
• 1871 Autumn
  Methodist missionary John Chantler McDougall and his brother, David, bring herd of horses from Montana Territory to Fort Victoria, N-WT.
• 1871 Nov. 13
  B.C. political: John Foster McCreight selected conservative premier of B.C.
• 1871 Dec. 13
  Emily Carr born at Victoria.
• 1871 Dec. 19
  Federal political: District of Yale; Chas. Frederick Houghton (Liberal) (s)elected.