Back on Tracks

Canadian Pacific Railway construction, d-01440.

Rediscovered Land Records from BC’s Railway Belt

BACK ON TRACKS

By Rachel McRory

Government Records Archivist

The BC Archives holds millions of records, so occasionally items are “rediscovered.” The Kamloops Government Agent land records (series GR-0522) are one such case. The archives has held these records since the 1960s, but somehow they were never processed by staff. Now, thanks to months of hard work from the BC Archives Government Records team, these records are finally accessible.

The records cover 100 years of land use Port Moody. The land was used for history in the Kamloops area, from construction of the railway; the sale of 1877 to 1977. There are over 47 linear some of the land to settlers helped finance metres of records and maps created and used its construction. by the local government agents. These agents were important figures in the early colonial history of British Columbia. They were often the only government representatives in an area, so they took on many different roles. This included the work of land agents, who documented all uses of Crown (publicly owned) land. Unfortunately, British Columbia’s vast, mountainous terrain and a variety of political factors led to delays. The Railway Belt was not transferred to the federal government until 1883, and the exact northern and southern boundaries of the belt were not confirmed until 1895. Kamloops is an interesting area of British Columbia for land records because it was part of what is known as the Railway Belt. Building a railway to connect British Columbia with the rest of Canada was a key part of the Terms of the Union, by which British Columbia became a province of Canada in 1871. The terms included the transfer of the Railway Belt land to the federal government. This was a 40-mile-wide piece of provincial Crown land stretching from the Rocky Mountains to This situation was confusing for both settlers and government officials. It was often unclear if the provincial or federal government controlled a piece of land. In 1895, settler D.A. Wright attempted to receive the title for the land he had applied for. Told that the Provincial Land Agent did “not have the power to grant this,” he appealed to the Dominion Land Agent, who wrote, “I cannot at the present time explain how this manner is to be straightened out.” It was unclear

if Wright’s land was inside the Railway Belt or not. Wright was simply advised to “wait a little time”—as were many others in a similar state of limbo.

Canadian Pacific Railway construction began in 1881 (eight years behind schedule). It was completed on November 7, 1885. The Railway Belt was only transferred back to the province in 1930, after decades of negotiation.

The complex administration of this land means records were created by both provincial and Dominion land agents. Each government used very different file and survey systems in administering the land. Together the records document changing government administrative practices and priorities over time.

Far more is recorded than the ownership and use of particular pieces of land. Holdings include personal records of land owners, such as letters, military discharge papers and the naturalization papers of immigrants who were not British citizens.

There are many other kinds of records as well, from geographic and environmental data to leases for almost every available natural resource, including grazing land, timber, water, petroleum and mining claims.

There are also many records about Indigenous peoples in the area. Some document overlapping land use and conflict with settlers. No treaties were signed for the lands in the Railway Belt, and the creation of reserves was painfully slow, often at great disadvantage to Indigenous peoples.

These records help to paint a picture of the history of the Kamloops area. Reading them can teach us about everything from land management practices to the attitudes of the people who lived there. Each file provides specific examples of how settlers and Indigenous peoples used land. This detailed information is useful in land claims and genealogy research alike. These records, like many other government records, include a treasure trove of information just waiting to be explored.

Receipt for an application to acquire federal Crown land, file 21-2330.

Sketch map of a pre-emption claim, file 7-4430.