The BC Adventure 4

May 20, 1920

Dear Mums and Daddy and Dorothy

I will write a long proper letter now we are moved in. I thought you might like to see this snap with us (Dick was taking the photo)  outside the cottage that Una and Peter have rented. This is a very beautiful part of the world, and so far the weather has been near perfect.

Dick arranged for Mark to work at the same Market Gardening firm where he is employed. I'm afraid it only pays $5 a day, and Mark is very disappointed, but this is only a temporary job. They are in full season now, and their early varieties of strawberries are ready for picking and eating and shipping. They ship them all over the country, and the people who own the business, have a monopoly on the fruit market here.

Mark, as you know, really wants to get involved with mining again, and as it happens, one of their bosses has had experience of going to the Carriboo region in northern BC to pan for gold, with more than a bit of success. Mark keeps asking him about his experience.

Bammie looks after Peter, as for this very busy period Una has taken on the job of selling strawberries at the local shop here. I might join her later, but I would rather do some sight seeing now that we are finally here, to see what sort of a place we have come to. And I have agreed to do
the shopping and cooking for the whole bunch of us. I don't think anybody has a maid here, so I will have to get used to doing housework too, I imagine.

You can almost see Victoria from Vancouver train station, but it is a rather complicated journey. First we took a bus to the ferry terminal, which was about an hour. Then we got the ferry called the Princess Charlotte, which took about 90 minutes, so we had time for a meal and I had the most
delicious loin chop I've seen for a very long time. Mark said, “Some folk think only of their tummies.”

Then we had another bus ride to the centre of Victoria, and from there, another one to Gordon Town on the west side. Dick and Una were at the bus station to meet us. Una looks very well, and has benefited from the long hours of sunshine. Peter grinned from ear to ear, and Una couldn't stop hugging him. They were both laughing and crying at the same time.

Daddy, I'm sure you will want to know a bit about Victoria on Vancouver Island, so I will give you a potted history.

Long before Captain James Cook became the first non-aboriginal man to set foot on Vancouver Island in 1778, there were three groups of Indians living here – all speaking distinct languages, apparently. They are the Songhees, the Saanich and the Sooke Indians. Una told me that Victoria is very much influenced by their culture and certainly their names for places.

In 1843, James Douglas chose this area known then as Camosack, as a Hudson Bay Company trading post. The post was eventually renamed Fort Victoria, in honour of Queen Victoria. About
the same time most of the natives got relocated to reserves.

In 1858, gold was discovered on the lower Fraser River, first by some Indians, but that was kept quiet for a year. When the news came out, the population grew from 500 to 30,000 with the influx of gold miners from all over the US and Canada and other parts of the world. They couldn't just start panning, but needed to get a license first from Victoria.

I think this is a big enough letter for one time. It apparently takes about 3-4 weeks for our letters to get to you and visa versa, so I am hoping that we will hear from you within a month now that you have our address.

I hope that all is well with you and I do miss you very much.

Love,

Gwenllian