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Salt Spring Island

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Saltspring Island (also Salt Spring Island) is one of the Gulf Islands in the Strait of Georgia between mainland British Columbia, Canada and Vancouver Island. It is the most populated and most frequently visited of the Gulf Islands, with a population of about 10,500 as of 2008. It is also by area the largest of the islands. The island is known for its artists.

The island was initially inhabited by Salish First Nation before being settled by pioneers in 1859, at which time it was officially called "Admiral Island." It was the first of the Gulf Islands to be settled and the first agricultural settlement in the Colony of Vancouver Island, as well as the first in the region to permit settlers to acquire land through pre-emption. The island was officially retitled to its current name in 1905.

History

The island, initially inhabited by Salish First Nation, became a refuge from racism for African Americans who had resided in the United States. Settled in 1858 by black Americans, the island was not only the first of the Gulf Islands to be settled, but also, according to 1988's A Victorian Missionary and Canadian Indian Policy, the first agriculatural settlement established anywhere in the colony of Vancouver Island.

Saltspring Island was also the first in the Colony of Vancouver Island and British Columbia to allow settlers to acquire land through pre-emption: settlers could occupy and improve the land before purchase, being permitted to buy it at a cost per acre of one dollar after proving they had done so. Before 1871, all property acquired on Saltpeter Island was purchased in this way; between 1871 and 1881, it was still by far the primary method of land acquisition, accounting for 96% of purchases. This helped to ensure that the land was used for agricultural purposes and that the settlers were by and large families. As a result, the history of early settlers on Saltspring Island is unusually detailed. Demographically, early settlers of the island included not only African Americans, but also (largely) English and European, as well as Irish, Scottish, aboriginal and even Hawaiian. Rush Wells Sandwell in Beyond the City Limit indicates that few of the island's early residents were commercial farmers, with most families maintaining subsistence plots and supplementing through other activities, including fishing, logging and working for the island's government. Some families abandoned their land altogether as a result of lack of civic services on the island or other factors, such as livestock-killing cold in the winter of 1862.

The island, which had from 1859 been called "Admiral Island", was officially retitled by the Geographic Board of Canada in honor of the island's salt springs in 1905, but it was known as Saltspring Island long before that time; James Richardson's report for the Geological Survey of Canada in 1872 refers to the island accordingly. 2005's Victoria and Vancouver Island indicates that in the 1960s, the island once again became a refuge for US citizens, this time for "draft evaders" during the Vietnam War.

Notable residents

See also

References

  1. Zimmerman, Karla (2008). Canada (10 ed.). Lonely Planet. p. 731. ISBN 1741045711. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  2. Jepson, Tim (2004). The Rough Guide to Vancouver (2 ed.). Rough Guides. p. 239. ISBN 184353245X.
  3. ^ Hill, Kathleen Thompson (2005). Victoria and Vancouver Island: A Personal Tour of an Almost Perfect Eden (5 ed.). Globe Pequot. p. 242. ISBN 0762738758. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  4. Thompson, Wayne C. (2003). (5 ed.). Hunter Publishing, Inc. p. 633. ISBN 2894644760. {{cite book}}: Missing or empty |title= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  5. Schulte-Peevers, Andrea (2005). Canada (9 ed.). Lonely Planet. p. 729. ISBN 1740597737. Originally settled by the Salish First Nation over a thousand years ago, it became a place where African Americans fled to escape racial tensions in the USA
  6. ^ Hill and Hill, 241.
  7. Nock, David A. (1988). A Victorian Missionary and Canadian Indian Policy: Cultural Synthesis vs. Cultural Replacement. Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press. p. 159-160. ISBN 0889201536. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  8. ^ Sandwell, Ruth Wells (1999). Beyond the City Limits: Rural History in British Columbia. UBC Press. p. 85. ISBN 077480694X.
  9. Sandwell, 89-90.
  10. Sandwell, Ruth Wells (2005). Contesting Rural Space: Land Policy and Practices of Resettlement on Saltspring Island, 1859-1891. McGill-Queen's Press -MQUP. p. 3. ISBN 0773528598.
  11. Sandwell, Contesting, 4.
  12. Sandwell, Beyond, 90-91.
  13. Sandwell, Beyond, 93.
  14. Richardson, James (1872-05-01). "Report on the coal fields of the East Coast of Vancouver Island". } quote = Southward of Saltspring Island, or, as it is named upon the chart, Admiral Island, are situated Report of Progress - Geological Survey of Canada. Geological Survey of Canada. {{cite book}}: Check |url= value (help); Missing pipe in: |url= (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)

External links

The Gulf Islands of British Columbia
Northern Gulf Islands
Major
Minor
Southern Gulf Islands
Major
Minor

48°50′N 123°30′W / 48.833°N 123.500°W / 48.833; -123.500

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