In 1862, John Morton, Samuel Brighouse and William Hailstone were mocked for spending $555 on a big chunk of land squeezed between Burrard Inlet, English Bay and a pair of government reserves.
New Westminster was the main town on the B.C. mainland; only “three greenhorn Englishmen” would lay claim to 550 acres of swampy forest in the middle of nowhere.
But the Three Greenhorns had the last laugh — although it took awhile. In 1885, the Canadian Pacific Railway decided to locate its terminus at the head of Burrard Inlet, where the provincial government had quietly given the company 6,000 acres of land.
On April 6, 1886, the City of Vancouver was incorporated. And the Three Greenhorns’ great folly became the West End.
bit.ly/2SjiZ8L via @VancouverSun
No comments:
Post a Comment