Cape Scott Area...&"The Settlers"
compiled by Ruth Botel
1883-Robert Hunt purchased a block of land (aprox. 160 acres)
at Shushartie Bay along the eastern shore. Lot 5
1891 - James Helmcken obtained a lot at the head of Shushartie
Bay. William McGary purchased a piece of land taking in the
entire western shore and built a trading post and home near the
head of the bay.
1891 & 1892 - some surveys carried out on the North Island by
the government surveyors Hermon and Hawkins
1893 - some surveying was carried out at Shushartie and further up
the coast by the government surveyor H.M. Burwell.
1894 - Soren Christiansen, the first settler in the Cache Creek
(Strandby) area arrived.
1894/5 - Rasmus Hansen and N.P. Jensen while fishing halibut off
the shores on the West coast of the Northern end of Vancouver
Island anchored at Goose Harbour and rowed into the Lagoon in
hopes of bagging a goose or duck. It was fall and the two streams
encountered were filled with migrating salmon, they found an
abundant supply of ducks and geese, saw a vast area where
pastures could be developed and the idea of a Danish settlement
evolved in their minds.
1895 - Rasmus Hansen returned to the Lagoon with 3 other Danes:
Peter Thomson, Nels C. Nelson and Chris Jensen. This enthused
group wrote letters to the B.C. Government proposing a Danish
settlement. The government set up terms regarding the settling
and the prospective settlers in return requested a road which
would eventually give the settlers access to the West Arm of
Quatsino Sound, a dyke at Goose Harbour to protect the lowlands
and provide a school and teacher for the children of the settlers.
Several letters went back and forth between the government and
the Danish group. They hoped for 15 settlers the first year and
then by the fourth year to have 75 settlers. They would do mixed
farming and take part in the deep sea fishing of halibut and cod.
They hoped to be able to use a small steamer for transportation of
their colonists and later for the transport of their produce to market
until the road was completed.
The group wrote articles to Danish papers located in several States
about the new colony...they attracted Danish people from
Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska, the Dakotas and Washington.
|
|
Two Men and a House
Brothers Hans and Lars Frederiksen worked as fishermen on the Black Barnacle, but were also talented violin players, having learned on an instrument made by their father at Cape Scott. They drowned in a sudden storm while crossing to the Scott Islands in 1939.
Photo courtesy Frederiksen family. |
1896 - Nels C. Nelson and Rasmus Hansen arrived in the fall,
landing at Fisherman's Bay. The brought supplies and the plan was
for Nelson to spend the winter there. The two men erected a house
and made a skiff. Nelson would spend the winter scouting the
area, hiking old Native trails, perhaps doing some improvements,
record the winter weather and perhaps build a few shelters for the
coming settlers.
1897 - the first settlers set out on Rasmus Hansen's boat,"The
Floyborg", in the spring and on the way encountered a severe
storm at Brooks Bay which broke their boom and caused them to
lose their large anchor and dory. They ended up in the Lagoon and
piled up on the rocks...the boat drifted away from this spot in later
years and settled rurther down the Lagoon.
