Page 471
443
238
of this nature. and there being no inhabitants on the island who could be intrusted with their care, the Appendix No. 4. whole of the guns for the defence of Departure Bay should be kept on the mainland.
The entrance of the southern harbour does not afford the same facilities for a defence of this character. Sharp Point is cut off from the town by the embouchure of the Nanaimo River, and can only be reached by land by a circuit of about 12 miles, too great a distance for guns to be moved with the present appliances of the town.
Protection Island, which is uninhabited, is cut off from the town by a channel about 1,500 yards wide. Guns might be taken across this channel in a scow, towed by a small steamer, and on the inner shore of the island are several points at which landing-places might be formed, and from whence roads could be made to the emplacements.
This latter is the kind of defence I would recommend for Nanaimo, and it would require :-
Eight guns of position (40-pounder Armstrong).
Two magazines.
One scow-steam-tug could be hired. Road to Horswell Point, 1,600 yards.
Road on Protection Island, 400 yards.
Two sheds for guns.
New Westminster, Burrard Inlet, and the Canada Pacific Railway.
New Westminster is at the head of that part of the Fraser River (about 15 miles from the month) which is accessible to the steamers plying in the Straits of Fuca, &c.; beyond this point powerful stern-wheel steamers are employed to take passengers and merchandize to Yale, the head of the navigable water.
The Fraser is very shallow, and the navigation is so much obstructed by shifting shoals and snags that the channel has to be rebuoyed every spring. Its defence against an attack by gun-boats could be provided for by a few guns of position and passive obstructions, for which there are great facilities in the snags that are found at all parts of the stream.
Burrard Inlet, about 7 miles to the north of New Westminster, seems now to have been selected as the future terminus of the Canada Pacific Railway.
It is a very safe harbour, with good anchorage, but on account of the exceedingly strong current that passes through, the entrance can only be entered at the top of the tide, and, consequently, vessels are frequently obliged to remain in English Bay, where there is good anchorage just outside the mouth of the harbour to the south.
The entrance of the harbour can be well protected by a battery on the high ground on each side of the first narrows. If the trade of the place should increase very much, English Bay may require pro- tection, and very commanding sites for batteries of heavy ordnance exist on Points Grey and Atkinson on the opposite sides of the bay.
Between Burrard Inlet and Yale, the proposed railway runs close to the Fraser River, which in many places lies within 10 miles of the United States' territory. Above Fort Hope, which is only a small village, the approach to the river from the south and east is through difficult country, and might be opposed by a small body of men; below that point the country as far as the Sumass Hills is less difficult, and from thence to the Straits of Georgia the country is quite open. It was originally intended that the railway for the entire distance should be carried on the north side of the river, which in that case would have given some protection, but I am informed that it is now proposed that for several miles it should pass along the south side of the river, where it will be completely exposed.
With the small force available, the protection of this part of the line will be impracticable against an attack of even a small body of men.
Opposite to New Westminster, on the south side of the Fraser, is a range of hills which, with the flanks resting on the bank of the river, and supported at the eastern end by a hill on the north bank, and on the western end by one of the large islands in the Fraser River, would form a good position to protect New Westminster, but it is too extensive to be held except by a large force.
New Westminster, the railway, and Fraser River being untenable by the force likely to be avail- able for their defence for many years, and the inhabitants of British Columbia being entirely dependent on the Fraser River for their supplies, the whole province must fall in the event of an organized attack in this direction being made from the Washington Territory.
The first step towards defence must be a large increase of population; without this nothing can be done.
The three localities-Esquimalt and Victoria, Nanaimo, New Westminster, and Burrard Inlet- are all that at present it seems necessary to consider with regard to land defences, as through them passes the greater part of the trade of the province.
As regards the measures that should be taken for the defence of the Pacific coast of Her Majesty's dominions in the event of war, there are at present only two Powers who would be interested in, and who are in a position to threaten, an attack upon this coast, either singly or conjointly, viz., the United States and Russia.
The facilities possessed by the former Power for an enterprise of this character have already been adverted to in a former part of this Report, as well as those of the latter, with the exception of alluding to the fact that Petropaulovski Harbour in Kaintschatka is not more than 3,200 miles from Victoria ; and that at Sitka, Wrangel, and other points in Alaska, these are still many Russians that are acquainted with the features of the coast.
VANCOUVER ISLAND.
Page 471
Page 471
Page 471