 |
|
|
|
in 1868, just two years after the colonies of Vancouver
Island and British Columbia were united. Much to Governor
Seymour's chagrin, his Legislative
Council opted for the comforts of Victoria over the muddy
streets of New Westminster (aka Stump City). Vancouver
was not yet on the map.
The route from Victoria to Nanaimo
is entirely within the dry Coastal Douglas-fir Zone, which
lies in the rain shadow of the Olympic and Vancouver Island
mountains. Before development, much of Victoria had a
savannah-like mix of open forest and grassland, with Douglas-fir,
Garry oak, arbutus and lush spring meadows. Most of this
saaniche (see Ecopoint 103, Swan Lake) ecosystem is now
concrete, pavement, crops or pasture. Victoria's population
is growing rapidly, adding pressure on food production,
roads, water supply, open space and other amenities that,
until recently, have been taken for granted. These in
turn put pressure on natural ecosystems.
On leaving the dry lowlands around Victoria, the Trans
Canada Highway (TCH) passes through the damp gorge of
Goldstream River, boasting huge redcedars and bigleaf
maples. The highway climbs rapidly through forests of
cedar, Douglas-fir and grand fir to emerge in a more open
forest of Douglas-fir and the red-barked arbutus. Arbutus
is Canada's only evergreen hardwood tree. It copes well
with shallow soils, but so does yellow-flowered Scotch
broom, an invasive species that resists the "broom
pulls"; organized by local environmental groups.
Beyond Malahat summit, the highway descends into rolling
lowlands that lie between the Vancouver Island's mountains
and the Strait of Georgia. In the mid-1800s, lowland forests
were cleared to create some of the finest farmland available
in the Pacific Northwest. But it was coal, lumber and
a railway that generated enough wealth to change the Vancouver
Island settlements into towns and cities.
The Esquimalt and Nanaimo (E&N) Railway had a great
effect throughout the eastern part of Vancouver Island,
quickly moving produce to Victoria for consumption and
trade. But a greater, more lasting effect resulted from
the terms under which the railway was constructed. For
building the E&N Railway, coal magnates Robert and
James Dunsmuir received one of the most valuable land
grants ever made to a railway: some 850,000 hectares of
choice forest land covering over one-quarter of Vancouver
Island. Almost all the land visible from the TCH between
Victoria and Nanaimo, except where parks have been established,
has been in private hands ever since. |
|
|
|
|
