Becoming British Columbia Trivia Quiz

Answer: Rocky Mountains

The Rocky Mountains are some of the most impressive in the world, and extend along the west side of North America. They were originally used as the border between the Columbia District to the west, and Rupert's land to the east. The names have changed, but the border has not, with the Rockies now separating the provinces of British Columbia and Alberta.

The Insular Mountains can be found on Vancouver Island. The Queen Charlotte Islands can be found to the north on Haida Gwaii (formerly the Queen Charlotte Islands). The Coast Mountains are found on British Columbia's coast, and are often seen in photographs of Vancouver, British Columbia's largest city.

Answer: The British wanted access to the Columbia River

The United States and United Kingdom co-administered the Pacific Northwest, with the British calling it the Columbia District, and the US calling it the Oregon Territory. Both sides wanted a formal border for a long time, but could not agree.

They each had extreme claims. The US extreme went all the way up to the 54 40th minute parallel, the lowest point of Russian Alaska ("54 40' or fight!"). The British claimed as far south as the 42nd parallel (the modern California-Oregon border).

The border between Britain and the US up to the Rocky Mountains was already the 49th parallel. The US offered to just extend the border to the Pacific, but without affecting Vancouver Island. The British initially rejected this offer because they wanted access to the mouth of the Columbia River, which was the best river for ships to move inland. Using the Columbia River as a border until it crossed the 49th parallel would have given to the British the north west quadrant of modern Washington state.

US President James K Polk did not want to fight for 50 40' (he was about to start a war with Mexico), and the British grew tired of arguing for the mouth of the river. The Oregon Boundary Treaty established the 49th parallel as the border to the ocean. The southern tip of Vancouver Island was still British, but the small American enclave of Point Roberts was accidentally created.

Answer: The Fraser Canyon Gold Rush

In the 1800s, the Americans were gaining a bit of a reputation for manifesting their destiny, and getting territory annexed by the US just by having a population in unclaimed or disputed lands.

It was a gold rush that transformed San Francisco in 1849. Less than ten years later, in 1857, gold was found in the Columbia District. Gold prospectors from San Francisco flooded the area, and Britain knew that the massive American population might eventually lead to US annexation if left unchecked. The British turned the Columbia District into the Colony of British Columbia (note the "British" in the name), and sent over Richard Moody to properly establish the government and infrastructure of the new colony.

Answer: New Westminster

The city of Westminster was the location of parliament in the United Kingdom, so when a new government seat was needed, Richard Moody created New Westminster along the Fraser River. New Westminster was built up explicitly with the purpose of housing the government, but only got to actually be a capital city for about eight years.

Prince George is known as the "Northern Capital", being the largest municipality in northern BC (about half way between the northern and southern boundaries of BC). The city of Port Moody was named after British Columbia's first governor.

Answer: False

Vancouver Island was established as a colony in 1849, nine years before the Columbia District was turned into British Columbia. Later, in 1866, the two colonies were united as The United Colony of British Columbia. Five years after that, the colony joined the Canadian Confederation.

Vancouver Island was concerned that the much larger mainland would dominate the politics of the colony, and that islanders would be marginalized. To assuage these concerns, Victoria was selected as the capital city of the united colony. The citizens of the lower mainland, and New Westminster in particular, were not terribly happy about the decision. Ever since being united, there have been movements on Vancouver Island to secede from British Columbia, but they have diminished over time.

Answer: A Pig

The Pig War of 1859 occurred on the San Juan Islands. On the north side of the island was Charles Griffin raising sheep for the Hudson Bay Company. On the south side was Lyman Cutlar, and American farmer. Griffin also had some pigs that he let roam the island. A pig found the American farm, and began eating the tubers. Cutlar tried to reason with Griffin to keep his pigs away, but Griffin said it was not his job to protect his neighbour's farm. The next time Cutlar saw the pig eating his vegetables, he shot the pig.

Cutlar offered Griffin money for the dead pig, but Griffin was incensed and demanded more. They could not reach an agreement, so Griffin called in the authorities from Vancouver Island. Cutlar became scared, and asked the US for military protection. This led to a military escalation on the island, with US Marines occupying the south, and the Royal Marines occupying the north. Both sides were ordered to be ready to fight, but to absolutely not fire the first shot. Soldiers from each side tried to goad the other into attacking, but still nobody shot.

When London and Washington heard about what was happening on the San Juan Islands, they were shocked (it took a while for news to travel). A pig was not worth risking another war for. Tensions were eased, and the island was jointly occupied until an arbitration commission in 1872 decided in favour of the United States. The commission was part of the Treaty of Washington, which helped settle many disputes between the United States and the United Kingdom. Both sides peacefully agreed with the results, and the Royal Marines were removed from the island.

Canadians felt this was yet another instance of the British ignoring the interests of her colony in favour of improved relations with the United States, which led to greater demands for Canadian autonomy.

Answer: Six

The Canadian Confederation began in 1867 with four provinces: Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick. Prince Edward Island was invited, but held out for a while. Manitoba was created in 1870 out of Rupert's Land as a province for the Metis people. The rest of Rupert's land was renamed the Northwest Territories. In 1871, just four years after Confederation, British Columbia joined as the sixth province.

Prince Edward Island joined soon after, in 1873. The Northwestern part of the Northwest Territories became Yukon in 1898, during the Klondike Gold Rush. Alberta and Saskatchewan were created together in 1905, accidentally splitting the city of Lloydminster between the two. In 1949, the colony of Newfoundland joined the Confederation as the tenth province. And in 1999, almost half of what was left of the Northwest Territories became Nunavut.

Answer: The Last Spike

In exchange for joining the Canadian Confederation, British Columbia had its debt absorbed by the Canadian Government. It was also promised a road to connect the western province with the rest of the country. They instead got a railroad.

BC joined Confederation in 1871, and the railroad had a ten-year planned construction period. However, 1881 came and went without a complete railroad, so the project was given to the Canadian Pacific Railway, with another ten-year time frame to complete the project. The Last Spike was driven in 1885 at Craigellachie, and the first trains used the railroad in 1886.

For the incorrect answers, the Spiral Tunnels were a set of tunnels in Roger's Pass to lengthen the track and reduce the grade. Before the Spiral Tunnels, trains had to carefully descend The Big Hill. The Banff Spring Hotel was one of many hotels constructed and owned by the Canadian Pacific Railway. It is located in Banff, an Albertan municipality close to the British Columbian border. Hell's Gate is a particularly dangerous point along the Fraser River, with large cliffs and rapids.

Answer: United Kingdom

The United States acquired Alaska in 1867 (the same year as Canadian Confederation), but it was deemed too expensive to establish a formal border amid the wilderness of the Pacific Northwest. That changed forty years later, in 1897, during the Klondike Gold Rush.

A commission was assembled to settle the dispute, with three members from each side: three Americans, two Canadians, and one Brit. There were three separate lines describing the size of the Alaskan panhandle. The American claim made it very large. The British/Canadian claim was more moderate, and the British Columbian claim made the panhandle a narrow sliver of land. The final boundary, established in 1903, was roughly between the American and British claims, with the British member of the commission siding with the Americans.

Canada, and British Columbia in particular, were angry. They were unimpressed with the American members, but even more so with the British as a whole. They saw the British government ignoring the interests of her colonies in favour of improving relations with the United States (this was during the Great Rapprochement). This led to stronger desires for autonomy in Canada.

The Hay-Herbert Treaty that established the border was named after the British Ambassador to the US, Michael Henry Herbert, and the US Secretary of State, John Hay. John Hay was also responsible in 1903 for the Hay-Herran Treaty, which gave the US control the Panama Canal.

Answer: The top half

The modern flag of British Columbia was based on the coat of arms for the province. Half the flag is a setting sun, representing British Columbia's position on the west coast. The other half is the Union flag, because half of the province's name is "British". British Columbia replaced their ensign with an original design five years before Canada did the same in 1965.

The Union flag was on the bottom of the original arms, but was moved to the top for the flag and later arms. This was to better reflect that "the sun never sets on the British Empire."