A sunny day of ocean kayaking in the Port Moody arm of Burrard Inlet is as good as it gets and — for thousands of years — others thought so, too.
When the ice receded, First Nations people made the area their summer home and later Captain George Vancouver stopped to camp at what is now the Ioco lands.
Homesteaders, logging barons, military leaders and more all staked claim to the area now known as Anmore, Ioco and Port Moody’s north shore.
But until now, nobody has catalogued the transformation of the area from virgin forest to industrial outpost and semi-rural and suburban enclave.
Thanks to Ralph Drew, the mayor of Belcarra and the author of Townsite Tales: The History of Ioco, Anmore Valley and North Shore of Port Moody Arm, we all know a lot more about the area.
“There hasn’t been a lot of source material to study this area,” said Drew, who self-published the book and through sponsors is distributing it to libraries, city halls and other agencies. “To have it available in our local libraries would be great for kids.”
He’s correct.
The book is a treasure trove of First Nation legends about the area, historical maps, photographs and often humorous stories and intriguing details about the projects and initiatives that went on in the area, many of them money-making schemes that went awry.
Did you know, for example, that Admiralty Point, now a park, almost became a hospital for people with infectious diseases, or that tall ships used to dock in the inlet to pick up raw logs for shipping around the world? At one time, there were plans to build a causeway linking Belcarra to Vancouver’s north shore.
The region’s steep topography made it easy to transport logs down to the water while its strategic location made it important to the British military.
There used to be a shingle mill near what is now Mossom Creek and the Ioco townsite was initially a military site where ships fired guns for target practice.
It was later a shanty town for oil refinery workers before proper houses were built and plumbing was installed.
Now it’s the site of a future development. And where Old Orchard Park now stands used to be a real orchard the 1890s.
Many of the images and graphics in the book were culled from original documents and anyone who flips through the 362-page tome will be entertained by the combination of information, pictures and storytelling.
Drew said it’s important to try and captivate people’s imagination so history is not just dry numbers and figures but stories that people can relate to.
As a chemist, he never expected to write not one but three books on history, two of which have received awards from the B.C. Historical Federation, first prize for Forest & Fjord: The History of Belcarra, and second prize for Ferries & Fjord: The History of Indian Arm.
But as a long-time resident of Belcarra, Drew said he wanted to leave behind a legacy of knowledge for his grandchildren.
“The things that never happened or almost happened is part of the history as well.”
• To learn more, visit the Port Moody Public Library on Sunday, Oct. 22 at 1:30 p.m., where Drew will share some of the stories from the new book, and Townsite Tales will be available for purchase and signing by the author. You can also email him to purchase a copy at [email protected].
@dstrandbergTC
