Welcome to the Pitt Meadows Museum and Archive's Memories Mapping Project!
Click on the map to add your history or explore what others have left.
This project funded in part by:
Government of British Columbia
BC | Canada 150 Grants
The Pitt Meadows area takes its name from the nearby Pitt River which was named in 1824 by Captain James McMillan of the Hudson’s Bay Company. At that time the area was populated solely by the Katzie, members of the Halkomelem people of the lower Fraser River. By the mid 1800’s, as an encouragement to settlers, the government sold land in the area for as little as $1.00 per acre. While speculators made up a large percentage of the purchasers, some agricultural settlers did arrive and by the 1870’s a small community had formed. Industry in the late 1800’s consisted primarily of logging and farming, in particular dairy farming.<\/p>\r\n
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The Pitt Meadows area was unincorporated territory up until 1881 when it became part of Maple Ridge, but reverted back to territory in 1896 when its land owners petitioned for removal from Maple Ridge due to disputes over taxes and dyking. By 1912 many of those land owners were again petitioning Victoria, this time for the right to form a new municipality. On April 23, 1914 their dream was realized when the Corporation of the District of Pitt Meadows received its letters patent. John Blaney was the community’s first Reeve with a council made up of W.R. McMynn, William Reid, William Richardson, R. H. Sharpe and Roland Thomson. By 1915 the fledgling municipality was looking to increase its size by adding tracts of land that were left as unincorporated territory after the District formed. However, while the owners of these tracts had petitioned along with their more westerly neighbors for removal from Maple Ridge in 1896, the majority of them had no desire to be amalgamated into the newly incorporated Pitt Meadows, and headed off any attempt to accomplish this by applying for leave to be reincluded within the boundaries of Maple Ridge. Maple Ridge council took steps to facilitate this request by applying to the Lieutenant Governor in Council. All would seem to have been in order until, that is, Pitt Meadows intervened and therein began a two year battle to settle the dispute.<\/p>\r\n
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The two sides attended before the LG in C in 1915 but a resolution could not be reached. An arbitrator was sent out to the area and still a settlement could not be reached. Finally, on December 13, 1915 a hearing was held at Dale Hall in Port Hammond where Commissioner Harold C.N. McKim heard arguments from both municipalities and 22 settlers gave testimony. A transcript of the proceeding gives us good insight into the concerns the settlers in Pitt Meadows and Maple Ridge area had over issues around dyking and drainage, road building and taxes. The list of settlers who testified at the hearing is a veritable who’s who of the two communities at the time. Throughout the 104 pages of the transcript, the settlers whose land was in dispute supported a return to Maple Ridge, and they cited worries over the tax burden they feared if incorporated into Pitt Meadows. The majority, it appears, would have preferred to be left in unincorporated territory where they paid their taxes directly to the province, but, if forced to choose, preferred Maple Ridge over Pitt Meadows. Testimony concluded with the Commission adjourned until “a date to be advertised later on”. When and where that date later date and place was is lost to us at this time. In a search at the Provincial Archives, no further records of proceedings at hearing into the matter were found. However, on August 14th, 1918 the dispute was put to an end when and Order in Council, #2168, was approved granting the landowners’ petition and giving the disputed lands to the Corporation of the Township of Maple Ridge as of August 1st of that year.<\/p>","SEO_LINK":"the-battle-for-the-ridge","VIDEO_LINK":"","SOUNDCLOUD_LINK":"","IMG1":"","IMG2":"","IMG3":"","IMG4":"","IMG5":"","IMG6":"","IMG7":"","IMG1_THUMB":"","IMG2_THUMB":"","IMG3_THUMB":"","IMG4_THUMB":"","IMG5_THUMB":"","IMG6_THUMB":"","IMG7_THUMB":""}X
The Pitt Meadows area takes its name from the nearby Pitt River which was named in 1824 by Captain James McMillan of the Hudson’s Bay Company. At that time the area was populated solely by the Katzie, members of the Halkomelem people of the lower Fraser River. By the mid 1800’s, as an encouragement to settlers, the government sold land in the area for as little as $1.00 per acre. While speculators made up a large percentage of the purchasers, some agricultural settlers did arrive and by the 1870’s a small community had formed. Industry in the late 1800’s consisted primarily of logging and farming, in particular dairy farming.
The Pitt Meadows area was unincorporated territory up until 1881 when it became part of Maple Ridge, but reverted back to territory in 1896 when its land owners petitioned for removal from Maple Ridge due to disputes over taxes and dyking. By 1912 many of those land owners were again petitioning Victoria, this time for the right to form a new municipality. On April 23, 1914 their dream was realized when the Corporation of the District of Pitt Meadows received its letters patent. John Blaney was the community’s first Reeve with a council made up of W.R. McMynn, William Reid, William Richardson, R. H. Sharpe and Roland Thomson. By 1915 the fledgling municipality was looking to increase its size by adding tracts of land that were left as unincorporated territory after the District formed. However, while the owners of these tracts had petitioned along with their more westerly neighbors for removal from Maple Ridge in 1896, the majority of them had no desire to be amalgamated into the newly incorporated Pitt Meadows, and headed off any attempt to accomplish this by applying for leave to be reincluded within the boundaries of Maple Ridge. Maple Ridge council took steps to facilitate this request by applying to the Lieutenant Governor in Council. All would seem to have been in order until, that is, Pitt Meadows intervened and therein began a two year battle to settle the dispute.
The two sides attended before the LG in C in 1915 but a resolution could not be reached. An arbitrator was sent out to the area and still a settlement could not be reached. Finally, on December 13, 1915 a hearing was held at Dale Hall in Port Hammond where Commissioner Harold C.N. McKim heard arguments from both municipalities and 22 settlers gave testimony. A transcript of the proceeding gives us good insight into the concerns the settlers in Pitt Meadows and Maple Ridge area had over issues around dyking and drainage, road building and taxes. The list of settlers who testified at the hearing is a veritable who’s who of the two communities at the time. Throughout the 104 pages of the transcript, the settlers whose land was in dispute supported a return to Maple Ridge, and they cited worries over the tax burden they feared if incorporated into Pitt Meadows. The majority, it appears, would have preferred to be left in unincorporated territory where they paid their taxes directly to the province, but, if forced to choose, preferred Maple Ridge over Pitt Meadows. Testimony concluded with the Commission adjourned until “a date to be advertised later on”. When and where that date later date and place was is lost to us at this time. In a search at the Provincial Archives, no further records of proceedings at hearing into the matter were found. However, on August 14th, 1918 the dispute was put to an end when and Order in Council, #2168, was approved granting the landowners’ petition and giving the disputed lands to the Corporation of the Township of Maple Ridge as of August 1st of that year.
Details:
Latitude: 49.2155005431543
Longitude: -122.65707114824
Direct Link: https://www.pittmeadowsmuseum.com/locations/the-battle-for-the-ridge
Welcome to the Pitt Meadows Museum and Archive's Memories Mapping Project!
Click on the map to add your history or explore what others have left.
This project funded in part by:
Government of British Columbia
BC | Canada 150 Grants