New Caledonia (Canada) - From New Caledonia To British Columbia

From New Caledonia To British Columbia

New Caledonia continued over the next few years to be administered by the HBC, whose regional chief executive, James Douglas, also happened to be governor of Vancouver Island. This situation was manageable, so long as the European population remained small (about 100, mostly Company employees and their families). All this changed in 1858, however, with the discovery of gold north of Yale, prompting the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush and the influx of twenty to thirty thousand people, mostly American. Douglas, who had no legal authority over the region, felt compelled to exert British sovereignty by placing a gunboat at the mouth of the Fraser River in order to obtain licence fees from prospectors seeking to travel upstream. The British colonial office was prompted into action, and legislation was passed designating New Caledonia a crown colony on August 2, 1858. The name given the new entity was the Colony of British Columbia, and a new capital, New Westminster was established on the southern reaches of the Fraser River.

The name New Caledonia is still used in official and commercial names in the region (e.g., the College of New Caledonia and the Diocese of Caledonia in Prince George; Caledonia Sr. Secondary School in Terrace).