114 British Columbia Women’s Institutes

distory of Hopeline Distruct

The Hopeline District, in the Eastern section of the Fraser Valley
and on the south bank of the Fraser, extends from just west of Abbotsford,
near the Border, to Hope. The valley is narrowing in this area, the river
makes a deep swing into the south bank and eastward the mountains draw
close to the river until at Hope we leave the valley behind and are
enclosed by the hills. Hope, the Gate-way to the Fraser Canyon, was Fort
Hope in the early days, a trading post for Hudson’s Bay Co. between Fort
Langley and Yale. ‘The first boats up the Fraser in 1858 came to Hope,
and it was near here, at Hill’s Bar, the first great strike of gold was made.
In 1865 completion of the Dewdney Trail from Hope to Princeton pro-
vided a pack trail for gold, furs and supplies across the southern part of
the Province. Standing on the river bank we look out upon the great
westward swing of the Fraser, widening but still confined by forested
mountains, and we sense the relief felt by Simon Fraser when he reached
this navigable water after his trials in the canyons above. Hostess to fur-
traders, gold-seekers, men carrying the law and authority of the early
colony — Colonel Moody of the Royal Engineers, who came to quell dis-
turbances and stayed to hold the first Sunday service — tourists and dele-
gations — Hope has always done well by her visitors.

In the Valley we find earliest recorded attempts at proper farming
in 1862 at Chilliwack and Sumas. First settler in Atchelitz was ‘Thomas
Jackson Marks, in 1862; and, following the abandonment of the Harrison-
Lillooet trail, Frank Wade came down river in a canoe to the Matsqui-
Sumas area. His homestead was known as Wade’s Landing, where he later
established a store to serve settlers on Sumas prairie. Supplies were brought
by river steamers “Skeena” and “Beaver“ for stores and settlers along the
river. In the early days Sumas was a lush pasture land, level prairie with
a series of ridges, bordered by Sumas Lake on the east and extending
south of the U.S. border into Nooksack Valley. ‘Thus the 1858 gold-
seekers from the U.S.A. followed a trail from Whatcom (now Bellingham)
through Nooksack and Sumas to Chilliwack, thence to Hope and along
the Princeton trail to the gold-fields. Wild hay was cut when the meadows
had drained in late summer and the ponies of the pack-trains were turned
out here to rest. Early settlers (1865) Mr. York and Mr. Wm. Campbell
took their cattle out over Sumas Mountain to Wade’s Landing for ship-
ment to markets in New Westminster and Victoria.

The influx of gold-seekers across the border drew attention to the
fact that the border was an ill-defined boundary with the result that a
Border Commission was sent from England to mark the boundary. A swath
was cut from marker to marker, joining Whatcom trail to the old Yale
Road, and so making a route to the Cariboo. This trail crossed near the
present town of Huntingdon. First Customs Officer at Huntingdon was
John Musselwhite, a Royal Engineer. His office was his home and _ border

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