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RoadRUNNER: City Portrait Vancouver
Written by: Robert Smith
RoadRunner Magazine   http://www.RoadRUNNER.travel
11/21/2008 - 11:55 AM
Charlotte, NC
 
Vancouver's downtown boasts a stunning new public library in the style of the Coliseum. (Photo: RoadRUNNER) ยป More Photos

When I moved to Vancouver in March 1987, it rained every day for the next three months and I wondered what the hell I'd gotten myself into. But on a blue-sky day in April when scanning the city from Cypress Mountain, it's oh-so obvious why. God isn't making real estate like this anymore – at least any that I can get to. Big beautiful trees, sandy beaches, a mild climate, and all with snow-capped mountains for a backdrop, and on days when Sol deigns to shine, I could ski in the morning, golf in the afternoon, and sail into the evening.

Even for the New World, Vancouver is a young city. Until 1886, it existed only as a sawmill settlement called Granville at the mouth of Burrard Inlet, just north of the 49th parallel. In 1871, offered the prospect of a railroad connecting it to the east, British Columbia was beguiled into joining the confederation that was becoming Canada. At that time, plans called for the railroad to end in Prince Rupert, 500 miles further north.

However, in 1882,
Canadian Pacific Railway president George Stephen ripped up his plans and switched his terminus to the mouth of the Fraser River close to Granville. A bold move, it necessitated a push over higher, more dangerous passes. But General Manager William Cornelius Van Horne was up to the task, and the CPR's Donald A. Smith drove the last spike in at Craigellachie, BC, on November 7, 1885. In 1886, Granville incorporated as a city, naming itself after the man who charted the nearby coast and inlets in 1792: Captain George Vancouver.

One of the new town fathers' first acts was to petition Canada's Governor General, Lord Stanley (of "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?" and hockey cup fame) to set aside 1,000 acres of forest for recreation. He agreed, and the burghers named the area Stanley Park in his honor.

See the Vancouver Photos

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