An ethnohistorical comparative study of Scandinavian colonization on northern Vancouver Island, British Columbia : the Norwegians at Quatsino and the Danes at Cape Scott/San Josef Valley, 1894-1913
Date
1985
Authors
Smith, Leonard Lee
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Abstract
Using a wide range of library and archival sources, this thesis documents and discusses Scandinavian colonization and settlement on northern Vancouver Island, British Columbia, at the turn of the century.
There was an episode of Norwegian-American colonization at Quatsino, 1894-1900, an episode of Danish-American colonization at Cape Scott, 1896-1900, and a subsequent episode of Danish-American colonization and settlement in the San Josef Valley, 1901-1909, which took the form of an expansion of t he Cape Scott Colony.
Settlement on northern Vancouver Island, 1910-1913, was multi-ethnic in nature, and no Scandinavian colonization occurred. A transactional theoretical orientation, a two-case comparative
methodology, and a periodization research design -- in conjunction with a pattern style of explanation -- reveals that the Cape Scott/ San Josef Valley colonization manifested a much closer articulation of ecology and ethnicity than the Quatsino colonization, and was a more robust colonization attempt.
The Danes had a dairying-Danish focus in both ideology and activity, while the Norwegians were improvising, individualistic ranchers and prospectors.
Both colonizations failed, but some effective settlement had taken place, in the form of crown grants of land eventually obtained by Scandinavians at Quatsino, Cape Scott, and the San Josef Valley. The Quatsino Colony and the Cape Scott Colony were largely encouraged and assisted by the government of British Columbia, and received favourable publicity in the major newspaper of the province, the Victoria Daily Colonist.
Northern Vancouver Island was a frontier area from 1894 to 1913, but frontier development was always more apparent on Quatsino Sound than at Cape Scott or in the San Josef Valley.
It is suggested that sufficient numbers of people, the presence of extensive arable land, firm secular or spiritual leadership, government encouragement and assistance, and articulation of ecology and ethnicity may be important factors in comparatively assessing the viability of the mid-coast Scandinavian colonizations, which included Bella Coola, Quatsino, Cape Scott, Sointula, and Hunter Island.