A recent "find" of colonial correspondence in the British Columbia Archives tells a story about the construction of the Coquitlam River and Port Moody Trails between 1862 and 1864 by pioneer settler John Hall. In 1870 Hall pre-empted 160 acres of Crown Land on Indian Arm and became Belcarra's first white settler. The correspondence involves a veritable who's who of people in the administration in the young Colonyof British Columbia. This historic account serves to highlight one of the many challenges faced by our pioneers during the period of colonial settlement in British Columbia.
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