Acclaim - Fame or notoriety.

Adjourn - To suspend until a later stated time.

Amidst - In the middle of or within.

Annex - Add land to an existing country, state, county, or city.

Arraign - To call (an accused person) before a court to answer the charge made against him or her by indictment, information, or complaint.

Auld Lang Syne - The good old times or "days long past".

Boiler - Tank or vessel that makes power by converting water to steam.

Brae - Hillside. (Scottish)

Bravado - Defiant or swaggering behavior: a false show of bravery. A disposition toward showy defiance or false expressions of courage.

Brigade - A group of persons organized for a specific purpose.

Canemah - A town in Oregon.

Cariboo - An area in the Northern Interior of B.C. where the Cariboo range of mountains are.

Chanson - French word for "song".

Charting - Making charts and maps of a specific area.

Chipewyan - A Native American people made up of numerous bands inhabiting a large area of northern Canada north of the Churchill River.

Christened - Named, or used for the first time.

Colonial - Relating to a colony or colonies.

Comprised - Made up of.

Dauntless - Incapable of being intimidated or discouraged; fearless.

Debris - The remains of something broken or destroyed.

Demise - The end of existence or activity; termination, death.

Derby - Proposed first seat of government in B.C.

Desolate - Barren or lifeless. (eg. the rocky, desolate surface of the moon.)

Detain - To keep from proceeding; delay or retard. To keep in custody or temporary confinement: e.g.: The disruptive students were detained after school until their parents had been notified.

Disposed - Inclined.

Douglas, Sir James - The first governor of B.C. 

Endure - To carry on through, despite hardships.

Esquimalt Quay (Essk-why-malt Key) - A place near present day Victoria, B.C. where the Royal Engineers landed.

Esteem - High value, respectable qualities.

Exemplified - Stood as an example of.

Fierce - Marked by extreme intensity of emotions or convictions; eg. "fierce loyalty".

Flotilla - A fleet of small craft.

Foreseen - Seen or known beforehand.

Forged - Fashioned, shaped or created.

Forty-Niners - miners from the 1849 California Gold Rush 

Fraser, Simon - Fur trader and explorer who navigated the Fraser River to its mouth and established trading routes west of the Rocky Mountains.

Galiano, Dionisio Alcala - 18th century Spanish explorer.

Gaoled - Old British spelling of "jailed".

Gowan - Yellow or white wildflower. (Scottish)

Haida Guaii - A Native American people inhabiting the Queen Charlotte Islands of British Columbia, and Prince of Wales Island in Alaska.

Hailed - Called or acclaimed.

Hardships - Difficulties or problems.

Harness - To take control of.

Health - A toast or a wish for someone's well-being.

Horrid - Dreadful or scary.

Hussey, Frederick - Chief Inspector of the British Columbia Provincial Police, in the time of Jack Myers.

Inhospitable - Hostile or unfriendly.

Inquest - An investigation or inquiry.

Justice of the Peace - A magistrate of the lowest level of certain state court systems, having authority to act upon minor offences, commit cases to a higher court for trial, perform marriages, and administer oaths.

Kwakwak'l - A Native American people in western North America.

Lore - Traditions, or beliefs about a particular subject.

Lytton, Lord - The British Secretary of State for the Colony of B.C.

MacKenzie, Alexander - Explorer who navigated the Mackenzie River and was the first to cross North America by land north of Mexico.

Magistrate - A civil officer with power to administer and enforce law.

Manson, Michael - Magistrate who's jurisdiction included Read Island and surrounding area.

Mire - Deep, slimy soil or mud.

Myers, Jack - An American prisoner who escaped and fled to B.C.

Necessity - Something necessary or needed.

Nootka - A Native American people inhabiting Vancouver Island.

Nor'wester - Another name for a trader of the North West Company.

Obsolete - Old or out of date.

O'er - Poetic spelling of "Over".

Parcel - Package or unit.

Parish - The territory covered by one parson or minister.

Plume - A feather, especially a large and showy one.

Portage - The carrying of boats and supplies overland between two waterways or around an obstacle to navigation.

Posse - A group of people summoned to aid in law enforcement.

Providence - Care or gaurdianship.

Purged - Emptied.

Quarreled - Fought or argued. Artists Note: This was originally to be "quarried" but it sung better as "quarreled".

Sappers - A nickname for the Royal Engineers. Sapperton was their first headquarters in B.C.

Sash - An ornamental band of fabric worn around the waist or over the shoulder.

Salish - A Native American people who lived around Vancouver.

Scholar - An acedemic, or a learned person.

Shanty - A ramshackle cabin or shack; also, a song sung by sailors.

Shifty - Deceitful character; evasive or untrustworthy.

Shoal - A shallow place in a body of water.

Sieze - Take hold of.

Skipper - Master of a ship.

Sloop - A single-masted, fore-and-aft-rigged sailing boat with a short standing bowsprit or none at all and a single headsail set from the forestay.

Spaniards - Another term for people from Spain.

Spanish Banks - The place near Point Gray where Vancouver met Spanish Explorers Galiano and Valdes.

Spanned - Crossed over.

Spree - A carefree, lively outing; a drinking bout; an overindulgence in an activity.

Steamboat - A steam powered boat, often with a paddle wheel on the side or stern.

Stouthearted - Brave or courageous.

Submitted - Given for consideration or judgement.

Tandem - One behind the other, together. (eg. driving horses in tandem.)

Tassel - A bunch of loose threads or cords bound at one end and hanging free at the other, used as an ornament on clothing.

Terrain - The surface features of an area of land.

Toil - Labour continuously or work strenuously.

Thompson, David - Trader and explorer who followed the Columbia River to its mouth and mapped much of western Canada.

Tumpline - A strap slung across the forehead or the chest to support a load carried on the back.

Unruly - Impossible to control.

Untimely - Occurring at an inappropriate time; inopportune.

Valdes - 18th century Spanish explorer.

Vancouver, George - 18th century British explorer who circumnavigated Vancouver Island and charted much of Coastal B.C.

Venture - An undertaking that is dangerous, daring, or of uncertain outcome.

Vigilante - One who takes the law enforcement into one's own hands.

Virtues - Attributes, morals or ethics.

Wager - A matter bet on; a gamble.

Whaleboat - A long narrow rowboat used for hunting whales.

Wharf - A dock or pier.

Hill's Bar - It was in the late spring of 1858 when the first party of Gold Panners arrived at Hill's Bar. The miners stopped to eat lunch and while cooking noticed gold in some nearby moss. One man took the moss in a pan and washed it, discovering that it was rich in gold. The group then named it Hill's Bar, after the man who had washed that first pan of moss. Hills's Bar turned out to be the richest Sandbar in the Fraser River, producing more than 2 million dollars worth of gold. 

Lachine - A city of southern Quebec, Canada, on Montreal Island and the St. Lawrence River. It was first settled as an estate by Sieur La Salle in 1668 and named for his futile dream of finding a westward passage to China. This is the city that the North West Company traders started from.

Yale - Fort Yale was established in 1847 by a group of men originally from Fort Langley. The leader, Ovid Allard, named this new settlement "Fort Yale" after James Murray Yale, the officer in charge at Fort Langley. The town of Yale's location on the Fraser River made it a major center when the Fraser River was still the main method of shipping and transportation. When the CPR arrived Yale lost it's importance as the transfer point between the Fraser River and the Fraser Canyon Wagon road leading to the Cariboo gold fields. A few years after the arrival of the railway Yale's prosperity had decreased to the point where it was practically a ghost town.