Regulations concerning pre-emption of Crown Lands as Simplified in the British Columbia Settlers Guide of 1885 :

"Expect as hereinafter appears, any person being the head of a family, a widow, or a single man over the age of eighteen years and being a British subject or any alien upon his making a declaration of his intention to become a British subject, may for agricultural purposes record any tract of unoccupied and unreserved Crown Lands (not being an Indian settlement) not exceeding one hundred and sixty acres in extent."

"The pre-emption had to be staked by the claimer who had to have personnel residence on the land within sixty days after registration. Land may be considered abandoned if unoccupied for more than two month consecutively. The settler shall have the land surveyed within five years from date of record. After living on the land for two years and improving the value of the land by two dollars and fifty cents an acre, the land could be purchased from the government. Cost of the land purchase was one dollar per acre. The payment for this land could be spread over four years."