Talk:Wellington, British Columbia

Wellington Coal in San Francisco
Not sure if this is worthy of inclusion in this article, but if you zoom on this picture http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:San_Francisco_in_ruin_edit2.jpg in several of the piers on the left side say "Wellington Coal" on them. Kevink707 (talk) 21:05, 30 November 2009 (UTC)
 * It is a wonderful image, taken with a camera suspended by a kite in 1906 just after the earthquake and fire. There are piers that say "North Wellington Coal - Western Fuel Company", "Beaver Hill Coal Company" and "Wellington & Comox Coal Depot".  Well worth a look but hard to use here. -- KenWalker | Talk 21:51, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

Wellington Name, District Versus Town
It's pretty clear the Wellington Land District was named prior to the existence of Wellington itself. While it's true the district may be named after the Duke of Wellington, the town came later and obviously followed suit.

Robert Dunsmuir was granted a prospecting license in 1869 and ultimately was granted his coal lands in 1871. Refer to BC Archives file File GR1069.I.200. It's clear that the Wellington Land District was in use during the correspondence contained in that file.

BC land grant 1275 is available at the LTSA website for historical land grants, and it clearly shows Dunsmuir & Diggle's boundary was adjusted from the original application, notably around the Comox Road, the section now known as Norwell Drive. At that point there were already preemption holders with surveyed parcels in the Wellington District.

It is also incorrect to state that Dunsmuir's grant comprised "most of what is today known as the Wellington Land District". The grant of 1031.95 acres is only about 10% of the Wellington Land District, which is about 45 square kilometres in size.

24.68.80.249 (talk) 05:56, 24 July 2020 (UTC)

East Wellington
There are a few errors in the section about East Wellington. 24.68.80.249 (talk) 22:35, 6 March 2022 (UTC)
 * The event of 1872 was the death of William Joseph Westwood. Richard Chandler did not engage any coal rights from the Westwoods at this time.
 * The East Wellington Coal Company was formed in the summer of 1882: “New Incorporations”, San Francisco Examiner, September 9, 1882, page 1.
 * Around *540* acres of the Westwood Estate in the Millstream Valley were acquired by Richard's agent, Robert Wingate, in that same summer of 1882: “Sale of Coal Lands”, Nanaimo Free Press, August 9, 1882, page 3.
 * The lands were primarily sold by the widow of William Joseph Westwood (d. 1872), but also his son David: (ref: BC Department of Railways Map, March 1889)
 * Crown grant 1870-1089: ~300 acres from the estate of William Joseph Westwood
 * Crown grant 1870-1090: ~143 acres from the estate of William Joseph Westwood
 * Crown grant 1876-1713: ~100 acres from son David Handal Westwood
 * Since those crown grants were made under older pre-emption rules, they included subsurface rights and therefore were a legitimate vehicle for Chandler to develop the coal business.
 * Crown grant 1871-1243, ~150 acres, also to D. H. Westwood, was later dammed to form Westwood Lake, and was not included in the East Wellington coal purchase.
 * Crown grants 1882-2514 and 1882-2515, each about 100 acres, went to Westwood sons Benjamin Ira and Corral Novello, and were adjacent/contiguous to David Westwood's 1871-1243. They also did not form part of the East Wellington coal purchase (and they were granted after the summer 1882 purchase at any rate).