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Rare and highly important large format map of British Columbia, published in Vancouver by the Dominion Publishing Company in 1893.

This important map embraces the entire province of British Columbia and is based on the most recent surveys.

In 1891, Forbes George Vernon (1843-1911), B.C.'s Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works (and the namesake of the city of Vernon), saw that a new authoritative map of the province was desperately needed. British Columbia was growing rapidly, as the population had doubled from 49,500 in 1881 to over 98,000 in 1891. The last comprehensive map of the province was Edward Mohun's Map of the province of British Columbia (Victoria, 1884), which for many administrative purposes had become virtually useless.

Vernon requested that the federal government, all regional officials, as well commercial concerns such as railway, mining and land speculation companies, send the most up-to-date maps to Victoria. Where no reliable maps existed of settled areas, government surveyors were dispatched to chart the territory. Affairs proceeded with unusual speed, as the map was urgently needed.

Vernon's efforts resulted in the publication of two different provincial maps, each essentially depicting the same geography and details. The government issued map, J.H. Brownlee's Map of the Province of British Columbia (Montreal, 1893) publication was partially funded by the federal government. Brownlee' created a fine map but of a drab-colored and utilitarian design.

As allowing private companies to publish official maps was seen as cost effective and efficient, Vernon simultaneously authorized that a commercial edition of the survey be prepared by a commercial mapmaker. For this, the final compilation and draftsmanship was outsourced to L. Cass Woodman, a civil engineer in Seattle, who was vastly experienced in the mapping of geographically similar regions. Woodman's manuscript was published by the Dominion Publishing Company in Vancouver. Notably, this officially sanctioned but commercially published edition evinces a colorful and engaging style, in sharp contrast to the restrained appearance of the government issue.

The map employs brilliant original color to identify the numerous Land Districts which had been first established on Vancouver Island in 1843 and on the Mainland in 1860. On the Mainland, these include the Kootenay District (East and West Division), Yale District (with Yale Division, Kamloops Division and Osoyoos Division), New Westminster District, Lillooet District, Coast District, Cariboo District and Cassiar District. Vancouver Island is divided into numerous smaller districts, owing to its denser population. It is important to note that the map shows the province in a relatively early stage in its development (Vancouver had only been incorporated 7 years earlier, in 1886!).

The map shows the extent of the Canadian Government Township Surveys (the grids of square cadastral divisions), which are concentrated in the south and west, while much of the province remains unsettled and unsurveyed. The map features a wealth of information, much of it late-breaking, on railroads (including newly-constructed lines), trails and roads, along with land recording offices, mining recording offices, post offices, telegraph offices, Indian villages, mining camps, mining settlements and Important road stations, Missions, Hudson Bay Company posts, etc.

The map was advertised for sale in the Daily Colonist on March 3, 1893, as follows:

The Dominion Publishing Co., Vancouver, have issued a very fine map of the Province of British Columbia, drawn by L. Cass Woodman, C. K., Seattle. It is compiled from the latest Government surveys. Not only does the map give a complete and distinct outline of the Province, but the various parliamentary districts are defined, and differently colored. There is, besides, some valuable and reliable statistical information provided. The map is convenient, as it is folded into a nice pocket-book.

On July 20, 1871, British Columbia became the sixth province to join Canada. In return for entering the Confederation, Canada absorbed B.C.'s massive deb and promised to build a railway from Montreal to the Pacific Coast within 10 years, ending a period in which the residents also debated joining the United States or remaining a British Colony. The last spike of the Canadian Pacific Railway was driven in Craigellachie in 1886. The completion of the CPR brought about a period of explosive growth in British Columbia that soon saw the province become Canada's third most-populous province.

The map is one of the most important and certainly the most visually appealing early general provincial map of British Columbia. It is also very rare, as Americana Exchange and AMPR list no examples of the map offered for sale in dealer catalogs or at auction in the past 30 years. OCLC locates only 3 examples of this map (Harvard, Vancouver Public Library and University of British Columbia) and 5 examples of the Brownlee (UC Berkeley, Harvard, U of Washington, U of British Columbia and Boston Public Library).