First Narrows is the official name for the entrance to Burrard Inlet, the mouth of Vancouver, British Columbia's inner harbour.
First Narrows is the official name for the entrance to Burrard Inlet, the mouth of Vancouver, British Columbia's inner harbour.
Captain George Henry Richards named the First Narrows and Second Narrows during his 1859–60 survey for the British Admiralty. Judge Gray suggested the alternative name of "Lion's Gate" in 1889 with respect to The Lions (peaks) to the north, a name generally adopted for the later bridge. [1]
In 1909, the DGS Mastodon was ordered from a shipyard in Scotland. She was commissioned in 1911. Her crew worked 24 hours a day, six days a week, from 1912 to 1917, to dredge the channel. The 5 million tons of excavated material was a mixture of blue clay with embedded rocks and boulders. Some of the boulders were too large to be scooped up by the dredge's buckets, and had to be smashed first. The project widened the waterway from 270 metres (900 ft) to 430 metres (1,400 ft). [2]
In 1909, John Lawson, John Sinclair, William Thompson, and Robert McPherson founded the Ambleside to Gastown ferry service with a 35-passenger converted fishing boat. An experimental English Bay run proved unsuccessful. In 1912, the municipality of West Vancouver acquired the unprofitable enterprise. The terminal relocated from the foot of 17th St to 14th St, where the former ferry building still stands. Over time, larger vessels, which could carry up to 120 passengers, replaced the original ones. The bridge opening and the inauguration of bus transit led to the demise of the ferry service, which ceased operations in 1947. [3]
The Lions Gate Bridge opened in 1938, tall enough to permit ocean going vessels to transit beneath. [4]
The SeaBus is a passenger-only ferry service in Metro Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It crosses Burrard Inlet to connect the cities of Vancouver and North Vancouver. Owned by TransLink and operated by the Coast Mountain Bus Company, the SeaBus forms an important part of the region's integrated public transportation system.
West Vancouver is a district municipality in the province of British Columbia, Canada. A member municipality of the Metro Vancouver Regional District, West Vancouver is to the northwest of the city of Vancouver on the northern side of English Bay and the southeast shore of Howe Sound, and is adjoined by the District of North Vancouver to its east. Together with the District of North Vancouver and the City of North Vancouver, it is part of a local regional grouping referred to as the North Shore municipalities, or simply "the North Shore".
The Lions Gate Bridge, opened in 1938 and officially known as the First Narrows Bridge, is a suspension bridge that crosses the first narrows of Burrard Inlet and connects the City of Vancouver, British Columbia, to the North Shore municipalities of the District of North Vancouver, the City of North Vancouver, and West Vancouver. The term "Lions Gate" refers to the Lions, a pair of mountain peaks north of Vancouver. Northbound traffic on the bridge heads in their general direction. A pair of cast concrete lions, designed by sculptor Charles Marega, were placed on either side of the south approach to the bridge in January 1939.
HVDC Vancouver Island is a de-energized high-voltage direct current interconnection between Arnott Substation (ARN) in Delta, British Columbia at 49°5′31″N123°2′31″W on the Canadian mainland, and the Vancouver Island Terminal (VIT) in Duncan, British Columbia on Vancouver Island at 48°49′39″N123°42′55″W. It went into operation in 1968 and was extended in 1977. HVDC Vancouver Island consists of three overhead line sections with a total length of 42 kilometres and two submarine cable sections with a length of 33 kilometres. Pole 1 ceased operation in 2014, and Pole 2 ceased operation in 2016. The infrastructure remains in place and portions may be re-used in the future.
Burrard Inlet is a relatively shallow-sided fjord in northwestern Lower Mainland, British Columbia, Canada. Formed during the last Ice Age, it separates the City of Vancouver and the rest of the lowland Burrard Peninsula to the south from the coastal slopes of the North Shore Mountains which span West Vancouver and the City and District of North Vancouver to the north.
The North Shore is a term commonly used to refer to several areas adjacent to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada:
The District of North Vancouver is a district municipality in British Columbia, Canada, and is part of Metro Vancouver. It surrounds the City of North Vancouver on three sides. As of 2016, the District stands as the second wealthiest city in Canada, with neighbouring West Vancouver the richest. The municipality is largely characterized as being a relatively quiet, affluent suburban hub home to many middle and upper-middle-class families. Homes in the District generally range from mid-sized family bungalows to very large luxury houses. A number of dense multi-family and mixed-use developments have popped up across the district in recent years; however, the District remains a primarily suburban municipality. The District is served by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, British Columbia Ambulance Service, and the District of North Vancouver Fire Department.
The SkyBridge is a cable-stayed bridge in Metro Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Built between 1987 and 1989, it spans the Fraser River and connects New Westminster with Surrey. The SkyBridge opened for revenue use on March 16, 1990, with the second half of the Phase II extension of SkyTrain to Scott Road station.
Gil Island is an island on the North Coast of British Columbia, Canada, located on the west side of Whale Channel in the entrance to Douglas Channel, one of the main coastal inlets, on the route of the Inside Passage between Pitt Island and Princess Royal Island. It is 26 km long, with a width ranging from 6 to 13 km, and an area of 231 km2. The only named summit on the mountainous island is Mount Gil, which faces the opening of Douglas Channel.
The Squamish Nation, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw in Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Sníchim, is an Indian Act government originally imposed on the Squamish (Sḵwx̱wú7mesh) by the Federal Government of Canada in the late 19th century. The Squamish are Indigenous to British Columbia, Canada. Their band government comprises 16 elected councillors, serving four-year terms, with an elected band manager. Their main reserves are near the town of Squamish, British Columbia and around the mouths of the Capilano River, Mosquito Creek, and Seymour River on the north shore of Burrard Inlet in North Vancouver, British Columbia.
X̱wemelch'stn[χʷəməltʃʼstn], usually anglicized as Homulchesan, is a large community within the Squamish Nation of the Squamish people, who are a part of the Coast Salish ethnic and linguistic group. The name X̱wemelch'stn, translates to "Fast Moving Water of Fish", relating to the Capilano River. The village is one of the oldest and major villages of the Squamish and continues to be so, being the Squamish Nation's most populated reserve. The community is also known as the Capilano Indian Reserve, formally Capilano Indian Reserve No. 5, and is named like the adjacent Capilano River after the Capilano chieftaincy, the best-known Joe Capilano. The name Kiapila'noq means "people of Kiap", and was the title of the supreme chief of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh in the area of English Bay. Chief George Capilano was the chief who met Captain Vancouver at X̱wemelch'stn in 1792, and had met Captain Cook in 1782.
Active Pass is a strait separating Galiano Island in the north and Mayne Island in the south in the southern Gulf Islands, British Columbia, Canada. It connects the Trincomali Channel in the west and the Strait of Georgia in the east. The pass stretches 5.5 km from northeast to southwest with two roughly right-angle bends, one at each end.
Victoria Harbour is a harbour, seaport, and seaplane airport in the Canadian city of Victoria, British Columbia. It serves as a cruise ship and ferry destination for tourists and visitors to the city and Vancouver Island. It is both a port of entry and an airport of entry for general aviation. Historically it was a shipbuilding and commercial fishing centre. While the Inner Harbour is fully within the City of Victoria, separating the city's downtown on its east side from the Victoria West neighbourhood, the Upper Harbour serves as the boundary between the City of Victoria and the district municipality of Esquimalt. The inner reaches are also bordered by the district of Saanich and the town of View Royal. Victoria is a federal "public harbour" as defined by Transport Canada. Several port facilities in the harbour are overseen and developed by the Greater Victoria Harbour Authority, however the harbour master's position is with Transport Canada.
Ogden Point is a deep water port facility located in the southwestern corner of the city of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Its advantageous geographic location on the southern tip of Vancouver Island, by the Strait of Juan de Fuca, close to major population centres Vancouver and Seattle, has made it an attractive cruise ship destination. It also serves as a ship repair and supply facility for cruise ships and other vessels such as deep sea cable laying ships. Ogden Point also has a heliport with frequent service to Vancouver Harbour, Vancouver International Airport, and Seattle. The port lies at the eastern entrance of Victoria Harbour. For smaller boats there is boat ramp for trailerable boats.
For more than 35 years, from 1923 to 1958, the Union steamship Cardena sailed the British Columbia Coast, carrying passengers, groceries, dry goods, industrial cargo, mail and sundry other supplies to the 200 or so mining, logging and fishing communities that once dotted the province's coastline during the early years of the 20th century. On her return voyage, at the peak of the summer fishing season, Cardena routinely carried thousands of cases of canned salmon to the railheads at Prince Rupert and Vancouver for shipment across Canada and around the world. And so it went for the better part of half a century; a regular and reliable marine service that made Cardena a coastal institution, remembered with affection and regard by the countless men, women and children who inhabited those tiny outports in a bygone era.
The Bowen Island Ferry travels between Snug Cove, at Bowen Island, and Horseshoe Bay, in the District of West Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, a trip of three nautical miles across Howe Sound. A scheduled ferry has been in operation since 1921, when Bowen Island was a popular holiday destination. Prior to that year, transportation to the island was by steamship from Vancouver, with only one trip daily. The Bowen Island ferry used a fleet of small passenger vessels until 1956, when a single car ferry began passenger service, and that ferry began carrying vehicles in 1958. In 2012 the ferry carried in excess of 870,000 passengers plus 360,000 vehicles.
Tongass Narrows is a Y-shaped channel, part of Southeast Alaska's Inside Passage. The waterway forms part of the Alaska Marine Highway and as such, is used by charter, commercial fishing, and recreational vessels, as well as commercial freight barges and tanks, kayaks and passenger ferries.
Prospect Point is a point at the northern tip of Stanley Park in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, located on the south side of the First Narrows of Burrard Inlet. The point, which as its name suggests, is a viewpoint, landmark and tourist attraction in Stanley Park and has a restaurant and other facilities, is just west of the Lions Gate Bridge.
Jessie Harkins was a propeller-driven steamboat that operated on the Columbia River starting in 1903. It was rebuilt at least twice. Originally Jessie Harkins was one of the larger gasoline-engined vessels to operate on the Columbia River. Jessie Harkins was built for the Harkins Transportation Company.
The Harrop Ferry is a cable ferry at Harrop Narrows on the west arm of Kootenay Lake in the West Kootenay region of southeastern British Columbia. The crossing, off BC Highway 3A, is by road about 27 kilometres (17 mi) northeast of Nelson and 7 kilometres (4 mi) west of Balfour.
49°19′00″N123°08′26″W / 49.31667°N 123.14056°W Coordinates: 49°19′00″N123°08′26″W / 49.31667°N 123.14056°W