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Robert Dunsmuir
Robert Dunsmuir (August 31, 1825 – April 12, 1889) was a Scottish-born Canadian businessman and politician. He was recognized as a National Historic Person by the government of Canada in 1971. Early life Dunsmuir was born in Hurlford, Scotland, to 20-year-old James Dunsmuir and his wife Elizabeth in 1825. At the time of his birth, his family was engaged in the coal business in his native Ayrshire. Dunsmuir's grandfather, Robert, had leased coal properties and bought out local competitors in the days before the arrival of the railway in the 1840s permitting him to increase prices. In 1832, in the midst of this prosperity, Robert's mother, father, grandmother and two of his three sisters died within days of each other in a cholera epidemic which swept the area. Three years later, grandfather Robert died a relatively wealthy man, leaving a third of his estate in trust for his orphaned grandchildren. Dunsmuir was schooled locally at the Kilmarnock Academy and then at the Pais ...
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Hurlford
Hurlford is a village in East Ayrshire, Scotland, situated on the outskirts of Kilmarnock, the largest and administrative centre of East Ayrshire and East Ayrshire Council. It has a population of 4,968. Hurlford's former names include Whirlford and Hurdleford. The village was named Whirlford as a result of a ford crossing the River Irvine east of Hurlford Cross, near Shawhill. The census locality is called Hurlford and Crookedholm. The village's Blair Park is home to Hurlford United F.C. and many notable footballers have been trained there. History Like much of the area of what is now the present day East Ayrshire, Hurlford suffered greatly as a result of the interwar depression which resulted in large unemployment numbers in the area. Hurlford's main economic history centred around ironworks at the Portland Iron Works site, along with additional iron work sites located in Lugar, Muirkirk and Galston which contributed to the wider iron work industry in East Ayrshire. Betwee ...
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James Douglas (Governor)
Sir James Douglas, (August 15, 1803 – August 2, 1877) was a Canadian fur trader and politician who became the first Governor of the Colony of British Columbia. He is often credited as "The Father of British Columbia". He was instrumental to the resettlement of 35 African Americans fleeing a life of racial persecution in San Francisco who arrived in the province aboard the steamship ''Commodore'' in what later became known as the Pioneer Committee. In 1863, Douglas was knighted by Queen Victoria for his services to the Crown. He started work at 16 for the North West Company and then the Hudson's Bay Company and became a high-ranking officer. From 1851 to 1864, he was Governor of the Colony of Vancouver Island. In 1858, he became the first Governor of the Colony of British Columbia and asserted the authority of the British Empire during the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush, which had the potential to turn the Mainland into an American state. He remained governor of both colonies unt ...
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BC Legislature
The Legislature of British Columbia is made of two elements: the Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia, lieutenant governor (representing the King of Canada), and the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia (which meets at the British Columbia Parliament Buildings). The Legislature of British Columbia has existed since the province joined Canada in 1871, before which it was preceded by the Legislature of the United Colony of British Columbia. Like the Canadian federal government, British Columbia uses a Westminster System, Westminster-style parliamentary government, in which members are sent to the Legislative Assembly after List of British Columbia general elections, general elections and from there the party with the most seats chooses a premier of British Columbia and the Executive Council of British Columbia. The premier is British Columbia's head of government, while the King of Canada is its head of state and is represented by the lieutenant governor. Before 1903, candid ...
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Courtenay, BC
Courtenay ( ) is a city of about 26,000 on the east coast of Vancouver Island, in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is the largest community and only city in the area commonly known as the Comox Valley, and the seat of the Comox Valley Regional District, which replaced the Comox-Strathcona Regional District. Courtenay is west of the town of Comox, northeast of the village of Cumberland, northwest of the unincorporated settlement of Royston, and northwest of Nanaimo. It was named after the nearby river, Courtenay River which in turn had been named for Rear-Admiral Courtenay. Courtenay and nearby Comox are served by the coast-spanning Island Highway, the Island Rail Corridor, and a local airport in Comox. History Early history Archaeological evidence suggests there was an active Coast Salish fishing settlement on the shores of the Courtenay River Estuary for at least 4,000 years. Due to its gentle climate, fertile soil and abundant sea life, the Coast Salish re ...
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Victoria, BC
Victoria is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific Ocean, Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Greater Victoria area has a population of 397,237. The city of Victoria is the seventh most densely populated city in Canada with . Victoria is the southernmost major city in Western Canada and is about southwest from British Columbia's largest city of Vancouver on the mainland. The city is about from Seattle by airplane, Harbour Air Seaplanes, seaplane, ferry, or the Clipper Navigation, Victoria Clipper passenger-only ferry, and from Port Angeles, Washington, Port Angeles, Washington (state), Washington, by ferry across the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Named for Queen Victoria, the city is one of the oldest in the Pacific Northwest, with British settlement beginning in 1843. The city has retained a large number of its historic buildings, in ...
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Nanaimo, British Columbia
Nanaimo ( ) is a city of about 100,000 on the east coast of Vancouver Island, in British Columbia, Canada. "The Harbour City" was previously known as the "Hub City", which was attributed to its original layout design with streets radiating from the shoreline like the spokes of a wagon wheel, and to its relatively central location on Vancouver Island. Nanaimo is the headquarters of the Regional District of Nanaimo. Nanaimo is served by the Island Highway along the east coast, the BC Ferries system, and Nanaimo Airport, its regional airport. It is also on the dormant Island Rail Corridor. History The Indigenous peoples of the area that is now known as Nanaimo are the Snuneymuxw. An anglicized spelling and pronunciation of that word gave the city its current name. The first Europeans known to reach Nanaimo Harbour were members of the 1791 Spanish voyage of Juan Carrasco (explorer), Juan Carrasco, under the command of Francisco de Eliza. They gave it the name ''Bocas de Winth ...
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Esquimalt, British Columbia
The Township of Esquimalt () is a municipality at the southern tip of Vancouver Island, in British Columbia, Canada. It is bordered to the east by the provincial capital, Victoria, British Columbia, Victoria, to the south by the Strait of Juan de Fuca, to the west by Esquimalt Harbour and Royal Roads, to the northwest by the New Songhees 1A Indian reserve and the town of View Royal, and to the north by a narrow inlet of water called the Gorge, across which is the district municipality of Saanich, British Columbia, Saanich. It is almost tangential to Esquimalt 1 Indian Reserve near Admirals Road. It is one of the 13 municipalities of Greater Victoria, British Columbia, Greater Victoria and part of the Capital Regional District. Esquimalt had a population of 17,533 in 2021. It covers . It is CFB Esquimalt, home to the Pacific fleet of the Royal Canadian Navy. History The region now known as Esquimalt was settled by First Nations in Canada, First Nations people approximately 400 ...
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Esquimalt And Nanaimo Railway
The Island Corridor, previously the Esquimalt & Nanaimo Railway (E&N Railway), is a railway operation on Vancouver Island. It is owned by the Island Corridor Foundation, a registered charity. The railway line is in length from Victoria to Courtenay, known as the Victoria Subdivision, with a branch line from Parksville to Port Alberni, known as the Port Alberni Subdivision, of , for a total of mainline track. In 2006, the Island Corridor Foundation acquired the railway's ownership from RailAmerica and Canadian Pacific Railway. Passenger service has been "temporarily suspended" since 2011 due to poor infrastructure condition that resulted from deferred maintenance. History Vancouver Island joining Canada The history of an island railway and a functioning island railway in perpetuity started with the colony of Vancouver Island joining British Columbia in 1866, Canadian Confederation in 1867, and the incorporation of British Columbia (BC) into Canada in 1871. The terms ...
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Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom of England, English and Kingdom of Scotland, Scottish kings from the early Middle Ages, medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Kingdom of France, France. The modern Royal Navy traces its origins to the English Navy of the early 16th century; the oldest of the British Armed Forces, UK's armed services, it is consequently known as the Senior Service. From the early 18th century until the World War II, Second World War, it was the world's most powerful navy. The Royal Navy played a key part in establishing and defending the British Empire, and four Imperial fortress colonies and a string of imperial bases and coaling stations secured the Royal Navy's ability to assert naval superior ...
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San Francisco
San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of 2024, San Francisco is the List of California cities by population, fourth-most populous city in the U.S. state of California and the List of United States cities by population, 17th-most populous in the United States. San Francisco has a land area of at the upper end of the San Francisco Peninsula and is the County statistics of the United States, fifth-most densely populated U.S. county. Among U.S. cities proper with over 250,000 residents, San Francisco is ranked first by per capita income and sixth by aggregate income as of 2023. San Francisco anchors the Metropolitan statistical area#United States, 13th-most populous metropolitan statistical area in the U.S., with almost 4.6 million residents in 2023. The larger San Francisco Bay Area ...
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Colliery
Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from iron ore and for cement production. In the United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ... and South Africa, a coal mine and its structures are a colliery, a coal mine is called a "pit", and above-ground mining structures are referred to as a "pit head". In Australia, "colliery" generally refers to an underground coal mine. Coal mining has had many developments in recent years, from the early days of men tunneling, digging, and manually extracting the coal on carts to large Open-pit mining, open-cut and ...
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