British Columbia (Colony) Numeral Cancels

French Creek is on Vancouver Is. Just north of Parksville on HWY 19.

Thanks Warrehouse. I did not notice I forgot the VI (Vancouver Island) after French Creek.

I found some interesting digital copies of old books and documents on the Vancouver Public Library website, www.vpl.ca.

One is called A Statistical Account of British Columbia, dated 1867. Shown below is a capture of a paragraph called Postal Affairs. It lists the postal rates and post offices of the time.

Interestingly, several of the post offices listed are not in the list of the known numerical cancels. These are Fort Shepherd, Kootenay, Richfield, Savana's Ferry, Chemainus, Comax, Cowichan, Esquimalt and Maple Bay. Of course some may have opened after the cancels arrived.

There appears to be a couple of errors, French Creek is listed on the mainland when it is on Vancouver Island, and Victoria is listed twice, including as being on the mainland(!).

Also, several are missing, including important trading post Fort Langley, Ladner's Landing and Burrard inlet.

More information:

Wild Horse Creek was originally called Fisherville, but the post office was called Kootenay, as in the list above.

A postal depot was established in Barkerville in 1865, and was established as a Canadian federal office in 1872. It is unclear to me if Barkerville had a cancel before British Columbia joined Canada.

A BC colonial post office was established in Fort Kamloops in 1870.

Here's a nice cover with a "1" numeral cancellation.

That is a great cover Chipg!

In the colony of Vancouver Island, the local rate was 5c, plus the 12c US rate. Obviously Vancouver Island switched to decimal currency in 1860, though Wikipedia says 1862. The 2-1/2d was sold for 5c on the island, until Vancouver Island stamps were available a few years later.

Here is the page from the 1860 First Victoria Directory:



The US onward rates from the San Francisco Department:

Where the heck is Aspinwall (in the table above)?

Aspinwall is another name for Colon, Panama. Was named for William Aspenwall, who built the trans-Panama railroad. It was a major port and trans-shipment point for the mails across the Isthmus. From there, a letter could be routed to Europe, the US East Coast, or South America.

Thanks Chip.

This British Columbia No. 2 is not mine (yet ). The cancel is either a 13 (Quesnel Mouth) or an 18 (unknown).

I just got this BC & VI on ebay. I don't have it yet, but the blurred cancel is #10 (upside down), William's Creek.



Williams Creek was an important gold mining creek in the Cariboo goldfields of the Central Interior of British Columbia, entering the Willow River between Barkerville and the town of Wells, which is at the headwaters of the Willow River.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willia..._Columbia%29

You're rolling right along. Another nice find.

This rough looking BC & VI No. 2 just sold for $139.50 on ebay.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/311044722203

It is the cancel that fetched the price, No. 31 is quite rare, it is not even known what town used it.

I agree with BeeSee, What a great cover and thanks for posting it.

Well not quite a cover, it is a single stamp with the cancel.

Here's another unknown cancel, number 32.