THE SEMIAHMOO TRAIL

If you have never walked the Semiahmoo Trail and, especially if you live outside South Surrey, take a stroll along it next weekend and enjoy its amenities. Especially take a look at the new section described at the end of this article and lend your support to the Friends of Semiahmoo Trail.
The Semiahmoo Trail, or the Semiahmoo Wagon Road, originally ran from Brownsville, about two miles east of the present Patullo Bridge to Semiamu. Brownsville was the site of a wharf on the south bank of the Fraser River, opposite New Westminster, and no longer exists; Semiamu was a settlement on the Spit south of the present Blaine and something of a boomtown when the Fraser gold rush was on. Linguistic fashion now causes us to write 'Semiahmoo' instead of 'Semiamu'.

The first trail in British Columbia was the Hudson Bay Company Brigade Trail running from Hope and Fort Langley to New Westminster. Other early trails ran northward from Semiamu and were used by Californian miners to reach the Fraser goldfields, these trails were not so much to ease the miners' travel but to facilitate the collection of the head tax which the British authorities imposed on them. Other trails focused on Fort Langley. Another historically important trail was the Telegraph Trail constructed in 1858 after the failure of the first attempt to lay a trans-Atlantic telegraph cable. It seemed to many that this project could never be completed and an overland telegraph line from the USA to Europe via British Columbia, Alaska, a short cable crossing of the Bering Straits and thence to Europe via Siberia was planned. By 1865 the line had reached New Westminster and the first message passed over it was the report of President Lincoln's assassination. The line progressed no further than New Westminster for a successful trans-Atlantic cable was then laid. Along with the construction of the line a trail for future maintenance and transport of supplies was built. Most of this has disappeared but the name is preserved as a street name in Langley and in Bellingham and part of it became a section of the Semiahmoo Wagon Road.

These early trails all helped to open up British Columbia to settlement, though this was not the prime purpose of their construction. In any new territory settlement is dependent on access and at first this was from the coast and rivers. The first settlement trail was the Kennedy trail constructed by James Kennedy who had pre-empted land on the Mud Bay Flats. The Kennedy Trail ran from the Mud Bay area to Brownsville. The present Great Northern Railway line follows much the same line. The Semiahmoo Wagon Road was a settlement trail, part of the general opening up of the territory we now call Brutish Columbia.

Construction of the Semiahmoo Trail was commenced in 1872. It ran from Brownsville to Semiamu was constructed in response to public demand and is marked on old maps as a Wagon Road. It fell into disuse as the British Columbia was surveyed and the standard grid of streets and avenues was superimposed. Much of the original Wagon Road is now under King George Highway, or other roads and housing, but a section from Elgin School to 24th Avenue was fortunately preserved in something akin to its original state and is now a popular place to walk, running through pleasant woodland. It naturally became known as the Semiahmoo Trail, no longer the Semiahmoo Wagon Road. It is an important piece of Surrey's heritage.

The Semiahmoo Trail has been held to be a trail used by the original native inhabitants; it has also been said that the Spanish explorer Narvaez followed this trail to the Fraser River at New Westminster; another claim was that the Royal Engineers originally constructed the trail. There is no real evidence to support any of this. In 1989 Dr Leonard Ham, an archaeologist monitored an excavation across the trail between 150th Street and 24th Avenue. He noted the bed of the original Wagon Road but found no evidence of any previous trail underneath it. Mr. S P McKinnon, a long time editor of the Surrey Leader and a local historian, supported this view pointing out the improbability of a trail through difficult country being used when much easier canoe transport was available and that none of the district's old timers had ever mentioned such a native trail. These are convincing arguments but it should be noted that Dr Ham monitored a single excavation and it is surprising that the trail should apparently have been named after a settlement south of the 49th parallel. Perhaps it was named after Semiahmoo Bay.

South of 24th Avenue the modern Trail continues as a delightful walk as far as 21 Avenue but no longer following the line of the original Wagon Road. The last section, through a wood at 21st Avenue and 151A street was opened up by the City of Surrey earlier this year. With a short connecting walk along 151A Street and 20th Avenue it joins the grassy back lanes leading to Southmere Park and the Semiahmoo Shopping Centre. This wood contains many mature tall trees and the newly opened section winds through it and is in every way is in keeping with the appearance of the original preserved parts of the Trail. But the appearance is under threat. Outside the 20 m trail corridor the wood belongs to a developer who has made proposal (#03-0106) to clear his part of the wood to allow the construction of a town house complex and an apartment block. It this happens a number of tall trees, which should be protected under Surrey's Tree Preservation Bylaw, will be removed and this will expose the trees in the Trail corridor to the full force of winds and, according to an arborist's report, these trees would be at risk and would have to be removed as a safety precaution. Such trees can withstand high winds only if there is a sufficient company of other trees to break up the wind force. Removal of these trees would change the nature of this section of the trail and have a very adverse effect on its appearance and the amenity it provides.

An informal group, the Friends of Semiahmoo Trail, with has been formed with the object of limiting this proposal so that the trees can be preserved. The contact person is a local resident, Jack Monk (604 535 9448). The group made a well-received presentation to the City Council on 26 June and has been in contact with the City Planning Department and the Heritage Advisory Commission. Surrey City Council has referred the matter back to the City staff to try and find a better alternative to the currently proposed town house development.

The Friends have been in touch with City staff and in early September will be making a presentation to the Environmental Advisory Committee whose support they hope to gain. The matter is expected to come before the City Council and be voted on around the end of September. It is important that there should be a good showing at this Council meeting of people who wish to limit this development and preserve the appearance of the Trail corridor. A substantial attendance will impress on Councilors the feelings of voters. Watch the Now and Peace Arch News newspapers for the date and lend your support by attending.