History - Grant Keddie

The Importation of old Chinese Coins for the Playing of Fan Tan
Gambling Games in British Columbia.

By Grant Keddie. 26-11-15. Introduction Chinese brass one cash coins were imported to British Columbia in the late 19th and early 20 century to be used as counter pieces in the gambling games of Fan Tan. The coin packages are now extremely rare and have never been described in print. In 1981, I purchased an unopened package of 280 Chinese brass one cash coins and a partially filled bag of coins from an opened package from Len Jenner of Courtenay. Mr Jenner purchased the coins along with a large collection of Chinese cultural items from an elder Chinese man, known only as “Mr Lowe”. Mr Lowe had once lived on northern Vancouver Island, but the collection was purchased when he … Continue reading “The Importation of old Chinese Coins for the Playing of Fan Tan
Gambling Games in British Columbia.”

Review of: An Archaeology of Asian Transnationalism. By Douglas E. Ross

By Grant Keddie Book Review of: An Archaeology of Asian Transnationalism. By Douglas E. Ross. Gainesville, FL, University Press of Florida, 2913. 245 pp. $103.95 cloth. In: B.C. Studies, Winter 2015/16, pp. 123-124. Although descriptive work on historic artefacts of Asian origin has been sporadically produced by American archaeologists since the 1960s, and by BC archaeologists since the 1970s, recent years have seen Asian archaeology in North America blossoming into a more humanities informed scholarship. By subjecting archaeological finds to historical (written and oral) documentation and to the analytical writing on diaspora and Transnationalism, Douglas Ross, in An Archaeology of Asian Transnationalism, develops a useful model for understanding historical Asian archaeology in late nineteenth and early twentieth-century British Columbia. Ross’s … Continue reading “Review of: An Archaeology of Asian Transnationalism. By Douglas E. Ross”

Bison in British Columbia

Originally published in Discovery 27(2). 1999. The Loss and Return of Wild Bison. by Grant Keddie There I sat in the middle of the Bison herd. I was only three years old, but I remember it vividly. Along the Hay River near Great Slave Lake, my father had driven into the herd; we rolled down the windows and stared at these gentle beasts – they looked like a cross between teddy bears and cattle. I maintained my interest by collecting “buffalo head” nickels and dragging home cattle skulls. But the chance to actually work with Bison bones did not come about until I began investigating finds and examining remains brought to the Royal BC Museum (RBCM). Around 1500 AD, … Continue reading “Bison in British Columbia”

The Early Introduction of Iron Among the First Nations of British Columbia

2006. By Grant Keddie This article documents both the historical and archaeological evidence for the movement of European manufactured iron goods across Canada from the 16th to 18th centuries and overviews the late 18th century accounts of Iron observed in the possession of First Nations in British Columbia. Introduction It is a commonly held belief that iron was not used by aboriginal peoples of British Columbia before the arrival of Europeans in the late 18th century. The evidence indicates that this is not the case. The following is an overview of the evidence for the movement of iron from various directions toward British Columbia in the period before European contact and during the very early contact period. After 1799 the … Continue reading “The Early Introduction of Iron Among the First Nations of British Columbia”

The use and distribution of labrets on the North Pacific Rim

Originally published in Syesis, 14, 59-80. 1981. By Grant Keddie This paper deals with the definition, categorization, and distribution of labrets. or lip plugs, and gives a regional synthesis of their history as known from both archaeological and ethnological studies on the Pacific Rim. from the Gulf of Georgia region in Canada to northern Japan. Key Index Worms: archaeology, categorization, distribution, labrets. North Pacific Rim Many problems are encountered when interpreting ethnographic, archaeological, and other written sources on labretifery. At present there is no consistent classification system used in describing labrets. A system of mutually exclusive terms is a necessity for entry into a computerized data base Part of the problem in the development of a classification system has been … Continue reading “The use and distribution of labrets on the North Pacific Rim”

A Chinese Coin to raise Canadian Dollars.

By Grant Keddie I was walking along a back lane in Edmonton, Alberta one day at the age of ten, when I noticed that the McLaughlin’s garbage can was knocked over. Spilled on the ground were three coins, two 19th century French and Portuguese coins and a Chinese brass, one cash piece with a square hole in the centre. I kept these coins, and later because of an interest in Chinese history, I took a special interest in collecting Chinese coins. When I searched further through the garbage can I found a signed blank check for fifty dollars. My mother suggested I should take the check back and to stop searching through garbage cans. Dorothy McLaughlin gave me 25 cents … Continue reading “A Chinese Coin to raise Canadian Dollars.”

The Question of Asiatic Objects on the North Pacific Coast of America: Historic or Prehistoric?

Originally Published in Contributions to Human History, 3. Royal British Columbia Museum. Grant Keddie May 1989 Abstract: Claims have been made that Native Indian cultures of the North Pacific coast of North America have been influenced by prehistoric contact with advanced cultures of China. Purported evidence has focused on the finding of ancient Chinese coins as well as literary references to early voyages and shipwrecks. These claims are dealt with in the context of examining the nature of the diffusion of Asiatic objects around the North Pacific Rim. Historic, protohistoric, and prehistoric events relevant to the interpretation of the evidence are discussed. Key Index Words: Alaska, archaeology, Asiatic, British Columbia, Chinese, coins, copper, diffusion, Fou sang, Huishen, iron, Japanese, North … Continue reading “The Question of Asiatic Objects on the North Pacific Coast of America: Historic or Prehistoric?”

The Rocks of Harling Point

Originally published in Discovery, 19(1). Winter 1991. By Grant Keddie One of the most fascinating places to visit on southern Vancouver Island is Harling Point in the Victoria municipality of Oak Bay between Gonzales Bay and McNeill Bay. Many people go to Harling Point to see the Chinese cemetery. You can walk up to the large concrete cremation pillars and altar and see where, in the early 1900s, relatives placed food and burned colourful rice-paper offerings for the dead. The Chinese traditionally choose locations for important cultural activities, such as burials, that are in harmony with nature by following the practice of feng-shui. In Western terms, this is geomancy, the selection of particular sites of land whose inherent qualities are … Continue reading “The Rocks of Harling Point”

James Squameyuqs

By Grant Keddie James Squameyuqs–Songhees Chief 1864-1892 James Squameyuqs (Grand fir tree), also spelt as Scomiak, Comey-uks, Kumayaks, Skomiax, Skomiak, Scomiax and Somiax, was born about 1797. On 12 November 1864 he became the second chief of the Songhees since the founding of Fort Victoria. “Comey-uks” is the second person listed on one of the aboriginal treaties made by Governor James Douglas in 1852. This treaty was called the South Saanich Treaty, but included the area south of the territory of the Saanich people, from Cowichan head to Mount Douglas. Songhees band member James Fraser related how his grandfather, the first Songhees chief, named Freezy, or Chee-al-thluc, “invited James Kumeyaks of Sidney Island to move to Victoria”. In 1867 Squameyuqs’s home … Continue reading “James Squameyuqs”

The Archaeology and History of Macaulay Point.

By Grant Keddie. Inspired by the Landscape As Donald Macaulay with his Tsimshian wife Margaret and the first four of their six daughters Mary, Flora, Catherine and Sarah, gazed out at the beautiful ocean view and the fields draped with blue camas, he must have been reminded of his native home on the Scottish Isle of Lewis. It was 1850, and Macaulay was bailiff of the new 600-acre Viewfield Farm owned by the Puget Sound Agricultural Company. Macaulay could hardly have known that this landscape would one day be named after him. Or that it would become a popular military camp in the late 1890’s, where Victoria’s citizens flocked to witness regimental demonstrations. Macaulay Point was first named Sailor Point … Continue reading “The Archaeology and History of Macaulay Point.”