The Fort Farms – Constance Cove and Craigflower
By William Sylvester – Times Colonist April 19, 1981
After an incredibly long voyage of five months the Hudson’s Bay Company barque Norman Morison sailed slowly . into Victoria Harbor on Jan. 16, 1853.
Battered by hurricane force winds, twice run aground and the scene of two births and three deaths, the barque carried a cargo of new hope and life for the fledgling colony on the tip of Vancouver Island.
Amongst those aboard the overcrowded ship were Thomas James Skinner and Kenneth Mackenzie, the new bailiffs appointed to establish farms west of Fort Victoria. With these two men came 25 families consisting of farmers, blacksmiths, carpenters and servants to populate the farms.
Unfortunately, despite promises made in London about spacious accommodations, the passengers of Norman Morison found there was no provision made to house the SO odd people who had suddenly descended upon the fort. The only space available was a large loft into which the families were crowded. The Skinner family was slightly more fortunate for a shack was found for them on Kanaka Row (Humboldt Street). After a quick cleaning with fir boughs as brooms the seven member Skinner family and their servants moved in.
The next day, one of their maids returned to the Norman Morison to accept a proposal of marriage made by the ship’s cook. Having turned him down at first, a tear-filled night in barbaric circumstances changed her mind.
Mrs. Skinner was determined to stick it out. A month later she gave birth to a daughter, Constance, the first’ white girl born in the colony. The first white boy had been the son of Captain E. E. Langford. While the Skinners resided in their shack, work had begun on a proper home on the lands of what would be the Constance Cove Farm.
Indians were hired to clear the land on a slope overlooking what would later be known as Skinner’s Cove, (the cove Is now the site of the drydock. The house was named Oaklands after the giant oak trees which grew in the area. The large rambling single-store y dwelling rapidly took shape and before long the Skinners abandoned their shack and moved in. One of Mrs. Skinner’s priorities was an English-style garden complete with a trellis fence.
As Haida Indians had been employed to clear the land rather than the more easy going Songhees, the Skinners were nervous about travelling too far from the house. The Haida were still a fierce, warlike people and incidents of killings by them were prevalent. Even the Songhees were an unknown quantity at this time and not wholly trusted by the white population.
Oaklands’ nearest neighbor was Craigflower, some two miles away through a narrow forest path. The Indian village of Chachimutupusas lay about midway between the two farms and though now underpopulated due to the more popular village closer to the fort, there was still the possibility of meeting Indians enroute. As it transpired, there was little cause for alarm. The terrors of the Indians were more in the minds of the Europeans than in reality.
As time passed the 600-acre farm was cleared of its forests. The land shared a common boundary with Craigflower running from the Gorge to Skinner’s Cove. A long waterfrontage on the Gorge ran from Selkirk Water to the present Gorge Park. On the seaward side only a narrow strip of land from Pilgrim Cove to Skinner’s Cove, provided landing places. Part of the present ground of CFB Naden was also included in the Constance Cove Farm. From the southern point of Pilgrim to Admiral’s Road near the main gate of Naden then southeast to Old Esquimalt Road where it bordered with the Viewfield Farm.
With full production of the farms came construction of two warehouses on Skinner Cove’s north shore. At these masonry structures Bay Company and Russian trading vessels would load the abundance of products produced at the farm. (The buildings were torn down in 1924 to make way for the Dominion Graving Dock.)
In the report made by Governor Douglas in 1854 he noted that crops of turnips, wheat, potatoes and barley were being harvested at Constance Cove Farm. Though the farm had fewer sheep than the others, more cattle roamed the land and in 1854 Constance Cove was the only farm producing butter. There were nine buildings on the farm occupied by 34 people, of whom 16 were children.
The outbreak of the Crimean War in 1854 proved a boom time for Skinner. Obtaining the contract to provide meat for Her Majesty’s fleet based at Esquimalt, Skinner did quite well for himself. Not only did he provide food for the tables of the Royal Navy, but his home was opened for their entertainment. The compliment was often returned, and the Skinners spent many happy evenings at dinners and dances aboard the Queen’s warships.
Two more children were born to the Skinners while they lived on the farm. Of the previous children, the four eldest were boys, born in Essex; Ambrose William, Robert James, Francis George Gordon and Ernest Meeson. Another son, Frances, died before they left England. Two girls also accompanied their parents on the Norman Morison; Annie Louise and Mary. Constance Langford was born in a shack on Kanaka Row and two more girls were born at Oaklands, Ada Jane Bruce and Emily. Captain Langford and his wife, of Colwood Farm, were Ada’s Godparents. Constance later married a lawyer, Alexander Edmund Baston Davie, later premier of British Columbia from 1887-1889.
As was the case with some of the other bailiffs. Skinner was appointed Justice of the Peace over his area and when the colony of Vancouver Island was established. Skinner was elected Member of Parliament for the Esquimalt-Metchosin district. When the Puget Sound Agricultural Company ceased to hold direction of the Constance Cove Farm, Skinner lost his Job and was obliged to leave his home. He moved to Quamichan Lake in 1865. Oaklands later burned to the ground.
Of the four dignified manor houses which had once graced the farms of Fort Victoria, only one survived the ravages of time. Craigflower, situated at the Junction of the Old Island Highway, Craigflower Road and Admiral’s Road was constructed of hand-hewn beams and timbers by Kenneth Mackenzie in a grove of maple trees.
Mackenzie arrived at Fort Victoria aboard the barque Norman Morison, the same ship which carried Thomas Skinner of Constance Cove Farm. Unlike Skinner, Mackenzie, a fiery Scot, did not take the shameful lack of accommodation in his stride. It was with the greatest difficulty that the Company officers managed to persuade Mackenzie to stay at the fort preventing him from carrying out his first intention of returning to England aboard Norman Morison.
Fortunately, work on the manor was able to begin at once for Mackenzie had brought 25 families with him and the carpenters and laborers among them were able to use the machines and tools they brought to get the walls up.
Before the partitions had been built or the floors laid, Mackenzie and his family moved in. A huge fireplace provided heat and cooking facilities.
Craigflower, named after a farm in England, owned by Andrew Colville, Governor of the Hudson’s Bay Company, was the largest of the first four fort farms, consisting of 900 acres rather than the usual 600. A carpenter’s shop, blacksmith’s shop, sawmill, flour mill, brick kiln and slaughterhouse were soon set up to deal with the needs of the community.
The farm itself stretched from the Gorge to Esquimalt Harbor and from Skinner’s Cove to Thetis Cove. The Songhees reservation on Plumper Bay interrupted the boundary. The southern bank of the Gorge down to the boundary of Constance Cove Farm also belonged to Craigflower as well as the southern and western shores of Portage Inlet. These waterways provided an excellent route for shipping produce down to Fort Victoria.
To the west the boundary of Craigflower ran across the narrow strip of land between Portage Inlet and Thetis Cove. This quarter-mile strip was used earlier by Indians to reach the sheltered waters of the inlet and later naval men portaged across it as a quick route back to the base, thus the name Portage Inlet.
Despite the inhospitable beginnings of Mackenzie’s sojourn on the Island, he soon forgot his initial anger and worked very well with the Company. Being all Scots, they understood each other. Before long Craigflower became the most prosperous of the four farms, due mainly to the energies of Mackenzie.
The manor became a favored gathering place for such notables as Governor Douglas and the officers of the Royal Navy. The presence of marriageable daughters at the manor also brought many junior officers.
Kenneth Mackenzie sired eight children, four boys and four girls. Five were born in Scotland, three at Craigflower. The sons were Kenneth, Robert Gregory, Andrew Colville and William Blair. The girls were Agnes, Dorothea Blair, Jessie and Wilhelmina Ann Blair, called ‘Goodie’, a nickname she acquired during the crossing of the Atlantic due to her exceptional behavior.
Like most of the other bailiffs, Mackenzie was appointed Justice of the Peace in 1854. As Craigflower was a larger and more populous farm than the other four, his powers were more necessary as a greater population led to a larger number of troublemakers.
By the end of 1854 when Douglas took his census, there were 21 dwellings around the manor with a total population of 76. As 30 of these were children the need for a schoolhouse was soon evident. In March of 1855 a school was opened with Charles Clark as the first teacher.
Craigflower school is today the oldest standing schoolhouse in western Canada. As well as a place of learning the building also served as a church where services were held by the schoolmaster or by a chaplain from one of the Royal Navy warships. Monthly services were held after 1855 when Rev. Edward Cridge arrived to serve as Hudson’s Bay Company chaplain.
As time passed, Craigflower grew and prospered. Limestone was discovered and quarried, Craigflower Bridge was built and Parson’s public house opened.
With the outbreak of the Crimean War, Mackenzie constructed large brick ovens to supply bread and hardtack to the Navy. A ship’s baker was supplied and Mackenzie’s profits climbed. The Gold Rush provided further income for the Mackenzie coffers when he advertised to supply miners with “Pilot Bread, Soda, Boston Sugar and Oyster Crackers. Wine and French Biscuits at San Francisco Prices.”
The good times did not last, however. With the decline in profits of the Puget Sound Agricultural Company, debts began to rise. The lavish hospitalities of the bailiffs took a large toll of the Company profits. When the Bay Company lease to Vancouver Island was canceled much of the farmland was leased or subdivided. The Company took control of what was left. Mackenzie was no longer needed. His salary of 60 pounds a year, plus one quarter of the farm’s profits, was revoked.
Hoping to recoup his losses he attempted to sell Maplebank, a house he had built for the use of the Admiralty (The path leading from Craigflower to this Admiral’s house became today’s Admirals Road.) Negotiations failed and the Bay Company took over the house. Despite this Mackenzie was loathe to leave his beloved Craigflower. It was not until 1866 that he was finally induced to move to the Company owned Lakehill Farm. The remaining lands of Craigflower were then offered for sale as a subdivision.
Fortunately, the manor and schoolhouse were preserved for posterity. They still stand and have been restored and serve now as museums containing all that remains of the history of the farm. These buildings and a few scattered street names are all that remain of the four farms which existed to keep Fort Victoria alive and nourished in her infancy.
