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The rich alluvial soil deposited by the Fraser River to create Lulu Island is excellent for farming. The problem for early settlers in Steveston was that the most accessible riverfront land was often under water with the tides. The First Nations never had permanent residences here for that reason and came only when the salmon were running, and crabapples and berries were ripe for picking in the summer. The early farmers learned to dike and drain the land making it both habitable and profitable.2
1859 Section Survey Showing Crown Grants1859
Lulu Island
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1859 SURVEY MAP WITH CROWN GRANTSThe Royal Engineers, commanded by Colonel Richard Clement Moody, surveyed the New Westminster district in 1859, dividing all the land into quarter sections (160 acres). When a quarter section was granted to a settler, he had to occupy the land immediately, work to improve it, and pay ten shillings per acre. This map shows the Crown grant settlers on the west half of Lulu Island.
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Manoah and Martha Steves1873
Steveston
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MANOAH AND MARTHA STEVESThe first family to settle permanently on the southwest corner of Lulu Island were Manoah and Martha Steves and their six children. The family left Coverdale, New Brunswick, in 1868, farmed a few years in Chatham, Ontario, and moved to Cambridge, Maryland, in 1875 where most of the family got malaria. Seeking a warmer farm on tidal flats similar to his home in New Brunswick, Manoah bought 400 acres half a mile north of Garry Point. He paid 75 cents per acre to owner Edward Albert Sharpe who was moving to land farther east.
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Steves' First House on Lulu Island1910
Lulu Island
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STEVES' FIRST HOUSEManoah's wife and children traveled by train across to California, by ship to Victoria, and were rowed ashore at Garry Point on May 24, 1878 from the steamship ENTERPRISE on its way to New Westminster. They lived in E.A. Sharpe's cabin until their first house was built just north of the Number Nine Road property line (now Steveston Highway). The original building was 12 by 20 feet, with a living room and kitchen downstairs and two bedrooms upstairs. The house was built on stilts because the high tides flooded the area until an earthen dike was built .
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London Family1915
Richmond
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LONDON FAMILYCharles London was another early farmer in the Steveston area. His riverfront land was to the east of Steveston and became known as London's Landing when a wharf was built there. This gave the new farming community greater access to markets for their produce.
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London Farmhouse1910
Richmond
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LONDON FARMHOUSECharles London married Henrietta Dalziel in 1888 and built the small house on the left. The larger house was constructed around 1906. Charles ran the mixed agriculture farm producing dairy products, oats, wheat, barley, timothy, hay, fruit, and vegetables. William London ran the London Brothers' store and temperance hotel. He was also the postmaster at the London Post Office and served as a Richmond councilor from 1883 to 1887.
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Steves' Prize Bull on Agricultural Fair Day1890
Richmond
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STEVES' PRIZE HOLSTEINSIn 1886 Manoah Steves imported three Dutch Holstein-Friesian cattle from Oregon. Two calves, Lulu King and Lulu Queen, were the first purebred Holstein calves registered in B.C. In 1887 Manoah and his son, William Herbert Steves, brought 33 registered Holstein cattle from Ontario including five older cows imported directly from Holland and nine bull calves which Manoah hoped to sell. Depression forced prices down and by 1892 almost all the registered cattle were sold to prevent foreclosure of the mortgages on Steves' land.
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Harvesting Mangels on the Steves' Farm1900
Lulu Island
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