What's in a Name: Clover Point
"I was nevertheless delighted in ranging over fields knee deep in clover, tall grasses and ferns..." (James Douglas)
Clover Point is a 10.39 acre property with the eastern boundary of Clover Point Park at Ross Bay; the western boundary at Cook Street. Most in Victoria know where it is - as it has a long history and is a major destination of locals and tourists who walk the waterfront - but do you know how it got its name?
In 1842, James Douglas, Chief Factor of the Hudson Bay Company scoured the coastline searching for the best spot to establish a British settlement in the area. As he looked, the open meadows and grasslands must have been a huge contrast to the deep thick forests along other parts of the coast. Later in 1843, Douglas described what he saw,
The place itself appears a perfect ‘Eden’ in the midst of the dreary wilderness of the North. One might be pardoned for supposing it had dropped from the clouds into its present position. (James Douglas letter to James Hargrave, February 5, 1843, The Hargrave Correspondence)
For Douglas, the clover and meadowlands he found were an indicator of the areas potential. Being pretty well assured of the Capabilities of the Soil as respects the Purposes of Agriculture, the Climate being also mild and pleasant, we ought to be able to grow every Kind of Grain Raised in England.
Douglas apparently decided to land a little east of what is now Beacon Hill Park, and named his landing spot as Clover Point. In a July 12, 1842 report to HBC Chief Factor John McLoughlin, Douglas stated,
In two places particularly, we saw several acres of clover growing with a luxuriance and compactness more resembling the close sward of a well-managed lea than the produce of an uncultivated waste.” (“The Founding of Victoria,” The Beaver, Outfit 273, March, 1943)
While Douglas saw the area's of Sooke and Esquimalt much better to create a harbour, the site of a vast expanse of grassland was much more enticing to him.
[Sooke and Esquimalt are] surrounded by rocks and forests, which it will require ages to level and adapt extensively to the purpose of agriculture, whereas at Camosack [later known as Victoria] there is a range of plains nearly six miles square, containing a great extent of valuable tillage and pasture land equally well adapted for the plough or for feeding stock. It was this advantage...which led me to choose a site for the establishment of the place...” (Founding of Victoria, 1943)
Douglas wrote to Hargrave, The growth of indigenous vegetation is more luxuriant, than in any other place, I have seen in America, indicating a rich productive soil. Though the survey I made was rather laborious, not being so light and active of foot as in my younger days, I was nevertheless delighted in ranging over fields knee deep in clover, tall grasses and ferns reaching above our heats, at these unequivocal proofs of fertility". (The Hargrave Correspondence)
Hudson Bay Company employees would later routinely land at Clover Point and walk north to reach Fort Victoria. But Clover Point has a rich history before the Hudson Bay Company appeared at its shoreline.
Clover point was historically used by the Lekwungen First Nation when a tidal stream connected Ross Bay with the Victoria harbour. Oral history indicates they would use the waterway as an alternate canoe route to avoid rough weather along the coast. (Lost Streams of Victoria, Jennifer Sutherst, 2003)
The most likely clover species referred to by Douglas was Springbank Clover (Trifolium wormskjoldii), according to Victoria botanist Dr. T. Christopher Brayshaw (1919-2014). Lekwungen people cared for and managed the land for centuries in order to harvest edible plants such as camas and clover. (Friends of Beacon Hill Park) The rhizomes (subterranean plant stems) of Trifolium wormskioldii, was a valued food of First Nations.
Today Springbank Clover, is virtually absent from the entire Victoria coastline.
I can't say it better than Nancy Turner (University of Victoria), who wrote in Botanical Electronic News 1999 about the disappearance of the clover and natural ecosystem of Clover Point,
Unfortunately, the scale and scope of landscape change has not been easily measured or acknowledged, and the cultural and biological impacts have not been fully assessed. For First Peoples, the loss of valued cultural resources caused profound grief and sadness, still felt today by Elders who remember some of the lands as they used to be. For most people, however, the loss of lands and resources, if recognized at all, is seen as the inevitable result of progress. Many people still do not grasp the importance of maintaining "wild" ecosystems or species, and, if they value greenspace, it makes little difference to them whether it is a green lawn, and agricultural field, or a natural wood or meadow. Many people still view any uncultivated area as "waste", just as James Douglas did over 150 years ago.
Springbank Clover roots can be purchased locally, and usually reference Clover Point. (Metchosin Farm)
References
BC Archives
Botanical Electronic News No. 226 July 1, 1999
The Hargrave Correspondence
The Friends of Beacon Hill Park
The Beaver, A magazine of the North published quarterly by the Hudson Bay Company, Outfit 273, March 1943
Walbran, J.T. 1971. (originally published 1909) British Columbia Coast Names, 1592-1906.