Text and photos by Mary L. Peachin, Tourism Richmond, and Graham Osborne
Vol. 13. No. 7
Along the shoreline of the Pacific Ocean, the city of Richmond is uniquely surrounded on three sides by the 854 mile mighty Fraser River. Consisting of seventeen islands, only Lulu and Sea are inhabited. First Nations people were the first inhabitants of this cluster of followed by European farmers who first settled there in the 1860’s. Japanese were attracted to the area and by the late 1800s, Steveston Village’s bustled with fourteen fish canneries packing more than 195,000 cases of salmon yearly. The Japanese and Chinese left to join the 1858 Fraser Valley gold rush. Some later found work on the Canadian Pacific Railway, or return to Richmond to work in the fishing and farming industry (primarily blueberries and cranberries.)