page_title: White Rock, British Columbia
section_title: Early history
hierarchical_section_title: White Rock, British Columbia / History / Early history
caption_attribution_description: English: Clock, lookout platform, and pier in the background. March 26th, 2011. White Rock Pier, Semiahmoo Bay, White Rock, British Columbia, Canada.
context_page_description: White Rock is a city in British Columbia, Canada, and a member municipality of Metro Vancouver. It borders Semiahmoo Bay to the south and is surrounded on three sides by South Surrey. To the southeast across a footbridge lies the Semiahmoo First Nation, which is within the borders of Surrey. Semiahmoo Bay and the Southern Gulf Islands in the Strait of Georgia are also to the south.
context_section_description: The Straits Salish people dominated the region from Boundary Bay in the north to Birch Bay in the south (in the U.S.). Semiahmoo First Nation permanent encampments were known to exist between 1791, the first European contact, and the 1850s, the beginnings of European settlement. These were located along the waterfront at the eastern and western limits of the present City of White Rock. The Semiahmoo people also constructed forts as lookouts for raiders from the northern first nations; one is located in the Ocean Park area.
  The Oregon boundary dispute culminated in the Oregon Treaty of 1846, which settled the outstanding border issues between Great Britain and the United States. Previously, these issues had been put on hold through a shared occupancy agreement of the Oregon territory by the two nations in the Treaty of 1818. In turn, the International Boundary Survey Commission began in 1857 to set the boundary between the United States and British North America, roughly along the 49th parallel, which runs through Semiahmoo Bay and Boundary Bay to Point Roberts, Washington.
  The Semiahmoo Trail still exists in White Rock and South Surrey, running from the site of the Boundary Commission Camp at the estuary of the Campbell River, overland to Mud Bay north of Crescent Beach. An 1865 survey map calls this route the 'Telegraph Trail'. During the real-estate boom of the 1980s and 90s, the City of Surrey preserved much of the trail, extending it from 20 Avenue to the Nicomekl River. On 148 Street, a specially constructed "Semiahmoo Trail" pedestrian overpass keeps the trail intact.
caption: Clock and lookout platform, which have since been revamped in 2018/19
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