Glimpses of Annacis

What we consider "Annacis Island", on the Fraser River southeast of Vancouver, is actually a misnomer and an amalgamation of several recently distinct islands, fused together by a massive industrial park project. Named by Fur Trader James McMillan for his Hudsons Bay Company Clerk, Francois Annance, the island was once adjacent to a First Nations village of Musqueam people which numbered, quite probably, in the thousands. Lying, as it does, a short distance from the mouth of one of the world's great providing rivers of protein, recently styled the Fraser, Annacis is part of an ancient fishing and battle ground; long a place of industriousness.
In the 1950's, development giant Grosvenor-Laing bought up and developed large parcels of Annacis, Patrick and Robson Islands. Annacis was then a patchwork of farm, forest and flood channels while Robson Island was completely forested, laying just off the northeastern tip of Annacis. Patrick Island was located in Annacis Channel, snuggled right next to its larger sister. The gap between Annacis and Robson was soon filled in and a bridge was placed, connecting it with Queensborough, across Annacis Channel to the north.
In the following decades, a deep-sea port and a sewage treatment facility were installed on the island. The largest recent change was 20 years ago when the Alex Fraser Bridge and a massive highway were built, slicing across the centre of the island. Now, almost all of Annacis is a blanket of industria; a mat of rails, concrete and loading bays. What was then Robson Island is now indistinguishable from the rest of Annacis, save a muddy back eddy lined by a thin buffer of trees. The flood channel separating Patrick and Annacis Islands was also filled.
Yet, like so many other spots in the Lower Mainland, a fleeting glimpse into history is still available should one contend with the scratches of blackberry bushes or the mind-numbing truck noise, exhaust and wind of standing on a freeway bridge, suspended hundreds of feet in the air.
That glimpse is visible in such spots as Annieville, on the south bank, opposite Annacis, where an inconspicuous and ordinary looking set of dilapidated pilings juts out into the Fraser River, amongst all the rest. The difference is that some of these particular pilings are at least hundreds and hundreds of years old, part of a fishing system set in place by some of the most advanced non-agriculturally based people in the history of humankind. There at Suwq'eqsun', the Musqueam resided for as long as 8,000 years, one of the oldest known sites of human settlement in the country.
The fleeting glimpse is visible too in the tiny cove just off the freeway bridge from Queensborough. If one battles the whipping branches and thorns-- and takes care not to slip in the ever-growing deposits of mud, one comes upon a spot where all is framed beautifully by the stands of riverside trees; cottonwoods, alders, even a cedar or two for good measure. Distantly east, the Pattullo Bridge is viewed as through a portal of time. This little muddy cove once marked the eastern end of the small channel between Annacis and Patrick Islands.

Photographers, for the most part, are drawn to Annacis Island on a conceptual level. Here can be viewed a man altered landscape contained by the necessary geography of the river. This is an industrial creature, framed by mountains and river. That motivation, in and of itself, as outlined above, proved inadequate for me. Sometimes, it pays off to dig a little deeper into the mud and get dirty. So with that, I give you a short, 20 photograph gallery of my walk through Queensborough, Annacis and on into North Delta on Friday.

Enter Photo Gallery

Comments

[Raul]

Thank you, thank you so very much Keith!

This is such a great write-up. I hope you don't mind that I redirect some of my readers towards this awesome essay (I'm going to write something about the interface industrial/urban). As it turns out, that's part of what I do in my day job. And I love industry (I know, some environmentalists would want to ask me to return my enviro-geek card!)

There is a need for industry, and your essay makes it clear that industry and society are inextricably linked, whether we like it or not. Great job!

I'll have a post about Mount Pleasant and its evolution from industrial to urban sometime soon, and I'll link this essay there.

[keefer]

Thank you for the feedback and please do link away. I hope my little essay didn't come across as too "rah rah" about the industrial state of the island. My intent was primarily one of retrospect, although further study is needed. Surprisingly, I've come across a few people who are interested in the history of this place.

As always, thanks for dropping by, Raul. Look forward to your essay.

[Teresa]

Here I am sounding too "rah rah" about your Annacis photos but you've really outdone yourself on this set. I do agree with Stephen that the inukshuk shadow was inspired.

You have this great gift of word combined with a great eye for photography. Word without the image and visa versa isn't enough to convey the experience of the walk. Together, the reader feels he/she is there with you wandering through the fields and alleys. Seriously, this stuff belongs in a book.