1791

First European sighting of West Vancouver.
Pilot Don Jose Narvaez passed through English Bay and explored the northwest to Jervis Inlet.

1792

On July 3 Captain George Vancouver entered First Narrows and explored Burrard Inlet. First Nations peoples from the village of Holmulchesun, located at the mouth of Capilano Riber, greeted him.

1858

The B.C. mainland was proclaimed a British Colony. Surveyor S.J. Dawson recommended to the Canadian Government that the West Vancouver area be the terminus for the Transcontinental Railway.

1859

Captain Richards surveyed from the H.M.S. Plumper and recommended the Burrard Inlet as a more protected harbour for settlement and the railway. He pointed out that the South Shore was more accessible by land. Richards selected Point Atkinson as a British Naval Reserve.

1863

Corporal Turner of the British Royal Engineers completed a survey setting out the boundaries of Reserve No. 5, home of the Squamish Nation, at the mouth of the Capilano River.

1868

John "Navvy Jack" Thomas, who began the first ferry service across Burrard Inlet, began extracting sand and gravel from the west side of the Capilano River. This material was used in the making of concrete and was transported in his five-ton sloop to construction sites in Moodyville, Hastings and Gastown.

1869

Sewell Moody obtained timber leases for both sides of the Capilano.

1870

Sewell Moody, who had purchased the Pioneer Mill in 1864, acquired two timber leases west of the Capilano River. The smaller lease extended along the shore west of Cypress Creek to Point Atkinson and was soon exhausted of available timber. The larger lease extended east from 22nd Street to the Capilano River and north to the headwaters of Brothers Creek. Moody's main camp at Ambleside operated into the 1890's.

1872

James Blake became the first non-native landowner in West Vancouver, pre-empting 160 acres on either side of Lawson Creek (17th Street).

1873

John "Navvy Jack" Thomas, who had married the granddaughter of Chief Capilano, sold his half interest in the Granville Hotel and arranged to take over Blake's pre-emption and built a house for his bride.

1874

Arthur Finney began construction of a wooden lighthouse on May 4th at Point Atkinson.

1875

The lantern for Point Atkinson arrived in January and in March the first Light Keeper, Edwin Woodward began work for an annual salary of $800. First pre-emption on Bowen Island by William Eaton.

1876

Josias Charles Hughes pre-empted 121 acres at Ambleside, the territory between Tomase's property and the Capilano Indian Reserve. Isaac Fisher, a New Westminster banker, filed a pre-emption and mineral claim in the Whytecliff area.

1882

The B.C. Government suspended the pre-emption privileges and cancelled those on which the required improvements had not been made - to prevent land speculation until the location of the railway terminus had been determined.

1885

The first commuter, - "Navvy Jack" Thomas, used a rowboat to commute to Vancouver from his home on the West Vancouver waterfront.

1886

The railway terminus was established and the City of Vancouver incorporated in April. On June 13th everything west of Hastings Mill burnt to the ground. The shoreline of West Vancouver was rapidly pre-empted. This pattern of settlement along the water was dictated by the early settlers dependency on the water and lack of access by land. A road survey crew ran a preliminary trail from Capilano to Eagle Harbour but this was quickly overgrown.

Construction began on the first Capilano Dam.