Fort Victoria (British Columbia) Fort Victoria (British Columbia) Fort Victoria began as a fur trading post of the Hudson’s Bay Company and was the headquarters of HBC operations in the Columbia District, a large fur trading area now part of the province of British Columbia, Canada and the U.S. state of Washington. Construction of Fort Victoria in 1843 highlighted the beginning of a permanent British settlement now known as Victoria, the capital city of British Columbia. The fort itself was demolished in November 1864 as the town continued to grow as a commercial centre serving the local area as well as trading with California,
History of British Columbia Columbia from departing Canada. In fulfillment of the promise, the last spike of the Canadian Pacific Railway was driven in Craigellachie on 7 November 1885. (No good road yet existed between British Columbia and other provinces; until the completion of the Trans-Canada Highway automobiles had to enter the United States to travel to eastern Canada.) The mining frontier in B.C. led to the creation of many mines and smelters, mostly through American investment. One of the world's largest smelters still exists today in Trail. The capital and work to be found in B.C. during the turn of the 19th century