Joseph William Trutch
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Sir Joseph William Trutch KCMG |
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Joseph Trutch, c. June 1870
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| 1st Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia | |
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In office July 5, 1871 – June 27, 1876 |
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| Monarch | Victoria |
| Governor General |
The Lord Lisgar The Earl of Dufferin |
| Premier |
John Foster McCreight Amor De Cosmos George Anthony Walkem Andrew Charles Elliott |
| Preceded by | Anthony Musgrave |
| Succeeded by | Albert Norton Richards |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
January 18, 1826 Ashcott, England |
| Died | March 4, 1904 (aged 78) Somerset, England |
| Nationality | English, Canadian |
| Spouse(s) | Julia Elizabeth Hyde (m. 1855) |
| Occupation | engineer, surveyor |
| Profession | Politician |
Sir Joseph William Trutch, KCMG (18 January 1826 – 4 March 1904) was an English-born Canadian engineer, surveyor and politician.
Born in Ashcott, England, Trutch's early childhood was spent largely in Jamaica, although his family returned to England in 1834, where he attended grammar school in Devon. Following an apprenticeship to civil engineer Sir John Rennie, he travelled to California after hearing news of the California Gold Rush of 1849. He arrived in British Columbia in 1859, following the Fraser River gold rush of 1858.
He found employment by working various government contracts as a surveyor, and in 1862 was contracted to construct a portion of the Cariboo Road between Chapmans Bar and Boston Bar along the canyon of the Fraser River. Tolls collected from a suspension bridge along the road, along with prudent land acquisitions, made Trutch a wealthy man.
Beginning in the 1860s, Trutch became involved in colonial politics, serving as the Chief Commissioner of Land and Works, and became a well-known resident of Victoria. As the Chief Commissioner of Land and Works, he was a member of the Legislative Council of British Columbia in the colony. Throughout his political career, Trutch was noted for his hostility to land claims by First Nations people, and demonstrated contempt for their concerns. In a letter to his mother, Charlotte, regarding the Indians of the Oregon Territory he wrote, "I think they are the ugliest and laziest creatures I ever saw and we should as soon think of being afraid of our dogs as of them." (23 June 1850, Joseph Trutch Papers, UBCL, folder A1.b.) And in a letter to the Secretary of State, "I have not yet met with a single Indian whom I consider to have attained even the most glimmering perception of the Christian creed." (26 September 1871, BC Papers Connected with the Indian Land, p. 101) In 1867 Trutch refused to recognize the legitimacy of the reserves established by former Lieutenant-Governor James Douglas and had them re-surveyed, reducing their size by 91%.
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