"But this is beside the question I started to write about, which was the bridge and its approach on Johnson Street end. I repeat what I said in reviewing four old pictures of 1866 which appeared in the Colonist of a few weeks ago. In speaking of the old buildings to be seen on the water-front next to the sand and gravel concern, ‘there are two which, I remarked, should not have been allowed to remain so long.’ One was known in the earliest times as the ‘salmon house,’ where the Hudson’s Bay Company salted, packed and stored their salmon. It may have been considered an ornament in those days, but in these days of progress it is an eyesore and very much in the way. Opposite this building, and across the street, was manufactured most of the ‘tangle leg’ whiskey sold to the Indians in those days, and which drove them crazy, rather than made them drunk.
"Edgar Fawcett."
CHAPTER XXIX.
MR. FAWCETT RETIRES FROM THE CUSTOMS.
"Pioneer Pensioned by the Department—One of the Oldest Residents of the City.
"After twenty-nine years’ service in His Majesty’s customs as assistant appraiser in charge of the Postal Package and Express Office, Mr. Edgar Fawcett has just received word that he has been retired with a substantial pension. While glad to retire, Mr. Fawcett said he feels that he will miss the favor he has met with at the Customs House week by week for so many years.
"Mr. Fawcett was presented with an address by the customs staff yesterday and a presentation was made of a leather chair and stool. The presentation address was signed by every member of the customs staff.
"Mr. Edgar Fawcett is a pioneer. He came to Victoria in 1859 and is one of the best informed men in the city concerning the history and material development of this portion of the province, and he himself has taken no insignificant part in affairs of a general public nature. He has written many reminiscences of early days in Victoria and is a recognized authority along these lines.
"Mr. Fawcett is a native of Australia, having been born of English ancestry at Sydney, N.S.W., on February 1st, 1847. His father, who was a carpet manufacturer at the noted British manufactory of carpets, Kiddermaster, was a cousin of Sir Rowland Hill, the British Postmaster-General, whose work for the penny post is known. The family emigrated to Australia in 1838, and remained there until 1849, when they were among the ‘forty-niners’ to become pioneers of California. Mr. Fawcett, Sr., invested at San Francisco in a vessel which he engaged in freighting lumber between British Columbia and San Francisco, and this craft was lost in the Straits of Juan de Fuca in 1857, causing him some financial embarrassment. In 1858 the father came to Victoria to recoup his fortunes, the family following a year later. Mr. Fawcett, Sr., was an honored citizen of Victoria for thirty years, and for three years filled the post of Government agent at Nanaimo. In 1889 he returned to England and died at the age of seventy-six years. Of his sons, Edgar Fawcett and Rowland W. Fawcett remained in British Columbia.