Erected by the Native Sons of B.C. and unveiled by Sir Richard McBride 1908 to commemorate the discovery voyage down the river by Simon Fraser 1808.
Relocated to this site by Laing Property Corporation and rededicated by Pauline Jewett M.P. to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the Fraser River Harbour Commission May 29, 1988.
A party of twenty-three left Fort George in four canoes on May 28, 1808. From the outset, the aboriginal inhabitants warned Fraser that the river below would be all but impossible to pass. Worse, even the portages were extremely difficult, and Fraser's crews frequently ran dangerous rapids to avoid even more dangerous or laborious portages. Thirteen days after setting out, Fraser abandoned his canoes above present day Lillooet, and his party continued their journey on foot, occasionally borrowing canoes from the aboriginal communities they encountered.
Fraser proved adept at establishing friendly relations with the tribes he met, being careful to have them send word to tribes downstream of his impending arrival and good intentions. For the most part, this tactic was effective, but Fraser encountered a hostile reception by the Musqueam people as he approached the lower reaches of the river at present day Vancouver. Their hostile pursuit of Fraser and his men meant that Fraser was not able to get more than a glimpse of the Strait of Georgia on July 2, 1808. A dispute with the neighbouring Kwantlen people led to a pursuit of Fraser and his men that was only broken off near present day Hope. The journey culminated in further disappointment as Fraser discovered from his readings that the river he had just navigated was not, in fact, the Columbia. The descent had taken Fraser and his crew thirty-six days.
Returning to Fort George proved to be an even more perilous exercise, as the hostility Fraser and his crew encountered from the aboriginal communities near the mouth of the river spread upstream. The ongoing hostility and threats to the lives of the Europeans resulted in a near mutiny by Fraser's crew, who wanted to escape overland. Quelling the revolt, Fraser and his men continued north upstream from present-day Yale, arriving in Fort George on August 6, 1808. The journey upstream took thirty-seven days. In total it took Fraser and his crew two-and-a-half months to travel from Fort George to Musqueam and back.