TheBritish American Land Company (BALC) was a company formed in 1832 for the purpose of purchasing land and encouraging British immigration toLower Canada. It was founded and promoted byJohn Galt,Edward Ellice[a] and others to acquire and manage the development of almost 1,100,000 acres (1,719 sq mi; 4,452 km2) ofCrown land and other lands in theEastern Townships of Lower Canada, in order to encourage the immigration of British subjects to the region.
In comparison to theCanada Company, a similar enterprise inUpper Canada that thrived through collaboration with the local government, the BALC indulged inland speculation, made immigration a secondary priority, and struggled throughout its existence.[2]
A group of investors inMontreal, headed byFrancis Nathaniel Burton, proposed organizing a Lower Canada Land Company, and sentWilliam Bowman Felton to London to promote their venture. While there, he encountered a group with similar objectives. The groups decided to combine together, and, at a meeting in February 1832, decided to proceed with creating the British American Land Company.[3][b]
An Act for amending an Act passed in the fourth year of the reign of his late Majesty King William the Fourth, intituled, "An Act for granting certain Powers to the British American Land Company," and for granting further Powers to the said Company.
operate directly in any of the provinces and colonies inBritish North America by virtue of the royal charter, and appoint commissioners and agents for the purpose of purchasing and disposing of land therein;
where anyseigniorial lands are acquired by the company (whether heldà titre de fief et seigneurie,à titre de fief en arrière-fief, orà titre de cens), commute all feudal and seigniorial rights, so that such lands will be held infree and common socage (and any Crown lands acquired by the company would have the same status); and
hireindentured servants, for periods of time not to exceed seven years, for service in British North America.
The lands of the British American Land Company were chiefly concentrated between the upper Saint-François,Lake Mégantic on the Chaudière, and theInternational Boundary
In December 1833, it was announced that an agreement had been reached withEdward Smith-Stanley,Secretary of State for War and the Colonies, to acquire a total of 847,661 acres (1,324 sq mi; 3,430 km2) for a purchase price of £120,000. This consisted of 596,325 acres (932 sq mi; 2,413 km2) of unsurveyed lands in the County of Sherbrooke;[e] together with 251,336 acres (393 sq mi; 1,017 km2) inCrown reserves and surveyedCrown lands in the Counties of Sherbrooke,Shefford and Stanstead.[10]
Upon Fraser's appointment in 1835, the Company's activities began in earnest, being concentrated in three places:[11]
BALC would later acquire additional lands through public auctions and private sales,[j] bringing its total holdings up to 1,094,272 acres (1,710 sq mi; 4,428 km2).[6][17]
Wharves and warehouses were constructed at Port St. Francis, as weregrist mills,sawmills and other facilities within the territory.[11] Lands were sold subject to a 20%down payment, with the balance payable in three subsequent annual instalments, and the Company also offered to help clear the land and build a log house upon it for an extra charge.[11] During 1836, during the first year of activity, three hundred families had settled in Victoria, occupying 23,000 acres (35.9 sq mi; 93.1 km2), while 10,000 acres (15.6 sq mi; 40.5 km2) had been sold in other districts.[18]
By deliberately working to increase the English-speaking portion of the population of Lower Canada, it was denounced by theParti patriote and was referred to in theNinety-two Resolutions adopted by theLegislative Assembly of Lower Canada in 1834.[k][20] It was also denounced during theLower Canada Rebellion in 1837, where a proclamation issued byPatriote leaderRobert Nelson declared that all unsold Company lands "are of right the property of the State of Lower Canada."[21]
Sherbrooke, where the Saint-François andMagog Rivers meet (1839). The British American Land Company would later exploit the waterpower arising from itswater rights to promote the town's industrial development.
The expenses incurred to open up the lands were high in relation to the revenues earned from their subsequent disposition.[22][23] The 1837 Rebellion discouraged immigration to Lower Canada,[6] frightening off the better class of potential immigrants,[l] and many of the current settlers were defaulting on their payments or even abandoning their lands.[18] Many of the local agents were also neglecting their duties or pilfering the company stores,[18] and the Company resisted attempts by local councils to imposeproperty taxes on its holdings.[25] This would eventually lead to the Company experiencing financial problems in 1841, forcing it to return 511,237 acres (799 sq mi; 2,069 km2) of the St. Francis tract to theProvince of Canada.[26][m]
In 1843, the Company began focus its efforts on selling land to the local French-Canadian population,[29][n] disposing it on new terms, consisting of no down payment, interest payments only for the first ten years, with the principal then being payable in four equal annual instalments.[31] In the beginning, such obligations could be settled bypayment in kind.[32]
In 1858, the Company returned a further 292,729 acres (457 sq mi; 1,185 km2) to the Province, in consideration for certain sums due to the Crown.[33]
Exploitation of natural resources and manufacturing
The Company's finances would subsequently improve, and its earnings would be invested in other industrial concerns, includingrailroads,[o]mining[p] and Sherbrooke'stextile mills,[38][q] and it would operate other industrial enterprises itself.[r] It would also get into the business of lending money, and, in 1876, the law governinginterest was modified with respect to the loans made by the Company, so that it could charge an annual rate up to 8%,[41] in place of the then legal maximum of 6%.[42]
It would also begin to sell landholdings in large blocks for their value astimber. In 1872, it sold 99,833 acres (156 sq mi; 404 km2) toCyrus Sullivan Clark ofBangor, Maine, who purchased a further 7,901 acres (12 sq mi; 32 km2) from the company in the following year.[43] These holdings were approximately half the size of the Crowntimber limits that he already possessed.[43][s]
By 1910, it had sold the greater part of its holdings,[46] but continued to operate until itsdissolution in 1948.[47] Most of the Company's records appear to have since been carelessly destroyed.[48]
Coat of arms of British American Land Company[50][51]
Crest
A plough proper in front of a garb Or
Escutcheon
Argent on a saltire Azure between in chief an oak tree eradicated, in fess two bee hives and in base a ship under sail all proper, a cornucopia Or, on a chief Ermine a lion passant guardant Or between a thistle proper and a harp Or
Supporters
Dexter a woodman holding an axe sinister a reaper holding a sickle proper
Motto
Neu segnes jaceant terrae ("Do not let even poor and infertile grounds lie neglected")
^in addition to his role as Commissioner (in which he had an activist role in investing the Company's assets in industrial development), Heneker was alsoMayor of Sherbrooke for a time, Chairman of theEastern Townships Bank and other industrial concerns, as well as having a close link for many years withBishop's College[8]
^as the result of the construction of better roads into the district, development of the port was later abandoned[15]
^notably being able to employcherry picking in selecting the most valuable land, at a price less than either theupset price or price by auction anywhere in the district[16]
^one of the supporters of this measure wasMarcus Child, the localMLA for Stanstead[19]
^in 1841, only 400 of the 28,000 emigrants landing at Quebec would go to the Eastern Townships, and less than 1,500 acres (2.3 sq mi; 6.1 km2) were sold[24]
^into which other colonisation efforts would be undertaken[27][28]
^inCompton County, this would lead to the anglophone and francophone populations becoming approximately equal by the end of the 19th Century[30]
^TheSt. Lawrence and Atlantic Railroad,[34] in which Galt and the Company respectively invested $30,000 and $96,000 in shares.[35] The enterprise was seen by Galt as being beneficial to developing the remainder of the Company's estates, as well as other parts of the Townships.[36]
^the British American Exploring and Mining Association[37]
^including the Sherbrooke Cotton Factory,[39] the firstjoint-stock industrial company to be incorporated in Canada,[35] in which Galt arranged for the Company's support in rescuing it from the verge of bankruptcy in 1847,[35] and the Sherbrooke Manufacturing Company[40]
^Galt managed a large sawmill as well as a factory for making pails[35]
^Rolph, Thomas (1836)."Victoria".A Brief Account, Together with Observations, Made During a Visit in the West Indies, and a Tour through the United States of America, in Parts of the Years 1832-3. Dundas: G. Heyworth Hackstaff.
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