Search for B.C.'s Best Symbol: Nature Semifinals
Red cedar or Okanagan cherry? Gold nugget or Dogwood flower? It's up to you to choose which advance to final 8
The ways different pieces of this province become symbols are as diverse as British Columbia itself — as two entries going head-to-head this week make clear.
The Dogwood flower and the gold nugget have, at various times, been arguably the most emblematic pieces of nature in British Columbia.
In the 1850s, the discovery of gold along the Fraser River by the Nlaka'pamux people led to tens of thousands of people descending on what was an unceded territory lightly administered by the Hudson's Bay Company.
Gold led to riches — and regulations, dreamers — and regulations, and the founding of the Colony of British Columbia in 1858.
"It was certainly one of the things that started industry in this area, for better or for worse," said Stuart Cawood, the manager of public programming and media for Barkerville, the gold era boomtown near Quesnel that exists in mostly preserved form as a reminder of that era of the province.
"The rush has changed. People aren't clamouring like they used to with 35,000 people coming up here, but it's still a very important part of our lives, even if we don't see it in the same way."
Of diplomas and logos
But if the gold nugget represents the start of B.C.'s colonization and modern history, the Dogwood flower represents the next era, where a young province looked to give meaning and importance to the natural land around them.
"It's a case of settler British Columbians trying to make British Columbia home, and they take something like the Dogwood flower, and it fits into a very English esthetic of the country garden," said Forrest Pass, a curator at Library and Archives Canada.
Pass said dogwood-mania was so rampant in British Columbia that the Dogwood Protection Act was passed in 1931, making it illegal to pick or cut down the tree without approval, and at one time, a legend spread that the dogwood tree was used to make the cross used in the Crucifixion.
The bloom from the tree was eventually made B.C.'s official flower, and in the second half of the 20th century, became the logo for B.C. Ferries, and former TV station BCTV (now Global News), and was the name given to high school diplomas in this province.
"It is a venerable symbol, protected from a very early age, seen as a unique identifier of, at the very least, southern Vancouver Island and B.C. identity," said Pass.
Two iconic symbols of British Columbia, both flourishing in different centuries.
But which one is best?
14 symbols left in the competition
The Search for B.C.'s Best Symbol continues today with two votes on the four remaining entries in the nature section of our friendly summer competition: Dogwood versus the gold nugget, along with the Okanagan cherry against the Western redcedar Tree.
After today, the remaining matchups this week are the following:
- Wednesday: Totem poles vs. Nanaimo bars, Cowichan sweaters vs. Northwest Coast art.
- Thursday: B.C. flag vs. Terry Fox statues, Ogopogo vs. tree huggers.
The winners will advance to the quarterfinals, which begin next week.
Voting closes at 10 p.m. PT. May the best symbols advance!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
