The story of Burrard Inlet is also the story of Greater Vancouver, the third largest port in North America and one of the most beautiful cities in the world. This engaging history traces the development of the area from the First Nations settlements dating back thousands of years, to the early European explorers and developers (and tree-huggers!), to the modern-day metropolis that surrounds the inlet.

Meet John Morton, who arrived in the dense forests of what is now downtown Vancouver and, with two other men, purchased the 500 acres stretching from Stanley Park to Burrard Street - and got dubbed the Three Greenhorns for wasting their money on useless land. Shake hands with entrepreneurs like Gassy Jack, the saloonkeeper for whom Gastown was named. Revisit the many squatters' settlements that have come and gone around the inlet for hundreds of years and been home to hundreds of people, including the writer Malcolm Lowry. And relive the Great Explosion of March 6, 1945, when a ship at Burrard Dry Dock exploded, killing eight men and showering Vancouver with its cargo of pickles.

The book is both a carefully researched history and an entertaining account of the full range of vigorous human activity that helped shape a busy, beautiful waterway and one of the world's great cities. It was shortlisted for the City of Vancouver Book Award in 2002.

Doreen Armitage has lived in the Vancouver/Howe Sound area for 35 years and has spent a great deal of time boating on BC's waterways. Her articles have been published in a variety of magazines including Canadian Geographic, Outdoors Canada, Canadian Heritage and Canadian Living. Her books include Around the Sound: A History of Howe Sound-Whistler and Burrard Inlet: A History which was shortlisted for the 2002 City of Vancouver Book Award.

Doreen Armitage's profile page

• Short-listed, City of Vancouver Book Award

"Armitage is known for her attention to detail . . . A noteworthy addition to North Shore history."
-North Shore News

North Shore News

"When Vancouverites speak of a picture-postcard view, they mean the North Shore mountains and Burrard Inlet. Doreen Armitage unfurls the prehistory and history of these 115 square kilometres of water. Her style is quiet and textbook-like, but her research packs a punch. Did you know that the name originally given to Point Grey was Noon Breakfast Point? That Capt. George Vancouver named Burrard Inlet after his naval friend Sir Harry Burrard, who pronounced it with the stress on the first syllable? That a Scot named George Black ran an abattoir on False Creek in the 1870s and kept his pet bear chained outside? Get your surprising historical facts here."
-Rebecca Wigod, Vancouver Sun

Vancouver Sun

"This fine work by Armitage - who previously wrote an important history of the Howe Sound-Whistler area - adds even more to our understanding of how British Columbia became what it is today."
-Dave Obee, Victoria Times-Colonist

Victoria Times-Colonist