Pioneering Days

Burns Bog is named after Dominic Burns, who purchased the Great Delta Bog in 1905 for $26,000, which is about $650,000 in today’s dollars. That’s a pretty good deal, considering that most of Burns Bog was purchased by government in 2004 for $73 million, but bogs were not as highly valued then as they are today. The Burns family ran a highly successful cattle business and an international chain of butcher stores. The Great Delta Bog became known as Burns Ranch, and would have been used to range cattle and sheep. Click here to see a 1907 Delta Optimist article about Mr. Burns’ plans to “improve” the bog for farming.

A bog can be a dangerous place for animals, both wild and domestic. There are many poisonous plants native to Burns Bog, which could have been eaten accidentally by the ranch animals. For example, western bog-laurel (Kalmia microphylla ssp. occidentalis) and bog-rosemary (Andromeda polifolia) both contain a poison called andromedotoxin, which can cause low blood pressure leading to breathing difficulties, dizziness, and digestive problems (Pojar and MacKinnon, 1994). The sink holes and quicksand-like peat pose a particular risk to animals because, unlike humans who can pull themselves out with their hands, any four-legged struggle to escape would only cause the animal to sink deeper into the peat. In 2009, a young deer was rescued from a ditch in Burns Bog, where it was stuck up to its neck in peat. Due to the low nutrient availability in bog plants, and the dangerous terrain, it is likely that most of Burns Bog went largely unused during its brief stint as ranch land.

Delta Museum and Archives Photo #1988-39-3.

In these early days, it was common practice for a first generation Canadian child of Irish origin to receive a special package in the mail from family back in Ireland. The package contained a block of very dark peat, which was meant to share a bit of their father’s native country with the young children who had never seen Ireland. The young Irish-Canadian families burned the peat in their fireplace “so that they would have the smoke of an Irish fire in their nostrils” (Delta Optimist, July 12, 1942).

Delta Museum and Archives Photo # 1988-5-12.

Reference: Pojar, J. and A. MacKinnon. 1994. Plants of coastal British Columbia including Washington, Oregon & Alaska. BC Ministry of Forests and Lone Pine Publishing, Vancouver, BC.

...back to top