History of the central Fraser Valley

Community History for Mission and Surrounding Communities

Anderson, Frank W. Bill Miner . . . Stagecoach and Train Robber Frontier Publishing Ltd. 1968. Heritage House Publishing Company, 1980. Reference copy in Genealogy, Mission Library. An internet search will also provide references to articles and other books, including  The Fraser Valley Story,  Donald E. White, Chapter “Canada’s First Train Robbery” p. 69 to 94

Atkinson, Kathy et al As It Was: Mission City and District 1973 An Opportunities for Youth project sponsored by HRD Canada. available at Mission Library and Mission Archives. Overview of the arrival of early settlers throughout the area, photos from Mission Community Archives. Updated in collaboration with Daphne Sleigh in 2023.

Billesberger, Val, John McLoughlin, Donna Perret Wheels in Motion: A History of Transportation in Mission Summer Canada Works project, published by Mission District Historical Society, 1984. Includes chapters on water transportation, railways, roads; numerous photos from MCA collection.

Carlson, Keith Thor, Ed. A Sto:lo Coast-Salish Historical Atlas  Douglas & McIntyre, University of Washington Press, Sto:lo Heritage Trust, 2001.

Carlson, Keith Thor, You Are Asked to Witness: The Sto:lo in Canada’s Pacific Coast History,  Sto:lo Heritage Trust. 1997

Cherrington, John. Mission on the Fraser: Patterns of a Small City’s Progress. Mitchell Press, 1974. Out of print.

Edberg-Lee, Karin.  Recollections of Silverhill: The History of a Settlement.Published by Karin Edberg-Lee, printed at Sue’s Copy Place, Mission.  1989, revised 2009. Includes Index of Surnames.

Glavin, Terry & former students of St. Mary’s. Amongst God’s Own: the Enduring Legacy of St. Mary’s Mission. Longhouse Publishing. 2002.

Interwoven stories of the Indian Residential School, the O.M.I, and aboriginal students who attended. Chapters: An Apocalyptic Vision, the Prophets, a Survivor’s Story, Civilization on Fifty Cents a Day, the Passion Plays.

Hill, Ann L.  People, Places, Things.  Interlink. BPL971.133 Hil, SPL971. HLL 1980

Memoir of life on the farm and history of Silverdale and area families

Kells, Bill Heritage Building Restoration: Mission CPR Station Kinsmen Club of Mission, 1994. Proposed plan for the relocation and restoration of the Mission CPR Station (station building burned down in 1996?)

McCombs, Arnold & Wilfred Chittendon. The Harrison – Chehalis Challenge: Logging History. Treeline Publications, 1990. A brief history of Harrison Lake and Harrison Mills touching on the part played by mining and sternwheelers but concentrating on the evolution of the sawmilling and logging industries and some of the individuals involved in this development.

Mission’s Catholic Community and the Town That Grew Around it  Saint Joseph Parish, Mission, B.C. 1988. Early history of the Catholic Church, the priests and parishioners

Mohs, Gordon Stalo Sacred Ground Fraser Valley College. 1987.

Neufeld, Harvey, Ruth Derksen Siemens, Robert Martens First Nations & First Settlers in the Fraser Valley 1890 to 1960.

Robertson, Betty, Catherine Marcellus, Betty Dandy. Mission’s Living Memorials. Friesen Printers, Manitoba, 1992. Story of the Mission Memorial Hospital, built in 1925 and the nurses and doctors who worked there. The building on 5th  Ave. has been designated as a heritage site by the District of Mission.

Schroeder, Anreas. Carved From Cedar: Mission B.C. 1861 – 1992

The Mission Foundation, 1991. Stories include the great Land Auction, founding of the municipality, History of the Sto:lo, smallpox epidemic, founding of OMI, native Passion Play, Billy Miner, early social/economic development, WW1, temperance referendum, Japanese evacuation, flood of 1948, early fifties, collapse of the railway bridge, the new urban age.

Sleigh, Daphne. Go Ahead or Go Home: The Tretheway Story Vicarro Publishing, Abbotsford. 1994. Chapter five: the Plan for Mission Junction pp 39 to 52 covers 1883 to 1896.

Sleigh, Daphne. Discovering Deroche: From Nicomen to Lake Errock. Abbotsford Printing, 1983.

Sleigh, Daphne, People of the Harrison  1990

Syrette, Sharon E. Hatzic Elementary School: 1911 to 2011 Centennial Memory Book Published by Clio’s Chronicles, printed at Sue’s Copy Place, Mission, BC. October 2011. ISBN 978-0-9869368-0-7

High Water The Flood of 1948: An in-depth Look at the Flood’s Devastation and the First Hand Stories of Those Who Endured It Impact Creations, Abbotsford, B.C. 1998.