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7103 W Saanich Rd |
British Columbia Tourism Region : Vancouver Island
Description From Owner:
Tod Inlet
- John Sluggett settled here in 1876, and the post office, which opened in 1920, was Sluggett until 1925, when it was renamed Brentwood Bay.
- The new name was taken from Brentwood in Essex, England, the home of R.M. Horne-Payne, president of the British Columbia Electric Company. The company operated an interurban railway linking the area with Victoria and had a powerhouse here.
- Tod Inlet - Named after John Tod (1794-1882). Born in Scotland, he joined the HBC in 1813 and began many years of service in isolated posts.
- To illustrate that isolation, Tod liked to tell how news of the Battle of Waterloo did not reach him until some three years after the famous victory belatedly but loyally he then fired off a salute at his fort.
- In 1823 Tod carne to British Columbia, where he rose to the rank of Chief Trader. He was in charge at Fort Alexandria in 1841 when Samuel Black, the Chief Factor at Fort Kamloops, was slain.
- Tod organized the search for the murderer. (See Tranquille.) The next year he built a new fort at Kamloops, where he was now stationed.
- In 1846, according to one of Tod's stories, a friendly Shuswap chief warned him that 300 braves intended to murder the whites when next they journeyed from the fort.
- Tod's response was to ride to the encampment of the would-be murderers, tell them that an epidemic of smallpox was coming their way, and add that out of kindness he had come to vaccinate them all.
- Perhaps he was a little rough with the lancet, but vaccinate them he did, and their gratitude brought an end to the 'Shuswap Conspiracy.' (Their swollen right arms must also have made them temporarily hors de combat.)
- Tod retired in 1851 and settled in Victoria. He was too good a man to leave idle, and Governor Douglas appointed him first to the 'Council of Government' of Vancouver Island, and later to the Legislative Council.
- Douglas also made him a justice of the peace. Tod lived to a fine old age, shrewd and canny, with his mind clear to the last. Also MOUNT TOD, northeast of Kamloops.
- With permission from G.P.V and Helen B. Akrigg 1997 British Columbia Place Names. UBC Press.
Address of this page: http://bc.ruralroutes.com/BrentwoodBay