Hudson's Hope, British Columbia

The flag of the District Municipality of Hudson's Hope in British Columbia, Canada, is shown in Wikipedia

For the Crest and flag:

The shield in the crest is shaped like the footprint of the Hadrosaur which were once common in the area. The crest and flag were designed by a town councillor, Sam Kosolowsky, in the early-1990s. The original slogan on the crest and flag was "Playground of the Peace" but has since changed to "Land of Dinosaurs and Dams".

About the Hudson's Hope:

After Alexander Mackenzie portaged through the area in 1793, Simon Fraser, on behalf of the North West Company, established the Rocky Mountain Portage Fort in 1805. This fort, used as a fur-trading post and rest-stop, was on the north bank of the Peace River, several miles from the current townsite. After the North West Company and Hudson's Bay Company coalition in 1821, the Hudson's Bay Company took control of the fort. However, it was soon abandoned in 1823 after a massacre in Fort St. John. Over fifty years later, in 1875, the fort was re-established by the Hudson's Bay Company twelve miles upstream on southern river bank. A couple years later the fort was moved again. This time it was moved to the present townsite, on the northern river bank. During the nineteenth century, the fort was home to only a few people, but when European or Canadian fur-traders came through the area the Aboriginal people would set up encampments around the fort.

Like elsewhere in B.C.'s Peace River region a wave of settlers came to the region after 1908 when the Federal government opened the Peace River Block mineral staking and in 1912 to homestead claims. The agricultural communities of Beryl Prairie and Lynx Creek were established from these claims. Coal started to be mined in 1923 but its transportation was by ship to a railway was very expensive. However, the construction of the Alaska Highway in 1942 created a local demand for the coal. When Hudson’s Hope became connected to the highway system, its vast resources became accessible to outside markets.

One of these resources was hydroelectric energy. The provincial government planned and constructed the W. A. C. Bennett Dam throughout the 1960s. The Hudson's Hope Improvement District was incorporated in 1962 to help finance the project. The District Municipality of Hudson's Hope was incorporated in 1965, with a population of 2,700 people, in order to organize and plan settlements for the thousands of workers and their families. When construction was completed in 1967, the two incorporated areas merged.

The dam went online in 1968 after filling its reservoir and the population declined as the dam required less maintenance. The construction of the Peace Canyon Dam, only several kilometers downstream from the Bennett Dam, was constructed very rapidly in the late-1970s and provided a small boost to the town. However, the town continued to lose population throughout the 1980s. Its isolated location never let the town escape its dependence on BC Hydro as the one major employer.

The population level hit a low in 1990 at 1,005 people, but started climbing afterwards. This new growth emanates from two sources: retirees with fond memories of working on the Bennett dam, and families who value the extensive outdoor recreational opportunities in the small isolated town.

Valentin Poposki, 9 March 2006