Tyhee Conomody, Atkiso, and Kwikwetlem First Nation

Through the late 1850s, readers of the Honolulu Advertiser would notice large, front-page ads by future Coquitlam River settler Stephen Atkins selling several thousand acres of volcano-side, farm-quality real estate to pioneer settlers. The world-travelling Stephen Hastings Atkins, described as “a fine old Irish gentleman, who [was] driven away by the Encumbered Estates Act,” then emigrated with his family to Tazmania and Australia to live, farm, and sell land. In 1858, Atkins purchased lands near the Mauna Loa volcano, east of Kealakekua Hawaii, formerly “belonging to the Chiefess Keohokalole.” Then, he decided to try his luck selling land in colonial British Columbia.

The Atkins family arrived in Victoria British Columbia, from Hawaii, in December 1859. They continued on to colonial New Westminster, where Stephen Atkins, or “Atkiso” as the Coast Salish called him, became acquainted with Colonel Richard Moody or “Tyhee Conomody” as the locals referred to him, who was the commander of the Royal Engineers (or Sappers), Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works, and Lieutenant-Governor. At the time of the Atkins family arrival the Colony of British Columbia was a crown colony of the British Empire. This British army regiment was sent to begin the colonization of British Columbia through exploration, land surveying, and building basic infrastructure.

The Atkins’ built a small boat they named , which they would later paddle up the Coquitlam River. After exploring the area, they had selected lands along the Coquitlam River, at a junction of ephemeral streams which formed a place called Marshall Island. This colonial-era geography has since been erased by the seasonal movement of the Coquitlam River channel