Kanome

Kanome, a native of Hawaii, enlisted with the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1847 and was sent to the Columbia Department where he remained until being transferred to Fort Victoria the following year. The Fort Victoria Journal recorded on 22nd April, 1848, Kanome belonging to a group of “mill men” working for Mr. Fenton. Kanome was at Fort Victoria during the 1848 measles outbreak, and was recorded as being on the sick list during the month of May. An entry on 1st June, 1848 placed him and ‘Jack’ (Kaau) at the Fort, employed at “sawing.” In 1849, both he and his friend, Kealoha, were sent to the northern region of Vancouver Island to construct a fort in Beaver Harbour. Coal had been discovered earlier in the century, and John Work had decided to abandon Fort Stikine in 1849 in order to establish a coal mine in Suquash (Port Hardy), near to which Fort Rupert was constructed. In the same year, Kealoha died from pneumonia and his personal property was inherited by Kanome. In 1850, Kanome sought to return to O’ahu, but stayed on at Fort Victoria until 1852 when a HBC ship was made available for the voyage.

Sources:

• Barman, Jean and Bruce Watson, Leaving Paradise: Indigenous Hawaiians in the Pacific Northwest. (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2006).