Salt Spring Island, British Columbia (1891 census)

Name: Salt Spring Island (1891)
Address: British Columbia, CA

Salt Spring Island was a census subdivision in British Columbia, recorded in the 1891 Census of Canada with a population of 436. The community is grounded to Wikidata Q2215523. The administrative centroid was at approximately 48.841°N, 123.480°W.

Population

In 1891, Salt Spring Island had a population of 436: 264 male and 172 female residents.

Boundary continuity (non-identical overlaps)

Spatial polygon overlaps with adjacent census years where the boundary shifted enough that the SAME_AS chain didn't merge them. These show where the territory came from and went to even when it isn't tracked as the same persistent place.

Earlier boundary forms

In an earlier year, this CSD was contained in Cowichin, Salt Spring Isl., 1881 (13.7% share).

Later boundary forms

In a later year, this CSD became part of Cowichan, 1901 (7.5% share).

Full census record, 1891

The 1891 census recorded 78 measurements for this Census Subdivision across 5 categories.

Population & families (1891). This community's record includes 436 total population, 264 males, 172 females, 135 married persons, 100 families, 68 married males, 67 married females, 8 widowed persons, 6 widowed males, 4.30 average size of families, 2 widowed females. (Source: 1891 Census of Canada, V1T2; V1T3.)

Age structure (1891). This community's record includes 293 single persons under 18, 190 single males under 18, 103 single females under 18. (Source: 1891 Census of Canada, V1T3.)

Ethnic origin (1891). This community's record includes 433 persons who are not French Canadian, 3 French Canadians. (Source: 1891 Census of Canada, V1T3.)

Buildings & housing (1891). This community's record includes 95 occupied houses, 86 houses, 86 houses built of wood, 65 houses of 1 story, 21 houses of 2 stories, 19 houses of 6 to 10 rooms, 18 houses of 4 rooms, 15 houses of 2 rooms, 15 houses of 3 rooms, 11 houses of 1 room, 9 dwellings that are vessels and shanties, 7 houses of 5 rooms, 4 uninhabited houses, 1 houses of over 15 rooms. (Source: 1891 Census of Canada, V1T2.)

Agriculture (1891). This community's record includes 35,195 acres of land in farms, 31,647 acres of farmland in woodland or forest, 12,816 pounds of coarse wool produced on farms, 11,651 pounds of homemade butter, 10,189 bushels of potatoes, 9,788 bushels of turnips, 6,305 bushels of oats, 4,622 sheep, 4,237 chickens, 3,319 bushels of peas, 2,744 acres of farmland in pasture, 2,061 bushels of spring wheat, 1,118 sheep slaughtered or sold, 804 acres of improved land in farms, 775 bushels of winter wheat, 751 tons of hay, 704 swine, 627 acres of farmland under crops, 560 swine slaughtered or sold, 450 bushels of barley, 445 acres of hay crops, 265 milk cows, 246 other cattle, 177 acres of farmland in gardens or orchards, 169 acres of oats, 145 geese, 133 cattle killed or sold, 124 ducks, 105 occupants of farms, 104 acres of wheat, 100 farm occupants who own their land, 89 oxen, 84 acres of potatoes, 47 horses aged over 3 years, 46 other fowl, 41 persons living on farms over 200 acres, 37 persons living on farms between 101 and 200 acres, 34 bushels of corn, 32 turkeys, 28 acres of turnips, 17 horses aged 3 years and under, 15 persons living on farms between 51 and 100 acres, 12 acres of barley, 12 bushels of clover, timothy, or other grass seed, 10 bushels of beans, 8 persons living on farms under 10 acres, 5 farm occupants who rent their land, 4 persons living on farms between 11 and 50 acres. (Source: 1891 Census of Canada, V2T16; V4T2; V4T3.)

Identifiers

TCP UID: BC003013 — year-scoped identifier from the Canadian Census Subdivision boundary file
Persistent place ID: PLACE_BC003013 — computed from spatial-overlap chains across census years
Wikidata: Q2215523

Sources

Census tabulations from the 1891 Census of Canada, transcribed and georeferenced by the Canadian Peoples / TCP project, hosted at the HGIS Lab, University of Saskatchewan. Persistent place identity computed from spatial-overlap chains across all available census years (1851–1921). Identity grounding to Wikidata performed via the HGIS Canada Knowledge Graph project's MCP-assisted disambiguation pipeline. See the About / Methodology page for the full data pipeline.

Cite this page

Clifford, J. (2026). "Salt Spring Island, British Columbia (1891 census)" in HGIS Canada Knowledge Graph. Retrieved from https://jimclifford.ca/hgiscanada/places/bc/salt-spring-island-bc003013-1891/.