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以下の文章は、今後サイト更新時に日本語に翻訳される予定です。

Port Hammond (Hammond), now considered western Maple Ridge, was originally inhabited by q̓ic̓əy̓ (Katzie) First Nation communities. Non-Indigenous settlement began in the late 1850s and 1860s. Hammond was included in the incorporation of Maple Ridge in 1874, and the community was later registered as Port Hammond in 1883. The Canadian Pacific Railway completed the Hammond line and station in 1885. By that time, a post office was opened.

In 1910, the Port Hammond Lumber Company (PHLC) opened the area’s first lumber mill. Japanese Canadians worked as millhands, loggers, and labourers for PHLC and other mills, including Stave Lake Cedar Mills in Dewdney. Many also owned, operated, and worked on berry farms, often combining seasonal agricultural work with employment in the mills.

The Port Hammond Nokai (Japanese farmers’ cooperative) was established in 1918 and built a hall on Sansuke Kawamoto’s property. In 1924, the Japanese Canadian community staged traditional Japanese plays as a fundraiser. A Japanese language school operated in the Hammond Farmer’s Hall from 1918 until the building was destroyed by fire. A Buddhist temple later occupied the site.

The Wakayama family operated a tofu shop at the corner of Lougheed Highway and 2nd Avenue. Mankichi Iyemoto owned a successful farm and encouraged immigrants from Yamaguchi Prefecture to lease land in Port Hammond, earning the community the nickname Yamaguchi Mura.