Northern Pitt Meadows used to be a very different landscape than it is today.  The whole area used to be a series of bogs, marshes, and sloughs that could only be explored by canoe.  Water levels were continually rising and falling with tidal shifts, and the seasons, this unique landscape was always taking new form.  Traditionally the Katzie Nation used the area bogs and marshes to harvest wild blueberries, roots, and fish.

However, early British settlers did not see the value of these marshy areas and viewed them as completely unproductive.  An elaborate scheme in the late 1800′s concocted by John and William Hammond had plans to dam the Pitt River and divert water flooding northern Pitt Meadows to Burrard Inlet.  The hope was to create a system of canals to transport freight through the inlet to a unique upland area (now known as Codd Island) to land boats and barges.

Luckily this plan was never enacted, instead Robert Lionel Codd purchased the land in North Pitt Meadows in 1906.  Mr. Codd ignored the marsh lands and focused his efforts on the upland area naming it Codd Island.  Robert Codd soon married had children, built a home and a barn, and planted an orchard on the uplands.  Certainly the Hammond brothers, the Codd family, and all their contemporaries would be surprised to find out that today people’s interest lies with the wetlands to the east of the prized upland Codd Island.