Vancouver's history as a city has its roots in what was a tiny settlement nicknamed Gastown. The name Gastown came into use because a Fraser River pilot turned saloonkeeper with the name Capt. John 'Gassy Jack' Deighton was in 1867 the first settler on the site from which Vancouver was to evolve. (In Victorian times the term 'to gas' referred to talking a lot, something which Captain Deighton had become famous for.)

A declaration to the founding of Vancouver, and why it is called Vancouver.

I kid you not ... 10 seconds after taking this picture, I stepped in a pile of horse droppings.