The coal was low-grade, but its occurrence in clays similar to porcelain-making clays of the English Midlands led to the staking of what is known as the Brickmaker's Claim by the Three Greenhorns.
John Morton and Samuel Brighouse were two of The Three Greenhorns who emigrated to Canada in 1862 and bought land in the area that today is known as the West End, Vancouver.
Entrepreneur John McDougall was contracted to clear a large part of the Three Greenhorns' "Liverpool Estate."
The area was purchased in 1862 by John Morton, Samuel Brighouse, and William Hailstone, three men known as the "Three Greenhorn Englishmen," or just the "Three Greenhorns," owing to the belief that the naive men paid too much for the remote land.