63 rd Okanagan Historical Society - 49&S - Okanagan History The Sixty-Third Report of the OKANAGAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY Founded September 4, 1925 ISSN-0830-0739 ISBN 0-921241-69-0 1999 © http://members.home.net/counsell Printed in Canada on Acid-Free Paper by Hucul Printing Ltd. Salmon Arm, BC Cover He called her "the dearest little girl in the world." No wonder their marriage lasted a lifetime. Olive Beloud and Art Ritchie wedding portrait, 1918 Inset: Armstrong pioneer market gardener Jong Hughie. SIXTY-THIRD REPORT OF THE OKANAGAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY Traditions and authenticated history must always be the background of citizenship - B.A. McKelvie EDITOR Denis Marshall EDITORIAL COMMITTEE Jacquie Bicknell, Vicky White, Andrea Flexhaug, Oliver-Osoyoos Elizabeth Bork, Penticton Hume Powley, Kelowna Lucy McCormick, Vernon Jessie Ann Gamble, Robert Cowan, Enderby - Armstrong Marilyn Kernaghan, Salmon Arm Membership The recipient of this Sixty-Third Report is entitled to register his/her membership in the Sixty-Fourth Report, which will be issued November 1, 2000. For membership registration and certificate forms see the insert in this book. Purchasing Reports Reports of the Okanagan Historical Society (The Report) are available from the treasurer, Box 313, Vernon, BC, V1T 6M3, from branches of the OHS, and from most museums and bookstores in the Okanagan-Shuswap region. You may also arrange to receive future issues by mail by contacting the book committee, c/o the treasurer. Editorial Inquiries For inquiries concerning material in the Reports, or for inclusions in coming issues, please contact the editor at 4910 - 16th Street NE, Salmon Arm, BC, VIE 1E1. Fax: (250) 832-5367; e-mail: pugrinz@shuswap.net The complete index of Okanagan Historical Reports can be found on the Internet - http://royal.okanagan.bc.ca Officers and Directors of the Parent Body 1999-2000 PRESIDENT Peter Tassie FIRST VICE-PRESIDENT Enabelle Gorek SECOND VICE-PRESIDENT Lionel Dallas SECRETARY Helen Inglis TREASURER Elizabeth Tassie PAST PRESIDENT Denis Maclnnis BRANCH DIRECTORS TO PARENT BODY Armstrong-Enderby: Jessie Ann Gamble, Robert Cowan Kelowna: Gifford Thomson, Hume Powley Oliver-Osoyoos: Lionel Dallas, Mary Roberts Penticton: Mollie Broderick, Claud Hammell Salmon Arm: Allan Wilson, Elizabeth Revel Similkameen: John Armstrong, Wallace Liddicoat DIRECTORS-AT-LARGE Jean Webber, Robert Marriage, Basil Collett, David Gregory The Maude Allen and loaded barge passing through the new canal, built in 1908, joining Wood and Long (Kalamalka) Lakes. (Hume Powley) Business of the Okanagan Historical Society NOTICE of the 75th Annual General Meeting The Okanagan Historical Society 2000 Notice is hereby given that the Annual Meeting of the Okanagan Historical Society will be held Sunday, May 7, 2000 at 10 a.m. O'Keefe Historic Ranch Vernon Luncheon at 1 p.m. All members and guests are welcome to attend At the suggestion of life member Mollie Broderick from Okanagan Falls, the Okanagan Historical Society approved a Talking Books project at the annual general meeting in May 1998. Thanks to the hard work and determination of her son, Fred Broderick of Rutland, the project was launched in the fall of 1998. Mollie wanted Okanagan History recorded on audio tapes. These tapes could be used by the visually impaired as well as by the general public who wish to have audio tapes for company while they are travelling. The need was obvious but the means were less so. Fred Broderick took the idea to his Rutland Lions Club and members gave their wholehearted support. With money from the Rutland Lions and Lioness Clubs, the 60th Report was produced by Kelowna's Apex Audio Visual under the guidance of general manager Gord Gibbs. Obtaining the services of retired CBC announcer Gary Goudeau was indeed fortunate, as his pleasant reading voice has lent a highly professional tone to the audio tapes and has truly enhanced the production quality. Fred Broderick has continued to contact various Lions and Lioness clubs in the Interior for financial support so that more taped issues of Okanagan History can be produced. For many years, these clubs have taken a special interest in helping the visually impaired, so the Talking Books venture blends well with their long-term goals. Production of the 61st and 62nd Reports is underway, to be followed by other numbers, as long as the public continues to purchase the tapes. The local branches of Okanagan Historical Society are donating copies of the Talking Books to care facilities in their region. These gifts will be enjoyed and appreciated by the older people as so many will remember the times, events and individuals mentioned in the articles. The Talking Books, which provide about seven hours of listening per volume, are available from the treasurer of the OHS,c/o Box 313, Vernon, B. C. V1T 6M3, or by contacting Bob Cowan at (250) 838-9641. Some museums in the Okanagan and Shuswap regions may also carry the tapes. As well, orders can be placed through the e-mail address dallas(g)vip.net - JESSIE ANN GAMBLE Feature Articles The Chinese in Armstrong, Peter Critchley 8 Arthur Brown Ritchie: 70 Years Service to King and Country, Mary Ritchie Wetherill .20 Camp Fairview, The Fairview Campsite and Thomas Ellis, 1887-1905, Paul Koroscil 36 Harris & Clark and the Cathedral Lakes, By Joe Harris as told to Doug Cox 44 Building the Kelowna-Naramata Road, 1936-39, Hume M. Powley 54 The Armstrong Women's Institute, Faith Hall 62 The Mission Creek Greenway: History in the Making, Jodie Sexsmith 67 The Lime Quarry on Waterman Hill, Steve Arstad 73 A Community Affair, Daphne Thuillier 77 Mail Sorted and Steamed on the Okanagan, R. F. Marriage 83 Relief Camps of the Great Depression, Dorothy Smuin 85 Lord's Day Alliance Opposes Sunday Train Service, Robert Cowan 89 Spring Station at White Lake, Elizabeth Pryce 92 The Presbyterian Churches of Salmon Arm, Dilys Hanna 97 Heritage Lost, Sherril Foster 104 Casa Lorna Origins, Alice Zdralek 112 The Incola Hotel, Elizabeth Pryce 118 Essay Contest Winning Entry Early Ferry Transportation and the Okanagan Lake Floating Bridge, Ayla Fortin 122 Nostalgia Mr. Byam's Bones, Jo Jones 126 New Light on the 1909 Okanagan Hotel Fire, Pat Bayliss 134 The Cremation of Sam Magee, Oh Really!, David Gregory 137 Memories of the S&O Railway, Lois Roberts 141 The End of Penticton's Romance With the Passenger Train, Mollie Broderick 145 Ontario Journals Reveal More about the "Terrible-Tempered Mr. Irwin," Joan Adams 153 Human Endeavour A Mother's Struggle: Sue Lee Ping Wong of Kelowna, Tun Wong 156 The Gibbard Gardens, Fern Gibbard 161 Personal History Bert Anderson: Trapper and Tugboat Operator, Ruth Sihlis 166 Sam McCallum: Last Manager of the Stepney Ranch, W J. Whitehead 173 A Woman in a Man's Trade, Jean Porterfield 177 Tributes Thomas Audrey Baird, 1923-1998, Robert Dale 182 Roland Alexander Jamieson, 1914-1998, Denis Marshall 184 Chess Lyons, 1915-1998, Steve Cannings 186 Art "Skinny" Peterman, 1912-1998, Ermie Iceton 189 James David Pettigrew 1886-1967, Margaret Pettigrew Stiell ....190 Lives Remembered 192 OHS Business Minutes of the 74th Annual General Meeting 204 Branch Reports 208 Committee Reports 204 Auditor's Report 214 Errata 217 1999 OHS Membership List 217 THE CHINESE IN ARMSTRONG By Peter Critchley Editor's note: This article springs from a series in the Armstrong Advertiser, also written by the author, on the Chinese in Armstrong. Mr. Critchley based his material on presentations made at a meeting of the Armstrong-Enderby Branch, Okanagan Historical Society, and an interview with Ben Lee, son of one of the Chinese pioneers. Sedge grass, rushes and reeds now flourish in the rich soil of the abandoned fields nudging the City of Armstrong. Ducks, geese and seagulls feed there in the spring when the creeks overflow and flood the land. Blackbirds warble in the rushes and the odd hawk wheels skyward. Ben Lee in front of family home. (Armstrong Advertiser) But at one time long, straight rows of celery, lettuce and cabbage lined this fertile bottom land, cleared and drained by hundreds of Chinese men early in this century. And the produce from those once immaculate fields ended up on tables across the country and as far away as Hawaii. The express trains that once rumbled through town to pick up boxcars laden with crates of celery and lettuce stopped rolling long ago. The former packing houses and a few faded photographs Peter Critchley, a product of the co-op writing program at the University of Victoria, covers the news for the Armstrong Advertiser, an independent weekly that began publishing in 1902. He lives in Spallumcheen with his wife and two children. THE CHINESE IN ARMSTRONG are all that remain of the Chinese market gardeners who transformed Armstrong into the celery capital of Canada—with the singular exception of one family. "We are the last of the Chinese gardeners and we still garden," said Enyit Guaw Jong, better known in the community as Mary Jong, the daughter of Jong Hughie, one of the first Chinese to settle here. "All of the old-timers are gone. Mainly, the California vegetable industry was the end, and they were all elderly people. They made a bit of fortune and sent the money back and as they themselves grew older they wanted to go home, too. They soon passed away or left the area." But the Jongs stayed and struggled for many years to make ends meet. Today, they still garden the same piece of land they bought just a few years after the Canadian government repealed the Exclusion Act, which prohibited Chinese from becoming citizens or purchasing land. Mr. Jong obtained an eight-acre parcel fronting Pleasant Valley Road in 1956, two years after bringing his wife from China, and bought an adjacent 10-acre parcel nine years later. "Last year we had the best crop of celery ever," Ms. Jong said. "We shipped at least 3,000 pounds to Askew's store here and at Salmon Arm, and to farmer markets." The Jongs grow celery virtually the same way that the local Chinese market gardeners did at the turn of the century. They even use a celery stamper, constructed with two pieces of light board separated by coil springs, to punch holes in the soil for the young plants. And all the weeding, harvesting, washing, grading, bagging and shipping is still done by hand. "You're out there from early morning until late at night." For many years, primarily before the Second World War, the gardeners also needed to hill the celery to stop it from turning green. Some of them rented horses, but most hilled the long rows of celery and lettuce by hand. They worked incredibly long hours during the growing season to tend crops on land most of them did not own. Mary Jong THE CHINESE IN ARMSTRONG Family of Mr. and Mrs. Lee Bak Bong gather for parents' 50th wedding anniversary in 1961. (Donovan Clemson photograph, courtesy Jan Clemson) Some years they earned a pittance, compared to the profits the packing houses were making. For example, even as late as 1952 the packers paid the Chinese gardeners nine cents a dozen for lettuce and sold it by the three-dozen pack for $4.80. But the little money they did earn enabled many to support wives and families back in China. This is what drove most of them to labour in the fields that once surrounded Armstrong And this opportunity, limited as it might appear today, is what drew many of them here. J "I remember people who didn't understand the problem and would complain. They complained to me that the market gardener would make money here but didn't keep it in this country They sent it away to China. They were criticized for that" These are the words of Ben Lee of Kelowna, son of pioneer Lee Bak Bong. "The Chinese have a saying, which translated to English means gold mountain," Mary Jong explained. "They believed this land was filled with gold, holding out opportunities denied in their distressed homeland." Mary Jong's father, a highly-educated scholar and teacher came m search of the golden mountain at the turn of the century' He travelled with his own father, who chose to emigrate to the United States; they parted company and never saw each other again. Despite his education, Hughie Jong could not find work as a teacher when he arrived in Victoria. He first supported himself as a bricklayer and later cleared land for roads, some of them located in the small Chinatown that is still a vital part of Victoria. 10 THE CHINESE IN ARMSTRONG "He was one of the first Chinese to settle here. A lot of people think that Lee Bak Bong and Harry Lee were but my dad was here before them," Ms. Jong said. "He helped build the roads around here. But he didn't know that many people or speak English then and he didn't make himself that well known." Armstrong soon became a haven for people like Mr. Jong and the permanent Chinese population grew to about 500. At one time during the First World War up to 900 Chinese men lived there, many working for a potato dehydration plant that operated during the war. Mr. Jong later worked for market gardeners such as Lee Bak Bong and Harry Lee. He also wrote countless letters for members of the Chinese community, as it was the only way they could communicate with families stranded in China, since they Armstrong celery fields photographed September 4, 1929. (W. A. Smith Collection) were forbidden to join their loved ones in Canada. Like the rest of the Asian population in the community, Mr. Jong lived a world apart from the Occidental citizenry. A Chinatown existed in Armstrong, built on land purchased by countrymen before the Exclusion Act of 1923. Many of the field hands who worked together also lived communally. These small enclaves helped to shield the Chinese from the widespread racism that existed here and across the province; it even resulted in disembarking Chinese immigrants being killed at the Vancouver waterfront during a race riot in the early 1900s. "In the past the Chinatown communities offered protection from the discriminatory society and provided the Chinese with security and company," Ms. Jong said. Celery field ready for harvesting. 11 THE CHINESE IN ARMSTRONG Ben Lee: "Many of those men working out on the land would come to town in the winter and many lived here [Chinatown]. They had bunk beds and a common kitchen . . . The other thing was that in winter the days were long and this gave Row upon carefully tended row, Chinese market gardens them an opportunity to were a study in symmetry. (Bill Jamieson photograph) socialize." Some also used the opportunity to gamble for a few dollars, usually above the laundry in Chinatown. It is believed debts from these games of chance resulted in a couple of unexplained murders in the early 1930s, according to Mary Jong's father. Mah jong and dominoes drew the attention of the local police, despite the relatively small stakes. This reflected the deep and widespread prejudice against the Chinese; that then existed throughout the province. Armstrong and other B. C. municipalities even Celery field showing board hilling method. passed their own by-laws to collect head taxes. Of course, the police never raided a poker game played by members of the Caucasian community. The little Chinatown burned to the ground in 1922, with strong suspicions itwas arson. Ben Lee: "The old Chinatown used to be on the corner. But the funny thing was a building stuck out partly on the road. It was a big wooden building. Lo and behold, not much longer after the city said 'cut it back,' they had a big fire. It might just be a coincidence." 12 THE CHINESE IN ARMSTRONG Chinese market gardeners even ran into problems working on Sunday, after a local Christian group agitated against the practice. The Chinese, liking the idea of a day off, agreed to stop working on the Sabbath, but on Monday morning the packing houses lay idle. None of the shops had any vegetables for sale, either, to the consternation of the same people responsible for the decision not to work on Sunday. Whereupon, it was generally agreed that, yes, the market gardeners could toil on Sunday. Virulent racism abated in the decades that followed, but it didn't disappear. And Ms. Jong learned that the hard way as a young child in school. "It was then that I first learned of my cultural difference. When I went to school I remembered the difficulty they had in pronouncing my name, so they gave me Mary. For the longest time I didn't answer to this because this wasn't my name. "I felt dumb and shamed that I was different from everyone else. Deep down I never felt I was different, but everyone reminded me of how different I was. I would be in the back of the class in silence and terrified the teacher would call my name. When she asked a question, I would freeze and a deafening silence would fill the air and I could hear my heart pounding louder and louder. I just didn't understand, but how could I explain? The kids at first would just stare at me. Later they would tease, point and laugh at me and call me a dumb chink." Consequently, Ms. Jong did not speak to anybody except her brother in the first few years of school. She did not even ask to go to the bathroom and ate her lunch in silence, alone in the playground. She also failed Grade 1. "I felt isolated, miserable and alone. I hated school and everyone in it. "Every morning the teacher would check our hands, hair and clothes and divide the class into rows and give stars to the row with the cleanest students. My row always came in last because of me. Everyone blamed me and didn't want me in their group. How could they know that I had to work in the vegetable garden every morning before going to school and didn't have time to clean up?" The teacher also awarded stars for eating a proper breakfast, as defined by the Canada Food Guide. Of course, Mary Jong did not eat cereal, bacon, eggs, or drink juice and milk for the first meal of the day; she ate a Chinese rice pudding dish. "I never got a star for that either." But Ms. Jong, who dropped out of school at one point, returned to the classroom and eventually earned a star of another kind—a university degree. She is also an accomplished artist specializing in lithographic printing. 13 THE CHINESE IN ARMSTRONG While a punitive head tax virtually barred Chinese women from entering Canada, one did arrive in Armstrong three years before the way was completely blocked by federal decree. She was Lee Bak Bong's wife and the mother of Ben Lee, who was born and raised in the red brick building that still stands on the site of Armstrong's small Chinatown. Ben Lee's father and grandfather both worked with the sole purpose of bringing Mrs. Lee to Canada at a time when the head tax was $500, a veritable fortune when two acres produced $28 for a year's work. Soon after, only Chinese men were admitted—with a still more exorbitant price on their heads. As the only Chinese woman in the community, Mrs. Lee Bak Bong found herself without a female friend. Her family said that as children growing up they never realized how lonely it must have been for their mother. Some of the Chinese lived in a little neighbourhood that developed at the corner of Okanagan Street and Patterson Avenue. Others lived in shacks out in the fields, or in boarding houses like the Taylor house beside St. Joseph's Catholic Church. The influx of Chinese men, primarily from Canton province, started after the pioneers had drained the land of present-day Armstrong and the Shuswap & Okanagan Railway (S&O) made its appearance in 1892. Field crops were soon generating lucrative express revenue for the rail line. At that time people called the area The Island and three creeks drained into it, with the only settlement of any size residing at Lansdowne in north Spallumcheen. There was a swamp where Davis Creek becomes Fortune Creek. Deep Creek came down through the McNair property (Lansdowne area) and spilled out here, while Meighen Creek flowed where the Highway 97 shopping centre makes its home. Men worked for a dollar a day during the winter to earn a grubstake to finance farming activities. They dug Davis (Fortune) Creek down to the Shuswap River at Enderby to drain that district and deepened Deep Creek down to Otter Lake. "When that was drained out, first of all it was hay and a bit of oats and the odd fellow grew a few potatoes," recounted Mat Hassen, native son and good friend and associate of the Chinese market gardeners. "Then the vegetable business started up with people like the late W A. Cuthbert. He brought in some Chinese men, including the notable Louie Chin, who came here in 1911." 14 THE CHINESE IN ARMSTRONG Some of Chin's contemporaries were Wong Chog, Harry Lee, Leon Sing, Jong Hughie, Wong Soo and Lee Bak Bong. They raised early and late varieties of celery and lettuce, alternating one crop with the other—harvesting early lettuce and planting late celery and vice versa. This "double-barrelled use of land" entailed a great deal of labour. "They did everything by hand except for using horses to plow the fields or sometimes renting animals to hill up the rows of celery to blanch it; at that time they only grew white celery for market," said Mr. Hassen. This was all Chinese labour; white men owned the land. The Chinese couldn't own the land until they were granted citizenship in the late 1940s. So they were renters. "They would ship things, particularly berries, strawberries and lettuce that perished very rapidly en route. So the guy on the other end would claim 50 percent damage or worse. The man in the packing house here would have to get on the train to go out to that place to see vegetables or fruit that arrived in that state. He couldn't always do it and it ended up he might get paid for a quarter or half a shipment. And you know how much they paid the grower for it." During the growing season the weeding never stopped until harvest. The crops were gleaned by hand, using a heavy knife to cut off the celery just above the root system, and peel the outer layer before packing the remainder in 400-pound boxes to deliver to one of eight packing houses once operating in Armstrong. During peak season as many as 10 boxcars a day were sent off to market on the S&O. By coaxing bumper yields from the fertile bottomlands, the Chinese gardeners bestowed economic benefits on other sections of the community. Armstrong and Enderby sawmills were kept busy manufacturing shipping boxes and there was a brisk demand for ice, distributed from a storage shed where Buckerfields later operated. Packinghouses, of course, were part of the picture, while other men found employment cutting, hauling and putting up ice in the winter. "They would cut the ice in blocks and store it in sawdust in a shed made out of logs," explained Ben Lee. "In the spring they would take [the blocks] out, wash off the sawdust and put them through a chipper to crack it up and use it for packing lettuce in the wooden boxes. And when the boxcar was filled they also blew it into the car so the whole space was filled with chipped ice. It was early refrigeration." 15 THE CHINESE IN ARMSTRONG The Chinese market gardeners once farmed as far out as Otter Lake, and north to Enderby and Salmon Arm. But they grew much of the celery and lettuce on the rich alluvial muck surrounding Armstrong—land that otherwise probably would never have been cultivated. As the 1940s dawned men with families in the homeland were finding it increasingly frustrating to live with the Exclusion Act. They didn't earn much working from dawn to dusk, but many had somehow managed to save enough to bring their loved ones over. The question grew more pressing after the Second World War when Chinese-Canadian veterans added their voice to efforts to convince the federal government to throw out the discriminatory legislation. "After the war many of the returned soldiers—the Chinese- Canadians—who fought for this country questioned why they were still classified as aliens. They said they had rights and, after all, they were born here." The veterans and Chinese associations made many trips to Ottawa on behalf of their cause. Finally, in 1947, their campaign bore fruit. "Unless you were a Canadian citizen you couldn't vote. If you can't vote you can't buy property. In fact, I think even Armstrong city council once excluded Chinese from owning land," Mr. Lee said. Repealing the Act did not significantly alter the lives of the people it affected in Armstrong, Mr. Lee claimed. "Some of them were now at the age they wanted to retire and go back to see their families; some had never been back since they came out. And some went back and returned with their families. "The few dollars they earned, unless they were in a bigger business or worked larger farms, weren't enough to buy land. Land cost at least $3,000 an acre and they were only making something like $1,000 a year. They had to live on that and send money back to China. Some enterprising market gardeners, led by Wong The Jong Hughie market garden has long been a family enterprise, noted for growing some of the finest fresh vegetables in the North Okanagan. Helping with the 1969 crop were Mary, Joan, Margaret, Danny and Jeannie. 16 THE CHINESE IN ARMSTRONG Armstrong farming scene circa 1909 Chog, did band together to purchase property and farm it collectively. But they still faced obstacles few Occidental farmers did. The Vegetable Marketing Board controlled the marketing of all vegetables, including perishable crops like lettuce and celery, grown primarily by Chinese gardeners. But it failed to recognize a fundamental difference between root crops that stored well and perishable commodities. "Many of the market gardeners had no qualms about the control and regulation of root vegetables. But they sure didn't have a good feeling about controlling vegetables that are perishable, such as lettuce and celery. When these are ready you have to get them to market. They didn't give any consideration to that; they just wanted to control it," was how Ben Lee felt about central selling. "The board failed to meet its mandate to protect the grower. Instead, it protected the packing houses and wholesalers. "For instance, if you grew vegetables you could take them to sell within a 15-mile radius. Where do you go if you have 10 to 20 acres of celery to sell? To Enderby? But there is a market in Kelowna, Penticton, Revelstoke and Kamloops." The marketing board refused to even issue the Lee Bak Bong family a licence, despite the fact it was given a business licence by the City of Armstrong. Eventually, the family challenged the board 17 THE CHINESE IN ARMSTRONG in court twice and won both cases. "They said we could not take vegetables outside of our growing area. But they couldn't find a market for us." Sometimes the market gardeners simply plowed their crops under when prices dropped to the point where harvesting the crop was pointless. At other times the marketing board could not find willing buyers for the celery and lettuce. Today, there is far greater understanding about cultural differences than when Ms. Jong first attended school, or when Ben Lee gave up any designs he might have had on farming to pursue a successful career in education. People are also more aware of the instrumental role that the Chinese market gardeners played in the development of Armstrong. The produce they laboriously grew in such abundance helped to transform and fuel the local economy. In the process they laid a foundation that still benefits the people living here. The new and ultra-modern restaurant, located in the heart of the downtown business area, has attracted large crowds of patrons, with many from neighboring centres enjoying the specialized Chinese foods featured as well as the unique and attractive atmosphere. The business is a tribute to the foresight and long-planning on the part of its owners, Mr. and Mrs. Jong Hughie. (Armstrong Advertiser, May 11, 1967) Grow vegetables or start a restaurant: those were generally the only options open to ambitious Chinese of humble origin once the great railway-building era ended. In many ways the choices were astonishingly similar—long hours for painfully little gain. "Chinese and Western Cuisine" establishments became an institution of Small Town Canada, often the only place for a stranger to get a meal and now one of the few survivors in many dying Prairie hamlets. At first, most Chinese restaurants catered to the Western palate, saving authentic fare for countrymen who enjoyed a meal out, or for ad- 18 THE CHINESE IN ARMSTRONG Jong Hughie venturous Canadian diners willing to try something besides meat-and-potatoes. For many of us, it was our first taste of exotic foreign food. Jong Hughie was both gardener and restauranteur. He came to Armstrong not long after the turn of the century and outlasted most of his contemporaries, obtaining his own land and starting a successful sales outlet for his produce. In the 1960s he and his wife demolished the old Overwaitea building and began constructing the Shanghai Chop Suey House, finished in "striking amber elm and indirect fluorescent lighting" behind matching elmwood panels. On the auspicious fifth day of the fifth month, 1967, the Hughies opened for business after hosting a banquet the previous night for 80 business associates and guests. By now a Chinese restaurant was usually a family enterprise; and just as often a means to procure a good education for the next generation. It also provided job opportunities to recent immigrants, literally their first taste of the new land. The Shanghai Chop Suey House survives as the Great Wall Restaurant, but under new owners, Hughies having sold out in 1995. 19 ARTHUR BROWN RITCHIE: 70 YEARS' SERVICE TO KING AND COUNTRY Mary Ritchie Wetherill Few men or women devoted as much of their life to public service as did Arthur Brown Ritchie. He served 33 years on the Salmon Arm municipal council, eight years as an MLA and nine years as president of the Salmon Arm Fall Fair. He was a charter member and many times president of both the Royal Canadian Legion and its forerunner, the Great War Veterans Association. His story is really the story of the Salmon Arm district from 1908 to 1977. Before he entered public life in 1923, he had already experienced a run of adventure that had forged his plucky, forthright nature. He was born in Peebles, Scotland, on October 18, 1885. His father died before the birth, so he was raised on his grandparents' farm, Whippielaw, which had 160 acres of leased land used for mixed agriculture. Young Art did not have an easy time growing up. When his mother married William Blackadder he remained with his grandparents. Although he eventually had 11 siblings, he seldom saw them, and according to neighbours his grandmother gave him little care and even less love. When he was 11 or 12 years old, he left school to work in a coal mine for about a year. The reason is not known, but it could have been an economic necessity as it was common practice during hard times for farmers to work outcroppings of coal with the help of someone small enough to enter the tunnels. After a year of this Art thankfully began to help full-time at Wippielaw Farm and vowed he would never become a miner. After his grandfather died there was no family member old enough to take over the lease, so prospects for the 19-year-old looked bleak. Then came an act of kindness for which Art was eternally Mary Ritchie Wetherill, who taught in B. C. schools for 27 years after graduating from Vancouver Normal School, class of 1949, realized her goal of a bachelor of education degree from UBC in 1983. She is currently serving her first term as president of the Society's Salmon Arm branch. 20 ARTHUR BROWN RITCHIE grateful. His best friend was Jim Jamieson and Jim's mother gave both young men the money to come to Canada. Art recalled that she said it was their only chance for a better life. The pair arrived in Canada in October 1906. Jim continued his journey to Vernon, where his brother worked for the BX Ranch. The rest of the Jamieson family emigrated in 1907 and 1908 and purchased a farm at Deep Creek from John Williams Gardom. Art remained working in Ontario until the fall of 1908. Then he headed west, intent on reuniting with his friends. After working through the harvest in Saskatchewan, he finally made it to Salmon Arm. The story is told by Harry Naylor that Art got off a CPR freight in Salmon Arm still carrying the grime of the Prairies and a week's growth of whiskers. Harry's father, E. H. (Harry) Naylor, happened to be in town and heard that a young man was inquiring about the neighbouring Jamieson family. Naylor offered Art a ride, but as the drive progressed the older man wondered whether or not he should be taking this unkempt, bearded stranger to the Jamiesons. He was greatly relieved when they greeted Art like a long-lost son. Art remained in Deep Creek that winter enjoying his hosts' hospitality while helping them to establish their farm. Come spring, he got a job with J. D. (Jack) McGuire in Salmon Arm, splitting his time between orchard and dairy chores. McGuire and Ritchie were both men of action, so they got along well. When Helen (Ella) Carson came to town as a teacher and later married McGuire, Art became friends with her brothers, Bob and Ernie Carson of Pavilion, and was accorded a standing job offer at the Carson Ranch. In 1910 Art accepted a post with the Dominion Lands Survey while it was blocking out all of Shuswap Lake's Anstey and Seymour arms over to the Columbia River. The experience left Ritchie with a taste for tramping the forests and even though he went back to work for the McGuires he applied for another survey job. This one was sited in the North—possibly the Alaska-B. C. border. However, fate had other ideas. Art said he waited in vain for a reply to his application. Then one day Postmaster Sam McGuire, who happened to be Jack McGuire's brother, came out of his office waving a letter and saying, "Look, Art, I found this behind the desk." It was the long-awaited survey acceptance requesting him to report in Vancouver that very day. Art was more than a little annoyed, thinking the missing letter might not have been accidental, as Sam wanted him to stay on with the McGuires. Art's reply was to pack his belongings, saddle his horse and head for the Carson Ranch. 21 ARTHUR BROWN RITCHIE That decision led to meeting "the dearest little girl in the world," Olive Beloud. Olive lived on her stepfather's ranch, Truman Caleb Clark's Echo Farm at 17 Mile on the Lillooet-Clinton road. It being ranch country, the family were still neighbours of the Carsons, notwithstanding the fact their houses were several miles apart. Until they became embroiled in a fight over water rights, which left lawyers richer and the Carsons and Clarks poorer, the two families had shared lives on Pavilion Mountain. Ella Carson had gone to school with Olive and had later been her teacher. How Art met Olive is not recorded. It may Art Ritchie in the oft-repeated role of parade marshal, have been when he was May 12, 1937 George VIcoronation celebration. driving a freight stapp between Lillooet and Clinton. Clarks built the first frame house in the Cariboo and it was noted for the cordiality of its owners. It became a popular stopping place for travellers on the Cariboo Highway. Art described many a hair-raising experience driving the four- horse freight teams. The road was even narrower than it is today, and sitting on top of the load all one could see was the Fraser River hundreds of feet below. The way over Pavilion Mountain was so steep that trees were cut down at the top to drag as brakes on the descent to Kelly Lake. Art often arrived at Echo Farm with boxes of chocolates. It was obvious whom he was courting, but he didn't forget Olive's sisters—or her mother—and captured their hearts as well. 22 ARTHUR BROWN RITCHIE Young Ritchie easily took to the life of a cowhand and before long won the respect of old-timers at Pavilion for his horse-handling skills. Between 1911 and 1914 he made two or three return journeys by horseback to Salmon Arm. Often he overnighted at a ranch near Pritchard, at Cherry Creek Ranch, and at the Semlin Ranch near Cache Creek. On one occasion chance or maybe just good sense played a hand in Ritchie's survival. He was outbound from Salmon Arm and had been recruited to help round up cows and fix a fence before making a late departure from Cherry Creek. The early-November weather had turned bitterly cold by the time he reached the crest above Kamloops Lake, where he was hailed by some people travelling by bobsleigh who had stopped to build a fire. They encouraged Art to camp with them, afraid that he would freeze on the trail, but he declined. By alternately riding and running he made it safely to Savona. As he headed for Cache Creek the following day, a blizzard developed and Art knew he had to find shelter or perish. Having heard of a prospector in the adjacent hills, and hoping he had found the right gulch, Art turned up one of the draws and a few miles later came upon the miner's cabin. Art later learned that the stormbound people had all met death in the storm. Art and "Ollie" Beloud made plans to start their own ranch in the Empire Valley across the Fraser River. Again fate stepped in. First of all, a raft laden with building supplies disappeared from its moorings on the east bank of the Fraser. Next came a far bigger setback: World Warl. Ritchie was a man of great loyalties: loyalty to his country, his Arthur Brown Ritchie's "political community, his employer, and his portrait" while serving as MLA for family. When war was declared he Salmon Arm ridins- rode into Kamloops and joined the B. C. Horse Mounted Infantry and went overseas with the first contingent, later transferring to the First Battalion, Third Battery, Canadian Field Artillery. He saw action at Ypres, the Somme, and Vimy Ridge. He was gassed twice and wounded three times. He received the Distinguished Conduct Medal at Ypres in 1915 for twice returning after a retreat to free men and horses from a disabled wagon and to carry a wounded 23 ARTHUR BROWN RITCHIE man to safety, despite heavy gunfire. In 1917 at Vimy Ridge he won the Military Medal for going back to an Allied gun pit to extinguish a fire that threatened the gun and ammunition. Through all the horrible events of the war, Art didn't forget Olive back in B. C. He sent numerous letters and postcards that were carefully preserved and treasured. After coming home he spent some time in hospital having shrapnel removed from his neck. A month before his discharge he and Ollie were married at Echo Farm, June 4, 1918. They spent some of their honeymoon as guests of Jack and Ella McGuire and it was then that they decided Salmon Arm would be their home. Sadly, Art's friend Jim Jamieson had been killed in the war. In 1919 the Ritchies bought through the Soldier Settlement Board 80 acres of land on The Limit (North Broadview) formerly owned by Alexander McGuire. It boasted a two-room house and a few fruit trees. It wasn't long before the newlyweds had four acres cleared and planted to fruit. Two of those early trees are still bearing. The cottage became the nucleus of the dwelling still standing on the property, which has sheltered five generations of Ritchies. Eventually, more than 30 acres were cleared—all by hand—and a mixed farm developed. In 1957 half the property was sold to one of their daughters and the Ritchies built a new home on the east 40 acres. Art was proud of his emerging orchard. During the 1920s he often entered fruit in the local fair and won prizes for packed boxes of Wealthies and Grimes. He was particularly pleased that his first prize of five boxes of Wealthies were sent to Wembley, England to compete in a world exhibition. They again won a blue ribbon as part of an entry from Salmon Arm. However proud he was of his farm, the reality was it didn't pay the bills. In 1923 Art commenced summer employment with the Dominion Forest Service. He worked there until 1930, when he was hired by the Columbia River Lumber Company. From 1934 to 1939 he was employed by the B. C. Forest Service as an assistant ranger. In the role of a forester, Art footed it over nearly every hill and dale in his district. Fire fighting was one of his responsibilities, so he developed roads and trails to enable equipment and personnel to reach the trouble spots without delay. In June of 1931 he was credited with averting a large outbreak after a fire started near the Larch Hill school and swept east, where it endangered a house. 24 ARTHUR BROWN RITCHIE Great credit is due Mr. Arthur Ritchie and his fire fighters for the marvelous swiftness with which they arrived on the scene, took in the situation at a glance and grappled it with such wonderful success. Had it not been for their admirable organization and the unhesitating swiftness of their action that fire would have swept. . . the timbered slopes to Grandview Bench and beyond. (Salmon Arm Observer) His ability to quickly size up a situation and to take action attracted both praise and criticism. He never asked anyone to do something that he was unwilling to do himself, but when he delegated responsibility he expected results. These traits made him successful in running Depression-era forestry camps organized by the Department of Defence. Established as a means of providing employment, they ran full-scale logging operations and built parks and trails. The winter of 1937 saw Art in charge of a camp at Williams Lake, and in 1939 the Observer reported: Mr. Art Ritchie got a sudden call to travel to Victoria from whence he will take charge of the camp on Vancouver Island. The right man in the right place although it is tough taking him so far from home. Later that year he was picked to supervise the Dominion- Provincial Youth Training Plan between Revelstoke, Ashcroft and Williams Lake and B. C.'s south boundary. This was an organization that brought groups of youths together for two-week courses in handicrafts, agriculture, homemaking and physical training. The chance to live away from home and participate in social activities were possibly major benefits for the recruits. It would seem that Art had a full life, what with a farm, a demanding job and a growing family. Olive Margaret "Peggy" had arrived on April 5, 1919, Arthur George on May 29, 1922, Jean on January 1, 1926, and Mary Bernice on January 29, 1930. However, their father was committed to his community and was involved in almost everything he thought would make a difference to the quality of life. During the Depression years he helped organize a hockey league that played all its games on natural ice. He managed the neighbourhood team called the Broadview Giants, provided a rink and a change shack, and served as president of the club. Before marriage, Art played football with the Salmon Arm team but later took on the role of facilitator of team sports, rather than that of 25 ARTHUR BROWN RITCHIE player. One exception was a hockey game in 1935 to raise money for an X-ray machine for the local hospital when Ritchie's Rogues took on Ruth's Rovers. Art devoted a good deal of time to veterans' affairs. He actively tried to get the Soldier Settlement Board to address the problems of returned men who had been financed for land whose value was inflated 100 to 200 percent, making it impossible to repay the debt. He was the marshal in charge of almost every Remembrance Day parade until 1973, when he turned his baton over to Ralph Kernaghan. In fact, he was at the head of practically every town parade for decades. Beyond all these activities, the one that defined A. B. Ritchie once and for all was his involvement with municipal government. He embarked in politics in 1922 when he became a Salmon Arm municipal councillor. The ward system had just been abolished, but many of the old animosities remained. Throughout much of his time on council there was a perception that one section of the district or another was not getting its fair share of improvements. On the eve of the 1933 election the Salmon Arm Observer reported: Clr. Ritchie has had so many after his scalp that he is going to give them an opportunity at election time. A born scrapper, Clr. Ritchie has had to do a lot of rough and tumble for council. But he is a great worker, few would give the time he does to look after road work and unemployment relief. He again headed the polls. In his second year on council he was appointed public works chairman, a position he held until he became reeve. Until 1964 every road built in Salmon Arm was influenced in some way by Ritchie decisions. He hired workers, appointed foremen, "engineered" road construction and directed improvements. He constantly lobbied Victoria and fellow councillors for road maintenance and enhancement. One of his first acts was to recommend the purchase of two plows (horse-drawn). By the time he retired, the municipality had a full complement of road building and maintenance equipment. If something was done wrong, or not done at all, on municipal roads Art was blamed, and probably rightly so. As Harold Cox, who operated a bulldozer for the municipality in the late '50s and later became road foreman, said, "He was straight-forward and not hard to work for, but you better do it his way. While the council was talking about it he'd have the job started." 26 ARTHUR BROWN RITCHIE Ritchie was a councillor for seven years during the Depression. Then, municipal business was more a matter of how to provide social assistance, lower taxes and keep the roads in repair. It was the municipality's responsibility to financially aid married men in the area; the provincial government set up relief camps for single men. Up to 1932 social services were provided by senior government, but by 1934 these became the burden of local councils. In the unincorporated areas the province provided relief payments at a higher rate than the municipality could afford. This disparity, plus the desperate conditions under which many lived, brought many delegations before Salmon Arm council meetings. Salmon Arm municipal councillors economized by taking a 25-percent reduction in their indemnities. Art Ritchie spoke out about the improvement tax and a small reduction was made in 1934. Much of the road work was done by statute labour (people working off their taxes) and a portion of the rest was done by men on the dole. In one part of the municipality, it was reported taxes collected amounted to $237, but $878 in relief had been handed out. On more than one occasion Art had to defend his action to council and he did so in no uncertain terms. His compassion for those in need was evident when he described the case of a man whose ". . . allowance worked out to 13 cents a day for each member of his family." Councillor Ritchie wondered how many of his cohorts would care to feed and clothe their families on that pittance. Forestry commitments probably motivated Art not to run for council for the 1937 term, but personal tragedy certainly influenced the decision. On September 30, 1935, nine-year-old Jean died unexpectedly—apparently of appendicitis—and within two months Olive was diagnosed with breast cancer. Art, the man who could "take it and dish it out with the best of them," was devastated. However, Olive's stoic acceptance and Art's fortitude bore them through their grief and medical problems. Like many others who had purchased land through the Soldier Settlement Board, the Ritchies struggled to pay just the interest on their loan. Then their financial burden increased enormously with a large bill for medical services from the Vancouver General Hospital. Art was immensely relieved when he was able to pay off the obligation with a carload of apples. He picked and packed his best fruit with care and sent it off on the CPR, only to be advised that the hospital would not allow full credit for the shipment, as some of the apples were considered not to be good "cookers." The amount allowed barely covered the shipping costs; no wonder Art was such a champion of hospital insurance when it was introduced. 27 ARTHUR BROWN RITCHIE By 1940 he had recovered some of his old bounce, and when word reached the B. C. Forest Service office that an army forestry company was to be organized he was chosen by the process of elimination to be the Salmon Arm recruit. Ranger Pete Campbell drove him to Kamloops to enlist. By the time he got home, Art probably regretted his hasty action, and his wife certainly did. However, with characteristic pluck they faced the future. Ollie ran the farm with the help of Ernie Burton, who had lived and worked on the place since 1936. She continued to be active in the Red Cross and in the Order of the Eastern Star. Art was commissioned a lieutenant with No. 7 Company and was soon back in his Scottish homeland. Lieutenant Ritchie looked on the members of his company as his boys and most of them called him Pop. They were stationed near Inverness, primarily as a forestry unit assigned to provide timber for the war effort, but were also expected to assist in a military function should there be an invasion of Britain. Drill was not a popular activity after six long days working in the bush or mill, but Art got the best out of his men where other officers failed, according to Joe Ludwig, a member of the unit. Art was promoted to captain and transferred to No. 17 Company in the latter part of 1943 during a major troop reassignment. Soon, both companies returned to Canada and by May 1944 Art was back working as an assistant forest ranger. The year 1945 saw him again serving on municipal council, but it also marked his leap to a larger stage, that of Coalition member in the B. C. Legislature. He had seldom been active in party politics but had attended Liberal meetings and was a staunch supporter of Rolf Bruhn, longtime MLA for Salmon Arm, who died in office in 1942. When Art was approached to run as a Coalition candidate in the 1945 election he did so on the condition that both the Liberals and the Conservatives endorse him. However, at the nomination meeting Thomas Prescott, veteran Liberal association secretary, was also nominated as a gesture of appreciation. Ritchie won on the first ballot and his opponent quickly moved to make it unanimous. Nevertheless, the die was cast for Art's political future and he was considered a Conservative when he got to Victoria. He was elected MLA in 1945 and again in 1949. His speeches were full of humour and colourful expressions. But more importantly he was honest and direct. As political columnist J. K. Nesbitt wrote: "Mr. Ritchie is a good plain speaker. He doesn't believe in mincing words or paying compliments that he doesn't think are justified." The Victoria Daily Colonist referred to him as "blunt spoken, gravel voiced..." 28 ARTHUR BROWN RITCHIE Some Ritchie concerns were highway improvements, irrigation schemes, rural electrification, aerial forestry patrols and airstrips. Under his watch a bridge was finally built over Sicamous narrows (in 1949) and other improvements were made to the Trans- Canada Highway, including its relocation through Salmon Arm. After considerable lobbying the Sorrento ferry was replaced and the Kamloops-Vernon highway reconstructed. Art had long advocated a forestry access road on the Fly Hills and saw it built as part of the Public Working Circle (PWC) recommended in the Sloan Report. The PWC was expected to benefit small mills and to provide a sustained yield. MLA Ritchie supported the three- percent sales tax as long as it went for welfare and social services, and he was adamant about keeping the hospital insurance scheme. After his return to municipal council in 1944, one of his first acts was indicative of his decisive nature. When he heard that beach property west of the existing municipal park at Canoe was for sale he immediately took out an option to buy it. Then he proceeded to convince councillors that they wanted it. However, there was no money in the budget. Fortunately, Councillor Dan McMullan and his wife were agreeable to the acquisition and offered to provide a loan to the municipality to purchase the lakeshore. At times it was difficult to carry out two public tasks. Art was often in session in Victoria while the municipal council prepared its budget, so there were instances when he did not have the input he Wedding bells rang for Olive Beloud and Art Ritchie June 4, 1918. 29 ARTHUR BROWN RITCHIE would have liked. On several occasions this resulted in some lively words at council meetings. But as former clerk David Johnston said, "Many times Art's sense of humour saved the day." That sense of humour must have been sorely tried during the early 1950s. Serving in a dual capacity, Ritchie found himself in the middle of controversy in 1951 when Salmon Arm became embroiled in a squabble over school expenditures. The tree fruit industry in the Shuswap and Okanagan had been devastated by the killing frosts of 1949-50, and despite two million dollars in provincial compensation for replanting, the loss to growers and orchard workers was substantial. At the same time, school trustees were faced with unavoidable cost increases. An arbitration board found that school estimates were beyond the district's ability to fund and in an effort to pressure the province to increase capital, Salmon Arm municipal council (with members Ritchie and G. A. Reynolds opposed) upheld the arbitration board decision. The senior government refused additional aid and subsequently the district voters turned down a bylaw to raise 11 mills. Consequently, the trustees closed the schools to municipal students—it was classes as usual for City of Salmon Arm students—until the next fiscal year. Thereupon, Victoria pre- Salmon Arm District Council 1948—Rear: A. B. Ritchie, Frank Downey, Daniel McMullan, David Johnston (incoming clerk), Ross White. Seated: J. G. Campbell, Reeve L. S. Metford, B. A. Wild (retiring clerk). 30 ARTHUR BROWN RITCHIE pared a bill to allow arbitration boards to order a reduction in expenditures only if they were excessive and not on the grounds of inability to pay. The seemingly insoluble problems of an adequate water supply and distribution system led to another ongoing debate in Salmon Arm. Art Ritchie deplored the lack of decision, and at a joint city- district water committee meeting in 1946 declared that [discussion] "has been going on for the past 25 years and apparently we are no farther ahead now than we were then." As MLA he secured government support for a joint irrigation and domestic water project, only to be asked by the Fruit Growers' Irrigation Committee to drop the plan as it was considering its own scheme. A joint water system was finally built, but without any capacity for crop irrigation. By 1951 a difficult working relationship existed in the legislature as party politics divided the Coalitionists. W A. C. Bennett, MLA for South Okanagan, had attempted to gain the Conservative leadership from Herbert Anscomb in the fall of 1950, but failed. On March 16,1951 Bennett made his pivotal walk across the floor to sit as an independent. Ever-loyal Ritchie regarded the maverick politician as an opportunist. Art had favoured John Hart's Liberal policies, but many of his old friends, including public works minister Ernie Carson, were Conservatives. With Boss Johnson now leading the Liberals and Anscomb the Conservatives there was much friction. The break came in January 1952, prompting this reaction from the member for Salmon Arm: "Because of the method by which I was first chosen as candidate and because I have always sat in caucus with the Conservatives I intend to support Mr. Anscomb and to join him as a member of the Opposition in the Legislature." Characteristically, Art remained loyal to those around him, but at great personal cost; the strain of events at home and in Victoria began to take its toll. Salmon Arm Conservatives chose A. B. Ritchie as their candidate, but shortly after the campaign was launched he developed a hemorrhaging ulcer. He remained in the Salmon Arm hospital for several weeks and then went to Shaughnessy Military Hospital for further tests. British Columbia voters subsequently elected a Social Credit government and Art Ritchie was among the vanquished. But the victory was short-lived, as Bennett's upstart party went down to defeat on a motion for educational grants and Ritchie again ran as a Conservative in the ensuing general election. This time Social Credit swept the board, with James A. Reid successfully fighting off a Ritchie bid to regain the Salmon Arm seat. Municipal affairs and other community involvements continued to fill Art's life. As chairman of the municipality's golden jubilee celebration in 1955 and as a 25-year member of council he 31 ARTHUR BROWN RITCHIE A. B. Ritchie and the man who succeeded him as MLA, James A. Reid, with 4-H Club members John McLeod and Marion Turner. and Olive were honoured at a pioneer dinner. The same year Art was given a life membership in the Royal Canadian Legion, and in 1958 he was presented with a centennial scroll and named Salmon Arm's Citizen of the Year. He also served on the Salmon Arm hospital board and was granted life membership in his Masonic lodge. Both Ritchies actively supported the Salmon Arm Fall Fair in its early years. When the event was revived in 1946 Art again demonstrated keen interest, serving as president from 1952 to 1962, at which point he insisted that someone else take on the responsibility. During his fair tenure two acres were purchased adjoining the drill hall and a land swap with the B. C. Power Commission was arranged. This provided grounds that bordered the athletic fields and Memorial Arena. Livestock sheds and fences were constructed and the fair took on a three-day format. Holding to his prolonged belief that the district should have its own road-building machinery and continue to pave its roads, Art urged voters in 1947 to authorize borrowing $15,000 for public works. "The time has come," he said, "when Salmon Arm must take a decisive step forward in its road maintenance and construction. The policy followed in the past will no longer serve the needs of modern traffic. It is inefficient and expensive. Only through the use of machinery can the maximum value in roadworkbe obtained from the taxes collected." Limited paving was laid in 1945, but Art was still selling the idea of hard-surfacing prior to the 1950 municipal election. He said that surfacing the main routes offered the only permanent solution to road problems. Apparently the electorate agreed as Ritchie headed the polls, the only member to be returned from the previous administration. In November 1954 he proposed a bylaw to borrow $50,000 for road improvements, but the paperwork couldn't be finished by voting time. Ritchie thought the blacktopping should be done, with or without the referendum. In this bold-headed approach he was 32 ARTHUR BROWN RITCHIE not without support, including this comment in the Salmon Arm Observer, December 1954: "In some quarters the impressive victory of Coun. Ritchie (there were seven candidates and he polled more than half the ballots cast) is considered as a vote of approval for a program of road surfacing in the municipality next year." Not all of the council saw it that way, but Ritchie wishes prevailed. However, by then the preparatory work needed to be re-done, so paving was delayed until 1957. In 1958 Art finally got help laying out roads. The consulting firm of Read, Jones and Christofferson was engaged to prepare a master street plan. Its main purpose was to designate proper locations for roads in new subdivisions. Five years later when Art became reeve, a consulting firm was hired to prepare a zoning bylaw; the municipality was recognizing the need for more orderly development. This era also saw a lakeshore park developed at Gleneden, a new hospital at its present location, a new high school, a fire hall on South Broadview and a new arena in the city. It also saw the municipality's land area increase by 3,864 acres, including 2,410 acres of Indian reserve and 1,454 acres extending 1,000 feet into Shuswap Lake the length of the shoreline within the district limits. This provided an increased tax base from improvements constructed on foreshore leases and those made by lessees on Native property. Educational finances again became controversial in 1959 and the council rejected the school budget, blaming the province for causing school costs to double in five years. This time the ministry increased its contribution and the municipal share was reduced. Disagreement between Salmon Arm city and municipality over shared expenses was another thorny issue. The municipality suggested amalgamation, but Ritchie warned that "proper and equitable representation is of vital importance." He had become acting reeve in August 1961 when the incumbent, E. C. Turner, resigned, and then gave up his councillor's seat to make a run at a full term as the district's top elected official in the fall election. After Art narrowly beat out W B. Paget, one of the first accomplishments of the new council was to form a committee to study amalgamation. By now the city had chosen to revert to village status. Meantime, Salmon Arm's water system was demanding attention. By 1961 the municipal population was near 4,000, an increase of nearly 30 percent since 1956. The village looked more favourably on improving the system when it was discovered that it was using 31 million more gallons of water a year than was the municipality. Finally, in 1963, the village agreed to share the cost 33 ARTHUR BROWN RITCHIE of extending the Shuswap Lake intake into deeper water. Plans were also made for a new 150,000-gallon storage tank to be built in South Broadview at the 1675-foot elevation, together with larger pumping capacity and more distribution lines. However, Art was not to be part of the council that brought in these improvements. The Civic Voters' Association fielded a candidate in the 1963 contest for reeve to challenge Ritchie and another aspirant. The vote was close, but for the first time Art Ritchie lost a municipal election. Many residents felt that at the age of 78 he was too old for the job. He had contributed to that perception with remarks such as, "I'm like a fence post—gone at the bottom. I should be dug up and the hole replanted." This was his answer in declining the nomination for a tenth term as president of the fall fair. It was apparent to family members that he felt he was letting the rest of the executive down if he didn't help with the physical work of building fences and barns into the late hours of the evening. Nevertheless, there was little evidence to point to a decline in his energy, or his ability to get things done. However, he had left the impression that he was tired. His 1963 New Year's message also contained a plea for younger people to run for civic office. The apathy of the younger generation in offering itself for public service is appalling. The council is not really "An Old Folks Home." Local government is a necessity in our way of life. If you wish that way of life to continue it is time to take a hand in some of the work. For the first time in over 40 years Art could place himself and his family before the community. He and Ollie always had a large garden and with son George's help they propagated a small cherry orchard. Those carefree days lasted but three short years; Ollie, who had given Art unfailing support for so many years, lost her hold on life July 14, 1966. Despite his directness, Art Ritchie was kind, compassionate and ready to defend the underdog, but he had no patience with "whiners." His friends came from all walks of life; religion or nationality was immaterial to him. His honesty was never in question. Ernie Burton commented that he found it surprising that there wasn't a government tool on Art's farm, given the opportunity to obtain them. One of the highlights of his retirement years took place in 1967 when he and good friend Jack Moir attended the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge. 34 ARTHUR BROWN RITCHIE Art was chosen to turn the first sod for Salmon Arm's new Legion building in 1973, and then he cut the ribbon when it was completed. Unable to muster for the Remembrance Day parade during his 90th year, he nevertheless attended on the sidelines and was given an "eyes right" by the passing marchers. His life encompassed a time when some of the Trans-Canada Highway through B. C. was little more than a path. Salmon Arm's town core was just starting to develop. Roads in the municipality were trails that were only passable when the weather co-operated. There was no rural electrification and few areas had piped water. Art Ritchie improved conditions in his community and province through hard work and perseverance. He died on April 20, 1977, in his 92nd year. He was never financially rich, but left a large legacy of friends and accomplishments. 35 CAMP FAIRVIEW, THE FAIRVIEW TOWNSITE AND THOMAS ELLIS, 1887-1905 By P. M. Koroscil Large-scale gold mining in the South Okanagan Valley began in 1887 when Fred Gwatlin (Fred Gawtkins) and George Sheehan staked the Stemwinder property, which became known as the discovery claim. In the same year George Wilkinson and Joe Bromley secured the Brown Bear claim and over the next decade a number of other valuable claims would be staked in an area known as Camp Fairview. It was located 2 1/2 miles west of present-day Oliver on the east flank of a low range of mountains separating the Okanagan and Similkameen Valleys, 500 feet above the Okanagan River. Throughout the 1890s Camp Fairview would act as a magnet for all types of individuals, partners and syndicates who would not only stake their claims and establish mining companies with hopes of gaining a profit, but who would also invest in building and promoting a townsite. The purpose of this paper is to identify and analyze the leading claims that were staked at Camp Fairview and the role that Thomas Ellis played in establishing the Fairview townsite. CAMP FAIRVIEW After the initial Fairview claims were filed in 1887, many others followed. However, the following table indicates that 64 Crown-granted leading claims were reported by the Mining Recorders for Osoyoos Division, Yale District, between 1887 and 1901. During this time there were two peak periods—1892-93 and 1896- 97—when claims changed ownership. Professor Paul M. Koroscil, Department of Geography, Simon Fraser University, is the author of British. Columbia: Geographical Essays, and has also published numerous articles on emigration and settlement in the Okanagan Valley. 36 CAMP FAIRVIEW 1. Silver Bow 2. Wynn M. 3. Stemwinder 4. Brown Bear 5. Silver Crown 6. Western Girl 7. Comet 8. Ontario Fraction 9. Morning Star 10. Evening Star 11. Rattler 12. Columbia 13. Comstock 14. Atlas 15. Joe Dandy 16. Daisy Selected Mine Claims Camp Fairview 1887-1897 In 1892 the Strathyre Mining Company was established after G. A. Attwood and E. D. Reynolds were sent out from London, England, on behalf of a syndicate to examine the claims at Camp Fairview. The resulting good assays prompted the syndicate to raise $125,000 in capital stock and the following year capitalization was increased to $500,000. The company, with Sir Charles Tupper, the Canadian High Commissioner in London and future Prime Minister of Canada (May 1, 1896-July 8, 1896), and T G. Shaughnessy, vice-president of the CPR, as directors, was able to raise the necessary capital with ease. Undoubtedly, these two notable individuals, especially Tupper, played a major role in influencing potential British investors. In 1893 the company was very aggressive in purchasing five claims, including the Rattler and its mill site (Table 1). Prices for claims at this time varied from $3,000 to $25,000. In total, the company spent $112,000 purchasing claims, property, developing the mines, construction of a new 10-stamp quartz mill (Figure 2), an assay office, dwelling and boarding houses and the construction of branch roads to the workings. The Strathyre Company was the most dominant player during this period of mining activity, although two other reported claims, the Morning Star, owned by Steve Mangott and Danny McEachern (1892) and the Victoria, owned by George Wilkinson and D. A. Carmichael (Table 1), were in operation. The second peak period of 1896-97 was the most active in claim purchases and new prospects were also being reported at Fairview Camp. The two leading parties in terms of acquisitions were W A. Dier and A. A. Davidson, and the Fairview Consolidated Gold Mines Company (Table 1). The former party purchased 16 claims in 1896 and in 1897 the two partners purchased the Tinhorn Gold Mining Company, which included three claims. In 1897 the Fairview Consolidated Gold Mines Company purchased seven claims from W. A. Dier and A. A. Davidson and secured a further 37 CAMP FAIRVIEW five claims. At this time claims commanded between $200 and $75,000. There were four other companies actively involved in the hunt for mineralized properties. In 1896 the British Columbia Development Company purchased four claims and in 1897 sold them to the Fairview Gold Mining Company of London, England. The third company, the Smuggler Gold Mining Company, purchased five claims in 1897 and the fourth company, the Winchester Gold Mine and Mining Company, obtained one claim in the same year (Table 1). Apart from the exchange of ownership during this boom period, there were also eight registered claims in operation. The gold-bearing quartz veins at Camp Fairview occur in granites and in schists and quartzites. In granite the veins are very limited and uncertain. On most of the claims located in granite the exposures of quartz are isolated and can only be traced a short distance along the strike. In such cases J. R. Brown, Mining Recorder in 1897 (Figure 3), reported that very little was being done other than sinking shallow shafts on the exposures. However, on other claims such as the Columbia (Figure 1) a traced quartz vein extends continuously for the length of the claim. The most valuable veins in the schists and quartzites lie in a belt northwest of the Fairview townsite. Here the initial discovery claim, the Stemwinder, and the adjoining Brown Bear (Figure 1) were staked in 1887. In this belt there are a number of veins; for example, the Stemwinder could trace five. The veins in this belt can be delineated continuously for several thousand feet and they will vary from a few inches to 30 feet in width and can run as deep as 60 feet. Another small belt that had some quartzose schists extending into the 38 Fig. 2 Camp Fairview 1890 - 1896 PartofTwp. 54, Sections 1, 2, 11, 12, 25, 25 Land Ownership - Acres J.C. Haynes 1890 / Tom Ellis 1895 Mining Claims Crown Grant Battler Mining Co. S Stamp Quartz Mill 1891 Strathyre Mining Co. 1893 10 Stamp Quartz Mill CAMP FAIRVIEW quartzite is south of the townsite where the Smuggler and Tin Horn claims were located. (Figure 2). Although the Fairview camp had an extremely large quartzite base, J. R. Brown argued that in the peak period of production in 1897 the realistic average price of gold per ton (APGPT) should range from $4 to $7, despite the fact that he reported the Morning Star yielded an $11 average that year. The Morning Star return was similar to the averages (APGPT, Table 1) that were reported for the years 1892-93, with the exception of the Victoria, which posted an average of $37.38. By 1903 all of the reported leading mines had closed, except the Stemwinder, which yielded an APGPT of $3.60, and the Morning Star. The irony of the closures is that Brown's predicted estimate of the APGPT was nearly correct and that the discovery claim, the Stemwinder, turned out to be the most valuable producer of the many reported and unreported claims staked between 1887 and 1899. During 1892-93 the influx of miners, entrepreneurs and mining companies established their dwellings, outbuildings, businesses and mill sites on or near their claims, or on properties purchased Table 1 CAMP FAIRVIEW. 1887-1901 Gold Mining Claims, Ownership, Mining Companies, Stamp Mills, Average Price in Gold Per Ton (APC Capitalization, PT) 1887 Stemwinder 1887 Brown Bear 1892 Slraihvrc 1892 Morning Star (Figure I) (Figure 1) Minimj Co. (Figure 1) F. Gwatkin and G- Wilkinson Capitalization S. Mangott and G.Shcchan and J. Bromley $125,000 D. McEachern 1892 APGPT $8-$50.00 1892 APGPT $S-S50.00 1893 Increased 1892 APGPT $8-$50.00 1896 Stemwinder Bonded 189! Rattler Capitalization to 1893 APGPT $13,14 Lo Messrs. Rhodes (Figure 2) $500,000 1894 Lease Strathyre and Co. H. Mankin 1893 Purchased Claims stamp mill 1897 APGFr $7.00 Rattler Mining Co. Rattler from H. 1895 Using stamp mill Stemwinder sold to 5-Slamp Quertz Mankin Return ol'S30.000 1898 Winchester Gold Mill (Figure 2) Brown Bear from Acquire Black Mining Co. 1892 APGPT $8-S50.OO Wilkinson and Diamond Claim APGPT $9.00 Bromley 1896 APGPT $15-$20.00 Stemwinder sold to The Wide West 1897 APGPT $11.00 1899 Fairview Corporation from J. Stevens and 1898 APGPT $10.00 Ltd. President-Judge M. Hodder 1901 Still owned by Spinks, Vernon (Figure 1) Wynn original owners Managing Direcior- M. from H. 1893 Victoria R. Russell (Figure 3) Simpson (Figure 1) (Figure 2 and 3) Mine idle-lack of Ontario Fraction G. Wilkinson and capital from D. Carmichael D.A. Carmichael Injection of capital (Figure 1) APGPT $37.38 from Goodcrham- Rattler Mill Site Blackstone-Toronto (Figure 2) Syndicate 1893 The Wide West 1900 Fairview Corporation Purchases abandoned Tin Horn and Joe Dandy Stamp Mills 1894 1894 APGPT $11.52 Brown Bear APGPT $5.00 Company suspends 1901 and other claims APGPT $5.00 Only important mine in Fairview Camp 1897 1901 operations Company reopens The Wide West APGPT $11.00 Company closed 39 CAMP FAIRVIEW Gold Mining Claims (Continued) Joe Dandv 1895 The Smuggler 1896 W.A. Pier and 1897 Fairview (Figure 1 and 2) (Figure 2) A.A, Davidson Consolidated Gold T. Davies and T. Elliot (Figure 2) (Figure 2) Mines Co. E. Hammond 1896 T. Elliot and Purchase following Capitalization of British Colum ria J.M. McDougall claims: $2,500,000 Development Co. Purchase Buckhorn California W.S. N. Wills J.R. Mitchell-General Claim Ironclad Superintendent Manager 1897 Snuggler Gold Mine Fannie Morris Purchase following Purchase Joe Dandy Mine and Mining Nightingale claims from W.A. Group of Claii Co. H.H. Dewarl- Sundown Dier and A.A. Joe Dandy Presidenl, Toronto Elmore (Figure 2) Davidson: Atlas (Figure 1) and G.H. Maurier. Shamrock California Daisy (Figure 1) Manager, Fair\ iew Highland Chie r Ironclad Belmont Purchase the Snowbird Fannie Morris Fairview Gold Smuggler and Winchester Nightingale Mining Company Revenue, (Figure 2) Sundown Ltd. London, Vancouver. M Silver Bow Silver Bow England purchase Side and Skylark (Figure 1) Rob Roy Joe Dandy Group of Claims Mammoth Secured following Claims from B ritish Lease Strathyr mill Gold Hill claims: Columbia 1899 No work done Rob Roy Reco Development Co. 1901 Construct 10-stamp Grey Eagle Standard Joe Dandy mill, cost S21.000 Iron Mask Ocean Wave Property closed Mine and mill 1897 Purchase Quartz Queen Mill sold to closed Tin Hom Gok White Swan Stemwinder Mining Co. 1897 Winchester Gold including Tin Hom Mine and Mininy (Figure 2) Big Horn Co. and Fortune cl urns Purchase 1901 Tin Hom closed Winchester claim mill sold to from W.A. Dier and Stemwinder A.A. Davidson 1897 Silver C rown 1S98 Oro Fir oGold 1S99 Dominion (Figure 1) Mining Co. Consolidated T. Davi s, Fairvit Oro Fii Mines Co. 1901 Messrs, Hammond Independence Dominion purchased from and Bluett APGPT S10.00 Cascade Mining Syndicate Mine closed Evening Star (Figure 1) and 1898 Cascade Minin i A.D.A. Black Hawk Flora 1897 Svndicate, Vancou vcr August Fraction Own following Virginia J.F. Ste ens and claims: 1900 Western Hill H. Rose Empress of India. APGPT $10.35 1897 The Co (Figure E. Morr umhia 1) China. Russia Domin apan. 1897 Last Chance Gold Kettle T. McAuley Jubilee 1897 ComM<> ;k British Standard W. Dalrymple. Fairview (Figure 1) 1897 Comet and Western Girl (Figure 1) J.C. Ste Kens from landowners in the area. In Township 54 (Figure 2) most of the land was owned by Judge J. C. Haynes, except for 299 acres in the hands of D. M. McDougall and 150 acres belonging to G. H. Sproule. Apart from the miners who built homes and outbuildings in the area, businessman F. R. Kline constructed the two-storey Golden Gate Hotel, J. Moffat built a saloon and T. Elliot established a general store and post office. All of the construction activity during this period at Camp Fairview resulted in a disorganized and dispersed settlement pattern. FAIRVIEW TOWNSITE AND THOMAS ELLIS North of Camp Fairview, Thomas Ellis, the major rancher and landowner in the area, was undoubtedly benefiting from the mining activity taking place in the South Okanagan, as it increased the 40 CAMP FAIRVIEW market for his cattle. However, Ellis became interested in expanding his business activities beyond cattle ranching. In 1890 he took his first step after listening to Captain T. D. Shorts's argument that freighting from Okanagan Landing at the head of Okanagan Lake was less expensive by boat than running pack trains. Ellis subsequently became an owner-partner with Shorts in the twin-screw 70-foot steamer Penticton. The Penticton became the first really successful steamship on the Okanagan. Two years later, with the completion of the integrated rail and water transportation system that would open the Valley for settlement development, Ellis saw the opportunity to take the next step in expanding his business ventures—real estate speculation. He realized that the south end of Okanagan Lake would be an ideal location for a townsite to act as a natural bulk-and-break point for moving people and goods. After failing to convince the CPR to invest in his proposed Penticton townsite, he decided to sell a parcel T. Ellis Upper Townsite Registered by F.H. Larimer D.L.S. March ISth. 1897 Part of Ellis Subdi SW 1/4. Section 12 and NW 1/4 Section 1, TWP. 54 Blocks B 8, 9, 10,11,15,16,17 114 Subdivided Lots, Average size 66'xl6S Dr. R.B. White House Presbyterian Church Mining Office W T. Shatford House # Lower Townsite Registered by W.A. Dier and A.A. Davidson June 9,1897 -z*- 1 Dier. David Ft. Russell 1899 B14 Store* I * son t897and Mining Office B13 • Hotel Fairview 1698-99 B12 Bll BIO B9 BS Store* B15 B16 B17 B18 B19 B20 B21 Source: N.L Barlee 1970, P. Koroscil J! Fairview Townsite 41 CAMP FAIRVIEW of land at the south end of Okanagan Lake to a syndicate of Vancouver investors who established the Penticton Townsite Company, which was incorporated September 7, 1892. As the company promoted the sale of its newly-acquired Okanagan property, Ellis participated in the scheme by constructing the Penticton Hotel. It would be another five years before Ellis would venture again into real estate development. During the intervening period he would expand his ranch holdings to secure the distinction of being the dominant cattle baron in the South Okanagan. On August 14, 1895, the John Carmichael Haynes estate of 20,756 acres and 2,350 head of cattle, acquired by Haynes over the previous 20 years, was conveyed to the British Columbia Land and Investment Agency for $65,000. On September 4, 1895, the Agency deeded the acreage to Ellis for the same price and he purchased the cattle at auction for a few dollars a head. Ellis now controlled some 30,756 acres, along with 3,750 head of cattle. The Haynes acquisition not only proved that Ellis was an opportunistic and shrewd businessman, it also revealed another facet of his personality that related to business ethics: he was unscrupulous. When the second period of heightened activity occurred at Camp Fairview in 1896-97, it provided another chance for Ellis to become involved in real estate development. Since he now owned the majority of land in the Camp Fairview area he decided to establish a planned townsite. He hired the notable Okanagan surveyor F. H. Latimer in 1897 to lay out a townsite on part of Township 54 (Figure 3). The site that was chosen was on a flat below a narrow gulch, which led up to the initial staked claims in the area. It was also situated at the intersection of the stage road, 28 miles south of Penticton, 29 miles west of Camp McKinney and 12 miles from Osoyoos and the offices of the gold commissioner for the southern portion of Yale District. Here Latimer surveyed 17 blocks of land, subdividing them into approximately 314 lots with an average size of 66 by 165 feet. In the same year Ellis sold an adjoining piece of property to mining developers W. A. Dier and A. A. Davidson who had the parcel divided into 21 blocks (Figure 3). After the Ellis upper townsite and the Dier and Davidson lower townsite were registered there was a considerable amount of building activity to accommodate the approximate population of 400. New businesses, government offices, stores and hotels, including the spectacular three-storey Hotel Fairview constructed by Dier and Davidson, arose to service the mining population. However, at the end of the year the boom began to subside and although there were some new claims registered in 1898 (Table 1) numerous mines 42 CAMP FAIRVIEW were coming to the end of profitability and had begun to close. By 1901 all the mines had ceased operations, with the exception of the Stemwinder and the Morning Star, which had a direct effect on the viability of the Fairview townsite, as businesses closed and miners left their homes. Tom Ellis's second real estate venture was undoubtedly not the success he had envisioned. From the probate papers filed after his death in 1918 it was revealed that he still had title to 114 lots in Blocks 8, 9, 10, 11, 15, 16 and 17, and 168 lots in Blocks 1 to 7 and 12, 13 and 14, which had no monetary value (Figure 3). Also, he held a valueless mortgage on Lots 13 and 14. Out of a total of 314 lots, he sold approximately 32 lots in Blocks 1 to 7 and 12 to 14 and did not gain any substantial return from the sale of lots in the remaining surveyed blocks. While playing a major role in establishing the Fairview townsite, Ellis also participated in mining speculation. His choice for investment was the Stemwinder, eventually holding 2,564 preferred and 128,334 common shares. In 1918 the par value of both issues was listed at 25 cents each. However, the real value was nil and amounted to a stated investment loss of $32,724.50. This figure may not be correct since Ellis was a preferred shareholder and most probably would have increased his stake over a period of time at discounted prices when further shares were issued. The early 1900s saw the decline of gold mining at Camp Fairview and the end of a viable townsite there. This, coupled with the fact that large cattle ranches in the Valley were giving way to orchards, led Tom Ellis to sell his ranch in 1905 to L. W. and W. T. Shatford, of the Southern Okanagan Land Company, for $412,500 and retire to Victoria. In conclusion, this research paper has attempted to examine an aspect of the settlement history of the South Okanagan between 1887 and 1905 that takes into account the relationship between mining and the development of townsites. PRIMARY SOURCES: British Columbia Reports of the Minister of Mines, 1887-1905; Public Archives of British Columbia, GR 1304, Probate Papers, File 240/18 Thomas Ellis and Will of Thomas Ellis, GR 1052 British Columbia, Supreme Court (Victoria), copies in Penticton Museum and Archives; Surveyors' maps, Penticton Museum and Archives. SECONDARY SOURCES: Fairview and Thomas Ellis Files, Penticton Museum and Archives; N. L. Barlee papers on Fairview. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: At the Penticton Museum and Archives I would like to thank Randy Manuel and S. Haverkamp for their helpful assistance. I would also like to thank Paul DeGrace, Cartographer, Department of Geography, Simon Fraser University. 43 HARRIS & CLARK AND THE CATHEDRAL LAKES By Joe Harris as told to Doug Cox The majestic Cathedral Lake Park is situated on British Columbia's southern border southwest of Keremeos. The jagged peaks of the Okanagan Range form a backdrop to sparkling alpine lakes. Joe Harris (1910-1994) and Herb Clark (1914-1979) formed a partnership in 1939 that resulted in the development of what is now Cathedral Lakes Resort. The following is a recorded conversation with Joe Harris in 1984.1 have edited the conversation for brevity. I also talked to Herb Clark about his experiences in the area. Both men left a superb photographic record of their early trips and development of a "dude camp" and eventually an alpine resort.—D. C. The first time that I went to the Ashnola was when I was 16 years old. I went up with Frank Richter, Hal Tweddle and Mr. Tweddle Sr, and R. P. Brown and Dave Ring, one of Mr. Tweddle's oldest hired men. Frank Richter and I met as youngsters in 1920, but got to know one another when we both attended Vancouver College in 1925. The summer of 1926 Frank invited me to go over for a holiday at Keremeos. Going up to the Ashnola was part of that holiday. We left Keremeos with our saddle and pack horses and rode up to the mouth of the Ashnola River. The Ashnola bridge across the Similkameen River had deteriorated to such an extent by then that you couldn't take your horses across it. They had carried the big siphon for the irrigation system over, but you had to ford the river. We finally ended up at the old cabin, pre-emption or what Doug Cox is a retired teacher in Penticton, freelance historian, author and popular guest speaker. He and his wife Joyce operate an ostrich farm, raise Dalmatians, enjoy horse-related activities and publish books through their company, Skookum Publications. 44 HARRIS & CLARK Herb Clark packing boat lumber into the Cathedral Mountains, late 1939 or '40. The pack has been adjusted to avoid having lumber hit the horse's head. has been known as the Hargraves place. Hargraves were long gone, but the reason it was called that was because the Hargraves cabin still remained. The cabin, with all of us, was quite crowded, so Frank and I slept outside under a little lean-to of poles and saddle blankets to keep the dew off us. I can remember waking up in the middle of the night with a pack rat nibbling above me and droppings hitting the straw near my face! The first day we were there, Frank and I were sent with a pack train of salt up to Joe Lake, about 15 miles on the east side of the Ashnola. When we got up on top there was hardly a sign of a cow, and yet when we got the pack horses unloaded the cows were turning up from all corners. We had three pack horses loaded with salt—nine blocks in all. After a brief snack and leaving the salt, we headed back to the cabin. I remember going down the hill that night. By four o'clock I was starting to get hungry and by five I was sure I was going to die. When we could see the smoke coming up from below, we figured Papa Tweddle was getting supper ready for us. It was another three- quarters of an hour before we got there and it was a relief that we didn't have to cook our own meal. Papa Tweddle was quite a cook. I still remember his "world's best baking powder biscuits." He had his own way of doing it. He would take a 25-pound bag of flour and fold the top back, then make a little puddle space in the middle of it. He'd put in a little baking powder, some sugar and bit of salt and mix the dough right there in the puddle in the top of the flour. He'd get the stove just the right heat to suit him and throw a dab of dough right onto the 45 HARRIS & CLARK stove, and they were just the nicest baking powder biscuits you ever tasted. When he got done with it, he'd just tie the sack and that was it till the next time. There was no dirtying dishes and table and so on when he needed a few biscuits for supper. Along with those biscuits we had brook trout, bacon and eggs. The next day we all went up to a crater. We moved the cattle up from Hargraves, further up to get them up on the higher pastures. Of course, the higher we got the better the view. Pretty soon we could see over the Upper Ashnola and Cathedrals. There, in the middle of August, it was pure white over there and hot where we were. It looked like a different world. I suppose it was about nine or ten miles away. At 16,1 was quite intrigued by all that. tv A A\ l j J¬∞e Harris and Cliff Leslie (right) at the Hargraves pre-emption cabin in 1932. The cabin was used by the Tweddle Ranch while COW up there With a call checking on cattle grazing in the Ashnola Range. and she was just the most ornery critter you ever saw, a real troublemaker. He decided that she had to be butchered that fall and in order to get some beef on her, we had to take the calf away from her. We ran the cow and the calf into the corral. They left Frank and I up there to take care of the calf. Well, the old cow had the most uneven disposition of any cow I'd ever seen. She only had one speed; to put her head down and dive for the fence. And if you were on the fence she'd climb the rails and chase you off. We couldn't get into the corral to rope the calf, so we had to rope over top of the fence. Finally, we were lucky enough and got a loop around the calf and Frank said: "Now, you take down the bars." So I went around to the side where the bar gate was and I had the gate about half down before the cow noticed it. She headed for the hole in the gate and I headed for my horse. When she came out through the gate she was going places and I was right on her tail and kept her going. I took her on down the mountain. By the time I got back Frank had butchered the calf. 46 HARRIS & CLARK We couldn't load the calf right away. We had to let it cool off. You can't move beef in hot weather until it's cooled a bit. Just as the sun was going down we decided the beef had cooled enough. We wrapped it in a tarp and put it on the pack horse. About that time the old cow showed up looking for it. That was my introduction to the Ashnola and Cathedrals. Cliff Leslie, a local boy, and I went up again in 1932 with pack boards. It was our first experience at backpacking, so we had to do a lot of changing around to figure out the best way to cut down on weight. I remember somebody advising us to keep it down to three pounds a day and that was good advice. We had enough to eat, at three pounds a day. The trail in those days was just that—an indication that it was the right way to go. About every 300 feet you'd see a blaze. The main trail up the creek was a forestry trail from the pole bridge and had just been completed a couple of years before. Charlie Richter and some chaps were paid to put a trail up the main river, and it went onto Flattop. Now, the trail that we were following was a sheepherder's route. Graham and Willis ran sheep up on the Cathedrals. This trail that All photographs in this article courtesy the author. Herb Clark with a log boat and a fine catch offish on an alpine lake in the Cathedral Mountains. 47 HARRIS & CLARK Joe Harris on Big Red, his favourite horse, somewhere in the Cathedrals in the late 1930s. we used was more or less a service trail. They brought the sheep up and down this trail and used it also to transport supplies to sheep camp. It wasn't a well- marked trail, but we had no trouble with it. We found that Lindsay's Meadow showed up where it was supposed to be on the map. The little eight-by-six cabin was there. The two Lindsay brothers had spent all of one winter there. Many years after when I was in Okanagan Falls visiting with Margaret and George Lindsay, I asked them by chance if the meadows were named after them. Indeed, they were. George told me that "those times were tough and us two boys didn't want the old folks feeding us all winter. We had 20 dollars, so we bought some supplies and went up there on the side of the mountain all winter. We trapped enough furs to pay our expenses." Cliff and I made ideal camping partners because we weren't very communicative, and if one guy started making the fire, the other one knew he was supposed to make the bough bed. He would go and cut the fir boughs and start the bed. We didn't carry a tent; just had a tarp to go over a little bit of a frame. By the time one fellow had the bed made the other had supper ready. We took canned sausages, back bacon, spaghetti and macaroni. We didn't take a lot of eggs because they were too heavy. We'd spoil ourselves with only taking about six; and we carried them in a can with the oatmeal. As you used the oatmeal, the eggs showed up and you'd have an egg with your porridge. We carried flour. When we ran out of bread, we made our own bannock. We figured a pound of butter apiece for a week. On our backpacking trips into the mountains we ate to live, not be a gourmet diner. Nothing goes to waste; what's left over from breakfast makes your lunch and what's left over from supper you cleaned it up for breakfast. We did discover how to cook beans properly. Canned pork and beans are fine, but they're heavy. It's much better to take along dried beans. We found one way we could handle the beans was to soak them overnight and in the morning pack them away in a sealed container, wet. By supper time there was enough moisture in the beans that they were nearly popping the lid off and were softened enough that you could make a stew 48 HARRIS & CLARK for supper. In those days there were lots of fool hens and grouse around, to which you could add bacon. We were never short of meat. We always caught fish. On the way down the hill we ran into Phil Cooper (an electrician) and Bill Blair, two Penticton boys who were going up to the Cathedrals. They were going in on the Twin Buttes trail rather than the Noisy Creek trail. Below us about a mile off the trail a forest fire was burning. We were very happy to get by that. A couple of days later it crossed the trail and burnt the whole darn table out, which caused the table to be abandoned for about 10 to 15 years. A fellow named Meausette had a pre-emption and cabin on what is now Meausette Creek. Just above the Ashnola forest at Ewart Creek there's a creek coming in from the south and that's Meausette. He was a prospector who worked out of Princeton mostly, all through that country. Just how he worked it to have a mineral claim on the American side of the border, I'm not sure. He was very interested in what is known as the Tungsten mine across the border and it seemed like the easiest way to get the ore out, which had to come out on stone boats or sledges, and they had a trail built right down to the Ashnola bridge. This was before WWI. In talking to his daughter later, I learned that he had the mine sold for $80,000, even had the cheque for it, but when war broke out he couldn't cash it. There went his dream of being a successful and rich miner. Mrs. Billie Estabrooks from Summerland went in there with friends in 1921. The mine had never functioned after the war, but they still had a caretaker looking after everything. Even at that late date they seemed to have something there. In 1938 Cliff and I arranged with Mr. Tweddle to take a party into the Cathedral Mountains. There was Cliff and his sister Mary, and his girlfriend Mary Kerr, and Betty Hughes and myself. I rented seven horses from Tweddle, two for packing and five to ride. Quite a few folks were beginning to use the Cathedrals; mostly local people. At the Keremeos end the trail was quite visible, but it was still very primitive up above —still open campfires, still using pack horses. We considered ourselves living in the lap of luxury as we were able to take a couple of tents. Five of us spent a whole week up there and including the horse rental of a dollar a day, it cost $100. It was one day up and one day back, with five days on top. While we were up there, Herb Clark showed up with some dudes. He was a little younger than I. He worked for Tweddle and was a real good mountain man and excellent with horses. He'd worked on the local ranches and was very practical in the mountains. 49 HARRIS & CLARK One night Herb and I went out on the raft fishing, and in the middle of the lake of that year, 1938, the basics of our partnership were thought out while drifting on the raft. In those days we had no boat or anything. You did all your fishing from the shore. Since our trip in 1932, the lakes had been stocked. Doug and Bob Parsons took the fish up. It was quite a chore stocking lakes in those days. Some of the fish were brought in from the Coast and you had to stop every half hour and change the water. You couldn't just dump it out and take it in. You had to take it out by the cup and put a cupful of fresh water in, so that there was a gradual change. When you arrived at the base to start up the hill, these wooden pack boxes that were watertight were put on top of the horses and every half hour you still had to change the water. The mortality wasn't too heavy. A lot of the mountain lakes got stocked that way. It was a time-consuming job. Our partnership took shape in 1939. Herb had ajob at the Mascot mine in Hedley and I had an orchard in Penticton. I became the financier of the outfit and Herb carried out the work. The Forks cabin was very much an involvement for me, because I had to pack all the lumber in from Penticton to put on the roof and the floor. I built all the doors and windows, while Herb did the log work. The Forks cabin was the kingpin of the whole deal. That was where we kept all our saddles, a supply of groceries, so it became our base headquarters. The road in, in those days, particularly from the pole bridge up to the Forks, was real hairy. There were lots of places where the inside track was a foot higher than the outside track. We always carried a crowbar, a pick and a shovel, and each trip in we took a few more boulders out of the middle of the road. Pretty soon we had it built so well that we could come out of there at 15 to 20 miles an hour without hitting anything. We were the original road builders for that part of it. In the meantime Herb and his wife Helen took four months off during the summer from the Mascot mine. We decided on an allowance for Herb of five dollars a day and his board. He put in five dollars of labour and I put in the cash. We gradually got the horses, dishes, tents and everything else needed up there. After two or three years we had built ourselves up a pretty good stake. By this time, of course, we were getting dudes coming in and the business just naturally evolved. The first few years, if Herb wasn't busy with guests, he was cutting trail or making a better campsite and doing a little exploring. I kept the camp supplied with groceries. We bought fresh meat in Keremeos, had it frozen, took it in and put it in the snowbank, so we had fresh meat all the time. 50 HARRIS & CLARK Pyramid tents preferred by Harris and Clark. Lad in front is Frank Richter Jr. I picked up our guests from the train in Penticton and took them in. They would tell me when they wanted to come back out and I would go up and meet them. I did all the bookkeeping. I was the outside man and Herb looked after the camping end of it, and did that very well. A part of Cathedral history that should not be overlooked is its formation as a park. Herb and I had only been in there a very short time when we considered that the Cathedrals should become a park, but kept pretty much as it was then. We hoped to obtain a lease and the right to maintain a camp there. We got a lukewarm response from the government in Victoria, but strangely enough the most opposition came from Keremeos. The sheepherders didn't want us up there. The cattlemen didn't want us; thought we would ruin the country entirely. Finally, pressure was put on Victoria and they started to renege. I reminded them they could not have it both ways; if they weren't going to let us in as a park, they should sell us some land. So eventually we ended up getting two 40-acre parcels of land on top. We developed it ourselves, with considerable help from the Parks Branch. Chess Lyons went in there on his original trip in 1940, and we mapped it all on a contour map and took a lot of photos. The chief forester at Kamloops became quite interested, but politics being what they are, it was determined there was no place for Harris and Clark up there. However, we stayed anyway. One 40-acre block was below Glacier Lake just above the timberline. The next block was on the north shore of Quinesco Lake where it took in our campgrounds and ran right back into the timber with a quarter mile of shoreline. Because we now owned the land, we built a permanent camp at the lower site. We brought in a cookstove and put up large tents with board floors. The original tents were made to order by Jones Tent and Awning in Vancouver. Pyramid tents is the proper name for them. They were seven feet high with the door on one side and the floor sewn in. With a central rope to pull them up and a tripod, you could yank them up in a hurry. The idea of them was that when you took them down you folded them into three and a half 51 HARRIS & CLARK by seven, which gave you the top of your pack. You would put all the pack on your horse, then load the tent on last. The side that went next to the ground was on top. The two worked in reverse: when you arrived in camp and it was snowing or raining, the wet side went down. You could throw anything, everything inside the tent without putting it up. If you had time to pull the centre up, at least the stuff that came off the horse was still dry. Seven by seven was ample for two people to sleep in. We had four of those tents. The long tents were nine by fourteen feet with six-foot sidewalls, and there were two of them. There were extra-long tarps for covers over them. There was a board floor right through, like a runway. One end was dining and sitting in the evenings near the heater, with a radio for news. In the other tent was stored the groceries and the cooking was done there. With two large flys over the ends, the whole thing was very weatherproof. There was a six-foot alleyway between them. A canvas camp fit for well-heeled dudes. This was the custom-made tent used to prepare and serve meals on Harris & Clark outings. It was left to me to buy the saddles. We never bought new ones that I can remember. If the price was right, I bought them. I had a workshop in my home basement and carried out repairing during the wintertime. We started off with three manufactured pack saddles and from then on we made our own. You had to buy the A- frame (wooden part), but all the rigging and the breast straps we made at home. There were certain things we didn't like about the manufactured ones, so we converted them to suit ourselves. We used coal-oil boxes for pack boxes mostly. If we had a chance to get a cowhide for nothing, we put an outer wrap around the box, which made them practically indestructible. Pack horses are not like city horses, or park horses. Unless you got big men working for you, you don't want a horse that's too high, but one that's very wide in the chest with a good round rump. If they haven't got a wide, heavy chest they haven't got strength and lungs. And you want a short back to carry that load all day. You 52 HARRIS & CLARK don't want them too heavy in the legs. They must have good sound feet. Quarter horses are good strong mountain horses with lots of lung power. We were careful horse buyers. The time to buy horses is in the fall after the work's all over, facing a long winter with the price of hay going up. Sometimes we'd stock up on horses. I had a ranch at Green Mountain and it wasn't unusual for me to winter 15 to 20 head. Old Red was my saddle horse; part blood horse, a real sorrel and built like an Irish hunter. He rode like a rambling boxcar; not a gentleman's horse to ride, but he was all horse—excellent with a pack train. He would break, where others will hesitate. I only needed to nudge him lightly and he'd go down over a bank, through a bog or creek without question. Breaking is just peeling off and getting back to the other horses fast if there is trouble along the line. We had a runaway one time, in a hailstorm, coming down off Skookumchuck. It was very heavy hail and panicked the whole outfit during which one of our dudes lost control of her pony. I got in alongside with Red, reached over and grabbed her by the belt and gave a yank. I spun her around behind me, doing it on the dead run and Red never batted an eye. We got the runaway stopped by taking the lead horse and winding them around a bunch of fir trees until they settled down. While in camp the horses were turned loose in the evening with bells. We had a couple of drift fences to keep them in. On a trail ride we always hobbled them at night and there were bells as well. Even at that the beggars would sometimes travel three or four miles during the night and we'd have to track them in the morning. The first year of World War Two didn't affect us too much, but the second year the lack of guests was noticeable. Then Herb was called into the army and we had to move the camp out. When he returned, I sold my share of the partnership to him and his wife. Herb built his first cabin and gradually expanded until now a lodge is there—present-day Cathedral Lakes Lodge. (For more information on the people and events mentioned in this interview, attention is drawn to the following Reports: Nos. 40 and 59 (Joe Harris); No. 45 (Herb Clark); No. 52 (Hal TWeddle); No. 28 (Cathedral Lakes). 53 BUILDING THE KELOWNA-NARAAMTA ROAD: 1936-1939 By Hume CPR tug MV Okanagan breaking ice in Kelowna Harbour, January 1956. (Bill Guttridge photograph) For the early inhabitants of the Central Okanagan, crossing Okanagan Lake created a problem that has reared its head many times since they made the trip in boats, canoes and even on rafts. In the mid-1880s the McDougall brothers, Eneas and David, built a 16-foot scow equipped with oars. As the population increased the means of ferrying included power-driven boats, towing scows and large rafts. In the period 1906 to 1927 the provincial government tendered annually for the running of a ferry across the lake. In 1927, the Department of Public Works built and operated the MS Kelowna-Westbank ferry. It was 90 feet long and had a capacity of 15 cars. This eased the ferry problem for several years, but after that the service ran into difficulties. The number of car crossings increased steadily and this caused holdups at both terminals, especially on public holidays. Adding to the problem was the cold weather in the early to mid-1930s. Ice greatly reduced the number of trips and on extremely cold days no sailings took place. When the SS Sicamous was making its daily return trip from Okanagan Landing to Penticton it would open a path through the ice with its steel-clad hull. By 1936 this service had ended and the ferry was on its own as far as ice-breaking was concerned; it only had a wooden hull and could not take the pounding. This created many inconveniences for people on both sides of the lake. Mail service was 54 KELOWNA-NARAMATA ROAD disrupted badly, stores couldn't get their supplies and the travelling public had trouble getting across the frozen expanse; some walked and others got a ride in horse-drawn sleighs. Around this time the ferry took on the appropriate name "MS Hold Up." The Kelowna Courier and Orchardist, now called The Daily Courier, in its March 5, 1936, weekly issue ran a scathing editorial deploring the ferry situation. The editorial went on to back a suggestion by five prominent Kelowna citizens that a road be built on the east side of Okanagan Lake from Kelowna to Naramata to connect with the Penticton-Paradise Ranch road already in use. If built, this new road would help to relieve through traffic on the ferry and provide an alternate route when the ferry was delayed or shut down due to cold weather, and to a lesser degree when the ferry was out of service for its annual overhaul and inspection. In the spring of 1936 the Honourable F. M. MacPherson, Minister of Public Works in Victoria, came to Kelowna. A strong case for the Kelowna- Naramata road was put before him and he promised to keep it in mind in the event any road construction was undertaken. However, in July 1936 when the highway appropriations were announced, his memory must have failed him, as no money was allotted to help with the construction of any road on the east side of Okanagan Lake south of Kelowna. With no support whatsoever from the provincial government it clearly showed there was no resolve on the part of Victoria to even help start the road project or put a second ferry—or larger vessel—in service. A movement by Kelowna citizens to build the road by volunteer labour sprang up, spearheaded by five men: Sam Miller, president of the senior Board of Trade, H. V. Craig, lawyer, Reg. G. Rutherford, chartered accountant, Frank Groves, surveyor, and I. V. Newman, manager. I Kelowna-Naramata Okanagan Bank of Community Service ONE SHOVEL SHEKEL IK PULL FOR ORE SHIFT Copy of a Shovel Shekel 55 KELOWNA-NARAMATA ROAD The idea caught on quickly and the town was abuzz with enthusiasm. The next thing was to find the most suitable route. On July 1, 1936, the five organizers drove up to Chute Lake. This road, incidentally, had been built by volunteer labour some years back. From Chute Lake they hiked a route "On the count of three, heave. " Swamping out right-of-way on Kelowna-Naramata Road. along the West Kootenay power line to Paradise Ranch. They found very little rock work, but after a couple more investigations the group decided there would be too many heavy grades following the power line. The alternate route that more or less followed the Time out for lunch and a smoke. old Penticton Trail was the path chosen, even though it was fully realized that a lot of heavy rock work would be encountered. Finally, on Sunday, September 27, 1936, 33 volunteers armed with picks, shovels, rakes, axes and crowbars started work on the section from near Cedar Creek south to link up with the Penticton Trail, which had been used very little for many years. The trail was originally built by native Indians in the mid- 1850s and was used in 1859 by Father Pandosy and his party to reach LAnse au Sable, where Kelowna is today. It was also used by miners, trappers and others. Traffic on the trail increased considerably in 1871 when the Brent flour mill was established on Mill 56 KELOWNA-NARAMATA ROAD (Kelowna) Creek near the site of the present government weigh scales. Many settlers came from all over the Okanagan to have their grain milled, some from as far away as Osoyoos. In the Courier edition of October 1, 1936, a front-page headline read, "First Mile of East Side Road is Complete —On to Naramata." In the accompanying story the reporter wrote, ". . . it was a hearty sight to see the young and the older pick and shovel into the hillside and fashion out a road of sorts eight feet wide." Shortly after 3 p.m. the grade had been completed and Sam Miller drove the first car over the new stretch to the corrals constructed in earlier times. The volunteers fully realized that they would not make such progress on every outing. A lot of heavy slugging lay ahead, but nevertheless it was a grand start. Deep Creek beckoned and it would prove very difficult in places. Two miles from Deep Creek is Horse Creek and the section between these two was to become the most trying and time-consuming of any on the project. From Horse Creek it would take approximately 16 miles of construction to reach Paradise Ranch, which included the big canyon, also called the Wild Horse Canyon. After the first success, the senior and junior boards of trade made an appeal for more volunteers to help on the road on Thursday afternoons and all or part of Sundays. The response was great: nearly 90 people showed up at the next work party. As well, three teams of horses arrived with scrapers and they, along with other workers, fashioned a good grade on the northern end. Overall progress was slowed, however, when the crews working farther south encountered increasing rock stretches. Around this time the organizers incorporated the Okanagan Highway Association under the B. C. Societies Act and donations started to be received by association secretary Reg. G. Rutherford. The money would be used to buy necessary supplies such as blasting powder and detonation caps. Each Thursday afternoon and Sunday saw an increasing number of men turning out, as well as some women who provided tea and coffee to the workers. Can you picture building roads this way today? Typical 1936 volunteer crew included Ian McFarlane, Dick Parkinson, Harry Witt, Reg Rutherford, Russel Scrim, Edwin Harvey, Bill Embrey. 57 KELOWNA-NARAMATA ROAD Another innovation introduced to volunteers during the road work was the Shovel Shekel. Two shekels were issued for each day's work, one for the morning shift and one for the afternoon and a weekly draw was held for donated prizes. Shekel number 55159 was the first lucky ticket drawn and the winner took home a large glass bottle of tobacco put up by George McKenzie "The Grocer." The shekel was designed along the lines of a sweepstake ticket and entitled "Okanagan Bank of Community Service." For men not used to physical labour, the demands of the project were extremely tiring and many volunteers suffered various aches and stiffness on Monday and Friday mornings. One Sunday, some excitement was created when Hugh Dunlop and his team of horses up-ended a hornets' nest with their scraper. Fortunately, he and the team and other men nearby were able to make a hasty retreat before much damage could be inflicted. The Naramata volunteer road project began to draw favourable editorial comment in papers in throughout B. C. and across Canada. Issuing Shovel Shekels drew excellent reviews in the Halifax Herald and the Toronto Globe and Mail. The 16-mile project fell into three sections: 1) From Cedar Creek to the big canyon, six miles. 2) Through the canyon on an old logging road, five miles. 3) From the end of the logging road to Paradise Ranch road, five miles. It was decided to build a bridge across Deep Creek on a flat near its mouth, then swing away from Okanagan Lake on a rising grade to get around the head of the deep canyon of Horse Creek and connect with an old logging road that led to the big canyon. It was hoped that 200 men would turn up on Sunday, October 25, 1936, to try to finish the section near Deep Creek. Instead, only 75 volunteers presented themselves but a good day's work was accomplished. A log cabin was built near Deep Creek, complete with windows, to store supplies, and a sign Part of Kelowna-Naramata Road "open " to traffic, but easy does it. 58 KELOWNA-NARAMATA ROAD bearing the name Kelata was proudly hung over the door. The weather turned colder the following week and for all intents and purposes work on the road for 1936 closed down November 5. With the arrival of spring 1937, efforts to rejuvenate interest in the Naramata road project resulted in proclaiming April 12 to 17 as "On To Naramata Week." On April 22 a well-attended banquet was held at the Royal Anne Hotel to promote the road. Okanagan Lake having frozen over two months before, the fact there was no ferry service served to keep the Naramata road project on centre stage. Sam Miller reported to the banquet that he and Cliff Renfrew had flown over the remaining gap and had got a fine perspective of the route and the obstacles to be faced. Work resumed in early May and again there were good turnouts. Vic De Hart took a team and scraper to improve the grade and fill on both sides of Deep Creek and also improved the section down to the Kelata cabin. A crew from Winfield improved and finished the bridge over Deep Creek; appropriately it was named the Winfield Bridge. Steep and rocky terrain greeted the road builders heading for Horse Creek, slowing progress and calling for much powder work, but the stream was finally reached. Wet weather didn't help the cause, either, although spirits remained high amongst the volunteers. J. R. Campbell, "The Bicycle Man," took crews out on several Thursday afternoons to improve bad corners and widen some narrow parts to enable two cars to pass. Sunday, October 10, 1937, proved quite an eventful day for approximately 30 volunteers out on the road. At lunchtime we— including the writer—decided to eat on the south side of a small bay, as we had been told to stay well off as some blasting was going to be done over the noon hour. While eating our lunches a big blast went off and within a very short time a large, dark object appeared on the surface of the water below us. It was travelling at a great speed towards the middle of the lake where it disappeared below the surface. It was faster than any boat and much larger than any locally-known bird or fish, but the wash made it impossible to make out its shape. We all felt it was the famed denizen of Okanagan Lake, Ogopogo. Everyone had a good view and unanimously vouched that all we had to drink with our lunch was tea or coffee— nothing else. Work in 1937 was carried out in different areas. Some crews were in the vicinity of Horse Creek and beyond, while others made improvements along the road itself. There was a good turnout on Thanksgiving Day and this pretty well finished the schedule for 1937. 59 KELOWNA-NARAMATA ROAD The year 1938 started out on the right foot for the Naramata road project. In early April the annual meeting of the Okanagan Highway Association drew a packed house. A Plymouth car was raffled off, swelling the funds for the Association and the road project. Winners of the car were Harry Broad and Jack Dunlop, co- owners of the Royal Anne Hotel. Applause was spontaneous when it was revealed that the successful raffle was due to the efforts of three women, Mrs. J. N. Cushing, Mrs. J. B. Knowles and Mrs. P. B. Willits. Dr. W. J. Knox and Dave Chapman Sr. picked the winning ticket. When work resumed on April 24, 1938, it was found that the road had come through the winter and spring runoff with flying colours. However, in June the public works department in Victoria announced that tenders would be called for a new and larger ferry to replace MS Holdup. It would handle 30 cars and passengers and offer faster service. This was great news for the people of Kelowna, but it did not stop the idea of building the road to Naramata; even a new steel-hulled ferry could still be prone to severe winter conditions. By the end of 1938 the road was completed beyond Horse Creek and up to entrance of the big canyon where a big slough posed the threat of flooding if high water occurred in the spring of 1939. Either some form of drainage or a large fill would be needed to keep the road intact. 1937 Naramata road committee: Standing: H. V. Craig, John Cushing, Percy Harding, Sam Miller, James Campbell. Seated: Harry Witt, Mrs. J. B. Knowles, Mrs. John Cushing, Mrs. P. B. Willits, J. B. Knowles. On floor: F. W. Groves, Reg Rutherford. (Photograph courtesy Stan Miller) 60 KELOWNA-NARAMATA ROAD Old Logging Rds. Park Boundaries Gellatly Point PEACHLAND ...-■■■'~\ Cedar Creek On May 10, 1939, H. V. Craig outlined to the third annual meeting of the Okanagan Highway Association the progress made so far. The road was complete to the big canyon and it was hoped that in 1939 the volunteers could reach Good Creek. It would be tough going in spots from Good Creek to Paradise Ranch, but Craig was sure they were up to the challenge. As it turned out not much work was done on the land link in 1939, for in June the new ferry MS Pendozi was placed in service. Moreover, hopes of continuing the project ended when rearmament preparations for WWII made it impossible to obtain dynamite for such low-priority causes as the Kelowna- Naramata road. In retrospect, if the road from Kelowna to Naramata had been Squally OKANAGAN MTN PARK Paradise Ranch SUMMERLAND ^^T<11 ilUIS completed by the highways department and brought up to proper standards would the Okanagan Bridge have been built and in use by 1958? Would the Okanagan Connector have been opened in 1990, assuming the Coquihalla Highway was built when it was? Nobody has the answers, but it does give one something to think about. I feel it will be a good many years before a highway is built from Kelowna to Naramata, if ever There is neither the money available nor the necessity for such a link at this time. I would like to list, besides the individual volunteers, the various groups and companies that also took part in the Naramata road project: Kelowna Senior and Junior Boards of Trade, Vernon Junior Board of Trade, Canadian Canners, Canadian Legion, Chapmans Transport, Kelowna Rotary Club, Modern Foods, Elks Lodge, The Sons of England and the Industrial and Agricultural Workers Association. There were many volunteers from Winfield, Rutland, Ellison and areas adjacent to Kelowna. If the writer has missed any group, please accept his apologies. Names were given to locations along the route as a means of identification. These included Cathers Cut, Meikle Meadows, Winfield Bridge, High School Heights, Junior Board Boulevard, Aylmer Avenue and Handings Hollow. Sources for this article included the files of the Kelowna Courier, 1935-1939. All roadwork photographs and Shovel Shekel courtesy Dorothy Zoellner. 61 THE ARMSTRONG WOMEN'S INSTITUTE By Faith Hall The role of the local Women's Institute is best examined in connection with the entire organization: the provincial body, the Federated Women's Institute and the Associated Country Women of the World. The local Institute contributes to each of these umbrella groups and can attend the meetings of all. The Women's Institute began in Canada and is now worldwide. More than 100 years ago, a young mother named Adelaide Hoodless was distressed to learn that the death of her 18-month- old infant was caused by bacteria carried in impure milk, and that this death could easily have been prevented. Adelaide began a campaign for pure milk in the City of Hamilton, Ontario, where she and her family lived. She met with indifference, discrimination and resistance, even though she was the wife of a prominent businessman, who was also the chairman of the Hamilton board of education. It was then that Adelaide Hoodless realized the vulnerability of women, particularly those in less fortunate circumstances, such as young mothers living in rural areas who needed information and advice about sanitation, child care and nutrition. She believed that if a Farmer's Institute could help to grow better crops, a Women's Institute could grow healthier families. As a result of Adelaide Hoodless's campaign, the first Women's Institute was formed on February 19, 1897. It proved so popular with the women of Ontario that the movement spread rapidly to other provinces. In 1909 Miss Laura Rose, an instructor in dairying at Ontario Agricultural College at Guelph, came to B.C. and organized 15 branches. The Women's Institute was given the support and approval of the Department of Agriculture, and a provincial body was established under The Agriculture Assistance Act of 1911 with W E. Scott, deputy minister of agriculture, being the first Provincial Superintendent of British Columbia Women's Institutes. Faith Hall was born and raised in Saskatchewan, where she resided for most of her life. She worked for the provincial health department in Regina for 25 years. On moving to Armstrong in 1991, she became active in the Women's Institute and assumed the function of unofficial historian. 62 WOMEN'S INSTITUTE This provincial group of Women's Institutes started a campaign that forever changed the medical treatment of crippled children in B. C. with the establishment of the Othoa Scott Fund, together with a building fund for a hospital for crippled children in Vancouver and the Queen Alexandra Solarium at Victoria for the care of children with long-term illnesses. Both hospitals opened in 1927 and over the years have been expanded and rebuilt. All Women's Institutes in B. C. continue to give financial and other support to both facilities. In February of 1919, representatives of Women's Institutes from all provinces met in Winnipeg to form the Federated Women's Institute, with the approval of T. A. Crerar, Canada's Minister of Agriculture. The moving force behind any large organization, however, lies with the members of the local branch, and this is definitely the case with the Armstrong Women's Institute. Armstrong W. I. was granted a charter on December 10, 1919 and it first met on January 28,1920 in Armstrong City Hall with 31 women present. Later minutes indicate that the old city hall was the Pringle house on Railway Street, approximately where the Price is Right bulk foods store is now situated. At this first meeting Mrs. Jane Ball was elected president, Mrs. R. Inglis secretary-treasurer and Mrs. N. Michner vice-president. Other members of the first executive were Mrs. Amelia Becker, Mrs. Hannah Gamble, Mrs. Kate Perry, Mrs. L. Buck, Mrs. A. Buckley and Mrs. Margaret Phillips. Their objectives were set forth as ". .. in clause 78 of the Agriculture Act of 1915, and to help the local Cottage Hospital and to promote a community spirit and help any good cause as the need arises." Mrs. Dorothy Rees, an early member of the Armstrong Women's Institute, admires quilt entries at the 1969 Interior Provincial Exhibition. 63 WOMEN'S INSTITUTE Within 11 years the Armstrong W I. had 99 members. Their first project was to obtain much-needed equipment for the Armstrong Hospital and over the years they continued to support it, as well as becoming part of other community projects. At the invitation of the Agriculture Society, they became involved in the fall fair in 1921 by assisting with the exhibition of children's work. Thereafter, they provided assistance to the fair directors and offered prizes of money and books for women's and children's exhibits. They sponsored 4-H exhibits, contributed prizes and helped with judging wherever needed. In 1920 the Armstrong branch sent the best Women's Institute exhibit to the Pacific National Exhibition in Vancouver. In September of 1920 the Armstrong Women's Institute set up a program to provide hot soup and hot chocolate to 170 children in Armstrong schools. In 1921 the Institute campaigned to have a fourth year (Grade 12) added to the high school curriculum to make it easier for students to qualify for university or normal school. W I. members purchased a wheelchair for the new hospital and equipment for the operating room. They distributed Christmas hampers, put on flower shows, supported 4-H clubs in the district, provided playground equipment, first aid kits and soft rubber balls for the primary school. They helped to establish well-baby clinics and vaccination programs for infants, and provided flowers for the high school graduating class. A significant achievement took place in 1922 with the opening by Armstrong W I. of a community hall on Railway Street. As well as providing a permanent place for the Institute to conduct its business, the premises were available at nominal rents to other organizations. Another welcome feature was a public washroom supervised by a competent matron, a comfortable refuge where travellers could rest, feed their babies and freshen up. The register Mrs. Sheila Schultz, the IPE's 1961 "Jam Champion" for receiving the most points for her jams, jellies and marmalades. She went on to become a president and life member of Armstrong W. I. 64 WOMEN'S INSTITUTE contained many grateful entries from far-away places. The hall was also used, free-of-charge, for baby clinics and First Aid classes, while later in 1922 it became the home of an Institute-sponsored lending library. In October of 1924 Institute members committed their organization to provide travel costs for the Armstrong public health and school nurse. The Institute also worked closely with doctors and social workers to give financial aid and other assistance to unfortunate families in the district. Much patriotic effort was expended by this busy Institute during the Second World War. At present (1999) there are 15 active members in Armstrong Women's Institute, three of whom are life members, namely: president Sheila Schultz, member for 35 years, trea: irer Barb Grimshire, 33 years, and vice-president Marg Kirk, 25 yea "s. Although small in numbers, Armstrong W I. has been very successful in fundraising, enabling it to continue to support B. C. Women's Institute projects such as Children's Hospital, Queen Alexandra Solarium and the Memorial Scholarship Fund, which subsidizes students in the faculties of agriculture and home economics. Recently, Armstrong W I. purchased equipment for the hospital day surgery, contributed to an appeal for Jaws of Life rescue equipment and assisted victims of the Princeton flood and the Salmon Arm forest fire. Substantial support was made available to A gathering of Armstrong Women's Institute members. Left to right: Ruth Drennan, Barb Grimshire, Faith Hall, Zelpha Peeling, Minnie Prouty, Ella Meis, Helen McKinty, Em Hughes, Marg Kirk. Standing in the background shadows are Olive McKay and Sheila Schultz. 65 WOMEN'S INSTITUTE the "Adopt-a-Room" campaign of Vernon Jubilee Hospital and to the McMurtry Baerg Cancer Centre. Each year the Institute gives financial aid to Kindale, Community Services, and provides one pager for the RCMP Victims' Assistance Program. Assistance is given in individual cases as the need arises and as funds permit. For years Armstrong W I. conducted a program called "Ag in the Classroom" to give children hands-on experience with such events as growing grain from seed or watching baby chicks hatch. The Institute continues to move forward with changing circumstances. Technological advances and the resulting restructuring and downsizing have made the challenge to Women's Institutes much greater. In 1897 women had to contend with isolation, lack of communication with neighbours, poor transportation and sparse medical aid. Today's women drive cars and buses on paved highways, fly long distances, communicate by telephone, fax or e- mail. However, the foundation of our society is still the home. Women of today need support, encouragement, advocacy and education to help them cope with our changing world, and to help them and their children achieve a healthy and happy life in this stressful environment. The Institute of today must be prepared to meet that need. 66 THE MISSION CREEK GREENWAY: HISTORY IN THE MAKING By Jodie Sexsmith PREAMBLE When we started writing this article it seemed almost too soon to include it in an issue of Okanagan History. To most of the members of the Friends of Mission Creek, the Mission Creek Greenway project is still in progress and it doesn't really feel like history yet. But, as Brenda Thomson, president of the Friends of Mission Creek, said, "In 20 or 30 or 200 years this will seem more historic. Mission Creek will continue to be part of our community and local history. For now, let's just say we're making history." BACKGROUND Mission Creek has always been an integral part of the Kelowna community. Before the arrival of European settlers the creek was used by First Nations people for their traditional fisheries. The creek meandered down from the Greystoke Mountains in a series of oxbows and each year camps were made next to the creek so the kokanee salmon could be harvested and preserved for the winter. In the nineteenth century European settlers came to the area, and the city, as we know it, grew along the creek banks at the Father Pandosy Mission. Homesteads were established in the Mission area and the first crops were planted in the fertile soils next to the creek. Jodie Sexsmith graduated from the University of British Columbia with a BA in geography and a B Ed in primary education. She has been a community relations co-ordinator (parks) with the Regional District of Central Okanagan since 1995 and acted as liaison between that body and the Mission Creek Greenway Project. 67 MISSION CREEK GREENWAY As more settlers came to stay in the area permanently, the seasonal flooding of the creek was viewed as problematic. Mission Creek was dyked and its water used for irrigation and later drinking water. The creek still supplies water for Rutland Water Works, Black Mountain Irrigation District and the South East Kelowna Irrigation District. Further dyking completed in the 1950s straightened and deepened the channel, giving it the shape it holds today. For many years the residents in our area have used sections of the dyke along Mission Creek for recreation and appreciation of the creek corridor. Only parts of the dyke were accessible to the public since much of the land was privately held. THE FRIENDS OF MISSION CREEK A number of local residents recognized the creek's importance and the need to preserve it now for generations to come. They decided that something had to be done before the stream was lost entirely to development and other urban pressures. An informal group with representatives from the Central Okanagan Naturalists Club, Kelowna Running Club and equestrian community formed in 1990 and called themselves the Friends of Mission Creek. They were invited to have a voice in a number of projects including the Mission Creek Policy, which now dictates building restrictions near Mission Creek, and the Mission Creek Master Plan and Concept Plan that was completed by Forecon School District No. 23 students aid Greenway cleanup. Consulting in 1992. The Friends of Mission Creek disbanded in 1993 expecting that the Greenway would proceed within two years, as was proposed by city council at the time. When the Greenway did not go ahead as quickly as first thought the group reconvened. They recruited new members to represent various interest groups and areas of expertise. With the 68 MISSION CREEK GREENWAY Mission Creek trail under construction. help of past City Councillor Elise Clark, and staff from the Regional District of Central Okanagan Parks Department, the Friends of Mission Creek formalized and registered as a society in September 1996. The society's executive slate listed the following members: Brenda Thomson as president, Harald Hall as vice-president, Suzanne Anderton as secretary, Kathie Jones as treasurer, Marie Heywood, Joan Burbridge, Marilyn Foster, Eileen Chappell, Jennifer French, Gary Gilbert, Jane Ritchie and Dorothy Mills as members at large. The members of the Friends of Mission Creek came from every area of Kelowna and the Westside and worked together to create the following mission statement to guide their actions. The Friends of Mission Creek will facilitate preservation, restoration and enjoyment of natural ecosystems and cultural heritage of the Mission Creek corridor through land acquisition and public education. In October 1996, the Friends kept their mission statement in mind and decided to take on a project of momentous proportion. They envisioned a campaign that would raise enough money to acquire land and build a multi-use linear trail along the north side of Mission Creek for seven kilometres from Lakeshore Road to Ziprick Road. It was felt that by providing this land, the creek corridor could be conserved and used for passive recreation. THE CORPORATE FUNDRAISING CAMPAIGN The Friends realized that they could not do the project alone. They hired a professional fundraiser named Mary Krupa. An official appeal for money started in November 1996 and a five-way partnership was formed to include The Friends of Mission Creek, the Regional District of Central Okanagan, the City of Kelowna, 69 MISSION CREEK GREENWAY the Ministry of Environment (Fish and Wildlife Branch and Dyking Branch), the Westbank First Nations and the Central Okanagan Parks and Wildlife Trust. Krupa co-ordinated these organizations and a host of other volunteers for a fundraising campaign that raised over a million dollars for land acquisition and trail construction on the Greenway. The campaign was broken into corporate, public and land donations. A corporate fundraising campaign was launched in order to secure major sponsors under the chairmanship of Dr. Barry Urness. The members of this committee included Dr. Bill Arkinstall, Brian Boechler, Cathy Comben, Ross Fitzpatrick, Don Folk, Dr. Fred Froese, Gordon Geddes, Dr. Ralph Hawkins, John Hindle, Geord Holland, Al Horning, Barry Lapointe, Jim Mills, Larry Salloum, Tom Smithwick, Al Stober, Jim Stuart, Allen Tozer, Wayne Waters and John Weisbeck. The corporate campaign ran from November 1996 to February 1997 and raised $475,000 in cash and in-kind contributions. Donors were recognized for contributions of five, 10, 25 and 50 thousand dollars. The Greenway project was successful in receiving contributions of design, printing, media, equipment rental and a host of other much needed services as well as cash. THE PUBLIC FUNDRAISING CAMPAIGN With the corporate campaign complete, the public campaign commenced in February 1997 and Greenway fever swept through Kelowna. The public crusade involved members of the commu- The interpretive kiosk at Mission Creek Regional Park. 70 MISSION CREEK GREENWAY nity on all levels and reached the hearts of many in Kelowna who understood the need for the project. At every turn there was some reminder that the Greenway campaign was in full swing. A series of events and fundraising activities raised over $226,000. The most successful was the buy-a-metre campaign, which raised over $183,000. A metre of trail was sold for 50 dollars and the names of all those who donated are listed on the interpretive kiosk at Mission Creek Regional Park. An office was set up at Parkinson Recreation Centre and the BC Tel Pioneers accepted donations by telephone. Other events included a kick-off breakfast at the Grand Okanagan Lakefront Resort, Mission Creek in the Mall at Orchard Park shopping centre, a raffle of playhouses donated by local builders, Green Day at the fire hall and a dessert evening at the Eldorado Hotel. In addition displays were set up at local shopping centres, supplemented by advertisements on city transit buses and signs at local businesses. Lastly, the teachers and students of School District No. 23 had an active and important role in the project. Field trips and creek clean-up days were scheduled and hundreds of students took part. An art contest was completed and all the artwork on the trail signage and trail guide was gathered from the entries. The students also raised funds for the buy-a-metre campaign. Many more individual volunteers and organizations were involved and their efforts have not gone unnoticed by the organizing committee. LAND DONORS Some land along the creek corridor was held privately and had to be purchased, but over 16 acres valued at $305,000 was also donated. Owners who contributed land included Georg and Rhonda Schurian, the Estate of Margaret Greening, August and Muriel Casorso, Fred P. Demofsky, Mr. and Mrs. Herman F. Ecker, 99.9 FM The Bullet and OLDIES 1150, MKS Resources Inc., Westbank First Nation, and Bill and Jean Yuros. THE FINAL PROJECT The Mission Creek Greenway officially opened to the public with a ceremony on October 19,1997. The ribbon was cut by representatives from the five project partners and by donors who gave more than $50,000 toward the project. These included Shaw Cable, 71 MISSION CREEK GREENWAY the B. C. Real Estate Foundation, the Urban Development Institute, Georg and Rhonda Schurian, the estate of Margaret Greening and Orchard Park shopping centre. Although work was still in progress at the time this article was written, most of the major tasks have been completed. Land for a multi-use trail seven kilometres long was purchased and the trail constructed on the north side of Mission Creek between Lakeshore Road and Ziprick Road. Encompassing approximately 49 acres, the trail has been resurfaced and is suitable for bicycles, walkers, runners, wheelchairs and horses. In addition, there are four interpretive kiosks acknowledging donors as well as providing information on environmental and cultural features along the creek. A viewing platform was constructed between Casorso and KLO Road, which allows for a unique view up and down the creek. Trailheads and gates have been installed at each of the entrances to the Greenway. Washrooms have been provided along the route and, lastly, a trail guide was developed and has been distributed to the community. The Regional Parks and Recreation Department co-ordinated all construction for the Greenway project. The labour segment was a combination of regional parks staff, grant employees through the Provincial Environmental Youth Team Program and volunteers from local businesses that donated services and equipment. FUTURE PLANS The Friends of Mission Creek are thrilled with the accomplishment of the Greenway project and with the support provided by the community. The group is still active and although the membership has changed slightly, Brenda Thomson and Harald Hall remain as president and vice-president respectively. The Friends of Mission Creek are now hoping to complete a second phase of the Greenway starting at Ziprick Road and building upstream to Scenic Canyon Regional Park. The next campaign will most likely start early in the new millennium and the Friends of Mission Creek are looking forward to another great success. 72 THE LIME QUARRY ON WATERMAN HILL By Steve Arstad During the 1950s there was a mining operation located beside the Kettle Valley Railway (KVR) tracks at the south end of the Fish Hatchery (Old Kaleden) Road, between Kaleden and Okanagan Falls. Although there is little evidence remaining today to indicate it, a lime quarry once existed on this piece of property just below the sharp curve on Waterman's Hill. An Indian legend tells of a great volcanic crater that once stretched from the benchlands of McLean and Shuttleworth Creeks on the east, to McLellan's Flats to the west, north to Waterman's Hill and south to the Mclntyre Bluffs near Vaseaux Lake. Legend also has it that the river that rose out of this basin, which was filled with warm water, flowed northward towards the Shuswap until the glacial period, when the watercourse was altered to the south. Members of the Waterman family (OHS Report 49) recollected finding seashells and fossilized marine life in the lime deposits at the base of Waterman's Hill early in this century. Originally pre-empted by a Mexican in 1894, William John Waterman purchased the property in 1904. A steeply sloping hillside facing southeast, the property was well suited to agriculture. In addition, a natural spring rose on the upper reaches of the property (now cut by Waterman Hill on Highway 97), and flowed to the lake past the Waterman home beside Dog (Skaha) Lake. f Waterman Hill lime quarry on the former Pryce property, circa 1950. (Elizabeth Bork) Steve Arstad resides with his family in Kaleden and publishes Inside Kaleden, a successful monthly newsletter distributed in Kaleden and surrounding area. Two of his interests are writing and history. 73 WATERMAN HILL The original road junctioned on the rise above the house; to the north went the Old Kaleden Road and to the west lay the route up the steep grade to White Lake and Fairview, and the Marron Valley route. To the south was Okanagan Falls at the end of Dog Lake. It was at this junction that teamsters used Watermans' as a rest and watering stop, sometimes overnighting. The huge barn could accommodate 16 horses. Here the teamsters used to double- team their rigs for the steep climb on the Fairview route. The Watermans cultivated asparagus and grapes along the steep hillside. Their crop of asparagus was sold to the Canadian Pacific Railway and dairy products were supplied to Lapsley's Store in Kaleden. W. J. Waterman, who was in the mining business, quickly noticed the lime deposits on his property. He dug up some of the crumbly rock and tried to dry it in a kiln. Unable to produce quicklime, a product then in great demand in the building trade, he was never able to turn the discovery into a commercial operation. W J. left the area for England, later participating in the Great War of 1914-18. The property was left in the stewardship of Alfred Pryce of Okanagan Falls. However, Mr. Pryce also enlisted to serve in the war and his wife, Elizabeth, was left to manage the place. As had the Watermans, she sold asparagus and other produce, and those teamsters still travelling through watered-up, double-teamed and housed their horses in the barn as they always had. Ernest Pryce at the lime deposit site in 1949. (Elizabeth Bork) 74 WATERMAN HILL When the Watermans returned from England, W J. moved to Vancouver, leaving the place to his wife, Florence. As she was unable to maintain sufficient income to keep the land, she moved her family to Naramata where she obtained work as a housekeeper, and the hill property was purchased by Alfred Pryce. A new house was built alongside the highway on the knoll after the original dwelling burned down. Mr. Pryce died in 1939 and the property passed to his son, Ernest, who held it until his demise in an industrial accident near Cranbrook in October 1950, when it was acquired by Hugh Leir. The building of the KVR extension along the west shore of Skaha Lake in 1933 saw a renewed interest in the lime deposit on Waterman's Hill. The Okanagan Lime Company secured mineral rights on the property and issued debentures in 1948—$10,000 worth, in $100 denominations, bearing six percent interest. The mineral body contained 96 percent calcium, a fact that was proved up during the operation of the property by Ernest Pryce, Ralph Overton, and W J. Norrie-Lowenthal of South Africa. Betty Bork of White Lake Road remembers Freddie Lang of Osoyoos (who later made a name for himself on Don Messer's Jubilee as a fiddler) and David Clarke of Penticton as a couple of local men who worked at the mine. In time, a siding was developed below the site and a large hopper with a "grizzly"—a set of steel bars that helped to break up the chunks of lime as they were bulldozed into the hopper—was constructed. An improved conveyor system was also set up to make the loading of rail cars more efficient. Ralph Overton's brother Russ, who resides in Okanagan Falls, remembers that "a few carloads of lime were shipped out, but it wasn't too profitable." He says the product went to the Coast "to sweeten up the peatbogs of the lower Fraser Valley." Some of it was also used as a fertilizer base. The present owner of the property is Derek Salter, who remembers: "They loaded rail cars and bagged some of it. Hugh Leir was quite upset about the fact that when the Okanagan Lime Company developed the deposit, they stripped all the topsoil off and sold it in Okanagan Falls. The elementary school is built on top of the soil they took." Some of the lime was trucked to Okanagan Falls by Jim Sinclair, who dropped it at a siding just east of where the highway bridge crosses Okanagan River today. Ray Edmonds filled in for Jim sometimes. This lime was shipped to Buckerfields, possibly in Alberta. Others who hauled from the quarry were Les Clarey and Punnett Quesnell. 75 WATERMAN HILL Ray Edmonds of Okanagan Falls recalls the operation running for about seven years until 1957. "Some of the lime was loaded onto rail cars at the quarry, some of it was hauled by truck to Okanagan Falls and either shipped by truck locally or loaded onto rail cars there." The lime quarry on Waterman's Hill did not survive the decade. Other large, more economical deposits of lime were available throughout the world. The lime at Waterman's Hill was about 80 percent in makeup, more properly known as marl, which is actually an impure form of lime. "The Okanagan Lime Company operated on a government- funded subsidy," Derek Salter explained. "When the subsidy disappeared, the quarry's days were numbered." Very little remains on this idyllic piece of property on the hillside above Skaha Lake. Grassy fields and a U-Fish trout pond lie on the quarry site today. Only a few scattered outcroppings attest to the mining operation. The deposit was never mined out and lime boulders lie scattered around the Salter property. The loading conveyors, hopper, warehouse and railway siding are long gone. Nowadays, it would be difficult for a passerby to recognize the site of the Okanagan Lime Company quarry at all. But for the memories of a few local long-time residents, the venture has faded into history. 76 A COMMUNITY AFFAIR: THE NURSES TRAINING SCHOOL AT VERNON JUBILEE HOSPITAL 1904-1931 By Daphne Thuillier When Vernon Jubilee Hospital celebrated its 100th anniversary in July 1997, it paid tribute to several hundred citizens and thousands of staff members who, throughout the century, had laboured—often against seemingly overwhelming odds—to make the hospital into the very fine health care facility that it is today. Among all those people was a wondrous succession of nurses, some totally inexperienced, many highly qualified, without whom there would have been nothing to celebrate. Vernon Jubilee Hospital has trained nurses in one aspect or another throughout its existence but, from 1904 to 1931, there was an actual Training School for Nurses that, especially in its later years, became a great source of interest and pride throughout the community. It started in the time of Miss Henderson and Miss McKay (whose given names were never revealed), two members of the Victorian Order of Nurses sent to Vernon from England in 1899 by Lady Aberdeen to replace Mrs. Edwin Pratt, the first matron at the "Cottage Hospital," whose qualifications were suspect. Both Henderson and McKay became well-known in the community, a motion having been passed by the board of directors that they were "at liberty" to nurse outside the hospital when not engaged there. Nurse McKay became involved almost entirely in district nursing, but Miss Henderson soon became invaluable and, after being appointed "Superintendent" in 1901, took part in the decision approved by the board in 1902 that a "training school for Nurses be organized in connection with the Hospital and that the rules as read be adopted." No copy of these rules remains and it appears that the necessary approval from the Ministry of Health Daphne Thuillier settled in Vernon in 1962 and worked in the real estate industry until retirement. She has been involved with a number of community organizations and her interest in the history of Vernon Jubilee Hospital began when she served on the VJH board from 1982 to 1991. 77 NURSES TRAINING SCHOOL was a lengthy process, as the first advertisements for probationers in the Vernon News and the Vancouver Daily Province did not appear until January 1904. The first probationer arrived in September 1904, for a three-year period of training starting at a salary of $5 per month, rising to $15 per month in the third year. Three other young women ar- rived the following month. By 1905, the nursing staff consisted of five "graduate" nurses and four probationers. The number of trainees at any one time remained at four until 1912, when the community was shaken to its core by the resignation of the entire nursing staff, consisting of the Lady Superintendent, seven graduate nurses and four probationers, after Dr. Gerald Williams used "Profane and Abusive Language" while attending to a maternity patient. The story of the event made a considerable stir in the community, full details being published in the Vernon News of March 28,1912. The nursing school was closed temporarily, but the staff was soon replaced by six graduate nurses and two probationers. However, as the onslaught of World War One claimed the experienced nurses, many of whom joined the Canadian Army Medical Corps, the hospital was forced to take in more probationers than before. By April 1917, there were 11 nurses-in- training and only one graduate and the arrival of several thousand troops at Vernon Military Camp kept the "Hospital on the Hill" filled to capacity. The young pupil nurses (as they were referred to in records from 1912 on) were, for the first time, forced to take regular ward shifts and to keep up their studies as well: no mean task. The work of these young women was exacerbated not only by the influenza epidemic that swept the nation in the fall and winter of 1918, but also by the arrival of invalid soldiers. Fortu- Staff of the first Vernon Jubilee Hospital, or "Cottage Hospital, " circa 1905. Standing: Dr. Osborne Morris, Miss Woodland, Lady Superintendent (wearing pointed cap), Richard John Davies, secretary-treasurer, and graduate nurses Peters, Manstead, Thompson and Clarke. Sitting: Probationers Tunstal, Lye, Corbet and Ridsale. (Nurses and probationers not necessarily in order stated). (Courtesy Vernon Archives) 78 NURSES TRAINING SCHOOL nately, Vernon experienced only a mild form of the flu, but in October 1918, 56 patients were admitted to VJH, three of whom died, and a number of the nursing staff were struck down ill. It was reported that the hospital had "proved of great service to the city and district" and that "the manner in which the nurses had performed their work was an inspiration." The first of a total of 39 invalid soldiers arrived at the hospital in January 1918 and occupied the second floor until the summer of 1919. When forecasting the first arrivals, the News claimed that "a trained staff of nurses could place their services at the disposal of the patients" but, in fact, it was the pupil nurses whose services were utilized. Two graduate nurses did not arrive until later in the year and it was not until June 1919 that the directors authorized a staff of six graduate nurses, despite the complaints of the Lady Superintendent, Miss Scott, that some trainees were too tired to attend lectures. Apparently at least one of these young women was not too tired to socialize with the soldiers (strictly forbidden) and became the subject of a newspaper report describing her "bob-sleighing" activities with the invalids, which led to a "Committee of Inquiry" and the posting of stringent rules and regulations in the Nurses' Home. In September 1919, two of the new graduates left without notice and the other four resigned, along with Miss Scott. Once again, the VJH nurses' training school was closed temporarily. Fortunately, the following month Miss Elizabeth E. Clark from Nelson took over as Lady Superintendent. She had been night supervisor at Vancouver General Hospital and was to become one of the most respected Lady Superintendents in any provincial hospital. The school was reopened immediately with five students under the direction and instruction of a graduate nurse, Miss Dorothy Mickleborough, and thus began its brightest period, which continued until both Miss Clark and Miss Mickleborough left in 1930. The board of directors was able to leave all training matters in the hands of Miss Clark, and received the reflected glory when the graduates topped the lists in the provincial exams, which happened frequently and was advertised widely. The Vernon school became sufficiently well thought of to attract students from outside the province, even from the United States and England. By 1925, there were 17 nurses-in-training and in January 1926 Miss Clark reported a "fairly long waiting list." The life of a probationer or pupil nurse was what might be called todajr "a hard slog." Conditions were spartan and discipline was strongly enforced. Mrs. Lillian Thom, who was Matron at VJH from 1949 to 1961 (the title of Lady Superintendent having been discarded by then), was in training from 1926 to 1929 and had this to say about her experiences: 79 NURSES TRAINING SCHOOL We didn't get any pay for three months . . . we were given our caps and aprons at the end of three months and then we were juniors. We also had long white cuffs that we had to wear when we went into the dining room . . . We had to have a napkin ring for our linen serviettes. We had an awful lot around our middles with the apron hands and the heavily starched foundation belts. And the celluloid collars—you could see the girls going around with absorbent cotton underneath the collars because they scratched the neck. In the first year, we went to class every day. We each had a little basket with all the necessities for making a patient comfortable: alcohol, powder, hair-brush and comb, nail brush, etc. We learned to make beds, rub backs, give enemas and take temperatures . . . You can imagine what a shock it was to a lot of 18-year-old girls, having to do preparations for the men. It was a shock to the men as well. We used maggots to clean up wounds and hot fomentations for infections. I was never in the Isolation Building. The nurses were there for the full term. One was there for six weeks, and when she Lady Superintendent Elizabeth Clark and the 1926 VJH graduating class. Rear: Buddy Large, Frances Doherty, Kathleen Blakey, Norma Oxley, Priscilla Kerr. Front: Alta Jones, Miss Clark, Jean Evans. (Courtesy Vernon Archives) 80 NURSES TRAINING SCHOOL came out she had to wash her hair and have a bath in a special solution. We did six weeks' days and six weeks' nights for our maternity training under Miss Wilson. We had to be up and ready for breakfast by twenty minutes to seven. If you were late, you lost your late leave which was until 12 o'clock one night a week. We were paid $10 a month after our three- month probation period, $15 a month in our second year, and $20 a month in our third year We were luckier than girls in other hospitals. When I think of it now, they sure got cheap labour. We worked from 7 a.m. to 7p.m. with two hours off each day, and four hours off on Sundays. Much of our time was spent going to lectures. A "Schedule of Classes" shows that "Junior" pupil nurses were required to take classes in Anatomy, Nursing, Nursing Ethics, Materica Medica (the drugs and other remedial substances used in medicine), Bacteriology, Fever Nursing, Hygiene and Sanitation, and Bandaging. "Intermediate" pupils took, in addition, Surgery, Dietetics, Urinalysis, Obstetrics, Medicine, Obstetrical Nursing, Gynecology, Surgical Technique and X-Ray. "Senior" pupil nurses put their new-found knowledge to work in the wards. Throughout their training, the pupil nurses must have been very aware of the interest and support given to the nursing school by the community. Each year in May the "Commencement Week" activities for the graduates were well publicized and attended, and the third-year nurses were given the responsibility of acting as hostesses at a dinner party in the Nurses' Home. The week started with a service at the Central United Church with a special sermon, and featured a number of supper parties, a garden party, a theatre party at the Empress Theatre, Convocation at the Vernon courthouse, a luncheon (hosted in 1926 by Mrs. K. C. MacDonald, the wife of the Provincial Secretary) and a wind-up dance at the Foresters' Hall hosted by the VJH board of directors and Women's Auxiliary. Over the years, the convocations were addressed by prominent citizens, such as Dr. Malcolm MacEachern, the general superintendent of Vancouver General Hospital. In 1925 A. O. Cochrane, MLA, declared, "It is a grand thing for a man or woman to live a life of 81 NURSES TRAINING SCHOOL usefulness ... It is truly the 'life that satisfies.'" The Vernon News reported the week in detail, with a headline describing the 1926 convocation as AN INSPIRING SPECTACLE. When Miss Clark left VJH in 1930 to accept the position of Superintendent of Nursing at Royal Columbian Hospital, New Westminster, she was replaced by Miss Susan McVicar, who became another superintendent to earn much respect. Unfortunately, 1930 was the year in which hospital revenue started to decline and, at the annual general meeting of 1931, director Joe Harwood moved that the nursing school be discontinued, saying, "I have always been proud of the school and it has been a great credit to Vernon. But you can't do big things if you haven't got the money . . . And the hospital must cut its cloth accordingly. I would be sorry to see the school go, but I think it would be more economical without it." Major E. H. Cunliffe, president of the board from 1927 to 1930, pointed out that it was becoming necessary to discourage the training of nurses in small hospitals, and Miss McVicar concurred. The decision was left to the incoming board and in March 1931 a motion to abolish the school was carried. Three nurses graduated at the last commencement exercises in April 1931. The remaining 14 students were placed in other hospitals. It was a sad, but necessary, decision. (Extracted from A Century of Caring by Daphne Thuillier. 357 pages. Published by the Vernon Jubilee Hospital, 1997) 82 MAIL SORTED AND STEAMED ON THE OKANAGAN By R. F. Marriage For more than half a century the Okanagan depended on railways for the transport of mail to and from the rest of the country The railways held two types of contracts to carry mail on passenger or mixed trains: RPO (Railway Post Office), in which a car or a partitioned section thereof was equipped to sort mail in transit by postal clerks, and BCS (Baggage Car Service) carrying closed mails between post offices and handled by the train crew. A closed mail consignment was not opened for sorting before arrival at the office named on the label. BCS in the United States was titled CP (Closed Pouches). Soon after completion of the Shuswap & Okanagan Railway in 1892, the growth of settlement and business in the Valley warranted use of a postal car to make up mail for local exchange on the line and for dispatch south via the steamer Aberdeen. In 1894 an RPO was established between Sicamous and Okanagan Landing. At that time the term MC (mail clerk) was still in use to designate such an office. About 1899 a new dater was issued reading Okanagan Landing & Sicamous RPO. William Finlayson was the first clerk employed on the line. His wife ran the general store and post office at Sicamous and members of the family held the position of postmaster there until 1954, when son Doug retired. At Okanagan Landing other members of the family held the same position from 1908 to 1969. Early in the century it became obvious that the closed mail service on the lake steamers was inadequate and Ottawa was urged to supply an RPO type of service. In 1911 the Aberdeen and Okanagan were fitted with mail rooms on their freight decks. A deckhand exchanged mails with a side-service courier at each landing, similar to the way it was handled at railway stations. Although it was a water service, the route was designated Penticton & Okanagan Landing RPO. R. F. Marriage is a director of the Kelowna branch, Okanagan Historical Society, and a life member of the parent body. 83 MAIL SORTED AND STEAMED Plans of the SS Sicamous, launched in 1914, included a mail room. The combined operation of the trains and boats with clerks re-sorting mails enroute offered a quality of service that has never been equalled. This arrangement lasted until the end of 1934. The highways of the day, albeit crude, forced the CPR to withdraw the Sicamous from service, incurring a loss of $14,000 a month—a large sum at that time. The wooden-hulled Okanagan was laid up to rot on the beach at the Landing. The Aberdeen had been abandoned in 1916. Already holding running rights over the CNR line from Vernon to Kelowna, the CPR extended its mixed passenger run to Kelowna, and soon abandoned the branch from Vernon to Okanagan Landing. A new RPO—Kelowna and Sicamous—was established on January 1, 1935, and a contract made with the D. Chapman company to haul closed mails between Penticton and Kelowna. In the 1940s this service was augmented by a BCS on the CNR from Kamloops to Armstrong, Vernon and Kelowna, southbound only. In 1954 the Post Office cancelled its contracts with the railways to establish highway services between Kamloops and the Okanagan, hauling closed mails. The writer was employed on trains 708 and 707 the last day they operated—September 30, 1954. From 1915 to 1957, BCS on the Kettle Valley line carried mail to and from the RPO, which terminated at Midway and a similar service west of Hope or Ruby Creek. Penticton was a busy forwarding office catering to that large area. Overnight service to and from Vancouver was an accepted routine for 40 years. 84 RELIEF CAMPS OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION By Dorothy Smuin as told by Jack Rainbow My brother-in-law, Jack Rainbow, was a miner. He entered the workforce in the mid-1920s, just as mining was beginning to die out in British Columbia. Metal prices were down, some of the older mines were worked out, and it was an uncertain way to earn a living. The Great Depression began in 1929 with the stock market crash and Jack, with so many other men, was soon unemployed. As things got worse, the government set up relief camps where idled men could live. They were paid a small wage, for which they did a little road work and carried out necessary tasks around the camp. Jack spent quite a bit of time in the camps and he had some great stories of the goings-on. As the years went by many of the stories were forgotten, but one evening in the early 1980s we got talking about the camps and I set up my typewriter and told him to keep talking. What follows is his story, just as he recounted. He jumped around quite a bit and I have changed the order a little, but apart from the addition of a few words (in parentheses) for clarification, it is exactly as he told it. "To go back to about 1927, I was working in the Kootenays. They were starting to lay the miners off in the various mines. I had been demoted to part-time miner and part-time mucker. I received a letter from home in Hedley saying they were going to work at the Nickel Plate mine through the winter, so I thought I might as well go home. I came back and they were still talking about working in the mine all winter and using the big steam plant for power. [While this was going on] I got ajob at the Horn Silver mine at Similkameen; worked there five days. Elwood Bromley was the foreman. They were to put more men to work, but nothing happened. After a week, I got a chance to go back to Hedley to fire boilers, expecting to Dorothy Smuin is retired in Penticton, where she has been a long-time resident. She enjoys several hobbies, writing among them, and recently published her first book. She was employed for several years at the Penticton museum. 85 RELIEF CAMPS work all winter. Cold weather came and they shut the mill down and that was the end of that. The mill was closed every winter in the cold weather. Winter work at the mine was cancelled so I hung around all winter. The Princeton coal mines were doing very little. The Hedley mine started again the next spring, but I had rheumatic fever and was in bed three months. Dr. McCaffery told me not to go back into the mines. The Hope-Princeton road was being started, and as my brother Frank was working there, he advised me to try for ajob. Bert Thomas from Princeton was the foreman. I was put to work driving a Cletrac tractor, pulling stumps on the right-of-way. I did various jobs, sawing wood for the cookhouse, etc., and eventually wound up doing the blasting. The first winter on the Hope road was spent at the Sunday Creek camp and we worked as the weather permitted. The depression hit in 1929. We had a real good Conservative government at the time, and [when things got really bad] they developed relief camps on the Hope-Princeton road. All the single men were moved away from there, and I went back to Hedley where I was considered a transient. They built another relief camp by the Sterling Creek bridge for the local single men, but for some reason this camp fizzled out. In the meantime, they had the camps going on the Hope-Princeton road, staffed with married men only. Frank was still up there driving a cat. Anyone with ajob like that stayed. They had divided the camps into groups of three. They were paid $4 a day. Copper Mountain took over for two weeks, then the Allenby bunch for two weeks, and Princeton; then they started all Similkameen Falls relief camp. (Courtesy Mrs. M. E. Rainbow) 86 RELIEF CAMPS over again. This went on pretty well all summer. We (the single men) were in the camp at Sterling Creek, working around a bit on the road with shovels and rakes, etc. The scheme of $4 a day was abandoned and the married men were paid $13.20 a month all over the province. Then they came out with a new idea and built the Falls camp on the Hope-Princeton. All camps were filled with people on relief, $13.20 a month. They came from Oliver, Penticton, Summerland. [By around 1931 or 1932] the relief was cut down to $6.20 a month, plus board, clothing and tobacco. The camps were very rough. The Copper Creek bunkhouses were constructed of logs cut on the site. The cookhouse was a frame building, also the commissary. There was the cookhouse, about five bunkhouses [which were] just one big room, known as "the Ram Pasture," and the wash house—the "dry." The bunks were just iron-frame cots—possibly 20 to 25 men to a building. One year there were about 80 men there for the winter. The staff lived in separate quarters. There was a lighting plant powered by a gasoline engine. It was shut off at 10 p.m. and we all went to bed. My brother Frank started the Copper Creek plant in the morning and I shut it off at night. We were supplied three meals a day; some of the food was very good. Fred Bacon was one of the cooks. He was wonderful. He had been operating boarding houses and he knew that by having cake, pie and sweet stuff for the men he could feed them for a lot less than the places where there were no sweets. He fed them for 56 cents a day for three meals. The camps were all very similar. Some had excellent food, some very poor. We worked six hours a day when we could. For recreation, we played cards, checkers, etc. At one time there was a big pile of Coast 2x4s there for some reason. The men had a lot of idle time and there was lots of snow, so one by one the 2x4s disappeared as the men made them into skis. Other camps were developed farther up the Hope-Princeton. Fred Taylor from Twin Lakes was one of the foremen. He ran what they called the UMGOOLA camp. This was one of his favourite names from Africa, which he left about 1900 to come to B. C. About 1932 I went up to Any ox and worked there for 21 months. The price of copper went down to three cents a pound and they couldn't sell it, so it was stockpiled on the beach. Piles of copper ingots several hundred feet long were stacked on the beach- tons of them. 87 RELIEF CAMPS The mine was getting pretty shaky and I had a chance to work at Oliver, so I left and came to Morning Star mine. The Nickel Plate had been taken over by the Kelowna Exploration [company] and they were doing a lot of development work. In 1934 I moved up to the Nickel Plate and worked there until 1942." (Jack Rainbow and his family moved down to Keremeos, where he took up farming and later worked on the road crew as designated powderman, until retirement). Naramata Gave Shelter to the Unemployed The relief camp at Naramata consisted of eight bunkhouses for the men and a cookhouse. There was also a building to store the wheelbarrows, shovels and other tools used by the men who worked on roads in the area. The buildings were constructed of shiplap and, judging by the length of the icicles, not insulated. Some buildings had vents on the roof to supply fresh air for the men sleeping inside. Apparently the men were paid very little — food, accommodation, cigarettes and 25 cents per day. (The average weekly industrial wage on the eve of the financial crash was $29.20). Many of the young men were from England, and Naramata boasted a top soccer club while they were there. Many stayed on after the Depression, working for orchardists and some even acquired orchards of their own. The buildings of the Naramata relief camp were later auctioned off, moved and used in and around the village of Naramata. (We are grateful to Doug Cox and Phil Rounds for this short account of a 1930s transit camp in the South Okanagan). Naramata relief camp. (Courtesy Doug Cox) 88 LORD'S DM ALLIANCE OPPOSES SUNDAY TRAIN SERVICE By Robert Cowan From the inception of train transportation into the Okanagan Valley in 1891, the public had been critical of the level of service provided by the Canadian Pacific Railway. The first train was given the nickname "OP Molasses" because it was so slow. It seemed schedules were created to be ignored. By 1911 train service had improved greatly. Instead of a passenger car being added to a freight, there was regular passenger service daily, except Sundays, connecting the CPR mainline at Sicamous with the lake boats at Okanagan Landing. A person could catch the morning train south at any point along the line and return from Vernon the same day. No doubt much of the improved service was due to increased demand from an expanding population. The CPR responded to public pressure and instituted a Sunday passenger train in the fall of 1911. H. W Brodie, superintendent for CPR passenger service in Vancouver, explained the reasoning behind the move: "In arranging this service I was of the opinion that we were making a change that would be welcomed by every person in the Valley, realizing as I could not help doing, that it was very unsatisfactory to compel passengers to remain over at junction points when within a few miles of their destination, or compel them to lose twenty-four hours at the commencement of a very long journey, as in most cases it is, when passengers leave the Valley." [Enderby Press and Walker's Weekly, November 16, 1911) Mr. Brodie said that he had been strongly lobbied by the Vernon Board of Trade to make the change. "They pointed out to me, quite properly I thought, that it was a serious inconvenience for passengers arriving from far eastern points, and also from Vancouver and Victoria, on a Sunday morning to be held up for twenty- four hours at Sicamous junction. As an example, a passenger from Vernon doing business at the Capital of the province is obliged to leave Victoria Friday afternoon in order to be home on Saturday. Then again, returning passengers from the far east, after complet- Rohert Cowan is branch editor of the Society's Armstrong/Enderby Branch and chair of Enderby and District Museum Society. 89 SUNDAY TRAIN SERVICE ing their journey of several thousand miles, find themselves obliged to remain over within a few miles of their destination for twenty- four hours. In view of the representations made, I decided to recommend to our management to furnish the facilities asked for . . . It will take but a short time to demonstrate whether or not the service is actually required ..." (Ibid. November 16, 1911) Not everyone was happy with this new arrangement. Various clergy, mostly through the Lord's Day Alliance, mounted a strong campaign in the pulpit and through the newspapers to enlist public support to discontinue Sunday train service. Their argument wasn't only religious. The Lord's Day Alliance, a lay organization, was founded in 1888 under the aegis of the Presbyterian Church. It was concerned with the increased secularization of the Sabbath. Railways, which often ran on Sundays, were a particular concern. By the turn of the century, this organization was one of the most effective lobbies in Canada. Organized labour joined hands with religious folks to pressure the federal government into declaring The Lord's Day Act, which became law in March 1907. It required, however, provincial authorization in order to be enforced. (The Canadian Encyclopedia. Vol. II [Edmonton: 1985]) Rev. Mr. Campbell, pastor at St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church in Enderby, was one of the spokesmen for the Lord's Day Alliance in the North Okanagan. He made it clear that the Alliance wasn't only a church organization: "It also has the sympathy and support of almost every labour organization in the Dominion, and the support of the large number of sane businessmen. The Lord's Day Act has the support of every government in the Dominion, federal and provincial, except the Government of British Columbia. And anyone who considers honestly the purpose and character of that law can hardly find reason of talking about the 'suppression of man, bigoted and narrow intolerance.' The question before us is, that from fifty to a hundred men in the Valley are bound to seven days work a week in the name of what is called public convenience. Nor is it sufficient to say that they may quit the job if they are not satisfied. According to your position the public makes the demand which puts those who serve them in an unfair and unjust position." (Enderby Press and Walker's Weekly, November 16, 1911) The CPR workers were the ones who were being asked to make the greatest sacrifice in the name of public convenience. They had a choice: quit or work every day of the week. They went to work. How did the public react? W H. Walker, the editor of Enderby's newspaper, reported: "If we are to judge from the number of passengers taking advantage of the Sunday train in and out of the Val- 90 SUNDAY TRAIN SERVICE 1920 southbound CPR train arriving at Enderby station. (Enderby Museum) ley, even at this time of the year when travel is lightest, it is apparent that Mr. Brodie, superintendent of the passenger service, knew better than the rest of us as to the need of such a service. Last Sunday the coaches were comfortably filled, both south-bound and north-bound. The first-class coach was occupied largely by parents and their children." (Ibid. November 16, 1911) The clergy in Vernon did not feel that the public pulse had been accurately gauged. They prevailed upon the mayor to hold a public meeting and examine the pros and cons of Sunday train service. The first speaker proposed a motion to condemn the Sunday train service. The next speaker offered an amendment that" . . . commended the service and thanked the CPR most heartily for inaugurating the Sunday service." (Ibid. December 7, 1911) "The meeting was a stormy one if we are to believe the reports. It is generally held by men of the cloth that citizens do not express themselves on matters which are forced upon them by such organizations as the Lord's Day Alliance, and speaking generally, this is no doubt true. But such a complaint cannot be laid against the citizens who attended the Vernon meeting referred to. The question before the meeting was very warmly discussed and at the conclusion of the discussion, the amendment endorsing the Sunday service carried by a large majority." (Ibid. December 7, 1911) The public obviously wanted train service that provided a greater measure of convenience to travellers. In an era when rail transportation represented the highest level of travel achievement, such a public reaction will come as no surprise. Would opposition to such an obvious improvement in the mobility of the population later play a role in the decline of church membership? W H. Walker believed that it was entirely possible: "The matter will probably get into court through the operation of the Lord's Day Alliance . . . We hope a person may be privileged to hold a contrary opinion. We believe in this striving for temporal power the Church of to-day is doing the very thing that has driven men from it in ages past and will drive men from it in the present day." (Ibid. November 9, 1911) 91 SPRING STATION AT WHITE LAKE By Elizabeth Pryce The alkali-fringed shores from which White Lake got its name spread out from a bowl in a sagebrush-covered basin between Okanagan Falls and Kaleden on the west side of the South Okanagan Valley. White Lake's recorded history stretches back to 1820 when the Hudson's Bay fur brigades (OHS Reports 13 and 57) passed through on their long and arduous trips between Fort St. James in northern British Columbia and Fort Okanogan in Washington State. This activity ceased when a new route through the Tulameen country to Hope was chosen, and the last fur train through White Lake was in 1848 when the Canada-U. S. border was established. During the 1850s the trail was used as an alternate route to the Cariboo gold fields by miners and cattlemen. By 1890 homesteads appeared on the scene and freighters turned the trail into a road. Today, it is a secondary paved highway between Kaleden and Oliver, known as the White Lake Road. Beside the lake, the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory (OHS Report No. 30) is located and continues its activities with dish-shaped antennas; however, the forest of poles that facilitated earlier monitoring is now abandoned. As in earlier times, cattle still range the brown hills. The Prather family arrived in the White Lake area in 1892, settling on the Junction Ranch. John Thomas Prather had moved his wife, Miranda Jane, and family, Laura, James and Louis from Kansas in 1880 by covered wagon over the Oregon Trail to Spokane. Another son, George, was in the sawmill business there. At Deep Creek, near Spokane, twins Earl and Pearl Jean1 were born. Laura took up teaching in the little settlement of Oroville. However, when her father moved everyone up to Fairview, Laura moved with them and there she met Richmond Travis2 whom she married in Vernon in 1896. Mr. Travis was employed at Fairview mine and Camp Elizabeth Pryce, with husband John Bork, resides at White Lake, an area she has researched and written about. Her grandfather, Harry Wolstenholme, purchased land from Dave Burns and cattle ranched during the 1940s and '50s where the Dominion Observatory is now located. 92 SPRING STATION Miranda Jane and John Thomas Prather at Spring Station, White Lake. McKinney until they ceased operations, after which the Travises homesteaded at White Lake. The hill near their farm is still referred to by old-timers as Travis Hill. From the Junction Ranch the twins, Earl and Pearl, and their sister Evelyn rode horses daily to school in Okanagan Falls. Up the long hill from Junction Ranch to the flats of White Lake, a sawmill, from which the hill took its name, was in business. The White Lake Ranch purchased by Gilbert Taylor in 1903 flourished. Later, from that ranch, Herbert Guernsey grazed sheep and cattle on the grassy slopes and raised horses and apples. A post office had been established in 1895 with Hiram Inglee as postmaster. It was later closed and a large tree at the top of Sawmill Hill, to which a coal-oil can was attached, became the mail drop on the route from Marron Valley through the Billy Crooks property (now Leir Ranch). The courier was possibly a man named Parker. A coal mine (OHS Report No. 38) was in production by 1901, with the coal used for blacksmithing in Fairview and, for a short time as well, by the Hotel Alexandra in Okanagan Falls. When the Prathers moved up to White Lake, freighters were hauling everything from mine machinery to cigars through the White Lake basin to Fairview and Camp McKinney. It was the main north-south thoroughfare for drivers Tom Roadhouse, Alec Gillespie and Warwick Arnott. John Prather set up his station near a spring- fed pond in a draw beside the present lodge located on what is now the southern property of St. Andrews Estates. Built of logs, there was the Prather home of several rooms, which served as a stopping house where passengers could remain overnight, and a stage barn for the accommodation of relay teams. 93 SPRING STATION Orchard at Spring Station It was called Spring Station and known as the Prather Place. For a time John Prather hauled freight while son James and the women of the family looked after the station. Bells on the harness of the teams could be heard at Spring Station from quite a distance; the women would then know when to have the meal prepared and related duties attended to. One of those related jobs was to polish the silver to a high shine, and to accomplish this the silverware would be pushed and turned in the sand outside, then washed thoroughly in soapy hot water and rubbed and dried to a sparkling state. An exceptionally good cook, daughter Evelyn Prather became chief cook at the station, her meals praised by family, friends and all who overnighted there. At Spring Station the Prathers grazed cattle as well as horses. Their brand was 44 with the second 4 reversed. It was later transferred to Dave Burns's name and used on his place. Mr. Prather also planted a small orchard consisting of quince and nectarines, as well as the general varieties of mixed fruit. There are still trees to be seen on the site, albeit derelict, but standing nonetheless after nearly a century. For a time Spring Station served as a post office. One of two postcards saved by the Burns family is addressed to "Mrs. Prather, White Lake, B. C"; the other to Mrs. Prather, White Lake, via Penticton, B. C." James Prather built on his pre-emption east of Spring Station (near the fossil beds on White Lake Road). One room in his house was used as a school for five days of the week; also as a church. A creek on the north side of the basin bears the Prather name, as does the lake near the station. From a hill behind Spring Station, called Parker Mountain (Ring Mountain by the Prathers because of a prominent wildlife trail around it), one could look down and see 94 SPRING STATION the two holes that give rise to the name Spectacle Lakes. Also, during the dry season, the water sometimes receded, leaving two small ponds connected by a strip of land. During the winter skating parties were held there. Jock Ure from Kaleden took ice for his cold- storage house from Prather Lake, as did Mary Walker from White Lake and Roy Ripley from Myers Flats south of White Lake. In the summertime campers enjoyed the countryside around the shore. Some other residents of the area were August and Babe Kruger, Harry Lush, Berkley Noad, Thomas Thynne, Cecil deB. Green and son Vince, at Horn Lake, "Highland" Mary Walker and Dave Burns. David William Burns arrived first at Myers Flats in 1912. He married Pearl Jean Prather on October 28, 1914, in her brother James's house, which was the church at White Lake. Their eldest son, Robert (Bob), was born at Spring Station on August 29, 1915, delivered by his father, after which event Dr. H. McGregor3 of Penticton arrived. Distance and mode of travel in those early days were not conducive to speedy house calls. Deciding that life in Ontario might be better financially, Mr. Burns moved his family East, living first in Toronto, then in nearby Craigville. A second son, John (Jack) was born on February 2,1920, in Craigville. Again, the doctor arrived after Mr. Burns had delivered his son. After two years of life in Ontario, the Burns returned to White Lake. Their only daughter, Jean, was born in the Penticton hospital on June 30, 1925.4 While Bob got his education by correspondence, Jack and Jean received theirs by home schooling. Change came to White Lake and Spring Station when, after 1920, Seaman Hatfield of Kaleden started a passenger and mail run through the area with his four-cylinder MacLaughlin car. When folks could travel from Penticton to Fairview in one day there seemed no need for a stopping house mid-way. As well, there was little use for horses as the mines had closed and freighting waned. Dave Burns, who Pearl Jean and Earl Prather, age four. had loCated his h¬∞me in a dmW 0n (Photographs appearing with Spring Station the east Side Of White Lake Road, story courtesy Jean Stainton) raised Cattle and hay. 95 SPRING STATION Richmond and Laura Travis continued to reside at White Lake, where they brought up their family. When the Travis property was sold to Mary Walker they lived at Spring Station with Laura's brother James, who had also sold his place. Miranda Jane Prather died in 1924, predeceasedby her husband, John Thomas Prather, the previous decade. The property was traded by James and Laura about 1932 to John McWhinnie for an orchard on Carmi Road in Penticton. There, tragedy struck when James died in a house fire in 1937.5 When Dave Burns died in 1962, Pearl Burns remained at White Lake for a while, but later lived with her daughter and son-in-law, Jean and George Stainton, in Kaleden, until her death in 1973. In 1944 Mrs. McWhinnie died and her husband moved to Mission. However, their son Dave stayed on the property until it was sold in 1946 to Harvey Ross, a butcher from Oliver. Mr. Ross spent most of his time in Oliver, leaving the Prather place abandoned except for occasional use as a feed lot for his calves and pigs. In 1956 it was sold to Lloyd Moore of Vancouver. A lodge overlooking the lake was built in 1958. It changed hands again, to Chandelor Resources, then later was purchased by International Park West Financial Corporation. On June 23,1979, St. Andrews by the Lake was officially opened, offering a golf course, horseback riding and hiking in a strata development with a lodge for guests and restaurant service. Spring Station was an important stopping place for travellers and freighters during the opening years of the 20th century. Little is known of it today, as only a few orchard trees and a hole in the hillside left by a collapsed root cellar remain as testimony to its existence. The illustrious past of freighting, mining, orcharding, cattle ranching and mixed farming has faded into history. Where the Okanagan Indians once dug speet-lum (root of the rock rose), gathered berries and hunted deer in yet an earlier time, the area around the arid sagebrush-covered basin of White Lake is becoming a modern residential neighbourhood. Editor's note—An article in OHS Report No. 38, "White Lake Coal Mines," contained several errors concerning names and events. Author Pryce, a lifelong friend of the Burns family, has therefore chosen to correct certain errata through footnotes appended to this story. 1 Pearl Jean was David Burns's wife, not James Prather's wife. James was Pearl's brother. 2 Richmond Travis, not Traviss. 3 Dr. H. McGregor arrived after Robert Burns was born. John (Jack) Burns was born at home, delivered by his father in Craigville, Ontario, not at White Lake, as previously recorded. 4 Pearl (Prather) Burns was the mother of Robert, John and Jean, not their grandmother. 5 James Prather died when his home on Carmi Road was destroyed by fire, not at Grandoro mine (correct spelling). 96 THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES OF SALMON ARM 1898-1998 By Dilys Hanna The first synod of British Columbia of the Presbyterian Church in Canada was held at Vancouver on the twentieth and twenty-first of July, 1892. It included the presbyteries of Calgary, Kamloops and Westminster. The Presbytery of Kamloops listed congregations at Donald, Nicola Lake, Spallumcheen, Kamloops, Vernon, and Nelson, all with ministers. Revelstoke, Kaslo and Ashcroft had a student or catechist. Ducks, Salmon Arm, Shuswap, Grande Prairie, North Thompson, Tappen Siding, Columbia River, Pilot Bay, Watson, Ainsworth, Balfour, Kettle River, Boundary Creek and Rock Creek were listed as vacancies. Yes, missionaries had been in the Shuswap area for a number of years, but it was not until the railway was opened that more regular services were held. The Canadian Pacific Railway station at Salmon Arm was used in 1895 for services and an interdenominational Sunday school. The Orange Hall, built in 1895, was shared for Sunday services by the Methodists and the Presbyterians on an alternate basis from 1896 to 1898. Needless to say, it was Harris Street Presbyterian Church, with great rejoicing that the photographed about 1915 by Rex Lingford. Presbyterians dedicated (Courtesy Clifford Ainsworth) their first building On May 8, Dilys Hanna is a member of St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Salmon Arm, and plays an important role on its historical committee. 97 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES Pedalling preacher W. F. Gold used this unique conveyance to get around the Salmon Ann district while he was minister at St. Andrew's in 1901-1902. Photograph taken by his son, W. H. Gold, who later had a studio at Youbou. 1898. Ministers from the surrounding area attended. Reverend R C. Pollock was the missionary here at the time. Reverend George Wilson, Vernon, conducted the dedication and preached at both morning and evening services. In all, three services were held on that day and entertainment was provided on Monday evening when nearly all of the musical talent of the community took part.' The church was a frame building 24 by 40 feet and was calculated to seat 150. Ministers came and went in those early times, usually staying only one or two years. Reverend W H. Gold ministered in Salmon Arm in 1901 and 1902. He is remembered for his mode of travel-a tricycle (velocipede) that could be pedalled on the rail- 98 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES way track. Rev. Gold's son, Wilmer, visited Salmon Arm in 1981. He was 88 at the time and in an interview published in the Shoppers' Guide recalled carefree days spent in the Shuswap area. He remembered helping around the manse when it was being built. It still stands on Beatty Street on the north side of the tracks. Wilmer Gold remembered that his father's church had no choir, but Billy Murray played the violin for the hymn singing. Some Sundays Billy didn't show up. It meant that he had been busy celebrating the night before. These were the years of Sunday school picnics, which in most cases were all-day affairs at the beach. In 1907 the first issue of the Salmon Arm Observer was published and from then on church affairs were well publicized. In the first edition the Presbyterian notice read: PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH Bible Class 10 a.m. 11 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. services Christian Endeavor Society and Prayer Meeting fortnightly at 8 p.m., Wednesday Notch Hill Thursday fortnightly at 8 p.m. John G. Duncan, M. A., Pastor It is known that Reverend Duncan kept chickens and at an agricultural meeting in the spring of 1908 he spoke on poultry matters. He was very much against "hopper feeding," believing it to be "a lazy man's way of managing." At the annual meeting in February 1909 a motion was passed to request Presbytery to give the name Saint Andrew's Presbyterian to the church. Reverend J. G. Reid became minister in 1911. His wife did not come until repairs were made to the manse, but when she did settle in she held an "at nome on ine First gt Andrew's Presbyterian church and manse. Church third Thursday of was dedicated May 8, 1898, while the residence was built each month. soon after the turn of the century. 99 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES J* Some members of the congregation were finding it difficult to get across the tracks to services—especially in the evenings— and so it was decided to hold Sunday school at 2:30 p.m. and the evening service at 7:30 p.m. in the Eureka Hall, on the south side of the tracks. Attendance improved and this led to talk of finding a more suitable church site. The first session, or governing body, was formed in 1912. Elders elected were R. J. Glasgow, R. B. Matthews, Albert Bedford Sr. and W R. Brett. Plans went ahead and the second Presbyterian Church was built at the foot of Lyman Hill (2nd Avenue SE). It was dedicated on May 10, 1914, with Rev. Dr. McKay, principal of Westminster College, Vancouver, in charge. Reverend Peter Henderson of Armstrong assisted at the service. Activities of the early years included boat excursions on Shuswap Lake, all-day picnics, sleigh rides, and not the least of these, the annual Saint Andrew's suppers and Burns Nights. On at least one occasion the menu for the St. Andrew's gathering was printed in the Observer. Once, a church fundraising sale was held at the home of Mrs. C. C. Johnston, at the rear of the telephone office, offering "baby bonnets, corset covers, collars and jabots, and other articles too numerous to mention." Church-related organizations included a Young People's Guild, Ladies Auxiliary, Sunbeam Class, Brotherhood Club, Trail Rangers and Canadian Girls in Training (founded nationally in 1915). In 1918 Reverend M. D. McKee of Grand Forks was appointed minister at St. Andrew's; J. R. O'Brien was the resident minister at Notch Hill. Special services were also held at this period to welcome returning soldiers. Reverend A. Campbell took over ministerial duties here in 1923. ■1^'AWNIVJIggAHI Salmon Arm Presbyterians mark their J00th anniversary. Officiating at the cake-cutting ceremony were (left to right): Alice and Howard Vander Hoek, Rev. Douglas Swanson, Caroline Marriott. 100 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES The movement to join Presbyterians, Methodists and Congregationalists began to gather strength early in the second decade of this century. A vote was taken in 1925 and those in favour of Union held the majority. The United Church of Canada was formed and took over the property owned by the Presbyterians. In Salmon Arm some of the Presbyterians wished to remain so and held meetings in the Baptist church until their property was returned to them, along with a $600 mortgage. Mrs. R. A. Ferguson, later of Vernon, assisted by Reverend David Smith, then acting Superintendent of Missions for B. C, sparked the reorganization in Salmon Arm. Two services were held each Sunday with a total attendance of around 50. Presbyterians at Canoe built their own church in 1926 and Salmon Arm, Canoe and Armstrong became a three-point charge. In 1930 Reverend J. F. Bell, an Australian, became minister. Salmon Arm's share of Rev. Bell's stipend was $30 a month and this was not always paid on time. He eventually moved to Cranbrook and later to Ontario, where he founded the popular musical group, the Bell Singers. In 1932 the Presbyterian church was rented to the Salmon Arm school district to be used weekdays as a school because of a classroom shortage. The building was eventually sold to the school district for $1,050 and a third Presbyterian church was built on 3rd Avenue (now 3rd Street SE). The president and the secretary of the Ladies' Auxiliary were on the building committee for the third church, which was built to hold 150. It was dedicated on September 7, 1941, by the then Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Canada, Reverend J. B. Skene, with some 100 people in attendance. Reverend Sydney Barber, who was minister from 1937 to 1943, had moved to Vernon and was conducting services in Vernon, Armstrong and Salmon Arm. This was wartime; membership had dwindled, but the women of the church stepped up their activities. They arranged services and money-making projects. They did hospital visiting and acted as home helpers. They formed a Welcome and Welfare group to aid newcomers. The membership roll of 16 included the names Smith, Irvine, Stone, Richards, Burrell and Carroll. At the annual meeting on February 12,1946, Reverend Russell Self presided. A highlight at this assembly was the burning of the mortgage. Catherine Foote, the first female student minister in Salmon Arm, served from 1955 to the fall of 1956, when she gave up plans for the ministry in favour of marriage. 101 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES The Salmon Arm congregation continued to share ministers with Armstrong and Vernon for $25 to $35 a month but the congregation was dwindling and finally with fewer than 10 households remaining the church was closed in November 1962, and remained so until January 1965. The mid-'60s saw a rise in population for Salmon Arm and with it renewed local interest in the Presbyterian Church. Around 1965 Reverend Ivan Gamble of Kamloops was named interim moderator. Reverend Howard Kerr accepted a call to Vernon and with the efforts of these men and such people as Albert Mudiman, Mrs. Allan, Keith Shearer, Caroline McClelland (Marriott), Howard Vander Hoek and Peter Jans, services were once again held regularly. A request went out from the Salmon Arm congregation for a full-time minister. This appeal resulted in the appointment of Reverend Rex Krepps. Rev. Krepps and family arrived in December 1971 to begin a 10-year residency. This was the longest ministry in the history of the Presbyterian Church in Salmon Arm. Rev. Krepps became involved in minor hockey and in the Alcoholics Anonymous groups in the community. He and his wife, Trudy, also guided the reorganization of various groups within the church itself, which placed demands on existing space. Also, the congregation had grown to nearly 100 households and it was apparent a larger building was required. Plans were drawn and with the blessing of the Presbytery and financial aid from the church at large a fourth place of worship was built on the corner of the Trans-Canada Highway and Turner Road (now 20th Street). Many members put in long hours on the project, but for them it was a labour of love. The first service was held on April 4, 1976, followed by a dedication service on April 6, conducted by the Presbytery of Kamloops. Rev. Krepps was Moderator of Presbytery at this time and he was assisted by the Clerk of Presbytery, Reverend George Peters, and by Reverend Daniel Firth of Vernon. Rev. Krepps and family served in Salmon Arm until August 1981. They were followed by Dr. W P. Janssen who, along with his wife Marilyn and family, were very active both in the spiritual life of the congregation and the community at large. As a marriage counsellor, Rev. Janssen helped many. During his ministry St. Andrew's became self-supporting once more. The present minister, Reverend Douglas Swanson, a graduate of the Vancouver School of Theology, took up his duties in Salmon Arm in June 1989. 102 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES At the time of writing (1998), the congregation had just completed renovations to the church, making it completely handicap- accessible by way of ramps and an elevator to the lower floor. Centennial celebrations in May 1998 took the form of a fashion show and tea at which costumes depicting styles from 1850 to 1926 were modelled. Among those in attendance were three members of the pioneer Laitinen family. Sisters Senia Howard and Mamie Maki had attended Sunday school in the first Presbyterian church in Salmon Arm, while Oliver Laitinen had been baptized in that church. Another old-timer, Mrs. Nellie Mathieson (Honey), attended class in the second church when it was pressed into service following the 1917 elementary school fire. Guest preacher at the centennial Sunday service was Reverend George Peters of Kamloops, who had assisted at the dedication of the present church. The following weekend the Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Canada, John Congram, and his wife paid a visit to Salmon Arm. Rev. Congram, who has been the editor of the Presbyterian Record since 1988, spoke Saturday on "The Church in the New Millennium." He spoke again at the worship service the next day. Reflecting on achievements during the past century, Rev. Swanson said in his recently published Presbyterian Churches of Salmon Arm: "It is my pleasure to serve in a congregation which has kept the faith for one hundred years. Such an enduring witness is indeed praiseworthy and commendable." Newly remodelled St. Andrew's church awaits 1998 centennial observance. 103 HERITAGE LOST By Sherril Foster Although it has been 10 years since the residents of Summerland watched grand old "Lady Morton " wind her way down from her seat on Giant's Head Mountain and along Highway 97 to Penticton, the sting of the loss is still a vivid memory. Summerland's heritage buffs are closely watching the rest of their town's historically-significant buildings, hoping they will never be "sold down the road" again. Moving day for the Somerset Inn, which started life as the Okanagan Baptist College. It was said that having to climb the steep hill to the Okanagan Baptist College was one of the factors that led to its demise. Although nothing but memories remain of this institution, for eight years in the early part of this century Summerland had a college in its midst. Summerland developer and promoter James Ritchie donated a site on the north side of his pre-emption on Giant's Head Mountain and, along with his brothers William and Thomas, raised some $26,000 for the building of a Baptist college. The Baptist Convention of British Columbia had decided that a college was needed for young men and women who were living in areas Sherril Foster's interest in local history began shortly after she arrived in the Okanagan and was commissioned to write "The Summerland Review" for the Summerland Singers and Players Society. She developed a special interest in the House on the Hill, as her husband, Gareth Young, was one of the three "young entrepreneurs from Jasper" who had big dreams for Morton Hall 20 years ago. 104 HERITAGE LOST with no post-secondary facilities (which was anywhere outside Vancouver or Victoria) and it chose Summerland. Not only was the community considered of "high moral tone," but the Baptist contingent was strong here with residents such as the Ritchies and J. M. Robinson (promoter of Peachland, Summerland and Naramata) who reportedly had been the president of the Manitoba and Northwest Baptist Foundation before arriving in the Okanagan. He had influenced many of that faith to relocate in the Okanagan Valley. Classes began in October 1907 at a brand-new Ritchie Hall with 26 students and three professors. By year's end 72 were registered. The structure was three and a half storeys, had a concrete basement, classrooms, chapel, library and study, college office, plus accommodation for 100 boarders. The first college classes, however, had been held in Empire Hall on the lakeside's Shaughnessy Avenue while awaiting the completion of the new facility. Okanagan College offered high school courses, commercial (stenography and typewriting) and music courses (pianoforte and vocal), and two years of university, leading to a bachelor of arts degree in affiliation with McMaster University in Ontario. Tuition fees were $48 per year and room and board was $20 per month. Many locals attended and the college was very much a part of the community. The "Bean-Eaters" (residents) would take on the "Hill-Climbers" (locals) in various sports activities, and the choral society and literary society, which published a newspaper, the Lyceum, were enthusiastically supported by the town. The popularity of Okanagan College increased so much (almost tripling in the second year) that it was having to turn away potential students due to the lack of housing. Principal Dr. E. H. Sawyer went to work soliciting funds and three years later, thanks to many donations and the fundraising efforts of students, a gymnasium was erected on property donated by Thomas Dale at the foot of "College Hill" on Giant's Head Road. During its lifetime this building variously served as a packing Okanagan College as it first appeared. (Courtesy Addie Williams) 105 HERITAGE LOST house, furniture manufacturing plant, and youth centre until its demolition in 1995. The other addition in 1910 was a women's residence, Morton Hall, situated a few hundred yards from Ritchie Hall on the north face of Giant's Head Mountain. World War One affected yet another aspect of Okanagan life and student enrolment at the college declined. June of 1915 produced the last group of graduates and also much speculation about why the institution had not made it. A lot of blame was placed on the "impractical site which was only accessible to hardy citizens and strong horses"1 and also the fact that Summerland was a small town, not a large centre with a corresponding population from which to draw. Yet, this was part of the original philosophy of why the community had been chosen, because it was thought students could better concentrate away from the alluring social events of a big city. Other factors blamed were trying economic conditions, lack of support from Baptists elsewhere, a meagre college endowment fund and talk of more colleges opening in Vancouver and Calgary. The University of British Columbia did open that year. Following the closure of OBC, James Ritchie purchased the two vacant buildings from the Baptist Convention for $3,000 and they sat idle for many years. Ritchie Hall did serve briefly as temporary digs for Summerland's high school students in the 1920s while they awaited completion of the new elementary facility, which would make the old central school available to them. In 1931 Ritchie sold the college buildings for a reported $6,000 to a group from Winnipeg—the Home of the Friendless. This organization had been formed "to rescue those from the lower strata of life and those who through misfortune had lost hope."2 The religious sect, under the leadership of evangelist Laura West Summerland showing Morton Hall on Giant's Head. BiOESva tSSHLv ~4 "£?&& HERITAGE LOST Crouch, arrived and set up an institution for elderly people, orphans and people with illnesses. A printing press operated by the group turned out a religious publication, The Messenger of God, to supplement income. However, after a while young girls who lived at the Home of the Friendless were showing up on the doorsteps of residences in town claiming that they were being mistreated. "Weird stories of strange happenings in the building, lights blinking at night and other phenomena calculated to stir up rumours gave the big white [sic] building the aura of a 'ghost house' for some time until the matter was cleared up by a government investigation."3 An article in the Winnipeg Free Press in 1995 explained the story of Mrs. Crouch and the Home of the Friendless, as it had been operated in Winnipeg before moving west, "... it was billed as a refuge but was actually a workhouse and prison." University of Manitoba social work professor Len Kaminski stated: "The home used classic indoctrination techniques employed by modern-day cults including fear, intimidation, starvation, long hours of work with little rest, being cut off from family and community and being forced to participate in religious services for hours on end." It was never disclosed if such tactics were practised here, but there was enough evidence to instigate an investigation, resulting in legal action. There were concerns that some of the inmates suffered from tuberculosis, that the younger ones were not receiving a proper education and that the establishment could become a charge on the municipality in the midst of other financial difficulties. Reported the Vancouver Province in 1982: "Complaints about conditions at this [Summerland] and another Home for the Friendless in Burnaby sparked an investigation by a royal commission in 1937 that resulted in legislation calling for licensing of all private welfare institutions in B. C." Mrs. Crouch died during the inquiry and things were left for Reverend William Pike, an ordained minister in the United Missionary Church and spiritual teacher at the institution, and his wife to sort it out. They sent the children elsewhere and many of the older girls found positions in private homes. After Rev. Pike died, his widow and their daughter carried on with the institution. When Ritchie Hall was destroyed by fire in 1941, the Home of the Friendless operated solely from Morton Hall, and about 30 people stayed on, surviving on their pension cheques, taking work at the canneries (those who were able) and growing garden produce for extra income. In 1943 Summerland's municipal council accepted an offer from the provincial government to provide medical aid, and both governments chipped in to help the pensioners. 107 HERITAGE LOST Morton Hall, named after prominent Baptist Ruth Morton, had a longer and more interesting history than did Ritchie Hall, yet would meet the same fiery fate 50 years later. It was built especially for schooling "young ladies" with accommodation for 40 students and resident teachers. "Morton Hall was designed in a vaguely Tudor Revival style with a series of gabled protrusions masking the hipped roof. Mock timbering completed the picture."4 During the 1950s exterior renovations would see all of the half timbering removed and lower wooden portion refinished with white stucco, thereby adding to its "ghostly" countenance. After serving as the Home of the Friendless, Morton Hall became known as Mountain View Home, a licensed residence for the elderly. In the 1950s the institution functioned under aboard of four Summerlanders, and the 30 residents—about half of them pensioners—helped with household duties and were given an allowance. In 1958, the Hlavacs of Vancouver purchased the business, running it as a residence for Christian senior citizens. Then, for a short while it became an orphanage under the management of Mr. and Mrs. (Ma) Whyte, but it was not long before this group made plans to move on and before departing they held a sale of children's clothes and toys. Apparently Ma Whyte and 25 of her children had appeared on The Gary Moore Show in New York and the orphans had received numerous toys as gifts. The Seventh Day Adventist Reform Movement purchased the building in 1967 and ran it as a school and study centre for children in the elementary grades. In Summerland's Canada Centennial pamphlet (1967), the facility was referred to as the Mountain View Missionary Centre, which two years later was granted permission by the local government to operate a bakery from the premises as a home occupation. But this group decided to move on as well, feeling it would better serve its people from a more central location in the province. In 1973 one of the church's members from Oliver bought the building with the idea of starting the Giant's Head Rock Training Centre, a non-profit organization that would teach "everything natural" like cooking, horticulture, ecology and carpentry. "People will be taught how to work and obey," said owner Steve Zakall. Obviously this was only a pipe dream because later that year Bev and Gerry Niessen bought the house and remodelled the lower floor for their family's living quarters. They planted an orchard on the approximately 2 1/2 acres, while shipping fruit to the Prairies from their other concerns. There was talk of Niessens developing a Disneyland-type haunted house attraction or refurbishing Morton Hall for a fine dining and dancing facility, but until 1978 the former 108 HERITAGE LOST women's residence was just their home. Mr. Niessen had previously refurbished an old mill in Okotoks, Alberta, and sold it for a "handsome price." At that time the "House on the Hill" was purchased by three young entrepreneurs from Jasper: Gareth Young, Bert Van Asten and Vern Byers. Plans were drawn up and government assistance sought to restore the heritage building as it stood and to construct a 2,000-square-foot addition. This would include a large dining room and kitchen, laundry and staff areas on the main floor, a roof terrace on the second floor and a tavern and guest sauna in the basement. The exterior was given a complete facelift to emulate its original Tudor Revival architectural style, and the prospective hotel, to be operated as Ye Olde College Inn, the House on the Hill Resort, was furnished with English antiques. Unfortunately, it did not open its doors under the ownership of these men and fell into receivership. There were just too many unforeseen costs. As it stood empty in 1981, a contingent of interested Summerlanders toured the property with an eye to giving it a use in the community. Some of them saw an opportunity for a cultural centre, still bitter after their losing battle to obtain the Century House (Summerland's former hospital) for the arts five years earlier. There was also talk of a community centre and a school of fine arts. However, before any serious deliberations began a new owner was found and Mary Otte of Westbank finished the renovating job and launched the Somerset Inn. Within three years the business once again went into receivership, blamed this time on a deteriorating economy. Then in 1985 Brian and Karin Noseworthy of Sardis decided to take on the 18-room facility, but lost it to creditors before it was open a year. Whether it was the fault of the alleged ghost in the attic, the apathy of the town in not supporting the business, the horrible gossip, or some kind of jinx, it seemed that no one could make a go of it. When the receivers tried to keep the hotel open, the Ministry of the Environment found that the building's septic system was inadequate. Interestingly enough, it was that same ministry that had come up with a solution to the sewage disposal question when the renovations had begun in 1979. The system, which used six 35,000-gallon tanks and two 300-foot wells, was the first of its type to be installed in B. C. In theory, the procedure was to pressurize the effluent for dispersal in the wells after it was processed, filtered and chlorinated; but as time went on, the residents at the foot of College Hill were the first to become aware of the system's 109 '■'■■ ■■,■.■.:■ ■ ' ..■■■■.■■■■.- » ■ , ... '«:;Sr.S::^ Mountain View Home, later known as the Somerset Inn, in the 1950s. shortcomings. When offers to purchase the hotel resumed, many potential buyers were discouraged by the excessive cost of sewage disposal. Nevertheless, the House on the Hill did not deserve the treatment it was about to receive. In 1988 Ted Udzenija, a businessman from Penticton, and Summerland's Eldon Peacock (only the first to be mentioned in a long line of Udzenija's partners) purchased the building, but plans did not involve leaving it on its visible roost on College Hill. The Somerset Inn would be given a new address and a new life—in Penticton. Many doubted the feasibility of such an undertaking, but sure enough, after a few delays in the spring, moving day came about July 6, 1988. The convoy of a tractor towing the inn (now split into three sections) on numerous 16-wheel supports, some 100,000 pounds of steel girders supported by a hydraulic jack system and front-end loaders attached behind to take some of the momentum off the load, began its trip south. The specialized moving company transported the structures down Milne Road onto Giant's Head Road and along Prairie Valley Road to Highway 97 with overnight stops no HERITAGE LOST at Summer Fair Shopping Centre and then again at Channel Parkway and Hastings Avenue in Penticton; but not without some uneasy moments. The Summerland Review surmised that "the elegant lady was reluctant to leave" when the original gabled section (36 by 70 feet, 40 feet high) got caught up on a rock corner at Milne and Giant's Head Roads. The main power lines had to be taken down and because the building was held at the corner for so long, the power was out in Summerland most of the day—9 1/2 hours to be exact. Rain didn't discourage the anxious onlookers as Lady Morton made her exit. A large crowd of Summerland residents and folks from all over the Valley lined the streets to watch, many because they just could not believe it was happening, and others because their work had been halted by the power outage. Nevertheless, the Penticton Herald reported that "despite opposition from local [Penticton] businessmen and the threat of lawsuits, the monumental task of moving the three-storey Somerset Inn from atop Summerland's Giant's Head Mountain to its Skaha Lake Road site in Penticton was completed this morning [July 12]." The beautiful old building stuck out like a sore thumb in its new location, yet Udzenija's claims included grand opening celebrations for September of that year. However, nothing much happened until almost three years later when Morton Hall met its ultimate fate. Before the restorations were anywhere near completion, the former House on the Hill mysteriously burned to the ground in the wee hours of February 11, 1991. No one was ever made accountable for the loss. Back in Summerland, the barren site on College Hill was sold to local developers and new houses now surround the spot where Lady Morton perched for 78 years, royally greeting all those returning home or visiting the town of Summerland. 1 Imayoshi, K. (1953). The History of Okanagan Baptist College. A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Divinity School, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario. 2 Andrew, Dr. F. W. (1945). "The Story of Summerland." Penticton; Penticton Herald. 3 Lyons, C P. Updated by L. Cook. (1957/1970). Mileposts in Ogopogoland. Surrey: Foremost Publishing. 4 Hobson, R. & Associates (1988). Okanagan Similkameen Resource Inventory. Penticton: Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen. Ill CASA LOMA ORIGINS By Alice Zdralek The Casa Lorna district is located on the west side of Okanagan Lake and south of the bridge linking Kelowna and Westbank. The first permanent building in the area close to what is known today as Zdralek Cove, was a one-room cabin constructed from very large logs, the likes of which are not seen in the area today. The cabin was built by John and Susan Allison, the original settlers on the west shore, who went on to found Princeton and be forever remembered by Allison Pass on the Hope-Princeton Highway. Two more cabins—or small houses—were erected by the Allisons, one at Gellatly Bay and the other at Sunnyside, which is still in use by the present owner. The cabin at Zdralek Cove served as a stopover for cattle drives from the United States to the Cariboo. When Mr. and Mrs. Engelbert Zdralek and their two sons, John and Heinz, moved in in 1930, the modest dwelling had grown into a large house by the appearance of regular frame additions on all sides. In later years John and Heinz decided to tear down the house and while doing so found newspapers stuffed between the logs, one of which contained an article by Winston Churchill when he was covering the Boer War for the British press. The house now occupied by Louise and Tom Francis was built by the Campbell family (Campbell Road) about 1925. The Campbells came out from Winnipeg around 1912 with a drove of horses and ran them in this area. J. R. Campbell later had a bicycle shop in John and Heinz Zdralek setting out to attend Westside Indian school circa 1930. Alice Zdralek was born in Weyburn, Saskatchewan and came to the Kelowna area in 1927. She and her husband owned and operated the Casa Lorna resort from the mid-'60s until 1980. 112 CASA LOMA ORIGINS Casa Lorna irrigation flume early 1940s. Kelowna. Bob Campbell built a ferry called Aricia and operated it on alternate years with Captain Len Hayman. A third-generation descendant, Jim Campbell, still lives in Kelowna. The third house belonged to the father-in-law of A. H. Povah (Mr. White). It was originally a summer place. Heinz Zdralek practically rebuilt it on all sides, plus top and bottom, when he married Elsie Fehr in 1948. It was the house with the willow trees south of their present home that was taken down when part of the land was sold in 1989. In 1947 Jim Blackman bought his land just south of the Indian reserve on Campbell Road. He cleared the holding by hand and planted it to strawberries, later adding fruit trees: apricots, peaches and cherries. Knowledge gained from employment at the Summerland Experimental Farm was put to good use by Blackman in his fields and orchard. As of this writing (March 1998), ill health has confined him to a home on Rose Avenue, Kelowna. The next residence was that of Fred and Betty Waterman, with their two children, Peter and Diane. It was built just south of the Blackman place. Fred, an air force veteran, worked for the Veterans Land Act (VLA) project that became Lakeview Heights. When the Okanagan Lake bridge was being built in 1958, gravel to construct the spit on the west side was trucked from Heinz Zdralek's, near what is now Casa Grande. Blackman and Waterman were given the option of changing the haul road, which at the time went straight through. They opted to have it jog up and around, hence the nar- 113 Part of Casa Lorna lands about 1940, Kelowna visible in the background. row, awkward road we have today. Another aside: The author and her family were told that blasting rock for the fill destroyed many rattlesnake dens, putting a permanent dent in the reptile population in this vicinity. The Elis were the only Native people living near the bridge at that time. Prior to coming to the west side from Germany in 1930 with his wife, Enni, Engelbert Zdralek had been taking care of a place on Benvoulin Road for David Leckie (see OHS Report No. 38), who was also growing tomatoes here. When it was revealed that Mr. Zdralek was a trained machinist, he was asked to take care of the irrigation system consisting of a 12-horsepower diesel motor that had been bought from the Rutland packing house for $600—then a great deal of money. It had a five-foot flywheel and a 12-inch piston. There were also two other smaller pumps powered by converted car motors. Heinz and John went to school on horseback, up the hill and across Lakeview Heights, then over the highway where the industrial area is now. It was a one-room Indian school with about five white families represented—the Zdralek boys, the Lewis boys, Wilsons, Walkers and Isabel Bartley, now married to Bert Longley. When Mr. Leckie died in 1936, Mr. Zdralek purchased the land under his management, grew tomatoes and retired the debt with crop payments. The warm hillside, with lots of rocks to draw and store nature's warmth, together with the good soil, made for sweet, tasty tomatoes that soon became popular. Everything had to be trucked across the lake on the ferry, which provided hourly trips from early morning until 11 p.m. As befits a more leisurely 114 CASA LOMA ORIGINS time, a lot of visiting with neighbours went on during those lake crossings. Mr. Zdralek also sold to the local grocery stores such as Cap Capozzi's on Bernard Avenue. Further improving the operation, greenhouses were built to raise seedling tomatoes, whose survival meant that heating fires had to be constantly stoked in the cold weather. The Zdraleks also produced greenhouse tomatoes and cucumbers for the local trade. In 1942, two years after John married Alice Tree, they bought a truckload of 6,000 seedling peach trees from Sardis Nurseries in the Fraser Valley. The nursery had over-estimated demand and then had to keep the seedlings over for an extra year. The result was that the trees took off in the rich Okanagan soil. Nutrients had leached into the subsoil because of the effect of ditch irrigation and in four years a good crop of peaches was being harvested, joined by apricots, pears, prunes and cherries. In between all this John was serving overseas in the armed forces. There was no telephone or electricity until after World War II when Lakeview Heights was established as a VLA project. When they got those benefits, lines were strung down to Casa Lorna and we joined the modern world. We had no sooner discarded our old Aladdin lamps than they became antiques. During spring breakup our dirt road became impassable; a WW2 Jeep was a must—our first four-wheel drive. For emergencies, or just for fishing or fun, the Zdraleks had a 12-foot lapstrake Peterborough boat with a 12-horsepower motor. When our sons, Louis and Dan, started school they had the choice of correspondence lessons, or we could provide our own transportation to class. John elected to take them by boat to Strathcona Avenue by the hospital and they walked from there to Raymer Avenue school. After a couple of years they went by foot across Lakeview Heights to catch the one-and-only bus to Westbank. The prevailing theory was that the bus was meant for the high school; another theory held that the young ones were supposed to have an elementary school near them. The reality was that coming home they had to wait until the high school got out, and after about three bus runs— to Glenrosa, MacDougal Creek and a few other Westbank stops— they were dropped off with the Lakeview Heights children. In winter it would be in the dark and they often had to break fresh snow trails. With no waterproof clothing like we have now, they were often wet to the bone before they got to the bus in the morning. I think I remember that after one bad winter I convinced the school district to do the Lakeview run first. 115 CASA LOMA ORIGINS At some point we were able to buy water from Lakeview Heights and instead of the old irrigation system we had Rainbird sprinklers. Instead of scything and the old-style weed cutters, we had orchard mowers, like oversized lawn mowers. Heinz invented a new method of thinning peaches by filling the old tank sprayer with plain water and bumping up the pressure to 800 to 1,000 pounds. The force knocked off 80 to 90 percent of the blossoms, but there still remained hand thinning to break up the clumps and to deal with missed branches. Zdraleks also brought in pneumatic King-size domestic/irrigation water pipes prior to installation at Casa Lorna in early 1970s. pruning machines—another time-saving device. The air pressure also raised the operator's cage up into the tree, instead of having to place ladders and, of course, you could use it for picking, although some ladder work was still required. In the 1960s, with the bridge to Kelowna encouraging homes on the west side, Engelbert Zdralek started sub-dividing, beginning at the point. Gradually other land went to housing and with the 116 CASA LOMA ORIGINS added finances Heinz and John built cottages for summer rental. Heinz built Casa Lorna Village, John the Casa Lorna Resort. Another large project undertaken at this time was the Casa Lorna water system. When John and Alice retired in 1980, they sold the resort and the new owners moved the pool and added a large building. We have been asked where the name Casa Lorna originated. We have in our possession a plan for a subdivision, dated July 1921, showing roads and lots from Lakeview Heights to the lake. There was set aside a portion to the south marked Casa Lorna Park. We think it was so named because of the castle-like rock seen from the nature trail. The Zdralek family took the name for Casa Lorna Orchards and it was afterwards picked to identify a residential subdivision. The original designation was forgotten when Kalmar Park- named by Lakeview residents—was formed. As for the 1921 proposal, it didn't materialize and I guess the land reverted to the government, later being handed over to the World War II veterans. Some of these words are my memories of things told to me over the years by the family. Elsie and Heinz have added to these, and I have talked on the phone to Jim Campbell several times. Although I am open to correction, this is basically much as it happened. There are a lot more stories in the family, which don't apply of course, but are still part of our own history. Some of them are very funny and some are scary, but all worth remembering. 117 THE INCOLA HOTEL By Elizabeth Pryce The grand tourist hotel of which Reeve Edwin Foley-Bennett spoke at the sod-turning ceremony of the Kettle Valley Railway in Penticton on July 1, 1911, was to be called Incola. The reeve alluded to the coming prosperity for the town through advertising that would bring hundreds of visitors to enjoy the beauty of the Okanagan. The Incola Hotel would be the drawing card for those who wanted to holiday in the Valley or explore Penticton's possibilities. It was an exciting time and fabrication of this luxurious inn was soon begun by the Canadian Pacific Railway. One of the first public announcements stated: "This hotel will be one of the finest in British Columbia. The total cost of construction and interior fitting will be at least $100,000. Nearly four acres of prop- -X, Frame construction on a grand scale: the 1911-12 Incola Hotel project. Elizabeth Pryce-Bork is a retired City of Penticton employee and lives at White Lake, Kaleden, stretching an already busy volunteer schedule with the duties of Penticton Branch's editorial chair. 118 THE INCOLA HOTEL Penticton's hospitality centre circa 1935. erty will be utilized by the syndicate which is putting through the scheme. Three acres will have a lakeshore frontage of 366 feet Messrs. McGraw and Winnott, managers of the Queen's Hotel in ioronto, have been approached with the idea one of them will come out to Penticton to manage the hotel." Indeed, the Incola's first manager was W J. Richardson from the Queen's. The Incola was built on a 1.23-acre site by the Okanagan Land Cc¬a with the CPR as its chief stockholder. Local contractors McDougall and Gough also shared in the construction. The foundations were commenced on August 2, 1911. The building was of black and white half-timber pattern, surrounded by a veranda and decorated m fashionable mock Tudor. Guests would recline in furniture made of rich, solid oak upholstered in leather. Four floors, situated well above ground because of the high water table housed 62 rooms (14 with private baths), five public baths travellers' sample rooms, a large sun parlour, a "ladies'" parlour, dining room, reading room, a large fireplace, billiard room and music room with a grand piano. Perfect views of Okanagan Lake were afforded by the front rooms, which opened onto balconies. The large entrance rotunda was used for receptions, concerts and dances. From either side of the reception desk rose magnificent twin staircases. The Incola opened for business on August 19, 1912 but even before it was built a liquor licence had been granted on December i-6, 1911. 119 THE INCOLA HOTEL The end comes in 1981. (All photographs for this article courtesy Doug Cox) At the outset, trade was slow at the Incola. However, with the arrival of the first passenger train in Penticton came tri-weekly rail service. Commemorative festivities were held at the hotel on May 30, 1915, when the passenger pulled into the CPR-KVR railway station at the foot of Martin Street on the Okanagan lakeshore. It signalled an exciting period for the hotel and for the city. By 1928 lawn bowling was taking place on the hotel grounds. During the 1930s the band of Saxie De Bias played there. Guest pianist Florence (Flossie) Manuel accompanied visiting orchestras. The Incola was considered a "high-class" place, where five to six hundred guests in gowns and tuxedos danced until six a.m. at New Year's. Other events held at the Incola included Board of Trade and Canadian Club dinners, Gyro, Kiwanis and Rotary luncheons, private parties and weddings. One of Penticton's special social events, the annual Snowball Frolic, was hosted by the hotel. The Incola became the centre of community life and remained so for several decades. It had prestige, luxury and romance. An anxious time came during Jackson Allerton's managership in 1935 when a Dominion Day dance was being held in the hotel. Nearby Penticton Creek, laden from heavy rains in the eastern mountains, quickly rose and overflowed its banks. Water surrounded the Incola, and for awhile remained up to the steps of the big staircase leading to the lobby. The decline of the beautiful Incola Hotel began in 1948. The opening of the Hope-Princeton Highway greatly enhanced Penticton's role as a resort and convention centre and had a direct effect on railway transportation. Newer hotels were built and the 120 THE INCOLA HOTEL motel concept became popular. The Incola began its run of four ownership changes between 1966 and 1975 and its original appearance disappeared under modification and extension. In 1953 the stucco exterior was finished and the ground-floor porch was enclosed in 1955. A mural on the cabaret wall made its appearance in 1976. By then, only essential upgrading was carried out. There was the addition of the Peach Lounge, a licensed drinking establishment that had provided a much-needed source of revenue. However, gradual neglect led to safety hazards, and in 1963 the top floor was ordered closed by the fire marshal. Two fires occurred in the building during 1978, one of which left a hole in the roof that was never repaired. Broken windows were boarded up and the outside walls began rotting, due to the absence of drain pipes. By late 1970s the Incola's clientele had changed. It was frequented by bikers and minors hung around the entrances, lending credence to suspicions that they were being supplied with liquor. The premises were also believed to be part of the local drug scene. Regular performances by strippers added to the run-down reputation. The once grand and gracious tourist hotel had lost all its dignity and romantic atmosphere. It closed its doors on August 27, 1979. In March 1981 the Incola Hotel came down. All that remains today is the vacant lot on Lakeshore Drive. 121 We are gladdened to see the reappearance in this issue of an estimable winning entry in the Student Writing Contest. Given the feast-or-famine nature of the competition, there was the added pleasure of seeing so many junior participants vying for honours. The downside was that only one entry was submitted in the Grades 9-12 category. In composing the best essay, Ayla Fortin, 11 years old and a top Grade 5 student at Peachland Elementary School, drew on her own curiosity, which arose while frequently crossing Okanagan Lake to visit her grandmother. It also helped that her father was only too happy to recount his youthful crossings by ferry. Essay chair Enabelle Gorek, on behalf of the Society, once more recognizes the financial support of Jamie Browne, in memory of his father, J. W. B. Browne, the founder of radio station CKOV, Kelowna. — Ed. EARLY FERRY TRANSPORTATION AND THE OKANAGAN LAKE FLOATING BRIDGE By Ayla Fortin There are many people in the Valley who complain about the traffic on the Okanagan Lake Floating Bridge. They say it is too slow, especially during rush hour. What most people don't know is that there was no bridge before 1958, and getting across the lake took much longer. Back then everyone had to use a ferry to cross the lake from Kelowna to Westbank. In 1885 the very first boat used as a ferry was a 16-foot "scow" built by Eneas and David McDougall. Webster's Dictionary describes a scow as "a large, flat-bottomed boat with square ends." It was about 10 to 12 feet wide and could carry up to five pack horses, or three heavy horses. It crossed the lake at the narrowest point, which was about 9/10 of a mile wide. The boat 122 WINNING ESSAY didn't have a motor in those days, so it was powered by men and women passengers who used pine sweeps for oars. A plank in the middle of the boat was removed, so the passengers could put their feet in the hole while they rowed. The ferry was not easy to use because neither of the McDougall brothers lived close to the ferry dock. The closest brother was Eneas, who lived about four miles away on the Westside. If someone wanted to cross the lake they had to find the trail to his house and walk there. If Eneas wasn't at home then, that person had to make his horse swim across the lake instead. They needed two men and a rowboat to do it; one man rowed the boat, while the other man held a rope attached to the horse. Some days the winds were very strong and the ferry would fill up with water and start to sink, so the handrail had to be taken off and the horses let go into the water. They hoped the horses would swim back to shore. There were many other ferries over the years. In 1906 the first official ferry was called the Skookum. It was a 30-foot-long motor boat. Passengers were charged 25 cents each to cross, and a dollar for a horse. In 1907 a steam boat named Clovelly ran as a ferry from Kelowna to Westbank and Bear Creek. It carried lumber, feed and fruit. The Aricia was brought here in 1916 by L. A. Hayman. It was a 50-foot motor boat and the best ferry so far. It weighed 12.6 tons and had a passenger cabin, engine room, pilothouse, and carried a lifeboat. A stable was built on the west side of the lake for the public to use while they waited to travel. It even had a feed locker for the horses. By 1921 people were using more cars than horses, and a car ferry was built. It could carry eight cars at one time. On one very windy night in 1924, it left Kelowna with six cars and 19 passengers. The wind was so strong that it spun the boat around and sent it heading for the rocks. It hit the rocks three times, then got stuck. It came loose and was carried down the lake by the wind. The scared passengers were taken to shore in the lifeboat, and the ferry was towed in by motorboat. But the passengers could not drive their cars off the wharf right away because the wind had knocked some trees down. Between 1927 and 1940 the provincial government helped to build two more ferries. The Kelowna-Westbank was built in 1927. It was 90 feet long and weighed 104 tons. It could carry 15 cars. In 1939 the Pendozi was built. It was the first steel ferry. It was 147 feet long and weighed 237.5 tons. It could carry 30 cars. 123 WINNING ESSAY As more and more people kept coming to the area they needed to carry more cars, and another ferry was added in 1947. It is the most famous ferry that we know, called the Lequime. Today we call it the Fintry Queen. It has been renovated inside, and a paddle wheel has been added at the stern. Instead of carrying cars, it is now used as a restaurant and for Okanagan Lake cruises. My dad, Pat Fortin, was a young boy back then. He remembers taking the Lequime many times with his family. One time they missed the last run of the ferry at night, and his brother, his mom, and his dad and he had to sleep in the car at the docks. When it came to 7 o'clock in the morning, the first ferry came and, not surprisingly, they were the first in line. In 1950 the last ferry was added. It was called the Lloyd Jones. It could carry 35 cars. The ferries transported 534,373 cars on the last year they were used. By that time the crossing only took about 10 minutes once one was on the ferry. The Okanagan Valley was very excited in July 1958 when the Okanagan Lake Floating Bridge was finished being built. It was called the Okanagan Lake Pontoon Bridge then. The official opening ceremonies were on July 19, 1958. It was a big event. There was a crowd of several thousand people. Four thousand seats were saved for school children who came from all over the Valley. That weekend there were two parades, several dances, swimming exhibitions and a long-distance swim. The most famous person who was there was Her Royal Highness Princess Margaret, who conducted the opening ceremonies with W A. C. Bennett, who was the premier of the province at that time. The pontoon bridge was special, because it was the longest floating bridge of its type in the world. It was 4,585 feet long. There were two other pontoon bridges at the time, but the Okanagan Lake bridge was the longest, and the only one with a lift span. The lift span raises up to let tall boats or sailboats under. The bridge was made of 12 concrete pontoons that were joined together. A pontoon is a flat-bottomed float or frame used in building floating bridges. Each pontoon took six weeks to build, then was attached to heavy anchors that weighed 70 tons and were buried 20 feet beneath the lake bed. The anchors were connected to the pontoons by thick cables. The cables are long and curved so that the bridge can move up and down safely if the level of the lake changes. 124 WINNING ESSAY At first the city engineers were going to build a suspension bridge, but the ground was not stable enough to support the bridge and the towers on it. They also worried that if there was an earthquake it would all come crashing down. Building the bridge began in January 1956. It cost 7.5 million dollars and the public had to pay tolls at first to help with the cost. Pedestrians and bicycles were free, motorcycles were 10 cents, or 20 cents if they had a sidecar. Cars were 50 cents, and commercial trucks were 75 cents to two dollars. In 1963 the tolls were removed. The bridge has changed over the years. It started out as one lane, then soon after that the second lane was finished. Then in 1991 a third lane was added. Even though getting across the bridge is so much easier now, the population of the entire Valley is over 200,000 people. Many tourists also use the bridge. In the past several years there has been discussion about adding a fourth lane to the bridge, or building a new bridge altogether. One idea was to have a new bridge cross over the lake and go over Kelowna City Park. The idea of a new bridge over the park would cost about 120 to 130 million dollars. Adding a fourth lane would cost a lot less, but it would still cost about 65 to 70 million dollars just for the extra lane itself. The extra lane is probably what will be decided. The three lanes would be changed back into two lanes, and the new part will have another two lanes. There would no longer be a lift span, which makes some sailors angry because some of their boats won't be able to go under. What they might do is put in a new "higher-level crossing" on the Westbank side for tall boats. It would be about 18 metres high. The city [province] might have to make it a toll bridge again in order to pay for the fourth lane, or use something like taxes, or gasoline taxes to pay for it. They haven't decided yet. I think they should ask the Okanagan community if they want to pay the toll or more taxes, or maybe they should not even be doing it. People who use the bridge will also have to drive through a lot of construction for a long time. But I don't think anyone would complain if they knew how long it used to take to cross the lake. SOURCES: Ross Coates, the Okanagan Lake Bridge project director, with the Ministry of Highways and Transportation; Okanagan Historical Society, Tenth Report, 1943, L. A. Hayman article; Okanagan Regional Library, Kelowna and Peachland; Inland and Coastal Ferries, Ministry of Transportation and Highways brochure, 1991; Pat Fortin, my dad; old Kelowna Cou- rier newspapers; the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, 1974. 125 MR. BYAM'S BONES By Jo Jones In the final decade of the nineteenth century, Vernon resident Alice Barrett Parke played a pivotal role in solving a poignant mystery that played itself out between the fall of 1894 and the following June. Alice's husband Harold was a provincial constable at the time and it was his duty to investigate a gruesome discovery made in the mountains near Cherry Creek by miner Bill Hollingsworth. One day late in 1894, Hollingsworth brought an old flour sack to the government office; in it were the remains of a human skeleton, some tattered clothing and a small notebook. The journal that Alice kept from 1891 to 1900 gave full details, so let us permit her to speak for herself: 1st November 1894 I have been very much interested over a little book Hal brought home to me. A man brought it in to the government office having found it on the hills, about 9 miles up the North Fork of Cherry Creek—he found it beside a little pile of human bones—also he found a pair of spectacles and a few camp utensils beside it. It is a note book very much spoiled by the weather. The leaves were stuck together, the pages torn & in many places the writing undecipherable, but we have made out a good deal. The writer was evidently lost on the mountain, & slowly starved to death—some of the entries are very pitiful. I cannot get it out of mind. He has tried so hard to leave word for someone—but we cannot quite make out the name, though an address is written in three separate places. It is Miss Agnes -1 think Byam, or Blyam - then the name of the town is indistinct, Sussex, England. We are going to look at the list of P. O. in Sussex, & if we can find one at all like the word we fancy, write to the Postmaster. The poor man was evidently well educated. He tells of losing his way - evidently he had a companion with Jo Jones, a former teacher-librarian, accepted the task of transcribing the luminous journals of Alice Barrett Parke, wife of an early provincial constable, later a Vernon postmaster. This article was prepared as a companion piece to "Little- Known Pioneers: The Parkes of Vernon," which appeared in the 1998 issue of Okanagan History. 126 MR. BYAM'S BONES him, though no signs of another man were found - for he always writes "we". One entry is "Had to kill Willie, the dog" - then "Found a few berries" - "Weaker & weaker" - "Ate last of dog - the end must come soon - but God is good - something may turn up". It begins while they were in camp with a lot of others - then where they tried to get over the mountain and so on, gradually getting sadder. I wish I could make it all out. It is dreadful to think of someone waiting & watching for news that never comes - at the last is "Love to Agnes" - "Visions of food are constantly before us" - "Weaker" - & the last I can make out is "Cold". Hal Parke, knowledgeable in matters involving place names from his earlier work in the Vernon post office, wrote to the English postmaster in Cuckfield in the hope that the Parkes could learn more about the dead man and his family. Jack McKelvie, editor of the Vernon News and a good friend of the Parkes, was most intrigued by the story, and made sure to write about the Parkes' role in the matter in the News. 15th December 1894 We heard yesterday - or rather Hal did - from Cuckfield. He wrote on Nov. 10th to the postmaster of that place to know if there was any Miss Agnes Byam there - we made out in the book "Miss Agnes B" & we thought "yam", C-ck , Sussex, Eng " and finding there was a place named Cuckfield in Sussex Hal thought he'd risk a letter to the postmaster. Yesterday he heard both from the postmaster and Miss Agnes Byam herself. I think I'll just copy the letters. The postmaster's was this Post Office Cuckfield, Sussex 26th Nov. 1894 Sir, I beg to acknowledge, with thanks, the receipt of your letter dated the 10th inst intimating that a human skeleton had been found on the mountains near Vernon. There are two Miss Byams (sisters) residing at Cuckfield, where they have been now some years. The family having formerly, I believe, an estate in Hertfordshire. I called on them on Saturday, with your letter which, after they had read they said they had not the slightest doubt that the bones found were the remains of their brother, from whom they have not heard since May 1893, when he then stated that he was going up to British Columbia. They wished me to thank you very much for your kind offer to send the memorandum book which they would like to have, as the handwriting would probably prove that it has belonged to their brother. As Miss Agnes Byam intends herself to write to you it will be unnecessary 127 MR. BYAM'S BONES for me to write more except to give you their address in case the latter should fail to reach you, viz (The Misses) or Miss Agnes Byam . . . Woodlands, Cuckfield, Sussex. Again thanking you for your trouble, and kind letter. I remain, Sir Your obt. Servant Edward Auscombe. The other letter is written in an old-fashioned, rather tremulous hand, as if the writer might be an old lady, & is as follows Woodlands Cuckfield (Near Hayward's Heath) Sussex, England November 26th 1894 Dear Sir, The Postmaster of Cuckfield brought us your letter of Nov. 10th on the 24th, & it seems very probable, from my name being mentioned in the memorandum book found with the remains, that they were those of my brother, Arthur M. Byam, especially as my last letter from him was dated April 25, 1893 from Spokane Bridge Washington State, where he had spent the winter with a friend, T W. Galbraith, and intended starting thence for Lake Kootena June 1st since when I have written several times to him to the c/o Mr. Galbraith. Therefore would you kindly forward to me as soon as possible the memorandum book, that we may be able to identify our brother's writing, & if there should be anything else, or any other clue you could give us, we should be truly grateful. My brother's hair & beard were dark, thick & abundant, if that remained. And would you kindly let me know if the remains were reverently interred, and if we are indebted to you for that, or any other expenses, & if we could give any reward to the miner Hollingsworth, who brought them in. And also if the man, Jim Stevenson should have survived, and ever turn up at Vernon and you could gain any further information about my brother's death (supposing always it should have been him) we should feel still further indebted to you. And now thanking you much for the kindness which prompted you to write in such detail, & so very sympathetically, believe me Yours very sincerely, Agnes W. Byam P. S. Would you also kindly tell me where abouts Nakusp and Vernon are, as to the mountains & near rivers, as the maps we have give so few towns in British Columbia, except along the lines of Railway or the large rivers, & I can find neither place marked. 128 MR. BYAM'S BONES Hal Parke reacted with his customary kindness and sent Miss Byam a package of information on the interior of British Columbia and she was effusive in her thanks. Thus, we learned that the dead man, her brother Arthur Merrick Byam, was the third son of General Byam of the 18th Hussars and Elizabeth Augusta, daughter of Sir Grenville Temple, Bart., and was about 55 years old when he died. 30th January 1895 Hal got another letter from Miss Byam today. I will copy it here, as all who have read the story so far of her brother's death will be interested in it. Hal told her that I had done most of the work in deciphering the writing in the little book that was found. This is her letter - Woodlands, Cuckfield near Hayward Heath Sussex, England January 15th '95 Dear Mr. Parke, You & Mrs. Parke have indeed been kind & thoughtful in this sad matter, you in writing so fully & sympathetically, & your wife in having taken so much trouble in deciphering my name in the memorandum book. Yes, it is indeed my brother Arthur Byam's hand writing -just the clear neat hand he always wrote since his boyhood - it never altered since then although he would have been 55 years of age Nov. 30th '93, & although his right hand was fearfully burnt 13 years before - the fingers being all crumpled up together, &for some time powerless - even after having been straightened out in Guy's Hospital, still he told me he had recovered the use of that hand after his return to Canada, & wrote as well as ever with it, but would signs of those once distorted fingers still be visible ? They have done their work in sending me kind messages while he could write. The great comfort to be found in those touching entries is untold - there is not a word of complaint throughout and the words "God is good" are most consoling. I have copied all I could decipher, but it is very difficult and makes me feel the more grateful to Mrs. Parke for having done so first for me, & I do thank her most sincerely for her kindness, & you also, for telling me all you possibly could. It seems to me now that there is no doubt, but I leave it to your judgment whether it would be better to wait until the miner, Hollingsworth, returns next Spring, in case he may have found the other remains, & the identification be complete; & then I should indeed be grateful to you if you would have the bones interred reverently, & a stone cross erected to my brother's memory. 129 MR. BYAM'S BONES Meanwhile I have written again toT.W. Galbraith, J. P., Spokane Bridge, from whom I also heard a few days ago, & have asked him about the teeth, as Arthur had a fine set 13 years ago, when I last saw him, & he would know how it was in the winter of 92-93 when they were together, & he might also identify the coat? - & he told me in his letter that he had given my brother a case for his spectacles - a thing I should not have known he possessed as he had remarkably good sight, but perhaps you may have heard from Mr. Galbraith himself before now. Captain Fitz Stubbs has also written, saying that he last saw my brother in the summer of '93 when he obtained employment for himself at Nakusp, but enquiring for him there that he had gone North. These two were old friends of his, of long standing, & you may have heard from both enquiring further particulars, and now I must again thank you & Mrs. Parke for all you have done for us in every kind way, &for the map you so thoughtfully sent in your letter. I will write what I would wish inscribed to my brother's memory, whenever you feel a certainty about the matter, & trust you will let me know all & every expense incurred - & with many best wishes for you and Mrs. Parke, for many happy New Years. Believe me, Yours very gratefully Agnes M. Byam The inscription for the stone is to be as follows In loving memory of Arthur Merrick Byam third son of General Byam 18th Hussars of Warblington, Hants, England and of Elizabeth Augusta daughter of Sir Grenville Temple, Bart. Departed this life in the Woods between Vernon & Nakusp October 1892 - Aged 55 years "But God is Good" In May 1895 Reverend T. Williams Outerbridge officiated at a Christian burial for Arthur Byam in the old Vernon cemetery, just west of Old Kamloops Road. Byam's name is among those listed on the bronze plaque adorning one of the ornamental lamp stand- 130 MR. BYAM'S BONES ards at the entrance to the old burial ground. There is no record, however, of any headstone for his grave and Alice doesn't mention one; indeed, she made no further reference to the Byam affair in her journals, and when, in 1904, the cemetery was closed and the graves relocated to the new site on Pleasant Valley Road, it appears that Mr. Byam's remains were not exhumed. It is probable that he still lies in his old resting place. After Agnes Byam's next letter communication ceased, except for an occasional card at Easter or Christmas. 3rd June 1895 On Saturday we heard again from Miss Byam. I think I'll copy out her letter, as it is an interesting one. Woodlands, Cuckfield, May 15th 1895 Dear Mrs. Parke, Very many thanks for your letter of April 26th and for so kindly sending me two pamphlets on British Columbia which are most interesting, as showing something of the beauties of the country where my brother wandered for so many years, for he first went to Vancouver Island in '61, & then crossed to the mainland, & we lost sight of him for many years until one of our cousins Sir A. Musgrave became Governor ofB. C. & he found him out, & sent him home but only to stay a few months, & then off again. So he really knew more of Canada & British North America than of England where, he said, "people lived in bandboxes "; & so you will see, it is well his remains should rest in the country he really preferred, & I shall indeed be thankful to hear that through your & Mr. Parke's great kindness they are then laid at rest & shall ever feel most grateful for all the friendly interest you have both taken about this. In one of the pamphlets you so kindly sent there is a photograph of the N. W. Mounted Police and I wonder if our cousin Granville Temple may be in the group, & whether you may ever meet him. He has been now four years in that force, having run through his fortune, & thus been obliged to leave the English Army, & take up duties in the Canadian D. Q. which seems to suit him, fortunately, & apparently he enjoys the rough life so we hope he will either continue in the force, or find some other opening in the colony, for truly there is none in England now. You will see that our family are great wanderers. One sister resides in Los Angeles, S. California, & another is Lady Superintendent of the English Hospital for the Malagasy at Antanamarico where she has been for nearly eight years, much loved by all her nurses and patients, but just now the French are 131 MR. BYAM'S BONES cutting off communication with Madagascar, & we have had no news from there for over six weeks, &feel very sorry for that poor Queen and her people, who have so little chance of resisting disciplined foreign troops, unless the Malagasy fever comes to their aid, as it did the last time the French tried to occupy the country, but that time they remained near the coast, where the swamps generated malaria and therefore now they intend to press on quickly to the capital, which stands very high, only they will have to make roads thereto, as at present there are none, & Europeans have, as yet, always been carried up the precipitous paths by bare footed natives in palanquins - an impossible thing to do with a number of troops or artillery either. But I am writing you a long letter! - & have not alluded to Mrs. Buckwell, but perhaps you may have heard ere this, that she returned to Canada in March or April - at least she intended to do so, when I saw her in February, and doubtless she is feeling warm now, for even here it has been oppressively hot for the last week, & coming suddenly after the bitter cold winds makes one feel it the more. But now I must say good-bye, & with very kindest regards to yourself & Mr. Parke remain Yours very sincerely, Agnes D Byam While I was working at the Vernon Museum, and on the very day in the fall of 1996 that I was transcribing the correspondence between the Parkes and Miss Byam, by an astonishing coincidence archivist Linda Wills received a letter from Eric Lawson, who owns Ship Research Services on Bowen Island. Enclosed was a copy of a prize-winning essay written by a 14-year-old Falkland Islands student, Andrea Poole, whose subject was the history of islands of Falkland Sound, in the South Atlantic. Her article appeared in the 1996 Falkland Islands Journal, and from it we learned that our Mr. Byam had been manager of Speedwell Island there before moving on to British Columbia—a wanderer indeed! Ms. Poole obviously knew all about the crumbling diary that Alice Parke had deciphered. She wrote From a crumbling and decayed memorandum book found in his coat pocket it was gathered that he was related to Agnes Byam... she was able to be informed of his death. 132 MR. BYAM'S BONES But how could Ms. Poole know all this? Was she a descendant of the Byam family? Was that old, crumbling memorandum book by any chance now located in the Falklands? Through Professor J. McAdam, of the University of Belfast in Northern Ireland, and the editor of the Falkland Islands Journal, I was able to contact the essay's author, and in June 1998, was finally able to solve the mystery. Ms. Poole is not a descendant of the Byam family with personal knowledge of the incident (as I had, somewhat romantically, imagined), nor is the original diary there. Instead, I learned from her that she, too, had read of Byam's death—in the pages of a Falkland Islands church magazine published in 1897, and she enclosed a copy of the article. It read, in part, "Miss Byam writes that about the end of November 1894, the postmaster of Cuckfield heard from Mr. Parke, postmaster of Vernon, British Columbia, that the skeleton of a man with a memorandum book in the coat pockets had been found in the mountains by a miner." So Miss Byam evidently conveyed the news of her brother's death to someone in the Falklands, and a hundred years later, with intriguing synchronicity, two people living in two widely separated countries, unknown to each other, wrote about that same long-forgotten man. Indeed, "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio ..." 133 NEW LIGHT ON THE 1909 OKANAGAN HOTEL FIRE By Pat Bayliss In the early hours of August 10,1909, Constable Bailey was standing in the doorway of the Majestic Cafe on Vernon's Barnard Avenue with the cafe's night manager, Lawrence King. A few minutes into their conversation Mr. King pointed out to the policeman that flames were coming from a building farther along the avenue. They were soon running to call the fire brigade to the Okanagan Hotel, a three-storey wooden building at Barnard Avenue and Vance Street, now 33rd Street. The firemen arrived quickly and rescued many of the hotel guests. Other townspeople were also involved in pushing ladders onto the burning building. The Okanagan's owners, the Sigalet family, were rescued by H. H. Deane, proprietor of Dreamland, the moving picture theatre in Vernon. C. C. McRae of the Royal Bank also gave life-saving aid at the scene. The hero of the Okanagan Hotel fire was a young Englishman named Archie Hickling, who occupied one of the rooms as a boarder. He, too, helped others to safety, despite the extreme hazard of doing so. He saw one of the young waitresses screaming for help from a third-floor window and exclaimed, "I'll get her out or I will die doing it." Archie did get the woman out and others helped her to street level. Unfortunately, Archie Hickling was overcome by the fire and died with 10 other men. The full magnitude of this terrible fire, which some felt at the time was not accidental, was not realized until daylight came. In the charred remains of the building the 11 victims were found, including the body of an unknown man who was thought to have been inebriated. Constable Bailey had found him asleep the night before on the sidewalk outside the hotel and had put him in the back hallway of the Okanagan. In addition to Hickling, other victims included Wilbur Smith, carpenter-foreman for W. E. Cryderman, James Anderson, who drove J. W Glover's bakery Pat Bayliss became interested in the Okanagan Hotel fire tragedy while indexing Vernon and Kamloops newspapers published between 1880 and 1923, a task she began 10 years ago as a Vernon centennial project. More often than not she can be found in the archival section of Vernon Museum compiling a data base of vital information such as births, marriages and deaths. 134 OKANAGAN HOTEL FIRE wagon, J. J. Funston, labourer; George Gannett and George McKay, both concrete workers, M. Chabrie, labourer, George Seltgast, painter, William Cook, prospector and ranch hand and Julius Fuerst, the hotel's bartender. Some of the men were local people, but most were transient and single. George Gannett and George McKay had arrived in the Vernon area from Calgary the day before the fire to work on the construction of the Catholic church. Seven of those rescued were in hospital: Patrick Hanna, Thomas Hall, Samuel Seal, Thomas Abbott, Robert Feathers, Michael Struger and William Nicholls. Mr. Nicholls was employed by the Crozier plumbing company. He was the father of Grace Nicholls, who still lives in Vernon. Three days after the fire, at Campbell Bros, funeral parlour, Dr. Osborne Morris, district coroner, enrolled as jury members for the inquest Messrs. C. C. McRae (foreman), J. Speer, W H. Smith, J. W. Glover, W. G. McKenzie, S. A. Shatford and J. C. Agnew. One recommendation brought up at the inquest was to employ night watch- (Pat Bayliss photograph) men or night clerks 135 OKANAGAN HOTEL FIRE at local hotels, especially ones that were overcrowded. Another thought was to disallow switching electric lights off in hotels at midnight. During the Okanagan Hotel fire guests were groping through hallways in darkness. It was also suggested that fire escapes and ropes from guest rooms be mandatory. During the inquest suspicions were raised that the fire was deliberately set by one Alex Smith and a $500 reward was offered by Vernon City Council for his capture. The Government of British Columbia added a further $500 reward money, but Smith was never found. The Okanagan Hotel was built in 1892 by Gideon Milligan. He sold it about 1907 to Messrs. Albers and Sigalet for $20,000. On the ground floor were H. P. Lee's real estate office and J. A. Stewart's barbershop. In early September 1909, N. Sommerville proposed to Vernon City Council that a public memorial be erected in honour of Archie Hickling. Council agreed with this suggestion and donated $300 to a public fund organized by the Vernon Board of Trade. Local citizens could donate to the fund a maximum of 50 cents each. By mid-December 1909, $521 had been raised and a granite memorial to Hickling was dedicated by Mayor Allen near City Hall. Almost three years later, much to the local people's horror, the Hickling memorial was removed to the Vernon cemetery. The Vernon News of the day condemned moving the memorial from public view, claiming all should remember Archie Hickling and the greatest loss of life to befall Vernon. Sometime in 1913, the memorial was placed in Poison Park at the 33rd Street entrance. FOOTNOTE: The Society has learned that Ms. Bayliss has taken it upon herself to commission a bronze plaque inscribed with the names of those known to have died in the Okanagan Hotel blaze. The 11 th man has never been identified. The plaque will be mounted on the Hickling memorial. 'Ģ<**" 136 THE CREMATION OF SAM MCGEE, OH REALLY! by David Gregory There are strange things done in the midnight sun By the men who moil for gold; The Arctic trails have their secret tales That would make your blood run cold; The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, But the queerest they ever did see Was the night on the marge of Lake Lebarge I cremated Sam McGee. These are the opening lines of Robert Service's poem The Cremation of Sam McGee, one of the most beloved and financially successful poems of the twentieth century. And it has an Okanagan connection. Robert Service was born on January 16, 1874, in Preston, Lancashire, England. At the age of 22 he left home and emigrated to Canada. He worked in various locations along the west coast of Canada and the United States. His first poem, titled The Song of a Wage-Slave, was published in a Los Angeles newspaper in 1898. In October 1903 Service was hired by the Victoria branch of the Canadian Bank of Commerce. One year later, his family left England and moved to Canada, eventually settling in Vegreville, Alberta. The Commerce transferred Robert Service to several B. C. communities including Kamloops and in the fall of 1904 he was posted to Whitehorse. There really was a Sam McGee as mentioned in the poem. He was born on August 28, 1868, in Fenelon Township, Victoria County, Ontario. The youngest of four brothers, McGee left home at age 15 and like Robert Service travelled to the West Coast and San Francisco. With the news of the Klondike gold rush, in 1898 Sam McGee headed to the Yukon. He owned a log cabin in Dawson City and worked primarily as a construction engineer building roads and bridges. David Gregory heads the Society's Historic Trails Committee and is a member of the Summerland Branch executive. 137 CREMATION OF SAM MCGEE Sam McGee and Ruth Warnes wedding portrait, 1901. In 1938 McGee wrote, "I went to the Yukon in the fall of 1898, and that winter freighted the steamer Glenar from the White Pass to the head of Lake Bennett. When we got through with that job we took horses to operate the tram road around Miles Canyon and White Horse Rapids on the Yukon River the summer of 1899. In July 1899,1 staked copper property some miles from White Horse Rapids." The following year McGee returned to Ontario upon learning of his mother's death. On June 5, 1901, while at home, he married 18-year-old Ruth Warnes (1882-1956) and left for Dawson City that same year. Sam continued with the development of the copper mine and acquired a partner, Robert Lowe, who would later become mayor of Whitehorse. There is some controversy as to the relationship between Robert Service and Sam McGee. Service wrote that he "only saw" Sam McGee once. He explained that while working at the Canadian Bank of Commerce in Whitehorse, "I happened to be turning over the bank ledger and I came across the name of Sam McGee, and it seemed a good name to use. It sounded well and it rhymed well." There is evidence to support this claim. An early draft of the poem (probably written in the fall of 1904) exists using a different name: Sam McKlot. Part of the draft follows. There are strange things done after half past one By the men who search for gold The arctic histories have their eerie mysteries That would make your feet go cold The Aurora Borealis has seen where Montreal is, But the queerest it ever spot Was the night on the periphery of Lake McKiflery I cremated Sam McKlot 138 CREMATION OF SAM MCGEE Sam McGee had a different explanation. He recalled in 1938 that Robert Service was "always looking for material to weave a story or poems as at that time he was writing in a small way as I was doing a lot of freighting across Lake LaBarge (McGee's spelling) in those days in the winter time, and, as there was a little steamer called the Alice May beached on an island in the center [of the lake] and as Service was always roving around in his spare time, he got this inspiration for the poem when he ran across this Alice May and myself freighting on the lake in the bitter cold weather." Whichever explanation is correct, the meeting of these two men produced two outcomes. Firstly, Robert Service included the poem about Sam McGee in his 1907 publication, Songs of a Sourdough, which became a best-seller. (Sourdough was a term used to describe a prospector or miner who had spent at least one year in the Yukon). The second consequence was that after Sam McGee realized his name was in Robert Service's poem, he transferred his bank account to the Bank of British North America! In 1909 Service resigned from his position at the Canadian Bank of Commerce. After visits to the family farm in Alberta and to a publisher in Toronto, by 1913 he was in Paris, France. With the exception of some holidays in British Columbia, Hollywood, and one visit to the Yukon, Robert Service spent the rest of his life on the Continent. He died in 1958. As for Sam McGee, he also left the Yukon in 1909 due to his wife's poor health. In 1910 he purchased 191.33 acres of orchard land in Summerland and one acre of residential property in Balcomo, a new townsite in Prairie Valley. His orchard was located in Paradise Flats (District Lots 1073 and 3194) located on the east side of Trout Creek canyon. The residential property was located at the most westerly portion of Prairie Valley (District Lot 474, Block 31, Lot 19) at the corner of present-day Dale Meadows Road and Lister Avenue. Ruth McGee had four sisters, two of whom, Ella (Nell) Warnes (1891-1942) and Mildred (1893-1981), moved to Summerland at about the same time as Sam and Ruth McGee. James Ritchie, the son of Summerland pioneer Will Ritchie, helped Sam McGee to get his land ready for fruit production. At that time the Summerland irrigation system had not extended fully to McGee's orchard, so he fabricated a pulley system that was able to draw water from Trout Creek. After only one year in Summerland the McGees sold their orchard to the Southern British Columbia Orchard Limited, which in turn sold it to the Okanagan Commercial Orchard Company. Today, McGee Street commemorates 139 CREMATION OF SAM MCGEE Summerland's tenuous connection with the celebrated Yukon char- RuthMcGet011 FlatS' Albem' W¬∞uldbe the new home of Sam and According to the Summerland Review (1942), Nellie Warnes TZt Jfk LfWlGr in,19U- JaGk Lawler Played an important role m the fruit packing industry in Summerland and Nellie was active in the local hospital and many sports clubs. Sister Mildred married James Ritchie on November 4, 1919, in Vernon and they eventually moved to Keremeos. Robert Service at his Dawson City cabin. (Yukon Archives/Gillis Collection) 140 MEMORIES OF THE S&O RAILWAY by Lois Roberts These are a few memories that my two sisters and I have of trains. Our parents, Kathy and George Halksworth, ran the store and post office in Grindrod so our lives revolved around the arrival and departure of the train making its daily run on the CPR's Shuswap & Okanagan branch line. Every morning at 11 and every evening at 7 the train had to be met. There were times during the winter that the train was late. The station had a small waiting room with an old stove, a bench and no lights, so the mail carrier spent many long hours in the dark waiting for the evening train. The carriers included most members of our family, starting with our grandfather, John Monk, our uncle Bill, his wife Nora, our dad and mother and my two sisters, Joan and Betty (I wasn't allowed). The only non- member of the family was William Folkard, a Boer War veteran. The most important part of the service was the locked bag that contained first class and Waiting for the train at Grindrod station, 1940s. Rear: Joan Halksworth, Alma Wolf, Betty Halksworth. Front: Edna (Eiko) Uyeda, Joyce (Kimiko) Uyeda, Lois Halksworth, May (Yoshiko) Uyeda, Bob Andersen. (Enderby Museum) registered mail. Betty remembers one morning when Dad discovered he had left the bag back at the post office, just as the train appeared in the distance. He dumped Betty very unceremoniously into the truck and drove like mad to get the bag. At this point he 141 John Monk & Son general store and post office, 1937. Operated from 1922-28 by John Monk; from 1928-68 by Kathleen and George Halksworth. (George Meeres photograph, Enderby Museum collection) jettisoned Betty out of the truck, grabbed the bag and headed for Enderby, as the train had already pulled away from Grindrod station. Somehow he managed to beat the train and handed the bag to the mailman. At that time the road wasn't paved and was washboard all the way, so this was quite a feat. The railway station was the gathering place for all the young people. We never seemed to tire of watching the old engine come puffing into the platform. There was usually a baggage car, the mail car, a couple of passenger cars and a freight car. Tuesday was pig and cattle day, so there were cars loaded with pigs and cows. You could not only see the train coming, you could smell it too. About twice a year the CPR superintendent would come through, so a special passenger [business] car was put on for that occasion. It had an observation platform on the back. I can remember going to Sicamous to see the King and Queen. They were riding in a car like that and they were standing on the observation platform giving us the royal wave. It was most interesting at night when we could look into the lighted coaches and see who was on board. It was like looking into another world. Entertainment was very limited in Grindrod. Sometimes we would go to the station early and read all the graffiti on the walls. We learned a few things our parents didn't appreciate. Betty and I spent a lot of time playing on the boxcars that were spotted on the siding. We would have conversations through the brake hoses and when we got home we'd have dirt around our ears and mouths. Betty was a bit of a daydreamer and she and Isabel Lowes would spend hours sitting on top of the cars speculat- 142 S&O RAILWAY ing about all the wonderful things they were going to do in their lives and how they were going to travel. They had a great view of Grindrod from that vantage point. Joan remembers one day when Roy Tomkinson fell out of a boxcar and landed on the ground between the car and the loading ramp. He lay on the ground, not moving, and some of us stood looking down at him until he could finally breathe again. He sat up and declared, "I'm dead!" Perhaps they should have given him C.P.R.! We remember the troop trains. They had a different whistle. When we heard that whistle down by the river bend the cry would go up, "Troop Train" and we'd all run to the station to wave to the soldiers. It made our day when they would lean out the windows and whistle and yell, "hubba hubba" at us. Betty and I always hoped it was us they were whistling at, but I was only eight or nine and Betty was very shy and hid behind the station most times, so I guess it was our beautiful blond sister Joan who caught their attention. One evening a bunch of young people were waiting for the evening train when we spotted two tiny children walking down the middle of the track with a train approaching right behind them. Thank goodness Louise Hyam raced down the track and snatched them off just in time. Their mother had been running toward them too, so Louise handed them over to her and she promptly administered a spanking. I suppose some psychologist today would declare that she had scarred them emotionally and physically for life, but I'm sure they never walked on the tracks again. Another exciting event was when the passenger train derailed at Grindrod station. Of course, all the passengers got off and wandered around Grindrod while a work train was sent to right the engine. It took quite awhile, so when they finally got on their way one group of ladies had wandered a bit too far and the train left without them. But Domonic Miletto came to their rescue and drove them to Enderby to catch the train. It must have been quite a ride because Domonic always drove with the windows down and his head stuck out the side. He didn't seem to like looking through the windshield. We remember a car being hit at the crossing. The engineer blew the whistle over and over again—a long, mournful sound. It was the distress call. I'm not quite sure the purpose of it except anyone within earshot knew there was trouble on the line. On one occasion we can remember the evening train being met by a grave group of people. When it came to a stop a coffin was taken out of the baggage car and loaded onto a waiting truck; I believe it was one of the Mikalishen boys. 143 S&O RAILWAY There were quite a few happier occasions when newlyweds boarded the train to start their honeymoons. There was much merriment then. Our parents were one of those couples. Of course, we weren't there, but we have a newspaper clipping stating that"... after the wedding supper the bride and groom left for a short honeymoon to Vancouver ... To the accompaniment of jubilant whistling by the passenger engine the couple were given a great send off by their friends and relatives as well as by the train crew on the main line as Mr. Halksworth was an employee of the CPR. It is reported he is still shedding confetti." We had to meet the train even on Christmas day. On that special day Grandmother always baked a batch of mince tarts for the crew. They looked forward to them every year. One of the very convenient things was that you could order a roast from the butchers in Enderby and it would be on the evening train. You could send a letter on the morning train to Vernon and receive a reply on the evening run. All our supplies for the store were delivered to the station either by the passenger train or by freight. In those days things could be left on the station platform and nothing was ever stolen. Saturday night you could always expect the train crew to be very merry on their way back to Sicamous. The town drunk always fell off that train and spent the night in a ditch. Bill Bailey, who finally married our beautiful blond sister, remembers when in winter he and his brother Alan would grab the last car of the train and ride it as far as the crossing, then jump off and slide down the road on the ice. We were very skilled at walking on the rails and putting pennies and nails on the tracks to be flattened. I was surprised to learn from an engineer last summer that you can feel those pennies on the big diesels of today. Sometimes if there was trouble on the main line, the trains would be rerouted on the S&O branch. They were never sure of the condition of the rails and track so they would just creep along. During the Depression our grandmother told us of the hobos who rode the rails. They were just poor fellows looking for work and were usually very hungry. When they came begging at the door, Grandmother would put them to work chopping wood while she cooked them a nourishing meal. I can't remember the date when the first diesel came through, but I can remember my dad always sat at the dinner table with the newspaper propped up in front of him. On that day, when the first diesel blew its horn at the crossing, Dad dropped the paper and stood bolt upright. I can remember what he said, too: "What the hell is that?" 144 THE END OF PENTICTON'S ROMANCE WITH THE PASSENGER TRAIN By Mollie Broderick Eighty-four years ago the first passenger train steamed into Penticton station on the Okanagan lakeshore over the Kettle Valley Railway (KVR) and caused a stir of excitement not seen before. Ladies in billowing skirts and fashionable hats, gentlemen in top hats and "tails," children in varying garb, working men in overalls, and women leaving their washtubs to wave from screened porches were all out to greet the long-awaited arrival of the first passenger train with its luxurious first-class sleepers and day coaches. There was excitement, hope and jubilance. It signalled a challenging and romantic era in transportation. Passenger business flourished. Eastbound and westbound- Vancouver to Medicine Hat—through the scenic Coquihalla Pass with its many tunnels, steep grades, deep gorges and often treacherous winter snows. Through the Similkameen and Okanagan Valleys, over to the Kootenays and on through the Crowsnest Pass to make connection with Canadian Pacific's main line. Over the years traffic increased until a further daylight run was added, making the number of passenger trains in and out of Penticton each day grow to four. At one time there were 11 crews based on the Penticton terminal, working both freight and passenger services. However, it was not to last. Eventually, improved highways, private cars, bus service and even faster service by plane spelled the demise of Kettle Valley passenger trains. When the end came all that was left was a single dayliner Budd car. Engineer Joe Collett, Mollie Broderick lives in Okanagan Falls. A Life Member from Penticton Branch, she continues to serve on the parent body executive and was instrumental in getting Okanagan History into talking-book form. Her husband, George, died on Labour Day 1990 at the age of 86, after having had a 40-year connection with the KVR. 145 ROMANCE WITH THE PASSENGER TRAIN trainman Joe Bennett and conductor George Broderick (Geordie) and crew hauled the last load of ore out of Copper Mountain in 1957. Collett, Broderick and Bennett were also on the last Budd car into Penticton when the service closed on January 17, 1964. The line from Penticton to Midway was then put under the control of Nelson; that from Penticton to Brookmere came under Vancouver, and the Penticton yard and the south run to Osoyoos were operated from Revelstoke. Almost 20 years pass and it is May 1983. The wail of a whistle—of necessity from a diesel unit, for there are no more water towers or coal chutes to provision steam engines—is heard from a real passenger train! The Okanagan Express, brought in to celebrate Penticton's 75th anniversary, featured first-class coaches with plush CP engine 5178 leads passenger train at Penticton's lakeshore station in the 1930s. (Photograph courtesy Doug Cox) seats, club car with open observation deck, day coaches with wooden-slat seats and iron arm rests, all rolling majestically behind two engines down the West Bench tracks and into Penticton station. Shades of the past. A stir of excitement once again buzzes around the old railway station on Hastings Avenue. As of yore, ladies in flowing skirts and fashionable hats, gentlemen in top hats and tails, children, workmen and housewives are all out to wave welcome to 370 travel-weary but happy passengers. On May 22, 1983, a day trip was scheduled to Princeton and return for lucky ticket holders. How can one adequately describe and so share with others the joy and exhilaration of having—even for one short day—something we felt sure we would never experi- 146 ROMANCE WITH THE PASSENGER TRAIN ence again? A trip by PASSENGER TRAIN on Kettle Valley rails! What to wear? Period costume, of course. And for Geordie, one more chance to don his conductor's uniform, still pressed and stored for posterity. The day dawned clear and bright. Departure was at 9 a.m. Our family arrived with a boutonniere for Geordie and corsage for me, together with money for our tickets on this our wedding anniversary. What a wonderful way to celebrate. We From the annals of the Kettle Valley Railway Employee roster on the initial runs —First train from Midway to Penticton, May 31, 1915: Conductor, J. H. Henry; brakemen, Angus Campbell, C. A. Yule; engineer, W. L. Nott; fireman, P. Weir; baggageman, D.A. McLean. First train from Merritt to Penticton, May 31, 1915: Conductor, G. M. Thom; brakemen, J. G. Ferguson, L. B. McNully; engineer, Sid Cornock; fireman, W. H. Stevenson; baggageman, J. R. Donaldson. The first ticket bought on the KVR out of Penticton, No. 0, was sold to T. McKenzie of the Canadian Consolidated Rubber Co. It was from Penticton to Princeton. waved farewell at the station while greeting old friends as they boarded. As the train rolled over the beauteous sun-drenched countryside, lush and green from spring rains, we listened to the old familiar sound of steel wheels pounding out the rhythmic click, click, clack. People waved from every porch, trail, fence rail and car top. There was laughter and happiness. Our train climbed high above Okanagan Lake, leaving Penticton receding into the background. We crossed the famous high trestle over Trout Creek Canyon at Winslow, then entered the pine-covered hills where sunflowers bloomed in profusion. Up, up through Faulder, Crump, Kirton, Altamont and Thirsk to the wild welcome of a crowd at Osprey lake. Then the summit, where we enjoyed a 15-minute stop. "All aboard" called conductor Cable Freeman, and we were on our way once more. But no. Two blasts on the whistle signalled a halt and tail-end trainman Dave Coates was obliged to let two youths disembark with a shout of mischievous delight. They had somehow managed to board and evade detection by our watchful crew for those first few moments. One crew member was heard to say: "I wonder if they realize that stop cost us at least fifty dollars." 147 ROMANCE WITH THE PASSENGER TRAIN On our way again, now into the beautiful open range country of Jellicoe, Erris, Jura and Belfort, where we saw the prize Herefords on the lush pastures of Wayne and Freda Sellers's Cross L Ranch. As our train wound its way through the Jura Loops (Andrew McCulloch's skilful solution to maintaining the 2.2 percent grade down to Princeton) we could see in the hazy distance the snow-clad peaks of Three Brothers Mountains and the Valley of the One Mile, once my home, to the north. Memories and scenery that defies description for such as I. A stop and lunch break at Princeton for passengers and crew, where more old friends and citizens of the town were out to greet us. Then promptly at fourteen o'clock we head back to Penticton. Settling down a bit now, we were able to catch up on some reminiscing. . . Ruth Rice, whose husband was a KVR engineer, showed us a spot just before Osprey Lake where her family used to camp. "We used to load our camping gear on No. 12, climb aboard and the engineer would slow right down at Osprey to allow us to get off the train for a happy holiday." At Jura the Sellers family waited at the fence line to greet us and the crew agreed to a short stop. Trainman and conductor Joe Collett pointed to a spot below the track. "There's a patch of rhubarb down there some place that fed me and my family for years. When we had a stop here, I always gathered an armful." It might still be growing there. Joe, the only surviving KVR man holding a gold pass awarded for 50 or more years' service, also recalled a time when his father had a homestead near Jura. "I worked with him on that homestead for a couple of years, then lit out in 1916, looking for ajob. I ended up in lake service on CPR boats, then went firing on the KVR." "Tubby" Moore, who made his first pay trip with conductor George Broderick, recalled a time when grasshoppers were so thick on the rails they were like grease and almost stopped a freight on Jura Hill. "I was firing for Frank Williams and "Fat" Nagle was con- "Okanagan Express" at Jura Loops on special run in 1983. (Courtesy Mollie Broderick) 148 ROMANCE WITH THE PASSENGER TRAIN First Engine Arrives In Penticton The Clang Of The Bell And The Sound Of The Whistle Is Heard At Last MRS. WARREN PULLS FIRST BELL Locomotive Will Be Used For Conveyance of Material lb Construct K. V. Ry. The clang of a bell on Saturday evening caused alarm to many, whose first thoughts were of fire, but gladsome tidings met those who turned out to discover the reason for the clamour and the whistle. The first locomotive engine that has ever appeared in Penticton awoke echoes from the surrounding hills. Of course it was not a passenger train, it is only for the purpose of moving and shunting freight and will be used to draw material for building the Kettle Valley from the wharf, as construction proceeds east and west of the town. The engine which has been shipped in from Midway, was brought down from the Landing by the Castlegar, along with 16 carloads of First locomotive arrives at Penticton October 26, 1912. 149 ROMANCE WITH THE PASSENGER TRAIN steel and building material. Under her own steam she left the barge. On landing she was boarded by Mrs. J. J. Warren, who blew the first whistle and rang the bell. On board the engine and caboose were also Miss Lorna Warren, Masters Jeffery and Fred Warren, Miss Bach, Mrs. Kirkpatrick, Miss Kierstead, Mr. C. Gordon, Mr. Graham, Mr. C. Morgan, Mr. Robin Hood, Master D. Estabrook and H. Carr. With engineer George Nadon in charge of the lever the party took a trip over the line as far as the Hotel Incola. The engine has been busy all week shunting and has been an object of curiosity to the townspeople. Singular as it may seem, several people in the district had never seen an engine in their lives before and one man who stood contemplating the new arrival, said he had not seen one for twenty years. With construction proceeding at full speed, Penticton appears to be at the end of the long wait for adequate transportation facilities. (Penticton Herald, November 2, 1912) ductor. When she started to slip we cut off five cars, wiped the rails with waste, threw on a little sand and finally got moving. We made a drop at Jura and backed down for the rest of the cars." George Broderick recalled that on Labour Day 1926 he was called to deal with a wreck in which Bob Marks, an engineer, had been killed when the ore and fertilizer freight he was driving left the rails in the Coquihalla section. When he arrived at the scene, George found that his brother-in-law, Ray Letts, had jumped from the runaway train to safety. Geordie was hired as a wiper in 1929, which meant that he had to rid the engine of the coating of coal and oil picked up during a run. He also remembered cooking some of his meals on a shovel held over the hot coals of the engine firebox. A man of quiet humour and honest stories, Geordie told of "call-outs" at any time, day or night, in all kinds of weather from the very warm to a freezing 30-below, and the big snow of January 1935 when his crew was caught between slides after a bridge west of Princeton went out. Over seven feet of snow had fallen, leaving nothing moving. Eventually, they broke into a supply car for food, then walked out to Brookmere. 150 ROMANCE WITH THE PASSENGER TRAIN Will Cut the First Sod for the Kettle River Valley Railway Dominion Day 9.30 Fixed For The Ceremony Reeve E. Foley-Bennett Requested by President J. J. Warren to Perform the Historic Function — Spot Selected is Yard Site on the Meadows Near New Mill. The arrival of Chief Engineer A. McCulloch of the Kettle River Valley Railway, in town Wednesday, gave rise to various rumours with respect to the probable date when the first sod will be cut. All doubt was set at rest on Thursday morning, when Reeve E. Foley- Bennett received the following communication from the president of the company, Mr. J.J. Warren. (Penticton Herald, June 1, 1911) Penticton, June 28th, 1911. Dear Mr. Bennett: While we technically started construction under the agreement with the municipality when we began work on the dock, etc., we have not yet turned the first sod in connection with the construction of the railway. It would please me very much if you would attend at the yard Turning the first sod for the KVR, Penticton, July 1, 1911. Inaugural passenger run to Penticton, May 31, 1915. 151 ROMANCE WITH THE PASSENGER TRAIN site of the railway on Saturday, July 1st, and turn the first sod. I am glad that the day is so appropriate for the occasion. Yours very truly, JAMES J. WARREN, President. (Penticton Herald, June 1, 1911) E. Foley-Bennett, Esq., Penticton, B. C. The historic event will take place at 9:30 in the morning, so that the Domion Day sports will not he interfered with. The site is about five minutes' walk from the race track. Mr. McCulloch has brought his gang of surveyors from Kelowna, where their headquarters have been, and it is understood that Penticton will be made the center from which all surveying for the track ivill be carried o|| in the future. \ Kettle Valley Railway yards, Penticton, 1912-1913. (All Penticton KVR photographs and research courtesy Claud Hammell) The crew and popular conductor Cable Freeman, who always wore a smile and had a cheerful word for all, were joined for this special trip by Barrie Sanford (who had arranged it all) and with his assistant Terry Ferguson was supervising the run. Tail-end brakeman, congenial Dave Coates with neatly trimmed red hair showing under his cap, was as pleasant as he was handsome in his pressed navy uniform. Young Bob Hanes, on head-end, looked smart and obliging. Our engineers, Gary Kirkham and Bob Hanson, provided a safe, enjoyable and smooth ride—no jerky starts, nor rough stops. It was a great day, a nostalgic day and a wonderful trip for us all. Memories are made of such as this. 152 ONTARIO JOURNALS REVEAL MORE ABOUT THE "TERRIBLE- TEMPERED MR. IRWIN" By Joan Adams A case of an extraordinary coincidence has projected new light on Joseph Irwin, the divisive school principal whose meddling and strictness in the classroom absorbed the fledgling community of Salmon Arm in 1895. The following was submitted by Joan Adams of Kelowna, a former teacher herself, who, as it turns out, has a tenuous connection to the Irwin story that reaches hack 125 years. And, as will be seen below, it seems Irwin's teaching decorum was plainly evident from the beginning of his career. — Ed. Recently I went to the Kelowna naturalists' banquet. I have never won anything in my life, but that night I got one of the door prizes—a number pulled out of a hat. It was Number 62 Okanagan History. The first article I came upon was "Just or Unjust? The 1895 Dismissal of School Principal Joseph Irwin." I couldn't believe my eyes, for the name Joseph Irwin was very familiar. When my grandmother (Mrs. H. H. Miller) died in 1946 in Kelowna, a tin box of hers ended up in one of our cupboards. In the box was my grandmother's journal, set down when she was Mary Ellen "Nellie" Armstrong. The entries are recorded in six half-scribblers with black ink, sometimes illegible, faded, erased and torn. The dates were between January 1875 and December 1878. The first entry was made January 5, 1875, at Brook Farm, Blanchard, Ontario. Relatives from Ontario visited us in 1984 and one of them offered to transcribe the journals. The typewritten result is about 11/2 inches thick and covers a goodly portion of Nellie Armstrong's life in great detail. She was 16 years old in 1875, attending Science Hill Academy, a one-room school, and thinking of becoming a teacher. On February 2, 1876, she wrote: "I have been so busy since school started. I don't like our new teacher Mr. Irwin very well. He's pretty cross and whips a good deal, but it isn't for that exactly. 153 TERRIBLE TEMPERED MR. IRWIN" He isn't a bit agreeable. We have started Euclid again. At the first, none of us have books and we all study out of Joe's—Mr. Irwin I mean." And again, "Mr. Irwin threatened to send me home on Friday. The circumstances was (sic) this. I was parsing a word, it was "youth" in Bell's Mary Queen of Scots. "She thought of all her blighted hope—she dreams of youth's brief day." I first called it a common noun and then an abstract noun. When I had finished he asked me which it was. I Joseph Irwin. said "Abstract." He then said it was not abstract but common. I said in an undertone that I could not see that it was, he asked me if I said anything. I did not answer, he then asked me again and I said yes. He asked me what I said. I did not tell him. He then said he would not have anybody there that wanted to have their own way, and of course I did not relish being sent home, so I replied "I said I did not think it was common, that's all." He said anybody would think so that knew anything about it... " And again, "They have re-engaged Joe Irwin at an advanced salary. I think it's a shame. He kept the boys in after school for calling him names. One boy was asked what BB.I. stood for. Big Buck was the reply. Another said T stands for Irwin. He said he would expel them if he ever heard it again." There are several other references to J. Irwin, but then Mary Ellen Armstrong becomes a teacher and continues about her life as a country school marm in a Catholic (German and Irish) community called Gad's Hill. Not a great deal more on Irwin is found in the ensuing pages, except that much later she confides she would like to "study philosophy and grammar for three weeks with Mr. Irwin!! (in the summer)." Finally, there is an entry mentioning that he is leaving the area. As for Mary Ellen Armstrong's journal, it ends when she marries a local young man, Henry Miller, and moves to Hanover, Ontario. Miller later became an MP for Grey County under Sir Wilfred Laurier. And so the unsophisticated country girl finally stops writing in her diary. 154 TERRIBLE TEMPERED MR. IRWIN" Yvonne Sturhahn's dissertation on the controversy surrounding Joseph Irwin provoked interest among many Okanagan History readers, leading to further details about the peripatetic educator's career. For example, while researching the files of The Vernon News, a member of the OHS found that on January 26,1899 it was reported: "Public school at Short's [sic] Point has again been opened, with J. Irwin formerly of Salmon Arm, as teacher." iDers A RICH and FRUITFUL LAND: The HISTORY of the VALLEYS of the OKANAGAN, SIMILKAMEEN and SHUSWAP. By Jean Webber. Jointly published by Okanagan Historical Society and Harbour Publishing. The Society celebrates 75 years of compiling history with this sweeping anthology inspired by stories from its annual Reports. $35.95. Available through the OHS treasurer, Box 313, Vernon, B. C, V1T 6M3. OUR FAIR—The First 100 Years of the Interior Provincial Exhibition: By Shirley Campbell. Researched and published by Armstrong Spallumcheen Museum & Arts Society, this is the definitive record of an agricultural showplace known to generations as the Armstrong Fair. 174 pages containing more than 200 photographs. $20.00, plus shipping and handling. Available from the publisher, c/o Box 308, Armstrong, VOE 1B0, telephone (250) 546-9416. ACCORDING to the GIANT: By Sherril Foster. A spirited history of Summerland and the Okanagan Valley. The book also includes vintage photographs from the archives of the Summerland Museum and a listing of all Summerland streets with information about those pioneer families after whom they were named. $19.95 (add $3.80 for mailing). Available from the publisher, Okanagan Annie Productions, Box 1343, Summerland, V0H 1Z0, telephone (250) 494-1742. REVELSTOKE - HISTORY and HERITAGE: By Ruby M. Nobbs. Revelstoke's pre-eminent historian deals with all aspects of the rail centre's development, beginning with the early exploration and fur trade, Big Bend gold rush, construction of the CPR and the development of Revelstoke as a city. This hard-cover edition contains more than 350 photographs. $39.95 (add $5 for mailing). Available from Revelstoke Museum and Archives, 315 First Street West, or write Box 1908, Revelstoke, VOE 2S0. 155 SUE LEE PING WONG By Tun Wong My mother, Sue Lee Ping Wong, was born October 10, 1911, in the village of Ging Hong in the district of Gin Ning, Canton, China. She died in Kelowna November 11, 1997. Her mother thought there were better opportunities in Canada, so at the age of seven Sue Lee Ping arrived in Vancouver with an aunt. The aunt became seriously ill shortly after and returned to China, leaving her niece with the family of Wing Sang, with whom she would fill the role of a child servant for many offspring. The young Sue Lee Ping was never given the chance to have an education. About 1930, in an arranged marriage, she wed a successful merchant, Wong Bat, who owned and operated a general store in Kelowna. He was 24 years her senior and she was one of a very few—maybe the only—Chinese woman in the Okanagan city at that time. They had two daughters before Wong Bat was robbed and murdered on November 1, 1932. The crime remains unsolved. Since she had no understanding of her late husband's business and no knowledge of English, Sue Lee Ping did not know how to handle her husband's estate, which was believed to be substantial. Unscrupulous individuals she trusted Sue Lee Wong, 1980. Tun Wong was born and raised in Kelowna. He became a chartered accountant and is now employed by the City of Kelowna as Special Project Manager. 156 SUE LEE PING WONG stole the assets, and eventually the property on the south side of Harvey Avenue between Abbott and Water Streets was lost for nonpayment of taxes. One cannot comprehend how the young widow carried on for the next five years, caring for and raising her two daughters in a foreign setting, with no grasp of the language, no means of earning an income, no education, and often being subjected to racial discrimination. It is believed the Chinese community lent assistance, but she would never talk about this; it was probably a period in her life that she wished to forget. On June 26, 1937, she married Wong Ying, who had entered Canada at Vancouver, then journeyed to Montreal and San Francisco, before ending up in Kelowna in 1936 or early 1937. He, too, was reluctant to talk of his past. He was 15 years older than Sue Lee Ping and over the next 14 years she bore him nine children- five sons and four daughters. Wong Ying earned a living by working in orchards and on farms in the area. He also operated a restaurant on two occasions. Beginning in 1937, the family lived in what was termed Kelowna's Chinatown at 245 Leon Avenue. The original house contained about 700 square feet, with a living room, bedroom, bathroom and kitchen. Yes, all 13 members of the family slept in that single bedroom, which was wall-to-wall beds. A few years later another room of approximately 200 square feet was added, containing a wood-heated wok and deep fryer, a large granite millstone and a sink measuring three by eight feet. More about this room later. A midwife delivered Sue Lee's first two children. Her husband, Wong Ying, assisted in the births of the last nine at home. When it was time to deliver a new baby, all the kids were told to leave the bedroom and a gold drape was drawn across the doorway. Wong Ying would boil water on the wood stove and rush back to the delivery room with a steaming pan. Later, he came out and told the other children they had a new brother or sister. When she was asked why she didn't go to the hospital and have a doctor perform the deliveries, Sue Lee said with a shrug that she couldn't afford it, and that giving birth really wasn't any big deal. Wong Ying died on September 25, 1960, leaving seven children who had not yet completed Grade 12. Mrs. Wong, ever mindful of the advantages an education could bring, made it clear to her brood that they had to at least attain high school graduation. After that they could find work and contribute financially to the upkeep of their brothers and sisters. Of course, it would have been a lot easier for Mother to have the older ones quit school and get ajob; it 157 SUE LEE PING WONG was quite acceptable in those days. But she wouldn't hear of it. In fact, she encouraged her children to continue their education beyond high school, always believing more learning was beneficial. Sue Lee Wong promised her second husband that she would take care of his orphaned grandson in Hong Kong, a descendant from a previous marriage and the sole relative left in China. Before Wong Ying passed away, he was able to get his grandson off the mainland and into the home of friends in Hong Kong. Wong Ying's widow kept her promise, ensuring that her step-grandson got an education and learned a trade. She finally met her adoptee in November 1990 when she flew to Hong Kong. He had become a tailor, using a sewing machine purchased with money sent by Mrs. Wong more than 30 years previously. When she visited his home he proudly showed her the machine that had enabled him to make his way and raise three children. After Wong Ying's death, Mrs. Wong supported her family by making and selling tofu long before it became a popular "yuppie" food. She would sometimes rise at four or five a.m. to begin grinding the soya beans, the first step in a long and physically-demanding process that required about two hours to make eight dozen tofu. In particular, one of the final chores was to squeeze the liquid from the bean curd. To do this, she had to lift a 30-pound rock set in a wooden box and place it onto racks containing the bean curd. It meant extending one's arms to their fullest length, then leaning forward to gently deposit it on a plank pressing down on the curd. This, by a woman slightly over five feet in height! Sometimes it would take her all day and into the evening to make enough tofu to satisfy the demand. However, she always found time to do all the household chores and tend to her family's needs. An average day saw her make meals for 12 people, nurse her children when they were sick, listen to their problems, give advice, prepare individual meals for anyone who had to get away early for extra-curricular activities, do the laundry and tend a large vegetable garden; and the list goes on. One of her largest customers was the Goon Hong restaurant in Vernon, which was good for 24 to 30 dozen tofu cakes a week. Delivery was by RCMP highway patrol, no less. A certain constable would come to her back gate in Chinatown in his cruiser, and pails containing eight dozen tofu each would be loaded in the trunk for the duty run to Vernon. The constable was the only RCMP officer trusted and respected by the Chinese community in Kelowna at that time. Kelowna citizens of Japanese ancestry also found Mrs. Wong's tofu to their liking. 158 SUE LEE PING WONG When the house on Leon Avenue was sold, the prized grindstone, imported from China, was donated to the Kelowna Centennial Museum. A curator from London, who specializes in grinding stones, a few years ago pronounced it to be in the finest condition of any he had seen world-wide. He was very envious of the Kelowna museum having it in its collection. Sue Lee Wong was a compassionate and generous person. She always felt sorry for the Japanese people living in Kelowna during World War II who were restricted in what they did and bought. When it was possible to do so, she would obtain forbidden items for her Japanese friends. As poor as she was, Mother could not turn away anyone in need. In her possessions was a little book in which she recorded small loans to needy people. Needless to say, most were never paid. A few years ago she mentioned with pride how an elderly Japanese man tracked her down to repay a loan she had given him over 40 years ago. He said he was going back to Japan to spend his last days and wanted to clear his conscience before he left. Mother used to tell us not to participate in sports, because if we got hurt she couldn't afford the medical expense. But her children were like any others—they disobeyed her and took part in sports. They thought they were invincible and would never get hurt, but they suffered the usual cuts, bruises and sprains. We tried to hide them from her, not because we were brave, but to avoid her home remedies. The treatments were usually more painful than the injury itself and were not the most pleasant-smelling. The foulest had to be her fried hair and vinegar ointment. For sprains she had a potion called "Het Dai Oin," which was comprised of shavings from a secret solid wrapped in wax and mixed with gin or rye whisky. She would strenuously massage this potion on the sprained area. As the patient screamed with pain, she smiled and said "the more it hurts, the better it is for you." We always thought it was her way of getting even with us for disobeying orders. However, the treatments worked. She was always friendly and welcomed her children's pals into her home, invariably extending an invitation to stay for lunch and/or supper. They always remember her as the tiny, happy lady who smiled and laughed a lot even though she spoke little English. We always suspected that she understood more English than they gave her credit for, as somehow she was always able to communicate with non-Chinese-speaking people, including her in-laws and grandchildren. 159 SUE LEE PING WONG Though she had no formal training or any normal upbringing, she seemed blessed with the ability to determine proper values and conduct and to be able to communicate those attributes to her children. To them, her word was law and worthy of the utmost respect and trust. A major principle she instilled in us all was the strength and unity of the family unit; all members were to stay in touch and assist one another when required to do so. She was a wonderful cook. She had no written recipes and rarely measured. She used ingredients that were considered garbage at the time and which today command premium prices. Felix Sutton and John Arthur of Sutton's Meat Market on Bernard Avenue were always very generous. They bestowed free of charge soup bones, turkey and chicken feet, fish heads, tails and fins, which became delicious meals when combined with vegetables from her garden. She also raised her own chickens, pigeons and occasionally ducks, geese and turkeys. She was always happiest when her children and their families were around. Maybe she was reflecting her triumph over all the hardships and challenges she faced for so long and pride at accomplishing goals she had set many years ago. She was content to be rewarded with the same trust and love from her family that she had so generously given to them. 160 THE GIBBARD GARDENS By Vi Gibbard as told to Fern Gibbard Daffodil garden eventually grew more than 43,000 blossoms. In 1954 Les and Violet Gibbard bought 23 acres of wild land below Arawana Station on the Kettle Valley Railway m Naramata. Working evenings and weekends, they finished their new home by November 1956 and moved away from Penticton. Violet Gibbard had gardening in her blood. Her grandfather Hoskins had been a gardener in Kew Gardens, England before emigrating to Canada, where he became head gardener at the girls reformatory in New Westminster. "Nice grounds" were a high priority for government institutions in those days. Thomas Hoskins passed his love of gardening on to his daughter Florence McLean, Fern Gibbard is married to Bob Gibbard, younger son of Les and Violet. She retired in 1998 after 23 years as RN at Penticton & District Retirement Centre Bo n in Penticton, she is the daughter of Emil Morgenstern, who arrived in 926 to operate an orchard on Middle Bench and Tupper Roads. Her mother, Lois Bhnco Morgenstern (nee Dye) came as a child to Cawston m 1919. 161 THE GIBBARD GARDENS and Violet, while still a girl, gardened with her mother. When Violet McLean married Les Gibbard in 1930 and moved to Penticton, she brought along her zest for growing things. Violet and Les bought a lot "away out of town" at 511 Braid Street (now in the middle of the city) and started to build. During this time they rented a small house next door and almost immediately Les had his vegetable garden outback and Violet had planted a narrow bed of flowers along the front fence and down each side of the lot. After their house was completed, gardening began in earnest. Returning from visits to her family at the Coast, Violet brought many plants and shrubs to her Penticton garden, including descendants of wild English cowslips from Grandfather Hoskins's garden. Now, 26 years later on Arawana Road, she was again faced with starting a garden where little but weeds and pine trees grew. The Gibbards' famous daffodil displays started with a total failure. One hundred daffodil bulbs were planted in the fall of 1955; but without water, they were all dead by the following spring. Lack of water was a constant problem requiring innovative solutions. At first there was only a well and Violet's dream for a garden of tulips and daffodils. She planted a few small beds of tulips and daffodils and transplanted a few other plants from her garden in Penticton, including some other grandfather's cowslips. She irrigated these pockets with used laundry and dish water and cut the weeds with a scythe. Deer, gophers, voles, chipmunks and squirrels feasted on the tulips, but ignored the daffodils, which are poisonous in all their parts. The native grass returned between the planted sections and made green areas. Violet also planted native shrubs such as flowering currant, vine maple and saskatoon, hoping they would grow without water. The daffodils multiplied, the transplants survived, more garden pockets were developed and the "lawn" of native green grass, which followed the natural contour of the land between the pocket gardens, increased in size. By now the Gibbards had a cistern that was filled once a year by the Naramata Irrigation District. Flood rights on Arawana Creek gave them water during the spring and sometimes as late as July or early August, at which time they would start using water from the cistern, for Les also had a vegetable garden that needed watering. It was then that Les and Violet began collecting flat rocks to build walls between the various levels of their garden. They gathered these rocks from the McMannus orchard across the road and also spent many weekends scouring the Kettle Valley Railway right- of-way. Les moved the large base rocks into place in the evenings and Violet took over from there during the day while her husband was at work. 162 THE GIBBARD GARDENS Meanwhile, they had been clearing and burning brush on the north end of their property when they discovered beautiful native plants such as lady slipper and blue-eyed grass growing among the weeds and dead brush. They experimented with pool- building to add to the natural look of the grove of poplars growing there. At last a domestic water connection allowed them to expand the gardens around the house. Daffodils had always thrived and multiplied in their garden and Violet began to order bulbs from an Ontario firm. Choosing from dozens of available strains, Violet was laying the foundation for a daffodil garden that several years ago numbered 83 named varieties and more than 43,000 blossoms, which continue to multiply. Les retired from the firm of Cooper and Gibbard Electric in 1970 and the Gibbard Gardens came into their own. The lawns increased to such a size that a ride-on lawn mower was required. Les had a penchant for roses and several beds of these were added. A profusion of azaleas and rhododendrons joined the few that had been transplanted from Braid Street, or bought as unnamed seedlings. A rock garden ran down the slope from the house to Arawana Road. The vegetable plot was moved away from the house and peonies and daffodils took its place. Gems such as wild ginger, dog tooth violets and jack-in-the-pulpit could be found growing under dogwood, magnolia, cascara and chestnut trees, and under shrubs such as beauty bush, snowball, weigela, tamarisk and smoke tree. Christmas roses, jasmine and early spring bulbs competed with the last of the winter snows. Lilies, heathers, iris and other perennials as well as climbers such as clematis and trumpet vine added their colour to this informal country garden. The outer edges were planted with evergreens, mostly grown from seed. North of the house is a highly-prized unique golden flecked cedar, which was given to Violet as a seedling by a family friend. The parent tree was the only known golden flecked cedar growing in Vancouver. In 1967 a wandering peacock adopted the Gibbards, and for 17 years this setting was home to him and his descendants. Their beautiful plumage was an added attraction for visitors to the Gibbards' garden. Less spectacular, but just as appreciated, are all the native birds, either in their own nests or in one of the 83 boxes that Les erected. Violet has been an avid birder since the 1940s when she began to contribute nest record cards to the University of British Columbia. She co-ordinated the Nest Record Scheme for 23 years, and many of the contributors have visited their earden. 163 THE GIBBARD GARDENS Family, friends and even total strangers began to ask, "Why don't you open your gardens to the public so other people can see your beautiful daffodils?" The first opening, minus Violet who was undergoing tests in the Kelowna hospital, was a fundraising tea held by the South Okanagan Naturalists Club in 1982. Since then, with support from their two sons and their families, the Gibbards have opened their floral display to the public for three Sunday afternoons in late April and early May. Donations received during the first few years following the naturalist club tea were given to the March of Dimes and to the CKOK Radio Sunshine Fund. Then the difficulty faced by the Penticton hospital in acquiring equipment was brought home to the Gibbards by personal experience. The solution was to charge a $2.50 admission fee to the garden, coffee included, with proceeds going to the Penticton Regional Hospital. Anna Mason undertook advertising and publicity and contacted media outlets from Kelowna to the U. S. border. Garden lovers came to visit, not only from the Valley, British Columbia and the rest of Canada, but from as far afield as the eastern United States, Britain, Europe and Australia. There is a plaque of thanks hanging on the wall between family portraits recognizing "the outstanding efforts of Les and Violet Gibbard in providing specialized medical equipment for the Penticton Regional Hospital Medical Foundation." These outstanding efforts have raised over $19,000 to date. Except for employing their granddaughters to rake pine needles, Les and Violet did all their own garden work until 1993 when Les was forced by the onslaught of arthritis to have one knee surgically replaced, followed in 1994 by the other knee. Undaunted he would go about the grounds on his garden tractor accomplishing his daily tasks. A stroke in July 1995 even brought an end to this and Les died in December 1996. The garden was not open to the public in 1996 when Les was ill, nor in 1997 when Violet herself underwent knee-replacement surgery. In 1998 the family again welcomed visitors to the garden. As Violet says," I could never have done all this alone. Les worked with me; it was our garden. I also give full credit to all the help from my family for hosting the garden openings and to the public for coming." She describes her showplace as "only a pleasure garden, a country garden where nothing was really planned. In the beginning we couldn't afford to have the ground levelled, so the lawns just follow the natural levels where the weeds used to grow. My daffodils are only garden daffodils in a country setting; they do not grow in rows and the bulbs are not for sale, as I don't have a licence 164 THE GIBBARD GARDENS to do so. Neither are the blossoms for sale, or there would be nothing left for viewing. My garden is always moving and changing, the lawns increasing and decreasing. Sometimes a whole bed will die from winter kill and something else will have to go in there." One of the most noticeable changes occurred in 1991 when, fearing that several huge ponderosa pines growing close to the house might wreak havoc during a storm, Les and Violet sought a quote for their removal. The figure of $1,000 per tree added up to a fortune. The solution came when they sold all their largest trees, including the ones they wanted removed, as timber. The neighbours were shocked, the debris was incredible and the daffodils loved the extra sunlight. At this writing in early 1999, Violet is just short of 89 years old and still does most of her own gardening with help from a son and granddaughter. She is still moving things, changing the garden around and setting plants that won't mature for 15 years. She is also planning to have her garden on Arawana Road in Naramata open to the public this Spring. Violet and Les Gibbard, April 1986. 165 BERT ANDERSON: TRAPPER AND TUGBOAT OPERATOR ON SUGAR LAKE By Ruth Sihlis "T"^ lack Maria, here I come." One can almost be certain those r^L were the words forming in Bert Anderson's mind the many I J mornings, lunch kit in hand, he went off to keep a work engagement on Sugar Lake. Sugar Lake lies some 30 miles east and north of Lumby, a gem in the Monashee Mountains; in actuality it is a widening of the Shuswap River. Black Maria was an old scow-type tugboat, so named because of her black-tarred hull that contrasted sharply with her light gray upper deck. She was eight feet wide by 18 feet long and was powered by a V-8 flathead Ford motor. This craft being awkward to steer, Bert coined a few choice words that have yet to find their way into our dictionaries. Bert was born Robert Walker Alexander Anderson on June 16, 1906, at Bella Coola. It is believed he was the first white male born in that community. Making his way to Sugar Lake in 1925, he met George Gates (not to be confused with the George Gates who ranched in the Richland district of Cherryville in later years) who introduced him to the fur-trapping business. That meeting was indeed a streak of luck for Bert. Bert and George hit it off immediately. They became partners in a trapline until George's death, after which Bert was sole owner until he sold it to two locals, who trapped it out, much to Bert's disgust. In contrast, he believed in "farming" a trapline so there would be furs for future generations. Wally Zeolkowski owns this trapline at the time of writing—1998. Ruth Sihlis, when not competing in seniors' swim meets, finds she is spending an increasing amount of time recording the everyday lives of people she knew in the outlying forest communities of the North Okanagan. 166 BERT ANDERSON Animals taken were otter, marten, mink, fisher, muskrat, lynx, wolverine and beaver. Trapping for furs is always done in the winter. A knowledgeable trapper must take these animals when the pelts are in their prime in order to command top prices. Bert's mode of travel was by snowshoe; he hated snowmobiles. They were noisy, smelly beasts, they frightened the animals and they were definitely out of tune with Mother Nature. The peace and quiet of the woodland setting was what Bert loved. Typical small Interior logging show in the 1950s. Kalke & Lawrence of Salmon Arm used jammer-caterpillar combination to load three-ton single-axle truck. B1 aek Mari a prepares t. It was said he could survive For c\-c s i w eeks, on nothing more than a supply of beans, rice, flour, coffee and small game, such as grouse—if luck was with him. Some trappers also included raisins to satisfy a sweet tooth, but Bert thought they attracted bears, thus creating a dangerous situation. So no raisins on the trapline for him. Bert was reputed to make the best-ever bannock—in a cast- iron frying pan, over an open fire, ashes and all. He had a favourite island in the lake. He made plans to build his dream home thereon, in a secluded spot where he could enjoy nature's bounty to the fullest, especially the wildlife. His plans had only partially materialized when World War Two interfered. On returning home he found his heart was no longer in the project, hence his dream was never fulfilled. Vandalism and "cannibalism" took their toll. Today, there remains only the concrete foundation and part of one wall of that unfinished building, the cement for the foundation and the lumber for the forms having been hauled in by horses and stoneboat over the winter's ice. But trapping was certainly not a summer activity, so Bert spent those months working at the Merritt Diamond sawmill that was situated at the Sugar Lake outlet. He had the reputation of being an excellent boom man in spite of a game leg. A boom man BoOlJhm:?! &:•:.-■ /:.--?: -■} ■'ifi\ fM<:yfi^fj^mmxz SOf;^ftiW:Winif&£i: ■- . Kv BERT ANDERSON needs to be quick on his feet, jumping from one floating log to another. Round logs in the water have a nasty habit of rolling and many a boom man has received an unexpected dunking. Bert also operated the company tugboat, the aforementioned Black Maria. He would tow booms of logs from various parts of the lake to the sawmill where they would be held in readiness for processing into lumber at a later date. Then there is the story of Bert bringing a boom down the lake late one night. The tow hung up on Sigalet's Point and the tug sat there churning, churning, churning for three hours before the skipper realized he wasn't moving. Trapper George Gates admiring his catch of otter pelts. Note homemade bearpaw snowshoes. The tugboat was also used to drag a barge across the lake to take part in a pole operation. Poles produced on the east side of Sugar Lake were hauled by truck to the water's edge at Sitkum Landing and the load was cautiously driven on to the barge and secured. The tug was then lashed alongside the barge to stabilize the entire assembly; otherwise the undulating effect of the wake would gradually cause the top-heavy barge to take up a rocking motion. The result could be disastrous. If the rocking motion were allowed to increase, the entire cargo of valuable poles, as well as the truck, could topple into the lake. Once towed to Tillicum Landing on the opposite side, the truck removed from the barge, bypassed the Merritt Diamond mill and proceeded to Lumby, where it was unloaded in the Bell Pole yard. 169 BERT ANDERSON Load of poles being eased onto barge at Sitkum Creek landing. While tin one of his forays into the hills surrounding Sugar Lake, Bert believed he had discovered the richest deposit of molybdenum in B. C. Molybdenum, commonly known as moly, is a silver-white transition element of the chromium group used to harden steel. Surveying the situation, Bert felt the area was inaccessible and nothing further came of this supposedly great discovery. Bert was never seen without a pipe in his mouth; he and the pipe were one. For tobacco, Old Chum, coarse-cut, in tins, and Dixie Plug were his favourites. With his jackknife he would shave off the required amount of Dixie Plug, crumble it into the palm of his hand, then tamp it into the bowl of his pipe. Legend has it that Bert once dropped his pipe into a deck of logs. The lost briar had to be retrieved before work could resume, consequently the deck was torn apart and valuable time was lost. The boss didn't take kindly to this delay and extra cost. He fired Bert on the spot. Unperturbed, Bert is reported to have said, "Well, I didn't like that job anyway." In 1952 Bert Anderson acquired a wife, Norma Dickinson of Vernon. Norma's father, Ben Dickinson, had once sold Rawleigh Products door-to-door in the Cherryville area using horse and buggy as his mode of transportation. Norma had worked 10 years for the postal department delivering mail on RR2 to Lavington. Having a wife necessitated a home. Bert purchased a floating cookhouse, already on the lake, from Dan Rottaker. In the early days of logging an entire camp was sometimes built as a floating unit, all on one raft made of logs: cookhouse, bunkhouses and any other ancillary buildings. When required to move camp a tugboat simply hooked on to the log platform and towed it to its new location. In later years Bert gave his son a first-hand account of this now almost forgotten aspect of logging on Sugar Lake. 170 BERT ANDERSON Choosing a site at the lower end of the lake, Bert converted the newly-acquired floating cookhouse into a dream home by placing it on pilings and securing it solidly to the shore. A short gangplank facilitated entry and exit. This new abode consisted of three rooms, two bedrooms and a combined kitchen-living room. Norma doesn't remember any human falling from the gangplank into the lake; however, her mother's little dog, Chico, experienced a few unsolicited immersions. Her son Tommy did have an unplanned dunking once when he was still quite young. He had been in bed suffering from a nasty cold and, feeling the urge to vomit, rushed outside to the railing. Somehow he lost his footing and pitched into the icy waters of the lake. Norma fished him out, poured hot rye down his throat, and behold!, Tommy's cold was gone the next morning. Norma unhesitatingly says the happiest days of her life were spent on that houseboat. Tommy began his formal education in Cherryville, daily riding the school bus operated by local resident Bill Schafer. About this time Bert Anderson took steps to legally adopt Tommy, and with all the legalities completed Tommy Winterbottom became Tommy Anderson. It was an amiable relationship. Tommy and Bert had many happy times together. Bert taught Tommy to snowshoe and even took him out on the trapline when school and weather permitted. In 1956 Bert and Norma welcomed a second son. Nanied Robert for his father, he was affectionately known as Robbie. Robbie obtained his schooling in Lumby and Kamloops. Later, while living in Vancouver, he died at the young age of 36. The Andersons and other families in the area lost their means of livelihood when the Merritt Diamond mill at Sugar Lake suffered a fire. Fortunately, Bert was offered a scaling job with the com- Bert Anderson on the porch pany's Lumby division and he ofSchunter's cookhouse, moved the household there to be 171 BERT ANDERSON closer to his workplace. His new job subsequently took him farther afield; Kamloops became home base. There, Tom grew to manhood and a friend got him ajob with the CNR. He eventually became an engineer and is presently on a permanent run between Vernon and Kamloops. He knows what time he will leave for work each evening and what time he will be home each morning. None of this "waiting for a call," as is the custom with so many railroad employees. Now living in Vernon, he has been with the CNR for 34 years and is presently looking at three years to retirement. When that day arrives he and his wife Sharon plan to do some RVing, with Sugar Lake uppermost in their minds. Bert Anderson died in Kamloops in the early 1980s. His ashes were to be scattered on his beloved island in Sugar Lake, but Tom was not able to reach that area due to the deep snows; therefore, they were strewn on the waters at the lake's outlet near the site of the Andersons' halcyon aquatic home. Norma has been a resident of Alexander Extended Care in Vernon for the last six years. When you talk with Tom today you will readily observe that he refers to Bert Anderson as "my dad" with pride. FOOTNOTE: Tbm Anderson was a most willing participant in the recording of this historical report. 172 SAM McCALLUM: LAST MANAGER OF THE STEPNEY RANCH By William J. Whitehead Down through the centuries the horse has made an immense contribution to the development of civilization. It has carried the rider, drawn the carriage and pulled the plough. There are many breeds and sizes, but it is the Clydesdale that is prominent in this narrative. The subject of this story spent the greater part of his life in learning to care for, train, improve and finally to show the finished product at many of our western exhibitions. Sam McCallum was born in Northern Ireland in the County of Colerain May 24, 1884. Throughout his infancy and early childhood his mother strove with great difficulty to provide him with a home and an education. When he was 12 years of age they moved to Scotland, his mother's native land, to be near her family. This brought an end to further formal education for Sam. He was placed out to work with a lo- Last Stepney Ranch manager (1923-1928) Sam McCallum and wife Mabel, with Sam Junior, Mabel and Richard. cal landowner, a common practice for those times. The employer operated a stud farm and raised Clydesdale horses. This was the beginning of Sam's affection for the breed that would continue throughout his life. William J. Whitehead is a life member of the OHS and has been active in both the Kelowna and Armstrong-Enderby branches. 173 SAM MCCALLUh Sam McCallum with Marcellus Jr., grand champion stallion at the 1909 World's Fair held in Seattle. Taken on the Armstrong Fair grounds, landmark railway trestle in the background. He was to stay put for the next 12 years, steadily improving his care and understanding of horses. During this period he also gained the experience of showing the animals under his charge at exhibitions in Glasgow and Edinburgh. In 1906 he decided to emigrate to Canada. He and his friend Bob Arthur went to Northern Ontario during the winter of 1906-07, where they temporarily found work, Sam as a powderman for a swamper building logging roads. During the summer of 1907, McCallum and his chum were drawn farther west, arriving in Calgary at harvest time. Following the harvest season, they continued to British Columbia, past Revelstoke to the Three Valley Gap area. Bob Arthur worked in the bush and Sam was hired as a teamster by a local sawmill. In the spring of 1908 the pair moved on to the Pacific Coast, where Sam was engaged by the Guichon family of Ladner fame. The Guichons raised Clydesdale horses and Sam McCallum was soon showing them for his new employer at Vancouver and Victoria exhibitions. The following year heralded Sam's arrival in Armstrong and the start of his career at the Stepney Ranch, then at the height of its prosperity. (See OHS Report No. 50). Bob Arthur went to Salmon Arm and stayed there the rest of his days. Sir Arthur Stepney owned a famous Clydesdale stallion, Marcellus Junior, which travelled at stud for three or four months between Larkin and Mara. In the second year it was reported Marcellus Junior had something like 120 mares in foal, and at a stud fee of $20, that meant quite abit of money—especially in those days. 174 SAM MCCALLUM McCallum would relate that at this period in his career he knew the Stud Book by heart; you had only to mention the name of any registered animal and he could supply the pedigree with no trouble at all. In due course Sam purchased a small farm in the Mountain View area east of Armstrong, later known as the George Fowler place. He farmed and rented other land in that area for three years and this was the period when he met Mabel Levina Gwalter, who had come to Canada as governess for Lord Kitchener's son. After the Kitcheners returned to England in 1915, Mabel Gwalter and Sam McCallum were married in New Westminster on April 4 of the same year. The couple soon took up residence in Armstrong, first staying with Jack McLeod, an early school bus driver, and then renting the Snesby farm on the Back Enderby Road for the next three years. A son, Samuel, was born on March 7, 1916. In later years the district distinguished between father and son as "Old Sam and Young Sam." A daughter, Mabel, arrived on July 11,1918, and a second son, Richard, was added to the family on April 20, 1924. In 1920 the McCallums surprised their friends by moving to England, where Sam had an arrangement to work property belonging to Mabel's old employers, the Kitcheners. This adventure proved unsatisfactory and when Mabel expressed a desire to return "home" to Canada, they found themselves back in Armstrong in 1922. Upon arrival, Sam was offered the position of manager of Stepney Ranch and served in that capacity from January 1923 until the final disposition of the ranch in 1928. The property was subdivided and sold off to several families of Ukrainian descent, including the names of Woronchak, Marchuk, Tkachak, Smaha, Paras, Spelchan and Shumay, many of whom are still prominent in the district. Sam next purchased property on the southeast side of Stepney Road in northern Spallumcheen. It was already partly cleared, but he erected the buildings and developed his ranch. This included good quality horses, plus the addition of a herd of Shorthorn cattle. Throughout the years McCallum stock garnered honours at fairs and shows throughout the province, and his Clydesdales in particular were a source of both pride and income. McCallum played a prominent part in the life of the community, serving as a member of Spallumcheen council from 1934 to 1938, and standing for director of the Interior Provincial Exhibition for many years. He was legendary as the superintendent of the exhibition's livestock parade, recognized as one of the largest and finest in Western Canada. The Armstrong Advertiser of September 21, 1950, summed up his contribution best with these words: "A Deserving Tribute—As the cream of the Interior's livestock pass in 175 SAM MCCALLUM review year after year and the crowd thrills to its magnificent spectacle, in the background is a man who has played an important role in its annual success. For as many years as we can recall and a lot more, Sam McCallum has been the organizing master mind behind this highlight of the exhibition. As Livestock Superintendent. . . Mr. McCallum commences his work weeks before the show lining up everything into a smooth running machine. And the parade is one of his major duties, but not the least. As soon as the stock is back in the barn he is busy arranging for the orderly removal as the deadline is reached for completion of the show ..." Sam officially retired from his livestock superintendent's duties in 1956 and was honoured with a life membership by the IPE in 1960. He always counted Mat Hassen, Sr. and James McCallan, Sr. among his closest friends. The time to leave the land came in 1953 and the farm was sold to a member of the Smaha family. Sam and Mabel built a cottage on Moray Street in Armstrong where Sam took up the hobby of growing roses, a sharp contrast to a life devoted to the improvement of animal husbandry. They were together until Mabel's passing in June of 1960. Sam continued on in the little cottage for a few more years, until moving to the Willowdale Guest Home. He died on October 27, 1975 in his 92nd year. Of Sam and Mabel's children, "Young Sam" died in Langley in 1988; daughter Mabel Bulman lives in Claresholm, Alberta, and son Richard resides in Armstrong. Growing roses became a retirement hobby for Sam McCallum, pictured here at his Moray Street home in Armstrong about 1962. (Photograph courtesy Armstrong-Spallumcheen Museum Archives) 176 A WOMAN IN A MAN'S TRADE By Jean Sansum When I graduated from Salmon Arm High School, WWII was in its second interminable year and all the young men had long ago signed up, leaving no one to begin an apprenticeship in the local print shop. Recommended by my high school principal for "neatness, practicality and methodicalness," I was given a job by Peter Campbell and his son, Don, who owned the small weekly newspaper, the Salmon Arm Observer. During the year it took for the last apprentice to finish his time and become a journeyman, I did odd jobs—everything from sweeping the shop floors and the sidewalk in front to sending out the bills, with the occasional reporting of a Women's Institute meeting or rewriting a submitted account of a wedding or afternoon tea. One of my most trying assignments was to listen to the senior Campbell, a delightful old gentleman, tell stories of his youth in a brogue so thick that I could only pretend to understand. At the end of the year I became the first woman apprentice anyone in the trade in British Columbia had ever heard of. I was duly sworn into the International Typographical Union (ITU), "the biggest and best union in North America." Like the old hot metal printing practices it upheld, that union has gone the way of the dodo. My starting wage was $7 a week. Every six months for the next five years I received another $2, so that by the end of my time I was earning $25 a week. Those were less expensive years, but if I had not been living at home I could not have survived on my stipend. It was a good thing I was built low and sturdy, because the work was heavy and dirty. We worked with hot metal, an alloy of lead, tin, antimony and bismuth, an echo of the early days in the trade when the average lifespan of a printer was 28 years. Jean Porterfield Sansum and her sister spent some of their childhood in isolated Shuswap area logging camps where correspondence schooling was the only option. While still a teenager, the author entered the printing trade and was a linotype operator for 31 years, at which point she decided to became a school librarian. After official retirement, the Internet offered her the opportunity to satisfy a long-held dream of becoming a publisher in her own right. 177 A WOMAN IN A MAN'S TRADE Much of the type that went into the newspaper was cast on the Linotype, a machine with so many moving parts that people would stand and watch, fascinated by its complexity. Those composing machines are museum pieces now, but then it was the fastest way of setting type, and over the next few years it became my special domain. A number of sizes and styles of type were housed in magazines that fitted onto the top of the Lino, and while most type was the size that appears in news columns still, there were headlines to set and different types for advertisements and printing jobs, which entailed changing the magazines. They were heavy and awkward, but it never occurred to anyone—me included—that someone else should change them for me. The Linotype was not infallible, and if the interface where the lead was forced into the type molds was not tight, molten metal would squirt out of the lockup, often splashing the operator before he could move out of the way. Cleaning up one of those messes meant chipping off the solidified lead that had coated all the moving parts. Because no small newspaper could afford to carry a machinist on the payroll, we had to cope with all manner of problems ourselves. Jean Porterfield about to enter the printing trade. The outfit she is wearing is that of the Girls' Brigade, an organization for young people sponsored by the United Church. 178 A WOMAN IN A MAN'S TRADE In addition to operating the Linotype, we "set" type by hand from a variety of trays holding fonts of all sizes and designs, from large wooden letters to tiny styles for business cards or wedding invitations. The worst part of hand-set type was putting it away after use, and we avoided it for as long as we could. Type assembled for a "standing" job would be tightly wrapped with string and stored until needed again, but eventually there wasn't enough to go around for another job and we would have to sort it into the appropriate compartments. (Font: a complete set of type of one size and one style). Oversize headlines and larger advertising type for the Observer were also set by hand, but the body of the news items was set on the Linotype. The "lines of type" were lead slugs with a re- versed-type face, assembled in the composing process. (This is where we learned to read upside down and backward, a sure way to tell a printer). These slugs were cast in order to form columns, which were made up in iron frames called chases to become the familiar newspaper pages. This mass of type and spacing was locked into the frames so tightly that the whole thing could be lifted and carried downstairs to the press. On rare occasions an improperly locked-up page of type fell to the floor in complete disarray, giving rise to the expression "printer's pi." Four pages could be printed at one time on the Observer's flatbed cylinder press. Feeding the press one sheet at a time was a dreary task, and sometimes a very hot one. After a second time through the press, the sheets went through an automatic folder, which turned out about a thousand eight-page newspapers every week. Then, of course, the papers had to be delivered to the local stores, or wrapped, addressed and mailed. After an issue was completed, the inked type was washed with gasoline, Linotype material was collected to be re-melted in a wood-fired furnace, and handset type returned to its proper drawer. For the rest of the week, which was 44 hours long, we worked on other jobs—letterheads, envelopes, hand bills, business cards, invoices, invitations—anything and everything that local business people needed. We were the only printers in town. Toward the end of my apprenticeship the paper was sold, and when I completed my time the new owner told me he could not afford to keep two journeymen on staff full time, and I could not afford to work only three days a week. So ended my six years spent in that little shop. This was 1946 and I was now a full-fledged member of the ITU, albeit without a job; I was also engaged to an electrical engineer, John Sansum, who, upon graduating from the 179 A WOMAN IN A MAN'S TRADE University of British Columbia, was offered a job by Canadian Industries Limited in their Quebec plant. John's getting ajob and my losing one suggested that it was a good time to start a new life together. Three years of high-school French had not prepared me for setting French-language material. However, after I got a part-time job on the night shift in a Quebec shop, I soon adjusted to the new arrangement of the 90 keys on the Linotype keyboard, which were laid out to accommodate the accented letters. It was confusing at first, but not nearly as confusing as the French I was setting. Most of it was of a religious nature and had many unfamiliar words in the text; it became necessary to set the words by letting them pass from my eyes to my fingers without trying to understand them. John was transferred to Hamilton and I continued to work nights, this time in a commercial plant with rats for company. One night at the end of my shift I headed to the washroom to clean up. There was a rat in the doorway: I decided I didn't really need to wash my hands before catching the bus. At the end of three years, John was appointed maintenance engineer of a new C-I-L plant in Edmonton. Having completed our family of three children, I worked all the time we were there at the Edmonton Bulletin setting government publications and telephone books. When we were finally sent back to Vancouver we found it necessary for me to work again after John decided to go into business for himself—always an iffy proposition. I started as a Linotype operator at Pacific Press and before I left the trade we went from Linos to teletypes, to primitive computers, and finally to more sophisticated machines that used typewriter keyboards. We had been in Vancouver only a few years when John died of diabetes, which he had developed when he was 18.1 was now 40 and my dependants consisted of my children, my mother who had come to live with us, two dogs and a bird. At this point I was faced with another 25 years of setting mostly classified ads, seven hours a night, on a machine that was no longer a challenge. Again, words were passing from my eyes to my fingers with no thought in between; I was completely bored; I looked around for an alternative. The answer lay in combining my love of books with a new career, and after taking a correspondence course in English 101 to make sure I could still study, I started at the age of 43 on my university studies. At first I took only a couple of courses while continuing to work. After completing the first year I signed up for full 180 A WOMAN IN A MAN'S TRADE time, going to university for seven months and working five months at Pacific Press for the next two years. At the age of 49 I received my teaching certificate and became a school librarian. Thus ended 31 years of printing. The trade was good to me, supplementing our income during our marriage and supporting my family while I qualified for my new career. During all those years I met only one other woman who had gone through an ITU apprenticeship, although there were others who had learned in small, non-union shops. Nowadays, printing has become a white- collar occupation, and while it is far easier, cleaner and faster, I still remember nostalgically when printing was a craft, not just a job. FOOTNOTE—After retirement, Jean Sansum was drawn back to the newspaper fold, only this time as editor of Tale Spinner, an e- mail journal produced from her New Westminster home. "Anyone who has ever worked for a small newspaper has dreamed of owning one," she admitted to an interviewer from CARPNews, the national newspaper devoted to seniors' activities. Some years ago she wrote to CARP asking for e-mail correspondents. Subsequently, she received 40 replies. Not being able to write to so many people individually, she started sending them a newsletter on the Internet asking for contributions from readers and including stories of her own. Tale Spinner, a collection of humour, whimsy and reminiscence, now has a mailing list containing more than 200 names. She can be reached at Jean_Sansum@mindlink.bc.ca 181 THOMAS AUDREY BAIRD * 1923-1998 On August 6, 1998, Enderby and district lost one of its foremost builders. Audrey Baird was not a builder with a hammer and saw; he built with entrepreneurial talent and as a skilled operator of heavy equipment. Audrey's father, Andrew, had arrived in Enderby in 1892 on the sternwheeler Red Star from Sicamous. He came from Shawville, Quebec. By 1905 he had purchased the brick-making operation at the foot of Baird Street. He was also involved in the construction of many brick buildings in Enderby, Salmon Arm and Vernon. He homesteaded the ranch where the present Baird Brothers Ready Mix plant is located. Audrey was born in Enderby on April 30, 1923, to Andrew and Isabella Baird. He was the second youngest in a family of seven that included his brothers Robert, Wes, Ossie and Doug, and his sisters Ella and Ruby. Only Ruby remains. (See Rosa Baird, "The Bairds of Enderby" Okanagan History No. 58). Audrey Baird, 1948, clearing the airstrip at Mabel Lake. (Photograph courtesy Rosa Baird) 182 TRIBUTES During the Great Depression the family suffered hard times like so many others. Andrew became quite ill. The older children had left home. Audrey and his younger brother, Doug, were left at home to help out and to finish school. By the age of 13, Audrey was already in the bush doing custom work making cordwood. Soon, he was sleigh-hauling logs to the Shuswap River from up the Glen Mary Hill. Later he went into land clearing with his horses and a horse-powered winch to pull stumps. In 1941 Audrey began to drive log truck for Tom Malpass. Audrey married Rosa Ludwig, the love of his life, on September 22, 1943. They were blessed with five children: Tom (Corine) of Enderby, Vern of Vernon, Diane (Art) Norlin of Armstrong, Opal (Doug) McManus of Salmon Arm, and Margaret (Ray) Smith of Mara. Soon after his marriage, Audrey bought his own truck and began hauling cedar poles for the B. J. Carney Pole Company. When his brother Osburne, or Ossie, as he was known locally, was discharged from the RCAF after World War II, he joined Audrey in a partnership that was a resounding success for 27 years until Ossie's untimely death in a plane crash in western Idaho in 1972. In 1952 Audrey's brother, Robert, and his brother-in-law, Joe Ludwig, joined the firm and Baird Brothers Ltd. was created. The company grew and became a diversified logging, hauling and land- clearing operation. Later, the company went into gravel products and ready-mix concrete. Road construction was Audrey's specialty. Over the years, he was never happier than when he was operating one of his large bulldozers building road for one of many forest companies or the Department of Highways. He had the ability to engineer the project from the seat of the machine he was operating. He built many miles of road in the North Okanagan/Shuswap area. He borrowed the motto of the U. S. Navy Seabees: "We will do the difficult jobs immediately; the impossible ones will take a little longer." During his working life Audrey remained a devoted family man, even if he did not have much time to share with them. He was also devoted to his community through such organizations as the Fish and Game Club and the Lions Club, but mostly by always being ready to donate cash or equipment to many local worthy projects and charities. Audrey was a founding member of the Interior Logging Association (ILA). He firmly believed that the independent contract loggers needed an association to have a strong voice in negotia- 183 TRIBUTES tions with big government and large forest companies. He was a director and a past-president. In 1990 he was honoured as the "Member of the Year." In 1996 he was given a life membership in the ILA. Throughout his busy life he always found time for his recreational passions of fishing and big-game hunting, and put the same vigour and determination into pursuing game animals as he did in everything else in life. During the last few years deteriorating health forced him to slow down a little. In the early 1990s it appeared to him that there was a shortage of retirement accommodation in Enderby, so he commissioned a condominium complex at the corner of Granville and George Streets. He and Rosa resided there ever since, except for their winter holidays in Palm Springs. They also built a beautiful summer home for their family at Swansea Point on Mara Lake. I first met Audrey when I was sixteen. In March of 1952 I went to work for him in his logging camp up Cooke Creek east of Enderby. In the spring of 1961 I returned to work for him in a logging camp at Noisy Creek on Mabel Lake. We were arch-truck logging. We put the logs in the lake where they were boomed, towed to the south end and then hauled to the Lumby Timber Company sawmill. I came to fill in for a log scaler who was sick, but I stayed until I retired 32 years later. During that time Audrey was many things to me. At first he was The Boss. Later he became a good friend, business partner and hunting buddy. He will be missed by many. - ROBERT DALE ROLAND ALEXANDER JAMIESON * 1914-1999 Rollie Jamieson feared he would not live long enough to get all his stories on paper. He was right, for he died February 16, 1999, after almost five years of enduring the after-effects of a stroke that cruelly clogged a matchless memory and creative talent. But between retirement from his plumbing and heating business in 1979, and the 1994 illness, he passionately pursued a latent urge to record as much of Salmon Arm's past as he could. Born in Calgary, he came to the area as a boy of 10 years and grew up the eldest child in a convivial setting populated by his parents and six brothers and sisters, all of whom made it a point to 184 TRIBUTES Rollie Jamieson in the 1980s. look on the sunny side. After Rollie's birth, his father Douglas, considered a wit in his own right, had attended a Portland chiropractic college and practised in Victoria, Vancouver and Revelstoke before settling on Salmon Arm. Curiosity also entered Rollie Jamieson's life at a tender age and one pictures him "looking through the fence" plumbing details and conversations from the town's cast of characters. Along the way his outgoing personality led to stage parts and recitations, and he did odd jobs around the Empress Theatre auditorium, in addition to running the projector at the Rex Theatre. When he began recounting those events six decades later, he touched responsive chords through articles in this and other publications. Jamieson was thrust into the role of historian by the 1986 death of Ernest Doe, author of the History of Salmon Arm, who struck up a friendship with Rollie in 1924 that continued through their lives. Margaret Doe decided that Jamieson would be the custodian of her husband's historical papers and photographs, and from that moment he knew how he was to spend his retirement. Where Doe had been understated and precise in his approach to writing, his successor drew on a receptive ear and a down-to-earth touch in his take on the past. With characteristic enthusiasm Jamieson enrolled in creative writing classes, re-writing and polishing until he felt his stories were ready to share. The stroke literally stopped him in his tracks, as he was putting the finishing touches on the first of a series of articles about early settler families on The Limit, now identified as Broadview. He was a champion of human rights and defender of working people and the poor. His first job was folding newspapers by hand at the Salmon Arm Observer. Obliged to leave school in Grade 10, he was hired as a plumber's apprentice at $20 a month by M. M. Carroll, who also owned the community's only movie theatre and filled the sombre garb of the local undertaker. In 1945 Jamieson took over Carroll & Co., plumbing, heating, sheet metal works, a calling that left a great deal of the town transparent to him, although this is not to say he ever used that knowledge in a discred itable way. 185 R. A. Jamieson's "customized" company truck in 1949. Left to right: Frank Critchley, Rollie Jamieson, Jack Jamieson, Jack Phillips, Ted Morton. Rollie and his first wife, the former Marjorie Critchley, who died in 1977, raised five children: Sue Ward, Mary Paul, Nancy Burke, JoAnn Gollan, Larry Jamieson. In 1979 he married another soulmate, Jean Davies, and found himself with more grandchildren and great-grandchildren to charm. — DENIS MARSHALL CHESTER PETER (CHESS) LYONS * 1915-1998 Chess Lyons, a former Penticton resident and well-known writer, died peacefully on December 20, 1998, while on vacation in Hawaii. Chess is probably best remembered for his popular field guides on the plants of British Columbia and Washington State. These books have appeared in several editions since 1952 and have been used by a wide range of outdoor enthusiasts, as well as by students and professionals—or as Chess once said: "By Boy Scouts and grandmothers." 186 TRIBUTES Born near Regina on September 13,1915, Chess was four years old when his family moved to Penticton to begin fruit farming. He attended Penticton schools and despite his inclination to pursue some of his "studies" in the great outdoors, he managed to complete high school with little difficulty. Following high school graduation and senior matriculation, he went on to the University of British Columbia where he studied forest engineering, graduating in 1939. As a fellow student in Penticton, I remember Chess as a high- spirited teenager, very fond of practical jokes. Above all, he was an all-round outdoorsman and a keen observer of natural history. He took every opportunity to hike and camp in the hills surrounding the Okanagan Valley. Even in his late teens he was recognized as an expert on the geography and trails of the local mountains. On one occasion Chess was called into the high school principal's office (which was not unusual) and obliged with a more or less relaxed manner; however, when he saw the local game warden waiting for him, he became a little apprehensive. It turned out that a hunter had been lost in the snow-covered hills east of town and Chess was needed to help track him down. After an all-day search, Chess returned to report no tracks were seen crossing the height of land. A few weeks later the missing man was located in California. He had hopped a freight train going east out of Penticton, then made his way south across the U. S. border. Whenever Chess felt the need for a break, he would pack a couple of old blankets, a lard pail for cooking, his fishing rod and perhaps a .22 rifle, then tell his mother he would be gone for a few days. Mrs. Lyons would simply ask: "Which side?" meaning "which side of the Valley are you going to this time." It was usually the east side, which was closer to his home and he could follow one of several good fishing creeks. That way, too, he could avoid crossing through town with all his gear, where he might by chance meet his old friend the game warden. (Those were the days before conservation officers). Soon after graduating from UBC, Chess joined the B. C. Forest Service where he was engaged in surveying, reforestation and engineering. His home base was Victoria where he resided until his death. In those days provincial parks came under the jurisdiction of the Forest Service and Chess was soon transferred to the Parks Branch, where he carried out exploration and planning of new parks. These included Manning, Tweedsmuir, Wells Grey and Bowron Lake preserves. Near Bowron Lake he also worked on the restoration of the famous gold rush town of Barkerville and was responsible for 187 TRIBUTES the acquisition of many of the artifacts that bring such realism to this popular heritage site. These were huge areas to explore with a great variety of plant communities. The challenge to record even a small part of this natural wealth led to the publication of Chess's first field guide, followed by an increasing interest in photography, particularly filmmaking. His skill as a plant illustrator was well demonstrated by the artwork in his first field handbook. To pursue his many projects in nature interpretation, Chess took early retirement from the government service. He spent many years making films and lecturing for National Audubon Screen Tours and producing and presenting nature programs for television, both in the USA and Canada. Readers may remember his shows on the CBC series Klahani—the Great Outdoors. Chess also produced several travel guides in the Milestones series on different areas in B. C, including Ogopogoland, The Mighty Fraser; and Vancouver Island. In more recent years he guided nature-oriented tours to many parts of the world. The summer before his unexpected death, Chess was outdoors doing what he enjoyed most: checking out new wildflower locations and photographing plants in Washington and southern B. C. His sister, Florence McCarthy of Penticton, said Chess carried several manuscripts to Hawaii with him last December. One or two of these were first drafts for books on wildflowers, so we may soon see new contributions from this man who gave so much to our knowledge of natural history in his home province and surrounding areas. Chester Peter Lyons is sadly missed by his many friends and his family, daughter Susan in Vancouver, sister Florence McCarthy and brother Ed of Chess Lyons in his younger years. Cranbrook. — STEVE CANNINGS (Photograph courtesy Bob Broadland) 188 TRIBUTES ART 'SKINNY' PETERMAN * 1912-1998 A dedicated member and reader, as well as collector of the Okanagan Historical Society Reports, Art "Skinny" Peterman died October 8, 1998, at his home in Oliver at the age of 86. His collection of OHS Reports is complete and up-to-date. Arthur Nelson Peterman was born, raised and educated in Kelowna and moved to Oliver in 1936 where he was employed by the Mac and Fitz packing house for some 40 years. During the Second World War he served with the Canadian Army in Kingston, Ontario. Skinny and his wife, Anne, also owned and operated Peterman's Campsite just north of town for 25 years before building a house and moving into town at 11127 - 348th Avenue. His memberships included the South Okanagan Amateur Radio Club, the Royal Canadian Legion and French's Square Dance Club. Besides square dancing, he and his wife enjoyed camping, the outdoors and spending time with their family. In 1965 and 1966 he was president of the Oliver-Osoyoos Historical Society. Anne and Art Peterman 189 TRIBUTES A service of remembrance was held on October 13,1998, from the United Church with Reverend Ron Jeffery officiating. Eulogist Greg Norton paid tribute to Art's woodworking skill when he made toys for the children of friends. His family included Anne, his wife of more than 57 years, daughter Vicki (Dave) Fujibayashi of Kelowna, grandchildren Amie and Bryce, and his sisters Ethel Kliewer and Kay Arthur. He was predeceasedby son Gordon in 1983, son-in-law David Andrews in 1986, as well as brother Wilbert. - ERMIE ICETON JAMES DAVID PETTIGREW * 1886-1967 My father, James David Pettigrew, was a strong, gentle, thoughtful man. Born in Winnipeg in 1886, he was the eldest of a large family. At the age of 13, upon the death of his father, he was apprenticed to a goldsmith and watchmaker. In 1906 he brought his mother, Hannah, four brothers and two sisters to Kelowna. His brother Ernie had offered glowing accounts of the Okanagan, and J. B. Knowles, Kelowna's first jeweler, had offered him ajob. Two years later Dad built a large two-storey house at 1818 Richter Street, now on the list of city heritage buildings. Dad soon started a local baseball team and lacrosse team, at the same time excelling in regatta war canoe races. He was a founder of Kelowna's volunteer fire brigade in 1909 and served as its chief for 25 years, celebrated for courageously attending to duty on roofs of packing houses going up in flames. His skill in designing and making beautiful jewelry and engraving was outstanding; his "apple" trademark became well-known. My mother, the former Ethel Kerr, met Dad in an orchestra where she played the piano and he the mandolin. They courted on horseback around the back of Oyama and Wood Lakes. When they married in 1920 the garage now at 1951 Abbott Street was a stable where they kept their two horses. Dad was a charter member of the Kelowna Gyro Club and was made a life member of the Kelowna Board of Trade "in recognition of over 40 years of active support and interest in the work of the Board." 190 TRIBUTES While Mayor of Kelowna in 1945-46, after being an alderman for eight years, he welcomed the B. C. Dragoons Regiment when they came marching home from World War II. Amongst the returning men was Will Stiell, who became J. D. Pettigrew's son-in-law. Also while he was mayor, Dad's framing of a zoning by-law was a very far-sighted accomplishment. His fondness for gardening led to grape arbours all around our house, a cherry tree with a tree house, apricot, peach and transparent apple trees. I would wake up to the sun shining outside my window on clusters of dusty purple grapes. Prize-winning dahlias enhanced our garden. My love of the outdoors was instilled in me by my father. We camped at Sugar and Mara Lakes, but the most exciting holiday was spending two weeks at McKinley's Landing. Quite isolated, and without a car, we walked to Kelowna via Paul's Tomb, stayed overnight and walked back to camp the next day. A half-moon beach called Agate Bay was a treasure trove of agates and arrowheads. A cabin at Joe Rich where Dad taught me to fly fish was another favourite haunt, as was a tent in August at the mouth of Mission Creek. Camping was not my mother's style, but in her good- natured way she went along with it. We camped on Mt. Ranier, at Emerald Lake and on the Big Bend Highway when it opened. During this trip our car broke down and Dad hitched a ride with two men, one of whom had a gun in his pocket. He returned with a new transmission and installed it while we were being swallowed by mosquitoes. Not surprisingly, Dad's favourite hobby was taking our old Chevy apart under a single light bulb hanging in the winter garage, a Popular Mechanics by his side. No matter how busy he was with civic affairs, he would play cribbage with me every night and then read the encyclopedia. Six years after Mother's death in 1950, he married Marie dePfyffer, who had lived next door for many years. I grew up with her sons, Bob and Charles, and daughters Alice Lundy and Marie Faber. He and Marie had 10 happy years together sharing their love of gardening and walks. - MARGARET PETTIGREW STIELL 191 Indicates Member of the Society ABERCROMBIE, Annie Dorothy, b. Warwick, Queensland November 16, 1903; d. Vancouver January 21, 1999. Predeceased by husband Alexander in 1965. Survived by daughter Teressa Coomes. After fulfilling nearly four decades as an elementary school teacher in 1970, she spent the next 15 years completing a prodigious history of the Eagle Valley, Sicamous, Mara to Three Valley: Gateway to the Okanagan. ACKERMAN, Alfred William, b. Strathcona, NWT (now Edmonton) April 5, 1905; d. Oliver November 17, 1998. Survived by wife Thelma; son Edward; daughters Alma Upsdell, Muriel Schoenfelder, Jean Neisen. He was a ham radio operator since 1936. Moved to Osoyoos in 1937 and worked as box-maker in Oliver and Osoyoos packing houses, started a radio shop in Osoyoos in 1945. Member of Pacific Coast Militia Rangers in WWII. Lived in Kettle Valley and Beaverdell before returning to Oliver in 1993.