{"@context":{"@language":"en","AggregatedSourceRepository":"http:\/\/www.europeana.eu\/schemas\/edm\/dataProvider","CatalogueRecord":"http:\/\/purl.org\/dc\/terms\/isReferencedBy","Collection":"http:\/\/purl.org\/dc\/terms\/isPartOf","DateAvailable":"http:\/\/purl.org\/dc\/terms\/issued","DateIssued":"http:\/\/purl.org\/dc\/terms\/issued","Description":"http:\/\/purl.org\/dc\/terms\/description","DigitalResourceOriginalRecord":"http:\/\/www.europeana.eu\/schemas\/edm\/aggregatedCHO","Extent":"http:\/\/purl.org\/dc\/terms\/extent","FileFormat":"http:\/\/purl.org\/dc\/elements\/1.1\/format","FullText":"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2009\/08\/skos-reference\/skos.html#note","Genre":"http:\/\/www.europeana.eu\/schemas\/edm\/hasType","Identifier":"http:\/\/purl.org\/dc\/terms\/identifier","IsShownAt":"http:\/\/www.europeana.eu\/schemas\/edm\/isShownAt","Language":"http:\/\/purl.org\/dc\/terms\/language","Notes":"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2009\/08\/skos-reference\/skos.html#note","Provider":"http:\/\/www.europeana.eu\/schemas\/edm\/provider","Publisher":"http:\/\/purl.org\/dc\/terms\/publisher","Rights":"http:\/\/purl.org\/dc\/terms\/rights","SortDate":"http:\/\/purl.org\/dc\/terms\/date","Subject":"http:\/\/purl.org\/dc\/terms\/subject","Title":"http:\/\/purl.org\/dc\/terms\/title","Type":"http:\/\/purl.org\/dc\/terms\/type","Translation":"http:\/\/purl.org\/dc\/terms\/description"},"AggregatedSourceRepository":[{"@value":"CONTENTdm","@language":"en"}],"CatalogueRecord":[{"@value":"http:\/\/resolve.library.ubc.ca\/cgi-bin\/catsearch?bid=3202327","@language":"en"}],"Collection":[{"@value":"British Columbia History","@language":"en"}],"DateAvailable":[{"@value":"2019-08-26","@language":"en"}],"DateIssued":[{"@value":"2013","@language":"en"}],"Description":[{"@value":"Vol. 46 No. 3","@language":"en"}],"DigitalResourceOriginalRecord":[{"@value":"https:\/\/open.library.ubc.ca\/collections\/bch\/items\/1.0380655\/source.json","@language":"en"}],"Extent":[{"@value":"54 pages","@language":"en"}],"FileFormat":[{"@value":"application\/pdf","@language":"en"}],"FullText":[{"@value":" HISTORY\nt\u20act>\nPublication of the British Columbia Historical Federation | Fall 2013 | Vol. 46 No. 3 | $7.00\nOur Neon Nightmare\nThe Role of the Civic Arts Committee in Dismantling\nVancouver's Sign Jungle, 1957-1974\nAlexander's\nAshes\nUnclaimed ashes lead to\nthe story of a WWI veteran\nAlmost a Crystal\nPalace\nA shimmering tower in\nearly Victoria\nOne-Eye Lake\nPlane Crash\nA day off for a kinda green\nGP in Williams Lake\n HISTORY\nBritish Columbia History is published four\ntimes per year (Spring, Summer, Fall,\nWinter) by the British Columbia Historical\nFederation.\nISSN: print 1710-7881 online 1710-792X\nSubscriptions: $20.00 per year\nUSA: $32.00 (US Funds)\nInternational: $44.00 (US Funds)\nBritish Columbia History welcomes stories,\nstudies, and news items dealing with any\naspect of the history of British Columbia, and\nBritish Columbians.\nPlease submit manuscripts for publication\nto the Editor, British Columbia History,\nAndrea Lister\nPO Box 21187, Maple Ridge BC\nV2X 1P7\nemail: bcheditor@bchistory.ca\nSubmission guidelines are available at:\nbchistory.ca\/journal\/index.html\nBook reviews for British Columbia History,\nK. Jane Watt, Book Review Editor,\nBC History,\nBox 1053, Fort Langley, BC VIM 2S4\nemail: reviews@bchistory.ca\nSubscription & subscription information:\nBCHF c\/o Magazine Association of BC\n201-318 Homer Street\nVancouver, BC V6B 2V2\nemail: subscriptions@bchistory.ca\nPhone: 604.688.1175\nSingle copies of recent issues are for sale at:\n- Caryall Books, Quesnel, BC\n- Gray Creek Store, Gray Creek, BC\n- Otter Books, Nelson, BC\n- Royal British Columbia Museum Shop,\nVictoria, BC\n- Touchstones Nelson: Museum of Art &\nHistory, Nelson, BC\nISSN: 1710-7881\nPrinted in Canada.\nProduction Mail Registration Number\n40025793\nPublications Mail Registration No. 09835\nWe acknowledge the financial support of\nthe Goverrnment of Canada through the\nCanada Periodical Fund of the Department of\nCanadian Heritage.\n1*1\nCanadian     Patrimoine\nHeritage       canadien\nCanada\nBritish Columbia Historical Federation\nA charitable society under the Income Tax Act Organized 31 October 1922\nPO Box 5254, Station B., Victoria BC V8R 6N4\nwww. bchistory.ca\nUnder the Distinguished Patronage of\nThe Honourable Judith Guichon, OBC\nLieutenant Governor of British Columbia\nHonorary President: Jacqueline Gresko\nAre you an Undergraduate History Student?\nEach year, the British Columbia Historical Federation offers two\nW. Kaye Lamb Scholarships for student essays relating to the\nhistory of British Columbia.\nPrize for a student in the 1st or 2nd year is $750\nPrize for a student in the 3rd or 4th year is $1,000\nEligibility\nThe essay must be written by a student registered in a university\nor college in British Columbia.\nCandidates must submit their application for this scholarship by\nMay 15th, 2014.\nSee full rules and criteria on the BCHF website:\nhttp:\/\/bchistory.ca\/awards\/essay\/index.html\n^\u00ab^e^\u201eZ,H_[SJORY\nOur Neon Nightmare\nCover Image: Neon signs of businesses and\ntheatres on Granville Street in 1959: the White\nLunch restaurant, Allen Hotel, Canadian Bank\nof Commerce, Capitol Theatre, Medical Arts\nBuilding, Paradise Theatre, Commodore Cabaret,\nPlaza Theatre, Vogue Theatre, and the Orpheum\nTheatre. Read the story on page 5.\nCity of Vancouver Archives, AM1 531-: CVA 672-1\nEditorial Advisory Committee\nAnne Edwards\nJan Gattrell\nDon Lyon\nCatherine Magee\nRamona Rose\nWhile copyright in the journal as a whole is vested in the British Columbia Historical\nFederation, copyright of the individual articles belongs to their respective authors, and\narticles may be reproduced for personal use only. For reproduction for other purposes\npermission in writing of both author and publisher is required.\n *_StV  WWds\ni-&4*444&\nPublished by the British Columbia Historical Federation | Fall 2013 | Vol. 46 No. 3\n5       Our Neon Nightmare\nby Katherine Hill\nEach year, the British Columbia Historical Federation\noffers two W. Kaye Lamb Scholarships for student\nessays relating to the history of British Columbia.\nKatherine Hill is the winner of the $1000 prize for\na student in 3rd or 4th year university or college in\nBritish Columbia.\nIE Alexander's Ashes\n1_J   by Peter Broznitsky\nA report of unclaimed ashes leads to unexpected\nconnections and the unfolding story of a Russian-\nCanadian First World War veteran.\n1Q Almost a Crystal Palace\n^j   by Robert Ratcliffe Taylor\nA shimmering, architectural tower in the middle\nof the countryside, the Willows exhibition hall at\nVictoria, BC 1891-1907, captured the confidence of an\nera.\n26\nOne-Eye Lake Plane Crash\nby Sterling Haynes\nA day off for a kinda green GP in Williams Lake in\nAugust 1961 turned into a flight without a map to the\nscene of a plane crash.\n^ Q The Viaduct that Saved\nLj Commercial Drive\nby Jak King\nThe story of Charles Smith and the First Avenue\nViaduct is the creation story of the Drive, a story\nwithout which East Vancouver's history would have\nbeen markedly different.\n38\nGreenwood, BC: Arrival of Nikkei\nPhoto Essay\nby Jacqueline Gresko, images courtesy Alice\nGlanville\nIn April 1942 1200 Japanese Canadians (Nikkei) were\nrequired to abandon their coastal lifestyles and were\ninterned in Greenwood, BC, northwest of Grand\nForks.\n41   Archives & Archivists\nby Hugh Ellenwood; edited by Sylvia Stopforth\nA concern for preservation of the originals and a\ndesire from genealogists for digital access led to the\nnewspaper digitization project at the White Rock\nMuseum & Archives.\n48 Cabinets of Curiosities\nby Jim Bain\nWorkmen at the Vancouver post office uncovered a\nmemorial plaque that had been hidden from public\nview for over 30 years.\n3 Editor's Note\nCommunity\n4 Inbox\nLetters from Readers\n43  From the Book Review Editor's Desk\nK. Jane Watt\nWalking In History\nBRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY | Fall 2013 | Vol. 46 No. 3      1\n British Columbia Historical Federation\nA charitable society under the Income Tax Act Organized 31 October 1922\nPO Box 5254, Station B., Victoria BC V8R 6N4 0 www.bchistory.ca 0 info@bchistory.ca\nUnder the Distinguished Patronage of The Honourable Judith Guichon, OBC\nLieutenant Governor of British Columbia\nOFFICERS\nPRESIDENT\nBarry Gough\nPhone 250.592.0800\npresident@bchistory.ca\nFIRST VICE PRESIDENT\nGary Mitchell\nPhone 250.387.2992\nvpl@bchistory.ca\nSECOND VICE PRESIDENT\nDerek Hayes\nPhone 604.541.7850\nvp2@bchistory.ca\nSECRETARY\nJudy Lam Maxwell\nPhone 604.418.8560\nsecretary@bchistory.ca\nTREASURER\nKerri Gibson\nPhone 250.386.3405\nFax: 250.361.3188\ntreasurer@bchistory.ca\nPAST PRESIDENT (EX-OFFICIO)\nBarb Hynek\nPhone 250.535.9090\npas tpres \u00a9bchistory.ca\nHONORARY PRESIDENT\nJacqueline Gresko\nhonorary@bchistory.ca\nDIRECTORS\nMarie Elliott\nessays@bchistory.ca\nMaurice Guibord\ndirector3@bchistory.ca\nRon Hyde\ndirectorl@bchistory.ca\nWilliam R. Morrison\ndirector4@bchistory.ca\nSharron Simpson\ndirector5@bchistory.ca\nK. Jane Watt\ndirector2@bchistory.ca\nKen Wuschke\ndirector6@bchistory.ca\nEDITORS\nAndrea Lister, British Columbia\nHistory Editor\nbcheditor@bchistory.ca\nK. Jane Watt, Book Review Editor,\nBritish Columbia History\nreviews@bchistory.ca\nSylvia Stopforth, Archives &\nArchivists Editor, British Columbia\nHistory\nopen\nnewsletter@bchistory.ca\nR.J. (Ron) Welwood, Website Editor\nwebeditor@bchistory.ca\nDerek Hayes, Online Encyclopedia\nEditor\nvp2@bchistory.ca\nCOMMITTEE CHAIRS\nCONFERENCES\nBarb Hynek\nMAGAZINE LIAISON\nK. Jane Watt\nmagazine@bchistory.ca\nHISTORICAL WRITING AWARDS\nWilliam Morrison\nwriting@bchistory.ca\nMEMBERSHIP\nRon Hyde\nmembership@bchistory.ca\nW.KAYE LAMB ESSAY SCHOLARSHIP\nMarie Elliott\nessays@bchistory.ca\nRECOGNITION\nGary Mitchell\nrecognition@bchistory.ca\nHISTORIC TRAILS AND SITES\nTom Lymbery\nPhone: 250-227-9448\nFax 250-227-9449\ntrails@bchistory.ca\nFor awards and scholarship\ninformation see inside back cover.\nMEMBERSHIP\nThe British Columbia Historical Federation has been working since 1922 with historical sites, societies, groups, museums, archives, etc. throughout\nBritish Columbia preserving and promoting British Columbia's history.\nThe British Columbia Historical Federation is an umbrella organization embracing a variety of membership categories which are interested in the\npreservation and promotion of British Columbia's history.\nMember Societies: Local and regional historical societies with objectives consistent with those of the Federation. All dues paying members of the local or\nregional society shall be ipso facto members of the Federation.\nAffiliated Members: Groups, organizations and institutions without dues paying members with specialized interests or objectives of a historical nature.\nAssociate Members: Individuals may become members of the Federation.\nCorporate Members: Companies are entitled to become members of the Federation.\nANNUAL MEMBERSHIP DUES\nMember Societies: one dollar per member with a minimum membership fee of $30 and a maximum of $75\nAffiliated Members: $35\nAssociate Members: $35\nCorporate Members: $100\nFor further information about memberships, contact Ron Hyde, Membership Chair\nBCHISTORY.CA: THE FEDERATION WEBSITE AND COMPANIONS\nBOOK STORE\nThe website Book Store now has over 85 books on its shelves from the British Columbia Historical Federation and member societies. Books can be\npurchased through bchistory.ca using PayPal. Purchase books about BC history:\nwww.bchistory.ca\/publications\/store\/index.html\nDIGITAL ARCHIVES\nFederation publications from 1923 - 2007 can be accessed from the main page.\nClick on the Publications link from www.bchistory.ca\nOr go directly to the university library website at http:\/\/bchistory.library.ubc.ca\/?db=bchf#\nThe archive of BCHF Newsletters can be found at http:\/\/bchistory.ca\/publications\/newsletter\/index.html\nONLINE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY\nA comprehensive database of British Columbia history, available free to all online in a \"Wikipedia\"style format. Submissions will be reviewed for\naccuracy. The name of the author will be attached to the entry with links to the author's website. Be a part of this exciting new project today and write a\nfew words about your area of interest! http:\/\/bchistoryonline.com\nBRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY | Fall 2013 | Vol. 46 No. 3\n Editor's Note\nCommunity\nThe Canadian Oxford Dictionary\ndefines community as a\n\"fellowship of interests\". The\ndefinition of community is\nevolving from our traditional idea of\nneighbours looking out for each other\nand delivering casseroles to include\nthe idea of social communities.\nThrough online communities such as\nfacebook I am able to watch a video\nfrom the Swansea University where\nthey reconstruct the face of an archer\nfrom the Mary Rose and participate\nin conversations about history around\nthe globe. I am proud member of a\nlarge historical community that has\nmany neighbourhoods. I belong to\na local family history group where\nwe compete for who has the most\nnotorious ancestor but we also share\nresources and tips. I have several\nfriends and colleagues who send me\nthings they come across that they think\nwill be of interest. Annette Fulford,\nCanadian WWI War bride researcher,\nsends me anything she comes across\nwith the names Dewolf and Edgeworth\nas she knows they relate to my family\ntree somehow. Marie Elliott, former\neditor of British Columbia History and\nauthor of numerous books and articles\nabout BC history sends me historical\ndocuments she encounters during her\nown research that relate to Johnny\nUssher, my first cousin four times\nremoved, who was murdered by the\nMcLean Gang in 1879. In May I travelled\nto Kamloops for the Historic Grasslands\nconference and was able to enjoy the\ncompany of fellow history buffs and\nlisten to a variety of speakers share\ntheir knowledge.\nCommunity is an underlying\ntheme of many of the articles in this\nissue of British Columbia History.\nKatherine Hill's winning essay for\nthe W. Kaye Lamb relates how the\nCommunity Arts Council of Vancouver's\nCivic Arts Committee efforts to control\nsignage led to a reduction in the\nnumber of neon signs in Vancouver.\nAlso in Vancouver, Jak King relates\nhow a community worked together\nto convince city council to build the\nFirst Avenue viaduct. This is a timely\nstory with the Georgia and Dunsmuir\nviaducts slated for demolition in 2018.\nThe community of colleagues\nis a key element of Sterling Haynes\nstory of a plane crash at One-Eye Lake\nwhile our photo essay tells the story\nof a community uprooted from their\ncoastal lifestyles and forced to start\nagain in Greenwood.\nI hope you enjoyed some of\nBC's community over the summer by\nvisiting some historic sites or reading\nsome history books on your porch.\nEnjoy,\nAndrea Lister, Editor\nSubmission Guidelines\nManuscripts that have been published\nelsewhere or are under review for\npublication elsewhere, will be considered\nat the editor's discretion.\n\u2022 Word Count 1000 to 5000.\n\u2022 Electronic version, with file extension\n(either .doc or .rtf), will be required\nshould the article be accepted for\npublication.\n\u2022 Endnotes must follow Chicago Manual\nof Style, do not insert notes in text.\n\u2022 Photocopies\/scans of research material\/\nquoted material (pages from books,\ndocuments, or journals you have used)\nfor fact checking are appreciated.\n\u2022 Illustrations are encouraged:\n\u00b0 submit copies of permissions (or\nassurance of permission) for the\nimages;\n\u00b0   sufficient resolution for high-quality\nreproduction, 300 DPI (dots per\ninch) minimum or a pixel dimension\nof 1200x1500 pixels, (with the\nexception of images such as coins;\nminimum 600x600 pixels) preferable\nin jpg or tif format;\n\u00b0   Not embedded in text\u2014send as\nseparate files;\n\u00b0   Please provide suggested captions\nfor the illustrations;\n\u00b0   Image credit information must be\nprovided with all illustrations;\n\u00b0   Low-resolution images may be sent\nwith initial submission in cases\nwhere images would need to be\npurchased from an institution.\n\u2022 A two-three sentence biographical note\nabout the author and photo.\nIf a manuscript is accepted for\npublication, major changes will be cleared\nwith authors before publication. Authors\nwill also have the opportunity to do a\nfinal proof check prior to publication.\nYou agree to grant the BCHF First Rights\n(the right to be first to publish your\nmaterial in North America) or Reprint\nRights (your material has been published\nbefore and this is now a reprint; the\noriginal publisher will be credited at\nthe time of reprint), and Electronic\nPublishing and Multimedia Rights (the\nright to publish the work on the internet)\nand to publish that work in British\nColumbia History for no payment. Future\nonline publication of your work and the\nright to reprint it in a future publication is\nincluded in your granting of publication\nrights to the BCHF.\nThe British Columbia Historical\nFederation assumes no responsibility for\nstatements made by contributors.\nBRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY | Fall 2013 | Vol. 46 No. 3      3\n Inbox\nLetters from Readers\nNote Annie\nWatson wrote in\n1951.\nF\ni \u25a0\u25a0\u25a0 \u25a0 i\nQjm&vo A*f*-*r\n*.->.'' *\nf'ttVt*\/\n\u2022L <i\nt\\<x<- fci%.uf Jt^J- iC^.^m^\nC\u00b1<im a\u00a3*-* \/\nfe^JZ     fl*^\nAnnie Watson's Notepad\nHello, Andrea,\nI'm probably not the first person to\nmention this, but on page 41, Annie Watson's\nnotepad, I'll suggest \"internal [illegible]\ncause of death 3 hours\" is probably \"interval\nbetween cause and death 3 hours\".\nI can't reproduce it in an e-mail, but\nthe character between cause and death is\nsimilar to an upside-down \"4\", and was (is?) a\ncommon shorthand for \"and\".\nGreat issue, as usual.\nCheers,\nGary Ogle\nSurrey\nEnjoyed Graham Brazier's Article\nThank You so much for another great\nissue of British Columbia Historyl I've poured\nover every page.\nI particularly enjoyed Graham Brazier's\narticle \"Annie Watson's Curious Suitcase of\nSorrow.\"\nIf I may, I'd like to suggest a different\nassessment of Annie's handwritten note. On\npage 40, Mr. Brazier noted that \"Charles...\ndied three hours after the accident...\"\nThen, looking at the note [page 41, line 4],\nhe interprets the word after 'internal' as\nillegible, followed by 'cause of death' [my\nunderline]. However, if you read that first\nword as 'interval' then the phrase flows as\n'Skull fractured... interval between cause +\ndeath 3 hours.'\nLori James Derry\n[retired RN, with 30 years of reading Doctors'\nhandwritten notes!]\nHarry Ferguson an Irishman\nYour footer re Harry Ferguson notes him\nas an Englishman \u2014 poor Harry would be very\nmiffed as he was Irish!\nCheers,\nPeter Heaster\nHenry George \"Harry\" Ferguson was born\n4 November 4, 1884 Growell, near Dromore,\nCounty Down, Ireland. The Summer 2013 issue\nof British Columbia History incorrectly called\nHarry an Englishman.\nSend us your\nthoughts.\nBritish Columbia History welcomes\nreader's letters and emails, while\nreserving the right to edit them. Email\nyour story to: bcheditor@bchistory.ca, or\nmail it to: Editor, British Columbia History,\nPO Box 21187, Maple Ridge, BC V2X 1P7.\nBRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY | Fall 2013 | Vol. 46 No. 3\n Our Neon Nightmare\nby Katherine Hill\nEach year, the British Columbia Historical Federation\noffers two W. Kaye Lamb Scholarships for student essays\nrelating to the history of British Columbia. Katherine Hill is\nthe winner of the $1000 prize for a student in 3rd or 4th year\nuniversity or college in British Columbia.\nStudent's Assignment\nThis essay was done as an assignment for Professor Robert A.J. MacDonald's History of\nVancouver course (HIST 490). Her essay was inspired by the Museum of Vancouver's exhibit\nNeon Vancouver, Ugly Vancouver. The winning entry has been edited, by Hill, to suit British\nColumbia History.\nIn the late 1950s, the city of Vancouver\nproudly boasted over 19,000 neon signs\n- one for every eighteen residents in the\nlower mainland and more per capita\nthan any other city in North America.1 Tales\nare told of the extravagant, flashy signs that\nlured crowds of tourists to the city, and of\nthe \"warm glow and jewel-like quality of the\nlights, [which] created an aura of glamour and\nopulence on the city's streets.\"2 By the 1960s\nthough, these glowing beacons had stirred\nan impassioned debate, played out in the\nchambers of City Council and on the pages\nof the city's newspapers, over whether or\nnot a new by-law should be created in order\nto restrict the presence of projecting signs,\nbillboards and third-party advertisements,\nincluding those that were made of the once-\npopular neon, on Vancouver's buildings and\nstreets. From 1959 to 1974, the Community Arts\nCouncil of Vancouver's Civic Arts Committee\nplayed the leading role in the effort to cut back\nVancouver's \"neon jungle,\" and encountered\nrelatively marginal opposition from local sign\ncompanies, unions and a few city aldermen.\nHowever, despite the fact that the committee\nfaced little public or private opposition, and\nthat it generally enjoyed support from the\nmedia, it took over a decade of lobbying for\nthe Sign By-law (1974) to be passed and the\ncommittee's demands to finally be carried out.\nDuring the late nineteenth and early\ntwentieth century the rise of the automobile\nled to the rapid and unprecedented\ncommercialization of public space in North\nAmerica. Both national advertising companies\nand local businesses took advantage of unused\nroadside space to market goods and services,\nand industry spokesmen enthusiastically\nproclaimed that billboards \"cultivated the\n'spirit of growth, of development [and] of\neconomic progress' that 'every city desires.'\"3\nMany citizens, however, were not so eager\nto embrace such a blatant and pervasive\ncommercial invasion of public space. The\nproliferation of outdoor advertising directly\ncoincided with the advent of the City\nBeautiful movement, which emerged among\nprofessional circles of engineers, architects and\nsurveyors in both the United States and Canada\nafter the success of the well-planned Chicago\nWorld's Fair of 1893. One of the chief aims\nof City Beautiful professionals was gaining\n\"uniformity along the street,\"4 although\nmost architects and engineers involved in\nthe movement focused on the architectural\ncoherence of houses and buildings rather\nthan on street side advertising. However,\nCatherine Gudis notes that a vocal group of\nwhat she calls \"roadside reformers,\" whose\nranks were drawn largely from local level\nwomen's clubs, civic associations and similar\nelite organizations, emerged in the 1920s and\n1930s and were undoubtedly inspired by\nthe City Beautiful movement's focus on the\nbeautification of urban streets. By framing their\nopposition in a way that \"pitted the beauty\nof nature against the beast of commerce,\"\nas embodied in outdoor advertising and on\nbillboards, these roadside reformers began\na \"national battle over aesthetic rights to the\nKatherine Hill\ngraduated with a\nbachelor's degree\nin history from\nthe University of\nBritish Columbia\nin May 2012.\nWhile growing up\nin Whitehorse,\nYukon, Katherine\nspent most of her\nsummers in the\nremote gold rush\ntown of Atlin, BC,\nwhich sparked\nher interest in\nthe history and\ndevelopment of\nBritish Columbia.\nShe is currently\nworking in\ncommunications for\nthe Government of\nYukon and working\non grad school\napplications. She is\nplanning to do her\nMaster's degree in\ncommunications\nor education,\nbut her love for\nhistorical reading\nand research will\ncontinue to fill\nmuch of her spare\ntime.\nBRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY | Fall 2013 | Vol. 46 No. 3      5\n Granville Street\nbetween 3rd\nAvenue and 4th\nAvenue, Vancouver\nBC in 1932. Shows\nRuddy-Duke r\nCompany billboards\nadvertising Beach\nGas Ranges, Nugget\nShoe Polish and\nothers and signs\nfor Nabob Coffee\nand Tea and B. C.\nElectric, and Coke\nsign.\nroadside environment...that lasted more than\nforty years.\"5\nBy the 1920s, roadside advertising\nwas undoubtedly also a concern of those\nCanadian professionals and elites who had\ntaken up the cause of city beautification. As\nRobert A.J. MacDonald notes in his article\non class perspectives of Stanley Park during\nthe height of the City Beautiful movement in\nVancouver, one of the main arguments of the\nelite who fought against development in the\npark was that any sign of \"artificiality would\nclash with the lines and form of the nearby\nforest.\"6 Although there is an absence of\nscholarly evidence to show that City Beautiful\nsupporters in Vancouver were specifically\nconcerned with outdoor advertising before\nthe Second World War, it is clear that an elitist\nsense of natural beauty was strongly positioned\nagainst any development that \"symbolized the\nmechanized, bustling world of commerce.\"7\nMcDonald's evidence of the existence of an\nelite-dominated City Beautiful movement\nin Vancouver prior to the Second World War\ndemonstrates the historical role of the city's lay\nelite in successfully opposing City Council's\ndevelopment plans. While the presence of these\nvocal elites in city development was notable\nduring the City Beautiful movement, the Great\nDepression of the 1930s and the Second World\nWar during the 1940s provided a \"crucial\ninterregnum\" that \"delayed the ambitions of\nplanners and elites alike.\"8 Certainly, the Great\nDepression and the Second World War would\nhave similarly disrupted calls for roadside\nbeautification and anti-outdoor advertising\nin cities across North America, including\nVancouver, until the renewal of city planning\nin the 1950s.\nEven before World War II had ended,\nmunicipal governments across Canada began\nto turn their attention away from the war\nBRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY | Fall 2013 | Vol. 46 No. 3\n effort and focused on urban renewal and\nreconstruction as a way to avoid returning to\nthe economic and industrial stagnation of the\nGreat Depression.9 Fortunately, the end of\nthe war did not bring stagnation, but instead\nunprecedented affluence, and with it, the rise\nof a consumerist society, the proliferation of\nthe automobile, and housing shortages that\nnecessitated the construction of sprawling\nsuburbs. Encountering a previously unknown\nprosperity and ease of employment, the rapidly\nexpanding middle-class in Canadian cities not\nonly demanded homes but also roads on which\nto drive their cars to and from work. In order\nto keep up with the demand for development,\nmost municipal governments began to\nemploy professional city planners to ensure\nnew developments were carried out in the\nmost efficient and economical ways possible.\nParticularly in Vancouver, city planners came to\noccupy a place of privilege in deciding how the\ncity should both look and function. As in cities\nacross Canada, \"high modernist planning\"\nbecame the practice in Vancouver following\nWorld War II. According to anthropologist\nJames C. Scott, high modernity is \"an\nexaggerated belief in the capacity of scientific\nand technological progress to meet growing\nhuman needs and bestow social benefits.\"10\nWhen high modernist principles were applied\nto city planning in post-war Vancouver, the\neffect was to remove citizens, and even City\nCouncil, from the decision-making process\nand give professionals the responsibility of\nreconciling the existing urban landscape with\nrapid new development. Indeed, planners\n\"believed that they acted as delegates of\nthe citizenry as a whole, and not on behalf\nof the whims and desires of individuals or\ngroups.\"11 In Vancouver, this view was largely\nunchallenged by both City Council and the\ngeneral public until the late 1960s. The advent\nof the Community Arts Council of Vancouver's\nCivic Arts Committee in 1950\/51 coincided\nwith the rise of high modernist planning in the\ncity and provided a challenge to the dominance\nof city planners in deciding how Vancouver\nshould be both renewed and developed.\nHistorians generally situate the\nemergence of a \"new ideology of liveability\nin urban development\" in the context of the\nlate 1960s.12 With regards to city planning in\nToronto, however, Keith Brushnett points\nout that \"[m]any of the same issues, ideas,\nsentiments, and even personalities, which\noccupied community organizations during the\n1960s can be traced back to the [reconstruction]\nmovement during the post-war period.\"13\nWriting about Vancouver, Historian David\nLey asserts that an emergent professional,\ntechnical and administrative elite would\noversee its transition from an industrial,\ngrowth-centred city to a service-oriented,\n\"liveable city\" with \"a landscape in harmony\nwith human sensibility.\"14 The emergence of\nthis elite vanguard actually occurred over a\ndecade earlier, immediately following the war.\nThe first Community Arts Council in North\nAmerica was established in Vancouver 1946,15\nand over the course of the 1950s and early 1960s\nthe Community Arts Council of Vancouver\n(CACV) was an unfaltering voice on matters of\ncity planning and development.\nFollowing the creation of the CACV in\nOctober 1946, Dr. Ira Dilworth, the CACV's first\nPresident, proclaimed that \"the organization\nwould 'act as a clearing centre for various\ncultural fields, [would] offer cultural advice to\nstruggling groups' and would ensure proper\npublicity for the activities of all its (group)\nmembers.\"16 However, by the beginning of\nthe next decade, the CACV had taken on a\nmuch more active role in defining the aesthetic\ncharacter of the city, becoming the chief voice\nof dissent to a complacent City Council and\nignorant public that allowed privileged city\nplanners to single-handedly determine the\ncourse of the city's development. In 1950\/51,\nthe CACV established a Civic Arts Committee\n(\"the committee\") in order to press city hall\nfor the \"improvement of the appearance of\ndowntown Vancouver.\"17 According to a\nstatement by early council member Frank\nLow-Beer, committee members seem to have\nseen themselves as occupying the same role as\nadvocates of the citizenry at large with regards\nto urban planning and city development as\ncity planners believed themselves to hold.\nAs Low-Beer put it, \"[a]t that time we were\nthe only people around. I think it's fair to say\nthat the Arts Council and what the Civic Arts\nCommittee stood for was the conscience of the\ncity.\"18\nBRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY | Fall 2013 | Vol. 46 No. 3\n While Low-Beer's claim that the\ncommittee stood for the conscience of the city\nmay have been inflated and elite-centric, it is\ntrue that the CACV was the only organization\ninterested in challenging the authority of city\nplanners in determining the appearance of\nVancouver in the post-war period. Historians\nLaura Madokoro and Donald Gutstein concur\nthat other groups in Vancouver, specifically the\nlarge Chinese population of Strathcona, did\nnot play an important role in city development\nissues until the \"Great Freeway Debate\" of\nthe late 1960s and early 1970s.19 Furthermore,\nresearch by both David Ley and William\nLangford confirms that it was not until the\nlate 1960s that any significant number within\nVancouver's citizenry became aware of, as\nLangford puts it, \"the dehumanizing and\nundemocratic nature of high modernist\nplanning expertise.\"20 According to Ley, the\ndoubling of white-collar professional and\ntechnical employees in Vancouver between\n1951 and 1971 predicated mass interest in city\nplanning, but their \"new ideology of urban\ndevelopment\" would not be articulated until\nthe late 1960s.21 In contrast, however, Low-\nBeer's assertion establishes there was in fact\na small group of existing white-collar citizens\nin Vancouver who had been interested and\ninvolved in matters of city development for\nwell over a decade by the late 1960s - the Civic\nArts Committee.\nInitially concentrated on beautifying\nthe city's streetscape, it seemed a natural step\nthat the committee would eventually turn its\nattention to the \"clutter of commercial signs\n[that] dotted almost every building\" on the\ncity's downtown streets.22 However, it is crucial\nto note that although historians and journalists\ntoday blame the \"civic beautifiers\" of the Civic\nArts Committee for the loss of the thousands of\nneon signs that once lined Vancouver's streets,23\nthe eventual removal of such a great number\nof the city's neon signs was not a stated goal of\nthe committee. Instead, the committee simply\nwanted Vancouver's major streets to emulate\nthose architecturally pleasant boulevards\nand pedestrian \"malls\" in the great cities of\nthe United States and Britain.24 These cities\nprovided examples to committee members of\nhow much more pleasing streets could look\nand feel if garish, projecting advertisements\nand billboards were swapped for tasteful\nstreet furniture, landscaping and unobstructed\nvistas. Therefore, it was not neon signs that\nthe committee was to target specifically, but\nrather any and all large, projecting signs, roof\nsigns, billboards and advertisements that were\nresponsible for much of the perceived visual\nclutter and disorderliness of the downtown\narea.25\nIn 1957, in response to Section VI on Civic\nDesign of the Technical Planning Board's 1956\n\"Downtown Vancouver Development Plan\nReport,\" the Civic Arts Committee first began\nto push City Council for \"an improved plan\nfor the downtown area which would include\nopen spaces, trees on Georgia Street and street\nfurniture in better design.\"26 Despite the fact\nthat Section VI of the Downtown Report stated\nthat the design and structure of roof signs and\nblank wall signs should be improved, very\nlittle was done by City Council to clarify or\nfollow through on this recommendation in\nthe late 1950s and early 1960s. By 1960, the\ncommittee noticed that its demands for action\nwith regards to Section VI had not been acted\nupon. In a 31 March 1960 letter from the CACV\nto Mayor A.T. Alsbury and City Council,\nCACV President Ian S. McNairn wrote \"with\nregret [about] the number of projecting signs\nwhich [had] recently appeared on Georgia\nStreet...[and with] fear that the tardiness\nin implementation of recommendations for\nthese amenity streets [would] prevent their\ndistinction from any other street.\" McNairn\ncontinued by referring to a number of cities\nacross Europe and North America that \"today\ncontain streets in the downtown areas where\nprojecting and roof signs are prohibited,\" and\nfinished by urging City Council to carry out the\nrecommendations of the Downtown Report,\nespecially with regards to the designated\n\"amenity streets\" of Georgia and Burrard.27\nOver two months later, at a 21 June\n1960 meeting, the committee discussed the\nfact that the Mayor's office did not receive, or\nperhaps chose to ignore, McNairn's letter, and\ndetermined that simply mailing letters to the\nMayor and Council was not having the desired\neffect.28 Following a number of meetings in\n1960, the committee decided to pursue other\nstrategies besides merely pressuring City\nCouncil to follow through on its promises of\nBRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY | Fall 2013 | Vol. 46 No. 3\n almost five years earlier. Perhaps in recognition\nof the powerful role of the Technical Planning\nBoard, which was comprised of expert city\nplanners, the committee decided that it would\nsolicit the support of more \"lawyers, architects\n[and] designers...who would be able because\nof their experience to tackle the problem\nefficiently.\"29 The decision to use expert\nopinion to bolster their argument for the need\nto regulate signs on the downtown streetscape\nshows that the committee was well aware\nof the privileged place that the expert held\nwith regards to city planning in the post-war\nperiod. However, it also demonstrates that the\ncommittee, while recognizing the privileged\nplace of planners, was not satisfied with\nallowing all responsibility for the appearance\nof the city to be placed in the hands of those\nexperts employed at city hall. Indeed, many\nof the members of the committee and the\nlarger CACV were professionals themselves,\ntheir ranks including lawyers, University of\nBritish Columbia faculty members, architects,\nand the wives of professionals.30 As members\nof the professional elite that emerged in\npost-war cities across Canada, the weekday\nprofessionals\/weekend community organizers\nwho made up the CACV and the Civic Arts\nCommittee saw themselves in a similar role to\nthat of the city's expert planners and believed\nthat \"by virtue of their expertise [they] knew\nthe correct path, and because they operated\nfrom 'general principles' their solutions\ncould be depended upon to represent the\npublic good.\"31 Interestingly, it seems that the\nprofessionals who made up the ranks of the\nCACV may have been more perceptive towards\nthe actual desires of Vancouver's citizenry, at\nleast when it came to sign regulations, than\nwere the employed experts at City Hall.\nIn order to garner more support for\nsign regulation in Vancouver, the Civic Arts\nCommittee revamped its strategy in 1961 and\n1962. While it continued to lobby City Council\nCanadian\nImperial Bank of\nCommerce (819\nGranville Street),\nand buildings\nand businesses\nincluding the\nCoronet Theatre\n(851 Granville\nStreet), and the\nWestern School of\nCommerce (712\nRobson Street)\ncirca 1967.\nBRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY | Fall 2013 | Vol. 46 No. 3     9\n Metal nameplate\nfor Neon Products\nsigns, baked\nenamel paint.\nNeon Products was\none of the largest\nneon signmaking\n! companies in\n'\u25a0 Vancouver.\nto act on Section VI, as well as to uphold its\nsubsequent pledge to start regulating signs on\nthe city's amenity streets, the committee also\nbegan writing letters to architects, lawyers,\nand other community organizations in the\ncity asking for support.32 Elizabeth Lane, who\nchaired the committee from 1960 until 1962,\nrecalls that members at the time also found new\ninspiration in a film produced by the British\nCivic Trust called Magdalen Streets Filmed in\nNorwich, England, Magdalen Street was \"the\nstory of a highly imaginative but simple plan\nto restore a decaying downtown core by use of\npaint, minor architectural alterations, planting\nand street furniture.\"34 The film gave the\ncommittee an idea of how they would like the\namenity streets of Vancouver to look, absent\nof projecting billboards and flashy signs. Now\naware of the fact that City Council did not\nintend to follow through on sign regulation in\nan expedient fashion, the committee realized it\nwould once again need to expand its campaign\nefforts.\nWith the streets of Norwich in mind,\nthe committee began a two-pronged attack\non signs that included both public education\nand private condemnation. Starting with the\nlatter, the committee wrote letters to private\nbusinesses in Vancouver. Letters were sent\nto the Hotel Vancouver in February 1962 and\nthe Granville Street Canadian Imperial Bank\nof Commerce (CIBC) in March 1964 in order\nto express the committee's dislike of the\nbusinesses' choice of signage, to ask that the\nsigns be removed, and to notify the businesses\nthat City Council would be contacted regarding\nthe offending signs. To the committee, the sign\nerected on the historic Hotel Vancouver was\nparticularly offensive because it was a third\nparty advertisement for the Vancouver Sun that\ndefaced the imposing building and obstructed\nviews for no other purpose than to make both\nthe hotel and the newspaper more money.35\nAlthough such personal appeals to\nbusinesses did not work and the\nsigns remained, the continued\nconstruction       of       offensive\nPRODUCTS\nsigns on buildings and amenity streets like\nGeorgia motivated the committee to accelerate\nits opposition campaign. By April 1964, the\ncommittee had failed to convince the CIBC to\nremove its Granville Street sign and thus also\n\"decided to include bridge approaches as well\nas the amenity streets\" in its future briefs to\nCity Council requesting action on the proposed\nsign regulations.36 This was a key moment\nin the sign debate that had an important, if\nsomewhat accidental, effect on the provisions\neventual Sign By-Law. Indeed, were it not for\nthe committee's decision to push for regulation\nof signs near bridge approaches, perhaps the\nSign By-Law would not have included the\nincredibly restrictive provisions for signs in all\nof those areas,37 including on Granville Street,\nwhich was home to many of the now legendary\nneon signs and advertisements.\nThe lack of response from both private\nbusiness and industry also moved the\ncommittee to try another approach to rally\nsupport for their cause - public education.\nEmulating an exhibit that it had shown at the\nVancouver Art Gallery in 1959 to promote\ngood design in street furniture (i.e. bus\nshelters, telephone booths, litter bins), the\ncommittee set up a photo exhibit, called \"Signs\nof Our Times,\" on sign control at Vancouver\nPublic Library branches in Kerrisdale, Dunbar\nand East Hastings.38 The exhibit ran for a few\nmonths and encouraged visitors to \"write\npersonally in support of sign control\" to City\nCouncil.39 Although it is difficult to quantify\nhow much public support the committee\nreceived as a result of the exhibit, it is clear that\nthe attempt did begin to attract media attention\nto the group's efforts in an unprecedented way.\nA few months after the \"Signs of Our\nTimes\" exhibit was erected, Province writer\nand humourist Eric Nicol became the first\nVancouver journalist to write about the sign\ndebate in any meaningful way. Prior to his 2\nDecember 1962 article called \"Cutting Back the\nJungle,\" very little had been written on the topic\nbesides basic reporting on the aforementioned\ncity zoning plans that promised to restrict signs\non amenity streets.40 Following the publication\nof Nicol's article and the committee's exhibit,\nhowever, journalists embraced the cause of\nwaking up from \"Our Neon Nightmare.\"41\nFinally, public and media backlash against the\n10\nBRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY | Fall 2013 | Vol. 46 No. 3\n \"hideous jungle of signs\" seemed to awaken\nat least some members of the sign industry\nto the fact that, as President Colin T. Martin\nof Neon Products of Canada Ltd. put it in a\n1963 interview with the Vancouver Sun, '\"small\nareas of people...do not particularly like the\nproduct.'\"42 While Martin was confident that\nmerchants, who would pay higher taxes if a\nmore restrictive sign by-law were in place, as\nwell as citizens' pride in bustling commercial\nstreets like Granville,43 would prevent a sign\nby-law from ever being passed, it seems his\nassumptions about the power of business and\nthe wants of the public were increasingly out of\ntouch with reality.\nIn the years following Martin's 1963\ninterview, while the over-confident sign\nindustry ignored the supposedly \"small areas\nof people\" that wanted stricter sign control, the\nCivic Arts Committee worked hard to increase\nsupport for the cause of their little group. In\nthe spring of 1966, the committee organized\nanother successful campaign that involved\ndistributing 1,400 pre-typed postcards to\n\"interested citizens\" who then signed and\nsent the postcards to City Hall to show their\nsupport for a new sign by-law. About 600 of the\ncards, which stated, \"I support the enactment\nof a bylaw for regulating the position, size and\naesthetic suitability of commercial signs on\namenity streets,\"44 were mailed to City Hall.\nAlthough most of the postcards mailed in were\nrepresentative those already involved in the\nsign control effort \u2014 almost half of the cards\nprinted were sent to members of the CACV for\nsigning \u2014 and not the general population of\nVancouver,45 the campaign was nevertheless\nsuccessful in garnering media support. Indeed,\nfollowing the postcard campaign, to which the\nsign industry failed to produce any response\nor defence, Vancouver media coverage became\nheavily weighted on the side of sign control.\n46 While the effect of this increase in media\ncoverage in favour of a sign by-law on the\npublic is difficult to determine, it is clear that\nthe committee's expanded campaigning efforts\nand the resulting media attention had finally\nattracted due attention by City Hall.\nThe committee immediately followed\nthe postcard campaign by delivering a ten-\npage brief to City Council \"showing what\nother cities [were] doing to control signs\" and\ndemanding that advertising in Vancouver \"be\ncarried out with a great deal more taste.\"47 The\nbrief reportedly earned the consideration of\ncity planning director Bill Graham and most\nof the eight aldermen present but Graham\nnevertheless maintained that sign control was\nnot a priority of the Planning Department at\nthat time. Instead, Alderman Bob Williams\nsuggested that the committee undertake its\nown survey \"on which the city could base\na bylaw.\"48 Williams' suggestion indicates\nthat both City Council and the Planning\nDepartment had become not only receptive,\nbut also accommodating to the committee's\ndemands by the late 1960s.\nCertainly, the committee's tireless\ncampaigning efforts, along with an increase\nin media attention to the cause of sign\ncontrol, would have influenced City Council's\nnewfound willingness to work with the\ncommittee in the late 1960s. However, the\ncoincidental rise of the heritage movement,\nwhich was aimed at preserving historic areas\nand buildings in the city, and the Great Freeway\nDebate, must not be overlooked. The greater\nissues of urban renewal and development in\nthe late 1960s, under which questions over\nheritage and freeways both fell, contributed to\na view in City Hall and among the citizenry in\ngeneral that, as former CACV council member\nPeter Oberlander put it, \"[planning [was]\ntoo important to leave to the professionals.\"49\nAccording to William Langford, Oberlander's\nobservation was indeed correct, since \"the\nlack of political decisiveness...[and] problems\nwith deference to planning experts and the\ncentralized exercise of authority towards high\nmodernist goals were increasingly evident\"\nby the mid-1960s.50 Instead, both City Council\nand ordinary citizens turned to community\norganizations like the CACV as an alternative\nto city planners.\nWhile CACV president Ralph Flitton\nstill believed that drafting a new sign by-law\nwas \"something that [had] to be done by the\nplanning department,\"51 throughout the late\n1960s and early 1970s the committee continued\nsending letters and presenting briefs to City\nCouncil suggesting measures to be included\nin the eventual legislation.52 Although the\nplanning department would not have the new\nSign By-law prepared until 8 October 1974, the\nBRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY | Fall 2013 | Vol. 46 No. 3      11\n CACV and Civic Arts Committee continued to\nbe involved and provided many suggestions\nthat would eventually shape the provisions\nof the by-law. For example, in an 8 April 1970\nletter from the CACV to Mayor Tom Campbell,\nCity Council and Bill Graham, President\nFrank Low-Beer told the council that a new\nor amended sign by-law should include \"a\nrestriction on animated or flashing signs\" on\nthe amenity streets of Georgia and Burrard and\nthat all \"third party signs be removed at the\nexpiration of the contract.\"53\nThe influential role of the CACV in\nshaping the provisions of the 1974 Sign By-\nLaw is clearly reflected in By-law 4810 (\"Sign\nBy-law\") itself. An information brochure sent\nout to interested stakeholders and industry in\nOctober 1974 stated that the Sign By-Law was\nnot only the result of \"many months of study\nand research [in which] the sign industries\nin Vancouver co-operated with the civic\nauthorities,\"54 but also was created in \"the\ninterest of the community.\"55 The Sign By-Law\nprovided for most of the measures demanded\nby the Civic Arts Committee throughout the\n1960s, including limits on how far signs could\nproject beyond a building face, provisions on\nthe aesthetic appearance and maintenance of\nsigns, and a clause that restricted all third party\nadvertising except in a few specified locations.56\nThe Sign By-Law also reflected the committee's\nconcern over signs on major downtown streets,\nlike Georgia and Burrard, and at bridge\napproaches, such as the aforementioned CIBC\nsign on Granville Street.57 An entire schedule\nwas included in the legislation in order to\nrestrict the size and messages of signs in these\nareas, and no third-party advertising was\nallowed.58\nIt is important to note, however,\nthat the committee only want to see third\nparty advertisements and projecting signs\nremoved from the sections of Granville Street\nimmediately on either side of the bridge,\nand that they did not specifically call for the\nremoval of neon signs further down the street.\nIn fact, the committee actually wanted the\nlarge, flashy signs, which advertised cultural\nand historical landmarks such as the Vogue\nand Orpheum theatres, to remain as a feature\nof the city's theatre row, providing for a single\n\"Great White Way\" like London's Piccadilly\narea or New York's Times Square. Since the\ncommittee aimed to model the streetscapes\nof Vancouver after those found in cities in\nEurope and the United States, they would have\nundoubtedly wanted to follow the advice of\nplanners like London's Desmond Heap, who\nvisited Vancouver in 1968 and spoke of the\nwonderful effect that restricting and removing\nsigns had on that city's aesthetic. While\nadvocating for the removal of most signs,\nHeap also reminded Vancouverites that neon\nsigns did have a place in a city's entertainment\ndistrict, such as they were found in London's\nPiccadilly area.59 It is not a stretch then to\nbelieve that the committee wanted the existing\ntheatre row, Granville Street north of the\nbridge, to remain as Vancouver's own modern,\nflashy entertainment district. Indeed, Elizabeth\nO'Keily, author of The Arts and Our Town:\nCommunity Arts Council of Vancouver, 1946-\n1996, attests that \"[t]he Arts Council [actually]\nencouraged the use of colourful neon signs in\nthe intensely commercial areas of Broadway,\nKingsway, Granville and Chinatown\" while\nadvocating that they be regulated elsewhere.60\nWith this to consider, the 1974 Sign By-Law\nwas certainly successful in achieving the\ncommittee's goal of restricting and removing\noffending signs from amenity streets like\nGeorgia and Burrard and from the entrances to\nbridge approaches. With regards to Granville,\nhowever, the new regulations were too strict\nfor even the sign control champions in the Civic\nArts Committee, who wanted to leave Granville\nas Vancouver's solution to the modern city's\nneed for a glowing entertainment district..61\nAlthough the Sign By-Law did include\nspecial provisions to allow \"flashing and\nanimated signs\" on Granville Street,62 after\n1974 many of the street's neon signs and\nbillboards nevertheless disappeared. While\nmost of the signs that vanished from Granville's\nstreetscape were third-party advertisements\nand billboards clustered on rooftops and\nbuilding walls around the approach to the\nGranville Street Bridge, many of the flashy\nneon signs that lined the remainder of the street\nwere also taken down. With their removal,\nGranville's aesthetic character was strikingly\nchanged.63 It is difficult to determine which\nprovisions within the Sign By-Law would have\nspecifically led to the removal of so many of\n12\nBRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY | Fall 2013 | Vol. 46 No. 3\n the street's neon signs, but it is certain that the\ndisappearance of these signs was not the intent\nof the Civic Arts Committee in their efforts for\nsign regulation in the city.64 However, in recent\nexhibits at the Museum of Vancouver and in\nrelated articles in newspapers across Canada,\nblame for the disappearance of neon on\nVancouver's streets was placed on the \"neon\nhaters\" in the CACV and the supporters they\nearned in the media and City Hall.\nThe city wide dismantling of Vancouver's\n\"neon jungle\" was, in fact, not the intent of the\nCACV or the Civic Arts Committee in their\ncampaign for sign control. While contemporary\njournalists and historians like John Atkin\nbemoan what they see as the result of a\n\"debate\" won by \"[o]pinon-makers and civic\nleaders,\"65 the almost complete disappearance\nof neon signs from the city's intensely\ncommercial streets, including Granville, was\nin fact an unintended outcome of an onerous\nSign By-Law written by the City of Vancouver\nPlanning Department. The true conflict over\nsign control in the city was not between those\nfor versus against neon signs, as the Museum of\nVancouver has claimed in two recent exhibits.66\nRather, it was a power struggle for control\nover the city's aesthetic development between\nprivileged planners and a group of concerned\nprofessionals and patrons of the arts who\nmade up the Civic Arts Committee. While the\nPlanning Department did eventually consider\nthe recommendations of the committee with\nregards to provisions that should be included\nin the 1974 Sign By-Law, the committee did not\nintend for provisions that would lead to such\na dramatic reduction of neon signs on all of\nthe city's streets. In truth, the almost complete\nremoval of neon signs from all Vancouver\nstreets, including Granville, seems to have\nbeen an unintentional yet clear consequence of\nthis larger power struggle. As such, it is unfair\nand untruthful for contemporary journalists,\nhistorians and museum curators to blame the\ndisappearance of Vancouver's \"Great White\nWay\" on the \"civic beautifiers\" of the Civic\nArts Committee.*\nEndnotes\n1. Michael Scott, \"Bright lights,\ngrey city: In its neon heyday,\nVancouver was all aglow and\nabuzz,\" National Post, March 24,\n1999.\n2. Mary Vincent, \"Vancouver\nElectric,\" Canadian Geographic 119,\nno.7 (1999): 50.\n3. Quoted from \"Economic Utility\nof Poster Panels,\" OAA News 15,\nno. 4 (1924): 17 in Catherine Gudis,\nBuyways: Billboards, Automobiles, and\nthe American landscape (New York:\nRoutledge, 2004), 153.\n4. Walter Van Nus, \"The Fate of\nCity Beautiful Thought in Canada,\n1893-1930,\" in The Canadian City:\nEssays in Urban History, ed. Gilbert\nA. Stelter and Alan F.J. Artibise\n(Toronto: MacMillan Company of\nCanada, 1979), 166.\n5. Catherine Gudis, Buyways:\nBillboards, Automobiles, and the\nAmerican landscape (New York:\nRoutledge, 2004), 163.\n6. Robert A.J. McDonald, \"'Holy\nRetreat' or 'Practical Breathing\nSpot'?: Class Perceptions of\nVancouver's Stanley Park, 1910-\n1913,\" Canadian Historical Review\n65, no. 2 (1984): 134, DOL10.3138\/\nCHR-065-02-01.\n7. Ibid.\n8. William Langford, '\"Is Sutton\nBrown God?' Planning Expertise\nand the Local State in Vancouver,\n1952-1973,\" (M.A. thesis, UBC,\n2011), 8.\n'Is Sutton Brown\n9. Langford,\nGod?,\" 8.\n10. Ibid., 3-4.\n11. Kevin Brushnett, \"'People and\nGovernment Travelling Together':\nCommunity Organization, Urban\nPlanning and the Politics of Postwar Reconstruction in Toronto,\n1943-1953,\" Urban History Review\n27, no. 2 (1999), http:\/\/search.\nproquest.com\/docview\/216528629.\n12. For example, see David\nLey, \"Liberal Ideology and the\nPostindustrial City,\" Annals of the\nAssociation of American Geographers\n70, no. 2 (1980): 238, and Langford,\n\"Is Sutton Brown God?,\" 6.\n13. Brushnett, \"People and\nGovernment Travelling Together.\"\n14. Ley, \"Liberal Ideology and the\nPostindustrial City,\" 238-39.\n15. Elizabeth O'Kiely, The Arts\nand Our Town: Community Arts\nCouncil of Vancouver, 1946-1996,\neds. Janet Bingham, Joanne Cram,\nElizabeth Lane (Vancouver, BC:\nThe Community Arts Council of\nVancouver, 1996), 1.\n16. Ira Dilworth quoted in\n\"Introduction,\" in Frank Appelbe\nand Judith Jardine, The Community\nArts Council of Vancouver Through\nthe Years, Vancouver, BC: The\nCommunity Arts Council of\nVancouver, 1979, 3.\n17. Elizabeth O'Kiely, The Arts and\nOur Town, 29.\n18. Frank Low-Beer quoted in\nElizabeth O'Kiely, The Arts and Our\nTown, 29.\n19. Laura Madokoro, \"Chinatown\nand Monster Homes,\" 17-24 and\nDonald Gutstein, Vancouver, Ltd.,\n154-161.\n20. Langford, \"Is Sutton Brown\nGod?,\" 6.\n21. Ley, \"Liberal Ideology and the\nPostindustrial City,\" 239-244.\n22. Elizabeth O'Kiely, The Arts and\nOur Town, 29.\n23. Scott, \"Bright lights, grey city,\"\nMarch 24,1999.\n24. \"History of the Community\nArts Council of Vancouver 1958-\n1959,\" in Frank Appelbe and\nJudith Jardine, The Community\nArts Council of Vancouver Through\nthe Years. Vancouver, BC: The\nCommunity Arts Council of\nVancouver, 1979,1-2.\n25. LS. McNairn to A.T. Alsbury,\nMarch 31,1960, CVA, 529-D-5,\nCAC, file 12, correspondence,\n1956-1963.\n26. \"History of the Community\nArts Council of Vancouver 1958-\n1959,\" in Frank Appelbe and\nJudith Jardine, The Community\nArts Council of Vancouver Through\nthe Years. Vancouver, BC: The\nCommunity Arts Council of\nVancouver, 1979, 2.\nBRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY | Fall 2013 | Vol. 46 No. 3      13\n 27. LS. McNairn to A.T. Alsbury,\nMarch 31,1960, CVA, 529-D-5,\nCAC, file 12, correspondence,\n1956-1963.\n28. \"Sign Committee Meeting on\nJune 21,1960,\" CVA, 529-D-5, CAC,\nfile 10.\n29.Ibid.\n30. Elizabeth Lane (former\nCivic Arts Commitee chair) in\na telephone interview with the\nauthor, March 29, 2012.\n31. Brushnett, \"People and\nGovernment Travelling Together.\"\n32. For examples of\ncorrespondence between the Civic\nArts Committee and a number\nof Vancouver architectural\nfirms, community organizations\nand planning associations, see\nCVA, 529-D-5, CAC, file 12,\ncorrespondence, 1956-1963.\n33. Elizabeth Lane, telephone\ninterview with the author, March\n29. 2012.\n34. \"History of the Community\nArts Council of Vancouver, 1962-\n1963,\" in Frank Appelbe and Judith\nJardine, The Community Arts\nCouncil of Vancouver Through\nthe Years. Vancouver, BC: The\nCommunity Arts Council of\nVancouver, 1979,1.\n35. Personal records of Elizabeth\nLane, \"Annual Report of the\nCVAC,\" April 15,1962, 2.\n36. Italics added, \"Minutes of the\nCAC, April 15,1964,\" CVA, 529-D-\n5, CAC, file 6.\n37. VCC, By-law no. 4810.\n38. \"Signs of Our Times\" brochure,\nFebruary 26,1962, CVA, 529-D-5,\nCAC, file 11, campaign.\n39. Ibid.\n40. For example, see Frank Walden,\n\"Council orders neon jungle ban\"\nVancouver Sun. June 6,1961.\n41. Tom Ardies, \"Down with signs:\nLet's Wake Up From Our Neon\nNightmare,\" Vancouver Sun, August\n8,1964.\n42. Colin T. Martin quoted in\nVancouver Sun, \"City too quiet,\nneeds its signs\" August 15,1963,\n25.\n43. Vancouver Sun, \"City too quiet,\nneeds its signs\" August 15,1963.\n44. Community Arts Council of\nVancouver, \"Postcard,\" CVA, 529-\nD-5, CAC, file 11, campaign.\n45. Vancouver Sun, \"Billboard\nProtest Set,\" April 30,1966.\n46. For example see The Province,\n\"Vancouver's hideous spectacle,\"\nApril 22,1966; Vancouver Sun,\n\"Billboard Protest Set,\" April 30,\n1966; Mac Reynolds, \"Signs: Look,\nthe Park, Over the O,\" Vancouver\nSun, May 10,1966.\n47. Dave Albert, \"Garish-Sign Fight\nJust Fizzles Out,\" Vancouver Sun,\nMay 11,1966.\n48. Ibid.\n49. Peter Oberlander quoted in\nElizabeth O'Kiely, The Arts and Our\nTown, 35.\n50. Langford, \"Is Sutton Brown\nGod?,\" 39.\n51. Ralph Flitton quoted in Dave\nAlbert, \"Garish-Sign Fight Just\nFizzles Out.\"\n52. \"History of the Community\nArts Council of Vancouver, 1968-\n1969,\" in Frank Appelbe and\nJudith Jardine, The Community\nArts Council of Vancouver Through\nthe Years, Vancouver, BC: The\nCommunity Arts Council of\nVancouver, 1979,1.\n53. Frank Low-Beer to Mayor\nand City Council, April 8,1970,\nCVA, 529-D-5, CAC, file 13,\ncorrespondence.\n54. City Planning Department,\n\"Sign Control: Summary of\nResponses,\" March 1974, CVA, City\nof Vancouver Fonds, Series S623 -\nCity Planning Commission minutes\nand other records.\n55. City Planning Department,\n\"Signs in Vancouver\" brochure,\nOctober 1974, CVA, City of\nVancouver Fonds, Series S623 -\nCity Planning Commission minutes\nand other records.\n56. VCC, By-law no. 4810.\n57. \"Minutes of the CAC, April 15,\n1964,\" CVA, 529-D-5, CAC, file 6,\nminutes, 1964-1969.\n58. VCC, By-law no. 4810, 52.\n59. Dave Hardy, \"U.K. Plan Expert\nSays: Vancouver Can't See Trees\nFor The Forest of Neon,\" Vancouver\nSun, May 3,1968,12.\n60. Elizabeth O'Kiely, The Arts and\nOur Town, 31.\n61. Elizabeth Lane, telephone\ninterview with the author, March\n29, 2012.\n62. VCC, By-law no. 4810, 35.\n63. For a visual example of\nbillboards, advertisements and\nneon signs on Granville Street in\nthe late 1950s, see Fred Hertzog,\n\"Granville\/Smythe,\" photograph,\n1959, accessed April 18, 2012,\nhttp:\/\/equinoxgallery.com\/artists\/\nfred-herzog\/art\/90230, and Fred\nHertzog, Fred Hertzog, \"Granville\nStreet from Granville Bridge,\"\nphotograph, 1966, accessed April\n18, 2012, http:\/\/equinoxgallery.\ncom\/artists\/fred-herzog\/art\/90226.\n64. Elizabeth O'Kiely, The Arts and\nOur Town, 31.\n65. John Atkin, \"Neon!,\" in The\nGreater Vancouver Book: An Urban\nEncyclopedia, ed. Chuck Davis\n(Surrey, BC: Linkman, 1997).\n66. \"Neon Vancouver, Ugly\nVancouver,\" Museum of\nVancouver, last modified\n2011, accessed April 18, 2012.\nhttp:\/\/museumofvancouver.\nca\/exhibitions\/exhibit\/neon-\nvancouver-ugly-Vancouver.\n14\nBRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY | Fall 2013 | Vol. 46 No. 3\n Alexander's Ashes\nby Peter Broznitsky\nA report of unclaimed ashes leads to unexpected connections\nand the unfolding story of a Russian-Canadian First World\nWar veteran.\nThis detective story begins, as many do,\nwhile reading the morning newspaper,\nApril 10th. Except it was in 2006, and\nI was reading an electronic NewsDesk\non a computer. An item and a location caught\nmy eye. \"Princeton RCMP releases list of\nnames with 39 unclaimed remains.\" Princeton:\nI've been there, a little town in the Okanagan-\nSimilkameen, driven through it many times,\nfilled up with gasoline, eaten there, even had\na beer there.\nI read on. A defunct funeral home\nwas under investigation for fraudulent\nbookkeeping. The probe discovered fifty-one\nremains still in the home, cremated ashes. A list\nfollowed, in the hope that family members or\nanybody who knew how to contact the families\nwould contact the Princeton Detachment.\nMy eyes scanned down the list. Infant\ntwins \u2014 what was the story there? Somebody\nfrom 1953. Finally, the last name. Zubick,\nAlexander \u2014 1985. I straightened, no doubt\nmy eyes widened, my nostrils flared. Zubick.\nAlexander. A couple of weeks earlier, I had\npurchased his Great War service medals! Or at\nleast, I purchased medals that had been issued\nto a man of that name. What was he doing in\nPrinceton?\nFlashing back (as detective stories\noften do), an Internet acquaintance\nhad emailed me about a month before.\nA medal dealer he knew in London,\nOntario had First World War\nmedals for sale, amongst them some\nto Russians who had served in the\nCanadian Expeditionary Force. No,\nI couldn't email the dealer, or check\nhis web site. He was old school, did\neverything over the telephone, even\nused postage stamps!\nSo I phoned him. Crusty, gruff. Yes\nhe had some medals. A single British\nWar Medal, and a pair, BWM and\nVictory. Yes, I could have them. No, he\nwouldn't move on the price. Yes, they\nincluded service records from Library\nand Archives Canada. Okay, he would\ncombine the shipping. He said he would\nship the next day. Trusted me.\nAnd the next day, I handwrote and sent\na cheque. In an envelope, with a stamp.\nOld school. And shortly thereafter,\na package appeared; the medals and\nrecords as promised. I looked through\nthe records. No Russian heroes here.\nOne fellow got over to England, but\nno farther. And Zubick? He had made\nit to France, but promptly fell ill, and\nspent the rest of the war in and out of\ncasualty clearing stations, hospitals,\nand convalescent depots. Ah well, at\nleast he survived the Great War. I put\nhis file into my cabinet, to wait a time\nfor further research.\n.\nPeter Broznitsky\nis the Chair of\nthe Western\nFront Association\n- Pacific Coast\nBranch(Canada\/\nUSA). Genealogical\nresearch into\nhis Russian-born\ngrandfather led\nto his 2008 article\n\"For King, Not\nTsar: Identifying\nUkrainians in\nthe Canadian\nExpeditionary\nForce, 1914-\n1918,\" published\nin Canadian\nMilitary History.\nPeter is also an\nadministrator\nand moderator\nof the respected\nCEF Study Group\nForum (www.\ncefresearch.ca).\nHe serves on the\nHeritage Advisory\nCommission for\nthe Corporation of\nDelta.\nJMexander Zubick's \u2122\nmedals: British I\nWar Medal and a |\nVictory medal. s\nBRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY | Fall 2013 | Vol. 46 No. 3      15\n That April night I retrieved Zubick's file\nfrom the sedimentary layers in my office. Born\nin Russia in 1897, he was living in Dreamwold,\nSaskatchewan when he was conscripted in\nJanuary 1918. He left for England in April\nand spent time in a reserve battalion. In July\nhe reported for duty with the Is' Battalion.\nCanadian Railway Troops, who were working\naround Etaples and Boulogne. A week later\nZubick was ill, with eczema so bad he was\nhospitalized. He served a total of about four\nweeks with his unit, the rest of the time being\ntreated in the war-time medical system. He\nreturned to Canada in May 1919 and was finally\ndischarged as medically unfit in September in\nQuebec. The address given on the Medal Index\ncard was Denzil, Saskatchewan, but this was\ncrossed out, and Okeefe Avenue, Vernon, BC\nwritten over. Vernon. Was this the Princeton\nconnection?1\nIn the olden days, I would have worked\nthe phones or driven around the province in a\n'52 Mercury Meteor. Now, I began Googling.\nNo Zubicks in Princeton. Next, British\nColumbia Vital Statistics. Ah, here we go. On\nOctober 12lh 1985 Alexander Zubick, aged 88,\nhad died in Vancouver.2 If this was my man,\nhow did his ashes wind up in Princeton? More\nsearches. A Bertha Zubick, aged 79, had died in\n1981, in Princeton.3 Were they married? More\nsearches. In 1921 Alexander Zubick married\nBertha Skaley in Vernon.4 Had to be a match,\nright? He left the army, moved to Vernon,\nmarried this Bertha, they moved to Princeton.\nAfter his wife's death, a sad Alexander left\nPrinceton for the big city, maybe for medical\ntreatment. My story was coming together.\nI phoned the Princeton RCMP\nDetachment the next day and spoke to the\nclerk. No, nobody had claimed Zubick's ashes.\nAbout all she could tell me was that Zubick\nwas 89 when he died. Not quite a match. Three\nangles now. Was my man, the Russian Zubick\nwho said he would be living in Vernon, the\nsame as the fellow who died in Vancouver aged\n88, and the same as the box of ashes with the\nname Zubick aged 89 reposing in Princeton?\nMore Googling. I found an earlier\nnewspaper article in The Vancouver Sun that\ndescribed a Princeton woman receiving the\nwrong ashes from the funeral home, but\nnothing about Zubick. Then a Penticton Herald\narticle, even earlier, that had broken the story.\nA reporter's name. Find the Herald's website,\nget his email address. He's busy but flips me\nto his colleague. That night, the reporter calls\non the phone. We talk, I describe my story as it\nstands so far. The next day, an article appears in\nthe Herald. I'm quite pleased that the journalist\ngot everything just about right.5\nBut I needed to keep moving. The\nminimum details provided by Vital Statistics\nweren't enough. I would have to go to\nCloverdale. Yes, Cloverdale, famous for the\nrodeo and Superman's Smallville. But also\nhome to the Cloverdale Branch of the Surrey\nPublic Library, with large genealogical\nholdings and microfilm readers.\nEverything was in disarray. They were\nunder reconstruction, water dripped into a\nbucket on the stairs. The boxes of microfilm\nwere all over the place. I couldn't find the\ndeaths for 1985. Finally, I had to be a man and\nask for directions. \"Oh, we don't have them\nyet,\" the librarian replied. \"Victoria says we\nshould get them any day.\" Arrgghh.\nMove on, let's try Deaths for 1981. Yes,\nthere she is. Print it off. Born in North Dakota\nin 1902, Bertha's parents were from Russia.\nShe was married at the time of her death,\nto Alexander Zubick. Getting closer. The\ninformant on the certificate, whose name I will\nchange here, was her daughter Edna Korner,\nalso living in Princeton.\nNext, the City Directories. Princeton\n1940, a Mrs. Bertha Zubick. Princeton 1956,\nMrs. Bertha Zubick, Proprietor Home\nLaundry. Mrs. Edna Korner, widow. If Bertha\nwas Alexander's wife and Edna their daughter,\nwhy hadn't Edna picked up her father's ashes?\nAnd was the Princeton Alexander the same\nas the Vancouver Alexander? And was the\nPrinceton Alexander my Russian Alexander? I\nhad to link the two.\nLet's try Marriages for 1921. Bingo, print\nit off. Alexander Zubick, born in Russia, aged\n24, had married Bertha, born in North Dakota.\nHis signature. It looked like the signature on\nhis conscription attestation and other military\nrecords. Everything is so close now, everything\nalmost matches perfectly. Why can't I get his\ndeath certificate to confirm date of birth and\nnext of kin?\n16\nBRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY | Fall 2013 | Vol. 46 No. 3\n I Google Edna Korner. Yes, she still lives\nin Princeton, at the same address as given on\nher mother's death certificate. She's involved\nwith the Royal Canadian Legion. But if she is\nAlexander's daughter, why hasn't she claimed\nthe ashes? I don't want to contact her, in case I\nstir up something.\nDays pass. Nothing. No call from the\nPenticton Herald reporter, telling me our article\nhas busted the file wide open. No call from\nthe Princeton RCMP, asking me for further\ninformation. Finally I crack. I email the noncommissioned officer in charge Princeton,\nasking him if anybody has claimed the Zubick\nashes, as I believe I have the Zubick medals,\nand that the Last Post Fund could step in to\nproperly honour the remains. He replies that\nsomebody has claimed the ashes!\nOkay, now what? A letter, with a postage\nstamp and a Princeton address. I respectfully\ntell Edna that we may both know something\nabout Alexander Zubick, and if she so desires,\nshe can contact me. If she doesn't, I will\nunderstand.\nA few days later, a phone call. Yes, Mrs.\nEdna Korner had claimed the ashes. No, she\ndidn't know her father very well. He was born\nin Russia and had been in the Great War. He\nleft her mother and her in Princeton in the\n1930s, when she was 7. She saw him next at\nage 19 at her wedding, and then at the George\nDerby care home in Vancouver. He was living\nin Vancouver, she thought, with his mother.\nHe suffered from a rare skin disease. So the\nuntreatable eczema that may have saved his\nlife by keeping him out of the front line in 1918\nwas misdiagnosed back then by the Canadian\ndoctors.\nWhen he died in 1985, Edna was in Greece\non holidays, and her daughter handled things.\nShe must have arranged for the ashes to be sent\nfrom Vancouver to Princeton, and then, for\nwhatever reason, they sat in the funeral home,\nto be forgotten for twenty years. Edna doesn't\nbite when I mention I have his medals. Where\nwere the ashes now? Edna had sprinkled them\non her peony bush in the garden.\nPostscript 2013\nIn 2009 a distant relative found my\nwebsite with Zubick's name and provided me\nwith a picture of Alexander in George Derby in\n1975\/1976.\nIn 2012 I did go back to Cloverdale and\nlocate his death certificate. He had died at\nShaughnessy Hospital, at the time a Veterans\ncare centre. On this form he was aged 89, born\non April 11, 1896. He had been suffering from\nChronic Brain Syndrome (dementia) leading to\nmalnutrition. Poor guy had wasted away.\nRecently, I contact Edna again who\nreplies with the name of the disease and a photo\nof Alexander from 1918. Three generations of\nZubicks suffered from Hailey-Hailey Disease,\nwhich was not discovered until 1939.\nIt's almost time to close the file, but like\nin all good detective stories, some threads will\nbe left dangling. How did his medals wind up\nin London, Ontario? Some Zubicks live there,\nrun a scrap metal business. Are they related to\nAlexander? Maybe a connection to his brother,\nJohn James Zubick, from Omsk, Siberia, who\nenlisted in Saskatchewan in May 1916?*\nEndnotes\n1. Alexander Zubick,\nSoldiers of the First World\nWar: Attestation Papers,\nRegimental number\n126377. http:\/\/www.\ncollectionscanada.gc.ca\/\ndatabases\/cef\/001042-\n100.01-e.php. His\ncomplete service record\ncan be found at Library\n& Archives Canada\nRecord Group 150,\nAccession 1992-93\/166,\nBox 10682 - 61.\n2. Alexander Zubick,\nCertificate of Death 1985-\n09-017979,12 October\n1985, Vancouver, British\nColumbia. (British\nColumbia Archives).\n3. Bertha Alvina Zubick,\nCertificate of Death\n1981-09-010035, 20 June\n1981, Princeton, British\nColumbia. (British\nColumbia Archives).\n4. Alexander Zubick\nand Bertha Skaley,\nBritish Columbia\nVital Statistics\nAgency, Certificate of\nRegistration of Marriage\n1921-09-236973, 21\nDecember 1921, Vernon,\nBritish Columbia. (British\nColumbia Archives),\nmicrofilm B12907.\n5. John Moorhouse,\n\"Mystery of unclaimed\nashes remains\nunsolved,\" Penticton\nHerald, Thursday, April\n13, 2006.\nAlexander on left in 1918 with unknown\nsoldier.\nBRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY | Fall 2013 | Vol. 46 No. 3      17\n Almost a Crystal Palace\nby Robert Ratcliffe Taylor\nA shimmering, architectural tower in the middle of the\ncountryside, the Willows exhibition hall at Victoria, BC 1891-\n1907, captured the confidence of an era.\nRaised in Victoria\nBC one city block\nfrom the Willows\nFairgrounds, Robert\nRatcliffe Taylor\nhas degrees in\nHistory from UBC\nand Stanford. At\nBrock University\nin St. Catharines,\nOntario, he taught\nHistory for thirty-\nfour years and\nsupported the\narchitectural\nheritage\nmovement. His\npublications include\nstudies of German\narchitecture,\nlocal Ontario\narchitecture and\nthe history of the\nWelland Canals.\nFrom 1891 to c. 1948 in the municipality\nof Oak Bay in Victoria, an autumn\nagricultural and industrial exhibition\nwas held, at a complex of buildings,\nincluding a race track, grandstand, and later\na riding academy. During World War I, these\nfairgrounds were used as a military camp. In\nthe 1930s and '40s they housed a film studio.\nThe most striking element in their history,\nhowever, was the first main exhibition hall\nwhich, said a contemporary, was \"almost a\nCrystal Palace\".1\nThe \"palace\" was the brainchild of the\nBritish Columbia Agricultural Association\nwhich for several years had sponsored fall fairs\nat Beacon Hill Park. Here, the exhibitions were\nheld \"in a ram-shackle, barn-like structure,\naffording neither accommodation nor light at\nall suitable.\"2\nFor several years, moreover, attempts\nwere made to have an annual fall show in New\nWestminster, alternating with Victoria. To this\nend, in 1889 New Westminster built a large\nexhibition building.\nVictoria was not to be outdone. 1890s\nconfidence in the local economy was high\nand more than one million dollars' worth of\nbuildings was erected in the city in 1891 alone.3\nMany locals agreed with the journalist who\nwrote that \"the Capital City of the Province\nshould be the capital in reality as well as in\nname\" and so should have an annual fall fair.4\nAt a meeting on October 9, 1890, the city\ncouncil discussed the need to hold a permanent\nannual exhibition starting the following year\nin Victoria. The \"Driving Park\" (race track)\nin Oak Bay was suggested as a site. (Still\nunincorporated as a municipality, Oak Bay\nwas mainly rural and agricultural in nature.)\nInspired by the city coundl's support, in 1891\nthe Agricultural Association purchased 2.42\nhectares (6 acres) of land just south of the track.\nOn this property, at the end of Willows Road,\nnear what is now the junction of Haul tain Street\nand Eastdowne Road, the main exhibition hall\nwould be built. Costing $45,000, the enterprise\nwas supported by a city by-law through\nwhich the council borrowed $25,000, ratified\nby public vote.5 Like most yearly exhibitions,\nVictoria's offered local producers the chance\nto exhibit and advertise their fruit, vegetables\nand livestock as well as manufactured items.\nThe exhibits in the \"palace\", of course, did\nnot include livestock which were housed\nelsewhere on the grounds. The fairs were held\nin late September and early October, lasting\nabout one week.\nThe success of London's Great Exhibition\nof 1851 with its stunning \"Crystal Palace\"\ninspired the construction of similar buildings\nthroughout Canada, the United States and\nEurope. The new availability of sheet glass\nand (in the case of the English structure) cast\niron for construction meant that such buildings\ncould have transparency and lightness, well\nlit on the interior and often dazzling in the\nexterior sunlight.\nIn the Victoria Daily Colonist in June\n1891, the architect Cornelius Soule called for\ntenders for \"Agricultural Exhibition Buildings\"\nto be constructed at what would become the\nWillows Fairgrounds in time for the September\nevent.6 The contractor was William Lorimer\nwho \"lost no time in rushing forward his work\nto completion\" in sixty-five days. Some locals\nhad \"doubts about his sanity\" in accepting\nthe contract to build the hall so quickly.7 Such\nfears were justified because the structure was\nactually not fully ready when the exhibition\nopened on September 29 and was completed\nonly by October 30 1891. It would have to be\n\"renovated\" in time for the 1892 fair.8\nBefore the construction of the provincial\nLegislative Buildings, the Willows Exhibition\nHall was the most imposing building in Victoria\nor even in British Columbia. Understandably,\nlocal people were deeply impressed by\nCornelius Soule's creation. The city directory\nfor 1892 described this \"magnificent exposition\nbuilding   ...   [as]   an  ornament  to  the  city,\nBRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY | Fall 2013 | Vol. 46 No. 3\n ... [and] of inestimable value to the entire\nProvince.\"9 Reminiscing in 1908, the Colonist\nopined that it was \"generally admitted to be the\nmost handsome building of its kind in western\nCanada\".10 Perhaps local pride inspired this\npraise, but such opinions have been buttressed\nby those of architectural historian Fern Graham\nwho calls the structure \"remarkable\".11 On\nthe other hand, some writers have stressed\nthe incongruous appearance of the new hall\nin what was primarily agricultural land. The\nsetting was \"fit for The Brothers Karamazov in\n19th century St Petersburg\" said a journalist\nin 1975.12 Clearly, the \"palace\" was impressive\nand, in retrospect, remains so.13\nThe hall was distinguished by its\ntowering verticality. The structure was of\nwood, which appears brown or black in early\nphotographs but after 1901 was painted a\nlighter shade with a green trim. The shingled\nexterior walls reflected the popular \"Stick\nStyle\" with rectilinear gridwork and latticing.\nThe ground plan was that of a Latin cross;\ni.e. a long nave and a shorter transept (two\nprojecting wings) at the middle. This \"nave\"\nwas over 18 m (60 ft.) wide by over 54 m (180\nft.) long; the wings each extended 7 m (25 ft.)\nfrom the crossing. The roof rose over 17 m (56\nft,)14 and was surmounted by an octagonal\ntower with a dome on top of which was a\ncupola. At either end of the \"nave\" was a turret\nThe Willows\n\"Crystal Palace\"\nas it looked new in\n1891, showing the\npublic entrance in\nthe porch at the\nleft.\nBRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY | Fall 2013 | Vol. 46 No. 3      19\n 1. BC Legislature (1898)\n2. Empress Hotel (1908)\n3. Government House (1890)\n4. Royal Jubilee Hospital (1865)\nThe street layout\nabove is from a\nlater era, but\nthe map clearly\nshows the Willows\nFairgrounds as\nremote from\ndowntown Victoria\nin rural Oak Bay,\naccessible mainly\nvia Fort Street.\nor open cupola. At the four corners of the base\nof the dome's platform were four smaller\ntowers capped with cupolas. Each of these four\ntowers was connected to the dome structure\nby a walkway. Windows wrapped around the\nbase of each tower. The dome itself had six\nwindows. Around its outer edge was an open\nbalcony, reached by an exterior staircase. From\nhere, fairgoers enjoyed magnificent views of\nthe countryside, the Olympic Mountains and\nthe Sooke Hills \u2014 and the games and races on\nthe grounds to the north. Flags and banners\nflew from the towers and from poles on each of\nthe building's twenty-two gables.\nMost visitors approached the fairgrounds\nfrom the southwest at Willows Road, passing\nunder a large wooden pedimented arch at\nthe main or western entrance to the hall.\nFlower beds, lawns and shrubs flanked the\nbuilding.15 Porte cocheres \u2014 one at each end\nof the building \u2014 marked the entrances to\nthe hall. The western one had a staircase for\npublic access, while the eastern one had a ramp\nto facilitate the entrance and exit of heavy\nexhibits.\nIn the centre of the ground floor stood\na fountain surrounded by exotic ferns and\nflowers. Above it rose two arcaded galleries\nwhich were used for lighter-weight exhibits.\nA wide staircase at each of the hall's corners\ndrew visitors to the upper floors.\n\"One of the best features\" of the hall,\nwrote an observer, was \"the large and airy\nwindows\". There were \"no dark or shady\ncorners\" inside.16\nThe fifty-two large plate glass windows\nappeared to extend almost uninterruptedly\nfrom the floor to the roof. Those on the ground\nfloor were tall, narrow and rectangular. Those\nabove were arched. Bull's-eye windows were\nset under the four gables of the main cross-\nwing and half-moon windows were set into\nthe gables on the side of each wing. At either\nend of the \"nave\" were large almost square\n20\nBRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY | Fall 2013 | Vol. 46 No. 3\n windows. In the daylight hours, therefore, the\ninterior was indeed well lit and occasionally\nstunningly illuminated. \"The setting sun,\"\nwrote a local journalist, \"shimmering through\nthe haze of the warm October sky, shed an\norange-tinted lustre through the large glass\nwindows of the exhibition, on the faces and\nattire of the throng.\"17\nBy 1890 electric lighting was to be found\nin many of Victoria's offices and in some well-\nto-do homes\", but at night the artificially\nilluminated hall was a revelation to many,\n\"like a scene from fairyland\".18 When the hall\nopened in 1891, twenty electric lamps were\ninstalled on the ground floor and a further 25\non each of the galleries. R.B. McMieking, who\nwas the electrician in charge of Victoria's street\nlighting system, supervised the installation.19\nIn 1903 a searchlight was mounted on the\ndome, sweeping the countryside each evening\nfor several hours  during the fair. In 1907,\nthe entrance to the hall was outlined with\ncoloured lights. On the ground floor, a three-\nhorsepower gasoline engine provided power\nfor the illumination and for the machinery in\nthe exhibits.\nInside the Palace\nA visit to the Willows hall was a feast\nfor senses other than the visual. Entering the\nbuildings, fair-goers were confronted with\nthe various fragrances of the floral exhibit. In\nseveral years, they inhaled the aroma of hot\ncoffee and freshly baked biscuits prepared by\none of the exhibitors. As well as the splash\nof the fountain, there was much to hear as\nwell. The bandstand was often occupied by\n\"Professor\" Emil Pferdner's orchestra20 and\noccasionally by groups such as the Nanaimo\nCornet Band and the Fifth Regiment Band.\nLooking south, the\n\"Palace\", circa\n1901, looming\nup out of the\ncountryside like a\nHollywood fantasy.\nBetween the\nChinese market\ngardens in the\nforeground and\nthe hall is the\nracetrack with the\ngrandstand on the\nright.\nBRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY | Fall 2013 | Vol. 46 No. 3      21\n In its inuagural year the \"palace\" interior\nwas \"artistically attended to by Mr. McNeill\"\nof the Victoria Theatre. Later, J.C. Richards, an\nupholsterer, was in charge21 of the decoration.\nDetermining the look of the hall could become\na family affair. In 1894, the \"sisters, wives\nand daughters of the contestants\" made\n\"pretty decorations\" and the bandstand was\ndecorated with \"lovely specimens of Japanese\nwallpaper\".22\nIn this year, the Agricultural Association\nhad shields painted, one for each part of the\nprovince (including one for Washington State)\nthat were hung about the hall. In 1902, Japanese\nlanterns, flags of the nations, and coloured\nbunting were affixed to the balustrades of the\ngalleries.\nExhibits\nWithin the Willows \"palace\", wrote the\nAgricultural Association, \"the products of\nthe Province of every conceivable kind will\nhave ample room and light for exhibiting\ntheir various excellencies\".23 Indeed, at least\nin its first year of operation, the hall attracted\nmany exhibitors. On the day before the 1891\nfair opened, \"more room was the cry heard\non every hand\".24 Several would-be exhibitors\nwho had neglected to reserve space were\nturned away. In most years, the main floor of\nthe hall housed the displays of manufactured\nand agricultural products. Two businesses\nperennially exhibiting their \"excellencies\"\nwere Victoria's Albion Iron Works and the\nPendray Soap Factory. Local farmers presented\ntheir fruit and vegetables as did occasionally\nproducers from the Fraser Valley. There were\nmany and various exhibits. The BC Mining\nAssociation often showed examples of coal\nand other ores. In 1903 on the first gallery\nthe local Manual Training School displayed\nseveral boys working on projects. On this and\nthe second gallery were usually the exhibits of\ncrafts and art, including, in two years, the work\nof Emily Carr.\nSome of the exhibits document how\nmuch has changed over the past century. On\none of the galleries was shown \"ladies' fancy\nwork\", deemed to be \"an exemplification of the\nvirtues of the careful house-wife.\"25 In Victoria,\nby the 1890s, the \"machine for writing\" was as\nnew and fascinating as the computer a century\nlater and provided a challenge to \"muscular\"\ncalligraphers. Over the years, typing contests\nwere held in the \"palace\", with the contestants\njudged on speed and accuracy. In 1904, the\nsecond gallery saw \"a special exhibit of\nPalmer's system of muscular penmanship\".26\nSome exhibits may surprise 21st century\nreaders. In 1894, for example, R. P. Rithet and\nCo. (\"wholesale merchants, ship and insurance\nagents\") put up an arch \"of peace and plenty\",\nunder which stood a lifesize plaster cast of\nAphrodite, the work of Edwin A. Harris. The\ngoddess of love was shown with a bow and\narrow and an expression \"sweet, pleasing\nand dignified, with a typical Greek nose,\nrounded cheeks, and well-carved lips\". The\nTimes reported that she stood in an \"attitude\nsomewhat like that of the Venus de Milo ... the\ndrapery of course being omitted.\"27\nPlagued by Problems\nAn impressive piece of architecture,\nthe hall was beset with problems from the\nstart. The electrical plant was unreliable, even\ndangerous. On one evening in 1892, all the\nlights went out. After a few minutes, some\nwere made operational but none functioned\nin the art gallery all that evening. A standby\ngenerator was to be set up but, in October\n1894, the power failed again. Renovations to\nthe hall's fabric were undertaken in winter of\n1892-93 but, in 1894 the dome leaked when it\nrained, damaging the exhibits. In that year, too,\nthe floor of one of the galleries began to sink\nand had to be shored up while the observation\ntowers, deemed unsafe, were closed to the\npublic.\nBetween 1896 and 1900, the Palace was\nabandoned and seems not to have been used\nat all. The Colonist lamented that \"this fine big\nbuilding ... was allowed to fall into a state of\npremature decay, while the grounds were\nneglected\".28 In a 1900 response to a petition\nto revive the annual fairs in the following year,\nhowever, Mayor Charles Hayward raised the\nissue at a city council meeting on 9 October.\nThe councillors were unanimous in favour of\nthe project, but the Association had found that\nthe building's fabric had deteriorated and was\nin need of repair. The fact that Victoria was to\nhost a royal visit in 1901 was an added impetus\nto renovating the structure.\n22\nBRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY | Fall 2013 | Vol. 46 No. 3\n Consequently, the City allotted $4500 for\nimprovements. Two coats of white paint were\napplied on the outside and one on the interior.\nOver a period of ten weeks, the hall's fabric was\n\"strengthened\" and brace rods were installed\nin some areas, so that the city engineer could\npronounce the hall \"perfectly safe\".29\nRoyal Event\nThe work was completed mere days\nbefore the most impressive event to occur in\nthe hall took place on 1 October, 1901, when\nthe Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York,\nlater King George and Queen Mary, visited\nthe Willows Fair.30 Accompanied by Prime\nMinister Wilfrid Laurier, Lieutenant-Governor\nHenri-Josephe Joly de Lotbiniere, Mayor\nHayward, as well as their own retinue, they\nwere greeted tumultuously. Also present were\ndirectors and the board of management of\nthe Agricultural Association and their wives,\nfriends and invited guests.\nA band played patriotic music and a\ncrimson carpet was laid out from the main\nfloor to the first gallery. From the ceiling hung\na banner emblazoned with the words \"The\nSecret of England's Greatness\" and the image\nof a Bible. Two four year-old girls dressed in\nwhite, strewed flowers in the royal couple's\npath. On the gallery, the Duke thanked the\nMayor for the gift of a gold medal and declared\nthe Exhibition formally opened \"in a fine loud\nvoice that could be distinctly heard at quite a\ndistance from him\".31 On a brief walk-about,\nthe Duke and Duchess paid special attention to\nthe exhibit of the British Columbia and Alaska\nBazaar (a local collection of aboriginal art),\nwhere an \"Indian chief\" give the Duke a stone\ncarving. The royal party also admired the work\nof a local taxidermist and the exhibit of applied\nart. After just under one hour, the visitors left\nthe \"palace\".\nThe renovated\nand repainted\n\"Palace\" during\nthe Fair of 1902\nwith the horseraces\nunderway. The\nlarge shed in\nfront of the\nhall exhibited\nmachinery. The\nturreted structure\non the left housed\nin different years a\nmaritime exhibit,\na creamery, and a\nrestaurant.\nBRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY | Fall 2013 | Vol. 46 No. 3      23\n Questionable Wiring\nThree days after the royal party had been\nthrough the hall, on the evening of 4 October\n1901, a fire broke out. Several hundred fair-\ngoers were still \"promenading\" on various\nfloors of the structure when someone noticed\nflames and smoke coming from the southwest\nwindow of the hall's ground floor, near the\nentrance steps. The flames were reaching up\nto the first gallery. A stampede ensued but no\none was injured. A young employee of one\nof the electric companies \"made a desparate\n[sic] effort to check [the fire] by getting\nunder the stairway and was nearly burned in\nconsequence\".32\nProvincial Constable Daniel Campbell\nand one F.G. Hall identified the source of the\nblaze as a small room under the stairway.\nCampbell raced up to the top floor \"three steps\nat a time\" to get the fire extinguishing chemicals\nstored there. There he found a fireman already\nunreeling the necessary hose. They threw the\nhose down to the main level and turned on\nthe fluid, which extinguished the fire almost\nimmediately. A \"bucket brigade\" was also\nformed to pour water on the smoldering\nwoodwork. By the time the Victoria fire brigade\narrived, they were not needed.\nThe blaze resulted from the crossing\nof wires and the lack of proper insulation on\ncertain wiring. Damage turned out to be slight\nand repairs were made during the night.33\nEventually, the city Fire Department, headed\nby Chief Thomas Watson maintained a \"squad\nof men on duty night and day\" at the hall\nduring the fairs. Also present was \"the old\nTiger engine with steam up on hand\". The fair\nauthorities would maintain \"an ample supply\nof watchmen ... night and day\".34\nDespite these problems, Victorians\ncontinued to praise the beauty and\nmagnificence of their \"Crystal Palace\". In 1907,\nfor example, the Colonist exulted, \"the main\nbuilding never looked as well as this year\".35\nMoreover, safety precautions seemed to have\nbeen intensified. By 1907, the authorities had\nstipulated that \"articles will not be admitted\n[in the exhibits] which by reason of their odor,\nappearance combustible or explosive nature\nare injurious, offensive to health or destructive\nto life and property\".36\nDemise of the Palace\nThe demise of the \"palace\", however, was\nnear. Around 8:00 pm on December 26 1907,\nthe superintendent of the Old Men's Home\non nearby Cadboro Bay Road noticed smoke\nand flames pouring from the front windows\nand notified the fire department. Meanwhile,\nthe windows shattered, admitting the strong\nsoutheast wind which fanned the fire.\nBy this time of year, the equipment and\nmen present during fair days were long gone\nand only one fire hydrant stood in the grounds.\nFire Chief Watson, upon receiving the alarm,\narrived at the site in his horse-drawn buggy in\nfifteen minutes, but could do nothing. He was\nfollowed by the department's hose cart which\nmade \"a fast run\" but the men found that the\naforementioned hydrant gave only a \"feeble\nstream of water\" and \"proved of little value\".\nOn its way to the fire, a \"combination chemical\nand hose cart\" became \"mired and stuck in\nthe roadway\" leading up to the exhibition\nentrance. Soon a \"big four-ton steamer was\nalso mired\". It took until 11:00 pm to extricate\nthese vehicles from the mud.\nAt 9:00 pm, the roof and upper floor of\nthe hall fell in and half an hour later nothing\nwas left but smoking ashes. From the southeast\ncorner of the building (where the blaze started)\nthe fire sent showers of sparks through the\nair to the nearby restaurant, machinery and\npoultry halls which were also destroyed. \"The\ncentral part of the city was lit up as by day\",\nwhile thousands of citizens\", said the Victoria\nDaily Times, came to watch the blaze. Upon\nseeing the red glow in the sky, some thought\nthat the Royal Jubilee Hospital was on fire. The\nblaze was said to be visible from Seattle.37\nThe fairgrounds caretaker, J. Bothwell,\nwho lived in a small house near the grandstand,\nsaid that the building had been safely locked up\nand that he had seen no \"suspicious characters\"\nlurking about the hall. Unfortunately, when\nBothwell looked for a hose to attach to the only\nhydrant near the building, he found none. If he\nhad been provided with one, he said, he might\nhave been able to quench the blaze before the\nfiremen arrived.38\nThe exact cause of the fire was unknown,\nalthough the Colonist speculated that the blaze\nwas the \"work of incendiaries\",39 which seems\npossible given the fact that the structure was\n24\nBRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY | Fall 2013 | Vol. 46 No. 3\n unused at the time and that unexplained fires\nwere the fate of the later exhibition buildings\nin the 1940s.\nThe demise of Victoria's \"Crystal Palace\"\nwas not greeted with universal dismay. Mayor\nAlfred J. Morley found the fire to be a \"blessing\nin disguise\", because the building, he said, had\nalways been \" a sort of white elephant, as the\ncost of repairing it was so great\", adding that\n\"it cost almost as much to put up a scaffold\nas it did to do the work\". He looked forward\nto the erection of \"modern buildings\".40 This\nwas accomplished in time for the 1908 Fair\n\u2014 including a main exhibit hall \u2014 but none\nof them had the confident bravura of the first\nWillows exhibition hall.\nAnd none of them survived the mid-\ntwentieth century. Today no trace of Cornelius\nSoule's masterpiece or its successors can\nbe found, for the whole area is covered in\nsuburban housing. In fact, few Victorians have\never heard of their \"crystal palace\". \u2022\nEndnotes\n1. Williams' Illustrated Official British Columbia City\nDirectory ... (Victoria: R.T. Williams, 1892), 194.\n2. Victoria Daily Colonist, 1 October 1891,1.\n3. Christopher Hanna, William Wilson: Pioneer\nEntrepreneur, (Victoria: Trafford, 2002), 192.\n4. Victoria Daily Times, 30 September 1891.\n5. $1 in 1891 converts to approximately $25 in 2010\nmoney. $45,000 ~ $1,110,000.00. $25,000 ~ $618,000.00.\nLawrence H. Officer and Samuel H. Williamson,\n\"Purchasing Power of Money in the United States\nfrom 1774 to Present, accessed June 10, 2013. www.\nmeasuringworth.com\/ppowerus\/.\n6. Cornelius John Soule (1851-1939) studied architecture\nat the South Kensington School of Science and Art where\nhe excelled. After articling with a London architect, he\nemigrated to the United States c. 1871. In Boston and\nCleveland, he partnered with other architects before\nsettling in Ontario. Drawn to the west coast, he designed\na residence in Victoria in 1890 and St. Paul's Presbyterian\nChurch in early 1891. After designing the Willows hall, he\npartnered with Robert Day on the Point Comfort Hotel on\nMayne Island and North Ward School in Victoria in 1893.\n7. Colonist, 30 September 1891,1. Glasgow-born Lorimer\n(1846 -1918) later described himself as a carpenter,\npatternmaker or mechanic.\n9. Williams'Illustrated\nOfficial British Columbia\nDirectory, ... 104. \"One\nof the handsomest\npieces of architecture on\nthe Pacific coast\", said\nan 1891 publication,\nVictoria Illustrated (32)\npublished by W.H.\nEllis who, incidentally,\nwas president of the\nAgricultural Association.\n10. Colonist, 1 September\n1908,11.\n11. \"The Crystal Palace\nin Canada\", Society for the\nStudy of Architecture in\nCanada. Bulletin. (March\n1994):Vol. 19, no. 1,11 .\nR.H. Soule (the architect's\ngreat-grandson) notes\nthat the hall was\n\"hailed as a significant\nlandmark in the history\nof exhibition architecture\nin Canada.\" (Building the\nWest: the Early Architects\nof British Columbia,\n(Vancouver: Talonbooks,\n2003), 183.) On 5 October\n1891 (2), the Vancouver\nDaily World published a\ndescription (which may\nhave been inspired by\nVictoria opinion): the\nbuilding was \"one of\nthe finest agricultural\nbuildings in Canada and\nby far the handsomest\nedifice west of Toronto\".\n12. The Brothers Karamazov\nis the final novel by the\nRussian author Fyodor\nDostoyevsky, completed\nin 1880.\n13. The hall \"dominated\nthe pastoral scene like\na gothic mansion.\"\nAb Kent, \"Weep for\nWillows\", Times, 12\nFebruary 1965, 6.]\n14. Williams' Illustrated\nOfficial British Columbia\nDirectory ... 104.\nColonist, 28 September 1892,1.\n15. But later photographs\nshow cattle grazing in\nfront of the building.\nEarly in the hall's history,\na wooden fence about\nnine feet high surrounded\nthe building but by 1901\nit no longer appears in\nphotographs.\n16. Times, 28 September,\n1891,5.\n17. Colonist, 2 October\n1901,1.\n18. Colonist, 28 September\n1892, 5.\n19. McMicking (1843-\n1915), from Queenston,\nOntario, was also\nmanager of the Victoria\nand Esquimalt Telephone\nCompany and, later, an\nalderman.\n20. Pferdner (1856-1923)\nemigrated from Germany\nto the U.S. and thence to\nVictoria, where he was a\nmilitary bandmaster and\nlater music director for\nthe Royal Victoria Theatre\nas well as a piano teacher.\n21. Colonist, 29 September\n1891,1.\n22. Colonist, 27 and 30\nSeptember, 1894, 2 and 3.\n23. B.C. Agricultural\nAssociation: review of\nits history, what it has\naccomplished: the new\ngrounds and Crystal Palace,\n(1891), 4.\n24. Colonist, 29 September\n1891. Colonist, 28\nSeptember 1892,1.\n25. Colonist, 28 September\n1892,1.\n26. Colonist, 28 September\n1904, 8. Developed in the\nUnited States in the 1890s,\nthe method focussed\non shoulder and arm\nmovements, rather than\non the fingers.\n27. Colonist, 2 October\n1894,1.\n28. Colonist, 2 October\n1901,12.\n29. Times, 26 September\n1901, 2.\n30. They were touring the\nEmpire at the time. The\nDuke was actually Prince\nof Wales but had not yet\nbeen invested with the\ntitle.\n31. Colonist, 2 October\n1901,1. No public address\nsystem was in effect yet.\n32. Colonist, 5 October\n1901,1.\n33.Ibid.\n34. Colonist, 28 September\n1904,1.\n35. Colonist, 25 September,\n4.\n36. Ibid, 8 September\n1907,17.\n37. 27 December 1907,\n1; Colonist 27 December\n1907,1.\n38. Times, 27 December\n1907 1.\n39. Colonist, 27 December\n1907,1.\n40. Times, 27 October\n1907,1.\nBRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY | Fall 2013 | Vol. 46 No. 3      25\n One-Eye Lake Plane Crash\nby Sterling Haynes\nA day off for a kinda green GP in Williams Lake in August\n1961 turned into a flight without a map to the scene of a\nplane crash.\nSterling Haynes\nreceived his\nmedical degree\nfrom the University\nof Alberta. He\nserved as a colonial\nofficer in Nigeria\nand practiced\nmedicine in the\nCariboo, Alberta\nand Alabama.\nIn 1961, on Tuesday my day off in August,\nI was called to go to One-Eyed Lake in\nthe Chilcotin region, a few miles from the\nPuntzi U.S. Air force Base. A light plane\nhad crashed with three people aboard and\nCappy Lloyd, the radio-telephone operator at\nthe One-Eye Lake Lodge asked me to go to the\nwreck immediately. I gathered my bag, Thomas\nsplints, yards of bandaging and dressings and\n16 pints (10 L) of IV fluids and soon I was at the\ndock by Colonel Joe's float plane on Williams\nLake. Joe, a southerner, had been a U.S. fighter\npilot on the Burma Road in WWII. Joe was\ngetting ready for the trip and was gassing\nup his Cessna 180 by hand from a 45 gallon\ndrum of high octane fuel when I arrived.\nI was in my second year of frontier\npractice in Williams Lake with four other Docs\nwhen I got the call about 9 on a sunny morning\nto fly on a mercy flight into the Chilcotin. I was\n33 years old country Doc and 'kinda green' but\nwas big, strong and ready to go. I drove down\nto the Lakes' dockside and located the 'bush\npilot' Colonel Joe and his Cessna 182.\n26\nBRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY | Fall 2013 | Vol. 46 No. 3\n \"What do ya no good Doc? Don't want to\nhear no troubles - jist give me the positives,\"\nsaid Joe.\"Here, I'll help load your stuff in the\nback of my plane. Then we'll be off like a dirty\nshirt to One-Eye Lake.\"\nOnce we were in the air Joe asked me to\nfind the section of the maps that showed One-\nEye Lake. I searched the back of the plane but\nthat topographical map section was gone. In\nthe hazy, smoke from forest fires we searched,\nflying at 300 feet (100 m) west of the Puntzi\nMountain US airbase until we heard and saw\na man on a small lake firing shotgun shells. It\nwas Cappy. He waved us in and we landed on\nOne-Eye Lake.\nWith the U.S. sergeant medic and a PFC\nsoldier from Puntzi Mountain and two young\nFirst Nations lads we set down the trail with\nCappy in the lead. We walked about half a mile\n(800 m) and heard screaming, and then we saw\nthe front end and the prop buried in the mud. I\nwas first one there and the boys followed with\nall the medical equipment. The sergeant carried\nthe Thomas splints and mesh metal stretcher. I\nmanaged to pry open the door and found Jack,\nthe pilot dead. Kenny Huston was still strapped\nin the co-pilot's seat and Jack's 'teen age son\nwas sitting on sleeping bags at the back of the\nplane nursing his ankle. Kenny's scalp was on\nthe dashboard. I remember throwing Kenny's\nbagged tomato sandwich on the floor and\nstuffing Kenny's scalp in the brown bag and\nputting it in my pocket. All five of us managed\nto gently get Kenny onto the padded metal\nwire stretcher and I placed one leg in a Thomas\nsplint for his badly fractured femur. Then I\nthreaded two intra-catheters into each broken\narm's veins. The two young men carried the\nbottles of saline. Cappy assisted the young lad\nout of the plane and helped him hobble back\nto the lodge. A few hundred yards along the\ntrail Kenny stopped breathing and I intubated\nhim on the muddy path.1 Then his stertorous\nbreathing reassured me as we carried Kenny\nalong the swampy lakeshore.2\nWhile we were away Colonel Joe had\ngassed up the plane in anticipation of flying\nthe injured back to Williams Lake.\nLeft on page 26:\nA tranquille scene\nat One Eye Lake,\n1969.\nNumbers between asteriks along Hwys 97 and 20 represent distances in miles (kilometres)\nMap of the Cariboo Chilcotin.\nBRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY | Fall 2013 | Vol. 46 No. 3      27\n Lt. Col. Hammy\nBoucher in full\nmilitary regalia\nin the Canadian\nMedical Corp, 1962.\n\"Doc, what say we strap\nKenny to one of the\npontoons? We don't have\nroom in my plane.\"\n\"Colonel Joe, are you out of your mind?\nI'll get the RCMP's large Beaver aircraft to fly\ndown from Prince George. When you get back\nto Williams Lake notify the hospital matron,\nDoreen Campbell, of our problems, we'll be\nback in three or four hours.\"\n\"OK, Doc.\"\nWe had a great trip back in the Beaver.\nOnce back at War Memorial hospital in\nWilliams Lake, my partner, John Hunt, and\nI in the splinted some of the 43 fractures and\ntransfused Kenny with six units of blood. I\nretrieved the scalp from my brown sandwich\nbag and re-attached Kenny's scalp with many\nstitches. At dawn the next day Kenny was\ntransferred by an \"Air-Sea Rescue's\" Grumman\nflying boat to the Richmond docks and then to\nthe Vancouver General Hospital (VGH) under\nthe care of Hammy Boucher. Kenny was to\nremain a patient in VGH for three years. Kenny\nreturned to town with no crutches and after a\nlong 40 months, married Doreen Campbell, the\nhospital matron. Ken's recovery was due to the\ngreat treatment provided by Hammy and Hec\nGillespie and the resident staff of VGH.\u00ab\nEndnotes\nA version of this story titled Hammy and Hector was\npublished in the BC Medical Journal, Vol. 52, No. 8,\nOctober 2010.\n1. intubate: insert a tube into (a person or a body part,\nespecially the trachea for ventilation). The Canadian Oxford\nDictionary, (Ontario: Oxford University Press, 1998.\n2. stertorous: (of breathing) noisy and laboured. The\nCanadian Oxford Dictionary.\n#\n\\i\n^\nIn the Winter 2013 issue of\nBritish Columbia History\nEmory Creek Revisited\nEmory Creek: The Environmental Legacy of Gold Mining on the Fraser River - Revisited\nby G. B. Leech and Joan Cardiff\nThe White Sultan of Victoria\nThe Extraordinary Adventures of Brigadier Sir James Timothy Whittington Landon KCVO\nby Paul G. Chamberlain, PhD\n$\n28\nBRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY | Fall 2013 | Vol. 46 No. 3\n The Viaduct that Saved Commercial Drive\nby Jak King\nThe story of Charles Smith and the First Avenue Viaduct is\nthe creation story of the Drive, a story without which East\nVancouver's history would have been markedly different.\neffect on the people and households in\nGrandview. Hundreds of lots in the district\nwere surrendered to the city for failure to pay\ntaxes. With the vast number of empty lots and\nthe consequent lack of any need to provide\nreasonable transportation to those sections, the\nCity had not felt it necessary to spend any of\ntheir limited resources on grading, paving or\nservicing many of the streets running east of\nVictoria Drive.\nAs the economic conditions of the\nDepression were slowly alleviated, the\neastside was being left behind in the recovery.\nFor example, while almost 1400 houses\nand apartments were built in the west side\nof Vancouver in 1935, fewer than 300 were\nconstructed east of Ontario Street that year.\nMost of the houses in Grandview were already\nconsidered older stock and many were run\ndown and dilapidated, causing locals to\ncampaign often about what they called the\n\"slumification\" of East Vancouver.\nA City Engineer had contemptuously\ndescribed Grandview in these years as the\nCity's \"back door\": it wasn't that important in\nthe scheme of things and could be allowed to\nbecome shabby in a way that a front door never\nwould be. The Highland Echo was no doubt\naccurate when it editorialized that westside\nand downtown interests, including the daily\nmetropolitan newspapers, saw Grandview\nas an unpleasant sort of place inhabited by\nan unpleasant sort of people, namely the\nworking classes. By 1935, Grandview had\nbecome identified, in one newspaper's words,\nas \"the Cinderella in the family of Vancouver\nsuburbs.\"1\nPart of the problem stemmed from the\nurban planning consequences of Grandview's\ngeography. Grandview and Commercial\nDrive sit on the high ground just east of the,\nthen-undeveloped, False Creek Flats. Trapped\nbehind this barrier, Commercial Drive was cut\noff, in a material way, from the developing\ncity. Motivated partly by the need to detour\nJuly Is' 2013 was the 75th anniversary of\nthe opening of the First Avenue Viaduct,\nan event that rescued and re-invented\nwhat was then a failing Commercial\nDrive suburb and linked it firmly once and\nfor all to the growing city of Vancouver.\nThe boom for building in Grandview,\nof which Commercial Drive is the retail and\nsocial heart, was in the decade before the First\nWorld War, and by 1914, the neighbourhood\nwas filling out and thriving. Unfortunately, the\nimpact of the War and the business downturns\nimmediately after, left the Drive without much\nopportunity for further development and\nexpansion. These difficulties were exacerbated\na decade later by the economic disruption of\nthe Great Depression which had a devastating\nJak King is an\nhistorian who\nhas lived in the\nCommercial Drive\nneighbourhood for\nmore than 20 years.\nHe has published\ntwo books on\nthe history of\nthe Drive and is\ncurrently working\non volumes three\nand four. He is a\nfounder member\nof the Grandview\nHeritage Group\nwhich works to\nidentify, preserve\nand celebrate the\nhistory and heritage\nof this East Van\ndistrict.\nCharles E. Smith,\nthe man behind\nthe grand plan for\nCommercial Drive.\nBRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY | Fall 2013 | Vol. 46 No. 3      29\n - vJfcN&COUVE\n-if*\"*\nGrandview's\nisolation.\naround the Flats, city planners had developed\nthe primary east-west routes to and from\ndowntown Vancouver north of Grandview\nalong Hastings Street and south of Grandview\nalong Broadway. Traffic coming along\nKingsway was also prevented from visiting\nthe district because Commercial essentially\nended at Clark Park, leaving no direct road\nconnection from Kingsway to the Drive.\nThis configuration left Commercial\nDrive stuck in the middle of nowhere, and it\nseemed quite possible to some that the suburb\nmight simply disappear as an independent\nbusiness centre. But there were ways out of\nthis transportation trap. In fact, a grand plan\nhad been proposed by Charles E. Smith since at\nleast the early 1920s.\nSmith was an Australian who landed\nin Vancouver in 1907. He arrived in steerage\nand with a tourist landing permit, but within\ntwo years he held many thousands of dollars'\nworth of property on Commercial Drive.\nBetween 1909 and his early death in 1948, there\nwas little of importance that went on around\nthe Drive that Charles Smith did not have a\npart in. As a realtor, building manager, legal\nadvisor and insurance agent, Smith was the\nconsummate insider and he covered all the big\ndeals.\nSmith's grand plan included a major new\neast-west thoroughfare right across Vancouver\nwith First and Commercial as a primary\nintersection. He proposed that the newly\nconstructed Lougheed Highway bringing\ntraffic from the east and the south be linked\n30\nBRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY | Fall 2013 | Vol. 46 No. 3\n to First Avenue at Boundary Road. The traffic\nwould then be carried through the centre of\nCommercial Drive's shopping district, and\nonto a viaduct or bridge over the False Creek\nFlats from First & Clark to Terminal Avenue,\nand thence down to Main Street. From there,\nhe suggested another viaduct that would take\nthis traffic downtown to Georgia Street. The\nFraser Valley would thus be linked through\nCommercial Drive and Vancouver to the\nnew Lions Gate Bridge by an almost straight\nthoroughfare.\nAt the same time, Commercial Drive\nwould be extended south to connect with\nKingsway in an attempt to divert some traffic\naway from an already clogged Main Street\nand, not incidentally, to divert that traffic from\ndowntown to Commercial's retail interests.\nIf such a plan could be achieved then\nriches indeed would flow to the merchants\nof Commercial Drive. However, looking back\nfrom today it is difficult to understand just how\nmuch a leap of the imagination was needed for\nthis vision. The very idea of First Avenue as a\nmajor east-west thoroughfare was a fanciful\nidea in the 1920s and early 30s. The First Avenue\nof those years was an unimpressive roadway\nat best; from its intersection with Commercial,\nit traveled five blocks west down the steep hill\nto Clark Drive, where it simply stopped as it\nhad nowhere else to go, with the cliffs and the\nFlats in the way. Gravel-topped and with grass\nverges where the sidewalks should be it could\nhave been a country lane.\nTraveling east from Commercial, First\nAvenue wasn't fully graded, it was narrower\nCharles Smith's\nGrand Plan.\nBRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY | Fall 2013 | Vol. 46 No. 3      31\n than standard, and travel east beyond Victoria\nDrive was very uncomfortable over a series of\nshort, sharp hills all the way to Rupert Street.\nThere were few cars on that route and\nthe intersection with Commercial had no traffic\ncontrol of any kind; it didn't need any so long\nas you watched out for the streetcars. It took\na strong dose of imagination \u2014 and probably\na pro-Commercial Drive bent \u2014 to see First\n& Commercial as a thriving urban centre,\nlet alone as the hub of a miles long highway\ncorridor linking the eastern borders of the\nmetropolis with downtown Vancouver.\nThis was a desperately ambitious\nprogram and the barriers to success were very\nhigh. In order to have any chance of success\nat all, the boosters of Commercial Drive\nneeded to tell a really good story, to develop\na master narrative within which they could\nposition their proposals, a background against\nwhich the proposals made some sense. The\nmaster narrative that Commercial Drive's\nboosters chose was a story of neighborhood\nvictimization.\nThey launched claims of a constant\ndiscrimination against the east end of the city\nin general, and against Commercial Drive\nin particular, in favour of downtown and\nwestside interests. They positioned Grandview\nas the neglected colony of the indifferent\nVancouver empire, and they pitched their\ndemands as reasonable requests for deserved\nequal treatment.\nA man with aristocratic bearing and a\nfine voice, the grand plan's author Charles E.\nSmith was happy addressing an audience. He\nspoke often and eloquently to anyone who\nwould listen on the discrimination he claimed\nVancouver and its civic bodies had shown\nagainst Commercial Drive. He ran for alderman\nin 1930 on this very program, claiming that he\nand Grandview should not suffer another two\nyears of stagnation and vacillation.\nThe First Avenue Bridge or viaduct\nwas the key component of Smith's grand\nplan to free Commercial Drive from its\ntransportation trap. The viaduct would make\nit easy for traffic to cross the False Creek Flats\nand access Commercial from First Avenue,\nwhich itself would become a thoroughfare\nfrom Commercial to Main. Crucially, once\nFirst Avenue had been thus established at its\nwestern end, pressure could be brought to\nextend it eastward toward Boundary Road and\nthe Lougheed Highway.\nThe history of this project fed directly\ninto the narrative of the neglected suburb:\nCommercial Drive merchants, following\nSmith's lead, had demanded the viaduct\nfor years without any satisfaction, and\nthis had bred resentment. The target of all\nthat resentment tended to be City Council.\nHowever, it has to be said that Vancouver City\nCouncil had on three separate occasions put all\nthe money needed for the First Avenue Bridge\nto the electorate as part of City Council's overall\nplans for the following year. And on all three\noccasions \u2014 in 1930, 31 and 32 \u2014 the bylaws\nhad been defeated by the voters. Apprehensive\nfor the future in troubled financial times, and\nnot seeing any advantage for themselves, the\nmajority of voters elsewhere in the city had\npulled tight the drawstrings on the public\npurse and denied the Drive its desires.\nHowever, the discrimination narrative\nwas useful; a monumental spin for effect, and\nsuccessful, too, in many ways. Whenever an\noccasion arose, speakers from the eastside\ncontinued to harp on the terrible conditions\nthat, they said, were the result of a cumulative\nprocess of deterioration due entirely to neglect\nby the civic authorities. By mid-1938 it had been\nsaid so often that the Vancouver News Herald, at\nleast, seems to have bought into the story. They\nwrote that \"the people of Grandview have\nbeen very patient, and repeated defeats would\nhave daunted less courageous people.\"2\nThe abolition of the Vancouver City\nward system in 1935 removed the most\nobvious political avenue for a local party of\nmunicipal discontent. But the group of leaders,\nCharles Smith and his friends, that emerged\non the Drive in the 1930s and 40s were in\ngeneral independent merchants and salaried\nprofessionals who were far more interested in\ncommerce than they were in ideology. In fact,\nthey were stridently agnostic when it came to\nparty politics. However, without an alderman\nof their own, the purveyors of Commercial\nDrive's grand plan and the narrative\nthat supported it needed to find another\ninstitutional base from which to launch their\nproposals They also needed a propaganda\n32\nBRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY | Fall 2013 | Vol. 46 No. 3\n outlet not controlled by the downtown\ninterests.\nThe Grandview Chamber of Commerce,\noriginally founded in 1917, and its mouthpiece\nthe Highland Echo, a successful weekly\nneighborhood paper, neatly filled both roles.\nThe Grandview Chamber of Commerce\nhad had a number of high points in its history.\nIn 1928, for example, it led the fight to create\nGrandview Park on Commercial and they\nmanaged to persuade City Council to invest\n$10,000 in new park facilities. Two years later,\nthis time led by Catherine Button and the\nLadies' Auxiliary, the Chamber had a War\nMemorial built in the Park and consecrated by\nArchbishop Depencier. On both occasions, the\nevents were concluded with large and popular\nstreet dances.\nAt the height of the Depression, Mrs.\nButton, Charles Smith, and the Chamber of\nCommerce were front and center in turning\nVictoria Park into the greens and clubhouse\nfor the new Grandview Lawn Bowling Club.\nThey managed to persuade both provincial\nand municipal governments that this was a\nwork relief program and many local craftsmen\ngot useful employment as the park was rebuilt.\nAnd as recently as the summer of 1936, the\nChamber organized a popular weekend long\nevent \u2014 with a parade, the selection of a\nneighbourhood Queen, and a party in the Park\n\u2014 to celebrate Vancouver's Golden Jubilee.\nBut, like many local organizations, the\nChamber was reliant on the interest of unpaid\nvolunteers to keep it going, and there were\ntimes over the years when the organization\nalmost ceased to exist. After the success of the\nJubilee celebrations that summer, the Chamber\nentered one of these periods of quiescence. But\nthese were important and difficult times and\nsome thought the Chamber was needed now\nmore than ever. A small group of businessmen\nwith definite plans for the future, and strongly\nsupported by the Highland Echo's weekly\neditorials, gathered around Charlie Smith,\n\"Pete\" Brown of Brown Bakeries, and Alf\nHiggins of the Commercial Drive Garage.\nTheir nominations got Brown elected president\nof the Chamber in November 1936, along, of\ncourse, with Higgins and Smith.\nLooking back a couple of successful\nyears  later,  Higgins  would  claim that  the\nnew Chamber had worked to a pre-planned\nprogram so that they could \"tick off the\nachievements one by one\".3 That was, no\ndoubt, an over-statement of their pre-planning,\nbut at least they were awake and active. Their\nrenewed agitation about the slowness of the\nLougheed Highway construction, for example,\nwas already being noticed by the Province\nnewspaper in April 1937. More directly, they\nwere keen to see progress on the First Avenue\nViaduct.\nWhen the flamboyant lawyer and\nmonetary theorist Gerry McGeer was elected\nMayor of Vancouver at the end of 1934, a\ndeputation from Commercial Drive led by\nCharles Smith took pains to visit the new\nmayor and discuss their issues, most notably\nthe First Avenue Bridge. Smith and his allies\nwere careful to pitch their arguments to include\nbenefits to sections other than Grandview. For\nexample, they claimed that such an artery as\nthey proposed along First Avenue would be\nof tremendous assistance in helping to solve\nthe daily problem of incoming and outgoing\ncommuter traffic that had already resulted\nin what everyone agreed was a serious\naggravation of traffic conditions on Kingsway,\nBroadway, and Main Streets, with a consequent\nhigh accident rate at the points where those\nthoroughfares converge. But it would not\nhave been missed by anyone hearing the\nproposal that the area most benefited by it was\nCommercial Drive. No matter. McGeer gave\nhis immediate and enthusiastic support. He\ndeclared that he would have the bridge built\nbefore the end of his first term in office.\nUnfortunately, by January 1936 there\nhad been no movement on the project and the\nfinancing the Mayor had said he would use\nfor the construction appeared to have been\n\"diverted to other uses,\" as stated in the Echo*\nAnnoyed, the Grandview Chamber passed\na resolution of complaint and sent it off to\nthe Mayor. The resolution noted McGeer's\nprevious assurances that the First Avenue\nBridge project was second in importance only\nto the new City Hall. The resolution and the\nresulting press coverage seemed to do the\ntrick. McGeer came to Grandview and gave\na rousing speech confirming his assurances\nabout the viaduct, and a Council committee\nwas struck straightaway.\nBRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY | Fall 2013 | Vol. 46 No. 3      33\n First Avenue\nViaduct, Dominion\nConstruction\nCompany Limited,\nContractors.\nConstruction\nprogress\nphotograph\nshowing work\nhorses looking east\nfrom bent No. 15\n(foundations for\npedestals of steel\nbents). May 26,\n1937.\nIn February 1936, the committee\nmembers visited, some for the first time, the\nsite of the proposed crossing. After the visit,\nduring which the Councilors were educated at\nlength by Charles Smith, the Echo recorded the\nimpression that \"opinion is veering towards\nthe view that the bridge is vitally needed\" .5 The\nonly problem, of course, was funding. Under\nthe circumstances of the Depression, and after\nthree failed plebiscites, no funds from general\nrevenues could be expected. No matter. Mayor\nMcGeer was sure his baby bonds could be\nstretched to fit the need.\nBaby bonds were a controversial\nmunicipal financing measure that McGeer was\npushing through to pay for the new City Hall\nand for other civic work projects. At the time\nof the Council Committee's visit to the bridge\nsite, provincial authority for the bonds had\nnot yet been granted and so the Committee\ncould not make a final decision. But that spring\n\"baby bonds\" were approved in Victoria, and\nthe Mayor's enthusiasm for the viaduct cleared\naway all other delays.\nThe preliminary surveys and test holes\nwere completed that summer and contracts\nwere signed with the Dominion Construction\nCompany in January 1937. The lump sum\nbid for the work was $208,000. Substantive\nconstruction work began that March and the\nbuilding would take a year to complete. In\nanticipation of the new traffic from the Bridge,\n34\nBRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY | Fall 2013 | Vol. 46 No. 3\n the City Board of Works approved $5,500 in\nimprovements to First Avenue from Clark\nDrive to Commercial, and the widening of First\nAvenue by three feet between Commercial and\nVictoria at an additional cost of $1,000.6\nCharles Smith's history with the Town\nPlanning Commission in the 1920s, and his\nnegotiations with Mayor McGeer, along with\nwhatever motives crossed the mercurial mind\nof the Mayor himself, probably had most to\ndo with getting the bridge built. However, in\na mighty gesture of self-congratulation, the\nGrandview Chamber of Commerce hosted\n250 residents and friends at a banquet in the\nMasonic Hall on First Avenue. Guests included\nReeve Solomon Mussallem of Haney and\nReeve J.B. Leyland of West Vancouver. These\ntwo individuals symbolized the two ends of\nthe string that the grand plan's boosters saw\nlinking Lougheed Highway with the brand\nnew Lions Gate Bridge.\nCity Council gave $3,000 to help celebrate\nthe opening of the viaduct that took place on\nDominion Day 1938, and tens of thousands\nthronged to witness the opening of the bridge\nand the subsequent revelry. There was a\nparade that stretched 12 blocks and included\nhuge animal balloons that bounced along the\nroute. Bands included contingents from the\nAmerican Legionnaires and the Kitsilano Boys\nFirst Avenue\nViaduct\nconstruction\nlooking west from\neast abutment\nshowing general\nconstruction,\nAugust 19, 1937.\nBRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY | Fall 2013 | Vol. 46 No. 3      35\n First Avenue\nviaduct under\nconstruction, 1938.\nBand. When the parade arrived at the central\nspan of the bridge, the dignitaries disembarked\nand at 9:45 am, Mayor Miller cut the twisted\nstrands of blue and yellow ribbon with a special\nset of golden scissors presented to him by\nCharles Bentall of the Dominion Construction\nCompany. There were cheers all around.\nAlderman John Bennet declared the day\nto be \"the dawning of a new era for Grandview\nand the city. It is the realization of a dream of\ntwenty-five years of a thriving community.\"7\nMany in the crowd held placards proclaiming\n\"This Is Grandview's Great Day - Watch\nGrandview Grow.\" The crowds stayed\nthroughout  the  day,   enjoying  the   carnival\ngames that lined the bridge. In the evening,\nat 8:00 pm, the crowd sang O Canada and the\ndancing began. Fun was had until the rain\nstarted about 10:30 pm; this was Vancouver\nafter all.\nThere were differing views as to the\npurpose of the First Avenue Bridge and they\ndepended on where you were standing.\nDowntown and on the west side, the bridge was\nseen as a way for people on Commercial Drive\nto have direct access to Vancouver's shopping\ncentres. They also saw it as an exit from the city\nto the Fraser Valley: a \"valuable new artery,\"\nas Mayor Miller called it.8 On Commercial,\nhowever, it was seen as making the Drive an\n36\nBRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY | Fall 2013 | Vol. 46 No. 3\n easy destination for the growing numbers of\nVancouver's car-driving shoppers. The Echo\nprophesied that \"once traffic has discovered\nthis new convenient route more vehicles will\ncross at First Avenue & Commercial in a day\nthan crossed it in a week before.\"9 In addition,\nrealtors were sure there would be a general\nincrease in property values as a result of the\ntremendous amount of home building they\nexpected to take place.\nThe immediate success of the First\nAvenue Bridge was confirmed as early as\nFebruary 1940 when a survey from the Town\nPlanning Commission showed that in one two-\nhour period 565 vehicles had used First Avenue\neast of Clark Drive. In 1937, three years earlier,\na similar survey had shown only 17 vehicles on\nthat same stretch. In the hindsight of just a few\nyears' use, it became clear that routes to and\nfrom downtown Vancouver and the westside\nhad changed significantly to take advantage of\nthe improved connection the bridge afforded.\nIt is hard to imagine today Vancouver traffic\nwithout the First Avenue connection and that\nthe building of the Viaduct turned First and\nCommercial into a well-known and popular\nintersection is clear.\nPerhaps more importantly, the very\nexistence of the First Avenue Viaduct and its\nobvious success gave the Grandview Chamber\nof Commerce and others the confidence to push\nfor more changes \u2014 the improvement of First\nAvenue east, for example, more transit links,\nand the extension of Commercial to Kingsway.\nWhen these were finally achieved, the Drive\nthrived and I would argue that the success of\nthe campaign to build the First Avenue Viaduct\ncreated the very foundation on which the\nmodern Commercial Drive was built. \u2022\nEndnotes\n1. \"back door\": Highland Echo 30 July 1936; \"Cinderella\"\nHighland Echo 13 Feb 1936.\n2. News Herald 1 July 1938.\n3. Ibid.\n4. Highland Echo 16 January 1936.\n5. Highland Echo 20 February 1936.\n6. $208,000 CDN in 1937 converts to approximately\n$3,366,315 CDN in 2013 money; $5000 ~ $80,920; $1000 ~\n$16,180. \"Inflation Calculator,\" Bank of Canada, accessed\nJuly 8, 2013, http:\/\/www.bankofcanada.ca\/rates\/related\/\ninflation-calculator\/.\n7. Vancouver Sun 2 July 1938.\n8. Highland Echo 30 June 1938.\n9. Ibid.\nBibliography\nHighland Echo\nNews Herald\nVancouver Sun\nKing, Jak: The Drive:\nA Retail, Social, and\nPolitical History of\nCommercial Drive to\n1956. Vancouver, 2011.\nLimited quantities of back issues of British Columbia History as far back as the\n1980s are still available. Order now while supplies last.\nHistorical News\n'\" r '\u00ab%\u00bb'\n,t^\/B\/.,..\u00a3. HISTORY\nrtP*L* m%\nVol. 37 No. 4 - 2004\nVol. 38 No. 3 - 2005      Vol. 39 No. 1 - 2006      Vol. 43 No. 1 - 2010\nVol. 44 No. 3-2011\nContact subscnptions@bchistory.ca, or BCHF c\/o Magazine Association of BC\n201-318 Homer Street, Vancouver, BC V6B 2V2, or by phone 604.688.1175 or fax 604.687.1274.\n^\n4r\nBRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY | Fall 2013 | Vol. 46 No. 3      37\n In April 1942 1200 Japanese Canadians (Nikkei) were\nrequired to abandon their coastal lifestyles and were\ninterned in Greenwood, BC, northwest of Grand Forks.\nGreenwood, BC: Arrival of Nikkei Photo Essay\nby Jacqueline Gresko, images courtesy Alice Glanville\nAlice Glanville\nattended school\nin Greenwood and\nGrand Forks and\ntaught school in\nBrown Creek (1939-\n1941), Greenwood\nand Grand Forks.\nHer Schools of the\nBoundary: 1891-\n1991 covers south-\ncentral B.C. from\nAnarchist Mountain\non the west to\nPaulson on the\neast. She has long\nbeen active in the\nBoundary Historical\nSociety.\nJacqueline Gresko\nis the honorary\npresident of the\nBritish Columbia\nHistorical\nFederation.\nAndrea Lister, Editor of BC History\nasked me for help writing captions\nfor these 1942 photographs from\nAlice Glanville's collection. They\nwere printed as postcards but other than \"1942\"\non the back there was no information on them.\nFrom research on schools for the Japanese\nCanadians during World War II, I knew that\nevacuees from the Coast were sent to mining\n\"ghost towns\" in the Interior, like Greenwood.\nWould it be possible to identify the people and\nthe buildings in the photographs? I suggested\nwe contact Linda Kawamoto Reid, archivist\nat the Nikkei National Museum in Burnaby.\nShe consulted Chuck Tasaka, the museum's\nGreenwood expert, and Todd Belcher, whose\nmother and grandmother appear in the pictures.\nWe would like to thank Alice Glanville and her\nsister Sheila Rosen for the use of the images, and\nLinda, Chuck and Todd for contributing living\nmemories  to  accompany  the  photographs.*\nNote\nThe term Nikkei Nikkei means Canadian of Japanese\ndescent and is used to discuss the history of Japanese\nemigrants and their descendants.\nLate in April 1942 the first group of Nikkei families arrived at Greenwood and waited to be\nassigned to accommodation. Below is Building No. 7 or the Hallett Block. Chuck Tasaka says\nhe does not know the name of the RCMP officer in the photograph. He thought the other\nmen might be Mayor McArthur, the BC Security Commissioner Mr. Leonard Cowdrill, and Dr.\nBurnett. \"The crowd was too small\" for him \"to spot people's faces but David Hamaguchi's\nfamily [was] right in front.\"\nTodd Belcher corroborates that this scene is of the Hamaguchi family arriving \"that is my\nmother, Maryanne Asako Hamaguchi, in the white coat smiling at the camera.\" However, she\nwas unable to identify the girl beside her, with the hand to her mouth.\n38\nBRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY | Fall 2013 | Vol. 46 No. 3\n To the right of the\npole, Grandson Todd\nBelcher says \"you can\nsee my grandmother\nin the white hat. She\nis holding the hand\nof her son, Thomas\nHikaru Hamaguchi.\"\nAccording to Chuck Tasaka families waited in front of No. 7 Building, the Hallett Block, for their assignments to\nbuildings. This image shows buildings No. 5, 7 and 11. Mr. Tasaka also noted that these buildings had indoor plumbing,\nand Ichio Miki stated that No. 11 Building had an indoor toilet. Greenwood had the infrastructure whereas places like\nLemon Creek and Popoff did not have tap water and electricity at the beginning. Although in later years families were\nable to get larger living spaces. In 1942 they \"were squeezed into these buildings so it must have been hectic and\nchaotic at the beginning. They had to make schedules for cooking, cleaning and using the sink.\"\nThe old Armstrong\nHotel in Greenwood.\nIt was called No. 2\nBuilding in the 1940s\nand was turned into a\nhospital. The laundry\nhung on the porch here\ngives a sense of the\ndifficulties of daily\nlife, especially during\nthe first years.\nBRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY | Fall 2013 | Vol. 46 No. 3      39\n Japanese Canadians who arrived at the Greenwood train station in April 1942 were met by Franciscan Sisters and\nFriars of the Atonement. Mitsuo Yesaki's Sutebusuton: A Japanese Village on the British Columbia Coast (2003), p. 120,\nsays that Sisters Koppes and Kelliher and Father Benedict Quigley, all Franciscans of the Atonement, made the 18 hour\nrail trip from Vancouver to Greenwood ahead of the Japanese Canadian families so as to assist them on their arrival.\nChuck Tasaka identifies the Sisters in this photograph as Sister Jerome Kelliher and her taller companion Sister\nEugenia Koppes. Mr. Tasaka says \"the little kids behind them are the Miki family. Mary (Miki) Nomura is the little girl\ncarrying a doll. Ichio Miki is holding a bag. He was 10 when he arrived in Greenwood.\"\nTodd Belcher says that a different photograph of the same scene appears in Toyo Takata, Nikkei Legacy, (1983) p. 124,\n\"is a well known picture\". In it, Todd explains that \"the woman with the white hat and her hand to her face is my\ngrandmother, Ruth Hamaguchi, nee Ruth Martha Oyama. The nuns supposedly sought out my grandmother on arrival in\nGreenwood because they knew grandmother Ruth was born and raised a Christian in Cumberland, Vancouver Island.\"\nRuth Hamaguchi is not visible in the not as \"well known\" image above shared by Alice Glanville.\n40\nBRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY | Fall 2013 | Vol. 46 No. 3\n Archives & Archivists\nby Hugh Ellenwood; edited by Sylvia Stopforth\nSylvia Stopforth\nis a Librarian and\nArchivist at Norma\nMarion Alloway\nLibrary at Trinity\nWestern University.\nHugh Ellenwood\nis the Archives\nManager at the\nWhite Rock Museum\nfr Archives. The\nWRMA has been\nlocated in the\nformer Great\nNorthern Railway\nstation on the\nwaterfront in\nWhite Rock since\n1976. The archives\ncontain 20 metres\nof textual material\nand approximately\n10,000\nphotographs.\nA concern for preservation of the originals and a desire\nfrom genealogists for digital access led to the newspaper\ndigitization project at the White Rock Museum & Archives.\nFrom 2004 to the present, the White Rock\nMuseum & Archives has been engaged\nin a project to digitize our collection of\nlocal newspapers dating from 1940 to\n1986. We are currently digitizing the year 1971,\nwith 1940 to 1970 available to view on our web\nsite (http:\/\/www.whiterock.museum.bc.ca\/\narchives\/newspaper archives .php).\nThe idea for the project was formed in\n2004 when we became concerned about the\namount of handling of some of our older and\nmore fragile newspapers. Our newspaper\ncollection is a very popular resource and signs\nof wear and tear were beginning to show. Also,\nthere was increasing pressure from researchers\nsuch as genealogists who wanted electronic\ncopies of obituaries or articles emailed to them\nif they were unable to visit our archives in\nperson.\nSince the early 2000s the WRMA has\nhad a digitization policy in place for small\nphotographs (decreasing the amount that\nthey are handled to almost zero, and greatly\nincreasing their accessibility), but any item\nlarger than our scanner bed (30 x 22cm.) was\nnot being digitized.\nWe decided to take a digital photograph\nof each page of a newspaper to see how that\nwould turn out. First results were poor, until a\nlocal photographer donated a vertical camera\nmount which we attached to a platform.\nFinally, based on advice from the Archives\nAssociation of BC and the Cultural Resources\nManagement Programme at the University of\nTom Saunders,\nvolunteer at the\nWRMA digitizing a\npage of the White\nRock Sun.\nBRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY | Fall 2013 | Vol. 46 No. 3     41\n Victoria, we designed a pilot project to digitize\nseveral newspapers.\nAfter the trials of the pilot project we\nbegan work in earnest with the following\nwork plan: the photographer creates an image\nof each page of a newspaper; the images are\nthen transferred to a computer where they\nare given a unique, purely numeric file name\nrepresenting the publication title, date and\npage number of the newspaper; the images are\nthen saved on the hard drive of the computer\nand onto CDs which are stored in our archives\nvault; a second set of CDs is stored at an off-\nsite location.\nThe work proceeded well, employing\nvolunteers trained by the archives staff.\nBy 2005, we had created over 3,000 images\ndigitizing the Semiahmoo Sun from 1940 to\n1955. That year we received a grant from the\nIrving K. Barber Learning Centre at UBC to\ndigitize the years 1956 to 1966 and make them\navailable on the internet. We completed the\nrequirements for the grant within a year and\nposted the images on our website using flickr.\nDigitization has continued in subsequent\nyears. Since all of the equipment was donated,\nor already in place, and the labour is done\nmostly by volunteers, the cost of the project\nis very low. A new addition to our volunteer\nteam, someone with web design experience,\nrecently created a page on our website posting\nthe entire collection of digitized papers from\n1940 to 1970, about 18,000 images. This means\nwe no longer have to use flickr, which was not\nas efficient, cost us a small annual fee, and\nlimited the number of images we could post.\nThe image quality is not as good as\nscanned images would be, but the purpose\nof the project was not to replace the paper\noriginals with digital surrogates, but rather\nto provide access to the information in the\nnewspapers without having researchers\nhandle the paper originals.\nAs a parallel but separate project we\nare indexing the newspapers by subject using\nInmagic DBtext software. Currently, the\nnewspapers on our website are not indexed by\nsubject. It's something we hope to achieve in\nthe future.\nWith the digital alternative available,\nthe paper originals are hardly ever handled,\nand stay safe in our climate controlled vault.\nThe only time we access a paper original is\nwhen we digitize it, or when the scope of\nsomeone's research falls outside the date range\nof digitized newspapers.\nFor more information about the White\nRock Museum & Archives, visit us online at\nhttp:\/\/www.whiterock.museum.bc.ca\/, or in\nperson on Marine Drive in White Rock.*\nOne of the\ndigitized\nnewspapers\navailable online\nat the WRMA's\nwebsite.\nThe Semiahmoo Sun\n& White KodiWeday,\nHotel BuilitoS\nReport Denied\nBy Jarvis\nSuncil FormaUv **\" !\u25a0\n42\nBRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY | Fall 2013 | Vol. 46 No.3\n From the Book Review Editor's Desk\nK. Jane Watt\nWalking In History\nI am writing in the height of\nsummer \u2014 and together with\nmy family, I have been enjoying\nthe work of the Hope Mountain\nCentre in gathering a coalition of\npeople - including Spuzzum First\nNation, New Pathways to Gold\nSociety, the Ministry of Transport,\nand Recreation Sites and Trails BC\n- to get historic trails signed and\npassable for the public. We have\ntaken tentative steps along part of\nthe Tikwalus trail, an ancient route\nof the Nlaka'pamux (Thompson)\nFirst Nation, from the waters of the\nFraser up - and a way around the\nsheer canyon walls around today's\nHell's Gate. It was used for a short\ntime by the HBC in 1848 and 1849\n- with brigades of up to 400 horses\nand perhaps 50 men, but lack of\nforage for pack horses and the sheer\ndifficulty of the route meant that\nit was abandoned by the HBC in\nfavour of a route eastward out of\nHope from 1850 onward. Later in\nthe 1850s and 1860s, it was used\nby gold miners seeking to avoid the\narduous canyons on the Fraser, and\nhas continued to be used through\ntime by the Nlak'pamux. Our new\nfavourite is the Hope Mountain\nTrail, a climb to a rewarding lookout\nover the town of Hope, the Fraser\nRiver, and Kawkawa Lake. The\nfolks at the Hope Mountain Centre\nhave also been working hard on\nhistoric trails leading eastward from\nHope into Manning Park. The HBC\nbrigade trail is one such example.\nDeveloped in the 1850s from its\nmore humble origins as a wildlife\ntrail and First Nations corridor, it\nwas used officially by the HBC to\nmove furs from diverse northern\nposts southward to Fort Langley for\ntranshipment \u2014 perhaps to London,\nperhaps to Hawaii, perhaps to\nChina \u2014 part of BC's early resource\nextraction economy that serviced a\nnetwork of HBC sales points around\nthe globe. Unofficially, the brigades\nwere also well used as an annual\nholiday for the families of northern\ntraders who converged at Fort\nLangley for a month each summer\nbefore travelling home again with\nnew outfits containing trade goods,\nagricultural implements, seed, and\n\"luxury\" items such as tea, sugar,\nribbon, and rum. These brigades\nbecame so large that Company brass\nfound itself having to restrict family\naccess to the brigades.\nWe have travelled on some\npretty busy trails this summer,\nand much of this travel and the\ninformation offered trailside or on\nView from partway up Tikwalus\ntrail.\nthe web, has been made possible by\nhard-working volunteers who tell the\nstories of the past through interaction\nwith a changing landscape. It is\nhumbling and inspiring to see the\nbreathtaking breadth of work being\nproduced that tells the many histories\nof British Columbia in profound and\nwonderful ways.\nSuch pathways into the past\nare explored by Castlegar writer\nWalter Volvosek in his historical work\nas well as his Trails in Time website\n\"dedicated to the contemplative\nwalker.\" His latest work, on visionary\nand developer Edward Mahon is\ncalled The Green\nNecklace: The\nVision Quest of\nEdward Mahon\n^(Castlegar: Otmar\nPublishing, $25).\nEdward\nvA a h o n\n^migrated to\nPBC in 1890 to\nseek out business\nopportunities for his Irish\nfamily interests. He was an active\nplayer in the Slocan mining boom,\nand the founder of the Kootenay\ncity that would commemorate his\nIrish roots - Castlegar. Although\nhis vision for Castlegar was not\nrealized, he achieved immortality\nwith his legacy of greenways in\nNorth Vancouver, collectively known\nas the Green Necklace. The book is\nbased on exclusive family records\nand photographs, which provided the\nbasis for complimentary exhibits in\nNorth Vancouver and Castlegar.\nNorth Vancouver has recently\nrevitalized its plans for Mahon's\nGreen Necklace \u2014 a system of\nparks within walking distance of\na dense urban core \u2014 adopted in\n1906 by the council of the time. In\nVolovsek's work, Mahon's interest in\nthe benefits of green space sounds\nstrangely   modern.   \"Completion   of\nBRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY | Fall 2013 | Vol. 46 No. 3   43\n Book Reviews\nBooks for review should be sent to:\nK. Jane Watt, Book Review Editor, British Columbia History\nBox 1053, Fort Langley BC V1M 2S4\nthis great public way [called the Grand\nBoulevard],\" he writes just after the\nturn of the twentieth century,\nwith supporting parks and\ngardens, will perpetuate health\nareas and pleasure grounds\nwithin a short distance of\nevery resident of the present\ncity of North Vancouver, and\nour municipality will have the\ndistinction of possessing the most\nspacious boulevard contained\nwithin the limits of any city in the\nworld \u2014 a great artificial lung,\ncompassing the central town,\nbreathing, pressing, forcing it\ninto health and vitality with that\nconcomitant physical tone the\nnormal expression of which is\nsound-bodied cheerfulness.\nBy the time you receive this\nissue, you will be feeling the turn of\nthe seasons, maybe a crisping of the\nair, certainly the drawing in of night.\nIt will be a perfect time to stoke up\nthe fire and read.\nFishing the River of Time \u2014 A\nGrandfather's Story.\nBy Tony Taylor\n(Vancouver:\nGreystone, 2013)\n$19.95.\nOne of my favourite reads this\nseason has been this memoir. At age\neighty, palaeontologist Tony Taylor\nreturns from Australia to retrace his\nsteps around the Cowichan River \u2014 a\nformative place he has not visited for\nmany years. Here he hopes to connect\nwith his grandson, Ned, whom he has\nnever met (and his son, I think) \u2014 and\nteach him the importance of fishing.\nBut fishing is more than simply casting\na line into moving water \u2014 it includes\nthe lore of the tackle and flies, the\nnatural history of place, the human\nconnections the past and with the\nchanging world around him. And,\nunexpectedly, information flows both\nways: \"My small grandson had got my\nbrain working,\" Taylor writes, \"We\nwere each good for the other.\"\nHe tells young Ned, \"The next\nbest thing to fishing ... was reading\nabout it, and reading was marvellous\nbecause there were so many great\nbooks.\"\nBeyond books, Taylor's intimate\nobservations about the nuances of the\nworld he returns to and remembers,\nare  heartfelt  and  carefully crafted\nand remind us of the vast changes that\nhave taken place in our wild spaces\nover a couple of generations. \"When\nI  first started  fishing  near Meade's\ncabin,\" he writes,\nit seemed that the fish from each\nof the local rivers were slightly\ndifferent: the giant coho in the\nriver I called the Chief and the\nlong, lean athletic steelhead in\nthe Lost. The steelhead that I\nhad caught in the Cowichan was\nplumper and I took it for salmon.\nI suppose I was beginning to\nrecognise that each river had its\nown unique population of fish. I\nhesitate to use words like race\nor nationality but steelhead in\nthe Lost River were excitable and\nfriendly in the way I remember\nItalians, and the steelhead in\nthe Cowichan were more distant\nand reserved like the English.\nTheir characters were just a\nlittle different but whether it\nwas due to their environment or\ngenetics I was unable to decide.\nNevertheless, after a while I\ncould just look at a fish and make\na fairly good guess about its\nprovenance.\nThe trails Taylor travels through\ntime and memory, through the\ngeography and natural history of a\ncorner of the province, are linked\nby his stories of people he has met,\nfish he yearns to catch, and those he,\nsometimes miraculously, is able to\nlay his hands on. His work eloquently\nextends local history into the realm of\nthe personal.\nHe Moved a Mountain: the\nLife of Frank Calder and the\nNisga'a Land Claims Accord.\nBy Joan Harper\n^(Vancouver:\n^Ronsdale,\n2013) $21.95\nThis biography of\nDr. Frank Arthur Calder begins with\nhis birth into the Nisga'a nation on\nthe Nass River. His father declared\nbefore an assembly of the Nisga'a\nthat Frank would be educated \"to\nmove the mountain\" preventing the\nNisga'a from obtaining land title. He\nwas a hereditary chief of the Hose of\nWisinxbitkw from the Killerwhale\nTribe. In August 1924, at the age of\nnine he travelled by Union Steamship\nCardena from Nass Harbour down\nthe coast to Vancouver and took the\nInterurban to Coqualeetza School\nin Sardis and stayed there until he\ngraduated from Chilliwack High\nSchool in 1937. His education stuck\nwith him, and during his political life,\nhe remembered, \"What I learned of the\nEnglish language at Chilliwack High\nenabled me to read law books later in\nlife.\" He returned home to fish in the\n44\nBRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY | Fall 2013 | Vol. 46 No. 3\n summers and graduated from UBC\nbefore becoming MLA in 1949, the first\naboriginal person to be elected to any\nCanadian legislature. He served as\nthe MLA for Atlin until 1979. Calder\nfounded the Nisga'a Tribal Council.\nHe was the driving force behind\nCanada's decision to grant recognition\nof aboriginal land title to First Nations\npeople (the 1973 Supreme Court of\nCanada case Calder vs. Attorney\nGeneral of British Columbia, argued by\nThomas Berger). Although he received\nmany honours in his lifetime, including\nthe Order of Canada, the one he most\ncherished was bestowed by the Nisga'a\nNation: \"Chief of Chiefs.\" He died\nin 2006. Harper's research for this\nbiography was facilitated by Calder's\nwife, Tamaki Calder, and members of\nhis family.\nSalmo Stories: Memories of a\nPlace in the Kootenays.\n\u20225 --*\nV By Larry Jacobsen,\n1  (Larry Jacobsen,\ni 2012). Available\n^^V-^^H\n'J^m^'a\ni directly from\n^the author\nrZ^T**''      \u2014\nl   at larry.\n^jacobsen\u00ae\nLgmail.com.\nThis book is a compilation of\nfamily stories and photos from the\nSalmo Museum spanning the period\nbetween the late 1880s and the 1960s,\nincluding Jacobsen's interviews of\nover 100 people \"who were loggers,\nfarmers, miners, prospectors, and\nbusiness people ... who came to the\nSalmo area.\" As Jacobsen notes, \"These\nstories show just how tough people\nhad to be to survive in a wilderness\ncommunity far from family, friends,\nand access to common amenities. This\napplies even more so to the women,\nfor many of them bore a load equal to,\nor greater than, that of their menfolk.\"\nSalmo Stories also includes appendices\ncontaining the work of other Salmo\nhistorians, Rollie W. Mifflin's \"The\nEarly Salmo Story and Other True\nStories\" (1958) and Cliff Mcintosh's\n\"Salmo as Remembered\" (1978).\nFor King and Country: 150\nYears of the Royal\nWestminster Regiment.\nBy Robert\nL Harley, (New\nWestminster:\nLRoyal\n| Westminster\nRegiment,\n2012) $80.\nWhen I asked Robert about the\nbeginnings of this book, he replied, \"It\nwas a idea I had back when I was 13\nyears old. I was always interested in\nhistory. When I was a cadet in 2316,\nThe Royal Westminster Regiment\nArmy Cadet Corps, the only book\nwritten on the Regiment was a World\nWar II war diary, but there was no\nconcise history, so I always thought I\nwould like to write that history. This\nyear marks the 150th year of service\nand the regiment is celebrating the\nanniversary. What I really want to\naccomplish with the book is to give the\ncitizens of the County of Westminster\n(Burnaby border to Boston Bar) a sense\nof the rich history of the regiment has\npaved and ensure our past is never\nforgotten.\"\nThe Royal Westminster Regiment\nis the oldest active military unit in\nBritish Columbia, Colonel Karen Baker-\nMacGrotty of the Royal Westminster\nRegiment celebration 150 committee\nsays, \"With a fighting Westie spirit\nand incredible record of duty,\ntradition and service commencing\nbefore Confederation, the book will\nbe of interest to readers of all ages and\nbackgrounds....This book is produced\nas a tribute to all our brave men and\nwomen who have served our country\nwith such distinction.\"\n80 mile Route March from Cloverdale to New Westminster, 1916. From King\nand Country: 150 Years of the Royal Westminster Regiment by Robert Harley.\nBRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY | Fall 2013 | Vol. 46 No. 3   45\n The Royal Westminster Regiment\nhas a long history of community\ninvolvement. When the Great Fire\nswept through New Westminster in\n1898 and again when record flooding\nafflicted the Fraser Valley in 1948, the\nRegiment supported the community\nthrough times of crisis. More\nrecently, the Regiment helped fight\nthe Okanagan wild fires of 2003 and\nprovided support to the Vancouver\n2012 Olympic and Paralympic Winter\nGames.\nAs a fighting force, the Westies\nhave been involved in every major\nconflict of the post-Victorian era.\nThe Primary Reserve Light Infantry\nBattalion has served in the Boer War,\nWorld War I and World War II. It has\nalso augmented numerous oversees\ndeployments on UN and NATO\nmissions in Bosnia, Croatia, Cyprus,\nthe Golan Heights, Sierra Leone, and\nAfghanistan. Members are currently\nserving overseas in Afghanistan and\nthe Sudan.\nRobert Harley's book can be\npurchased at (http:\/\/150.royal-westies-\nassn.ca) and through red tuque books\n(www.redtuquebooks.ca).\nGardens Aflame: Garry Oak\nMeadows of BC's South Coast.\nby Maleea Acker\n(Vancouver:\nt New Star, 2012)\n$19.00.\nGardens Aflame is a\ncompelling and wonderfully poetic\ndiscussion of many issues surrounding\nthe   history   of   southern   Vancouver\nIsland's Garry oak ecosystems. The\nbook is a non-judgmental conversation\nabout our human relationship to\nthe biotic environment and its\ndynamism, both \"natural\" and\nculturally produced. The book jacket\nnotes that what \"newcomers failed\nto appreciate is that these meadows\nwere not the work of nature alone,\nbut were the result of generations of\ncultivation by the Coast Salish peoples\nwho lived there. The establishment\nof a fort at Victoria began a process\nof encroachment on these Garry oak\nmeadows that continues today.\"\nAs a plea for maintaining Garry\noak ecosystems in some form, Gardens\nAflame links aboriginal gardens of\ncamas and meadows of community\nand ritual that mark lives with seasons\nof growth and rest within the natural\nworld. Aflame refers to the brilliant\ncolour of emerging Garry oak foliage\nwhen it buds out in the springtime \u2014\na visual treat usually reserved for the\nautumnal turning of other deciduous\ntrees.\nA full chapter devoted to the\nnomenclature and history of the\nGarry oak ecosystems, including a\nbrief history of taxonomic philosophy,\nprovides the labels and origins for\na discussion of human emotion and\ninterpretation surrounding the gardens\nand the plants and the spaces beneath\nand among the trees themselves.\nFurther discussion and reference\ncan be developed from the fabulous\nbibliography that includes selections\non aboriginal societies, botany, and\nvarious fields of philosophy.\nThrough recall, story, and the\nconsideration of the modified Gary\noak landscape that exists today, Acker\nweaves a full circle of aboriginal\nhusbandry, societal decimation\nthrough disease and occupation,\nto land abandonment. Finally, she\ncloses the circle with the attempt a\nfew generations later to once again\nchange a landscape from what it was to\nsomething we perhaps collectively feel\nit should be based on our societal bias,\nour retrospective vision, our hard-to-\narticulate reasons.\nMost chapters are prefaced by\nthe author's diary-like entries of her\nthoughts and movements within\na Garry oak meadow. The entries\nperhaps describe a certain time of year\nor a progression of seasonal growth,\nand reinforce Acker's point that beauty\nand our perception and recognition of\nit are important. How we collectively\ncreate ideals and how we see them as\nindividuals and within a community\nare central discussion points with\nrespect to why we might wish to\npreserve or restore a meadow or forest.\nIs it because the place is beautiful to\nus now? Are decisions about species\ncontinuity and diversity that favour\nstasis themselves shaped by culture?\nGardens Aflame ends, by way\nof epilogue, with Acker's summary\nof the force behind our societal need\nto sometimes preserve, sometimes\nrestore, or sometimes remake what is\naround us. \"We love what is beautiful.\nWe love what is rare and fleeting. And\nmany of us will work our fingers to\nthe bone to protect what gives us not\njust physical sustenance, but a sense of\nemotional or spiritual connection and\nbelonging to the place we live.\"\nReviewer Greg Antle is a hardwood\nspecialist who lives in Fort Langley.\nImperial Vancouver Island:\nWho Was Who 1850-1950.\nBy JF Bos her,\n^(Woodstock,\nOxfordshire, UK:\nWritersWorld,\nL2012Kindle\n$10.48,\n.hardcover by\narrangement\nLwith author.\n46\nBRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY | Fall 2013 | Vol. 46 No. 3\n JF Bosher's tome Imperial\nVancouver Island: Who Was Who 1850-\n1950 is now available. Bosher notes\nin his preface that, \"If the twenty-\nfirst century did not find rambling\nVictorian titles intolerable, this\nbook might have been called Some\nImperial Campaigners and their Friends\non Vancouver Island from the Cariboo\nGoldrush and the Indian Mutiny to the\nInvasion from Mainland Canada after the\nSecond World War, 1850-1950. Along\nwith Bosher's previous volume, the\nnew Imperial Vancouver Island: Who Was\nWho 1850-1950 tells \"how settlements\nlike Victoria, Nanaimo, Duncan and\nmost of the rest were founded by sea\nfrom England, Scotland, and Ireland,\nnot overland from Canada.\" Bosher's\nlively style informs his biographical\nwork, as an excerpt from his entry\non Captain Walter Colquhoun Grant\n(1822-1861) demonstrates:\nLanding at Victoria on 11\nAugust 1849, he set about\nfounding a settlement\nat Sooke, 25 miles to the\nnorthwest. He stayed for only\nabout four years and three\nmonths because he was short\nof funds, not very experienced,\nor committed, and ultimately\ndaunted \u2014 like many others\nbefore or since \u2014by the many\ntasks of pioneering life, even\nin that benign climate. Nor\nwas he always on good terms\nwith the government, the local\ntribes, and others he had to\ndeal with. He is remembered\nwith sympathy for importing\nthe yellow-blooming Scottish\nbroom, which now brightens\nmany parts of southern\nVancouver Island... \"\u2022\nSave the Date\nHITl   r\nSurrey History J\nCLOVERDALE\nCloverdale BIA Surrey British Columbia Canada      \u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\nBritish Columbia\nHistorical Federation\nAnnual. Conference\nJune 6\u20147, 2014\nHistoric Centre\nMark your calendars now for next year's conference in Surrey.\nThis exciting two-day event will be centered in the community\nof Cloverdale and will include activities such as: a field trip,\nspeakers and author programs, rides on a restored interurban\ncar operating on the original BC Electric route and a visit to the\nnew vintage truck museum along with walking tours and other\nactivities of interest to historians.\nRegistration is open to anyone interested in history; you do not\nneed to be a member of a historical society or of the British\nColumbia Historical Federation.\nRegistration details will be available in early 2 014.\nPresented in partnership with Surrey Historical Society\nImage: Cou rtesy of Clo verda leBusin ess Improvement Association\nFor information contact:\nBCHF Conference Coordinator, Barb Hynek\npastpres@bchistory-ca\nBRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY | Fall 2013 | Vol. 46 No. 3   47\n Cabinets of Curiosities\nby Jim Bain\nWorkmen at the Vancouver post office uncovered a memorial plaque that\nhad been hidden from public view for over 30 years.\nIn the late Summer of 2009\nworkmen completing renovations\nto the retail lobby of the Vancouver\nMain Post Office came across\na memorial plaque dedicated to 14\nVancouver Post Office employees who\nvolunteered for service in WWI and II\nand were lost during the conflicts. The\nplaque was cast in 1919 to honour 11\nemployees and then recast following\nWWII to add three additional names.\nIn 1919 it was placed in the lobby\nof the Post Office located in what\nis now the Sinclair Centre on the\nnorth-west corner of Granville and\nHastings Streets. In 1958 it was moved\nthe current Main Post Office and\nplaced in public view in the lobby.\nRenovations to the lobby over the\nnext decade removed it from public\nview and located it in a secluded area.\nAs part of the renovations Canada\nPost placed the plaque back in public\nview on a pillar in the south-east\ncorner of the newly renovated lobby.\nCanada Post and the Van-\nFraser Heritage Club, an association\nof long service and retired Canada\nPost employees, felt that as the Plaque\nhad been out of public view for over\n30 years it would be appropriate\nto hold a rededication ceremony to\nhonour the 14 individuals listed on\nthe plaque. As part of the ceremony\na short profile was prepared and\nprinted on each individual. A number\nof interesting stories were uncovered\non each individual.\nLetter carrier, Matthew Henry\nHarlock, serving with the Canadian\nArmy Medical Corps, was lost at sea in\none of the most infamous incidents of\nWWI when a U-Boat sank the Hospital\nShip Llandovery Castle and then\nrammed the lifeboats. Postal clerks\nHenry Jackson and James Pender and\nletter carrier John Jamieson joined the\nSeaforth Highlanders on the same day\nin 1915. All three fell within days of\neach other in 1916. The oldest WWI\nvolunteer was Alexander F. Quinn\nwho joined the BC Regiment at the\nage of 34 in 1914. He fell in 1916,\nhas no known grave, and is listed\non the Menin Gate. Of the 11 WWI\nhonourees, five, including Quinn,\nhave no known grave. The youngest\nvolunteer was letter carrier James\nRichardson who was just 20 and\nrecently married when he joined the\nGarrison Artillery in 1916. He died of\nwounds in August 1918. Perhaps the\nmost poignant story is that of Letter\nCarrier Thomas Morris-White who\ndied in June 1918 and was survived by\nhis wife and ten children.\nThe Van-Fraser Heritage Club\ncontinues its research of Canada Post\nemployees across Canada serving\nin the Great War. To date we have\nlocated over 702 employees, including\nMatthew Henry Harlock, killed when\nhis Hospital Ship was torpedoed\nJune 27, 1918.\n75 who were lost. Our goal is to build\na profile on each individual and find\nfamily members who may be able to\nprovide us with personal insight and\npossibly, photographs.\nTo honour their service the\nVan-Fraser Heritage Club holds a\nRemembrance Ceremony each year,\nimmediately prior to Remembrance\nDay inviting family members to\nattend.*\nEvery object has a story. Do you have an object\nof curiosity in your cabinet?\nSend me 300 to 400 words together, with a high-resolution image of\nthe object, telling me the story of the object. Email your story to:\nbcheditor@bchistory.ca.\n48\nBRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY | Fall 2013 | Vol. 46 No. 3\n Awards and Scholarship Information\nfor complete details go to http:\/\/bchistory.ca\/awards\/index.html\nW. KAYE LAMB Essay Scholarships\nDeadline: May 15\nThe British Columbia Historical Federation\nawards two scholarships annually for\nessays written by students at BC colleges\nor universities, on a topic relating to British\nColumbia history. One scholarship ($750) is\nfor an essay written by a student in a first or\nsecond year course; the other ($1000) is for\nan essay written by a student in a third or\nfourth year course.\nTo apply for the scholarship all candidates\nmust submit (1) a letter of application and\n(2) a letter of recommendation from the\nprofessor for whom the essay was written.\nFirst and second year course essays should\nbe 1,500-3,000 words; third and fourth\nyear,l,500 to 5,000 words. By entering the\nscholarship competition the student gives\nthe editor of British Columbia History the\nright to edit and publish the essay if it is\ndeemed appropriate for the magazine.\nApplications with 3 printed copies of the\nessay should be submitted to: Marie Elliott,\nChair BC Historical Federation Scholarship\nCommittee, PO Box 5254, Station B,\nVictoria, BC V8R 6N4\nAnne 6t Philip Yandle Best Article\nAward\nDeadline: To be eligible, the article must have appeared\nin the BCHF journal British Columbia History for that\nyear.\nA Certificate of   merit and $250 will be\nawarded annually to the author of the\narticle, published in British Columbia\nHistory, that best enhances knowledge\nof BC's history and provides reading\nenjoyment. Judging will be based on subject\ndevelopment, writing skill, freshness of\nmaterial, and appeal to a general readership\ninterested in all aspects of BC history.\nBC History Web Site Prize\nDeadline: December 31\nThe British Columbia Historical Federation\nand David Mattison are jointly sponsoring a\nyearly cash award of $250 to recognize Web\nsites that contribute to the understanding\nand appreciation of British Columbia's past.\nThe award honours individual initiative in\nwriting and presentation.\nNominations for the BC History Web\nSite Prize must be made to the British\nColumbia Historical Federation, Web Site\nPrize Committee, prior to December 31st\neach year. Web site creators and authors\nmay nominate their own sites. Prize rules\nand the online nomination form can be\nfound on the British Columbia Historical\nFederation Web site: http:\/\/bchistory.ca\/\nawards\/website\/index.html\nBest Newsletter Award\nDeadline: March 1\nNewsletters published by member societies\nare eligible to compete for an annual\nprize of $250. They will be judged for\npresentation and content that is interesting,\nnewsy and informative.\n- Only member societies of the BCHF are\neligible\n- Only one issue of a society's newsletter\nwill be evaluated\n- Submit three printed copies of this best\nissue from the previous calendar year\n- BCHF reserves the right not to award a\nprize in a given year should applications\nnot be of sufficient quality\nSubmit three printed copies of a single\nnewsletter issue to: BCHF Recognition\nCommittee, PO Box 5254, Station B,\nVictoria, BC, Canada, V8R 6N4\nCertificate of Merit\nDeadline: March 1\nGroup or individual who has made a\nsignificant contribution to the study,\nproject, or promotion of British Columbia's\nhistory.\nCertificate of Recognition\nDeadline: March 1\nGiven to individual members or groups\nof members of BCHF Member Societies\nwho have given exceptional service to their\nOrganization or Community.\nCertificate of Appreciation\nDeadline: March 1\nIndividuals who have undertaken ongoing\npositions, tasks, or projects for BCHF.\nNominations\nAny member of BCHF may nominate\ncandidates for Certificates of Appreciation,\nCertificates of Merit or Certificates of\nRecognition. Nominations, supported\nby a letter explaining why the nominee\nis deserving of a certificate, should be\nsubmitted to the Chair of the Recognition\nCommittee by March 1 of each year.\nThe Lieutenant-Governor's Medal\nfor Historical Writing\nDeadline: December 31\nEach year, the British Columbia Historical\nFederation invites submissions for its\nAnnual Historical Writing Competition\nto authors of BC history; and the winning\nauthor is awarded the Lieutenant-\nGovernor's Medal for Historical Writing.\nEligibility\n- To be eligible, a book must be about\nBC history and be published within the\ncompetition year\n- Non-fiction books representing any\naspect of BC history are eligible.\n- Reprints or revisions of books are not\neligible\n- Books may be submitted by authors or\npublishers\n- Deadline for submission is December\n31 of the year in which the book was\npublished\nSubmission Requirements\n- Those wishing to enter books MUST\nobtain a copy of the entry rules from the\nentries chair at writing@bchistory.ca\n- Authors\/Publishers are required to\nsubmit three copies of their book\n- Books are to be accompanied by a letter\ncontaining the following:\n1. Title of the book submitted\n2. Author's name and contact information\n3. Publisher's name and contact\ninformation\n4. Selling price\n- Books entered become property of BCHF\n- Judges' decisions are final and\nconfidential\n- By submitting books for this competition,\nthe authors agree that the BCHF may use\ntheir name(s) in press releases and in its\npublications\nWilliam R. Morrison: Email: writing\u00ae\nbchistory.ca\nJudging Criteria\nJudges are looking for quality presentations\nand fresh material. Submissions will be\nevaluated in the following areas:\n- Scholarship: quality of research and\ndocumentation, comprehensiveness,\nobjectivity and accuracy\n- Presentation: organization, clarity,\nillustrations and graphics\n- Accessibility: readability and audience\nappeal\nPublicity\nAll winners will receive publicity and an\ninvitation to the Award's Banquet at the\nFederation's annual conference in May\nfollowing the year of publication.\nLieutenant-Governor's Medal and Other Awards\nThe BC Lieutenant-Governor's Medal for\nHistorical Writing will be awarded together\nwith $1000 to the author whose book\nmakes the most significant contribution\nto the history of British Columbia. The\n2nd and 3rd place winners will receive\n$500 and $250 respectively. Certificates of\nHonourable Mention may be awarded to\nother books as recommended by the judges.\nJohnson Inc. Scholarship\nDeadline: September 15\nCanadian residents completing high school\nand who are beginning post-secondary\neducation. 100 scholarships of $1500 each\nfor Canada, http:\/\/wwwl.johnson.ca\/about-\nus\/scholarships\n Return Undeliverable Canadian Addresses to Circulation Department.     Canadian Publications Mail Product Sales Agreement No. 40025793\nBritish Columbia History Publications Mail registration No. 09835\nBCHF c\/o Magazine Association of BC\n201 -318 Homer Street, Vancouver, BC V6B 2V2\n1920 by master gardener John Montgomery from unwanted boulders excavated for the adjacent park pavilion. In 2013, the\ngarden was officially added to the Vancouver Heritage Register as an important landscape resource.\nExplore our back issues and read more of the story about the Rock Garden in British Columbia History, Vol 39. No. 4 available\nthrough subscriptions@bchistory.ca or online as a PDF through BCHF's partnership with The University of British Columbia\nArchives: http:\/\/bchistory.library.ubc.ca\/?db=bchf. Photo: City of Vancouver Archives, AM54-S4-2-: CVA 371-2849.\n","@language":"en"}],"Genre":[{"@value":"Periodicals","@language":"en"}],"Identifier":[{"@value":"BCHistory_2013_vol046_no003","@language":"en"}],"IsShownAt":[{"@value":"10.14288\/1.0380655","@language":"en"}],"Language":[{"@value":"English","@language":"en"}],"Notes":[{"@value":"Titled \"British Columbia Historical Association Report and Proceedings\" from 1923-1929; \"British Columbia Historical Quarterly\" from 1937-1957; \"BC Historical News\" from 1968-2004; and \"British Columbia History\" from 2005 onward.","@language":"en"}],"Provider":[{"@value":"Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library","@language":"en"}],"Publisher":[{"@value":"Victoria : British Columbia Historical Federation","@language":"en"}],"Rights":[{"@value":"Images provided for research and reference use only. Permission to publish, copy, or otherwise use these images must be obtained from the British Columbia Historical Association (info@bchistory.ca).","@language":"en"}],"SortDate":[{"@value":"2013-12-31 AD","@language":"en"},{"@value":"2013-12-31 AD","@language":"en"}],"Subject":[{"@value":"British Columbia--History","@language":"en"}],"Title":[{"@value":"British Columbia History","@language":"en"}],"Type":[{"@value":"Text","@language":"en"}],"Translation":[{"@value":"","@language":"en"}],"@id":"doi:10.14288\/1.0380655"}