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British Columbia Historical Books Collection
Turnbull, William Henry
137 pages : portraits, illustration, photographs ; 24 cm
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ONE HUNDRED YEARS / BEEKEEPING IN BRITISH COLUMBIA 1858 -1958 V-UuluJ iy B.C Honey Producers' Association ONE HUNDRED YEARS »/ BEEKEEPING IN BRITISH COLUMBIA 1858 -1958 &6 Sif W. H. TURN BULL <JDedii ication This book is dedicated to the pioneers of the Bee Keeping Industry for the past 100 years. Representing these, I would like to mention J. B. D. Ogilvie, that pioneering Scot who made the first importation of honey bees back in 1858. To his name I would like to add W. H. Lewis, C. A. Carncross, P. Dundas Todd, Williams Hugh, John Brooks, W. J. Shep- pard, L. Harris, and Dr. J. B. Munro, B.S.A., M.B.E. These men have passed on but their work will never be forgotten. Representing the living pioneers, I would like to mention J. W. Winson, A. W. Finlay, Fred Bettschen, E. R. Freeman, E. Chipperfield, Ken Simons, Jas. Drinkwater, G. Fred Pearcey and A. E. Pittaway. To all the men and women with whom I have worked in the last 45 years, represented by Alex Keii and V. E. Thor- gierson. 3 "Wisk to "JLnL- I wish to thank many people who have helped compile the information contained in the following pages. Without help and co-operation it would have been impossible for me to have written an accurate record. The inspiration for the work came from the late Dr. J. B. Munro, for many years Deputy Minister of Agriculture for British Columbia. It was during this time that he made a close study of early records in connection with bee keeping, and before his death a few years ago he sent the information he had gathered to me, with the notation that it "might come handy some day." Without this research work the early history of the industry would have been lost. My thanks are due to Mrs. J. A. Urquhart of Kelowna for her Art work on the cover, and Mrs. E. V. Merrick of B.C. Photomart, Kamloops, for her excellent and painstaking work in preparing and copying old photographs. Especially do I wish to thank W. E. Hoadley, of Salmon Arm, and J. W. Winson of Huntingdon, for giving of their time and valuable help in reading and suggesting changes in the manuscript. Also I wish to thank Miss Alma E. Hill of the Department of Agriculture, Mrs. Evelyn Groves (youngest daughter of the late W. H. Lewis), Fabian and Bevan Hugh of Surrey, J. P. Hodgson of New Westminster, and Major J. S. Matthews of the City Archives, Vancouver, for the valuable help they have given me in checking old records and locating old photographs. I owe a special word of thanks to my son "Bob," Corporal R. H. Turnbull of the R.C.M.P. (who in his boyhood days had a keen interest in bees), and in the course of his work gathered the stories of early bee keepers in the Chilcotin, Cariboo and Northern B.C. And most of all, I want to thank my wife, Margaret Turnbull, for skillful editorial help, for never failing inspiration and suggestion, for an amazing understanding and patience over the two years that I have been working at this book in my spare time. W.H.T. r ^foreword British Columbia is a big place, a long way from the centre of ancient civilization, east or west. A whole continent guards it on the east and a whole ocean on the west, yet it is surprising that until the years from 1793, 1804 to 1812 it was quite unknown territory. Then Mackenzie, Lewis and Clark, Fraser and Thompson told of the wonderful country they had found, "The Land of the Golden Twilight," the mountains, the great rivers and innumerable lakes, the valleys rainbowed with flowers; a wonderful country indeed, but not till 1843 did the fur traders locate their headquarters on the south end of what is now Vancouver Island, at Victoria. They were not interested in people or land for settlement, only in furs, but when in 1856 the discovery of gold brought the wildest of fortune hunters by the thousands, necessity for authority to support law and order brought about the official Birthday of the colony of British Columbia in 1858. Now it is 1958—surely a fitting time to look back at what the first comers have built. We like to talk of our big, wonderful country, but we are a little people, only about a million and a half of us, almost lost in the immensity, almost frightened at what we have done in one short hundred years. We have done so many things, all worth telling; some breath-taking, others less spectacular but all far reaching in their ultimate results— all of them the work of a few pioneers. It is the lives and work of these pioneers that is the real history of British Columbia. No honey bees were native to British Columbia. In "One Hundred Years of Bee Keeping in British Columbia" the author, one of the pioneer bee keepers, has told of the people who brought them to this western world. A land flowing with milk and honey has always described a country, desirable beyond others—and is not B.C. one such? Many people: Chinese, priests, miners, loggers—all sorts brought bees, in the ships cabin, as fellow passengers, by pack horse, in canoes, on their backs. Swarms escaped to the woods and hived in hollow trees. So—bees were carried all over the country, owned by people of all sorts and kinds —all having one quality in common, without which you can- not be a bee keeper, that is a great humanity. "One Hundred Years of Bee Keeping in British Columbia" shows one facet of a complex whole which is British Columbia. It is one hundred years ago that the first hives of bees arrived at Victoria. From there some were moved to the Mainland where they swarmed and increased at a fast rate. How they spread over British Columbia makes an interesting story when told by Mr. W. H. Turnbull of Vernon. The book has been over two years in the making; arranging facts that have taken over fifty years to gather. It is not a book that will be interesting to bee keepers only, but to all who are interested in the history of British Columbia and its pioneers, who took up bee keeping for pleasure or profit. It is a history of beekeepers as well as a history of beekeeping. Mr. Turnbull is the natural choice of writer to compile this book, as he was on the inspection staff many years ago, and was for many years Acting Provincial Apiarist. His duties during this time took him into every part of British Columbia where bee keeping is carried on. He also planned and set up some of the largest apiaries and honey producing plants in the Province. He was Representative of British Columbia on the Canadian Bee Keepers Council for eight years during which time he served as President of the Council for two years. At the time of the coronation of our Queen, he was presented with her medal to give him the honor of being the most outstanding person in Canada to be connected with the honey producing industry. W. E. HOADLEY, Retired President B.C. Honey Producers Assn. CHAPTER I One hundred years ago on a May morning in the spring of 1858, the good ship Pacific steamed past the point of land now known as William Head, and dropped anchor in the Inner Harbor at Fort Victoria, Vancouvers Island. Twenty- one days out of Southern California ports, she carried a varied cargo for the settlers in and around the Fort, and for points on what is now known as the lower Mainland, which were trans-shipped from this Port. On her manifest was listed a shipment of honey bees, consigned to J. B. D. Ogilvie, by W. H. Hoy of San Jose, California. There is no record of the condition of the bees upon arrival, but they were unloaded and left in care of a "Mr. Thain," at a site where the Bidwell building now stands on Yates Street. The Victoria Gazette carried an invitation for anyone interested to call and see "the little workers." Two years later the British Colonist of June 14th, 1860, informed its readers "The first honey bees brought to this colony were two colonies brought from Oregon by Mr. J. B. D. Ogilvie who lives about two miles up Victoria Arm. They have been in his possession about two months, but already have produced about ten pounds of honey." We have no report of the bees imported in May, 1858, and do not know if they survived the first two winters or otherwise, but it is evident that Mr. Ogilvie had made up his mind that he was going to have honey bees in the new colony, and made his second importation from Oregon. These bees evidently wintered well for a report in the Colonist of February 24th, 1862, reads, "We do not remember in the list of prizes at the Agricultural Fair last Fall, to have seen any prize offered for the best hive of bees raised in the Colony, or at least for the best sample of honey produced there. Probably it may have been entirely owing to the general belief that there are no honey bees in the Colony. We are happy to state, however, that there are six hives. The owner is Mr. J. B. D. Ogilvie, who lives about two miles up the Arm. In June, 1860, two hives were brought over from Oregon. Since then they have increased to six, and as soon as spring opens they will be increased by the addition of twelve more. The honey produced by them is excellent. To Father Pandosy, of the Order of Mary Immaculate, goes the honor of importing the first honey bees into the [7] Okanagan Valley of British Columbia. Father Pandosy came north from Oregon in 1859 and brought the first apple trees known in the Valley; with them came at least one colony of honey bees. These were established at the Mission founded by the Rev. Father, six miles south of the present city of Kelowna. The site is still held by the Order, and was known for many years as Okanagan Mission. Unfortunately the flora of the district did not lend itself to nectar producing plants and the bees starved during the first winter. To Mr,.Qgi!vie, the pioneer Scottish fur trader and farmer, goes the honor of establishing the first apiary in the colony, and successfully wintering them. He had a distinct advantage over Father Pandosy's venture in that the spring flora around Fort Victoria was supplemented by the land clearing that had been going on for some time around the Fort, and which then was followed by heavy stands of "Fire- weed." This plant, known as Rosebay or Willow Herb, yields very heavy crops of nectar in the first few years after it becomes established. This fact no doubt accounted for his being able to winter his bees, and to increase the number of colonies from year to year as the early records show. There are no reports of bees being again brought to the Mainland until 1865. The Cariboo gold rush was on during those early days, and every known means of transportation was being used between Fort Victoria and the Mainland in order to get the gold seekers to the rich placer sands on the Upper Fraser Vancouver was then only a logging camp on a sheltered bay, and the Fraser River was the main highway (or waterway) for the gold seekers making their way into the interior. A small settlement had been established at what is now known as Crescent Beach, in Semiahmo Bay, and which was known for many years as "Blackie's Spit." The leader in this pioneer settlement was a man by the name of Schwartz, and it is reasonable to suppose that as the name in English means Black, that the small settlement became known as "Blackie's Spit," by which name it was known for many years. Being the closest point on the Mainland to Fort Victoria, it became a regular Port of call for the flat bottom boats and scows that were used in those days to trans-ship freight to the Mainland. Blackie's Spit lies at the mouth of two tidal streams which furnish a waterway for miles northward to Fort Lang- ley on the Fraser River. Another trail wound its way from [8] Birch Bay, in what is now the State of Washington, through the heavy timbered country to a point on the Nicomekl River, (the most southerly of the two streams) close to where the town of Langley now stands. The flat bottom boats and scows could, and did, navigate this river to a point where the road from Birch Bay crossed on its way to Fort Langley. This may look like an impossibility to us today who know the muddy streams that are known as the Nicomekl and Serpentine Rivers, but when it is remembered that at that time there were no dams on these streams to hold back the tidal waters that filled them to their banks twice a day and made it easy going for the shallow draft boats that were in use, and which saved the gold seekers many miles of heart-breaking "packing" of supplies, it is easy to understand why a "stopping place" at Blackie's Spit became quite an important settlement between Fort Victoria and Fort Langley. Schwartz was evidently not a miner, but it is reported that he took advantage of the heavily timbered lands along the rivers and started logging on quite a large scale. He also cleared and planted quite a large area on the higher land above the tidal flats, and started to grow as much produce as he could to supply the steady stream of prospective miners travelling northeastward into the upper reaches of the Fraser River and Cariboo country. In 1865 he bought two hives of bees from the estate of the late J. B. D. Ogilvie (who had been killed by a band of Indians on one of his many trading trips to the Mainland. His body was recovered and returned to Fort Victoria on board H.M.S. "Sparrowhawk," with Governor Seymour aboard, and was buried in the "Old Timers Cemetery" at the Fort). Schwartz thus established the first apiary on the Lower Mainland of which there is any record. It is possible that honey bees may have been imported from Washington over the trail from Birch Bay, but it is not probable as they are bulky freight, and were not likely to be included in shipments of that time. Loggers were beginning to arrive in large numbers and established "camps" along the banks of both tidal streams, and as the forest was being cleared the areas growing fire- weed became greater each year. Land clearing along the rivers started clearing fires, which often escaped into the virgin timber along the rivers, killing many of the cedar trees growing on their banks. These cedars were not the giants usually associated with [9] the cedars in B.C., but were generally not over 36" in diameter and invariably hollow, stunted no doubt by the salt water that flooded the lowlands occasionally. When they were fire-killed they towered above the surrounding scrub like cathedral spires. There were thousands of these trees scattered along the flats before mentioned, and also in the country between Mud Bay and the Fraser River in the district now known as Delta. This condition was duplicated around and across Lulu Island and from New Westminster along the north bank of the Fraser River to where the International Air Port now stands on Sea Island. As well as these stunted and hollow cedars, this low lying land was covered with a very heavy undergrowth comprised mostly of willows of several varieties, (ail nectar bearing), and thousands of acres of a species of wild crab apple (also a really prolific nectar bearing tree). The lower sections of the tidal flats (known as bogs) were thickly covered with Labrador Tea, a nectar bearing plant that yielded heavily late in June and early in July. The higher land along the edges of the tidal flats carried big leafed Maple, followed by the lowly Vine Maple which rivals its big brother in nectar production. This natural flora was being supplemented by many acres each year as the loggers took their toll from the forests covering the higher lands back from the rivers. As soon as the best trees were cut and the logs hauled to the rivers on well-established skidroads, fires naturally began to sweep the country in dry seasons and the area denuded of trees was rapidly taken over by fireweed, the plant which, in the opinion of the writer, has never been equalled for the quantities of nectar it produces. Another flowering tree that went a long way to prepare this paradise for bees was the Cascara. This tree was well established over the whole area now known as the Fraser Valley. Into this floral paradise the bees purchased by Mr. Schwartz were released by him in the spring of 1865. His many duties as farmer, logger, and lodging house keeper left him little time to look after his bees, with the inevitable result that as soon as the hives were filled with brood and nectar, the bees started to swarm. Some of the swarms were captured and hived in boxes, but the majority escaped to the woods. The hollow trees along the rivers made ideal quarters for them. The hollows were not too large and the dry cedar made excellent insulation. The abundance of nectar [10] available insured even the late swarms ample stores to carry them through the usually mild winters. From the start, the bees "took over," and each year saw more "bee trees" being established, first, along the rivers and then along the skidroads leading from the streams into- the forests. With ideal conditions the bees built up very rapidly and soon new swarms were establishing colonies over all the flatlands and they spread out over the fertile lands lying between the head of navigation and Fort Langley. They also spread into a westerly and northerly direction, taking possession of the homes made ready for them, in the fire-killed cedars in the fertile delta lands along the Fraser River. It was only a short flight for the bees to Lulu Island and the north bank of the river where they took possession of trees in what is now known as Burnaby, Central Park and the City of Vancouver. They spread westward along the Fraser until the broad expanse of English Bay formed a barrier they could not cross. It is reported by early settlers that bee trees were found in Stanley Park and from there they did not need a First Narrows Bridge to reach the North Shore where they found homes as far north as what is now the Squamish Indian Reserve. This expansion went unchecked for more than 20 years, and by 1885 honey bees were well established from Fort Langley to the Gulf of Georgia. At about this time the Canadian Pacific Railway had completed its line from the east into Port Moody and Vancouver. With the completion of the railway hundreds of Chinese coolies who had been engaged on the new railway were without regular work. Many returned to China, but many more went into the woods and worked on skid-road building, and the heavier work in the numerous logging camps of the area in the Fraser Valley and along the Coast. They found that the Cedar trees were a source from which they could split "shakes" and build themselves cabins in the various camps that employed them. The shingle industry was in its infancy and the operators soon found that the Chinese made excellent shingle-bolt cutters (a job which did not appeal to the white logger), and they were soon employed for that purpose. The heavy timber was cut and logged off first and then the shingle-bolt cutters took over while the skid roads were still usable, so the shingle bolts could be hauled to the water where they could be taken to the various shingle mills that were in operation along the Coastal waters and the Rivers. [11] This brought the Chinese laborers in close touch with the "Bee-Trees" and they soon found that by proper handling they could salvage much of the honey found in the hollow trees. This was a great boon to the hard working Chinese men who had been forced up to this time to live on rice and tea (imported from China), vegetables they were able to grow in small clearings around the camps, and fish (in season), of which there seemed inexhaustible numbers in the streams. Sugar was then the only thing missing from their diet and they found this sweet in the honey they were able to salvage from the bee trees. They found too, that they could barter honeycomb for other food stuffs they might need from the camp commissary, and it was only natural that they began to hunt for the bee trees that supplied this natural sweet. They found a ready market for the honey and it was not long before they began to strain the broken honeycomb and particles of wood from the honey, and sell it to the white man as "strained honey." This was known to the logger and the settler of that day as "wild honey" and was a delicacy much demanded, as superior to the heavy black molasses, which was a standard article of diet used for sweetening in the logging camps. The Chinaman soon found too, that if he gave the bee colony (which was dispossessed of its hive when the tree was cut), an old box, (usually an empty powder box or a discarded tea caddy) with an entrance hole cut near the top, and turned bottom up on a wide cedar shake, the bees would soon establish a new home. As soon as the colony was settled and re-established they would carry it out of the woods to their camp and place it on a stump where they could keep watch over it. They had learned from experience that the ordinary black bear which roamed the woods in large numbers soon developed a liking for honey. He doubtless found out too, that as well as honey, the brood nest of the bees was really the attraction in the first place. This made it necessary for the early Chinese bee-keeper to keep his bees close to the camp where the white man's -rifle would help him to protect his bees, and add to the camp fare many a juicy "bear steak." The Chinaman only asked for the bear's gall and paws which they used in some mysterious prescription they brought from their homeland for the making of "medicine." The writer has visited some of these old Chinese camps just after turn of the century, and counted as many as five hoxes of bees on one large cedar stump which was surrounded by a heavy log fence built to keep the bears out. [12] There were many of these small camps scattered over the area from Blaine, Wash., to the mountains of North Vancouver, and eastward to the mountains at Hope, and most of them had their quota of Chinese shingle-bolt cutters who invariably made use of every foodstuff they could And in the woods. It is safe to say that the honey made by the descendants of the bees brought to Blackie's Spit forty years before formed no small part of this food supply. Just before the turn of the century, the early pioneers who made up the personnel of the logging camps, together with new arrivals from the east and south, started to build homes in the logged-off districts. Many among them had kept bees, or "their grandfathers had kept bees in the east," and they naturally noted this "easy money" that was going to waste in the woods around them. They sent "east" for hives and soon were starting the nucleus of an apiary with swarms captured from the bee trees. One hundred years ago there were few settlers who knew anything about honey bees or their habits, it is only natural that every swarm that escaped from the few hives in a settlement went to the woods. Here they found ready made homes supplied by the hollow Cedar trees of which there were many. The noble Cedar tree then, was responsible for the spread of honey bees around every small apiary, and no greater tribute can be found anywhere than in the Poem by Robert E. - Swanson, "The Versatile Cedar," and taken from his "Rhymes of a Western Logger." Mr. Swanson was a beekeeper himself on Vancouver Island for some years and has given his permission for the use of his poem in "One Hundred Years of Bee Keeping in British Columbia." rf OL <!/.„««/. Ce</«, Gloomy the dell and dismal the swamp, where the roots of the Cedar tree thrive; Theirs is the law of the forest, where only the strong shall survive, Where might is right to reach the light, and might will the weaker deprive. Bearded with moss as druids of old, sorrowful boughs of the gloom, Theirs is a heritage moody, theirs is the evergreen plume: Theirs is the wood of the Totem God, theirs is the board of the tomb. Glistening spires greet the morning sun, where echoes the swamp robin's cry— Perch of the bald-headed eagle, surveying his prey from on high; Theirs is the lair of the hibernant bear, denned up for the winter they lie. Pole of the high-tension power line, staff of the Union Jack, Wood of King Solomon's temple, yet shake of the pioneer's shack; Prospector's friend to the bitter end, board of his frying-pan snaok. Odour that's death to the parasite moth, yet HOME TO THE WILD HONEY BEE. Easy to fashion, slow to decay .. .0 fortunate mortals are we To have such a wood, so sound and so good, as the versatile Cedar tree. CHAPTER II This too seemed to be the time in which expansion of the logging industry spread up the Coast Districts of the Province. Hardy loggers from camps in the Fraser Valley began to scatter among the many larger camps that were opening up in all the Inlets from Howe Sound to Knight Inlet. The reports of the large number of "bee-trees" in the Fraser Valley and the stocks of honey they contained would be spread into every camp where these men would go, and the craving for honey in a sugar-short diet certainly seemed to encourage them to carry bees into the most remote places. In the year 1918 when it became compulsory to register the location of all apiaries with the Department of Agriculture, no less than 39 of these outlying apiaries were registered and there were doubtless many not registered that had been abandoned at old camp sites, some of which had not been used for 25 years at least. One of these was located at Princess Louise Inlet at the upper end of Jervis Inlet and had been quite a large apiary. When the Malibou Club took over the property twenty years ago, the remains of it was discovered on the old Johnston Homestead on the Inlet. Johnston had left in 1915 after telling a friend of mine that the "settlers were getting too close," and he was going further north where he would not be bothered with neighbors. It is reported that Johnston sold honey for some years to the Gustafson Logging interests who had two big "shows" on Jervis Inlet, one at Vancouver Bay, and the other further south. When these camps were closed, the market for honey was too far away and he left for parts farther afield leaving his bees to shift for themselves, which they were quite capable of doing. This was duplicated many times in the years between the coming of the C.P.R. to the Coast and 1918. It accounts for the number of bee-trees found along the shores of the Inlets and extending in many cases for miles along the streams and skid-roads leading into the mountains from campsites at Tide Water. The remains of apiaries were found on the shores of Bute Inlet and in fact three aged Swedish loggers who had retired fiom active work in the woods and were building fishing boats in a small cove at Fawn Bluff about half way up [15] the inlet, had in their neat, well kept yard, several hives of bees which kept them supplied with all the honey they could use, with some to give to their neighbors along the shores further up. They were able too, to dispose of any surplus they would have at the large logging camp at Orford Bay. In the late 70s there was a small settlement at the head of the Inlet midway between the Southgate and Homathko Rivers. This settlement was established at the time the Canadian Pacific Railway was surveying routes to the west coast, and was a flourishing outpost until the route through the Fraser Canyon was Anally chosen for the Trans-Continental Railway. It was from this settlement that two hives of bees were packed by Indian packers up the Homathko River to what is called New Darrow Meadows, a few miles above Wadding- ton Canyon. These bees belonged to a man named Darrow who owned a homestead further up the river, the bees were left in a sheltered spot and the native packers returned to tide water for another load. As they were absent about a month they found on their return that the bees had filled the hives with honey and they were too heavy to pack further. They were left to be taken up later in the season. This meant that they were practically a whole season in a coun- . try that was very prolific with wild fruits, and flowers of all kinds. In the early fall the grizzly bears that had been fishing below the canyon worked their way up the river, finding Darrow's bees. This was too tasty a morsel for them to miss and the colonies were "wiped out," this, said our informant, the late Robert Graham of Tatla Lake, "was the end of Darrow's bee-keeping." It might well have been too, but with bees left all summer as these undoubtedly were, it is safe to say that many swarms took to the woods and made their homes in the hollow trees in the valley; this would account for the stories told by pioneers and Indians that "there were bee-trees in the district as long as we can remember." The records of Fort Chilcotin (which was abandoned in the early 70s) show that the Factor kept one or more hives of bees which, when the Fort was closed were sold to an old settler at Punzi Lake (the site of the present R.C.A.F. Radar Station and Landing Field). This settler was killed at the time of the Chilcotin Uprising, but we have no record as to what happened to his bees; his daughter Mrs. JarrJes McKill could not remember, as she was a very little girl at the time. [16] The late Thomas Hance, an Iowan, who settled in the Chilcotin in the late 70s and who founded the village of Hanceville (one of the few guest ranches that still keeps to the genuine ranch style of the old T-H days), was a real pioneer among pioneers. He had a sizable apiary, grew his own wheat, milling it and when he had built up sufficient for a load packed it together with his honey, to the distant gold workings at Quesnel Forks and Barkerville where both commodities were in demand. He powered his mill with a water wheel, driven by storage water from a very large spring above his ranch buildings; he held the water behind a dam until he had a supply that would operate the mill for several hours. He then would close it off and attend to his bees. Old timers say it was no unusual sight to see Tom Hance working around his mill with a bee veil around his hat, having just left his apiary. He also ran a small sawmill, so I have no doubt that he manufactured his own bee supplies. His sons still carry on the ranch much as it was in their father's day, minus the flour mill and the apiary. The building of the CP.R. to Vancouver opened up a new method of transportation to the Interior of B.C. and although we have reports of bees being kept at Lytton and Ashcroft prior to that time it was not until the railway was completed that we have any record of honey being shipped out from there in large quantities. From that time old stage drivers report that the carrying of honey and bees by stage from Ashcroft to Barkerville was a regular business. The late Joe Smith who for many years was proprietor of the Clinton Hotel (well known to all Cariboo travellers, and who in his earlier days had been a regular driver of B.X. Stages, said that all the,old drivers tried to keep clear of the transportation of live bees and always wished the job on those with less seniority. He was one of these, and said he often left Ashcroft with a "skep" of bees on the baggage boot of his stage. These were consigned by a Chinese merchant Long Shue in Ashcroft to Chinamen in Barkerville and way points; it was no uncommon sight, according to the stories told by Smith, to see a Chinese cabin at the old placer workings with a skep of bees on the roof (placed there no doubt to ensure safety from bears). In telling of his experiences he always claimed that they had plenty of trouble with these hives as they were not too securely fastened, and bees were always escaping, no doubt caused by the jolting over the rough roads. He claimed that [17] all of the bee-trees on the Cariboo Road were started by bees that escaped from hives carried by him. Be this as it may, there is no doubt that there were many apiaries started along the old road from Soda Creek to Black- water Canyon and even as far up as Woodpecker Landing where a man named Dale had an apiary in the early years of 1900. It is reported on good authority that honey was a standard food on all menus at the road houses along the Cariboo Road. This is not at all surprising as it could be procured from Lytton and Ashcroft in sizable quantities and after the coming of the CP.R. the merchants of Ashcroft, Chinese and White, carried large stocks for the Northern trade. To illustrate this: Louie Vedan, one of the early settlers in the Chilcotin, arrived in Ashcroft with his beef drive. He had supper in a Chinese Cafe. Here he had the first macaroni he had tasted, finished with apple pie topped with honey. This appealed to him and the following morning he went to Harvey Bailey's store and ordered 500 pounds of macaroni and the same weight of honey to bolster his winter food supply. Needless to say he had stocked up for years, but the macaroni outlasted the honey. It is reported that he was still eating from the original shipment twenty years later. The Chilcotin Indians still call macaroni "Vedan's Potatoes." "Cataline," known as the "King of the Packers," ran a pack train of mules from Ashcroft into the Cariboo and further north, making his first trip in 1859 and the last trip to Hazelton in 1911. He was almost a legend in that country and many stories are still told of his eccentric ways. The only part that really interests us is his interest in honey. The late Charley Place of Dog Creek Road House says that his (Cataline's) favorite breakfast was porridge cooked with cheese and raisins, smothered in butter, and a thick layer of honey topped off with cream. After a substantial helping of this he would go out to the bar and take a good stiff shot of Rum (half of which he would rub into his hair), then he was ready for the road. His winter quarters were at Dog Creek, so he was known very well to Place. 1 CHAPTEI At this stage in honey production a standard hive had not been adopted, every bee keeper followed his own methods; the "best" had not been discovered. Langstroth had devised the movable frame hive a short time before, but it had not reached general use. For reasons just mentioned, the first hives shipped into British Columbia were patterned after the different makes and styles which were in use in the States and Provinces from which the new settlers came. I think it is safe to say however, that the new Langstroth movable frame hive was the most popular. The A. I. Root Co. of Medina, Ohio, and the Dadant Company of Hamilton, 111., were advertising very extensively, and it naturally followed that many of the newer bee keepers ordered a sample hive and frames from them, which were used at patterns when building their hives, the numbers of which were increasing. The source of increase of colonies (as mentioned before) was the numerous swarms of bees that in the spring and early summer were looking for new homes. I knew one of the older bee keepers of that time who used to make a box large enough to hold four standard frames, and place it in a likely spot close to low-lying land that still had many hollow cedars which had not yet been cut into shingle-bolts. In one season he captured twenty-eight swarms in his trap boxes. This will give some idea of the ease with which increase of colonies was made, and it will also show how many an apiary was started. The early settler was naturally a man who used every means available to add to his property or his income, and he soon learned the source of the Chinaman's supplies of honey. He spent many of his idle days roaming through the woods "hunting bee-trees." It was a popular and profitable pastime and often he would find several neighbors gathering on a warm Sunday to watch the bees garnering nectar from the flowers and when they were loaded, they would "take off" directly for their home in a bee-tree not too far distant. This particular characteristic of honey bees is responsible for the expression "a bee line." Many trees were found in this way and the finder would carry a small axe or a heavy knife to "blaze" the side of the tree and carve his initials on the blaze. This procedure established among pioneers the ownership of the bees and [19] I the honey found in the trees. Usually the robbing of the tree was left until the frost came, and the task was carried on in the dark, the general idea being that bees were not so apt to sting the men taking away the honey after sunset. Many a black eye and badly swollen face marked the bee hunter after the clean-up of a bee-tree. Usually every wash boiler, wash tub and milk can in the district was commandeered to store the honey taken from the trees and brushed (fairly) clear of bees. A common expression often heard among bee hunters was "we took two wash tubs (often more) of honey from that bee-tree found on Mr. so-and-so's back lot." Many were the tall tales told by bee-hunters as to the amount of honey taken, in many cases pure fabrication told to beat a story told by another group. A story is told, however, of two Vancouver boys, Fred and Jack Tucker. They located a bee tree on Point Gray, a giant cedar which stood on what is now the Campus of the University of British Columbia. The boys and several friends had a real job cutting and falling it so that the fall would be cushioned by green trees which it would crush on its way to the ground. They carefully cut out the section that they thought contained the bees and honey; it was some eighteen feet above the point of entrance used by the bees which was through a knot hole which went into the hollow heart of the tree. It was reported that they took over eight hundred pounds of good, clean honeycomb filled with the very finest fireweed honey. I have every reason to believe the truth of this story as it was told to me by old-time bee keepers whose veracity was unquestioned. They claimed that there was only one colony in the tree which stood in an area of hundreds of acres of fireweed on every side, the district having been logged off only a few years before, and fireweed being at its best from a nectar- producing standpoint. Fred Tucker started an apiary from swarms captured, sand from colonies saved from trees he had cut, and when I knew him some years later he was operating a large apiary tm the Hall's Prairie Road, in Surrey Municipality. There was an old settler who lived at Sullivan Station, oa&the B.C. Electric Railway near Cloverdale in the early part of the century, who seemed to spend most of his time roaming the woods and locating bee-trees. Daniel Henry Masters, familiarly, known as "Hank" or "Old Henry" had kept bees all his earlier life in Ontario. He located at Sullivan Station for two reasons. One was, some of his old schoolmates had settled there, and the other, the large num- [20] ber of bee trees still found on the low land alongside the Serpentine River. His experiences could have been duplicated in many parts of the Lower Mainland and a story of his experiences could well have been that of a dozen others of the same type living in the Fraser Valley. He lived with his youngest son in a tent with an outside roof of cedar shakes and had made things very comfortable for that sort of residence. He used to roam along the skidroads in the district and "line" bees into the low-lying lands along the river. It was almost uncanny the way he could pick out a bee-tree. He would blaze the tree and carve his initials "H.M." and then try and interest someone to help him cut the tree for a share of the honey found, old Henry always taking the bees and bringing them home in a box of which he had a row in a sheltered alder grove behind his cabin. I do not remember seeing a modern hive in his apiary, and his bees produced very little surplus honey but he still kept on hunting bee-trees, and catching swarms in the neighborhood. I have seen him bring home a colony taken from a tree after the snow had fallen. He would keep the honey for his own use and put syrup in a saucer which he would shove in the entrance in the front of the box in which he had put them. The interesting part of this story is that they built up well in the spring and were ready to swarm as soon as most colonies that had wintered on their own stores, under ideal conditions. I must say however that it was one Of the mildest winters I had ever seen in the Valley. I think I am safe in saying that "old Henry" was more immune to bee stings than any man I ever met (with one exception, that was W. H. Lewis of Burnaby of whom we will have more to say later). As proof of this immunity the following story will illustrate just how much punishment he could take from bee stings. One of his neighbors called him one afternoon and asked him to hive a swarm that had clustered in one of her apple trees. -Old Henry was a bit of a "show off" when it came to anything that had to do with the handling of bees. He would never wear a net or gloves and claimed that anyone who did was "a sissy." The swarm in question had clustered in an easy position to get at, a few feet from the ground. He took a step ladder and carrying a large dish pan he climbed to the swarm. His intention was to hold the pan under them and then shake the limb on which they were clustered, dropping the- bees into the pan and then carrying them to the ground where he had a hive ready for them. [21] He had used this method many times with success, but this time as he was about to raise the pan over his head (being directly under the bees) they released their hold on the limb and dropped in a mass on his bald head, starting to sting every available spot they could find. He scrambled down and as there was a small creek near by he made a "bee line" for it and plunged in head first, thereby getting rid of most of the bees as the water was swift and carried them away. He was able to wade out and we who were watching (from a safe distance), were able to get to him and begin to get rid of the stings sticking in his head and neck (literally hundreds of them) and by this time his eyes had swollen shut and he was completely blind. We managed to get most of the stings removed, and then we had time to apply some remedy. Someone suggested that raw whiskey applied liberally was a good antidote, and produced a bottle almost full. We used it all, inside and out, and took the old man home. Whether it was natural immunity to stings or the liberal use of the whiskey, we never will know, but beyond puffed eyes for a day or two he was as spry as ever. He was always ready to "talk bees" and his tales were always interesting, as his experiences in his 70 odd years were many and varied as far as bees were concerned. Much of my early knowledge of bees and their habits was gleaned from stories told by him around a fire kindled near a tree that I had helped him "fall," and while waiting for the bees to settle down before we opened the tree to get the honey and bees. The method used by Henry in salvaging the bees and honey was the same that was usually followed by other bee hunters following this line of work. The equipment consisted of a good sharp axe, as long a cross-cut saw as could be produced, several splitting wedges, and a good weight hammer or maul. This made quite a load to pack in to the bee tree. It usually took two or three trips by the time a box for the bees and containers for the honey comb were carried in. The next job was to plan to fall the tree so that it would not get too much of a "jar" when it hit the ground. This was usually accomplished by falling it into a clump of green trees, the branches of which would break the fall. If it were possible, a pile of small trees and branches was made on the ground so that the tree, when falling, was cushioned as much as possible. There was nothing to do now but to notch the tree on the side toward which you wished it to fall and then to cut it down, quite often a job lasting from one to three hours if the tree was not too big. When it fell there [22] was usually a rush to block the entrance and imprison the bees, which would set up a roaring sound that would be heard some distance. This sound to the experienced ear of "old Henry" told him the distance the hive had extended in the tree, and he would then judge where to cut the log out, to miss the honey. Six or seven feet was the usual length that the hive extended although I have seen them extend up to 14 feet. Space was then cleared around where he figured the hive was located and then the log was sawn off above the bees; sometimes he made a mis-calculation and the saw ran into honey comb, and we would have to make another cut higher up on the tree. The next move was to saw the tree below the entrance, leaving the hollow log containing the bees and honey. We •then placed our wedges in the log and started to drive them in. The log being hollow, it would usually split open very easily and the inside of the hive was exposed. It was very wise to then leave the tree for an hour or so to give the bees a chance to settle and cluster before disturbing them further. The task now, was to take as much honey comb as possible without too many bees sticking to it. If the fall of the tree had not broken the comb too badly this was a fairly easy job, as the bees in the time allowed them after the tree had fallen, would cluster in and around the brood nest, leaving most of the surplus fairly free of bees. The honey comb was then removed to a safe distance and the job of "hiving" the bees was undertaken. Henry would open up the "brood nest" and shake the bees into a box in which he would tie a fair sized piece of brood comb containing the eggs, larvae and capped brood that had not been damaged. He ■ would then shake the bees off the remaining combs in the brood nest, hoping that the queen would be among those shaken into the box. He was usually very lucky in this as more often than not, she was among the bees inside and they immediately clustered around her. The honey comb was taken home and the box usually left on the stump of the tree for a day or two, during which time if the queen had been procured, the bees would take possession of their new home and in most cases, start to build comb inside the box and carry in the honey left around the old nest. After a day or two the box would be carried out to its new location in the apiary, and the bees would be re-established. It was not too long before those of us who had some knowledge of the bees' behavior decided to fall the tree in [23] 1 the middle of the day when most of the field bees were absent, and the young bees were having a "play flight." This procedure removed the entrance from its usual place and the returning bees would keep flying around and would eventually cluster close by. When the brood nest was opened and the brood and queen put in a box or hive and placed on the stump of the tree, the bees around the queen would set up a "homing hum" and the flying bees would hear it and would eventually find the new home, and by night all would be safely housed in the new quarters. This, with variations, was the usual plan followed by all bee hunters. The bees taken in this way became the nucleus of an apiary which was often built up to sizable numbers in the following years. One of these Charles Arthur Carncross who was born in Plainville, New York, in Sept., 1852. He came to San Francisco via the Panama in 1875 and then north to Victoria, E After working at logging and working at a small si mill at Moodyville, he moved up the Nicomekl River and took up land at what was later known as the Hookway Place on the Johnson Road in Surrey. The following year he bought a farm on the Nicomekl River at Kensington, which he operated until 1912, when he sold it and moved into Cloverdale. BC- (""eased). It was while he was on the farm that he became interested in bee keeping and became as far as any records show the First Commercial Beekeeper in B.C. In the early days of travel up the Nicomekl his home was a well known centre of hospitality for the many travellers using this water way as a route into the back country. Mr. Carncross served on many Public bodies and was at one time Reeve of Surrey Municipality, he was one of the real farmer pioneers and his home was the gathering place for any bee keepers (or would be beekeepers) for many miles around. numbers in the following years. ill His label on a jar or can of honey was well known on the Farmers' Market at New Westminster and was a real guarantee of a quality product inside. He hewed his farm out of the woods and contributed his full share to the public well being of the Fraser Valley. Mr. Carncross passed away in Cloverdale, on February 14th, 1937, and was laid to rest in the historic Church yard at Christ Church, Surrey Centre. He was one of our real pioneers. Another man in the same district was of a different type; he was employed by the Dominion Government of that day as a Forest Ranger, and he travelled the skid-roads and trails of the District lying between the International Boundary and the Fraser River. He was always on the look-out for hollow cedars that housed bees, and beyond marking them with his initials, "E.W.," he very rarely did anything with them. I think Ed Wade knew the whereabouts of more bee-trees than anyone in the Valley. He was always ready to tell anyone interested, where he could find a "tree" and he usually got the choicest of the comb honey for his trouble. In his later years Ed had a few colonies that had been gathered up from bee-trees by his son Sam, who followed his father as a Ranger in the area, and who had the same uncanny way of "locating a bee-tree." Sam housed his colonies in modern hives but never built up a large apiary, but in any history of bee-keeping the names of the Wades (father and son) should not be forgotten, as they were among our real pioneer bee-keepers in the Lower Fraser Valley. In every District of the Valley in the early part of the century, there were men (and a few women), who gathered together a few colonies of bees and who from experiences in [25] the East had gained a knowledge of bees and the handling of them. They soon became known as the "beeman" or "bee woman" of the District, and all the neighbors went to them for advice when they happened to "catch a swarm," and the man or woman approached would always be ready and willing to give every help possible. In this way every small community developed a system of keeping bees patterned after the way the bee man in the district kept his own, and no uniform system that would fit in with the peculiarities of British Columbia was adopted. This was the condition of the infant bee industry in the early years of 1900, and soon the different bee-keepers, seeking a more uniform knowledge of keeping their bees, began writing to the Department of Agriculture at Victoria, asking for information. No such information was then available. CHAPTER IV In the spring of 1910 a Scotchman, F. Dundas Todd, arrived at Victoria. He was a man with a very inquiring mind, and was interested in bees. While he lived in Chicago he had been in touch with veteran bee-keepers such as the Dadants of Hamilton, HI., and the Roots, of Medina, Ohio. He naturally went to the Department of Agriculture to get what information he could gather on keeping bees in B.C. He was not able to get very much, but during his visits to the Department he met W. E. Scott (then Deputy Minister of Agriculture) whose Department had for some time been getting correspondence from different parts of the Province asking for information in connection with raising bees. As he had been unable to supply the information asked for, he was very willing to "talk bees" with a very likable fellow Scot. The results of these visits was that the Deputy Minister asked Mr. Todd if he would be interested in getting in touch with some of the bee-keepers who had been writing in to him for information. Todd undertook the task with the Department paying him for the time he spent, and any out-of- pocket expense that he might have. Todd being a very enthusiastic bee-keeper and having no other work at the time, wrote to every bee-keeper listed, and in a very short time he had a list of some 200 bee-keepers from all over the Province. He asked each "bee-man" in a District to send him the names of anyone who kept bees in his area. Mr. Scott was very well pleased with the results and immediately tried to find money to keep Todd more or less busy gathering information and compiling a list of bee keepers for the rest of the summer and fall. In the fall of 1910 the Federal Government made an arrangement with the Provincial Department of Agriculture that a certain sum would be advanced each year to assist the Department in building up the Dairy, Poultry and Horticultural industries (all in their infancies) in the Province. W. E. Scott evidently saw here an opportunity to help out the bee-keepers who had been asking for information and assistance. He put the infant industry under the Department of Horticulture, and employed F. Dundas Todd, on a part- time basis, to do what he could to get it established. In the fall of 1910 Todd was able to submit to the Deputy Minister, a list of 210 bee-keepers with a crop report of 20 tons of honey for the year. [27] : Mr. Scott was very well satisfied, and early in 1911 he, with the help and assistance of Mr. Todd, drafted and presented to the Legislature, an Act known as the "Foul Brood Act"; this Act became law. The purpose of the act was to give protection to the bee-keepers of the Province against the importation of any bees from the United States which might be infected with either of the two bee diseases which were beginning to affect bees in the country to the soTIth. Up to this time, and for a few years after, Foul Brood was unknown in the Province. This to a great extent was due to the fact that very few, if any, bees were imported, and the bee that had populated the whole lower Mainland area was a direct descendant of the original bees imported from Oregon by J. D. B. Ogilvie in 1858-60. These bees were a bit smaller in size and had developed a race known to the early bee-keeper of the day as "the native bee." This native bee was very prolific, but the early beekeeper felt that he had to "improve the strain" and to W. H. Lewis, the proprietor of the Burnaby Fruit Farm, goes the honor of importing the first Italian Queen Bees from California, in 1878. In the spring of 1911 F. Dundas Todd came over to Vancouver and began to visit among the known bee-keepers of the Lower Mainland of the Province. He used to make his headquarters at the "Canada Hotel" (now known as the Marble Arch), on Richards Street. Most of the bee-keepers on a visit to Vancouver made it a point to call and have a visit with Mr. Todd, and I have noted as many as a dozen gathering in his room to talk over their problems. When the weather was good he would visit the different bee-men in the Districts within reach of Vancouver by "Tram," as the B.C. Electric Railway to Chilliwack was then known. It was not easy to get around the country in those days as there were few motor cars available. It is not possible for the writer to remember all the beekeepers he met while in Todd's company, but a list would be very incomplete that did not carry the names of Fred E. White, "the Garden Apiaries" in North Vancouver; W. H. Lewis, Burnaby, B.C., Chas. F. Sprott (for many years Reeve of Burnaby); Eber E. Stride (the Kingsway Greenhouses) j and a man who was to become very well known in later years, W. C. Freedham of Edmonds Street, Burnaby, as well as A. A. Paull, now a resident of Surrey, and still keeping a few bees. South of the Fraser River in the Delta, John Reagh (the Scotch shoe-maker at Ladner), shared the honor of being one of the early bee-keepers in the District with Hugh F. [28] McAllister of New Westminster, and W. Tamboline of Westham Island. On Mr. Tamboline's farm at West- ham Island was located one of the last of the Chinese Apiaries that had developed and been built up after 1885. This apiary was the property of Wing Kee and flourished until 1920 when it was purchased and the bees transferred into Modern Hives by a bee-keeper in the Village of Ladner. At the time of the transfer the apiary numbered 40 colonies and not one was in a modern hive, but were housed in old fashioned tea caddies, powder boxes and apple boxes. Some ingenious ideas were incorporated in this apiary, one of which was the plan he had for supering. He had the bees housed in a tea caddy [29] or box in the top of which he had cut a hole about 3" in diameter. He kept this hole covered until the honey flow started, then he removed the cover and placed a box over the hole, and the bees immediately went up and filled the box with comb and honey which he would remove later on in the season when the bees had clustered in the lower box for winter. When the bees were transferred to modern hives it was done under the supervision of the Provincial Inspector, and he told me that there was not a trace of any brood disease in any of the forty colonies. Bee-keeper Wing, with all his crude methods, was not a menace to his bee-keeping neighbors, some of whom had been buying his honey (after it was strained) for years, and selling it as their own product. CHAPTER V Over on Sea Island (where the International Airport now stands), was a bee-keeper of a different type. Mr. A. Sexsmith, who learned his bee-keeping in Ontario, and as a result all his hives were uniform and had movable frames 12 v2 inches square which he used for a brood nest, and for which he had a special top made fitted with an old type zinc Queen excluder over the hive below. He used 8 frame supers Ailed with Langstroth frames. I purchased this apiary from the Sexsmith Estate in 1915, and it was the real foundation of my own apiary at Sullivan Station, as up to this time I had only a few colonies taken over from D. H. Masters (mentioned earlier in this record), and transferred to modern 10 frame hives. Further up the Fraser Valley lived the Wades of Surrey Centre, and C. A. Carncross and D. W. Poppy of Langley, as well as the Arst woman to take an active interest in bees, Mrs. A. Morley of Fort Langley. Mrs. Morley took a very keen interest in her bees and was of real value to her neighbors when they were seeking information as to the best method of handling a swarm they might happen to catch. Alex Holding of Fort Langley still had bees, and had had them from the time he purchased two hives from Rev. Alex. Dunn, who brought bees to Fort Langley in 1877. Up the old Yale Road we found the Merrifields and the Lehmans, as well as the Whites, all well established on the ridge south of Mount Lehman Station. Around Abbotsford we had the Higginson Brothers; J. W. Winson and William Fadden. Sumas Lake made a big break in the District in which bees could be kept, and it was not until the area around Chilliwack was approached that more bee-keepers were found. In Chilliwack D. K. Henry (who made the "Henry 8 frame hive") was located for a number of years, and was one of the early pioneers with bees in that area. North of the town was located the real "bee-man" of the District, on Fairfield Island, known far and wide as "Honey" Johnston. H. Langton Johnston was a real pioneer among pioneers as well as a really good bee-keeper. Crossing the Fraser River on the Rosedale Ferry, Ivo Tuttyens, a Belgian bee-keeper, had settled on an island in the middle of the Fraser River. Mr. Tuttyens seeded the whole island with white and yellow sweet clover for his bees, and one spring the exceptionally high water took the island and scattered it on sand bars along the shores from Agassiz [31] to New Westminster, thereby seeding all the sand bars with sweet clover. Mr. Tuttyens did not lose his bees, but he moved them to the Mainland above danger from spring freshets of the future. John McRae was one of the early bee-keepers in the Agassiz district, and took a keen interest in getting the Experimental Station there to install an apiary and try out the resources of the district for honey production. One result of this venture was the planting of a row of Linden trees (basswood) on the "farm." These trees were planted to give the bees a nectar-producing tree, and the honey produced at the "Farm" still carries the flavor that made honey from old Ontario so well known in the west in the early days. Going down the river road, on the north side Murdo McLean and Sam Smith lived at Dewdney on Nicomen Island, and in Mission City the Fathers of the O.M.I. School had quite a large apiary. The fathers of the Order of Mary Immaculate were real pioneers with bees wherever their Indian Schools were located; as mentioned earlier Father Pandosy tried to establish bees at Okanagan Mission but they starved there as there was no nectar bearing flora for many years. Wherever the O.M.I. Missions were located* bees were introduced and have flourished until the time of writing. The Anglican Mission School at Lytton, "St. Georges," was another school that introduced bees in the area and one of the early Missioners, Rev. George Riddock, established an apiary at "16 Mile" between Lillooet and Lytton which was, and still is, carried on by his daughter. The Riddocks were pioneer bee-keepers and used to ship their honey in four gallon cans into Vancouver and New Westminster shortly after the turn of the century. An apiary was established about this time at a point about seven miles east of Spences Bridge. It was owned by a real pioneer who came into the district from the south of France, Peter Moren, who had always kept bees in the old country. Finding that bee pasture was very scanty, he decided to import Sain Foin seed and brought in a 100 pounds from France and seeded a bench high above his home. It did very well, and the following year he had plenty of the finest honey producing plant growing to perfection in its new location. He soon had an apiary of 40 colonies and they produced large crops of the finest honey for which there was a good market with the Chinese merchants at Ashcroft who had built up a good business selling bees and [32] honey to the large Chinese settlements around Quesnel Forks and Barkerville as well as way points. As this was before alfalfa was e,ven known in British Columbia, Peter Moren did a big business in selling seed all along the both rivers, the South Thompson and the Nicola. There are fields of Sain Foin still yielding heavy crops of hay in these two valleys, and Ashcroft and Nicola Valley bee keepers claim that the superior flavor of the honey they produce carries the distinct Sain Foin flavor and color peculiar to this plant which is much appreciated by lovers of good honey. Joseph Burr of Ashcroft purchased the apiary on Mr. Moren's death and moved it to Ashcroft. These hives all carried the "Henry" brand burned in the wood. No story of the early bee-keepers would be complete without the name of J. B. Catherwood of Mission, one of the earliest of the better Ontario bee-keepers who started with bees early in 1900 in and around Mission City. Vancouver Island too had its quota of early pioneers in the bee-keeping industry and I can only name the more prominent ones who had made it a point of getting a sizable apiary together in the years since Ogilvie brought the first bees into Victoria. The growth of bee-keeping here was controlled by the amount of nectar-producing plants in the immediate area around the settlements as the forests did not yield the abundance of nectar which was available in the low-lying lands along the rivers on the Lower Mainland. In the early years of 1900 Rev. J. H. Maynard had already established himself as a "bee-man" living close to the city of Victoria. Further afield Dean Brothers at Keatings had built up a sizable apiary. Around Duncan, Rev. Thos. Men- zies had established himself and was considered an authority on the subject of bees and honey production on Vancouver Island. J. A. Mclntyre of Port Alberni had built up quite a large apiary and did a lot toward helping out beginners in and around that District. In 1906 Leonard Harris of High Wycombe, Bucks, England, decided that he was going to leave the carving and making of high class furniture behind him and immigrate to Canada. He had been employed by one of the oldest manufacturers of furniture in London and used to keep his bees at High Wycombe. Not knowing what he would find in America insofar as bees were concerned, he decided to bring his bees with him. He crated two colonies headed by his best queens and packed them along as "hand 1 [33] keeping them in his cabin and feeding them on the long voyage. They were the source of much interest from his fellow passengers both on the boat and on the long railway journey from Montreal to Vernon, where they arrived in perfect order. He thus established a record for bringing "package bees" into British Columbia, and I have little doubt that he was the first in Canada. He found after establishing himself and his bees on Kalamalka Creek, two miles south of Vernon, that he was a comparatively late-comer into the District as James Emeny had moved into the district lying between Grindrod and Enderby and established an apiary there in 1898 with two hives of bees purchased from Charles Little of Mara. (Mr. Emeny kept his bees in the same spot continuously for over 50 years). I met the old gentleman in 1941 and he told me that he had harvested 49 crops of honey (only one year be- [34 3 ing a total failure). His early experiences with bees were many and varied, but he carried on in the one location for 53 years. His nearest neighbor, apart from Charles Little, keeping bees in those early days was A. E. Moore, who located and kept his apiary on the old Enderby Road between En- derby and Armstrong. Mr. Moore was a very progressive farmer, dairyman as well as bee-keeper, and he imported glass bottles from England as well as a very attractive label (artistically designed by a sister in the old land). He sold his product (packed in a way that would put many of our present day bee-keepers to shame with its appearance), through a number of the better drugstores in Vancouver where it appeared well alongside of such a well-known brand of American packed honey as "Air-Line" the trade mark of A. I. Root Co. of Medina, Ohio, who were at this time leading the field in the marketing of honey in the United States. I distinctly remember in 1911 on a visit to Vancouver, seeing Deadman's Honey from Brussels, Ontario; Roots' Honey from Ohio, and looking as smart, or smarter than either, "Moore's" Honey from Enderby, B.C. Mr. Harris was not long in getting in touch with Messrs. Emeny and Moore, and to these three belong the honor of establishing the industry in the North Okanagan from where it spread into the Orchard country as far south as Kelowna. A number of smaller bee-keepers had established themselves by this time in the orchards around Peachland, Sum- merland, Penticton and Naramata and found that the early blossoms of the fruit trees followed by the cover crops of clover that were growing in the orchards made bee-keeping profitable as a side line, as well as insuring pollination for their early fruits. The only bee-keeper that I am sure resided in the area prior to 1911 was John Price, who was established 4 miles north of Penticton on the road to Naramata. In the Kootenay Valleys there were a number of small bee-keepers, chief of whom was Major-General Lord Aylmer of Queens Bay; J. J. Campbell, Willow Point; W. Romain, Nelson; B. Lockwood, Fruitvale; J. H. Collins and C. C. Heaven of Grand Forks. The foregoing were among the names Mr. Todd had on his list of 210 names compiled for the Department of Agriculture in the fall of 1910. CHAPTER VI Coming now to a more modern time in the history of bee-keeping in the Province, we find that the need for organization among the scattered bee-keepers was being more keenly recognized, and with the coming of F. Dundas Todd to Victoria, and his employment by the Department of Agriculture, a start was made in this direction. Dr. J. B. Munro in writing of Mr. Todd says: "The late F. Dundas Todd was the voice of authority among bee-keepers in B.C. for many years, and many of us looked on him as a 'power-in-the-honey world'. He remained the link between the present century and the days before bee-keeping had become firmly established in the Pacific Province." A native of Scotland, Mr. Todd was born at Springfield, Fife, on April 30, 1858. He was educated for the teaching profession, and held posts on the staff of the George Heriot School and George Watson's College, both of Edinburgh. At that time he came into close association with Benn Pitman, the authority on shorthand, and among his treasures was an autographed copy of Pitman's publication. While a young man, Mr. Todd went to the United States, and at Chicago in 1893 he prepared a series of photographic views of the World Exposition for publication. He later became the proprietor of the Photo-Beacon, which he edited in 1903. He published many books on photography and in recognition of his knowledge was engaged to act as judge at the great expositions at Buffalo, St. Louis and other places. He was always interested in bee-keeping and while in the Middle West, he met and became fast friends with A. I. Root of Medina, Ohio, and C. P. Dadant of Hamilton, 111., two pioneers of Better bee-Keeping, in the United States, and editors of "Gleanings in Bee Culture" and "American Bee Journal" respectively. He wrote many articles on bee-keeping for them, as well as keeping in close touch with his photographic work. In 1906 he left Chicago for Medford, Oregon, and after two years there, he came to Victoria. His interest in bee-keeping brought him in touch with the Department of Agriculture and he was appointed Inspector of Apiaries in 1911, a post he occupied until his retirement in 1921. Mr. Todd was an author of some ability and among his published works was a book on philosophy, "What Are We [36] Here For," and a small booklet on the fermentation of wines (with the making of mead as its main theme) "The Little Red Guide to Homemade Wines." He was also the author of "Bulletin No. 92," a publication brought out by the Department of Agriculture, on bee-keeping in B.C. This bulletin has been revised several times, but the material written by Mr. Todd is still carried in its pages, along with the many additions that have made it the valuable publication it is today. Mr. Todd, in spite of his knowledge of bee-keeping, was not a natural born "bee-man," as he had a great dread of bee stings and in his handling of bees, he equipped himself with a bee-dress that had much the appearance of medieval armor, or a modern diving suit. In fact many bee-keepers used to get all kinds of fun twitting him about his "diving suit." This did not worry him and when he was all dressed to examine a colony of bees, he didn't much care how angry they got. In fact it was well recognized among beekeepers that after he had examined an apiary, it was good business to leave it strictly alone for a few days until the bees had quieted down. A story is told of him visiting a bee-keeper at Chilliwack. He had hired a livery horse and buggy to drive out to the apiary some distance from town. He tied the horse to the gate post (still hitched to the buggy), and proceeded to examine several colonies. The bees were properly incensed at the treatment they were getting, and found the horse, and naturally "took it out on him." He broke loose from the post, and Todd telling the story himself, said, "that gatepost was literally covered with angry bees and the horse and buggy were gone." Mr. Todd had to walk the hot, dusty miles back to Chilliwack and face the livery stable proprietor with an explanation as to what had caused the horse to run away. He was always ready for a visit with the bee-keeper and his family after inspection was finished, and for refreshment he always asked for "a glass of milk and some fresh comb honey." He also claimed the reason for his writing the "Little Red Guide" was prompted by the poor wine many bee-keepers offered him, which they called Mead. He spent many hours and a lot of research work in preparing this work, and anyone following the instructions contained therein would invariably have a product of which no one could be ashamed. Todd's recipe for "Athol Brose" is still treasured and chuckled over by many of his Scottish friends. It was: Take equal parts of Best Scotch Whiskey, good country cream and [37] fresh honey. Mix well and you have "Nectar of the Gods." In talking of it, Todd finished by saying, "If you can't get good country cream, leave it out, if you can't get honey, leave it out, but you can't do without the 'Scotch Whiskey'." He was a lover of a good garden, and had many choice specimens of flowers in his home garden at 107 Hollywood Crescent, Victoria, B.C. Todd was able to visit bee-keepers on the Island and the Lower Mainland pretty well, but was unable to give much help to the.bee-keepers in the Interior valleys of the Okanagan and the Kootenays. In 1912 the department appointed L. Harris, of Vernon, to assist Mr. Todd by inspecting bees and visiting bee-keepers in the Okanagan Valley in his spare time. He was supposed to visit the Kootenays as well, but after one trip he gave the eastern valleys up as they were too far away for him to handle properly and he had a large apiary of his own to take care of and could not afford the Mr. Todd carried on his work through the summer of 1912, working among the bee-keepers of Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland, and in the fall he and Mr. Harris met at the fair in Vancouver and talked over the many problems confronting them in their work. Mr. Harris was a practical bee-keeper and he was able to help Mr. Todd in many ways in laying plans for future work in the Province. Among other things he informed him that an English bee-keeper had arrived in Nelson and that he had a long experience in keeping bees in Kent County, England. Todd got in touch with W. J. Sheppard (mentioned to him by Mr. Harris), and found that he had been a prominent member of the British Bee-Keepers Association for many years—qualifying for and being granted a Bee Master's Certificate of Competency "Second Class" by that organization. He had no trouble in arranging with Mr. Sheppard to take over inspection work in 'the East and West Kootenay Valley and in the Boundary Districts, and he was duly appointed as Inspector of Apiaries in 1913. W. J. Sheppard was an organizer and in a very short time - he had called a meeting in Nelson and had arranged for the organization of the Kootenay Bee-keepers Association, the initial meeting being held in January, 1914. The following officers were elected: Hon.-president, W. E. Scott, Victoria; president, Major-General Lord Aylmer, Queens Bay; vice- presidents, G. E. Parham, Invermere, and G. Fleming, Nelson; honorary secretary-treasurer, W. J. Sheppard, Nelson. The annual report at the end of the first year shows a [38] membership of 87 scattered from the Alberta boundary to the North Okanagan Valley, and included such well-known bee-keepers as H. W. Collins and C. C. Heavens of Grand Forks, as well as L. Harris of Vernon. Mr. Todd had during this time been quietly getting the bee-keepers on the Island and around Vancouver acquainted with each other through "Bee Meetings" held every Saturday afternoon through the summer months at different apiaries. The most prominent and the most popular of these meetings were the ones held in the "Garden Apiary" of Fred E. White of Lonsdale Avenue, in North Vancouver. Many bee-keepers met there for the first time and exchanged views and experiences as well as watching Inspector Todd and Fred White demonstrate modern methods of handling bees. Several meetings were held in the Apiary of W. H. Lewis of Burnaby who was the only large producer in the district, operating some 200 colonies and spending all his time between his bees and his small fruit farm, as well as working at his trade in the winter, as a typesetter with the Daily Province. W. H. Lewis was born in the State of Ohio on January 19th, 1850, and moved with his family to California shortly afterward. He was raised as a boy in the Golden State and got his first glimpse into the bee-keeping industry while working with a neighbor in his spare time, he being apprenticed to one of the San Francisco newspapers to learn the printing trade. In the late 70s the Victoria Colonist bought a second hand printing press from the firm with which young Lewis worked, and requested the firm to send a man with the press to install and run it for them. Bill was the man sent to them. He decided that he was going to stay in Canada and settle down and make a home for a young lady he had met after coming to Victoria. She was Miss Emma Smith, one of the first white children born in Fort Victoria and the daughter of one of the early officials of the Hudson's Bay Company. They were married in Victoria on June 1st, 1878. The next year they moved to New Westminster, where they lived for almost 20 years, he working at his trade as a printer and keeping a few bees as a sideline. Immediately after the big fire in New Westminster in 1898, with a young growing family, they decided to move into the "country" and bought a small place in South Burnaby, overlooking Burnaby Lake. This country had just been burned over and was covered with a mass of fireweed, and it was only a short time until his apiary had been increased to close to 200 colonies in modern hives. They lived here until 1912 and then moved to a new home at 2154 Douglas Road. He had disposed of his fruit farm and settled down to keeping bees as a full time job in the summer, still working with the Daily Province as a printer in the winter. He was one of the first members of the Typographical Union of B.C., and carried a "Union Card" as one of his most treasured possessions as long as he lived. The new Lewis home was a rallying point for all progressive bee-keepers in the Lower Mainland and "the latch string was always out" to any wishing information on any problem in connection with bees. If F. Dundas Todd was, as Dr. Munro claimed, the link between the present century and early bee-keepers of B.C., W. H. Lewis was the "Father of Bee-Keeping" from the early days and he carried with him a wealth of practical experience which he was ready to share with anyone who cared to come to him for information. He was a very progressive bee-keeper as he kept up-to- date with all new improvements and ideas being brought forward by the Roots and Dadants in the two Bee Journals published by them in the United States. He was the first importer of Italian Bees, of which we have any record, and [41] he imported as well Caucasians and some Cyprians. The Cyprians he soon discarded as "too cross to handle" (a trait well known of that strain), but he kept a cross between Leather Colored Italians and Caucasians, which he always claimed were better for this climate than the pure strains of either race. I think he was the first man too, to recognize the value of migratory bee-keeping and in 1915 he moved 75 colonies into the Fraser Valley beyond the "Green Timbers." He had this apiary on the Johnston Road, where it crosses Bear Creek, and he kept it there for some years, gathering large crops of honey from the area which had been logged off a short time previous and which was covered with thousands of acres of fireweed. A newcomer to B.C. in 1911 and being very interested in bees and learning all I could about them, I spent many hours working with him and listening to his stories of his early years as a bee-keeper. Unlike some bee-keepers, Bill would tell you all he knew about the handling of them and seemed to be at his best when imparting the knowledge he had gained to a small audience around him as he worked. He was a staunch supporter of Mr. Todd, and was also his severest critic should the occasion arise, which it sometimes did, in the early days of organization. The flora on the southern slopes of North Shore Mountains was being crowded out by undergrowth and as there were no more fires in that area, being rapidly built up by the fast growing city of North Vancouver, the pasture for bees was getting to be limited, many new bee-keepers were starting up with a few colonies, thanks to the educational work being carried on by Mr. Todd. As the "Garden Apiary" had grown to over 100 colonies and the crops of honey began to get smaller each season due to overcrowding of apiaries, and the natural loss of honey producing plants, now that clearing fires were no longer burning over the district, Fred White decided to "move out" and after looking over different locations in the Fraser Valley, he found a small place at St. Nicholas on the B.C. Electric Railway between Abbotsford and Clayburn. He built this apiary up to close to 200 colonies, and for many years it was the envy of many bee-keepers in the Valley. "White's Honey" was known up and down the B.C. Electric Railway as something that was really worth while, and he sold practically his whole crop to trainmen and through them to friends and neighbors. The marketing problem was not one that worried him in any way. Fred took a keen interest [42] in organization of bee-keepers and was one of the original members of the Bee-Keepers Association of B.C., of which he was a director. When the Honey Producers Association was organized some years later he was a charter member and a Director of that organization as well as acting as Vice-President until he was forced to retire by ill health. CHAPTER VII In 1913 Mr. Williams I Hugh came to British Col- I umbia, going to live in Vic- I toria for a short time. Mr. I Hugh was a Welshman, I born in London, England, I September 5th, 1864. He I came to Canada and west I to Winnipeg in 1891. He £fe-<r I only stayed there a short I time when he returned to I the east and went into New I Liskeard in Northern On- I tario arriving before the I railroad, (and in 1904) he '*sm I was Notary PUDlic and Po~ ;j||| 1 lice Magistrate as well as I Crown Lands Agent and Clerk of the Division Court w'LLjAMs^HUGH, fes., "Father of from 1906 to 1911. He re- efDeceased)." ' ' turned to England in 1911 and stayed two years. The "call of the Canadian West" again brought him to Canada, this time to Victoria. Being a Fellow of the Entomological Society (FES) of Great Britain, he joined the B.C. Entomological Society and through his association with this body he met J. W. Winson, one of B.C.'s pioneer bee-keepers, and an enthusiastic Entomologist. As entomology and bee-keeping go together, he very shortly met Mr. Todd, and being an ardent microscopist he soon had Todd interested in bacteriology as it applied to the detection of bee diseases which were then beginning to be a source of real trouble to bee-keepers south of the border. This gave them something in common and as he was a born organizer, Todd soon had him working along with J. W. Win- son in getting an Association of Bee-Keepers on the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island. A meeting of all bee-keepers interested in the organization of an association and other matters in relation to bee-keeping, was held in the Board Room of the Daily Province on the evening of February 25th, 1916. The weather was not kind, and only 25 interested bee- [44] keepers attended the meeting, but as they were all enthusiastic and keenly interested in the industry it went well. No list of the bee-keepers present is available so it is impossible to name all who were there. Williams Hugh of Cloverdale who had been the most active bee-keeper in promoting the organization acted as temporary Chairman. He outlined the reasons for calling the meeting and also the urgent need for some organization. F. Dundas Todd of Victoria represented the Department of Agriculture and spoke strongly in favor of getting an organization under way as early as possible. By a unanimous standing vote it was decided that an organization of bee-keepers be formed under the rules of the Societies Act. A name was suggested by Mr. Hugh and it was again unanimously voted that the Association be known as "The Bee-Keepers Association of British Columbia." Dan Mouat of McKay, B.C., was elected as first President and Williams Hugh was persuaded to act as Secretary Pro- Tern until the organization was completed. The following were elected as Directors: J. W. Winson, Huntingdon, B.C.; John Brooks, Vancouver; W. M. Smith, Dewdney, B.C.; Mrs. Fred E. White, North Lonsdale, B.C.; G. W. Stones, Burnaby, B.C.; W. J. Mills, Vancouver; Arthur Smith, New Westminster; F. Dundas Todd, Victoria, B.C.; B. F. Andrews, South Vancouver; R. J. Sprott, Burnaby; Bevan L. Hugh, Clover- dale; W. H. Turnbull, Sullivan Station; W. C. F. Gillam, North Vancouver; Chas. Rant, South Vancouver; George Coe, Burnaby, B.C. R. C. Treherne, B.S.A., Field Entomologist, delivered a very fine paper stressing the value of honey bees as pollen- izing agents in the fruit industry. After the formation of the Bee-Keepers Association of British Columbia, there was a very real interest shown in methods of bee keeping being followed in the Province. It was found that no uniform method existed and it naturally followed that each member advanced his own theory as to what should be done, men with a little more knowledge than most of us, gradually gathered a following around them who would support their particular way of doing things. As an example, F. Dundas Todd had quite a large following; Williams Hugh with his scientific approach to different methods of handling bees had possibly the largest following among members of the new Association who to a very large extent were men who made a hobby of bee-keeping, making their living in following their regular professions in the industrial life of the fast growing city of Vancouver. W. H. [45] Lewis had a following of members who were beginning to make the major part of their income from their bees as well as among the farmers scattered through the Fraser Valley. Fred White had a following too, who were patterned after Mr. Todd's methods to a great extent. Many enthusiastic meetings were held (mostly in Vancouver) and some very interesting times were had by those who attended. There were no known cases of Brood diseases in B.C. prior to 1916 but shortly after an epidemic of European Foul Brood swept over the whole Valley and practically every colony of bees that was not headed by an Italian Queen was affected to some extent. The native black bee was particularly affected and many colonies were wiped out completely. This did not apply so much to the city and among the better beekeepers, who had for many years been importing Italian Queens from California and gradually changing their stock over to Italian strains. The hobby bee-keepers in the city districts having had the advantage of attending meetings in which these matters were thoroughly discussed, had pretty well made the change in their own small apiaries. There appeared to be no known method of combating this disease, at this time, other than the requeening of all affected colonies with a good, virile Italian Queen and feeding the colony very heavily with sugar syrup until it had a chance to build up again, when the bees would clean out the dead brood from the cells and very little further trouble was experienced. The Department of Agriculture, with only three Inspectors for the whole Province, was unable to meet the demands for increased inspection of colonies and the cost of putting on more men and of getting experienced men to put on, was beyond the resources of the Department. Many meetings were held by the new Association and many plans were talked over as to the best methods of handling the situation. Messrs. Todd, Sheppard and Harris took a very keen interest in these meetings and in an advisory capacity, criticized every plan put forward. It was at last decided to ask the Department to register all bee-keepers and charge them a small fee for registration. This was submitted to the Department of Agriculture and in due time it was incorporated in a revised "Foul Brood Act." Registration was started and the first year almost 2,500 active bee-keepers were registered, showing the large number who had begun to keep bees since Dundas Todd made his first list in 1911. Not all bee-keepers registered, however, and an agitation was started among the ones who had registered asking that the [46] Act (which provided a penalty for non-registration) be rigidly enforced. The enforcing of this clause was opposed by quite a large section of the members of the Bee-Keepers Association. This caused a rift in the Association, as many of the members felt that as we had asked for the Legislation, that we should stand behind the Department when they tried to enforce it. After the registration was in effect for three years, it was dropped as "unworkable," but the differences of opinion gradually turned into other channels until 1920 when matters came to a head. During the four years however, much good work was accomplished by the Bee-Keepers Association. It took a leading part in the promotion of the exhibition of honey, and honey products at the Vancouver Exhibition and from a modest show with three Commercial Classes in 1916, the show developed into a sizable exhibit in the fall of 1920. Williams Hugh, John Brooks and Dan Mouat assisted by able committees were busily engaged month in and month out building up the exhibition spirit among their members. In this they were ably supported by E. C. Knowlton of Knowl- ton's Drug Stores in Vancouver, who was Director representing agriculture on the Exhibition Board. Manager of the Exhibition F. W. Rolston went all out to build up a prize list that would attract first class exhibits. This was really the beginning of a campaign which lasted many years, which [47] had as its sole object the advertising of British Columbia honey. If for no other reason, Messrs. Hugh, Brooks and Mouat should be remembered for their efforts along these lines. ; j Another thing for which these men should be remem- nped and for which they should receive full credit was the starting of an experimental apiary on a site donated by the • Exhibition at Hastings Park. There they installed several hives of bees in what was then considered the best methods of keeping them. Be van L. Hugh (bee-keeper son of Williams Hugh) and W. E. Mills, caretaker of one of Vancouver's largest schools, spent most Saturday afternoons at the apiary answering questions and instructing beginners. This apiary was later moved to the Campus of the University, and for the last several years it has been under the able management of Sam Hart, who is a worthy successor to the original founders of the idea. More will be heard of this first experimental apiary later in this record. CHAPTER VIII Many meetings were carried on in the meantime over the four years in question and in later years this work was to pay off in more and better bee-keepers spreading out over British Columbia. In fact it was one of the proud boasts of the first secretary of the Association in talking over early days "anyhow we feel that we did our part in starting many young bee-keepers along the road whieh will eventually lead to better bee-keeping all over the Province." Also during this time the Kootenay Bee-Keepers Association had been going quietly ahead and was building up a strong Association in the east and west Kootenays and the Boundary District. They were instrumental in getting a Bee Supply manufacturer to locate in Nelson, and had procured various concessions for their members that were proving very popular among the increasing membership, which by 1920 had increased to 230 paid up members. W. J. Sheppard was still carrying on as Hon.-Secretary and several directors were becoming leaders in the industry in their own districts. One of these was A. E. Pittaway of Castlegar who had become President of the Association in 1920. Mr. Pittaway was a good bee-keeper and an enthusiastic supporter of the many innovations which had been introduced by Mr. Sheppard, one of which, the "Kootenay Winter Case" had been universally adopted by the interior beekeepers. Mr. Sheppard being an experienced bee-keeper in the old country, had many ideas from the old land, that he tried out in and around Nelson and many of them fitted in very well with conditions as he found them in this area. As Mr. Sheppard had, you might say, "started from scratch," most of the bees in his district were of pure Italian stock, resulting in little if any European Foul Brood appearing in that area. However, in the Creston area, American Foul Brood had made its appearance, brought in no doubt by importations of bees from the United States. Again, Mr. Sheppard's experience in England was of real advantage to him as he was able to recognize the dread Brood Disease as soon as it appeared, and he took steps immediately to wipe it out by destroying all infected material by burning. This drastic method did not clear the infection out of the district, but it kept a fair amount of control over the spread of the disease. In the fall of 1918, W. E. Scott retired as Deputy Minister [49] IT ii of Agriculture and on February 23rd, 1919, Dr. David Warnock was appointed to this position. Mr. Todd had been in failing health and in a reorganization of the Apiary Department, W. J. Sheppard was named the First Provincial Apiarist, having full charge of the Department. F. Dundas Todd still held his position as Inspector of Apiaries with his work being limited to Vancouver Island with his headquarters at Victoria. Leonard Harris was left on the staff as part-time Inspector of Apiaries in the Okanagan Valley. The Beekeepers Association had been pressing the Department for some time, for more help for the inspection staff, and W. H. Turnbull was appointed, starting work in the Fraser Valley on March 1st, 1919. CHAPTER IX At the end of the War in 1918 a number of bee-keepers returned from active service, among them being Andrew W. Finlay of Vedder Crossing, Alexander Keir of North Vancouver, and Capt. H. L. Chittenden of Bradner, B.C. On the recommendation of W. J. Sheppard, Messrs. Finlay and Keir were added to the staff of Apiary Inspectors on May 19, 1919. As one of these men in particular will occupy a very prominent part in this record in the next quarter of a century, it is fitting that some mention be made as to his background. Andrew Whatcott Finlay was born in Sunderland, England, and was adopted by his grandfather, Capt. A. W. Finlay, Dock Master at Newport, Monmouthshire, England. He was raised in a home that was filled with stories of far off places, and all his spare moments were spent on the docks among ships and sailors. It is not surprising that at the age of 14 he ran away to sea, eventually landing at East London, Cape Colony. He worked here some time as a "checker," unloading cargos from incoming ships. When the Boer War broke out he enlisted in the Kaffirian Mounted Rifles and after about two months was sent into Active Service. After two months further service he was hospitalized for a short period and as his Regiment had moved on in his absence he was attached ' to several old country regiments. While carrying dispatches for one of these outfits he was wounded and captured by a Boer Commando under command of Capt. Oliver (a famous Boer Scout). He was kept with the commando for some months and when it was threatened by the advance of a regiment of British Infantry, and decided to retreat, Andy managed to hide out in a marsh where he had been sent to water the horses. The Boers took to the hills and Andy to use his own words says, "I followed in the opposite direction." He soon met up with scouts of the advancing party, and was taken prisoner by them and sent back to headquarters where he was able to establish his identity, and also furnish the Officer in Command with information about the outfit he was chasing, which by this time had been joined by General Hasbrouk, and General De Wet (two well- known Boer Generals). He was sent to a large British hospital at Kronstadt where he was kept for three weeks while his wound, which had become infected, was treated. When discharged from hospital he found that the Kaffirian Rifles were at De Wet [51] Koppie, some 50 or 60 miles from the hospital. He rejoined his old outfit and was welcomed back by the Officers as one from the dead, as he had been posted as "missing" for almost 10 months. He was told to visit the paymaster and found that he had almost a year's pay and a month's "leave" coming to him. His own words in describing this were "you can guess that I was not long taking my leave and returning to East London, Cape Colony." At the close of the war he took his discharge, contracted to lay pipe in East London. Upon completion of this contract, he took a further contract to lay pipe in Bloemfontein, but a cloudburst took out all his work and left him almost broke, and on October 6, 1903, he received a permit from the Government to travel in the Transvaal and Orange River Colony. This gave him freedom to travel over most of South Africa without interference from military forces and also freed him from many restrictions to travel in that country so soon after the war. He worked at various projects during the next few years and eventually found himself in charge of a party being sent into the interior from Bulawayo where he had outfitted for a trading trip intending to trade calico, trinkets, etc., for ivory, hippo and rhino hides, etc., for which he had found a market in Capetown, South Africa. It was during his travels in the next two years, which took him into the heart of South Africa, that Andy had his first experiences with bees. The "black boys" who made up the hunting and trading party were experts at "living off the land" and no sugar was carried in their supplies. The natives would find a bee tree and would rob it while taking the brood nest for themselves. (They considered the unhatched brood a real tasty treat). They would turn the honey or a sufficient supply of it over to the white man of the party. It was the only sweetening he had for the two years the trip lasted. This experience naturally interested Finlay very much in bees and their product, an interest he never gave up in the following years. Eventually Malaria Fever caught up with him and he was ordered out of South Africa by his doctor, and told not to come back until he got it out of his system. He returned to England and after a very short visit found himself on his way to South America and eventually at Antofogasta, Chile. While here he put in 240 miles of 12" water main from the Andes to the Coast. Upon completion of this work he went to Peru and helped bring in the first oil well in Talaria, Peru. Keeping on the move he then was employed on the famous Culebra Cut in the Canal Zone, and when finished he took passage for New York. He worked his [52] (W way across the United States and got a job as brakeman on Bellingham Bay and British Columbia Railway, running from Bellingham into Sumas, Wash. He quit the railway and found his way into Vancouver and on the 11th of December, 1909, he signed a contract that put him in charge of installing the first water works system for the Municipality of Point Gray. While on this work, he met the lady who became Mrs. Finlay; then he decided he had had enough roaming around, and started in to make a home. He found himself the owner of a cherry orchard at Vedder Crossing and decided that fruit growing and bee-keeping would go well together, especially as there was some of the finest trout fishing in the world alongside his orchard. It was the love of fishing that brought together Finlay and W. H. Lewis. Bill Lewis had a cabin on the Vedder and it naturally followed that as Finlay's bees were in plain view of the road, that Lewis should be interested, they met, and shortly were exchanging experiences with bees. This made them good friends, and as W. H. Lewis was President of the B.C. Bee-Keepers Association, and Finlay had been writing some thought-provoking articles for the American Bee Journal and Gleanings, it followed that when the Association was asked to recommend an Inspector to assist W. J. Sheppard, Mr. Lewis had no misgivings about recommending that Mr. Finlay be asked to apply for the position. This was done and as stated before, A. W. Finlay was appointed Inspector of Apiaries on May 12, 1919, by the Hon. E. D. Barrow, Minister of Agriculture. Mr. Alex Keir of North Vancouver was recommended to Mr. Sheppard by F. Dundas Todd and his application for the position was endorsed by the Association and he was appointed at the same time. This completed the Inspection Staff, and for the next three years the six men mentioned had a busy time working to get control of the European Foul Brood menace. CHAPTER X The Spring and Summer of 1919 was a busy time for the Inspection Staff of the Department, and the majority of the members of the Association co-operated in every way to help control the European Foul Brood situation. The centre of infection seemed to be in the Fraser Valley, and Finlay, Keir and myself worked early and late, holding meetings and working with beekeepers, helping them introduce Italian Queens and generally improve their beekeeping methods. W. J. Sheppard, with the supervision of the inspection work and re-organization of what little system there was, had a very busy time. By the early fall, it was plain that the fight against European Foul Brood was being won, in fact many apiaries that had been badly infected were showing 100% recovery, and by the time the Vancouver Exhibition was staged the staff felt that they had complete control of the situation. An energetic committee composed of Williams Hugh, Dan Mouat, John Brooks and myself had been working hard trying to get honey products for display, with the result that the 1919 honey exhibit was a feature in the Horticultural Building at the Fairs being held at New Westminster and -Vancouver. In this period business began to take an interest in the booming bee industry. Wm. Rennie Seed Co. Ltd. stocked a full line of bee supplies, manufactured by Hamm and Nott of Brantford, Ontario. These were sold from Vancouver and were shipped by them all over the Province. T. J. Trapp and Co. Ltd. of New Westminster also stocked bee supplies manufactured mostly by A. I. Root Co., of Medina, Ohio. D. K. Henry was still manufacturing his eight frame hive in Chilliwack. This hive had a distinctive cover, which identified it with the type of hive used extensively in California. H. C. Derrick added the manufacture of supplies to his electrical contracting business, and the McLeod Sash and Door Co. Ltd. started to make the Kootenay Hive Case, designed by W. J. Sheppard, for which there was a demand in the early twenties. Mark Dumond and Co. of Vancouver had also added a full stock of bee supplies to their hardware and farm machinery business, and in the interior of the Province, J. Lockwood of Nelson manufactured standard supplies on quite a large scale but sold his outfit to the Nelson Hardware Co. Ltd. and went into honey production at Edgewood, B.C., [55] (T which was in the heart of as fine a stand of fireweed as could be found. In fact the district was known as "Fire Valley." For several years he harvested immense crops of honey of excellent quality from fireweed and spreading Dogbane, the denuded hills began to grow up with trees again, and there were no more large fires, the returns did not warrant the heavy investment. The Lockwood Apiaries were gradually sold, colony by colony, until only a small number were left, and these were in the hands of settlers, who "kept bees" as a "side line" to the growing farming interests which now occupy the lovely Inocalin Valley, known as the District in which Whatshan Lake is located, and where the immense power development that furnishes light and power to the Okanagan Valley and the Kamloops District takes place. It was in the five years following the formation of the Bee-Keepers Association that American Foul Brood made its appearance in British Columbia. The excellent educational work and publicity carried on by the Association had much to do with awakening the bee-keepers to the need of better bee-keeping methods if they were to survive as bee keepers, or as owners of a few hives that had once housed bees. W. J. Sheppard and his staff, supported by the Department of Agriculture, was putting up a stiff fight trying to get control of this new menace. The bee-keepers were demanding "more inspection"; a small number of members of the Association were beginning to oppose the work being carried on by the Department of Agriculture, and it was soon recognized by the men who were in the business for the production of honey, that the common-sense methods of control being carried on by the Department would eventually get the results looked and hoped for. h CHAPTER XI At the Annual Meeting of the Bee-Keepers Association, it became very plain that the difference of opinion which had developed between members could not be reconciled, and the following news item taken from the Daily Province of December 23, 1919, tells the story from the standpoint of a news reporter: "BEE KEEPERS OF FRASER VALLEY ORGANIZE "B.C. Honey Producers in process of formation on the Mainland. Headquarters will be in New Westminster— Convention during Fair. Object is to increase production and better market facilities. Movement is another step in thorough organization of Producer. "NEW WESTMINSTER, December 23rd—Following the lead of the Fraser Valley Milk Producers Association, the Poultrymans Union, and their co-operative branches, the bee men of the Valley are moving toward a new organization which will be chartered as 'The British Columbia Honey Producers Association'. "This will not conflict with the Bee-Keepers Association, many of whose retiring Directors are interested in the formation of the new body. The Honey Producers will draw their charter members from, and make their initiatory movements in the lower Fraser Valley. Headquarters will be at New Westminster, with the Provincial Fair as the Convention ground. It was here, that the new ideas came to life. "According to W. H. Turnbull of Sullivan Station, temporary secretary of the proposed corporation, its charter will allow for the inclusion of local associations in the interior and Vancouver Island. There is good reason to believe that the Dry Belt bee-keepers are ready for such a move." Again, the Daily Province of January 20, 1920, carried the following news item: "BEES STATUS IS GOING UP "Fraser Valley and Kootenay Honey Producers Perfecting Organization. Lower Mainland body was formed yesterday — Big year looked for. "NEW WESTMINSTER, January 19th—The Honey Producers Association formed on Friday in the Board of Trade rooms raised the status of the busy bee from a casual culler of nectar, to an organized industrial mem- [57] ber of provincial economy. Its produce will be stored in standardized hives, marketed under an organized system, and be labelled with a brand that will guarantee its origin and quality. Such was the decision of the beekeepers assembled at the meeting for organization. "The petition for incorporation will carry the names of over seventy bee-keepers of the Fraser Valley and will be joined by one of equal length from the Kootenays. The Kootenay Bee-Keepers Association, the oldest organization of its kind in the Province, is meeting today to adopt the same name, constitution and by-laws as the Lower Mainland bee-men, and their union will be joined later by an association on the Island. The management of the Association will be under a localized directorate, each municipal district having its own representative. The affairs will be managed by local government as far as possible, on a principle of local divisions for local conditions, giving elasticity to the whole body. "Officers for the newly organized Honey Producers Association are: President: J. W. Winson; Secretary: W. H. Turnbull; with the following Directors: L. Che- valley, Sumas; W. Pickering, Rosedale; R. Talbot, Mission; F. E. White, Abbotsford; E. Croy, Dennison; R. Thompson, Langley; A. Smith, New Westminster; W. H. Lewis, Burnaby; E. Stride, Edmonds; Thomas Hume, Ladner; J. Brooks, Hammond. Hon. E. D. Barrow and Dr. David Warnock are Honorary Presidents." The foregoing covers the organization of the B.C.H.P.A. on the Lower Mainland. The following news item from the "Nelson Daily News" of January 19, 1920, reads as follows: "BEE-KEEPERS NOW HONEY PRODUCERS "Four meetings held Saturday afternoon during reorganization. No fewer than four meetings were held by the apiarists of the Kootenays on Saturday afternoon, in the Board of Trade Rooms, the multiplicity of the gatherings being incident in the strenuous work of re-organizing. The first was the Annual Meeting of the Kootenay Division of the British Columbia Bee-Keepers Association. "The same men in three other meetings dissolved the local branch of the Association and formed a Kootenay Branch of the B.C. Honey Producers Association, all within about three hours time. The meeting was then adjourned and was followed by the first meeting of the Kootenay Division of the B.C. Honey Producers tion. The following officers were duly elected: [58] fif^ "Major General Lord Aylmer of Queens Bay, President; A. E. Pittaway of Castlegar, Vice-President; W. J. Sheppard of Nelson, Secretary-Treasurer. Directors: J. Blinco, Creston; G. R. Brown, Robson; A. H. Smith, Nakusp; C. C. Heaven, Grand Forks; J. J. Campbellr Willow Point; W. J. Kidman, Crawford Bay; H. E. Sains- bury, Cranbrook; A. M. Black; T. L. Bloomer; Samuel Fawcett; B. Lockwood; J. R. Hunter; R. V. Ramsden and W. J. Sheppard of Nelson." The foregoing news reports cover all that is needed, showing how the B.C. Honey Producers Association was established. From its inception it had the whole-hearted support of the Department of Agriculture and in a few short years had built up to an alltime membership of 373 paid up members. W. J. Sheppard was elected Secretary-Treasurer at the first meeting of the Central Executive (as the Governing Body of the combined divisions was called), and as he was Provincial Apiarist, it was to be expected that there would be close co-operation between the Department of Agriculture and the Honey Producers. As many of the bee-keepers kept their membership in both organizations, it was natural that efforts would be made by them to bring the two Lower Mainland Associations together. At one of the first meetings of the Executive of the Lower Mainland Division, B.C. Honey Producers Association, it was thoroughly discussed and was unanimously decided to appoint a strong standing committee (of members who had not been active in forming the new organization), to try to bring about the amalgamation of the rival associations. The Lower Mainland Division offered to become the Fraser Valley Division if and when, the B.C. Bee-Keepers Association would come into the Honey Producers Organization, with full privileges and equal rights with existing divisions; it was even suggested that they become known as the Greater Vancouver Division. The matter was left in the hands of Messrs. George Coe, of Burnaby, A. P. Halliday of New Westminster, H. C. Derrick of Vancouver and Arthur Smith of New Westminster. It was several years however, before this came to pass, but the committees did not give up hope, and eventually the Vancouver bee-keepers decided to unite with the Honey Producers, and at a small meeting the "hatchet was buried," and the bee-keepers of B.C. were again a united body. It is true they still had differences of opinion on various matters but have always been able to settle them around the Council Table. [60] The difference of opinion which kept them apart for many years was no doubt a good thing; it went to build up a better, more united body which was province-wide and as such had more prestige in talking over matters of policy with theivarious Ministers of Agriculture and their deputies. Vancouver Island has had several different organizations of bee-keepers since F. Dundas Todd organized the first Association in 1917; this Association was not incorporated and after a year or two ceased to exist. The matter was brought up again in 1923 but was again postponed. In 1925 however, The Island Division of the Association came into being, with a membership of close to one hundred. Mr. O. B. Ormond was elected President, and W. J. Sheppard (who had sold his home in Nelson and moved to Victoria), was elected Vice- President, with Mrs. Florence A. Greenwood of Sassenos, Secretary-Treasurer. CHAPTER XII Returning to the period between 1919 and 1923, much good work had been going on for the bee industry, not the least of which was the policy of establishing Demonstration Apiaries over the whole of Vancouver Island, the Lower Mainland, the Okanagan Valley and the Kootenays. The progress of the system being carried on by the Experimental Apiary in Hastings Park by the Vancouver bee-keepers was closely studied, and the demand for something of this kind was noted. The fault of the system seemed to be that much of the work seemed to be of an experimental nature. This did not help a bee-keeper who was trying to learn the best methods of honey production in the Province. Many of the lecturers were experienced bee-keepers and were able to impart their knowledge to the many inquirers, but the system of demonstration was to many, very confusing as different methods were being tried out on different colonies, at the same time. Discussing the matter, the Inspectors all agreed that some uniform system had to be devised, which would work for the beginner as well as for the more experienced bee-keeper. W' W. J. Sheppard had an apiary of a dozen colonies in his garden at Nelson in which the latest methods of honey production were being carried out, and it had become the centre of Bee Culture in the Kootenay City. A. W. Finlay, who had lost his Cherryvale property when the Vedder River changed its course had been forced to purchase a new property at Huntingdon. One of his first moves was to install his bees in a modern apiary. This soon became a centre for bee-keepers for miles around. My own apiary at Sullivan Station was run on modern lines for honey production, and it too became a centre in the Lower Fraser Valley. Noting the tendency of bee-keepers to "copy" the systems used in these apiaries the idea was conceived that it would be a good plan to have more of them in centres throughout British Columbia. The Honey Producers Association was approached on the matter, and it was found that all Divisions were behind the plan. It was discussed at various meetings and a large number in different parts of the Province offered to equip their apiaries with modern equipment, and to follow a system planned. This meant much of the Inspectors' time would be taken up in visiting the different apiaries and in supervision. After several meetings a resolution was passed recommending to the Department of Agriculture that Demonstration Apiaries be given a thorough trial and after a personal investigation of the plan by Dr. David Warnock, Deputy Minister of Agriculture, it was decided to "try it out." This was all that the Inspectors needed, and bee-keepers as a whole were solidly behind the plan. The trouble was however, to locate the apiaries so that each district would be able to take full advantage of the system. The apiaries were mostly of two to six colonies and as it was necessary that they be fully equipped with up-to-date hives and other essentials that were available, and that this equipment be the property of the owner of the apiary, this meant a large investment was necessary. The bee-keepers being solidly behind the plan did not hesitate to spend the money. The only headache the Inspectors had was sorting out the many offers they had from bee-keepers volunteering their apiaries and assistance to the new plan. This developed rapidly in 1921-22, and in the spring of 1923 it was operating over the Province. Returns were kept from each apiary and were published in every farm paper as well as all Government reports dealing with farming matters. The [63] pr publication of these reports drew attention to the possibility of Commercial honey production in the Province, and several bee-keepers increased their colonies as fast as they were able to get equipment and bees. At a meeting in Vancouver several bee-keepers were advancing new ideas re honey production that were not tried out in B.C. and the Inspector, Dundas Todd, was heard to say, "Don't tell me how much you know about honey production, show me the honey in the can. I'll know then, just how much you know." Todd, although not one of the founders of the Demonstration Apiary plan, was solidly behind it, and had his failing health allowed him he would have been busy organizing Vancouver Island bee-keepers. As it was, the organizing of Vancouver Island fell to the lot of Mr. Sheppard and until the formation of the Island Division of the Association, only three apiaries had been organized. Mr. Sheppard, having charge of the whole province, was unable to spend too much time in any one place. He had Mr. A. S. Homersham of Nelson appointed a part time Inspector of Apiaries, and that relieved him of a lot of detail work in that district, which he was unable to look after when he moved to Victoria, as Provincial Inspector of Apiaries. Mr. Homersham was able too, to take part-time supervision of the Demonstration Apiaries in the Kootenays and the Boundary Districts. As he had been appointed on a part-time basis he was only able to devote his holidays and week-ends to the work, but he made a real job of it, and he and his bicycle were as well known among the bee-keepers of the Nelson District as Mr. Sheppard had been in the earlier days. In the Okanagan Valley Mr. Harris ran his bees in a Demonstration Apiary in the Vernon District, but the increasing work brought about by the expanding of his business made it impossible for him to carry on his inspection work in the Valley. J. F. Roberts of Kelowna was appointed an Inspector under the Apiaries Act to carry on inspection work and supervision of Demonstration Apiaries, as directed by the Chief Inspector. In my opinion, the establishment of Demonstration Apiaries was the biggest single step taken to educate the beekeepers of British Columbia in better methods of bee-keeping and practical honey production. CHAPTER XIII At the Winter Session of the B.C. Legislature in 1922 amendments were made to the Apiaries Act which were endorsed by the B.C. Honey Producers Association, resulting in the complete staff who had been administering the Act being laid off. Mr. W. J. Sheppard was appointed Provincial Apiarist, and the entire staff with the exception of myself was re-appointed carrying on as before with A. W. Finlay taking my place as Senior Inspector. His headquarters was established in the Court House at New Westminster. The plan adopted in 1921 for establishing Demonstration Apiaries had been thoroughly investigated by the Agricultural Committee of the Legislature under the Chairmanship of A. D. Paterson, M.L.A. for Delta, and now received the full approval of-the Department of Agriculture. An editorial published in the May issue of the "Agricultural Journal" reads as follows: "The announcement has recently been made of the reappointment of W. J. Sheppard to the Staff of the Department of Agriculture as Provincial Apiarist. This step was necessitated by the amendment to the Apiaries Act, passed at the last session of the Legislature, whereby all previous appointments were revoked. "For eight years previous to the recent amendments to the 'Apiaries Act' Mr. Sheppard was an Inspector of Apiaries under the Department of Agriculture, and for the past three years has held the Office of Chief Inspector. Together with W. H. Turnbull and A. W. Finlay, he organized the Demonstration Apiaries which have been established in various districts, and which have resulted in profitable honey crops from colonies that in the past had produced only small surpluses, or in some cases none at all." The interest in the industry at this time was very keen both by bee-keepers and by various branches of Government who had become interested because of the controversy between rival associations. At a Field Day held in the Turn- bull Demonstration Apiary on July 24, 1923, four members of the Provincial Legislature attended, in order to get first hand information; these members were led by A. D. Paterson of Delta and were Rev. Thomas Menzies of Victoria, J. B. Catherwood of Mission and John MacRae of Agassiz. The last three were men who kept bees themselves and knew what it was all about, while A. D. Paterson had a large apiary [65] nr (which was the property of a migratory bee-keeper) on his farm at Ladner, and in which he took a real interest. Also at this meeting were several prominent businessmen from New Westminster, among whom were D. E. MacKenzie, Secretary-Manager of the Royal Agricultural and Industrial Society, and J. J. Mahony, a well-known insurance agent who always had shown a keen interest in any matters in connection with honey and honey products. In fact his interest was so great that he prepared a score card for the judging of honey at exhibitions. It was known as the "Mahony Score Card" and was used for many years until replaced by one brought out and recommended by the Canadian Bee-Keepers Council. With this interest being shown in the industry it followed that every meeting had its quota of reporters from the daily papers in Vancouver and New Westminster, and hardly a week passed that did not see some sort of publicity for the bee industry. The Farm Magazines, of which there were several, in the twenties, always were ready for a good "bee story" and most of them had reporters who were at every meeting looking for a story of some kind. In times like these when the business was going ahead so fast, it was no trouble to get publicity for the booming honey business. "The Farm and Home" had Jesse Scruton as a feature writer. His stories were read by everyone, and were well written as he always wrote just as he found it, without "polishing the apple." They always carried weight with the reading public. Another writer of the day was J. Harboard-Har- board who was correspondent for the "Sun." His news stories too were always well written and very interesting to read. The "Province" always depended on J. W. Winson for its information and was almost always ready to allow him "space" for a good bee story. Even after it put an Agricultural Editor on its staff, he always got his news stories from Mr. Winson, as he was President of the Association for many years and was noted for the accuracy of his reports. Another writer of that day was Geo. Murray who wrote feature articles for the "Sun" and other periodicals. As well, or better known than her husband, was Margaret Murray who Wrote many feature articles for different publications. The writers mentioned were the better known ones, but there were many others and the "Power of the Press" was never better demonstrated than it was from 1919 to 1930 in the making of honey the most popular food on the market and in keeping the industry before the public. There was another feature too, that went a long way to [66] making honey a popular food and kept it before the public eye. At the Fairs of 1919 in both Vancouver and New Westminster honey and honey products were featured. The Exhibition Association in Vancouver and the Royal Agricultural and Industrial Society of New Westminster put out very attractive prize lists, and enthusiasm among bee-keepers mounted each year. Many bee-keepers spent weeks getting their exhibits ready for the "Fair" and as the Royal City Show was first, many of the prize-winning entries moved over to Hastings Park, and from there to the "Willows" at Victoria. The Department of Agriculture helped in this matter too, as it had a travelling exhibit which was shown at all B.C. large shows. As the Superintendent of this exhibit was a bee-keeper in Victoria (Arthur H. Shotbolt) it followed that honey was one of the featured exhibits. In this he was helped by his assistant, A. J. Hourston. This enthusiasm for honey exhibition reached its peak year in 1926 when at the New Westminster show, eleven 500 pound exhibits of honey were displayed, as well as over a hundred and fifty entries in the smaller classes. It was estimated that there was a total weight in the honey and containers displayed, of approximately seven tons. I think a list of the bee-keepers who made up the 500 pound display in Queens Park would not be amiss here: Margaret Turnbull, Sullivan Station; E. R. Freeman, Mil- ner; Syd Jackson, Ashcroft; Geo. E. Thompson, Strawberry Hill; Ivo Tuyttens, Agassiz; Alex Keir, North Lonsdale; J. H. Holt, Kennedy; A. W. Finlay, Huntingdon; George H. Varty, White Rock; Fred E. Pearcey, Kelowna; and T. L. Baker, Bradner. A few bee-keepers set up smaller displays of excellent quality. Two of these are worth special mention; Mrs. Norman McAllan of Ladner had the nicest display of Alsike Clover honey we have seen, while Harry E. McCullough of Owl Creek had a display that showed a greater density than any we had to date, and which the judges claimed was "heather honey." As. Harry came from a mountain district they could well have been right. Although the foregoing was the peak year, many of the honey shows in other years, and at other places were of the same high standard. The year following this display was the last year honey was shown in the new Honey Section of the Horticultural Building at Queens Park, which had been completely finished with plywood, painted and decorated throughout by the Laminated Materials Co. Ltd. of New Westminster, through [67] iTP the courtesy of Mr. Frank Leland, Manager of the Company. Mr. J. J. Mahony and Manager D. E. MacKenzie were responsible for Mr. Leland's generosity, which was a very good advertisement for the Company that had just started a factory making cottonwood laminated sheets in Sapperton. The building was completely destroyed by fire the following summer, bee-keepers suffered a real loss, as all of their permanent Exhibition equipment (several hundreds of dollars in value) was destroyed, as well as permanent staging and electrical supplies. No insurance was carried. A show was staged in a large marquee that fall, but the spirit was pretty well gone, and when the Royal Agricultural and Industrial Society decided to suspend operations, nothing was left but to transfer the entire operations of the Association to the Vancouver Exhibition at Hastings Park, Vancouver. Exhibitions of honey have been staged continually since that time in the Horticultural Building, in which for many years the Honey Producers Association had a large section on the ground floor. Old exhibitors dropped out, and new ones took the vacant stands; new ideas of display were introduced, much use being made of electric light and various types of mechanical display, which added materially to the interest, as well as displaying honey to a better advantage. Two of the exhibitors who have made use of this type of display in later years were Fred Bettschen (O.K. Apiaries, Vernon, B.C.), and A. F. Scott of Vancouver. The newspapers were very enthusiastic in their praise of the quality of honey displayed at these shows, and it went a long way toward establishing "B.C. Honey" as a popular food in British Columbia. CHAPTER XIV In 1920, S. P. Hodgson arrived in the Province from Manitoba where he had spent a few years after leaving Ontario. Mr. Hodgson was very much interested in the beekeeping industry, and finding that all (or practically all) bee supplies had to be shipped in from the East and South, he decided to do something about it. The following news item taken from the "United Farmer" of June, 1922, tells the story: "For the manufacture of bee hives and supplies, S. P. Hodgson, a former Ontario bee fancier, has taken over the plant of the Golden Rule Manufacturing Co. on the corner of Sixth Street and Thirteenth Ave., New Westminster. New machinery has been installed and the Hodgson factory now has a capacity of 50 bee hives a day. An interesting feature of the equipment is a dove-tailing machine installed by the Atkins Saw Co. Mr. Hodgson's specialty is a standard single storey Langstroth hive, with a galvanized iron cover and reversible floor." Mr. Hodgson was joined by his son George at the beginning of his venture, and in 1923 J. P. Hodgson (Percy) came in with his father and brother which gave to the firm the name of S. P. Hodgson and Sons, which it carried for many years. George soon retired from the firm to follow another line of business and as Mr. Hodgson was no longer a young man, Percy took over active management and carried on to the present time, his father having passed away in 1939. The firm is now Hodgsons Bee Supplies Limited, and has been a big factor in building up the Industry in B.C., supplying the buyer with good quality equipment at a fair price. Through the years they have established a reputation for good equipment and fair dealing throughout Canada and the United States as well as shipping supplies to New Zealand, Argentina, Jamaica, Venezuela and Israel. One of our older bee-keepers was heard to remark not long ago: "B.C. has been good to Hodgsons, and Hodgsons has been good to British Columbia." Not satisfled with making the bees supplies of the Province, they have installed one of the most modern packing plants in America, and packed under their BEE-CEE Brand they sell more honey in Western Canada than is produced in B.C. and must get their supplies from Alberta and elsewhere. They have a small plant in Edmonton. Another bee-keeper who came to the Coast Districts in [69] ¥^' 1924 was E. R. Freeman. He settled at a location just to the north of Milner where he still resides. Mr. Freeman was for years directly responsible for the success of the honey displays at the Hastings Park Exhibitions, as he acted as Superintendent of the Honey Section. For a number of years too, he was a part-time Inspector of Apiaries, working with A. W. Finlay from the New Westminster office. In July of 1922 I had the opportunity to make an inspection trip up the Inside Passage and the Gulf Islands. Many bee-keepers had registered from out of the way places, and some of them had built up sizeable apiaries in remote logging camps and the owners had been writing to the Department of Agriculture for inspection and instruction. I was in a favorable position to make the trip, being part-owner of a stout motor boat which three bee-keeping friends and myself used for a fall hunting trip. Dr. Warnock, the Deputy Minister, was very interested in the prospects for expansion of the industry in this area, and agreed to the trip. In ten days I visited 39 apiaries, inspecting more than 300 colonies of bees. It was an interesting trip as I met and talked with many who had taken bees into outlying places to "try them out," and in many cases to help out the pay check they were getting from the logging camps in which they were employed. The one in this class that I remember best was the late James Shortreed of Aldergrove. He had a large apiary of some 50 colonies at Rock Bay on Vancouver Island. I had to travel by logging train 20 miles into the interior, as his bees were located in a Areweed district near where they were logging. I think this was the most unique apiary I have seen as the hives were all placed on the top of huge stumps in the logged-ofl area. Too much attention was not given to them after they were placed out in the spring, supers were placed on the hives and were left until they were gathered in the fall and taken by train down to the home apiary at Tide Water. He had been there for a number of years and had no trouble getting rid of his crop as the camp cooks were keen to get all they could, and he had quite a lot of Ashermen customers along the inlets that he supplied. One of these was Henry Morin, who had a Ashing camp on Stuart Island about twenty miles from Rock Bay. It was he who told me of Shortreed's Apiary, as he had a contract to supply the logging camp with fresh Ash and consequently knew of his venture. [71] mr I think that<one of the most hair-raising trips I have ever made was on the top of a trainload of logs from the apiary to the landing. Living directly across the rapids from Morin's camp was Henry Secord who had retired and had a very neat little apiary as part of his property. It was no different from many others seen on this trip, but those of you who know your Canadian history will be interested in knowing that Henry was a grandson of Laura Secord, the heroine of the War of 1812. Calls were made at many points on the mainland and on the Island and it was Armly established in my mind that the spread of the bees to these remote parts could be traced directly to the loggers' hunger for honey. Fred Vaughn, Magistrate at Quesnel for close to 50 years, tells me that in his younger days while working at the head of Nootka Sound, the loggers cut a bee-tree there that was well Ailed with honey that showed every sign of having been there for a long time. He says its quality was excellent. This is further proof that the logger was responsible for the spreading of the bees along the Coast. In some of these old locations that we know at one time supported a number of bees, not a bee is to be found today, as the old slashings have returned to the forest with the consequent loss of honey plants as the forests again "took over." One old logger made this very appropriate remark, "The Lord gave the eastern logger the sugar maple, to us he gave the honey bee." In this period (1919 to 1930) the Grim Reaper called two of our most prominent bee-men. Williams Hugh of Clover- dale passed away on November 17th, 1924, and F. Dundas Todd of Victoria went to his reward on April 1st, 1926. w CHAPTER XV Before leaving this most interesting ten years in the history of bee-keeping in B.C. it would be well to mention that we had several very prominent visitors during this time. In June of 1921 F. W. L. Sladen, the newly appointed Dominion Apiarist, paid a visit to the different Experimental Farms in B.C., and took time out to tour the Fraser Valley with Mr. Sheppard, to meet with and talk over beekeeping problems as they affected our Province, in particular. Mr. Sladen's interest in B.C. bee-keepers continued until his untimely death a year or two later. He wrote and had published many articles on bees and bee-keeping which have been of real value to the Industry. In the early fall of 1925, in fact while the Vancouver Exhibition was in progress, we had a distinguished visitor insofar as bee-keeping was concerned. He was Frank E, Pellett, Associate Editor of the American Bee Journal, of Hamilton, 111. Mr. Pellett had been on a tour of the Canadian West, and this was his last stop before he returned to the United States. After "doing" the honey show, Mr. Pellett was asked if there was any place he would like to go, or anything he would like to do, on the one day he had left. His reply was, "they tell me you have some good Ashing in B.C., but I do not suppose there is any chance of me seeing some of it." This was a challenge that Finlay and I would not let pass. We were able to take him to Mayne Island, where it was reported that the "Bluebacks" were beginning to "run." Finlay being a real fisherman soon had him busy and in a short time he landed two salmon weighing about 7 or 8 pounds each. We called off the outing and came home where a number of bee-keepers were waiting to meet him. Pellett's fish were cleaned, and formed the main dish at a small banquet tendered him by the wives of Fraser Valley bee-keepers. Mr. Pellett's fishing experiences had been that of a small boy in Ohio, fishing in a stream, with a bent pin, for bullheads, and he was most enthusiastic. It was so complete a change for a man who had devoted his lifeswork to beekeeping, his every spare minute being taken up, even on a tour, in talking "bees." In writing of the trip later he said in part, "It was one day that bee talk was taboo. In fact Finlay told me that the penalty for mentioning bees on a trip of this kind was a good ducking." "We hardly lived up [73] inion Apiarist (since 1950). to that standard, but for me it was a memorable day, and a complete change and rest." Frank Pellett was for many years a good friend to B.C. bee-keepers and kept in close touch with bee-keeping matters here; in fact gave us much good publicity in the Journal of which he was Associate Editor. Another visitor was George W. York, the first Editor of the American Bee Journal, and one of the best known American bee men. Mr. York was located in Seattle and Los Angeles, and the publisher of "Bees and Honey," a very popular bee magazine in the Northwest. We were able to persuade him on two occasions to judge honey at the Exhibition. This was a real treat to many of us as Mr. York had the reputation of being one of the best honey judges in the United States. His opinions and suggestions went a long way towards building up a bigger and better show. Another of his visits was to attend the International Field Day held in the apiary of A. W. Finlay at Huntingdon, B.C. This was truly International, as it was sponsored by "Skagit" County Bee-Keepers Association (Wash.), the Whatcom County Bee-Keepers Association (Wash.), and our own Honey Producers Association of British Columbia. This was held on Saturday, June 13th, 1925, and was one of the largest crowds to ever attend a meeting of this kind. I cannot remember any since, in which more bee-keepers came together. The programme might be interesting: 11:00 a.m.—Address of welcome to visiting Americans— J. W. Winson. 12:00 Noon—Lunch—B.C. Honey Producers Association. 1:00 p.m.—How to prepare comb honey for the show bench—Alex Keir. 1:30 p.m.—Extracted honey and how to pack it—Margaret Turnbull. 2:00 p.m.—Modern bee equipment and its uses—A. W. Finlay. 2:30 p.m.—Demonstration. 2:45 p.m.—"Beeswax"—E. R. Freeman. 3:00 p.m.—"Talk on Bees"—George W. York. 3:30 p.m.—"Exhibitions"—D. E. Mackenzie. All day Question Box—W. H. Turnbull. The report in the Province the following day said in part: "The value of exhibitions in reaching the public was the topic of a humorous address by D. E. Mackenzie of New Westminster. Manager J. K. Matheson of the Vancouver Exhibition Association, accompanied by E. C. Knowlton, Dir- [75] ector of the same exhibition, were present with attractive inducements for the City Exhibition in August. "The American visitors (of whom there were over eighty), were much impressed by the great advantages offered honey producers at the B.C. Fairs. An affectionate welcome was given to Mr. G. W. York of Seattle, the 'Dean of Beedom in the West', who gave delightful reminiscences of the pioneers in the bee world, and followed with expert advice for up-to-date producers." There were many smaller meetings held throughout the Province in the ten years mentioned and they were all well attended by interested bee-keepers who wished to improve their knowledge and experince. Last, but by no means least of the visitors who were interested in the honey exhibits at Queens Park, New Westminster, in 1923, was His Royal Highness, Edward, Prince of Wales. He was opening the Fair that year from the steps of the Agricultural Building, and before the opening, was being taken on a tour of the different exhibits. The public had not yet been allowed in the building and only the exhibitors and judges were around the exhibits. He had what you might call a "close" schedule, in order that he might see as much as possible, but in passing the "Honey Exhibit," an Observation Hive with live bees caught his eye and brought him to a stop in front of it, with the request to the officials with him, that they tell him how the bees in the hive got "air." This was a puzzling question to C. A. Welsh and D. E. MacKenzie, and catching sight of myself in the background they called me to come over and demonstrate to His Highness. It was one of the highlights of my life, but as I had been pretty well trained in talking to the inquiring public, I had no trouble in answering the questions of so interested an inquirer. From the casual glance he was supposed to give the honey exhibit he gave the whole show his undivided attention. We had a new Reversible Honey Extractor on display for the first time, and he, being of an inquiring turn of mind, had to climb over the guard rail and examine the machine at close range, even going so far as to grasp the handle and reverse the machine several times to get the idea of how it separated the honey from the comb. From that he passed on to the various exhibits, and was really intrigued with a display of comb honey put on by the veteran Inspector L. Harris of Vernon. It was a magnificent display and really showed comb honey at its best. In front, on a small table, was a display of two ounce sections of comb honey neatly [76] wrapped with waxed paper tied with a narrow ribbon, (a package Harris had been packing for the CP.R. Dining Car Service) and which had proved very popular. His Highness remarked that they looked very good, and he was offered a sample. He took several and dropped them in the pocket of his suit coat. (His retinue cleaned up the exhibit). The Official Party had by this time given up hope of completing the circuit of the rest of the exhibits in the building, and after thanking me for the information I had been able to give him, he hurried away to the Official Opening outside. We heard the sequel to the story later. When he got into the crowd outside, they thronged him so closely that the honey in his pocket was crushed. His remark, "there goes that bally honey," was cherished by the Directors around him for years after. C. A. Welsh was the authority for this story which he told us the following day. I have escorted hundreds of visitors through the different honey shows since then, but I have not had one who asked more intelligent questions, or who showed greater interest. CHAPTER XVI •; -^sjj Another event that took place in this decade and . Jp ' which is of the greatest in- m terest to B.C. bee-keepers, I was the coming to the Coast of J. B. Munro. Mr. Munro was born in Oxford County, Ontario, and as a I small boy he moved with his family to Fort William, jL^/gW Ont., where he was raised l| on a 300 acre farm, much ^H^^^^M I of which he helped to clear. ^9^ ^^H I His father was a large scale I bee-keeper, and J. B. was '**■■ s^^Bf' I raise(i with bees, and took ^^ '" -^^^KSfcS!B^^^^ a very keen interest in the Deputy Miifiste?o'f'Agrfc'uitiH:e*'for handling of them. His fath- 22 years, 1930-52. (Deceased). er believed in giving his boys every advantage that a practical education would give them, and when J. B. reached the age when he felt he should be getting more technical training he sent both he and his brother J. A. to O.A.C. at Guelph, Ontario. There they took their degree of B.S.A., and both specialized in bee-keeping. J. B. came to British Columbia, and spent several years teaching Agriculture in the High Schools in Enderby and Armstrong. From there he came to Vancouver and went on the staff of "Farm and Home" as Editor on October 11, 1928. He was now able to assist the bee-keepers in many ways as far as publicity was concerned, and did so on every occasion. Upon a change of Government at Victoria, and the resignation of Dr. D. War- nock as Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Mr. Munro was offered the position and accepted it. He held this position until ill health forced him to resign in the late 1940s. Another event which had much to do with the advancement of bee-keeping in this period was the purchase by the Honey Producers Association of a good quality Spencer Microscope, and necessary equipment for the diagnosis of various Brood Diseases that had spread over most of the Province. A. W. Finlay immediately, with his usual thoroughness, [78] p? set about to master the technical knowledge necessary to recognize the different bacteria that was causing the diseases. In a very short time he had a complete small laboratory in his office in New Westminster, and after he had his findings checked a few times by the officials in charge of the new laboratory established at the Dominion Experimental Farms at Ottawa, and cross-checked by the Bee Culture Laboratory, Bureau of Entomology, at Washington, D.C., he was able to handle every sample of brood sent to him by the inspectors, and by individual bee-keepers, and to advise them by return mail just what the trouble was. This service was of real value to the industry and the Department cooperated in every way they could to further enhance its value. A few years later they purchased the microscope and all the equipment from the Association, thus giving the much needed funds for other purposes and still giving them the same service from Finlay's office. Before moving into the 30s there is one other event that should be recorded as it had much to do with the advancement of the Industry in the Kootenays and Boundary Districts. I refer to the arrival in the early 20s of Mr, V. K. Soharev. Mr. Soharev was born in White Russia, Siberia, and his parents, though- of country origin, tried their best to get for their son the best education that they could. This was no easy task in that country, and in those days (in the early 90s), but they managed to get him educated in a local seminary, and by private tutor, and in 1917 he was a teacher in the school that had been established in his home village. He had always, from the time he was a small boy, been interested in bees, having been told by one of his instructors that "honey is the best sweet." This all stayed with him, and as soon as he was grown he made a trip into the Altai Mountains and bought . two boxes of bees from a Mongolian. He brought them over [79] rn the mountains to his home village lashed to the back of a small mountain pony as there were no regular roads in the country. He lost one colony on the way, but managed to get the other home, and it was the foundation of his Apiary. He became the leading "bee-man" in the village and as he was a teacher, was soon instructing his pupils in the keeping of bees. He was invited by the Government to establish a Demonstration Apiary at the Normal School in this District. This succeeded very well until in 1917 the Government decided to send him to the United States to study bee-keeping. He visited Japan and the United States and while he was absent, the Revolution took place, and the Government fell. He decided that he would stay in America. After visiting several States he came to Vancouver, and there met W. J. Sheppard. Mr. Sheppard was very interested in his story, and suggested that he settle in the Kootenays. He bought a property at Slocan City and established a small apiary. Mr. Sheppard felt that his knowledge was too valuable to lose and he advised him to put in a Demonstration Apiary. This suited Mr. Soharev very well and he immediately did so, and to add to his income he advertised for pupils to learn the business. In this venture he was successful and his first pupil was A. S. Homersham who, when he finished his course, took employment with the Dominion Experimental Farms at Ros- thern, Sask. After leaving there he returned to Nelson where he carried on "part time" inspection work for the Apiary Department until his death in 1948. Mr. Homersham was Soharev's first pupil but in the years he carried on the Columbia Apiaries at South Slocan, he had many others, and his work did much to establish "good bee-keeping" in the district in which he lived, in fact in many parts of British Columbia. Mr. Soharev established a factory for the making of bee supplies and wax foundation at South Slocan, which was the main source of supply for the different dealers in that area. I had heard much of Mr. Soharev's work and ability to teach bee-keeping, but it took an actual demonstration to drive home to me, that Russia has given more to the world than guided missiles, sputniks and other weapons of destruction. A number of years ago I had advertised a meeting and demonstration to be held at one of the High Schools at Nelson. A large number of students and others were in attendance and I felt that there was a heavy afternoon's work ahead of me. Catching sight of an old friend (Arthur Pittaway) in the crowd, I asked Mr. Soharev if he would carry [80] on for a few minutes. He was always willing to help, and took over the demonstration. After a few minutes chat with my friend, I was interested in something Mr. Soharev was telling the audience, and started to pay close attention to his talk. In my fifty odd years as a bee-keeper, I had not heard a better talk for beginners, and I now knew why Mr. Sheppard had been telling us of Mr. Soharev's ability. If the Russian Revolution of 1918 did nothing else, it certainly gave to British Columbia one of our ablest teachers of beekeeping. Mr. Soharev still carries on a small apiary at Nelson where he has retired, and I am only one of many who know him, who are glad to salute this "Bee Master" on the one hundredth birthday of the Province. ff CHAPTER XVII With the steady growth of the Industry, the Association gained in membership and prestige in the Lower Mainland, the Interior Valleys and Vancouver Island. At the beginning of what is now known as the "hungry thirties" it was in good shape to talk to the Government of the day, when after the superannuation of Mr. Sheppard which took place April 14, 1931, they announced that the Division was being cut down to part time Inspectors working only during the summer months. This put the bee-keepers up in arms and a delegation was sent to Victoria and a vigorous protest was made by both the Association and a number of the larger producers. We were informed before leaving Victoria that A. W. Finlay at least, would be kept on the staff as Chief Inspector of Apiaries on a permanent basis. J. B. Munro was a real help to us here, as he took over as Provincial Apiarist (without extra pay) and as such carried on until April 4, 1934, when Finlay was appointed Provincial Apiarist by the Hon. K. C. MacDonald, Minister of Agriculture. Development of bee-keeping began in the Northern Central Part of B.C. in the late twenties and early thirties. In fact we have a record of bees being imported into the Francois Lake area as early as 1920. In reporting to Inspector Todd on the matter, E. A. Beach (formerly of Surrey, B.C.), said that on January 7, 1920, he has lost three out of five colonies, and expected the rest to go. He ends up by saying, "I must, confess that I am disgusted with the whole thing." E. A. Mortimer of Telkwa however, had a different story for the same year, as he took out three hives of bees to his homestead on May 19, 1919, and he reported to Mr. Todd that he had "put three colonies away for the winter and had harvested 180 pound surplus." We have no later reports from him. Another colony was sent to Smithers and was increased to five the first season, but no further reports are available. Still another was sent to E. Gerhardi of Fraser Lake. They too did well, but did not survive the first winter. Mr. Gerhardi however, did not give up and when I met him in 1942 he had built up to five colonies and was producing enough honey for his family. He advised me that he had overcome wintering problems, but did not think bees would ever be a commercial success in that area. The foregoing seems to be all the records available until 1930-31. J. B. Munro had been visiting in the neighborhood [82] of Vanderhoof, Fraser Lake and Fort St. James getting material for a thesis on the Carrier Indians (which he was preparing for his Doctors Degree). In his travels he kept close watch on the country for possibilities of honey production, and he encouraged some bee-keepers in each area to keep bees in modern hives, going so far in some cases as to ship them complete hives with bees. Two of these were north and east of Vanderhoof. Norman Williams built up a large apiary and was able to prove beyond a doubt that honey production on a commercial .scale was possible in the district. The other, 11 miles further east on the Stuart River, built his apiary up to over 50 colonies and had no more trouble than ordinarily occurred further south in wintering his colonies, again furnishing proof that commercial beekeeping in the Vanderhoof area was a possibility. A man of entirely different type lives in the District be- [83] (1 tween Vanderhoof and Fort St. James. He is Joseph Murray, a fur farmer who practiced conservation on his trap line, and had built up a lucrative business. He also kept bees. "Joe," as he was known to his neighbors, had been a man of many professions, having been a miner and prospector in the area around the district now known as Kitimat, and had prospected over the whole of Tweedsmuir Park before settling down on a homestead, developing his trap line. In his younger days he had "tangled" with a grizzly bear and carried some facial scars that made him grow a beard. His bees were exceptionally well kept in modern hives with all modern equipment. Most of the table in his cabin was piled high with "Bee Journals" and literature on conservation. In checking over his bees we noted in a remote corner of the yard, a row of what appeared to be cottonwood blocks about 30" high. Upon inquiring we were invited to inspect them. They were what he called "Bee Gums" and were standing on a concrete base. Each upright log which was hollow, had a number of holes bored into it, which made an entrance for the bees. He informed us that this was the way they were kept in Louisiana, where he spent his boyhood days. They looked as neat as any modern apiary could have been, and Joe informed us that he kept his stock "up" from the swarms that issued from these "gums" in large numbers, in the early summer. No need of package bees from California for this pioneer conservationist. He went further than this, and made cages for swarms and shipped them up and down the Grand Trunk Pacific to would-be bee-keepers who thus got their initial start with bees. Joe Murray was doing his share towards building up an industry in a pioneer country and his experience with modern hives which he kept by themselves, supplied him with all the honey he needed for his own use, and gave him plenty to sell to his neighbors. He was, and is, a real pioneer and, in a letter I had from the R.C.M.P. the other day I was told "your inquiry about Joe Murray, he is still going strong." He quit keeping bees several years ago as nine miles into the wilds is a long way to pack supplies when you are near- ing 90. m CHAPTER XVIII In the early thirties very little money was being spent by the Department of Agriculture, and Mr. Finlay spent much of his time in the winter months writing articles on bee-keeping problems, and in correspondence with various bee-keepers in the more settled parts of the Province. He was a busy man, and had little spare time even in summer as the Provincial Demonstration Apiaries were still going strong, and new problems were coming up from time to time which took all his attention, but he was unable to get financial help to visit outlying districts which were developing slowly all over the Province. In the summer months he was assisted by E. R. Freeman, Alex Keir, H. Langton Johnston, J. F. Roberts, Kelowna; A. S. Hommersham, Nelson; H. L. Chittenden and J. H. W. Dicks. Some of these men only worked a few days, and in their own districts. This patch work system of inspection did little more than keep some check on disease still prevalent among many of the smaller and more careless bee-keepers in the country. I do not mean to say that the larger bee-keepers did not have trouble, but to a great extent they were able to at least keep a semblance of control in their apiaries and to carry on. Several so-called "cures" for A.F.B. appeared during this time, and Mr. Finlay and his limited staff gave them all a fair trial, and in some cases the Department of Agriculture assisted in buying supplies and equipment needed to disinfect combs and other supplies. J. F. Roberts, a bee-keeper in the Kelowna area who assisted in inspection work in the Okanagan Valley, worked with Mr. Finlay in having a "plant" installed in the Vernon district for the using of chlorine gas as a disinfecting agent. Some small success was noted, but not sufficient to warrant the continuing expense, so the plan was abandoned. Several private plants for the use of formaldehyde (both liquid and gas), were financed by the Department under the supervision of the various Inspectors, and Mr. Finlay, but they, although showing some value if carefully handled, proved unsatisfactory. The exception to this however was a plant designed and built by E. Chipperfield and son "Ted" of Biggar Road, Langley Prairie. This plant was built from a design furnished them by the Apiary Department and as the principal disinfecting agent was Formaldehyde Gas, and both Chipperfields were very painstaking and careful oper- [85] (1 ators, they had a 100% success in controlling American Foul Brood with the treatment they gave the honey combs. It was used until the Sulphathiazole treatment was introduced, and as the new treatment was much simpler and more satisfactory, it was abandoned. G. F. Pearcey, of Kelowna, built a gas chamber and used steam from formaldehyde as a disinfecting agent. He had a fair amount of success and was able to keep in business and to keep his losses down to a very small percentage. Turnbull's Apiaries too had a plant of this type, and it was used with a fair amount of success. This was the problem that faced the Association for well over 10 years, and prospects were not too encouraging. Finlay was a fighter, however, and would not give up. In this he was supported by Fred Bettschen of Vernon who came from Vancouver and started the Silver Star Apiaries in 1930. (They were renamed O.K. Apiaries shortly afterwards.) G. F. Pearcey of Kelowna gave him full support, and as manager of Turnbull's Apiaries Limited, I was able to give considerable help. Mr. Finlay gives real praise to H. Langton Johnston of Fairfield Island, Chilliwack, as the only man who cleaned up his apiary after it was infected with American Foul Brood, by the recognized method of "shaking the bees," and putting them On clean sheets of foundation, in new hives or in hives which had been thoroughly burned out with a blow torch. "Honey" Johnston did just this, and what was more had no recurrence of the disease. Finlay was not sure, but he thinks Alex Keir of Kennedy, did the same thing, but as he was in an area that was badly infected with disease, his colonies were reinfected through no fault of his own. In my opinion many bee-keepers "cleaned up" only to find reinfection from some outside source. In one particular case where the Department of Agriculture had taken drastic action under the Apiaries Act and Finlay had burned all diseased material found back in the woods in an old shack, the owner started action against Mr. Finlay personally, for malicious destruction of his property. When the case came up before His Honor Judge Howay, of New Westminster, the court decided that no malicious intent had been proven, and the case was dismissed. This established the Apiaries Act, and in the many years following it was not challenged. This did much to assist Mr. Finlay and his Inspectors in helping them control American Foul Brood. It did more than this. It convinced bee-keepers that the Apiary Department officials were trying to do a job that would protect the rapidly [86] growing industry. From that time on, Mr. Finlay was assured full co-operation by a very large number of bee-keepers in the Province, and was given full co-operation by the steadily growing Honey Producers Association, whose members continually pressed the Department for increased help for the Apiaries Branch. With a Deputy Minister of Agriculture who from experience, thoroughly understood the problems being faced by the bee-keepers, part time Inspectors were given longer time each season in which to get more work done, and to cover a greater area. The Okanagan Valley was forging ahead as a honey- producing district with men like Fred Bettschen, Willis Mc- Mullen, G. F. Pearcey (and many others who were spending a lot of money and effort in trying to build up the industry). Being in and around Vernon it is little wonder that when K. C. Macdonald was appointed Minister of Agriculture, that the Honey Industry was brought to his attention by the aforementioned bee-keepers of his home riding at every opportunity. The North Okanagan Division of the Association working through the Central Executive, was continually pressing for more help and financial assistance from the Department. The Honorable K. C. Macdonald heard plenty about bees and bee-keepers in the first few years he held office. In fact, after a meeting with a delegation who had been putting up an argument for more inspection, he was heard to say to a friend, "those fellows have been trying to sting me for a long time. I am going to grant their request and let them sting themselves for a change." They got their requested Inspector, and what was more, on Finlay's superannuation they were instrumental in having the Apiaries Office moved to the Court House in Vernon where it has remained, the logical centre of the bee-keeping industry. Taking it from every point of view, the Honey Producers Association of B.C. has, through its co-operation" with the Department of Agriculture, been a real power in building up the production of more and better honey and honey markets in the Province. n 1 CHAPTER XIX J. B. Munro, as Deputy Minister, kept a keen eye on the development of Agricultural pursuits all over the Province, and in particular Central British Columbia. He had James Travis moved to Prince George with particular instructions to see what could be done in developing the growing of seed for market, this area looking as if it were particularly adapted to the growing of clover seed. "Jimmy," although not a bee-keeper, knew all about the ability of the honey bee as a pollenizing agent for clover seed. He immediately started to advocate the importation of honey bees to help out with full pollenation, and here again he was assisted by the Department of Agriculture through the efforts of J. B. Munro. Several colonies of bees were sent into the district and placed by Travis in locations where the extra help given by bees in pollenizing legumes such as clover and vetch could be checked, and the results noted. The trouble was the wintering of the bees. Many were lost the first few years, but it was not too long before the importation of "Package Bees" proved that by getting packages in early enough, pollenation results were as good, the resulting crops of honey as good or better than when the colonies were wintered over, as some farmers had now learned to do. This established the bee-keeping industry in the Prince George area, and with the appointment of Shirley Preston of Vanderhoof (whose father had had bees in the Vanderhoof area for several years), as District Agriculturist at Smithers, bees were introduced again in the Bulkley Valley. No large apiaries were built up in this area, but there were many smaller bee-keepers who had continued with varying success. James Travis was then transferred to Pouce Coupe in the Peace River bloc and arrived there after having driven via Edmonton and then north 400 miles to his hew post. He found a new country, and in studying conditions he felt that he had to have bees to make a real success of seed growing in the Peace River bloc. Noting a few scattered plants of white sweet clover growing around the village and sizing up the growth they made, he felt that it was a natural clover country. He introduced various types of alfalfa as well as the different types of clover, and started the uphill battle to get the farmers growing different types for the production of seed to which the country seemed to lend itself. J. B. Munro sent him 200 pounds of white sweet clover [88] seed, presumably to start different "projects" in the district. In the early days roads were unknown and a few wheel tracks from one settlement to another established a trail. Along these white sweet clover began to bloom, and years later old timers informed me that "Jimmy Travis used to scatter seed as he drove from place to place." I would not suggest that such was the case, but the fact remained that in a very short time sweet clover was growing in abundance from the Alberta boundary to the ferry crossing the Peace River, and beyond. The roads were almost always muddy and the mud carried seeds along where they took root and grew rank and strong. Be that as it may, Travis introduced bees into the area and in this he was supported by the Deputy Minister. Apiaries were started at Fort St. John, Ground Birch and Doe River. The pioneer of the district with bees was an Italian, Dominic Torio, who had a small apiary at South Dawson Creek. When Travis left the Peace River and returned to Grand Forks he left the finest seed growing area in the Province, as well as the beginning of a honey-producing area that is rapidly coming into its own as the best in B.C. Today the names of Douglas Birley and Rev. Montgomery [89] of Fort St. John, along with Joe Stukey of Ground Birch, and the Shobert Bros. (Joe and Charley), of Doe River, rank with Dominic Torio as the pioneer honey producers of the north. Too big a tribute cannot be paid to the District Agriculturists who pioneered farming in Northern and Central British Columbia. To the names already mentioned should be added Russell Brown of Fort St. John and Al Johnson of Dawson Creek. These two went out of their way to assist the beekeepers in these pioneer districts. James Manning took over at Prince George, and Harry Bowman took over the agricultural development work in the area for the Canadian National Railways. These men, although not bee-keepers, had been studying the work of James Travis, and were thoroughly convinced that honey bees were an essential part of successful seed growing. They were ready to assist the bee-keepers, in every way when they decided to "try a package or two of bees." Manning's office became headquarters for package bees being shipped in to the settlers. (I have seen as many as 60 packages at once piled up in a back office at the Court House.) Harry and Jim were busy men as they undertook' delivery in many cases where news of the arrival of the bees could not reach the settler, but they considered their time well spent if it guaranteed a better crop of seed, as they were convinced it did. On one occasion a heavy snow storm tied up traffic and only main roads were passable, A settler from Reid Lake (I have forgotten his name), tramped into Prince George on snowshoes, over 30 miles. We met him the next day leaving town for the long tramp home, and his pack consisted of 40 pounds of sugar (his ration limit), for feeding package bees, two 3-pound packages of bees wrapped in newspapers to protect them from the wind, and carrying a 30-30 rifle. He said, "you know, them thar wolves are a nuisance at times." This shows the pioneer spirit which still exists in the newer areas of B.C. I was informed later that he got them home, and that they stored a crop of honey. The Association work through the "thirties" had not been too heavy, but it was a real task holding the scattered divisions together for 10 years ... a job Finlay handled very well. There were quite a number of men, and some women, who did much to forward the interest in the industry and who were not bee-keepers. Some of them had a hive or two just for the interest a few bees gave them. One of these was E. D. Barrow, who was the Minister of Agriculture at the time [90] Sumas Prairie was reclaimed. He was very much interested in honey production on the newly reclaimed land, and A. W. Finlay was able to persuade him to put a couple of colonies on his farm at the north end of the project. This gave Mr. Barrow a real personal interest in honey production which helped much in keeping the government of the day interested in our problems. CHAPTER XX n In the interior of the Province were several of the leading horticulturists who did a lot of work to help the growing Industry with the different problems that came up from time to time. One of these problems was the poisoning of honey bees by the use of arsenical sprays. Thousands of colonies were being lost each year in the orchards. We were able to interest the late Morrice Middle- ton of Vernon in the problem, and as he was thoroughly convinced that bees were necessary for the pollination of blossoms on fruit trees in order to get a full set of fruit, it was no trouble to get the Department, of which he had local charge, to carry on some experiments with a repellent in the arsenical sprays used. H. H. Evans and W. Baverstock (Mr. Baverstock himself a beekeeper), were put in charge of the work in co-operation with the local Inspector of Apiaries. In 1942 we used creosote as a repellent with success. In fact an experimental apiary placed by Fred Bettschen of O.K. Apiaries in an isolated orchard north of the City of Armstrong, had all the usual full strength arsenical sprays applied by Messrs. Evans and Baverstock; all were treated with creosote as a repellent and no bees were lost and a full crop of honey harvested. Heavy losses of bees were noted in "check" apiaries where conditions were identical, but no repellent was used. H. H. Evans was convinced that we would get the same result with crude Carbolic Acid, and the following year the experiment was again carried out on a much larger scale. Results were as good and acid was much easier to handle and to procure. The following year the Department of Agriculture supplied crude Carbolic Acid to Greta Orchards on the west side of Okanagan Lake. The owners had been advocates of honey bees for pollination for many years, and had in fact, been hiring bees for this purpose from G. F. Pearcey of Kelowna. Mr. Pearcey could not make it pay to move bees in and out before the arsenical sprays were applied, and Long Bros, offered to supply the bees and give the new spray a thorough test under field conditions. They did this, and the bees actually built up to swarming strength. Fortunately for the Industry, the use of arsenical sprays was on the wane as new poisons that were repellent to bees took their place. The thorough and exhaustive tests carried [92] on by Evans and Baverstock did much to acquaint the or- chardists with the need for honey bees as pollenizing agents, and close co-operation has been maintained between them and the bee-keepers which has resulted in bees being again kept in the orchards without loss. John Tait of Summerland was one of the first orchard- ists on the Summerland benches, and was Provincial Horticulturist there for 30 years. He took a real interest in bees and bee-keepers, and upon my arrival in the District as Inspector in 1941, he was able to give me the names, addresses and locations of every bee-keeper in the District which was under his supervision. His information was very helpful in getting the district organized for disease control. In Penticton, working under R. P. Murray, was John Smith, who claimed Terrace, B.C., as his home town. John was a Horticulturist and had studied bee-keeping with his regular course, which on completion gave him his B.S.A. He had been used for some time in the Oliver and Osoyoos Districts as an Inspector of Apiaries and his help was of real value. In the Creston District C. B. Twigg (Pat), had been with the Horticultural Department for many years. No Inspector of Apiaries being stationed in the area, he did the best he could to help the bee-keepers. It was claimed by old timers that he knew every person in his large district by his Christian name. I have no doubt of this; on the several days I spent with him on my first visit to the District in 1942 he knew where every hive of bees was located, and also knew the location of some of the bee trees, of which there were a large number in the Goat River Valley. James Allin was Horticulturist stationed at Creston, and to him there is a great deal of credit due for his work among the bee-keepers of the East Kootenays. He was able and anxious to take me to every bee-keeper he knew from Windermere to the U.S. Boundary line and east to the borders of Alberta. The bee-keepers of the East Kootenays owe a great deal of the success they have had, to the work of these two men Twigg and Allin who, although they were not bee-keepers by profession, had a knowledge of bee-keeping gathered in their Agricultural College days, that was a real help in an outlying district such as this. Regular inspections by the Provincial Apiarist or some one from his staff have been carried on since my first visit in 1942. [93] Before passing on to some other aspects of the work of the Association and the Apiary Department it is only fitting to mention one of the best all around Agriculturists, from my point of view, that has ever worked from the Department of Agriculture in Victoria. The late H. E. Waby (Bert) to his hundreds of friends in the Okanagan Valley, was a pure bred cattleman (Red Polls), an expert poultry man, one of the few who were entitled to use the letters A.P.A. "Judge" after his name; he also operated one of the Demonstration Apiaries which was a landmark on' the highway to Salmon Arm, and he was always ready to instruct the novice or to talk over bee-keeping problems with the more advanced beekeeper. He too, knew every bee-keeper in his large territory and his help to many in outlying districts was invaluable. I well remember his taking me to visit that pioneer, beekeeper R. J. Brinkman at his apiary, 15 miles south of Rev- elstoke. "Bob" Brinkman was known around Revelstoke as the "bee man." He located his homestead on the Columbia River, and his apiary of some 40 colonies was on a small hill in full view of the highway. It was modern in every way and he carried on many experiments in different types of hives, and different methods of handling bees. One item of his equipment that interested me was his method of "watering his bees." He had a long wooden flume running from his well into the bee yard and he was able to keep it wet by pouring in water when he would draw a pail for domestic use. In the trough he kept a quantity of rock salt which resulted in [94] the water which seeped through being slightly salty. I noted that the trough below the salt was always filled with bees. This he claimed kept his bees clear of all bee disease. He firmly believed this, and as he had no foul brood in his apiary I could see no reason to argue the point with him. His apiary was one of very few I have seen in B.C. which produced real mountain honey, which he claimed came from a bench 4,000 feet above his cabin and was from heather, which he claimed grew there in abundance. One thing I know however, his bees on leaving the hive went up the mountain side, and when returning dropped from the air as if they were loaded. His honey did not taste like some samples of heather honey I have tasted from Scotland and the Isle of Man, but it was a lovely flavoured honey, and he could not get enough to supply his Revelstoke customers. I have tasted the same flavor twice in B.C., one sample was from the slopes of Mount Revelstoke, and the other, many years before, from Owl Creek on the P.G.E. above Pemberton. Harry E. McCullough, the owner of the bees, claimed as did Brinkman, that his bees brought their stores from a mountain plateau of the same altitude. (4000 feet). A man who did a great deal of educational work leading toward better bee-keeping, was W. J. Wood. He kept a small m apiary for many years at 3256 28th Ave. E., Vancouver. He was always ready to give every assistance to help a beginner in bee-keeping to a better knowledge of his work. "John," as he was known to everyone, had a "cage" erected at Hastings Park for every exhibition. In it he kept a colony of bees, and no attraction on the Midway drew a bigger crowd. Stripped to the waist he would go into the cage and demonstrate the proper handling of bees to interested spectators, of which he had many hundreds every day. He also worked with Mr. Finlay in educational work among the bee-keepers of the Lower Mainland and Vancouver. His spectacular method of demonstrating was to show the public that bees would not sting if properly handled. His language was quaint, his philosophy was homespun, but it was sound, and worthy of record. In fact the title he earned was well deserved, "The Old Bee Master," and as I have said of others, "He knew his business." p CHAPTER XXI Too much credit cannot be given to the wives and daughters of the bee-keepers. These women have hived swarms, taken off honey and extracted it, then packed it in suitable containers for market; in fact they have done most of the work entailed in the Industry. They were always on the job, staging honey exhibits at the Fairs, and I would not like to think of how the honey shows would have looked without their assistance. Naturally we cannot mention all the women who have helped in this way, but there are several who have taken an outstanding part. I can only mention the ones that I have met and it is no discredit to the hundreds of others who although they may not have been in the public eye, have played an equal part at home. The first woman that I remember seeing helping her husband at the Fairs was Mrs. W. H. Lewis. W. H. was a good bee- keeper, but when it came to handling honey, Mrs. Lewis was one of the best. She needed no refractometer to judge the best honey, and she knew all the tricks of the game when It came to displaying it to the best advantage. Mrs. Fred E. White was another woman who early beekeepers will remember, more for her hospitality. In the early days of 1910 to 1915 many bee-keepers called at the Garden Apiary, seeking a further knowledge of bee-keeping, and Mrs. White was always ready with a "cup of tea" for the visitor. Fred could talk "bees," but it was Mrs. White's charming manner that always will be remembered. Later on after the Association was well organized and the meeting place "at the Exhibition" was well established you would see Mrs. Lewis, Mrs. Turnbull, Mrs. Freeman, Mrs. George Thompson and Mrs. Norman McAllan all trying to show their honey to the best advantage. Another who should not be overlooked was Mrs. J. H. Holt of Kennedy. She for many years "never missed a show." A newcomer to British Columbia was Mrs. Vermaas, a Hollander who lived on the Scott Road, and was always on hand and had a part in any work to be done. In Vancouver the outstanding bee-keeper was Mrs. R. A. Chamberlain of Chilco Street. She was a good one and was honored by being made a Life Member of the Vancouver Division of the Honey Producers Association. Living in Westminster was Mrs. Ada L. Muir, who was [97] m for many years Secretary of the Fraser Valley Division. When she moved to Langley Prairie, she was elected Secretary of the South Fraser Division and upon her retirement, she was elected a Life Member of the Central Executive of the Association. Well known to the bee-keepers of her day (in the late 30s) was Mrs. C. F. Street of Haney. Mrs. Street was her husband's "eyes," (he being totally blind). They ran quite a large apiary in the Haney District. She would go through the bees and note the condition of the colony, would report it to her husband, and he would instruct her as to what should be done insofar as manipulation was concerned; she would follow his instructions and they would move to the next colony. I have been told by Inspectors, that there was not a finer or better kept Apiary in the Valley. They always attended bee meetings and exhibitions together. In meeting other beekeepers Mr. Street would carry on a conversation on matters in connection with bees and bee-keeping which quite often surprised his listeners, many of whom did not know of his handicap until told later. They made the most remarkable team it has been my privilege to meet, and Mrs. Street was truly eyes for her husband. In passing,, it is fitting that mention be made of one who had much to do with the making of honey the popular food it is today with B.C. housewives. Margaret Henderson was not a bee-keeper, but she knew good food, and for many years was in charge of the "Province Kitchen," a feature carried by the Daily Province through the war years, and after. It for many years furnished a meeting place for beekeepers around Vancouver and as the auditorium was used by Mrs. Henderson in her lecture work, and cooking demonstrations, she naturally became interested in Honey and its many uses in cooking. She also interested herself in bees as the producers of this delectable sweet. She was able in her work to advertise the use of honey at a time when sugar was very hard to get, and few of her articles did not mention its use. Honey was always on the shelves of her kitchen and was demonstrated at every opportunity. I remember three feature articles that she wrote on bees and honey, which her paper published in their entirety. "Hendy" as she was known to thousands of housewives in B.C., did much for the industry and her name should not be forgotten. Now living in retirement, her interest is as keen as ever in matters pertaining to bees and honey. CHAPTER XXII The first carload of honey was shipped to Vancouver from the Apiary of J. D. Honsberger of Vernon in the fall of 1928. This honey was produced in his apiaries located around Swan Lake, north of the city. In 1929, Wilfred M. Smith, Secretary of the Bee-Keepers Association, produced and shipped a full carload of honey from his Ashcroft Apiaries. This District has been a heavy honey producing District from the time the CP.R. came through in 1884-5, when Joseph Burr (the first Provincial Constable in the Interior), established his apiary. This apiary has the honor of having been continually operated since by a member of the Burr family, and there is little doubt that it is one of the oldest apiaries in the Province, of which there is any record. The only apiary that will challenge this is the one operr ated by Mrs. H. Hall (Viola) at 16-Mile on the Lytton-Lillooet Road. Mrs. Hall is the daughter of the founder, George W. Riddock, who located the present location well before the turn of the century. The apiary operated by Mr. Loring in the Botanie Valley seven miles N-E. of Lytton was also before the arrival of the CP.R. It is quite possible that it started about'the same time as the Burr apiary at Ashcroft, as there was close connection between.the"two.families, Joseph Burr marrying.one of the daughters of the Loring family. A story is told by old timers in the Lytton District that is well worthy of recording. here. Alphonse Hautier, whose parents came from the States and up the Cariboo Road from Yale to Lytton shortly before it was finished by the Royal Engineers, was carried up the Canyon on a "Papoose Board" by "Wild Jack Sampson's mother," who was a Thompson Indian girl. (Wild Jack lives on the new Cariboo Highway just north of Cisco Mountain. Hautier's parents were hotel people who came from the East overland to Oregon and then north to Lytton. They established and built the first Globe Hotel in Lytton. This hotel was noted for many things; that which will be longest remembered was the Bar. It was a solid mahogany plank forty feet long, by three feet wide, and three inches thick. It was reputed to be the heaviest and most awkward load to be transported up the old road. It was packed by a jerk-line outfit, and as it was too long to get around the "Galleries," [99] the packers name for Chapman's Bar, it was unloaded from the mules and put in the river, where it was towed around the narrow curves; again it was reloaded and the trip to Lytton was finished without incident. Alphonse grew up at Lytton and naturally became a driver on the B.X. Stages. He tells many tales of experiences he had while "driving stage." He said that he hauled many "skeps" of bees as well as honey from the Coast. The one that he liked to tell the best was of a skep of bees that he brought up consigned to Loring at the Botanie Ranch. He reached Lytton without trouble beyond the odd bee escaping. In changing horses at Lytton the hive got upset, the horses ran away and overturned the stage and its load, on the main street of Lytton. Alphonse, in telling the yarn, said the wreck was "out of bounds" for the inhabitants. An Indian messenger was sent out to the Ranch and Mr. Loring came in accompanied by two Chinese helpers. The angry bees were too much for him, so he pacified the hostlers and drivers all afternoon by "setting them up" for the boys at the local bar. When the sun went down the bees clustered around the skep and he was able to pick it up and pack it home. As the Stage carried the mail, it was naturally delayed. "Mike" Brophy, the Postmaster, went to his regular work across the river at the Rip-Van-Winkle Placer workings and returned in the evening to sort and distribute it. As this was in the late Queen Victoria's time, Hautier used to say "Her Majesty's Mail she twelve hours late." He said the teams were badly stung and for weeks were "right on the bit" in going through Lytton. Lytton has always been a lively town. I have a story however that is not so early. In the spring of 19281 shipped a carload of bees from Port Mann to Winches Spur directly across the river from the town. It was in early March, but the spring was early and the weather was hot. It being a mild winter the bees had built up very early and were at swarming strength. We had put on empty supers before shipping and they were three stories high. We did not plan, however, on having a train crew that paid no attention to our request that they handle them as carefully as possible. By the time we arrived at Boston Bar the bees were distressed with the heat, and by the time we reached Lytton several supers had been knocked out of line and many bees escaped. The crew handled them rough in "spotting" the car. We had trouble in unloading, which we did in a hurry, [100] F leaving thousands of angry bees flying around homeless. It was an ordinary "cattle car" and from a distance it looked as if a dozen swarms of bees were loose around it. We were feeling angry with the train crew so made no effort to help the situation. The car was left on the siding for several days, no brakeman getting up nerve to go near it to release the brakes which had been set. At last an order went out to "get it out of there," and an engine and crew came from Boston Bar and with live steam subdued the angry bees enough to get the brakes released and pull the car away. The CN.R. authorities were angry, but so was I, and I certainly felt that they had been responsible for the condition of the bees on arrival, and told them what I thought in no uncertain terms. The matter went no further than an exchange of opinions. CHAPTER XXIII Bears were, and still are, a real menace to the Industry and from the first recorded damage to Darrow's early venture on the Homathko River and the damage to the many Chinese Apiaries after 1885, bee-keepers have always had to protect their bees from these raiders. The heavy coat of fur seemed to protect the bear from the bees only means of offence. Personally I have had some experience along this line, and a short report could be taken as the experience of many other bee-keepers. In 19251 had an out-apiary located just below Panorama . Ridge, overlooking Mud Bay in Surrey. The apiary was well fenced with Page Wire, (the horse-high, bull strong, hog tight type), and I felt that it was safe, although knowing it was in "bear country." On a visit we found that a bear or bears, had raided the apiary and 13 colonies were completely ruined. We moved the rest, and then laid plans to "get the bear," leaving a hive in the yard. He came back about midnight and squeezed under the fence. We got in several shots [102] r in the dark and heard the bear hit the fence on his way out, but he got clean away. His method of operating interested us very much. He came to the hive and rearing up gave it a hard knock. We had prepared for this and had nailed the supers together. The bees started to "roar" and the bear knocked it all around the yard like a hand ball, trying to break it apart. It was then we proved to ourselves that night shooting at shadows is not the best way to get a bear. A friend of mine, (an experienced hunter), undertook to watch another apiary close by a few nights later. The bear came, and when Jack noticed her she had picked up a two-storey hive and was climbing over the log fence that protected the apiary. He shot her with the hive in her arms (or forelegs used as arms) and he did not miss. One shot went through the super and ten frames of honey. The bees soon repaired this damage however. In 1927 we were having "bear trouble" at an apiary on the Johnston Road, and W. C. Freedham offered to help get rid of the raider. We were able to get our light truck within a short distance of the Apiary and facing it. Finding where the bear came in we hung a light chain across the opening. We then sat in the cab of the truck listening for the rattle of the chain. About midnight we heard it, and the windshield being turned down we switched on the headlights. I think that this was Bill's easiest bear, (he has shot many of them), but one shot turned him into a "good bear." As he was young the steaks from his carcass were very much appreciated by those who care for that kind of meat. One other story comes from the Chilcotin. Jack Bliss of the "Thicket Ranch" phoned the Police at Alexis Creek that he was having bear trouble with his bees. My son Bob who was the Officer in charge of the Detachment, had a lot of experience in his boyhood days helping "dad" in raids of this kind. He had been with Feedham and I and knew how to set traps. For this purpose he set five heavy wolf traps fastened to a long chain and spread them out in front of the shed which housed the remainder of the hives. In the middle of the night Bliss heard a great row and knew, that the bear had stepped into one or more traps. In telling of the raid later, he reported the damage done by the bear in getting out of the shed was almost as bad as it had been in the first place. In the morning however, he was able to follow him, as he had wrecked five rail fences in his getaway. Bliss followed and shot him, thus finishing his career as a honey thief. [103] rii Precautions were often taken by bee-keepers having their hives in "Bear Country." One of the most elaborate of these was an old log landing at an abandoned sawmill in the Squamish Valley. It was about 10 feet high and was covered with heavy planking. The owner of the bees had taken down every approach and only the floor was left on the top of heavy posts. It projected about 36 inches. A ladder was used by the owner to climb to the platform. . C. B. Gooderham, Dominion Apiarist, on seeing it claimed it was the most ingenious method he had seen used to outwit bear. Another was also at an abandoned logging camp in the Silver Creek area, on the road to Stave Falls. This apiary belonged to Charles Moore, a Mission City bee-keeper in the late 20s. He had taken one of the stoutest of the old log buildings and knocked out all the chinking from between the logs on one round. He had then built a stand for his hives making the opening come opposite the cracks left in the wall. He had bees placed around the inside of the building and although there were plenty of claw marks around the entrance and heavy log door, no bear had been able to get at the bees inside. Modern bee-keepers use an electric fence, which if properly constructed, with care being taken to have the wires properly spaced, assures very little trouble even in the most remote locations. Two of these installations that I have seen .were very satisfactory. One was in the wild country north of Prince George on the Hart Highway; the other was the property of Chas. Warren, the Field Man of that unique team known to the public in Victoria as "Babes Apiary." The other partner of the firm who looks after the handling of the honey, and the marketing of it after it is brought in from their many out apiaries, is Alice, Charlie's capable and energetic wife. CHAPTER XXIV In an Apiary Inspector's work it naturally follows that some conditions are met, and some experiences are of real interest, above the ordinary run of the work; some of these even have a touch of comedy. One such, was a visit I made to one of our Hungarian Canadian bee-keepers in the Boundary District of Grand Forks, with James Travis who was the District Agriculturist, he was always ready to assist in any way that he could. We arrived at the Apiary (of some half dozen colonies) about 9:30 one bright morning, and as we drove into the yard we could see that there was more than usual going on. A huge swarm of bees was milling around in the air close to the Apiary. Three men were running around, one carrying water (being pumped in the yard by a teenaged girl) and throwing it up into the swarm, another was gathering up loose dust from the ground and throwing it into the swarm. A woman in typical Hungarian costume was beating a galvanized washtub with a large kitchen spoon, and off to one side another woman was perched on the top of a small building with a kitchen mirror which she used to catch a ray of sunlight, playing it up and down through the swarming bees. Knowing the habits of bees, Jim and I walked into the centre of the milling mass without any protection and watching closely we noted the queen light on the ground at our feet. I remarked to my companion, "Jim, the swarm will cluster right here," pointing to the ground at our feet. The men noted my pointing finger and heard my remark as the swarm settled very fast. It was only about five minutes until there was a large pile of bees clustered around where the queen had settled. I called to the owner and asked him to bring me a hive, which he had ready. Not being able to get the swarm on a sheet (in the time-honored way), I placed the hive facing the sun, and at the edge of the swarm and tapped it hard, (an old French custom I had seen used many times with success). The bees immediately started to march into the front opening and soon the queen was sighted hustling in with the rest. We then left the bees to settle down and walked over to the group standing talking, some little distance away. I was introduced to he owner and he said he had never seen anything like that happen before. I asked him the meaning of all the excitement [105] (IF when we were coming in, and he said, "In old Country when bees swarm we do this; throw water into air bees think it rain, dust all same, old woman pound tub, bees think thunder, and woman use mirror bees think lightning, they not like storm and hurry into hive. Your plan much better, you say 'light here', and they light." I had quite a task trying to explain to him how it happened, and I think my explanation was wasted as we heard him say as we drove away (he was telling a neighbor of the episode), "Him say, you light here and bees just light. His plan much better." It is an experience that I have never forgotten and one that will live with Jimmy Travis and myself whenever we see a swarm. As early as 1897 we have records of orders for bees being sent to Ashcroft from Manson's Landing which was then a "roaring gold camp," and a man by the name of Fitzgerald was Gold Commissioner. It was he who ordered the bees and the old record of the order appears in a ledger in the custody of a Mr. Swannell now at Victoria. Robert Watson, an ex N.W.M.P. constable, a great historian and an authority on events in that country, says that the order was not filled, as during the time they were waiting for the bees to arrive the report came through of the discovery of gold on Klondike Creek in the Yukon. The Manson Camp was deserted in a hurry, most of the population heading overland for the new strike. Fitzgerald cancelled the order for the bees. He was however out the $2.50 he paid for the message ordering them. Chief Louie Billy Prince, of the Carrier Indian Tribe, is responsible for the report that bees were brought from Quesnel to Fort St. James by Hudson's Bay Freight Canoe early in the century. He claims that he was one of the crew which manned the canoe and that it was the best trip he ever made as they had it pretty soft on the way back to the Fort with the bees. He said they could hunt and fish along the way as they had to let the bees out to "eat." He could not remember how long the trip took but it was a long time, but the bees arrived at the Post in good shape. An ex-manager of the Hudson's Bay Co. still living at Fort St. James claims that he did not come in until 1926, and that there were reports that bees had been kept by officers of the Company at Souchie Bay in 1910, and that old bee equipment was still in storage when he took over. This confirms the old chief's story that bees were there "long time ago, maybe 50 years." Time meant nothing to [106] F these old Indians; the old man is now 98 and says he thinks he will live to be over a hundred "if I don't catch some disease." Bees were reported to be kept along the river from Soda Creek north to the Canyon of the Black Water and it is reported on good authority that Bill Comstock, a well-known pioneer in and around Quesnel, used to keep a number of colonies on a raft at Soda Creek and that Capt. Foster of the river Steamer "Charlotte" used to tow his raft loaded with bees from one willow bottom to the next one further- up the river, being paid for the transportation of the bees with cordwood cut and piled at landings along the river for the use of the steamers which were equipped with wood burning engines. A story is told of Jim McKill (deceased). He visited one of the Comstock's Landings and noticing what he thought was a box containing honey on the Landing, he packed it home, no doubt thinking how it would taste on his hot cakes. On his arrival at his cabin 20 miles away he opened the box and found that instead of honey it contained glass insulators belonging to the C.N.R., building west through Fort George. Just what Bill Comstock was doing with the insulators is an unanswered question, and Annie McKill, the authority for this story says "they were of no use to Jim," who only had to pack them back. (f CHAPTER XXV From 1931 when the Bee-Keepers Association became the Greater Vancouver Division of the Honey Producers Association, with Harcourt Green, President; Wilfrid M. Smith Sec.-Treas.; and Lynne Browne Representative on the Central Executive, the membership of the Central Executive was composed of Greater Vancouver Division, Fraser Valley Division, Okanagan Division, South Okanagan Division, Kam- loops Division, the Kootenay Division and the Vancouver Island Division. On Mr. Sheppard's retirement he carried on as Secretary - Treasurer, and after his last illness A. W. Finlay took over his work. Upon Mr. Sheppard's death the Vancouver Island Division turned in the assets of the Division to the Central Executive, and did not have any regular meetings for a number of years. A word of praise here is due to the men who kept the Central Executive carrying on through the years from 1934 to 1940. Interest had dwindled as times were hard and every one was busy trying to make ends meet and it was hard to get a representative crowd to an Annual Meeting. In the face of this a very heavy task fell on the shoulders of the Secretary, who worked hard by correspondence to keep the Association in working shape. J. W. Winson carried on as President year after year, and it was always possible to get a quorum together at the Vancouver Exhibition to hold an Annual Meeting and make the Annual Reports. Fred Bettschen always attended from the Okanagan Division, and there was generally someone from the Kamloops Division, and as the Kootenay Division always sent a representative, it was possible to get enough together to hold a regular meeting. The Fraser FINLAY (Andy), i [108] Valley and Vancouver Divisions were easy to get together, the meetings being held at the Coast cities. In the Spring of 1940 the Association suffered another setback. A. W. Finlay had a slight stroke that kept him in bed for several weeks, but he made a complete recovery, and was soon back In the office at New Westminster where he was able to carry on the executive work of Provincial Apiarist, and do all the laboratory work that had developed into quite a large part of his work. Insofar as the field work was concerned he had the part- time services of H. Langdon Johnson in the Chilliwack District, E. R. Freeman and W. C. J. Dicks in the Fraser Valley, and after 1937 he had the services of V. E. Thorgierson in the Vancouver and New Westminster Districts as well as on Vancouver Island. A. S. Homersham was active in the Kootenays and this left the Okanagan Valley without a regular Inspector, as J. F. Roberts had given up the work. Mr. Freeman made several trips into the Grand Forks area where quite a severe outbreak of American Foul Brood had developed in several Doukhoubor apiaries. In the meantime, conditions were steadily getting out of control in the Okanagan Valley. The Okanagan Divisions were complaining bitterly at the "lack of inspection." Mr. Finlay attended several meetings held in Vernon and after finding that I was not engaged at the moment (having just wound up the business of Turnbull's Apiaries Limited), it was suggested to me that I should apply for a part-time inspection job in the Okanagan Valley. I did so, and on the 7th of May, 1941, I was appointed by the Hon. K. C. MacDonald, Minister of Agriculture. I took over the inspection work and made two special trips into the Kootenays and Boundary Districts. In 1942 A. W. Finlay retired as Secretary-treasurer of the Association, and I was elected in his stead, a position I held until the Annual Meeting in 1953. After the first season's work I started on April 1st in 1942, and after a summers inspection work that included two trips into the Kootenays, and a trip into Central British Columbia from Prince George to Smithers, as well as a flying trip to Fort St. John, and a four-day inspection trip of the Peace River Block, I was appointed to the permanent staff as Inspector of Apiaries, with headquarters at the Court House at Vernon. Mr. Finlay carried on as Provincial Apiarist in full charge of inspection work, and all executive work of his office until [109] his retirement under superannuation on September 5, 1945, after approximately 26i/2 years of continuous service. Upon Mr. Finlay's retirement, Dr. J. B. Munro assumed the duties of Provincial Apiarist. The office was closed at New Westminster and all equipment and records were shipped to the Court House at Vernon where space was procured in the office of the Provincial Entomologist. I was put in full charge, with the title of Chief Inspector of Apiaries, from the date of Mr. Finlay's retirement until I was myself retired under superannuation at the end of September, 1950, at which time John Corner was appointed Provincial Apiarist and took over the office. I still continued as Secretary-treasurer of the Association until May of 1953 when Mr. Corner was elected in my place. I considered this statement necessary as there has been considerable discussion as to the position that I held in the Apiaries Branch from 1941 to the time of my retirement. As mentioned, the fight for control of American Foul Brood had been going on since organization of the Associations in 1915 and 1920 and, although a certain amount of success was noted and the larger bee-keepers were to a great extent able to carry on production without too great a loss, it was a hard battle. The biggest problem was the spread of the disease from the apiaries of careless bee-keepers who in many cases did not recognize the disease and did not take care of the diseased colonies that had died, thus leaving a source of .infection for all bees within flying distance. Early in 1942, Haseman and Childers of the University of Missouri had started to experiment with feeding Sulphathia- zole to colonies that had been affected with A.F.B., with such success that they were beginning to report it to the different Bee Journals. The treatment did not get much support outside of a few producers who were desperate enough to "try anything once" if it promised relief from heavy losses. E. R. Freeman was one of these, and in his position of part-time Inspector of Apiaries he was able to try out the treatment in different parts of his District. His success was such that he became quite enthusiastic as to its use. He worked long and hard to sell the idea to the rest of the Inspection Staff, of which I was one, and I might say that I was as skeptical as any as to lasting results. At last he was able to convince V. E. Thorgierson and myself that he "had something." We undertook extensive tests in our own districts, the results being such that we had no hesitation in backing up Freeman's claims and were as enthusiastic as he. Much interest was being shown in the U.S.A. by this [110] time, but there was not too much enthusiasm shown for the new treatment by the officials in charge of this work. They would not commit themselves in any way, in fact in many cases were trying to discourage its use. We had a problem ahead of us in B.C., but we were able to convince the Deputy Minister, Dr. J. B. Munro, who was Acting Provincial Apiarist, that it had real value as a PREVENTATIVE measure. He gave us permission to carry on further experiments, but we could not get him to go far enough to finance it. This was a problem, but with the assistance of Ivor Ward, Provincial Entomologist, we were able to get Sulphathiazole tablets at a very reasonable price and in small lots of 1,000 at a time. As we could not get financial help from the Department of Agriculture, I undertook the handling of the drug through the Apiary Office and selling it direct to any who might be persuaded to use it. We were able to get over 5,000 tablets fed in 1946, and in 1947-8-9 we reached over 16,000 tablets a year. The financing of this was handled privately, but as it was a cash transaction not over $50.00 was tied up at any one time. The results from the start fully justified any claims Mr. Freeman had made, and which were proven by the tests made by Vic Thorgierson and myself. G. F. Pearcey of Kelowna and Fred Bettschen of O.K. Apiaries of Vernon had been fighting American Foul Brood for years, and although managing to stay in business had been taking heavy losses. They v/efe ready to give the new treatment a trial on a large scale, and the results obtained in these two apiaries firmly established the value of feeding Sulphathiazole as a preventative both Spring and Fall. CHAPTER XXVI As a service to outlying bee-keepers it was decided to start a small monthly bulletin to be mailed to all interested bee-keepers as well as members of the various Divisions. This'bulletin, called "BEE-WISE," carried seasonable hints for the work necessary in the apiary, at the time that the publication would be received. The success of the venture was assured from the first issue; any extra work caused by its issue was amply repaid by the response of the bee-keepers, both professional and beginners. It has grown in size and scope from the first issue in 1946, and today, under the capable hands of the present Provincial Apiarist, it has developed into a form of information on bee-keeping matters that is eagerly looked for by over 1,300 bee-keepers every month from Spring to Fall. BEE-WISE was started for a definite purpose. It was impossible to visit all bee-keepers in the Province with the limited staff available to the Apiary Department, and it was felt that first hand information coming to hand at the time it could be put into practice, would go a long way to make up for the lack of a visit from an instructor. It was also used to a great extent through the years immediately after the use of Sulfa was recommended, and did much to introduce it to the bee-keepers who would take care of their bees. In fact, Itaiow of bee-keepers who have built up to over 100 colonies, who have yet to see the first case of American Foul Brood. The introduction of BEE-WISE to the bee-keeper by the Apiary Dept. was, in my opinion, as big, or a bigger boost, to the industry than had been the introduction of the Demonstration Apiary 25 years before. The use of Sulpha drugs and other antibiotics is now being recommended by Apiary Departments across Canada, and E. R. Freeman has just cause to feel that he "started something" with his insistence that it "would do the trick." I know that Vic Thorgierson and I feel very proud of the part we played in the spread of the information to bee-keepers, and we all feel it saved the bee-keeping industry. The Honey Producers Association has taken over the financing of the purchase of these drugs at cost, in fact has done so since 1952, and the Apiary Department has distributed them to the bee-keeper without extra cost, which is a big item. [112] BEE-WISE ISSUED BY. APIARY BRANCH DEPARTMENT* AGRICULTURE VERNON, BC. IT Mr. Corner assures me that the Apiary Inspectors of Canada are now 100% behind the use of antibiotics (if used according to instructions), for the control of Brood diseases of bees, both American and European Foul Brood. This is a consumation that was well worth fighting for. In 1939-40 A. J. Hourston of the Department of Agriculture Staff had made a tour of the Okanagan Valley and had taken colored photographs with a movie camera, which were edited and shown all over B.C. under the title "Bountiful Okanagan." This picture was among the first of the many moving pictures shown since; it was taken with the full enthusiastic co-operation of the orchardists, gardeners and farmers of the Valley with the sole aim of advertising the Okanagan Valley. One of the views taken in this series was captioned "The Bees' Workshop." It showed an orchard in the Coldstream Valley in full bloom. This gave the writer the idea that a full length picture carrying the idea out for the entire season would be invaluable in interesting beginners and others in the bee-keeping industry. This was taken up with Mr. Finlay and he endorsed it and recommended to the Department of Agriculture that a full-length picture should be made. Dr. Munro was also enthusiastic and as the locale of the picture was to be in the Okanagan Valley, (a District very near the heart of the Minister of Agriculture), he gave his permission to have it made as speedily as possible. A. J. Hourston was sent into the Valley early in May and took all the views that could be taken in the spring; he returned again in the early summer and completed the series. "The Bees' Workshop" was an unqualified success from the very first showing; as this kind of Extension Work was in its infancy the demand for the picture was so great that it was booked for weeks ahead. . It was shown to different bee-keepers groups from Quebec to Victoria, and it was in demand in many of the States of the Union to the south of us. I remember one showing in the University of Washington (at which Dr. Munro was present), that it really "stole the show." It did much to advertise the growing industry; as the pictures were scenes of work being carried on in the many apiaries shown, it had real educational value. It was decided that a second picture should be taken, showing the blossoms in the spring, and the same view taken in the fall, showing the fruit resulting from the pollination by the honey bees. This was carried further, showing the value of honey bees in pollinizing alfalfa and the various [114] clovers. This series was known as the "Beneficent Bee." Mr. Hourston was again the photographer and had full charge of the work of getting it ready for showing. In this work I had the privilege of working with him and between us we turned out what was considered a very creditable job. Both pictures were used for many years and were added to whenever possible to get a new picture that carried out the theme being shown. Of real value was the series showing the introduction of Package Bees and Queens as recommended by the Apiary Division. An actual moving picture showing every move needed did much to show the beginner how it should be done. Its educational value, as well as the entertainment afforded, always pleased an audience even if they were not bee-keepers. These pictures were one of the highlights of the extension work being carried on in the years between 1940 and 1948 and are still in use, although there are many more procurable now that are excellent films and are a great assistance to extension work being carried on by the Apiary Department on a much larger scale than was possible a few years ago. We have the satisfaction of knowing however that the B.C. Honey Producers Association was to a great extent responsible for the laying of the foundations that have made possible the present day work. ffp CHAPTER XXVII There is another move that can be pointed to with pride by the members of the Association—the founding of the plan by which the title of Bee-Master was bestowed on deserving bee-keepers who were able to qualify. W. J. Sheppard was a member of the British Beemasters Association, and he suggested to the Central Executive of the Honey Producers Association that something patterned on the same line would be a good thing in B.C. The matter was thoroughly discussed and the University of B.C. was approached on the matter, but they felt that they were not in a position at that time to go into it and accept any responsibility for signing a Certificate. This made it necessary for a plan to be worked out between the Officials of the Association, and the Department of Agriculture. A committee was formed composed of the Provincial Apiarist, Deputy Minister of Agriculture, W. H. Lewis, J. W. Winson, A. W. Finlay, W. H. Turnbull, E. R. Freeman, J. E. Britton and A. E. Pittaway, and it wals their duty to draw up a series of examinations that it would be necessary for a bee-keeper to pass, in order to qualify for a Bee Masters Certificate of Competency. This was done, and the first examinations were held in several different places in B.C. which resulted in some twenty bee-keepers qualifying for the title. The first Certificates were issued in September 1933, and were signed by the Minister of Agriculture, The Honorable Simon Fraser Tolmie, the Deputy Minister of Agriculture J. B. Munro, Provincial Apiarist, A. W. Finlay, J. W. Winson President, B.C. Honey Producers Association, W. J. Sheppard, Secretary B.C. Honey Producers Association. Several examinations were held in the next few years but as very little, if any extension work was being carried on, there were few candidates. In 1942 however the plan was revived with the full cooperation of the Department and upon recommendation of the Association, a candidate was given an examination and if recommended by the Provincial Apiarist, he was granted a Certificate of Competency as a Bee Master. This system was carried on until John Corner became Provincial Apiarist and he was able to interest the Extension Department of the University of British Columbia in promoting a Short Course in Bee Keeping, at which prominent lecturers were able to give instruction. Upon comple- [116] tion an examination was prepared and the candidate passing was granted a Certificate of Competency as a Bee Master. The President and Secretary of the Association did not sign the new Certificate, as the University of British Columbia took the responsibility, with the officials of the Department of Agriculture. This fulfilled the dream of the founders, which was to have U.B.C. endorse it, which they did not see their way clear to do in 1933. The list of names of bee-keepers following were issued Certificates of Competency. . On Organization: W. J. Sheppard, Victoria J. W. Winson, Huntingdon J. B. Munro, Victoria A. W. Finlay, Huntingdon W. H. Lewis, New Westminster W. H. Turnbull, Sullivan Station J. E. Britton, West Summerland A. E. Pittaway, Castlegar F. Dundas Todd, Victoria L. Harris, Vernon Alex Keir, Kennedy A. E. Homersham, Nelson J. F. Roberts, Kelowna C. B. Twigg, Creston On Examination: V. Soharev, Slocan City Lewis W. Sangster, New Westminster Vincent Jenks, New Westminster On recommendations of Apiarist: George W. Stones, Burton W. E. Hoadley, Salmon Arm Kenneth Simons, Salmon Arm Fred Bettschen, Vernon S. W. Bettschen, Vernon Gordon Robb, Vernon John Corner, Prince George W. C. Feedham, Ashcroft Miss Ruby Bate, Nelson Ivan Lewis, Nelson William Huxley, Kamloops G. Fred Pearcey, Kelowna Jas. Drinkwater, Kelowna C. C. Heighway, Peachland George E. Thompson, Strawberry Hill John Woods, Central Park Willis McMuUin, Vernon J. H. W. Dicks, BSA, Armstrong Association and Provincial Leo Fuhr, Vernon Harvey Boone, Oliver Stan Oster, Oliver Steve Eisenhut, Oliver Ronald Stace-Smith, Creston Chas. W. Warren, Victoria Jas: McGavin Sr., Vancouver Vic E. Thorgierson, New Westminster Edward Thorgierson, New Westminster E. "Ted" ChipperAeld, Langley Prairie m Recommended by Dr. Munro and the Association on the n of his last official visit to B.C.: Chas. B. Gooderham, Dominion Experimental Farms, Ottawa, Canada. Short Courses at U.B.C., 1955: John A. Boone George V. Wilkinson John H. Baynes Lt. A. Johnstone Douglas H. Oldershaw E. F. Wadsworth H. L. Hughes-Games H. George Fred B. Webster Robert Ian Holder Short Courses at U.B.C., 1958: Wm. H. Townsend L. W. Truscott Albert G. Hanson Reginald S. Skelton Doug Clower Howard L. Adcock John Stann Charles F. Connor George W. Reed Alex Chatt Leopold Fuhr Edward Schinkel John Stann Samuel Hart Clifton Cousins George A. Hunt Thomas F. Connolly William Huxley Lloyd Alfred Hansen Hubert J. Gibbs William E. Harmeling Robert C. Turner G. H. Harris Sam Higginson Henry J. Minall L. Watson Arthur E- Ruegg Canadian Beekeepers Council. Council 1957-58. In 1940 The Canadian Bee-Keepers Council was formed in Winnipeg and was composed of two representatives from each honey producing Province of Canada with one representative from the three Maritime Provinces and one from the Honey Canners Association. It has carried on continuously since that time and has gradually increased its importance to the Industry as a whole and has handled all matters pertaining to it at a Federal level. Two Annual Meetings of Council have been held in our Province, one in Vancouver in 1946 and one in Victoria in 1950 and the third meeting is planned for B.C. Cen^rmiaB year in Vancouver. British Columbia has had the honor of having the President of Council for the years 1953-54 as the executive officers are elected from different provinces each year. Geo. V. Wilkinson, of Victoria, and Geo. E. Reed of Kelowna are the present representatives for the year 1958 for B.C. Sydney J. Lye of Oakville, Manitoba, is President, and Roy M. Pugh of Tisdale, Saskatchewan, who for many years has been Secretary-Treasurer, with Oswald Paradis, St. Simon, Co. Bagot, Quebec, the Vice-President, form the Executive. [119] IP CHAPTER XXVIII We have a question that is as yet unanswered—The spread of honey bees to the farthermost parts of our Province. In 1885 on the first through passenger train, travelling west over the newly completed Canadian Pacific Railway, there were a number of missionaries of the Roman Catholic Church, one of these was Father Thomas O.M.I. He was on his way to his new mission field at Williams Lake, he had been trained by the Church for his work among the Indians, but had never seen an Indian. In telling the story, he said, he really did not know just what they looked like but he had been told that when he met them he was to show every sign of being a man of peace. Just east of Revelstoke the train ran into a mud slide, and was tied up for some time until it could be cleared from the track. The passengers were warned to stay close as Indians were about and it was not known whether they were hostile or otherwise. The train was delayed for some time and Father Thomas wandered away from the track along the river, it was getting toward evening and the shadows were deepening when he came to a small clearing in which lay a fallen cedar tree. Leaning over the tree and tearing it apart was a form that he immediately took for a native Indian. He spoke to it and slowly advanced holding out his open hand as a sign of his peaceful intentions, the form reared up and disappeared into the woods. He then noted that there were honey bees fiying around in large numbers and as he had some experience with bees in his boyhood days on the Belgian- French border, he was not afraid of them and kept coming closer, until he found that the side had been torn out of the tree and a natural hive of bees exposed, showing quite a large quantity of honey comb. He removed some to take back to the train and collected quite a number of bee stings which he said "didn't bother me very much as I had been used to bees at home." His surprise can be imagined when he was informed by the train crew that his supposed Indian was a bear that he had surprised in the act of robbing the bees, that had evidently taken possession of a fallen hollow tree. [121] He claimed that he always wondered how those honey bees got so far into the wilderness as he was satisAed they were much the same as the honey bees he knew in Europe. Father Thomas was for over 50 years at Onward Mission between 150 Mile House and what is now the thriving centre of Williams Lake and when he died two years ago it is claimed that the largest crowd of Indians that had ever been seen in Central British Columbia gathered to pay their last respects to his memory. He always kept his interest in honey bees and enjoyed telling this story of his encounter with what he thought was an Indian. This brings up the big question, from where did these honey bees come? It is possible, but not at all probable that they were carried across the country from Ashcroft by some early trader or trapper who wanted to insure a supply of sugar in his diet. My own opinion is, that honey bees were carried by traders or trappers north along the Columbia River into British Columbia, then up the Arrow Lakes to Arrowhead from where they spread along the Columbia Valley around Revelstoke. The flora in this valley is ideal for honey bees, and as well as cedars in the draws leading away from the river there were plenty of dry cotton wood trees which when hollow made excellent hives for the swarming bees. This theory seems to me to be the logical explanation. We have ample proof that H.B.C freight canoes carried bees up the Fraser River and far beyond, a few years later, which would be a much greater mileage than the route up the Columbia. We know that Father Pandosy tried to establish bees in the Okanagan Valley prior to 1859, and had the flora been such as it is in the Columbia Valley he might have made a success of it. As far as I am concerned, I am convinced that some forgotten pioneer worked his way north and established honey bees in the Columbia Valley, and bees being pioneers in their own right will certainly look after the rest, where the flora would guarantee them stores; and the cedars and cottonwoods ready made homes. CHAPTER XXIX Honey bees have been carried into inaccessible places in B.C. by pioneers and one of the places that comes to mind is a mountain top south of the Nicola River, just above the Indian Reservation of Potato IHihie midway between Merritt and Spences Bridge and just above the C.P.R. siding of Dot. Johnnie Manning, an old time settler on the river fiats, decided to retire. He had located a small flat on the top of the mountain, it had an elevation of well over 3000 feet and had excellent soil of good depth and was in a real fruit garden as far as wild fruits were concerned. He had wild raspberries, saskatoons, mountain blueberries and others at his doorstep and part of the flat was meadow where he was able to grow plenty of hay for a cow and where there was plenty of pasture for summer feed. He was a great lover of fresh berries and Devonshire Cream. He grew all his own vegetables and outside of a few staple groceries his needs were satisfied. He decided however that in order to make his garden of Eden complete and to save the back packing of sugar he had to have a colony of bees to supply the needed sweetening. He arranged to buy these (complete) and as he thought two supers would be enough to start, he arranged to have them brought up by pack horse. For those of you that have seen a pack saddle and know its construction it will be easy to visualize the method used to load the bee hive and supers. Ropes were laid in place and a super was placed each side of the saddle and tied in. The colony of bees in one storey was screened top and bottom and to make extra sure that no bees escaped it was slipped into a clean new bran sack which was securely tied. The hive was then placed on top of the supers and was tied to the saddle. Bottom board and cover were fastened on each side and the man doing the job (being an expert packer) put on the famous "diamond hitch" over the complete load. This was a new experience for the pack horse and the humming of the bees seemed to worry him a bit but he soon settled down to carrying his unusual load. The troubles of the packer were not over, as the other pack horse carried a house cat in a crate, and this horse being in the lead started up the steep mountain trail and whenever the cat would make a loud "Meow" the horse, not understanding cat lan- [123] guage, would stop, as to him it sounded uncommonly like "whoa." After several stops of this kind the pack horse carrying the bees was put in the lead and the train proceeded up the trail without further incident. The bees were unloaded at the ranch and in a very few minutes were busy on the raspberry blossoms which were at their best. Manning told his neighbor later that as well as having ample honey, his crop of raspberries had been improved very much with the extra pollination the bees gave them. One other incident- will be given here as it is in my opinion a very unique way to pack bees. A young Scottish lassie at Lavington came to live with her uncle and as he had had quite a large apiary at one time he had a lot of empty bee hives on the stands, not having looked after them too well, she decided that they had to be filled with bees. Not being able to persuade her uncle to buy package bees she decided to fill them with stray swarms for which she used to watch in the valley. Fred Bettschen and I were driving along the road one day and we met her tripping along with a bran sack thrown over her shoulder, we stopped to chat with her and noticed the continuous hum of bees and found that she had found a large swarm clustered along the road and had slipped the open bran sack over the swarm and tied it securely around the limb of the tree on which they had clustered. All she had to do was cut the limb and swing the sack over her shoulder and carry the bees home. She had filled the empty hives in her uncles apiary by this method. Which was just another proof of Scottish thrift. CHAPTER XXX Perhaps in these days when western movies are so popular with the rising generation, and when you see the crowds emptying out of a theatre where a "thriller" is shown, we see a lot of folk that could by no stretch of imagination be classed as "rising." It might interest the reader to know that the bee-keeping industry had at least one bee-keeper who in his younger days lived through the stirring times depicted on the screen. He was George Turner, his home state was Kansas, where as a young man he was Deputy for Bat Masterson, the noted western Sheriff and gunman. George lived in a day and in a country where a man had to be "lightning on the draw" to stay alive. He was "fast," as the 27 notches in the wooden handle of his old "45" were filed there in memory of men who In his deputy Sheriff days had challenged his skill and had not lived to tell about it. He naturally made many enemies and he decided that a quiet life in British Columbia would be just about right for a man who had to get out of the country to save his own life. He came to B.C. and picked about the wildest part of it to settle down and live in peace. He homesteaded, first, in the Bella Coola Valley and then as the settlers came in he decided that deeper into the mountains would be more to his liking. He worked his way up the river until he came to the Atnarko, which he followed to the ridge and then down into Sleepy Hollow on the Kleena-Kleene river, where he settled. This looked good to him, no white neighbors within 50 miles, a country that was alive with game of all kinds, and one of the finest trout streams in the world at his door. His nearest "store" was at Kleena-Kleena, 50 miles up stream, and another at Anahim Lake across country about the same distance. He established a trap line and in those days, in that location it was a well paying proposition. He packed his furs out to the stores and made up a pack of needed supplies for the return trip. Like a true pioneer he made the country feed him as much as it could but there were a few staples that he had to have such as tea, flour, tobacco, sugar, etc. Finding a [125] bee-tree one day he robbed it and procured enough honey to supply his sweet tooth for almost a year. He immediately got busy and found a hollow cedar with a shell of about 2" and sawed it into 14" blocks. He cleaned these out and put in cross sticks to carry the honey combs and then hunted a swarm to put in his "bee-gum." He got it, and established an apiary at his wilderness home. This settled for all time the problem of having to pack sugar to bolster up his larder. He had several of these, and the man who described the apiary to me said it was "some outfit," but it was only another proof of the ingenuity of our real pioneers. It is needless to say this apiary was never registered with the Department of Agriculture, and has never been inspected by an Inspector of Apiaries. Turner lived there for close to 50 years and built up a local reputation for being a "tough old bird." Indian children were raised on tales of "old Turner" and one of the clerks in Ike Sing's Anahim Store told me that when Turner would come in for supplies, looking every bit as wild as the stories implied, every Indian would have business some place else and the younger ones would watch him out of sight from behind sheds and trees. His Post Office address was Kleena-Kleena where he received and mailed the very odd letter. After he reached the age of 80 years his infirmities began to catch up with him and he was advised to apply for an Old Age Pension. He did this, and some of the local authorities tried to get a "Proof of Age" to back up his claim. This looked like an impossibility, but one of the members of B.C.'s Provincial Police Force decided to make an investigation. He visited Turner at his cabin and went through a vast accumulation of papers some 40 years old, and older. He found his old application for a homestead in Bella Coola in 1903. This established his claim and he got his first pension cheque in due course. It was during this search that the officer unearthed the old gun in a pack sack and upon questioning, the story, as I have told it, came to light. In conversation the ageing trapper felt like confiding in the policeman who had helped him out, and he told him the story of his past. He was asked if he could still use the old gun, he said he was a bit out of practice and ammunition. The Officer took off his own gun and handed it to the old man and asked him if he could [126] hit a milk can laying on the ground 25 yards away. He fired four shots "rapid" and the can "jumped" every shot, then he asked to have the can tossed in the air and he hit it three times out of four shots. In telling me of the episode the policeman said the old chap's eyes twinkled and he was very pleased that his skill with the six-gun was still as good as some 50 odd years before. George Turner died two years ago but I felt that the readers of this book would like to know that bee-keeping had all kinds of men making up its first 100 years in B.C. f CHAPTER XXXI Roughly speaking, 1950 saw the end of an era in B.C. bee-keeping. I was the last of the old Inspectors who had started with the Department of Agriculture in 1919, and our plan for over 30 years had been to improve the system of bee-keeping being used in B.C., and to get a uniform system that would work in any part of the Province, allowing of course for the different climatic conditions encountered from Vancouver Island to Fort St. John. In this we had succeeded very well, the extension work we had carried on over the years was aimed at improving conditions and systems among those who were already keeping bees. Very little work had been done with the rising generation of young folk to interest them in becoming future beekeepers. It would not be fair to say that no work had been done along these lines as some little work was carried on through the high schools and any group that was interested. In 1949 however, Leo Fuhr was interested in forming a "Bee Club" of Junior bee-keepers and had a fair amount of success from the start. He worked hard and got quite a large group of boys and girls interested. They were so interested in fact that they put up an outstanding exhibition at the Central Interior Fair at Armstrong. From this date he started to talk "4-H Bee Clubs." He did not get too much support with his idea until John Corner became Provincial Apiarist, upon my retirement on September 30th, 1950. "Johnnie" John Corner was born at Ladysmith, V.I., on September 8th, 1919. He attended school here and in 1936 he went to Creston where he began to work with Ronald Stace-Smith, one of the East Kootenays foremost bee-keepers. He spent three seasons with him and was well grounded in the practical work of the industry. In 1940 he enlisted with the Canadian Army and for the next six years he was under orders to do as he was told and to go where he was sent. It was during this time that he went north to the Aleutian Islands and while there he distinguished himself and was recommended for the "Order of the British Empire." He was then sent to France where he spent several months before returning to Canada. Upon his return with the rank of Captain he spent some months in camp at Vernon and got his discharge in 1346. [128] As he had been spending all his spare time studying bees and their behavior it was only natural that he would look for a position as a bee-keeper. A vacancy occurred at the Dominion Experimental Farm at Prince George and he applied for it and received the appointment. Here he worked under instructions of Dr. C. E. Jam- ieson who had just been appointed Dominion Apiarist at Ottawa, having followed C. B. Gooderham in this position. Dr. Jamieson is recognized as one of America's foremost bee-keepers and J0HN CApJarisr's?rieeEi»sol!ovineial he took a great interest in Johnnie Corner and this resulted in him being thoroughly grounded in modern bee-keeping methods, more especially as it affected the education of the rising generation along the lines of better methods of bee-keeping and honey production. In the spring of 1950 the Experimental Farm closed out the Bee Division at Prince George and Corner was asked to make an application for a position of Inspector of Apiaries under the Acting Provincial Apiarist with headquarters at Vernon. He was appointed and he and I worked together all season, during which time I was able to get him thoroughly acquainted with the work of the Office. He was recommended for the position of Provincial Apiarist by the Honey Producers Association and the personal recommendations of Dr. Jamieson and myself influenced the Minister of Agriculture the Hon. Harry E. Bowman (who by the way was Member for Prince George and who was well acquainted with his work at the Experimental Farm) to appoint him as Provincial Apiarist, taking over from me on October 1st, 1950. He started to work with the younger bee-keepers and that naturally brought him in touch with Fuhr and his "Bee Club." They worked together and the Vernon Junior [129] (T Bee Club was reorganized as the Vernon 4-H Bee Club, the first of its kind in Canada. Two other clubs have been formed since, one in Penticton and one in Armstrong, and more are to follow. He started to work through the Agricultural section of the High Schools and this resulted in short courses being established all over B.C. He also organized a Short Course in conjunction with the Extension Dept. of the University of British Columbia and upon completion of this course the successful candidates were granted a Certificate of Competency as "Bee-Masters." W. J. Sheppard had started the plan in 1930 and in the following three years he and A. W. Finlay had tried to get the University interested but without success. Twenty years later under Mr. Corner, their dreams came true, as the Short Course is well established and is being well supported by younger bee-keepers. CHAPTER XX XII As previously recorded the Honey Producers Association of British Columbia was organized in 1920 and was composed of two Divisions, the Fraser Valley and the Kootenay. It has steadily grown until at the present time it is composed of 18 Divisions covering the whole of British Columbia. A list of the Divisions and the present Secretaries follows: Division Sec.-Treas. Kelowna W. G. Glover, 2003 Woodlawn St., Kelowna. Penticton David Richard, Box 2154, Penticton. South Okanagan Harvey Boone, R.R. 1, Oliver. West Kootenay J. Mclnnis, 807 Anderson St., Nelson. North Okanagan Geo. Turner, R.R. 3, Vernon. Central Okanagan H. C. MacNeil, Peachland. Fraser Valley Mrs.-Dayle Claster, 2470 Acacia Ave., S. Burnaby. Kamloops C. E. Suttie, R.R. 1, Kamloops. Squamish C. E. Axen, Brackendale. Greater Vancouver J. P. Hodgson, 555-13th, New Westminster. East Kootenay Sigurd Askevold, Box 877, Creston. Vancouver Island .... G. V. Wilkinson, 1870 Ruby Rd., Victoria. Salmon Arm .. W. E. Hoadley, Lakeshore Drive, Salmon Arm. Chilliwack K. D. Thurston, East Yale Rd., Chilliwack. Cowichan Division Murdo Mackenzie, R.R. 2, Duncan. South Fraser W. R. Johnston, R.R. 5, Langley. North Fraser H. J. Gibbs, Draper Rd., R.R. 3, Mission City. Peace River Jim Hall, Box 1722, Dawson Creek. Vancouver Beekeepers Assn.* .... W. Robinson, 632 East 64th * Not affiliated with B.CH.P.A. Ave., Vancouver. The Central Executive of the Association is composed of one representative from each Division and it meets in November of each year. Mr. Leo Fuhr, R.R. 3, Vernon, B.C., is the President for 1958. Mr. John Corner, Provincial Apiarist, Court House, Vernon, B.C., is Secretary-Treasurer. WILLIAM HENRY TURNBULL Born in Turtle Mountain, "The land of the Beckoning Hills," in Southern Manitoba on April 24th, 1884. His parents, the late Thomas and Rachael Turn- bull, were real Pioneers, homesteading in the district in 1881. His love for bees came from his mother's family, h i s grandfather, James Henry, of U.E. Loyalist stock, kept 40 colonies of bees in Ontario, he always took care that his grandchildren were well supplied with honey. His father purchased him two colonies of bees in 1902 and from that time his interest in bees increased. In 1912 he visited British Columbia and established his first Apiary at Sullivan Station in the Fraser Valley. In 1918 he joined the Staff of the Department of Agriculture as Inspector of Apiaries, holding the position for five years. He was very active in the forming of both the Bee-Keepers Association and the Honey Producers Association of British Columbia, being Secretary of the latter organization Lower Mainland Division until 1930. He then went into the Interior and organized Turnbull's Apiaries Limited with Apiaries in the Okanagan and the Nicola Vallies as well as an apiary at Lytton. The loss of bees by Arsenical Sprays in the Okanagan forced him to move his operations to the Nicola Valley and to the reclaimed areas of Sumas Prairie where the loss of 300 colonies of bees by the floods of 1935 meant an end to Turnbull's Apiaries, the balance of the equipment and stock being sold to Nicola Lake Stock Farms at Nicola, B.C. The rest of the story is told in the following book. He and Mrs. Turnbull are living in retirement at Okanagan Landing where the "latch string is always out" to beekeepers visiting from Canada and the United States. [132] In closing, I wish to speak for the pioneers of the first century B.C. bee-keepers and I think that if I were a Toast Master at a banquet I would ask you to join me in a Toast to "The Bee Keepers of the Next Century" in the words of a forgotten poet. "Here is a toast that I want to drink to a fellow I'll never know— To the fellow who's going to take my place when it's time for me to go. I've wondered what kind of a chap he'll be and I've wished I could take his hand, Just to whisper, "I wish you well old chap," in a way that he'd understand. And we'll meet some day in the great unknown—out in the realm of space, You'll know my clasp as I take your hand and gaze in your tired face. Then all our failures will be success in the light of a newfound dawn— So I'm drinking your health, old chap, who'll take my place when I am gone.
Other copies : http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1330591230
Books
English
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
[Vernon] : B.C. Honey Producers' Association
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Original Format: University of British Columbia. Library. Rare Books and Special Collections. SF531 .T8 1958
One hundred years of beekeeping in British Columbia, 1858-1958
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