Snippets of History

[Glacier]

Here's an interesting entry (from 1001 British Columbia Places and Names by G.P.V. & Helen B. Akrigg):

Boston Bar: So named because of the numerous Americans washing for gold in the bar in the Fraser River at this point. Since the first American ships off our coast were almost invariably from Boston, the Indians took to calling Americans "Boston men." Similarly the Indians call the British "King George men." The Americans, carrying into British Columbia their tradition that the only good Indian was a dead Indian, treated the natives abominably. In 1859 Arthur Bushby noted in his journal that it "is quite strange to see how soon the Indians detect the Boston men & how they dislike them and how much they like the King George men." Provoked by the Americans, the Indians in the Fraser Canyon began to murder isolated parties of whites washing the bars of the Fraser. The trouble culminated in the so-called "Battle of Boston Bar" on August 14, 1858. A correspondent of the San Francisco Bulletin who was present reported the fight "lasted three hours, and resulted in the complete rout of the savages. Seven of the Indians are known to have been killed, and a number wounded. One white man only was wounded, and that slightly in the arm. About 150 white men were in the fight." According to some authorities, "The Battle of Boston Bar" actually took place in Spuzzum.

The original Indian village at Boston Bar was named Koia'um.

Here's another good one...

Cache Creek: Commander R.C. Mayne, R.N. in his account of his journey from Fort Kamloops to Pavilion Lake in the 1858, mentions, "...we left the Thompson and camped for the night by the side of the Riviere de la Cache, a small stream flowing into the Buonaparte." Since Mayne's trip was made before gold was discovered in the Cariboo, this early mention of the Cache Creek demolishes Gosnell's explanation that miners cached provisions there, and similarly the story, told in loving detail in Winnifred Futcher's The Great North Road to the Cariboo, of how a lone gunman, having murdered a miner travelling south from Barkerville and stolen his eighty pounds of gold, and disappeared forever, leaving only a riderless horse with a bloody saddle as evidence of his fate. The story has all the marks of a fine Cariboo yarn but is nothing more. All we can say is that at some period prior to 1859 somebody cached something in the vicity of Cache Creek.

Today the word "cache" often refers to a place where supplies have been deposited on a raised platform out of the reach of wild animals. The meaning of the word in French however is "a hiding place," and the cache of an early fur trader was exactly that. A round piece of turf about eighteen inches across was removed, leaving the mouth of a large bottle-shaped excavation. This excavation was lined with dry branches and the cached goods were then inserted. Finally some earth and the round piece of turf were put on top and the surplus earth all carefully removed. If the job had been expertly, possible marauders would see no evidence that they were passing a cache.

[Glacier]

Since weather records began in the 1800s, three winters stand out above the rest as being extremely cold. The last year was 1968/69, which was the coldest winter on record in northern BC. It was cold down south too, but no match for the brutal cold of 1950 in which Okanagan Lake froze right across allowing cars and trucks to drive from one end to the other.

The only other time that Okangan Lake frozen completely over was 1916. Not only was this winter brutally cold, but the coast was so cold that even Victoria had 6 feet of snow fall between January and February. Here are a few pictures from the big snow of almost 2 feet on Groundhog Day, 1916.

It looks likes wooden planks have been placed on top of the snow bank to make a sidewalk:

(click image to view large size)

A single snow plow in the city’s inventory of equipment was unable to cope. The city’s fire department had to resort to older horse-drawn equipment to get around.

The military was called out to shovel the snow from the streets, mainly to allow streetcars to operate.

In about eight days, nature had allowed things to return to normal.

This photo shows the collapse of the roof at the Willows Exhibition grounds in Oak Bay.

Parts of Oak Bay would have been quite rural in 1916:

(click image to view large size)

With the Legislature in the background a streetcar clears snow on Government St.

(click image to view large size)

One source says Victoria had only one snow plow, and the Fire Department had to use old, horse-drawn engines to attend to emergencies.

[Glacier]

Here are 10 questions about Okanagan history. See how well you can do.

[Glacier]

Hell's Gate fish ladders during construction in 1944...
http://searcharchives.vancouver.ca/hell ... ruction-15

[Glacier]

In 1896, the SS Charlotte was constructed right here at the foot of Front Street. This was the first paddle wheeler to navigate the Fraser River as far north as Prince George. Unfortunately, it was shipwrecked on the treacherous rocks of Fort George Canyon in 1910. The arrival of the railway in 1921 marked the end of the steam ship era, with the SS Quesnel being the last paddle wheeler to ply the Fraser River.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlotte_(sternwheeler)

[averagejoe]

Just saw this thread. Great idea Glac!

Wish I saw it earlier!

[Queen K]

Thanks Glacier, I never saw it either.

And for more BC history, see Forgotten British Columbia on Facebook.

[Iamsomeone]

Somehow I missed it too.

Haven't read through it yet but wanted to thank you Glacier.

I know this is going to be interesting!

[Glacier]

Here's another one from 1895. A Bella Coola indian burial box. The Nuxalk first nation would open the "Eagle Box" one year later, The contents of which were possessions, and often it didn't contain the deceased actual remains.

[Glacier]

Simon Fraser navigating the Fraser Canyon with help from First Nations guides.

[OldIslander]

One of the strangest bits of BC history has to be the story of Brother XII -- The False Prophet of De Courcy Island.

https://gvpl.ca/using-the-library/our-c ... rother-xii

Edward Arthur Wilson, better known as Brother XII, was an English mystic who, in the late 1920s, founded a spiritual community called the Aquarian Foundation, just south of the city of Nanaimo on Vancouver Island. Wilson encouraged his followers to build homes in his new colony -- Cedar-by-the-Sea.

With the goal of creating a self-sufficient community independent of the outside world, the Foundation acquired additional property on nearby Valdes and De Courcy Islands, largely through the donations of a wealthy socialite named Mary Connally from North Carolina. Other followers gave donations, large and small, to support Brother XII’s work as a spiritual teacher.

An insurrection developed within the ranks of the colony when Brother XII’s critics charged that he had claimed to be the reincarnation of the Egyptian god Osiris, though he replied that he had been speaking figuratively, that Osiris and Isis were male and female principles in Nature.

Still, Brother XII’s misuse of Foundation funds and his extramarital affair with a woman who he claimed was his soul-mate led to the breakup of the colony. The Aquarian Foundation was legally dissolved in 1929, though he continued his work with the followers who had remained loyal to him during the crisis, as well as a number of new recruits.

As time passed, he became increasingly dictatorial and paranoid, fortifying his island kingdom and reportedly accumulating a fortune in gold. His mistress, Mabel Skottowe, who operated under the name “Madame Zee”, worked the members without respite, the tasks given being considered tests of their fitness to advance spiritually.

One man who had been imprisoned in a cellar on the northern end of Valdes Island managed to row to Nanaimo to report the circumstances to the British Columbia Provincial Police, who investigated but took no further action.

Eventually, as conditions deteriorated, Brother XII’s core group of disciples revolted and filed legal charges against him to recover the monies, estimated to be over a million dollars that had been converted to gold, which they had contributed to his work. In a violent reaction, he destroyed the colony, smashing its buildings and farm equipment, and scuttling his flagship, the sailboat Lady Royal.

Wilson and Skottowe then escaped at night in their private tugboat, the Kheunaten, rather than being arrested on charges brought by their former disciples. Wilson is reported to have died in Neuchâtel, Switzerland, on November 7, 1934, though he may have fabricated his death. It appears that he subsequently rendezvoused in San Francisco with his lawyer, whose son has provided an eyewitness account of the meeting.

[Glacier]

Downtown Los Angeles in 1901 and again in 2001.

[Glacier]

^ Oops, looks like I had forgotten that this was BC history...

Anyway, I have had the privilege of documenting some historic BC monuments that have since been lost forever, so you could say I'm a photo historian. Here are three examples (Because Castanet lets you upload a maximum of 3 pictures).

The Loran C tower at Riske Creek, BC... the 625 ft tall tower was torn down in 2011 because GPS made the land based navigation for ships obsolete. I took this picture a month before it was disassembled.

(Note: Do you see the volcanic dome in the background?)

The picture below shows one of two phone booths on the Tatlayoko Rd. in the west Chilcotin (at the intersection of McGhee Rd). I took this one in 2010, and it no longer exists (the other one further down the valley is still in use). It used to be a proper phone booth with doors, but the doors were removed so people could just drive their car up to the phone and sit in the car while on the phone.

Prior to about 1991 most people only had CB radios to communicate out there, so if they wanted to make calls they'd drive to the nearest phone booth. The postmaster, Harry Haines (RIP), had BC Tell wire the phone booth into his house (not the one shown here) so he could take messages when someone phoned it. Then when someone came to get the mail, he would deliver the message.

And the mail was in his house. We would always go in for cookies that his wife Fran would make, and old Harry would be smoking like a chimney (I supposed that's why he only made it to his early 90s). Ah, good memories, I miss those folks.

Back in 2017 the historic Lee's Corner Café in Hanceville burned down in the 200,000+ ha Riske Creek - Hanceville wildfire, and has never been rebuilt. The café was a main stopping point for us travelers who lived further west. We usually stopped for soft ice cream. One of the most interesting features of the place was the map on the ceiling. I took this picture in 2015. Little did I know it would be the last picture anyone would ever take of it.

[rustled]

[Catsumi]

Thanks for bringing up Brother X11. I read a book covering this subject about 45 years ago and since, completely forgotten about it.

I will send your synopsis to pals who now live near there as I am betting they never heard of this BC history.

And you too, Glacier, thanks. I visited one of those sites 40 years ago during the time of Mt St Helen’s blowup. Came home to volcanic ash everywhere.