Glacier National Park

This year marks the 125th Anniversary of Glacier National Park, less than an hour’s drive east of Revelstoke. During construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway in the 1880s the beauties of the Selkirk Mountains were discovered. Politicians and CPR officials advocated the setting aside of public lands in the Selkirks and this was made official on October 10, 1886 with an Order-in-Council signed by Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald.

Administration of the park lands was minimal until the early 1900s, although there was significant public use of the park lands, with thousands of people travelling by rail to Glacier House, near the summit of Rogers Pass. Glacier House was constructed and owned by the CPR to accommodate the public who wished to stay in the fabulous mountain setting at the foot of the Illecillewaet Glacier. The original square building was opened in January of 1887 with Mr. Perley as manager. It had a large dining room, reception area and six bedrooms. In the first year of operation, 708 guests signed the register. The hotel was enlarged over the years with additional wings until by the early 1900s, there was a total of 90 rooms. The hotel complex was torn down in 1920s, leaving only the foundations and lingering memories of past glories.

In the 1880s, the glacier was only a 20 minute hike from Glacier House. In 125 years, the glacier has eroded considerably and is now just at the crest of the mountain. Climbing around Rogers Pass was facilitated through Glacier House, which became a base for climbers. Reverend William Spotsford Green of the British Alpine Club was one of the earliest climbers in 1888. Publication of his book “Among the Selkirk Glaciers” made people aware of the climbing opportunities in the Selkirks. According to A.O. Wheeler, by the end of 1903, nearly 40 major mountains or crests had been climbed for the first time.

The discovery of Nakimu Caves in 1904 by miner Charles Deutschman resulted in the first active development of the park by the Government. Deutschman discoved the system of caves in the Cougar Valley in Rogers Pass. Original estimates showed about 1 and ½ miles of caves, with four entrances. The caves were described as being “studded with millions of sparkling, beatifully shaped crystals.” Deutschman filed for mineral claims encompassing the caves, but when Superintendent Howard Douglas of Rocky Mountain National Park toured the caves in 1905, he arranged for Deutschman to be paid $5,000 for the claims, putting the area back into Dominion Government control. There was some question as to why Deutschman had been allowed to file mining claims in protected park lands in the first place, but nevertheless, he was compensated for the claims.

The caves were surveyed in November of 1905 by W.S. Ayres, a mining and consulting engineer from Banff, and he prepared a map based on his survey. In three days, he surveyed 3,225 feet and had not completed his work at that time. Over the years, further channels were discovered. As a result of public interest in the caves, trails were built, and a headquarter cabin was built near the main entrance. Charles Deutschman was quite appropriately given the job as caretaker of the caves, and he guided many tourists through them. He is recognized as the first Parks interpreter in Canada. Visitors to the caves fell over during the First World War, and again after the demolition of Glacier House, and for many years the caves were closed to the public. Access to the caves is now restricted and has to be arranged through Mount Revelstoke and Glacier National Parks office in Revelstoke.

Contact Revelstoke Museum & Archives for more information on Glacier National Park and visit the park website for services and anniversary celebrations. http://www.pc.gc.ca/pn-np/bc/glacier/index.aspx

International Women's Day

Today, March 8, 2011, is the 100th Anniversary of International Women’s Day. It is interesting to note that in March of 1911, the Revelstoke newspaper, The Mail-Herald announced that the suffragette movement in B.C. had sent letters to several Revelstoke women, asking for their support of the Vancouver Political Equality League. The president of the movement was Mrs. Lashley Hall. The newspaper commented on the letter: “Whether this appeal will get any cordial response from the Revelstoke ladies is doubtful as the women here do not take any working interest in either municipal, provincial or federal politics.”

I’m not sure how the newspaper writer reached this conclusion, especially after reading an account just two months previously, where it was noted that although very few citizens turned out to hear the annual municipal financial statement, “A few ladies graced the boxes and the gallery and added an air of respectability to the meeting.” I took this to mean that the men present felt that they were unable to swear and cuss. It also indicated to me that although they were disenfranchised, they still had an interest in local affairs.

Women in 1911 certainly didn’t have the opportunities that we do 100 years later. Women who were trained in a profession such as nursing or teaching had to give up their jobs once they got married, as it was expected that running a house and raising children was the greatest job to which a woman could aspire. Women’s obituaries often left out the given name of the woman and instead referred to her as “Mrs. John Smith,” for example. Quite often, the accomplishments of the husband would be listed, with little or no mention of what the woman herself had done during her lifetime.

World War I shifted the role of women in a significant way, with more women entering the work force, and carrying on the community war effort. In Revelstoke, the Red Cross Society and the Women’s Canadian Club were instrumental in supporting the soldiers through preparing and sending care packages, and fundraising for the war effort. B.C. women gained the vote in 1917, while women won the right to vote in federal elections in 1918. Locally, Mrs. Isabel Coursier became the first woman to be enter politics, becoming the first woman on the Revelstoke School Board in 1919. A few years later, her daughter, also named Isabel, was making a name for herself as the women’s ski-jumping champion. This photograph shows Miss Isabel Coursier around 1922.

King George VI in Revelstoke

King George VI in Revelstoke

Starting tonight, the movie The King’s Speech will begin playing at the Roxy Theatre in Revelstoke. I’m looking forward to seeing it. The movie focuses on King George VI and the way in which he overcame his stammer. King George VI made two visits to Revelstoke, one in 1927 as Duke of York, and then as king in 1939.

In August of 1927, the Duke of York was travelling with his older brother Edward, who was the Prince of Wales and the heir to the throne. Edward had made a previous trip to Revelstoke in 1919, when he unveiled a plaque to the fallen soldiers of the First World War, and a cairn part-way up Mount Revelstoke. When it was discovered that the two princes would be travelling through Revelstoke in1927, it was arranged to have them stop and officially open the newly completed road to the summit of Mount Revelstoke.

Before the opening ceremony, Prince Edward, Prince of Wales, and Prince Albert, Duke of York, inspected a line-up of over 60 returned soldiers. The Revelstoke Review of August 17, 1927 reported, “Both Princes shook hands with the veterans, asking each the name of his war-time unit. Prince George, due to an injury to his right hand occasioned by too much hand-shaking in the east, used his left hand when gripping the hands of the returned men.”

In December of 1936, Albert became King George VI when his brother Edward abdicated to marry the twice-divorced Wallis Simpson. In 1939, just prior to the outbreak of World War II, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth (later to be known as the Queen Mother) toured many of the colonies, including a cross-country tour of Canada. When their train pulled into Revelstoke at the end of May in 1939, over 9,000 people were in attendance, having waited for hours in the pouring rain. The Royal Tour was a major event for the people of Canada, and the Revelstoke Review reported on the feelings of the citizens. “And it didn’t matter that the people were drenched to the skin after several hours in an unprecedented downpour of rain. It was merely incidental that new hats and other finery were ruined and it made to difference to the playing of the National Anthem that the fifty odd bandsmen sputtered water after every note. Indeed, what did it matter. The King and Queen had come.”

Mary Jobe Akeley

Our new publication, "Reflections - 4 Decades of Photographs by Earle and Estelle Dickey" features approximately 100 images taken by this local couple. Their photography and research have helped to preserve so much of our local history.

One of my favourite photographs is on page 125. It shows Mary Jobe Akeley at Kinbasket Lake in September of 1937. This was a return trip for Mrs. Akeley, who first came to the area in 1905, as a young unmarried woman. She was with a botanical party from a college in Philadelphia who were here to collect plant specimens. The group camped on the Big Bend road, then just a rough trail, and spent some time in Ground Hog Basin. During that trip, Mary and others made a ten-day trip into the Selkirks from the Big Bend. She spent time at Glacier House, before going on to Banff, where she went on more climbs.

Mary Jobe was born in Ohio in 1878. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy in 1897, and received her master’s degree in English and American History from Columbia University in 1909. Mary came back to the Selkirks in 1909, to join an expedition to the headwaters of the Gold River. She and fellow climber Bess McCarthy joined the expedition of Professor Hershel C. Parker (head of physics department at Columbia University) and Howard Palmer (a lawyer from Connecticut) who were heading the expedition for the Dominion Topographical Survey. As a result of this expedition, Palmer produced a 1915 Reconnaisance Map of the Big Bend.

During the expedition, Mary climbed Mount Sir Sandford. An account in the New York Times of September 25, 1909 gave details of her ascent. "Miss Mary L. Jobe, an instructor in history at the Normal College of this city, and in her student days an athletic Bryn Mawr girl, was a member of the recent Canadian Topographical Survey expedition exploring in the Big Bend of the Columbia at Mt. Sir Sandford, British Columbia, the highest of the Selkirks. The party traveled over uncharted rivers, cut through a primeval forest and explored dangerous glacier-clad mountains, bringing back scientific data and a picture history of a region never before penetrated by white men. While admitting that the trip was strenuous, Miss Jobe says that it was altogether delightful, and that she never felt overtaxed even after a twelve hours climb. She says it is not too difficult for any woman of courage used to outdoor sports and exercise."

Mary made other climbs in the Selkirks and Rockies, and Mount Jobe in the Rockies is named after her.

In 1924, Mary Jobe married Carl Akeley, explorer, scientist, sculptor and taxidermist. Carl Akeley was the African specialist at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, collecting and exploring in Africa on behalf of the museum. Carl died of a tropical disease in the Belgian Congo two years after their marriage, and Mary succeeded him as adviser in the development of the African Hall of the museum, later renamed the Akeley African Hall. She held this position until 1938. The recent movie, "Night at the Museum" takes places in the American Museum of Natural History, and the African gallery shown in the movie is modelled after the Akeley African Hall.

In September of 1937, Mary Jobe Akeley returned to this area. In company with Miss Shella Dickey, (sister of Earle), she made a trip up the Big Bend Highway as far as Goldstream, camping overnight at Downie Creek. She rediscovered several spots which she had first visited in 1905, when she made the trip on foot and with pack-horse. Mrs. Akeley reminisced about her 1905 visit, recalling how she had walked from Revelstoke to the Ground Hog Basin, where the expedition leader, Dr. Charles Shaw, had his scientific camp.

During the 1937 trip, Mary Jobe Akeley, Shella Dickey, George Merkel and Earle Dickey travelled to Donald by train, from which point they went by car to Boat Encampment, Canoe River and other places on the east leg of the Big Bend Highway. It was during this trip that this photograph was taken.

Pioneer Revelstoke Brewer, Oliver Henry Allen

It looks as though one of my resolutions for 2011 should be to update the Museum blog more frequently! Sometimes the hardest part is trying to decide what to write about. I did have some requests last year to tell stories of some of our pioneer families, so I'll start there.

Seeing that we are very close to New Year's Eve, it's not hard to make a connection with the history of beer breweries in Revelstoke. For many years, Revelstoke was associated with brewing, and in fact when we purchased the latest version of the Encyclopedia Britannica in the early 1980s, the listing for Revelstoke focused on the presence of breweries. That was interesting, because at the time, there were no breweries in Revelstoke. The longest-running brewery, Enterprise Brewery, had shut down in the 1950s. The gap has now been nicely filled with the award-winning Mount Begbie Brewing Company.

The history of brewing in Revelstoke goes back to 1890, when Oliver Henry Allen came to Revelstoke. Allen came from Toronto, where his father was a brewer. Oliver Henry Allen became a lieutenant in the Canadian militia and was sent to the Riel Rebellion in 1885. In Regina, he met Mary McLean, originally from Kirkfield, Ontario, who was working at the Regina Star newspaper as the editorial writer. Oliver and Mary were eventually married, and in 1889 they came to Revelstoke. O.H. Allen erected a brewery at the base of Mount Revelstoke in the summer of 1890, in partnership with Thomas Righton. They used the water from nearby Brewery Creek to make their beer. In 1891, O.H. Allen left the partnership and built a new brewery approximately where the east abutment of the present Trans Canada Highway bridge is now. The Kootenay Mail newspaper of December 1, 1894 described the brewery as "...the largest of its kind in the Kootenay country. The buildings now present the appearance of a small village. There have recently been added to the lager beer brewery, a new ice house, with the capacity of 150 tons. The cellar is built entirely of stone, as are all the foundations of other buildings...the lager beer output is rapidly increasing and eastern and western brewers pronounce it as good as can be obtained anywhere."

The Allen brewery ceased operations in 1900, but Allen again went into business in 1903, in partnership with William Johnson, when they opened the Revelstoke Brewery, at the corner of Campbell Avenue and Fourth Street.

Oliver Henry Allen and his wife Mary had six children: Emma, Thomas, Marie, Dalton, Marjory and Jack. O.H. Allen died in Revelstoke in 1928, and Mary died in 1944. They are both buried in Revelstoke's Mountain View Cemetery.

November 7th and November 11th - What's the connection?

Sunday, November 7 was the 125th Anniversary of the Driving of the Last Spike to complete the Canadian Pacific Railway. I was privileged to ride the train to Craigellachie for the commemorative ceremony. As we arrived at the Railway Museum to board the train we were met by two members of Lord Strathcona’s Horse (Royal Canadians) Regiment in dress uniform.

Donald Smith, who drove the last spike to complete the transcontinental railway, was soon after given the title of Lord Strathcona and Mount Royal. In January of 1900, he offered to raise and equip a mounted regiment at his own expense to serve in the Boer War in South Africa. The reigiment was under the command of Sam Steele, the well-known early superintendent of the North-West Mounted Police. A sergeant in Lord Strathcona's Horse serving in South Africa was the first Canadian to receive the Victoria Cross. In 1909, the Regiment was reformed and named Lord Strathcona's Horse (Royal Canadians) and is still an active Regiment.

The significance of the presence of Lord Strathcona’s Horse at the ceremony yesterday made me think about the connection between the driving of the last spike, and Canada’s involvement in the Boer War, and World Wars I and II. It was the transcontinental railway that made it possible to move troops across Canada for active service overseas. The railway transported the thousands of parcels to the men overseas, including literally hundreds of pairs of socks knitted by the women of Revelstoke. Numerous photographs show troops coming and going from the station at Revelstoke, often with large crowds of residents and schoolchildren cheering them on their way.

One of Revelstoke’s casualties during World War I was Thomas Lewis, a long-time resident of Revelstoke. He came to Revelstoke in the late 1880s with his parents and siblings. He worked as a dairy farmer and teamster and in 1900 enlisted with Lord Strathcona’s Horse and served in South Africa. During World War I, he again enlisted for overseas service at the age of 43, making the difficult decision to leave his aging parents to serve his country. He was popular among the younger men, who saw him as a father figure. In a letter home to his parents, he wrote, “I know you would be glad that I am doing my duty, which as yet I have not failed in…Life or deathis not in our hands, but the manner of living or dying is.” Tom Lewis was killed in action on August 21, 1917, and at the age of 45, was Revelstoke’s oldest casualty.

As we approach Remembrance Day, we remember the 107 men from Revelstoke and district who died during World War I, and the 32 men who died during World War II.

The Farwell Police War

Brown Bag History is back for the fall at Revelstoke Museum and Archives. The series kicked off yesterday with a talk on the Farwell Police War, an interesting story going back 125 years to the beginnings of our community. Surveyor Arthur Stanhope Farwell applied for a provincial grant here and established a townsite, with the main business street on Front Street, next to the Columbia River. The town grew quickly, with Canadian Pacific Railway workers, entrepreneurs and miners flooding into the area. By the summer of 1885, it was estimated that there were over 6,000 people in the new townsite.

Several businessmen were opening hotels and saloons in the new community, and were eager to acquire liquor licenses. The provincial government, represented locally by Magistrate Gilbert Malcolm Sproat and Provincial Police Constable Jack Kirkup, was issuing licences and allowing for the sale of alcohol at licensed establishments. The problem arose because there was a prohibition on liquor sales in the railway construction belt, and this law was being enforced by the North-West Mounted Police, with their barracks at the top of Douglas Street hill. The legendary Colonel Sam Steele was in charge at the Farwell barracks, but in the spring of 1885 he was called away to the Riel Rebellion, leaving behind a less-experienced man, George Hope Johnston, and a staff of untrained special constables.

Johnston's federal constables were confiscating liquor from provincially licensed sellers without warrants, and as a result, one of the constables, Mr. Roddick, was brought before Provincial Magistrate Sproat on a charge of larceny. Roddick flouted the authority of Sproat and left the court without bail and without permission. Sproat then sent two constables to pick up Roddick, but they were assaulted by Johnston and his men. One of the constables escaped, and the other was thrown into the NWMP barracks jail. Sproat sent another provincial constable, John Miles, to re-arrest Roddick, but he was also assaulted and thrown into jail.

By this time, Sproat had had enough. He sent a large group of men to arrest Johnston and his staff. Once Johnston appeared before Sproat, he saw that he had no choice but to let the provincial constables out of the barracks jail. Johnston was charged with assault of a police officer and let out of jail. In the meantime, the rest of Johnston's special constables fled local jurisdiction, some of them even going to the states. The Daily Colonist newspaper at Victoria as good as accused the 'special constables' of stealing the liquor from the licensed establishments and selling it themselves.

The situation was finally resolved at the end of September 1885 when Johnston appeared before Magistrate Sproat and Colonel McLeod (of Fort McLeod fame). Johnston was convinced to plead guilty and make submission, after which Sproat could charge him with a lesser charge of common assault and let him off with a fine, as opposed to up to 6 months of hard labour. Johnston's actions were put down to lack of experience and bad legal advice. The North-West Mounted Police barracks remained active in Farwell until early in 1866, but there seemed to be an agreement that the federal police would only go after unlicensed liquor sellers, of which there were many.