Remembering in Revelstoke

On Remembrance Day in Revelstoke, there are many people to remember. The cenotaph carried the names of over 100 people from this city and district who died in World War I, and over 30 who died in World War II. This city was deeply affected by both world conflicts. During World War I, twelve men from Revelstoke and district died at the battle of Vimy Ridge alone. Here is a brief biography of each of those men.

John Henry Anderson was a well known young man in both Revelstoke and Malakwa. His name is etched on the Malakwa Cenotaph as well as the Revelstoke Cenotaph.

George Edward Bell had lived in Revelstoke since 1902, working as an engineer on the CPR. He had a sister who worked as a nurse here and is the great uncle of Gordon Robinson of this city.

John Collia came to Canada in 1907 with his father and sisters to join his brother, Bruno Collia. Bruno died here at the age of 101. There are numerous relatives still living here in Revelstoke.

Thomas Copeland was born in North Bend, B.C. and came here as a young man and worked as an engineman on the CPR.

Owen Harold Davies was born in Wales and worked as lineman for the CPR. During his service he earned a Military Medal.

Thomas Fleming was born in Revelstoke in 1893 and was working as a teamster in his father’s business. Thomas may have perished on his birthday or close to it.

Harold Freeman was the son of a Methodist minister who served in Revelstoke during the latter part of the war years. He was a student when he joined up.

Edwin Ibbotson was a bank clerk with the Canadian Bank of Commerce in Revelstoke. His family had close ties in the Salmon Arm area and his name is also etched on the Salmon Arm Cenotaph.

Reginald Lorraine Johnson was born in England and was working as an electrician in Revelstoke when he joined up.

James Alfred Kirk lived in Arrowhead with his parents and had a brother, Henry Kirk, who died shortly after the war and is now buried in Arrowhead. James was buried in France.

Leo McKinnon was the brother of the Mayor of Revelstoke at the time, Hector McKinnon. Mayor McKinnon had the sad duty of dedicating the newly planted maple trees around the Courthouse in honour of the Canadian soldiers one month after the death of his brother Leo. Many family members still reside in Revelstoke.

John Donald (Rory) McLennan was a champion amateur wrestler before the war and was working as a railway conductor prior to joining up.

Vimy Ridge was just one of many battles the Canadian forces fought in during World War One. All told 60,000 Canadians lost their lives in this conflict, 100 of them from Revelstoke. This “Great” War affected Canada and Revelstoke profoundly and the world is still dealing with its consequences. The Canadian Army’s victory at Vimy Ridge helped to form the nation of Canada as we know it today. Ordinary men (and women) from Revelstoke participated in these great events and helped to shape the city and country and world we live in.

Revelstoke Secondary School

Yesterday, November 9, 2011, was an exciting day in Revelstoke, as the new Revelstoke Secondary School was formally opened. The building is visually stunning, and is a wonderful asset to our community. Congratulations to all who were involved in this project.

Revelstoke’s first High School opened in September of 1904, in a small building that had previously been used as an annex to Revelstoke’s first elementary school. The first teacher was C.B. Sissons, who went on to become a distinguished Canadian academic. He was invited here at the suggestion of his cousin, Rev. James Woodsworth. Woodsworth was a Methodist Minister who had spent a short time here. He later became the founder of the Canadian Commonwealth Federation – now known as the New Democratic Party.

C.B. Sissons received a salary of $1500 per year when he came to Revelstoke. He was very active in sports and outdoor pursuits, and spent his summers working on A.O. Wheeler’s survey of the Selkirk Mountains. He taught his students Latin, Greek, arithmetic, algebra, geometry, English literature, composition and grammar, geography, history, physiology, book-keeping and drawing. In the first year of the High School, Sissons had 23 students. One of them, Geoffrey Haggen, became a Rhodes Scholar and became Dean of Law at the University of Leeds, England.

By 1914, the small wooden school was very overcrowded, and a new brick building was constructed by local contractor O.W. Abrahamson.
The Mail-Herald of January 31, 1914 reported, “For years high school students and teachers have been hampered by the unsanitary and uncomfortable conditions existing in the old ramshackle building in which they have been quartered. Now the energy and perseverance of the school board, backed by the city and government, have resulted in building in this city the finest high school in BC.” Visitors who came to the opening ceremony were asked to bring at least one book to donate to the school library. An annex for Home Economics and Manual Training was built in 1938, and an addition with gymnasium in 1951. Prior to that, only outdoor sports were played, but soccer was a problem, because the ball would go across Third Street and over the bank into the river, and the school was only allowed to purchase one ball a year.

In 1965, the High School was moved to Tenth Street. There were already two schools at that site: Mountain View Elementary and Joseph Hammond Junior High School. The schools were renovated to became the new high school, and Mountain View Elementary was moved to the old high school building. The new Revelstoke Secondary School is a positive step forward for education in Revelstoke.

The photograph shows the original frame high school with the class of 1912.

Columbia Park Street Names

Today in Brown Bag History, we were talking about street and place names. It's a very broad topic, so we focused on names in the Columbia Park subdivision. The name Columbia Park dates back to 1898 when the Dominion government granted 7 villa lots to a local committee for park purposes. When Revelstoke was incorporated in 1899, Columbia Park was turned over to the new city. Many of the street names in the area come from early farmers in the area. Oliver Henry Allen had a brewery on the river bank where the Trans-Canada Highway bridge is now. Hugh Allen Smythe, W. Maddocks, Job Maley and Jock Malcolm were all early farmers in the area. George Laforme was a miner and packer in the Big Bend region, and also had a farm where he grew strawberries and other crops.

Cleland Road is named after James Cleland, who wife was the sister of farmer Jock Malcolm. Cleland had farmland in the area but was also a Revelstoke policeman, and later chief of police from 1916 until his death in 1920. Cleland was only 40 years old when he died of influenza. Although 1920 didn't see the number of flu deaths that occurred in 1918 and 1919, it was still considered serious enough that only 10 people were allowed to attend his funeral. This wasn't the end of tragedy for the Cleland family. In June of that same year, 1920, James Cleland's 14 year-old daughter Marjorie died in a boating accident on the Columbia River. Four young people were boating in high water and attempted to "jump" over the breakwater when their boat overturned and all of them drowned. Marjorie's body was finally recovered in August and she was buried beside her father. That same month, a serious fire on the Cleland farm almost destroyed the family home. Mrs. Cleland and her remaining children moved to South Africa, where they had other relatives. Several years ago, some of the South African relatives visited the museum and learned more about the family's time in Revelstoke.

Pioneer Families

This Saturday at the museum, we had visits from descendants of two pioneer families. Dan Leary and his niece and nephew, Susan and Brian, spent a couple of hours at the museum looking at photographs, information and artifacts relating to Dan’s grandparents, Fred and Catherine Fraser. Fred Fraser came to Revelstoke with railway construction in 1885 and his wife joined him later that year. Their first home was in a box car until they acquired land on the west bank of the Columbia River in what is now the Big Eddy subdivision. They were among Revelstoke’s first farmers, and their second daughter, Florence, born in May of 1887, was the first settler child born in Revelstoke. In 1894, which was a record flood year throughout much of B.C., the Fraser family was forced to raise their house by several feet, and to send their poultry and other stock to another farm outside of the flood zone. As well as running his farm, Fred Fraser held several government positions over the years, including mining recorder and magistrate.

To get to school, the children walked across the ½ mile long Canadian Pacific Railway bridge. There were a few areas where water barrels were stored where the children could huddle if a train was crossing the bridge while they were on it.

In August of 1892, Fred Fraser went to fetch his cows home before going to church. On the way back, he almost stepped on a half-grown cub, and shot it, then fired at another under a log. The cub began to scream, which brought an adult bear to the scene. He quickly headed for home, but came face to face with another full-grown bear. According to the newspaper account, “One of the cows turned back and came at the bear with her horns, hitting him square in the ribs with a thud that might have been heard half a mile away, and rolling him over like a log. Seeing her master’s danger she then flew at the other bear and served her in a like manner.” Both bears ran away. Fred went to church as planned and the next day took the skins from the two cubs and exhibited them in town.

Son Fred Fraser Jr. reminisced on the many chores that the children had to do, and confessed that they would make trips to the outhouse to try to get out of their chores. “The task of weeding and thinning the long rows of carrots, beets and turnips was a tedious one, and a welcome interval would be spent sitting on a toilet seat with handy reading material. When the time so spent became unconscionable, the matriarch complained to the master, who reshaped the smooth ovals into rough squares to discourage unnecessary dalliance. This, however, is said to have failed in its purpose. The human body soon adapts itself to new environment, and it was said that the family acquired the name, ‘the square-arsed Frasers’.”

Our second visit on Saturday was from Diana Johnson, a member of the Holten (originally Hultengren) family. Charles Holten was born Karl Hultengren in Sweden, and his family came to the United States when he was four years old. In 1885, he was in the Revelstoke area, and with his partners, was among the first successful miners in the Lardeau area. He settled in Revelstoke and became one of the partners in the Enterprise Brewery, which began operation in 1898. In 1897, he married Lyda Silcott (aka Edwards) and built a beautiful home at the top of the First Street hill. The home is now operating as Amble Inn Bed & Breakfast. Charles and Lyda had two sons, Charlie and Drennan, and they also raised Lyda’s niece, Mary Edwards, who married Dr. J. H. Hamilton in 1910. The Holten’s also took in Patrick, the young son of entrepreneur William Cowan, when Cowan’s wife died in 1906. The house was the scene of many benefits for the Anglican Church and the Red Cross Society, and Mrs. Holten became the matron of high society in Revelstoke.

We always enjoy having visits from descendants of our pioneer families, and are pleased when we have a lot of information to share with them, as in these two cases.

Chinese Legacies

In 2008, Revelstoke Railway Museum and Revelstoke Museum & Archives opened joint exhibits entitled “Chinese Legacies”. The Railway Museum’s exhibit focused on the thousands of Chinese men who worked on construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway from Yale to Craigellachie in the 1880s. This exhibit is currently travelling, having recently been on display at Exporail in Montreal. It is now in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory. The exhibit here at Revelstoke Museum and Archives is still on display. It follows the story of the Chinese community that developed here after railway construction was complete. By 1901, Chinese residents made up about 1/10 of the total population.

This past week, we were pleased to host Toronto artist David Cheung and his sons Lucas and Dudley who are embarked on a project known as Rocky Railway High (Closure.) David has created several works of art that commemorate the story of the Chinese railway workers, and he is inviting the public to submit small written or artistic pieces to supplement his paintings. The paintings and the gathered submissions will be shown in an exhibit and eventually brought to China to symbolically return the spirit of the workers to their native country. For more information on Rocky Railway High or to contribute a submission, see their website: http://www.rockyrailwayhigh.com/

There were up to 15,000 Chinese people employed along the railway line from Port Moody to Craigellachie between 1880 and 1885. Exact figures are impossible to find, as the workers were hired as gangs rather than as individuals, and there was a high turnover of workers. They were engaged in clearing the road, laying ties and other construction work. The work was tedious, difficult and dangerous, and the rewards were few.

The Chinese workers were paid $1 per day throughout the years of railway construction from 1880 to 1885. Their pay was reduced to .80 cents per day if they bought their staple food and supplies outside of the company store. Goods in the company store cost twice as much as they did on the open market.

The white workers were paid on a sliding scale depending upon their skills and the work performed. The wages for white workers were increased in March of 1881 in order to attract more men. The lowest paid white workers were receiving $1.50 to $2.00 per day as blacksmiths’ helpers, labourers, hewers and choppers.

In 1885, the Dominion Government conducted a Royal Commission on Chinese Immigration. Huang Sic Chen, a member of the Chinese consulate in San Francisco, presented a report on the number of Chinese in British Columbia and the work they were doing. He stated that there were 3,510 Chinese labourers involved in railway construction. An average labourer’s wage was $300 per year, and after expenses the labourer would be left with about $43. The expenses included a deduction of three months labour during the winter, $130 for provisions and clothing, $24 for room rent and other costs. For more information on this story, contact Revelstoke Museum and Archives.

William and Bertha Cowan

Among the more noticeable markers at Revelstoke’s Mountain View Cemetery are two fairly similar red granite gravestones that are just across the service road from each other. William Cowan, who lived from 1855 to 1926 is buried just behind the maintenance shed, at the edge of the main cemetery. The road next to the shed marks the boundary between the Protestant and Roman Catholic sections of the cemetery. The Catholic section opened in 1906, and one of the first to be interred there was Bertha Beatrice Cowan, the young wife of William. Bertha was born in 1880 and in 1903 married William Cowan, who was 25 years her senior. The fact that theirs was a “mixed marriage” between a Protestant and a Catholic was also unusual for that time.

Bertha and William had a son Patrick, who was born in 1904, and two years later, Bertha died in childbirth with their second child, who also died. Bertha was buried in the Catholic section, next to the service road. William had an elaborate red granite marker placed on her grave. At the time of Bertha’s death, a non-Catholic could not be buried in a Catholic cemetery, so William obviously did the next best thing, and purchased the plot directly across the road from Bertha. William died in April of 1926 in Rochester, Minnesota, where he had gone seeking treatment for an illness.

William Cowan was one of Revelstoke’s most enterprising pioneers. He came to Revelstoke in 1885, where he built the Victoria Hotel on Front Street. He was one of the partners in a steamship company that saw the building of the S.S. Dispatch and the S.S. Lytton from a small shipworks at the south end of Front Street. Cowan had the first telephone in town, with a line between his hotel and the Canadian Pacific Railway station. By 1896 he had incorporated the Revelstoke, Trout Lake and Big Bend Telephone Company Ltd. and established a telephone exchanged in a building at the corner of Third Street and Charles. He formed the Revelstoke Water, Power and Light company that constructed the first water system in 1896 and the first electric power plant on the Illecillewaet River in 1898. The company was sold to the City of Revelstoke in 1902.

Front Street in Farwell Townsite

Revelstoke tells its history through the many heritage buildings that are still in existence here. The restored heritage downtown and the many heritage homes are testament to the pioneers who built this community. However, the oldest part of town doesn’t have the built heritage to proclaim its fascinating history. It is only through sharing the stories and photographs of the Farwell townsite that this part of the community comes back to life. A Farwell walking tour scheduled for July 11th will help to keep this part of our history alive.

The Farwell townsite, centered on Front Street, was established with the coming of the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1885. By that summer, the population was over 5,000, with railway workers and those who would profit by their presence here making the town a lively place. Surveyor A.S. Farwell planned to sell his land to the C.P.R. and sell lots to those who wanted to settle in this new railway town. Unfortunately for Farwell, his plans turned to dust when the C.P.R. wouldn’t negotiate with him, and the dispute meant that clear title could not be issued for the lots he was trying to sell. He was forced to charge trespassers with “disturbing the earth” when people refused to pay for lots that they couldn’t get deeds for.

The bustling townsite of Farwell boasted a plethora of hotels and bars, several brothels, general stores, Chinese laundries and other necessities for a largely male population. What it lacked in the very first years were churches, schools, a hospital and a fire department. These eventually came into being as the town grew, many of the new facilities moving to the upper part of town closer to the railway station and the burgeoning “Revelstoke Station” townsite.

By the 1920s, many of the original buildings in the Farwell townsite had been moved or dismantled. The area was sparsely settled until the 1950s when a new wave of construction began. Front Street, once the main business street, is now purely residential.