125 YEARS AGO: JUNE 17, 1899
Change In Train Time: The change in the train service on the C.P.R. takes place at 12:01 a.m., the 18th inst. Trains No. 1 and 2 will only stop at Kamooops, Ashcroft, Spences Bridge, Lytton, North Bend, Agassiz, Harrison, Mission Junction, and Westminster Junction. The running time of the fast trains is about eight hours between Vancouver and Ashcroft, which includes a stop of 30 minutes at North Bend for meals, so it will be seen that considerable time is gained over the present schedule and passengers will not have occasion to complain of the slowness of travelling as heretofore.
Fire Drill: Chief Burr of the Ashcroft Fire Department turned in an alarm on Wednesday night, which was responded to almost immediately by the laddies. Inside of one minute from the first tap on the triangle, water was turned on at the Cargile House corner.
River Rising: The Fraser River at Lytton is reported as having risen a foot within the past 24 hours. The Thompson River at Ashcroft is also rising rapidly.
100 YEARS AGO: JUNE 14, 1924
Work Begins: Work has actually begun on the Fraser Canyon highway to the Interior, and gangs are busy on the various sections doing light and preliminary work. It will not be until next year, however, that the heavy work along the most picturesque parts will be undertaken. Much of the work can be accomplished by ordinary road gangs, as a great deal of the original Cariboo Road is still extant, requiring only repairing and widening in places. The completion of the Fraser Canyon highway will be a boon to the Fraser Valley as well as the interior lying beyond Spences Bridge. It will mean a flow of tourists both foreign and domestic passing backward and forward during all the summer months at least. It will be to the north what the C.P.R. was first to the wilds of British Columbia. In fact, it is destined to be a vast and lasting asset to the Interior, which will put that part of the province into a state of health which has long been wanting.
Clinton Clippings: Several tourists from Colorado and California have gone through here the past week. They intend going as far north as they could get with an auto.
Ashcroft Locals: A new bridge is to be built across the Bonaparte at the old mill. Timbers and lumber are being imported from the coast for this purpose, and are being trucked to the site of the bridge.
75 YEARS AGO: JUNE 16, 1949
Business Blocks At Lytton Burn; Damage Estimated At Between $150,000 and $200,000: A fire that broke out in the BR Store, Lytton, on Monday morning last, destroyed two blocks of the historic town on Monday morning starting at about 7 a.m. Several of the most valuable properties went up in flames. The Globe Hotel escaped owing to an intervening excavated vacant lot. A visit by the staff of the Ashcroft Journal revealed a sight that compared with the big fire at Ashcroft in 1916 and the recent fire at Lillooet. The fire started in the awakening hours of the morning, and several dwellers in the buildings in the path of the fire were awakened, and lost personal belongings. The volunteer fire brigade and willing citizens perhaps saved the fire from spreading and doing more damage. Lytton's business section has been hard hit by fire four times. In 1931 flames from the old Lytton Hotel swept through a section of the town, and in January 1938 the old Globe Hotel burned, damaging nearby buildings. Three months later a barber shop and two cafés were lost in another fire.
Let's Be Careful With Fire: It's a miracle Interior towns have lived so long without burning to the ground. The daily dry wind we get is an invitation to carelessness to start a fire which in minutes would wipe out the entire town. "Just lucky, I guess!" At Clinton recently that town escaped destruction by a miracle, when it was noticed in time, and an efficient volunteer fire brigade and plenty of water saved the town. At the recent fire in Ashcroft, had this started in the night it is unsafe to say what would have happened. Recently all the business section of Lillooet was wiped out by fire. Now a catastrophe has struck Lytton. All these incidents are serving as warnings to everyone TO BE CAREFUL. So let's check and re-check, and watch all possible sources of fire and keep it under control.
Spences Bridge: A lot of credit goes to Mr. Nordlund for the fine job he made of building the fence around the cemetery. This project was started some three years ago by the Community Club, and having purchased all the necessary materials, all that was needed was the labour. Mr. Nordlund offered to do the job for a very reasonable sum, and now the job is done, which is a credit to the community.
Building Clinton Cache Creek Road: Huge turnapoles [also known as land-scrapers or tractor-scrapers], bulldozers, and other heavy machinery are building the new highway from Clinton to Cache Creek. The contractors have set up camp for the men at Maiden Creek ranch. Huge bulldozers pushed down enormous trees, rock, and other movable objects, making way for the other bulldozers and turnapoles, which carry enough rock and dirt to fill huge gaps on the road. The new "80-mile-an-hour" highway will for the most part follow the old Cariboo wagon road, but at one point at the "first lake" it will take the opposite side. There will be several long, sweeping curves in the road, but none where one has to stretch one's neck to see around! The road when completed will be straight, and wide, as they are pushing through huge hills of solid rock, lakes, and what have you to cover the least ground between two points. When this section is completed, we were given to understand, the contract will be extended to finish the job to Cache Creek and connect with the Boston Flat highway. However, we have not learned as to what side of the Bonaparte from the 20-Mile the road will follow, as there is a question which has been raised by farmers asking for the highway to remain along its present route.
50 YEARS AGO: JUNE 13, 1974
Stampede Queen Fashion Show: The Secondary School auditorium at Ashcroft was filled to capacity for the annual Stampede Queen results and Fashion Show. [1973] Queen Jaci Sarver and Princess Debbie Woodburn were introduced before this year's candidates began the fashion show. The eight queen candidates modelled sports wear, night wear, beach wear, and western outfits, and at the close of this section each entered and took her place gowned in their floor-length dresses they had designed and made themselves. . . Then came the moment we had all been waiting for. Debbie opened the envelope which named Lori Bayes — Miss Legion — Stampede Princess 1974. Jaci opened the envelope naming Stampede Queen 1974 Heather Kane, Miss Hat Creek.
4,000 Mile Trip Through B.C., Alaska: Ex-Chief Johnny Pierro of Bonaparte Band, Cache Creek, and his 36-year-old friend Lyle Jack of Vancouver, have just returned from a 4,000-mile trip through B.C. and Alaska. They left Cache Creek by camper for the north, taking in Prince George, Terrace, Prince Rupert, Stewart, and Telegraph Creek. Here Johnny filled a gallon jug with mineral water to bring home. From there the two went to Watson Lake and into the Yukon Territory and Alaska to Whitehorse. Johnny and Lyle were awarded a "Chechacko First Class" certificate for "successfully shooting the miles on the Yukon River, following the trail of the Klondike gold rush." The two had a very enjoyable trip, saw lots of British Columbia and Alaska, took many pictures, and brought home many pamphlets, maps, souvenirs, and memories. It is a grand holiday to take, said Johnny and Lyle.
