125 YEARS AGO: JULY 7, 1900
Gold Theft: Detectives Jones, of the C.P.R. service at Vancouver, and McKenzie, of Winnipeg, were in Ashcroft this week in connection with the steal of gold dust from the station at Spences Bridge this week. Special constable Webber was also here on the same business.
Ashcroft-Dawson Telegraph Line: Through the kindness of Mr. Clark, of Lytton, who has just returned from the line now being pushed north from Quesnelle so rapidly by the Dominion government, we learn that the line is now completed 258 miles north from Quesnelle and going ahead at the rate of six miles per day. It will not be long now until Dawson will tell Ashcroft direct to let the world know what is going on in Klondike and vice versa.
Festival: The Ladies Aid of the Presbyterian church have arranged to hold an ice cream and raspberry festival on the skating rink grounds next Friday. These delicacies will be served from 4 o’clock until late in the evening, as well as more ordinary eatables such as cake, sandwiches, and tea. A small charge will be made for admission to the grounds, which will be lighted with electric light in the evening.
Bad Roads: The roads are again in a very bad condition from the unusually heavy rains. Cariboo roads must be improved and a large amount of money spent on them. It is due the district that this should be done, and the people believe that Cariboo’s present members will see that this is done. Both Messrs. Hunter and Rogers favour and will insist on the building of the Stuart Lake road at an early day.
Heavy Rain: The very heavy rain last Sunday did some damage to A. Armstrong’s and T. Croston’s garden by reason of the water from the gulch refusing to keep its proper course.
Ranch Life: Isaac Lehman, of Ashcroft, besides maintaining a first class blacksmith shop in town, spends some of his time at his ranch about three miles from town. The ranch is a good one and in a high state of cultivation. There is no country in the world where agricultural products thrive better than in the Thompson River valley.
100 YEARS AGO: JULY 4, 1925
The Quesnel Fire: A disastrous fire broke out in the sleeping quarters of the Good Eats Café on Thursday night, which before it was under control had wiped out most of Quesnel’s Chinatown, the government liquor store, and R.L. Boothe’s grocery. The fire had secured a big start before being discovered, and when the alarm sounded flames were bursting from all the windows of the building. The vendor’s store on the north was the next to catch, then the store building of S.N. William & Co., on the corner. Booth’s store, next to the vendor, was the next, and then the line of Chinese business places along the north side of Reid Street were swept away by the flames. A determined effort was made by the bucket brigade to prevent the flames jumping across Barlow Street, and it was only when the forestry pump was secured and brought into action that this effort was successful. The fire had its tragic sequence in the death of Jack Simister, who was carried out of the Good Eats when the fire was discovered. Simister was in bed, and was severely burned about the head, and his death was doubtless due to shock and exposure. It is also reported that a man named Ericson was trapped in the building and burned to death, but we have been unable to verify this before going to press. The fire is supposed to have been started by the upsetting of a lamp in the room of one of these men.
Ashcroft Cannery: The smoke stack for the Ashcroft Cannery gives Ashcroft a sort of industrial appearance. A car load of machinery for the cannery arrived on July 1 and the work of installing will begin at once.
P.G.E. To Start Iced Car Service: Pacific Great Eastern Railway Company has inaugurated an iced refrigerator service for shipments of perishables, dressed meats, and other foods from Quesnel and way stations to Vancouver. This service will furnish to shippers what has been regarded as a long-felt want, and it is expected that it will be fully utilized by patrons of the road.
May Build Spur To Hat Creek Mines: Negotiations are in progress between the Vancouver men behind the development of the Hat Creek Coal Company and the Provincial Government for the building of 15 miles of spur line from the mine to Pavilion Station on the Pacific Great Eastern Railway. The coal company is making plans to ship coal into Vancouver by December, when they expect to do a big business with coal. The latest hole drilled shows coal at a depth of 625 feet, 450 feet of which is continuous coal formation.
75 YEARS AGO: JULY 6, 1950
Site Is Bought For Savona School: Purchase of 1 1/8 acres of land from H.G. Dey of Savona as the new site of Savona School was authorized by the trustees of Kamloops School District No. 24 Monday. The price is $1,200. The trustees also have under consideration the purchase of a house at Savona for use as a teacherage. A committee of trustees visited Savona to finalize details of this transaction, and also to make preliminary plans for the development of the new site so that the present schoolhouse may be moved there as soon as possible. The change in sites is made necessary by a proposed revision of the Trans-Canada Highway at Savona. The new route of the road will cut through the present school’s ground. It is the intention of the School Board to modernize the Savona school in conjunction with the change in sites. Among the projects planned are a concrete basement, insulating of the building, installation of a coal furnace, and water and lavatory facilities.
Clinton Clippings: The girls of the CGIT group in Clinton are far from idle these days. They are organizing a “superfluity sale” to take place on Wednesday, July 19 at St. John’s United Church. There will also be a home cooking stall. Don’t forget, what is no longer useful to you is just what the other person may be looking for. Also a great chance to dispose of that Christmas present that you put away on the top shelf of the cupboard, after wondering what on earth to do with it! Dig it out and give it to the girls, it means money for them.
Housing: Every available house and shack is filled in town, and people are in the Journal office every day looking for a place to live or buy. If you have a room or suite, lot, house for rent or sale, let us know at the Journal so we can help these new settlers.
Should Be Taught In Public Schools: Trustees of Kamloops School District No. 24 have endorsed a resolution being circulated by Kelowna School District No. 23. The Okanagan Valley board is urging that the Indian children of British Columbia should be educated in the public schools of the province.
Weather: Ashcroft and district has been enjoying ideal dry belt sunny weather with the thermometer hovering around the 100 mark since Monday. The highest we recorded was 98 in the Journal office.
50 YEARS AGO: JULY 2, 1975
Ashcroft And Clinton Get Housing Units: Bill Hartley, Minister of Public Works and MLA for Yale-Lillooet, is pleased to announce that Housing Minister Lorne Nicolson has approved the construction of seven housing units in Ashcroft and eight in Clinton under a federal-provincial program to provide housing to families at prices they can afford. The Ashcroft project will provide seven housing units costing from $26,000 to $28,000. They will be three-bedroom homes, electrically heated, all facilities, with sewer, paved roads, and curbs in the package deal. To be built in the Mesa Subdivision by Franes Construction, they have been designed by W. Fritz. A small park to be constructed where the Mesa Vista sign is presently situated will provide a recreational area, for the tenants’ use. In the Clinton area the houses are to be built on odd lots around town in a similar price range.
Drug Store For Cache Creek: The Oasis Shop is preparing for opening in the Oasis Shopping Mall at Cache Creek. It will be a variety store along the open shelf American style stocking sundries, notions, in fact a little bit of everything. There will also be a drug dispensary when a pharmacist can be obtained. The store will be operated by Mrs. Shaw of Vancouver.
Rifle Incident At Clinton: Ashcroft RCMP were called to Clinton last Friday evening about 5 p.m. to question a juvenile who had been expelled from school and had allegedly threatened to shoot the principal as he left the school. He had purchased the rifle during the day and had been lying in wait at the top of the hill adjacent to the school. We understand the RCMP picked him up, on the highway, three miles south of Clinton but by that time the incident had cooled.
New Church: Members of the Jehovah Witnesses Church have begun construction of their new building at Cache Creek. It is being built beside the Creek facing the Trans-Canada Highway with entrance on McLean Drive. It has a full cement basement with one floor above and fully trussed roof.
New Crosswalk: We now have a crosswalk on Tingley Street, where the children cross to go to the pool, and speed has been reduced to 20 miles per hour in this zone. However, we still have that B.C. Hydro pole and that foolish island in the middle of the street at the top of the grade. When is someone (I guess the Village council) going to demand the removal of that traffic hazard?
