125 YEARS AGO: DEC. 25, 1897
New Church: The Methodist church, which is being constructed by Higginbottom and son, is nearing completion and is a very neat looking sanctuary. Our Ashcroft Methodists will soon have a home of their own.
Water Works: A meeting was held on Monday evening at the court house in Ashcroft to talk over the arrangements that the water works company wished to enter into with the people with a view of incorporating the town. The project was not favorably entertained and the water works are in a condition of status quo at present. What the final result will be can not yet be told. Water is badly needed and a plant costing a moderate amount would pay well. It is to be hoped that some arrangement will be made whereby the work will go ahead.
Barkerville: We are now deep in winter. Snow is two and a half feet deep and the thermometer, which has been to 27 degrees below zero, now stands at about 12 [Fahrenheit]. So after the first cold snap the change back makes everyone feel warm again… One of our residents was driving his cutter to Willow river on Tuesday, and pulling out of the track to allow a freight team to pass, the sleigh upset, throwing the lady he was driving with down a bank thirty or forty feet. Fortunately no harm was done.
Boozerino For Dawson: W.T. Wren, of Spokane, has received a letter from a Toronto firm of liquor dealers asking that an estimate of the expense of packing from Ashcroft to Teslin lake $6,000 worth of whiskey which they propose sending to Dawson City over the Ashcroft route with a pack train of 40 horses. They particularly wanted to know the price of horses in the vicinity of Spokane.
100 YEARS AGO: DEC. 23, 1922
Opening Of Clinton Church; Dedication Attended With Much Pleasing Ceremony, Infant Baptised At Opening: A red letter day in the life of the historic town of Clinton took place on Sunday when the new church, fresh from the carpenter’s plane and the painter’s brush, was dedicated by special service. The day was cold and frosty but the people paid no heed to such minor impediments, for they were all eager to take part in the first meetings in the house of their labour and love for many years. The fact that there never was a house specially designed as a church erected in Clinton, by no means implies that the people have been without religious ordinances. Missionaries of the Evangelical churches have been there from the beginning of the town’s existence in the sixties. One of the first school buildings erected in the province was the little red one on the side of the creek. The building soon became inadequate to accommodate all the children and a new brick building was erected. The old building was fitted up as a church in 1898, and has served that purpose to the present day.
83-Mile House Burns Down; Well-Known Land Mark Of Cariboo Road Goes Up In Smoke: The 83-Mile House was destroyed by fire yesterday afternoon from some cause, and the owners, Messrs Orford and Templeman, are completely burned out of house and home. A relief car containing food and clothing was sent up from Clinton as soon as the news arrived for the unfortunate men. The burning of the 83-Mile House removes a well-known land mark from the Cariboo road. The buildings were erected in the very early days of the Cariboo gold rush, and it was one of the famous road houses during the old horse-stage and freight team days. The property had changed hands several times since those days.
Ashcroft: An attempt was made to install a radio machine in the drug store here, but the results were not satisfactory. The machine was taken out and another will be put in later.
School Closing And Christmas Tree; Exhaustive Program By Children Of All Three Grades Make Up Delightful Entertainment: The occasion of the school closing for the Christmas holidays was the scene of a very delightful and amusing entertainment in the Ashcroft town hall on Thursday evening. The hall was packed to capacity. The long program, consisting of 32 pieces, did not lack interest for a moment. This consisted of duets, drills, songs, recitations, dialogues, solos. Without exception the parts were rendered with remarkable skill on the parts of the children of all three divisions of the school, and proved much patience on the parts of the teachers in the training. The children were most attractively clothed in uniform dresses for the occasion, and some of the drills were very prettily staged. A Christmas tree had been provided by the parent-teacher association as an addition to the entertainment, and presents consisting of candies and fruits were handed out from the tree by Santa Claus, who made his appearance at the psychological moment.
75 YEARS AGO: DEC. 23, 1947
Cariboo Now Has Radio Telephone: Another big step forward in the communication system of south Cariboo will come shortly, when Dominion Government Telegraphs opens the first radio-telephone circuit in this district. Radio-telephone is designed for use in locations where there are not sufficient subscribers to make feasible the construction of a conventional wire system. Subscribers will communicate via radio with the Williams Lake office, where the operators will plug them in to the regular telephone circuit. It is foreseen that this type of communication can be adapted for use in other parts of the district, but whether it will become widely used depends a great deal on the cost factor.
Dominion Wildlife Established: The establishment of a Dominion Wildlife Service as part of the current reorganization of the Department of Mines and Resources, Ottawa, emphasizes the growing importance of the conservation and management of Canada’s wildlife resources. The new wildlife service will attend to conservation of the game and fur resources and other wild creatures in the Northwest Territories and the management of wild animals, birds, and fish in the National Parks of Canada. It will also carry on certain lines of research in connection with wild mammals and birds, in order to obtain the information required for wildlife conservation and management.
Make This A Safe Christmas: The special happiness that is Christmas can be transformed, in the twinkling of an eye, to tragedy, often by one small bit of carelessness. It could be carelessness about the tree; in driving the car; or thoughtless, impulsive acts due to the exciting atmosphere of the season. Let’s be extra careful this Xmas, to ensure that Christmas will be the Joyous Season that it is meant to be.
50 YEARS AGO: DEC. 21, 1972
Ashcroft-Cache Creek Arena … The Goal Is In Sight: The Arena, now nearly completed, owes it beginnings to a group of ladies who were concerned about winter recreation. They formed the Skating Rink Committee about five years ago and began raising money. In the spring of 1970, sites were investigated in Ashcroft and Cache Creek. In the fall of 1970, the site next to the curling rink was donated by the Village of Ashcroft. Due to lack of funds, the ice plant cannot be installed in time for ice this winter, so the construction committee were authorized to prepare the arena for natural ice. If plans materialize, a start will be made on the concrete slab and piping in the spring. A final push is needed now to give us artificial ice in 1973.
Clinton News: The Legion Branch 194 and the local Lions Club sponsored a visit from Santa Claus on Sunday at the Legion basement. 200 children visited Santa and received bags of treats. Following the visit in town Mrs. Elliott accompanied Santa to The Haven at 59 Mile to visit the children there.
B.C. Telephone Predicting Record Long Distance Calls: The B.C. Telephone Company is predicting a record number of long distance calls this Christmas. The company will have more than 2,200 operators on the job during the 24 hours of December 25th to handle an expected 519,700 attempts to place long distance calls. Fewer than half these attempts are likely to result in completed calls because of the heavy demand and competition for circuits across the country. The traffic is so heavy that it is physically impossible to complete them all. Those who wish to be sure of contacting friends and relatives in distant places should space their calls over the holiday period rather than trying to make them on Christmas Day. Of the total number of attempts projected this year, 164,300 are expected to be handled by operators while 355,400 are expected to be dialed directly by customers from areas where direct distance dialling is available. A total of 100 operators will be working during Christmas Day in the Kamloops traffic office. The Kamloops Toll centre expects to handle 10,000 operator handled calls while 20,000 calls are expected to be customer dialed.
Do you want to read more from the Journal archives? An expanded version of this story is available on the Journal website at www.ashcroftcachecreekjournal.com.
editorial@accjournal.ca
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