125 YEARS AGO: JAN. 23, 1897
Payday: The C.P.R. pay car passed through Ashcroft Wednesday and gladdened the hearts of the employees in this vicinity.
Telephone Company: We are in receipt of several letters from the upper country during the past week and all speak very favorably of the proposed telephone line from Ashcroft to Barkerville and way. Each resident should interest himself and see that his name is on some one of the many petitions sent out.
Lillooet: The re-establishment of the Monday’s mail through the Marble Canyon to Lillooet and return on Tuesday is as it should be. Two mails per week will be run regularly hereafter and will not be likely to be reduced again as heretofore to weekly service. Lillooet is fast attracting attention and should have good mail facilities. We shake hands all round. Lillooet can now, considering her situation and possibilities, give business men some chance to transact business in a business way.
100 YEARS AGO: JAN. 20, 1922
Hockey: Ashcroft vs. C.P.R., Vancouver: In a very strenuous game fought at the local arena on Saturday evening between Ashcroft and Vancouver C.P.R. hockey team, Ashcroft came out victorious in a final score of 6 to 3. The cheering when the local boys scored was distinct, and clear, and unmistakable, but, when Vancouver scored, especially at the beginning, you could have heard a pin drop. This showed a lack of the true sporting spirit on the part of the spectators, but the unsportsmanlike attitude of the audience on the field, was more than compensated for later in the evening when the C.P.R.s were banqueted by the local club in one of the hotels.
School Opening Postponed: The opening of the new Ashcroft school had to be postponed owing to the plumbing work not being done in time. Opening day will be announced later.
Grammer [sic]: Every day one comes across instances in conversation among school children which make one wonder if in the curriculum enough watch is kept in the schools on all irregularities. [But] the fault does not lie so much with the school, or the home mode of speech, nor the street as may be imagined. At the present time there is too much liberty taken with the English language in many of our popular songs, which are being repeated over and over on the gramophone many times daily in nearly every home; and if not, then in nearly every public place. Authors get away with expressions today which would have been frowned upon not so many years ago. Slang seems to be a great favourite, and indeed a great drawing card in the modern song. When children hear such expressions singing in their ears from morning till night, and day after day, they cannot avoid adopting them in their speech. What is the budding young mind to do with the apparent authority of the gramophone? When once the seeds have been sown in such fertile soil, nothing will prevent them from growing.
75 YEARS AGO: JAN. 18, 1947
Bean Supper: A popular event of last winter will be repeated on February 5th when the Ladies Guild of Zion United Church will hold a Bean Supper. This will take place in the community hall where supper will be served from 5 to 7 o’clock, with delicious home baked beans, hot rolls, pie and salads on the menu. The Guild hopes to please all tastes. Prices will be as before 50c and 25c. [The Zion United Ladies’ Bean Supper went on to become an annual tradition in Ashcroft for 70 years; the last one was held in 2016.]
Lillooet Is Now Incorporated: After some months of preliminaries, the town of Lillooet has been granted the status of an incorporated village, dating from December 20th last. Lillooet first talked about incorporation in 1914 at the time of P.G.E. building when real estate in the town went skyward, lots formerly estimated at $50 going as high as $3,000, and ranches worth one to five thousand dollars being bonded from $25,000 to $75,000. But today Lillooet is on a firmer basis, with a cannery and other industries, lending permanency and bright hope for the future. Incorporation now is on a much more sound basis.
Ashcroft Does Well For Red Cross: Ashcroft and district did well in the recent survey of blood donors. The committee reports that 101 volunteers signed the pledge card. This speaks well for Ashcroft in comparison to other places, and the committee and citizens are to be complimented.
Ker-Choo: Minute particles sneezed or coughed out by people with colds cause trouble. The Department of National Health and Welfare, Ottawa, has issued a warning against spread of such ailments as the common cold, coughs, influenza and some of the fevers, through so-called “droplet infection”. “It is a matter of sheer hygiene, as well as of common decency, to confine your sneezing and coughing within a handkerchief or sanitary tissue,” declared a medical officer. “This is particularly important when the afflicted person is among others, and endless troubles may arise from one careless sneezer in a crowd.”
50 YEARS AGO: JAN. 20, 1972
CPR Centre Planned: Ashcroft will be in the group of C.P.R. stations to be torn down this spring and will join with other towns to become a part of a C.P.R. centre at Kamloops, headquarters of a computer-age customer centre for its canyon division proposed by Canadian Pacific. J.N. Fraine, senior regional vice-president of CP, said the centre will be part of a continually expanding program providing faster and more direct service to customers.
Village Of Ashcroft News: The matter of snow removal was discussed and it was approved by Council that Alderman Rolston contact the Dept. of Highways with a view to obtaining their services to assist the Village crew in this regard until the work is caught up.
editorial@accjournal.ca
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