125 YEARS AGO: FEB. 17, 1899
Firemen’s Ball: The Ashcroft firemen have reason to congratulate themselves on the great success of their first ball last Wednesday evening. The committee had faithfully done their parts and were energetic in looking after the interests of their guests. The music was furnished by Messrs. A. Hautier, violin; Burr, piccolo; Tetlock, organ. Between 35 and 40 couples were present, and dancing commenced early in the evening and lasted until early in the morning. $34 was the amount cleared which, we understand, pays the balance of the debt against the fire company.
Boston Flats: The Water Works Company intend next week, or as soon as the weather permits, to complete the large pipeline supplying Boston Flats, and also the flumes across the flat. The property has been leased and the expectation is that next summer will see a large crop produced. A large orchard will be planted and will comprise apple, pear, plum, peach, cherry, and quince trees of the most approved varieties. An experimental patch of tobacco will also be sown.
Business Locals: Tai Soong & Co., Ashcroft and Victoria, are one of the largest Chinese firms in the province. They import large quantities of rice. The Ashcroft store carries general merchandise besides Chinese goods.
There Are Others: To the Editor of the Kamloops Inland Sentinel: Sir: The long-winded editor of the Ashcroft Journal is on the warpath and is particularly after the scalp of Hewitt Bostock, M.P. No doubt Mr. Bostock is terribly alarmed over the threatening attitude taken by the pugnacious Journal, which may throw dust in the eyes of a few gullible, unthinking satellites, but it should let politics, about which it knows nothing, alone. Let it stick to windy mining items of more or less, generally less, worth, varying the monotony of bombast by a few expressions of sympathy with the Boers. The Journal is so puffed up with its own importance and other things, that it can’t see further than a blind mouse. [Signed] Liberal. [The Journal editor, F.S. Reynolds, noted that the Kamloops Inland Sentinel — which printed the above letter, of which this is an excerpt — was owned by Hewitt Bostock, M.P. The Dictionary of Canadian Biography notes that prior to the 1896 federal election, “[Bostock] quietly purchased the Kamloops Inland Sentinel, setting up Francis John Deane, a Liberal, as his editor. With Bostock in the shadows, Deane ran an effective and expensive campaign against the powerful Conservative incumbent, John Andrew Mara.”]
100 YEARS AGO: FEB. 14, 1925
Canyon Highway Incites Interest; Vancouver No Longer To Be End Of Road For Tourists: The volume of the motor tourist traffic coming to British Columbia will be greatly enhanced by the construction of the Fraser Canyon Highway, according to S.T. Creelan of Vancouver, who has just returned from a trip to California. Motorists everywhere, he said, commented on Vancouver being the end of the road, offering no alternative to the visitor from the South but to double back on his tracks. Keen interest was taken in the construction of the new road, which would not only open up a new vista of attractive scenery but offer opportunity to make the return trip by a different route. In Southern California, he stated, Vancouver was very much under discussion, and the general expectation among businessmen of the South was that the Canadian seaport was due for a great boom this year.
Coyotes Prey On The Flocks; Great Industry Threatened By Depredations On Lambs And Sheep: The coyote menace, which is very acute in some sections of this country, is not abating. Last spring the people of the 115-Mile House District lost a large number of valuable lambs, and in that vicinity coyotes have been taking a heavy toll of sheep and lambs, all the time. Some of the farms have been cleaned out of sheep altogether. Several farmers are on the verge of giving up the struggle to raise sheep owing to the coyote menace. This is considered unfortunate, as the country is ideal for sheep raising for mutton and wool. It is held by those who know, that New Zealand, which has gained such fame in the rearing of sheep, has nothing on the Cariboo if predatory animals could be removed. Farmers here say that a larger bounty on coyote pelts would help in solving the difficulty. At present the bounty, summer and winter, is $2. The pelt is worth $10 in wintertime, but has no value in summer. Sheep rearers say that if the bounty was $5 summer and winter, the menace would soon be reduced to a minimum.
Thou Shalt Not: Woman is not yet the equal of man, for man still orders what she shall or shall not do. We don’t mean to say that it would be altogether a pretty sight to see young girls or women dispensing beer for all and sundry in a beer emporium; but then, it’s none of man’s business if she chooses to do so or not. We fancy we can trust her to behave as well as the average young man under a similar capacity. It is the old obsolete idea of a law for the ladies and a law for the gentlemen — to suit the men. Nor can there be any more harm in a “female” handling beer than there will be in a female buying and drinking beer, for there is no prohibition against the ladies imbibing. It is the principle of the thing that is the most, and perhaps the only, objectionable feature attached to the sale of beer by the glass legislation. It is the obsolete position taken that man has the power, or the right, or the privilege of passing laws formulated according to his own standing, governing the movements of the ladies. We contend, moreover, that our women don’t require man to set down rules for them as we do for our children, for they have fully matured intellects; they are the better half of the human race. We are satisfied the ladies could have been left to exercise their own discretion, in the matter of the handling of beer, without man’s “thou shalt not” mandate.
No Hockey: The soft weather was unfortunate in preventing a hockey game with Quesnel on Ashcroft ice. This promised to be very interesting. The cold snap of the past week tightened things up a bit, but the ice has been ruined with thaws to the extent that all hockey games have been called off.
75 YEARS AGO: FEB. 16, 1950
Ashcroft Incorporation: All is ready to circulate a petition among the citizens of Ashcroft for their decision for incorporation. The committee appointed to gather all data on the subject have about completed their investigation, and are now drawing up petitions to be taken from house to house. Several explanatory news items will appear in the Journal before the petitions will be circulated, to save as much argument as possible to the canvassers. The interior of British Columbia is feeling the progress that is taking place with the rest of British Columbia, and if we are to keep up with the rest of the province, we must grow up and start taking things in our own hands.
Clinton: With the present mild weather, the water is beginning to run, and any more hockey this winter is doubtful.
Spences Bridge: The weather seems to be the main subject of conversation these days. After the past two months of severe cold, the spring thaws have begun, and it’s slush everywhere, but we don’t mind that, knowing that spring is just around the corner, we hope.
Where Men And Women Differ: Women, they say, don’t think like men. Well, here are some man-made ideas which an inquiring woman has got together, and which have puzzled her for some time. See what you make of them. That a man of 40 is young, and a woman of 40 is “getting along”. That women can’t get along with women, when men spend a large part of their time waging war, or getting ready for war. That women talk too much, when men make all the long-winded speeches at banquets. That women are gossips, when wives get their juiciest tid-bits from Dad after he comes home from the barber shop or his club. That housekeeping is the rightful province of women, when, with governments everywhere in such a mess, men never call on housekeepers for help. That women know nothing about money matters, when government business is run entirely by men. That the wife whose husband walks out on her couldn’t hold him, while the wife who walks out on her husband is a menace to society. That women have no sense of humour, although they go right on marrying and living with men.
SOS: While listening to short-wave on his home radio last Friday, Ted Sollowe, who lives 17 miles east of 100 Mile House, heard SOS signals faintly but persistently for 15 minutes. Mr. Sollowe made a special trip into the 100 Mile House to report the matter to the authorities, thinking they may have come from the survivors of a missing plane.
50 YEARS AGO: FEB. 12, 1975
No Blame Attached In Ashcroft Hotel Fire: It was revealed at the inquest here Wednesday into the death of two men and a woman in the Ashcroft Hotel fire on Nov. 8 [1974] that the three victims were intoxicated. The six-member coroner’s jury concluded no foul play was involved in the deaths and accepted the fire marshal’s report that the fire was accidental. It attached no specific blame, but recommended that hotels and apartments have facilities available for better fire protection. The jury recommended smoke detectors and fire alarms be more frequently located in the buildings and that battery-operated lights be used for fire exit signs. Before the jury deliberated, coroner Bill Adams suggested they consider that the village fire alarm, which didn’t work when it was rung at the time of the fire, was “inadequate,” and the hotel didn’t have a second floor sprinkler system. The fire marshal’s report concluded the fire did not involve arson, and probably started in a second-floor room caused by a smouldering cigarette.
Ashcroft Hotel To Be Fire-Safe: Fire prevention will be stressed in the construction of a new hotel on the Ashcroft Hotel site, says Oscar Olson, owner of the property. Mr. Olson was owner-operator of the 27-room, 57-year-old hotel which was destroyed by fire Nov. 8. He said he can’t get plans finalized for the new hotel until the insurance settlement from the fire comes through. Mr. Olson valued the old hotel at between $225,000 and $300,000. The building was insured for $175,000 and the contents for $30,000, he said. The new hotel would be two storeys with at least 20 modern rooms. The ground floor would be 8,000 square feet and there would probably be a pub, cocktail lounge, dining room, and coffee shop, said Mr. Olson.
Bar Q Guest Ranch Robbed Of Old Guns: Mike Cobb reported to the Journal on Friday that six hand guns were stolen from the Bar Q Guest Ranch sometime Wednesday night or Thursday afternoon, while they were in Kamloops. He said they don’t go into that room often, so he did not know exactly when the guns were taken. The weapons were part of a $35,000 collection, dating around 1903–1911. One of them had gold-plated grips, making it valuable in itself. Some of the guns left untouched dated back into the 1800s and 1700s, making it look as though the six guns were taken for other purposes than for selling to collectors.
RCMP Ashcroft Detachment Weekly Report; Child Safety: On several occasions it has been brought to our attention that drivers are not stopping for the school bus when the bus is receiving or discharging school children. To date no children have been hit by a car but this could happen if school bus signals are not obeyed. . . As most people are aware, a small boy was accidentally drowned in Cache Creek on Feb. 7. Parents are cautioned that the ice in the vicinity of the bridge and the Sage and Sands Trailer Court as NOT safe for playing on. Parents are urged to keep their children away from the river so that we are not faced with another unfortunate incident of this nature.
