Dear Editor
I am looking for information about a mystery that has me - as well as several long-time residents of Ashcroft - stumped. I’ve long suspected that there was once a building on a flat, clear patch of land to the left of Hwy 97C as one comes off the bridge and turns towards Cache Creek (just beyond the ridge where the grad signs are; ospreys nest on a pole at the site). Every spring a row of lilac bushes blooms there; and while Mother Nature might seed one lilac bush naturally, she probably wouldn’t put several in a neat row.
This led me to believe a building once stood there; but no one can remember one, and I had begun to think the lilacs were put there by a rogue gardener. However, I’ve recently come into possession of a colour postcard showing an aerial view of Ashcroft; on the evidence of what buildings are (and are not) in the picture, I suspect the shot dates from about 1965. And there, unmistakably (although so far off that it’s impossible to say what they are), are one - possibly two - small white or cream buildings with dark roofs on the site of which I speak, with two much smaller structures (sheds? storage tanks?) directly beside the highway.
If anyone has any information about what once stood on this site, please contact me at (250) 453-2045 or (250) 457-0749. Thank you!
Barbara Roden
Ashcroft