In 1948, extensive road work is planned for Cariboo highway …

125 YEARS AGO: APRIL 1898

While the Journal archives are almost complete from May 1895 to the present, the issues of April 1898 are unfortunately missing.

100 YEARS AGO: APRIL 7, 1923

The Masquerade Dance; An Event Which Recalls The Good Times Of Past Days: The fancy dress ball which took place in the Ashcroft town hall on Easter Monday under the auspices of the Ashcroft Rink Company, recalls events of its kind which took place in the “good old days” before the war. It was remarked that the hall was never more beautifully decorated for an event of this kind before. Fifty couples, all in fancy dress, took part in the grand march, and many other dancers took the floor after the unmasking and awarding of the prizes. Supper was served at midnight, the food being handed around in little cartons, which saved a good deal of time and the usual confusion. Do you remember [McKenna’s story] about the bald-headed barber? What! You don’t? (And you won’t get it here, either. — Editor).

Lytton School Notes: Our school has just been repaired, and has had, so to speak, its spring cleaning. New beaver board has been put on the walls and ceilings over the plaster, and new brown and tan awnings have been put above the windows. These are a great improvement both in comfort and appearance. The boys have raked all the yard while the girls cleaned the school room thoroughly.

Radio Concert: Saturday night, April 7th, there will be a very fine concert broadcasting from San Francisco from 8 to 10. This will be received via radio at Berrys, Brink Street. Everybody welcome. If you have not already heard a radiophone this is a good opportunity to visit San Francisco, by the air route.

Save The Leaves: This is the time of year when the amateur gardener sets about preparing his toy field for the many varieties of seeds which he proposes to cultivate. It is the green gardeners whom we wish to reach with our pertinent remarks, for we observe that through ignorance a valuable asset in the form of dry, dead leaves goes up in smoke year after year in Ashcroft, where the dry, sandy nature of the soil, and the total lack of vegetation, so impoverishes the land after the first few years that it becomes totally destitute of the constituents which produce vegetable matter. The wise man does not set fire to the dead leaves which fell from his trees last autumn and thus permit nature’s most valuable fertilizer to go up in smoke. He plows them in where they assimilate with the soil, and in time become part of it. Every movement of ours should be attempts to imitate nature. By copying this great teacher we will have healthier bodies, healthier gardens, healthier minds. If we go into the woods we can see and study nature’s plan, and we will find that the dead leaves are her prime fertilizer.

Auto Wanted: The staff of the local telegraph office are contemplating buying a Ford, that is the male members of the staff. All they seem to be short is the cash. If there are any Ford dealers anxious to sell, better call and see them. They can rustle two bits down and promise ten cents a month on an agreement of sale.

75 YEARS AGO: APRIL 8, 1948

Clinton Ball: Clinton’s 80th Annual Ball will be held in Clinton Memorial Hall on Thursday and Friday, May 6th and 7th this year. Preparations are going ahead for this famous event, preparing for the large attendance which always come from far and near. Admission is $2 for a single ticket, which includes supper. The first night dancing will be from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m., and on the final night dancing will be from 10 a.m. to 6 a.m. Good music assured. The talk of the country is the Clinton Ball, and here is where old and new friends meet.

Clinton Industry: The wheels of a new industry in this neighbourhood started turning on Friday, April 2nd, when the Clinton Lime Holdings shipped their first car — 30 tons — of limestone via PGE. It is expected that several cars will be shipped each week from now on. As this lime is exceptionally dry it is very valuable for fertilizer.

Trans-Canada Road Work: An extensive program of construction work for 1948 has been announced by the Public Works Department on the Trans-Canada Highway in Yale District. Between Alexandra Lodge and Boston Bar, there will be more bridges eliminated by heavy rock fills. Between Boston Bar and 9 Mile Creek, a mile of road will be reconstructed, where the pavement breaks badly each year. West of Lytton, heavy re-construction work will be continued as far as Cisco Lodge. Half of this six miles has been re-constructed and will be surfaced with crushed gravel. East of Lytton at mile 179-180, concrete retaining walls are to be constructed and a large fill placed to eliminate Tank Creek bridge, which is the largest on the Cariboo highway, being over 1,100 feet long. Between Shaw Springs and Spences Bridge, 2 small bridges will be replaced by culverts and fill.

Ashcroft Locals: Boys: Relics in the Journal museum are for exhibit and not play things. They should be handled with care.

Savona: The final whist drive was held in the hotel dining room Friday evening, the first prizes were won by Mr. and Mrs. J. Bagg. The grand prizes of the season, a pair of Nylon stockings and a pair of knit socks, went to Mr. and Mrs. J.E. Villiers.

Beware: If you think poison ivy is dangerous when out in leaf only, you are wrong, because one or two of our young ladies caught it while exploring the banks of the Thompson, and are now taking treatments.

50 YEARS AGO: APRIL 5, 1973

No Citizen Interest In Cache Creek Hall?: Would the people of Cache Creek like to see the Hard Times Dance end? See the Cache Creek Bonspiel end? See the Hallowe’en Dance end? Etc. We have approximately $7,000 in our account and need $17,000 to pay back our bonds. We have seen less and less interest in the Hall Committee Society in the last year. Do YOU expect a handful of people to do the work? We could not form a new executive at the last meeting, as not enough people turned out. Citizens, there are ONLY FOUR meetings a year. Is this really too much of your time to give up for the good of the community and the Hall? If the Hall is closed, remember parents, your children will have no more Badminton, Volleyball, Basketball, Family dances, etc. Is this what you want?

Walhachin News: To avoid a repeat of last week’s “Big Bang”, the Emil Anderson crew making rip-rap for CP Rail are now doing more with a pneumatic drill and loading much smaller charges. Consequently we may have as many as ten small blasts, instead of a single large one, but it is definitely easier on the old buildings of the town. But one question keeps recurring. Why does this have to be going on right in the middle of a townsite? Three to five miles along the track in either direction is the same rock. Blasting there would bother no one. Another question comes to mind. What is all this doing to our property values? The most pathetic point of all, however, is the reaction of our pets. Most have learned to run for cover when they hear the twelve whistles indicating the beginning of a blast. Cats just seem to go into hiding — sometimes for several hours. But dogs have been found cowering, shaking, behind buildings, under stairs — or just seen running wildly trying to escape the noise. Then there was the little boy who was outside during some blasts and was so frightened he cried so hard he gave himself a nosebleed. All of which means nothing to “progress”, of course.

What’s New: Suicide Mile west of Kamloops, and Kingsway Corner between Ashcroft and Spences Bridge, are to be reconstructed this year, and work has already begun on Suicide Mile at Cherry Creek.

Unclaimed Vehicles: As a result of a complaint lodged with the RCMP in Ashcroft in regards to unlicensed vehicles parked on Village streets, the following list of vehicles will be removed at the owner’s expense during the week of April 9th to 13th, if not sooner removed or licensed by the owners. [There follows a list of the vehicles in question, including a description and licence plate numbers.]

Truck Train Blockage: The school bus looked different to Walhachin youngsters on Tuesday morning. It wasn’t the regular bus, but Mrs. Ivy’s pickup. Mrs. Martha Eld had alerted town residents that a low-bed truck and a CN train had had a territorial dispute the night before, resulting in the road being completely blocked by the low-bed. Hence the children had to be taken to Eld’s stop because the bus couldn’t manoeuvre past the truck. Apparently there were no injuries in the late night accident, although a cement-carrying CN freight car was gored and lights were knocked off the loader which had been on the low-bed.

Do you want to

[email protected]Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter[3][4][2]

AshcroftLocal History[5][6]

References

  1. ^ www.ashcroftcachecreekjournal.com (www.ashcroftcachecreekjournal.com)
  2. ^ [email protected] (www.ashcroftcachecreekjournal.com)
  3. ^ Facebook (www.facebook.com)
  4. ^ Twitter (twitter.com)
  5. ^ Ashcroft (www.ashcroftcachecreekjournal.com)
  6. ^ Local History (www.ashcroftcachecreekjournal.com)