Hi Tammy - We really enjoyed the day spent with you and the newspapers back in June!. I'm also now hooked on old newspapers. I'm canvassing the family to see what else we might find out - and if Creston features in the stories, I'll let you know.
And thanks again for all your help.
Cheers,
Pat

Creston and Armstrong, BC are the semi-finalists in the TSN/Kraft Celebration contest, and the community could win $25,000 and a live broadcast about the community on TSN (you might remember voting on this a few weeks ago).  You can learn more about the contest here.  Apparently, the finalists were announced at about 4:00 this afternoon.

How do I know this?  We had a film guy in here from TSN this afternoon, who spent about an hour filming the exhibits and grounds at the Museum for a short video about the community (that's always exciting - free PR works for me!).  This was his last stop in a full day of filming throughout the community.  So if you've seen someone walking around with a camera on his shoulder, that's who it would have been.

I'm sure there'll be plenty of announcements circulating, but here's a heads up: the vote between Creston and Armstrong takes place July 11 noon ET – July 12 11:59:59 a.m. ET, so mark your calendar and remember to help Creston win!  (Please?)

In the meantime, happy Canada Day!

If you're curious as to what kind of events took place for Canada Day in Creston one hundred years ago, here you are (okay, I may be the only person who actively wonders about that sort of thing - as Brandy would say, I'm such a history geek! -  but here you are anyway).

For starters, it wasn't Canada Day - it was Dominion Day. It didn't become Canada Day until 1982, the year of the repatriated Canadian constitution. And, in 1911 in Creston, the schedule of events consisted of - not much.  Here is the only announcement in the Creston Review about events and activities for the day:



Why so little going on, especially when in other years and in other communities, Dominion Day was greeted with flags and parades and races and all sorts of other things? The Review's coverage of the rifle shoot, which appeared in the following week's paper, explains:

"Dominion day in Creston passed off quietly, suffering as the result of being sandwiched between the Coronation day festivities and the big celebration planned for the 12th July."

Ah, yes.  King George V was crowned on June 23, 1911. I didn't go back to find out exactly what events took place in Creston, but similar occasions in 1937 (King George VI) and 1953 (Queen Elizabeth II) were marked with parades, military demonstrations, tree plantings, the usual array of sporting events, and visiting Boy Scout troops. And the "big celebration" on July 12 was an annual event, with many of these same activities, sponsored by the Loyal Orange Lodge in recognition of the 1690 Battle of the Boyne, in which the Protestant William of Orange defeated the Catholic James II to take the throne of England.

(BTW, the Loyal Orange Lodge is a Protestant organisation with roots in Ireland and Scotland, and, considering how enthusiastically July 12 was celebrated locally in the early years of Creston's history, it gives us a pretty good idea of the origins of Creston's population at the time!)

As for the rifle shoot on Dominion Day 1911, it seems to have been quite a success.  The Review reports, "G.M. Gunn finished highest marksman of the day with a score of 84, but E. Botterill, having shot in the previous shoots, which count in the competition, is Cup winner on the day and also wins the Club spoon with a total of 83" (I confess I don't understand how that scoring works!).

Here's my favourite part of the article:

"There is a peculiarity about the Erickson range, namely, that the shooting always improves as the day goes on.  It may be the weather, but credit for this improvement should in our opinion be given to the ladies of the Methodist church who provide the luncheons. (Makes you wonder just what the ladies were serving, doesn't it?).



Erickson Civilian Rifle Club in 1910.

Bob Vigne brought in something today that is a real reminder of the Depression era in the Creston Valley:



Yes, they're horsehoes.  But you may have noticed that they don't have any holes in them for horsehoe nails: these are the kind of horsehoes you play horsehoes with.

There were three relief camps in the area: at Kitchener, Kingsgate, and Boulder Creek up Kootenay Lake. These were camps where, during the lean years of the 1930s, young, unemployed men could work, in exchange for room and board, medical care, and twenty cents a day.

One of the jobs they did at the local camps was clearing rocks out of the road - some of the piles of rocks can still be seen along the highway at Kingsgate.

These horseshoes formed some of the entertainment for the men in the evening.

When the relief camps were shut down, all the left-over equipment was hauled into Department of Highways works yards, like the one where Gleaners Too is located today in Creston. Bob's father worked for highways at the time, and the horseshoes were given to him.

They have been in the Vigne family ever since, and have seen many hours of use by Bob and his brother, and probably his children and grandchildren as well.

We have had an amazing crew of volunteers here the past couple of days, working on our new outdoor display space.  The footings were done and the ground levelled last week:



and the structure itself started going up on Monday.  By the afternoon, the beams were up and the trusses for the roof going on:



Here's where it's at right now, with the trusses on and the strapping pretty much done for the roof:



Big thanks to Greg, Ian, Ken, Tom, Gord L., Verl, Gord M., Ray and Jim for all the work they've done so far.  Wynndel Box and Lumber donated the 6x6 posts that hold up the roof; J H Huscroft contributed the lumber for the strapping; Creston Tree Service took down a tree that was in the way; and I think the use of the bobcat was donated too, but I'm sorry, I can't remember from who - I'll check that and let you know!

What is going to go in this shed?  Among other things, this 1942 Massey-Harris self-propelled combine (the first of its kind in the Creston Valley). Here it is being brought to the Museum several years ago, and, thanks to all this support and funding from Columbia-Kootenay Cultural Alliance, we are finally going to get it under cover and protected!

Thanks to some funding from the Columbia-Kootenay Cultural Alliance, we're able to put together some activity books for the little ones who visit the Museum.

Really young children, we've noticed, don't always enjoy touring the Museum as much as their parents and grandparents do, so a few years ago we put together a little treasure hunt to keep them entertained.  It was basically twelve photos of objects in the Museum, printed on a sheet with little boxes for the kids to check off when they found the items.  It has been a big hit, but it wasn't very professional.

So now we're putting together something that will not only keep the kids amused, but which will actually look good, too.  In addition to the treasure hunt (with new photos, since we've changed most of the displays since we did the original), our summer students have been creating colouring pages, matching activities like this one:



mazes, word searches, and connect-the-dots. They've come up with so many great ideas that we'll actually create two separate booklets, one for really little (not yet reading) kidlets and one for the slightly older set.  Here's a matching game from the "older" book:



The students are just putting the booklets together now, and we hope to send them to ImagineInk for printing and stapling next week.  We'll let you know when they're ready, so you can bring the kids and grandkids down to try them out!

Thanks, John!

Hi Tammy,
Came across a book online entitled, "The American Apple Orchard"-(1917) by F.A.Waugh (p.165) which states: "Such bushel baskets with covers cost about $12 a hundred". The author was referring to a pre-fabricated standard sized apple box. If so, I would guess pre-cut box pieces in 1917 would have cost around $5 a hundred. Assuming 10 boxes a bundle, that translates to 50 cents a bundle. 
From another online book, the price of lumber was steady from 1908 to 1915. By 1917 costs had risen 30% and by Feb. 1920, wholesale lumber prices had tripled. The 29 cents a bundle rate seems spot on for the early 1900's but out of sight by 1920. 
P.S. One could buy a box of Gravenstein apples in 1904 for $1.00 !     
 

Okay.  Here's what I know about wooden apple boxes:  They were made at box factories at all of the local sawmills, including most of the short-lived little mills. Orchardists would receive two ends, two sides, and a bottom for each box, then people would nail them together, often right in the orchards.



The boxes were delivered in bundles, and I've been told there'd be ten boxes per bundle. The question is, how much did the bundles cost? Ian mentioned the other day, that someone had told him, that it was 29 cents a bundle - but at that rate, it harldy seems worthwhile for the box factories to make them! On the other hand, if the boxes cost too much, the orchardists wouldn't be able to afford them.

Might have to do some digging on this one, unless someone can tell me?

Artifact or Artifiction is now entering its fourth week! If you haven't heard about this yet, it's simple: We've chosen twelve objects on display in the Museum.  The stories associated with those objects are posted right next to the objects.  Eleven of those stories are fact, one of them is fiction, and it's up to you to guess which one.

This fainting couch is the featured object this week:



and so far fifteen out of 97 people who have voted think the story behind it is fiction.  Read the story yourself and let us know what you think!

As of today, the front-runner is the box-making jig, which we featured a couple of weeks ago.  23 people have said they think this story is fiction.

I really think you should come in, see all twelve objects, and make your decision.  We've even got a coupon you can print out and bring in for admission-by-donation; you'll find it on the Artifact or Artifiction page on our website..

At our board meeting last week, someone (I think it was Greg) suggested we have a simple sign-in sheet to keep track of volunteer hours and what our volunteers are doing.  Volunteers are a huge part of what we do, and it has been a struggle for me to keep up with the records.

Well since June 11, according to that sign-in sheet, we have had fifteen different individuals contribute a total of 115 hours, doing everything from serving ice cream



and giving guided tours



to building an extension on our Otdoor Shed.



To put that into perspective, in that same time, we have had five staff members, four of whom are summer students, contributing a total of 280 hours of work.  In other words, a third of what happens around here is done by volunteers.  That's in summer anyway, when we have summer students; I think that percentage will go up dramatically in winter.

So here's a great big THANK YOU to all of our volunteers - it sure wouldn't happen without you!

Several members of the Class of 1951, Prince Charles High School, were in today, taking a stroll down memory lane as they went through the Museum:



It's always a lot of fun hearing the stories long-time and former residents tell about growing up in the Creston Valley.

We even found a photo of the class - part of it, anyway:

We had a couple of people in today researching family history.  Pat is the descendant of J. J. Atherton, who founded the Creston Review newspaper.



This is the first issue of the Review, from August 20, 1908.  But one thing I learned today is that Atherton had actuially established it in 1906 as a free sheet, that he later grew into the full-fledged Creston Review.

And, according to Pat, he lost the paper, almost exactly a year after he established it, in a poker game.  The newspaper doesn't say anything about that, of course; it just rannounces that he had sold the paper to someone else who would be taking over immediately.  Then the new editor spends the next couple of years attacking and criticising Atherton at every opportunity (some of it might have been deserved).

One bone of contention: English Sparrows.  Atherton proclaimed himself an expert on them, and declared that there were none in the Valley, despite the contrary observations of many farmers.  The new Review editor filled considerable column inches instructing "Jay Jay" to verify his facts.

Old newspapers are so much fun!

This week, I'm trying to research the whole rum-running, Prohibition thing - the sort of thing that made the "Roaring Twenties" really roar.  I'm not having much luck, but I am having fun.

There are scattered references in the newspapers, to this car or that one being confiscated. One article about a fine team of horses being confiscated.  I've heard stories about liquor being hidden in coal cars on the trains going across the border at Kingsgate, and another about someone trying to run rum in a canoe on the Kootenay River through Rykerts.  Stealthy, yes.  Ideal for making a speedy get-away? Not so much.

And one story I was aware of before tackling this topic:



Sgt George Searle was the first RCMP officer in BC to die in the line of duty.  He was killed on May 15, 1921, while returning to Creston after patrolling the border near Rykerts for rum-runners. His horse was swept away while trying to cross the near-flooded Goat River, and Sgt. Searle was drowned.  His body was found several months later. 

This photo shows his headstone in Pioneer Cemetery, and a few years ago the RCMP held a special cemetery to add an official plaque to his memory and his service to the force.

A project we've been wanting to do for a long time just got underway today!



At about 8:30 this morning, this excavator started digging holes for the footings of an extension on the Outdoor Shed - you can just see the end of the original shed in behind.  This is where we store and display the larger objects in the collection - everything from garden cultivators and ploughs to a 1921 Model T and a couple of Fordson tractors.



The extension on the shed will give us three more bays to fill with large implements.  One of them is already "spoken for" - the 1942 Massey-Harris self-propelled combine that we've been wanting to get undercover for about five years now.



Here you can see the "big foot" footings that will get filled with concrete to support the posts that will support the roof.  It's a good, solid foundation for the shed, which will help us protect these objects from the weather for many many years to come.

Eventually, we'll be able to create new, and better exhibits, telling the story of the objects on display.

Thanks to Columbia-Kootenay Cultural Alliance for partial funding of this project, and to Wynndel Box and Lumber for donating the posts to support the roof!

I'm tired.  Our volunteers are tired.  Our students are exhausted.  Here's why:



(That sign in sidewalk chalk says Kids Day, in case you can't read it)


Betty and Francis were busy dishing up ice cream and lemonade; all the kids did the treasure hunt inside;



The schoolhouse was filled to capacity and beyond for the lessons (some people came back two and three times for it);



These mini croquet players were just too cute for words;



The games and races proved that kids have a lot more energy than adults;





The giant beach ball didn't survive the day (and one little girl kept moving the finish line!);



Janet had a pretty serious run on candy (and at five gumballs for a penny, that wasn't a surprise);



Everyone enjoyed dressing up;



Several people became expert gold-panners;



And we had people all over the place for most of the day.



That sums it up quite nicely, doesn't it?

Our summer students this year are weird.  Very enthusiastic, lots of fun, and doing a fantastic job - but weird nonetheless.

We've been getting ready for Kids Day today - running through the various actvities like the lessons in the schoolhouse, so everyone knows how they work; getting costumes ready for dressing up in (and of course the girls had to try some of them on); and bringing out all the equipment for the games we'll be playing tomorrow.  This last one led to the discovery that none of the students knew how to race hoops, so we had a quick lesson in that.

The idea is to balance a rolling hoop with a stick, and be the first one to cross the finish line - with your hoop.  It doesn't count if you lose your hoop, orif your hoop gets away from you and crosses the finish line without you.  As you can see from the photo, it is harder than it seems:



Jessa has decided she will not be demonstrating this particular race tomorrow; Angalea kept going around in circles; Danielle wants to redeem herself tomorrow (she lost both the hoop race and the sack race); but Mary figures she's mastered the art of hoop rolling.

I just took the picture and laughed. 

Come down here tomorrow and try it for yourself.

Who says a kind of cool day with changeable weather can't be beautiful?  Take a look at the view we had fom the front door of the Museum today:



Can't beat that, huh?  Though, I confess, I'll happily trade "lovely misty views" for "warm and dry" on Saturday, for Kids Day!

It's the start of Week 2 of Artifact or Artifiction?  This is the object we're featuring this week:



We're having fun with this little challenge and so far, only one visitor has guessed corrrectly which object is "fiction!"

Have you checked it out yet? Read the story of the box-making jig and let me know whether you think it's fact or fiction!

See this roof?



It's the roof of the main building at the Creston Museum: Covered in moss; in some places there are even weeds growing out of it; full of wasp nests; and done in cedar shakes that are pushing 35 years old and starting to split and curl really badly.  It's not leaking yet,  but we've been keeping an eye on this one for several years (and not daring to deal with the moss, in case that's the only thing that's kept it from leaking!).

Well, we won't need to worry about it much longer.  We've just been notified that we've been apporved for funding through the Columbia-Kootenay Cultural Alliance which, along with a little help from John Kettle, will let us replace this roof this fall.

It's all part of our ongoing efforts to make sure the Museum's buildings are the best we can make them.  We completely renovated the Founders' Hall a couple of years ago; upgraded the electrical systems in the main building this past winter; the Outdoor Shed is getting extended this month (maybe even this week!); we'll have the roof done by Christmas; and then we'll look ahead to improving the storage areas in the Archives buidling - which will be about due for a new roof too, within the next five or ten years.

But we promise to keep the place as open to you as possible through all of that!

On June 4, 1956, the Creston Review reported:

"Whether the high water, or Creston atmosphere has anything to do with it, animal life has taken to metropolitan ways.  A weasel was reported running through Creston Motors and adjacent stores last week until he took to wide open spaces. In front of the flats road junction and Public Road, a proud mother duck held up traffic as she marched her brood across the road.  Pheasants have taken to sleeping in private properties.  It is nature at its best."

Well, these days "nature at its best" is invading the Creston Museum!  We have had some pretty wild visitors these past few days:



There is a flock of chipping sparrows that has once again taken over the patio, as well as a few other places.  Several of them seemed to be fighting over who got to look for bugs under the combine yesterday, with a great deal of squawking and pecking and flapping of wings being necessary to settle the issue. I have no idea what this little guy was looking at!

We have a resident squirrel who hangs out near the parking area in front of the Archives.  He was sitting on the top of the chimney in the main museum building today, letting me know exactly what he thought of me walking from one building to another.  It's a good thing I don't speak squirrel, because I'm quite sure his language was less than polite.



This is one of a pair of robins that are nesting in the pine tree near the steps leading down to the Museum building.  They zing us every time we walk past.  I'll forgive them for that, though, because one of them dive-bombed the squirrel, which more than made up for his cussing me.



And this is a gopher that has taken up residence under the concrete no-post on the lawn.  He comes out almost every morning to see what's going on; this morning he was sunning himself right in the middle of the lawn.  So far, he's just excavated a couple of little holes right by the no-post - but I hope he doesn't decide to add any more rooms to his condo.

Add to that the starlings nesting in the West Kootenay Power sign, the violet-and-green swallows darting everywhere, and the hummingbirds that are just waiting for the hostas to come out in bloom - nature at its best, indeed.

The summer has got off to a bit of a slow start - I'm blaming the weather - but today more than made up for a few slow days, and gave our summer students a good taste of what they can expect for the rest of the summer!



The day got started with a school tour from Adam Robertson School, which was a lot of fun.  Candace Foy posted a bunch of photos of the field trip on Facebook, and if you want to check out the giant hopscotch map the kids created, come on down in the next day or so - it's still on the patio, but won't last beyond the next rainstorm!

We had a steady stream of visitors coming in all day, too, which kept all of us busy.  We brought a few objects up to Swan Valley Lodge for a Fathers' Day display there, and got a few things ready for our Kids Day, which is coming up on June 11.  One of those things was picking up some candy, which Overwaitea has generously donated, so we can do our Old-Fashioned Candy Store complete with old-fashioned prices:



If you're trying to read the labels and can't quite believe what you're seeing, yes, those prices do read two and three pieces of candy for a penny.  Thanks, Overwaitea!

Oh, and I should mention that Ian spent most of the day yesterday replacing the plaques for the Own-A-Stones. These are memorial and commemorative plaques on the stones of the Museum's buildings.  Originally, they were brass plaques, but were starting to weather very badly - some were completely unreadable - so we're woprking on replacing them with outdoor material.  They look pretty good, I think:

Excellent exhibit, good pictures. I will try and come down and have a better look.

The Royal Canadian Legion was established in Canada eighty-five years ago this year. So we invited the local branch, Branch 29, to create an exhibit celebrating that history, and put it in our Community Display Space down here at the Museum.



They brought the exhibit in today - photographs of local Legion activities, badges and medals earned by members of the local Legion, lots of poppies, and a few uniforms.

Here are a couple of photos of the uniforms:



This is the jacket and beret of a uniform from the 1st Canadian Airborne, a paratrooper division in World War II, and this one:



is an army lieutenant's uniform from the Second World War.  The veteran who owns it served in the Air Force, and he wasn't a lieutenant.  He was wounded, and his uniform was lost - so he was given this one to wear while travelling when he returned to Canada.

Did you know that Branch 29 of the Royal Canadian Legion has about 400 members?  400.  That's incredible - and it's just one of the many things you can learn about the Legion through this exhibit.

I really think you should come down and take a closer look.  It'll be here for most of the summer.