NEWS EXCHANGE OF THE CARIBOO ~~ “Williams Lake Tribune Volume 19 -- Number 1 WILLIAMS LAKE, B.C. , Thursday, January 4, 1951. Single copy 10c, $2.50 per year. OF THIS AND THAT The heavy winterized dew that has blanketed us in a foot or so=>of white} has brought an “I told yo1 so” expres-. sion to the face of (sme Warden Jobin. You will remember that some time ago Leo took a long look at several unusual feathered visitors from the Arctic and on the strength of their presence announced a hard winter was coming. For a brief spell the weather was in agreement, but the prolonged period of balmy days had the fore- easter more worried than he would admit. Yesterday however he was in the office bright and early to remind us of his prediction. Still unconvinced, ‘we pointed out that it wasn’t reaily cold yet — to which Leo replied: “There's time yet.” Our civic election did create a lot of interest, but we missed a bit of eolor that was put into the event at Quesnel. A candidate for election at River- town borrowed an advertising stunt that isn’t seen very often in these parts and had pamphlets dropped from a plane in the general direction of town. : Being in the advertising game our- selves, we hesitate to reveal the re- sults of his initiative — but he didn’t win a seat. Members of the local speaking club. which, incidentally, has been formally Christened “the Gave] Club,” will take to the public platform for the first time in a series of weekly lec- tures starting January 12 at the high school. Principal J. Phillipson has invited the speakers to address the social studies class on the opportunities for @ career in the businesses and profes- sions the individual speakers are en- gaged ins Have just finished reading Bruce Hutchinson's book “The Fraser,” and would unhesitatingly recommend it to these who live in the Cariboo — to those who don't live in the Cariboo but like to read about oui part of the province, and to those who just like a good story. Actually the books is about the his- tory of the mighty Fraser since the days the white men first discovered its turbulent waters. But it is more than that — it is a story that lives and breathes as it records the impossible exploits of the almost improbable men who fought the river in the turbulent days of early discovery and the later ones of the gold rush. It is history penned the way it should be taught. Congratulations are in order to- morrow for Rod Mackenzie who will celebrate his 84th birthday. Still active in the business life of the town, Mr. Maskenzie is on hand to start the day at a quarter to eight every morning. As it is everywhere, the New Year was ushered into Williams Lake in a variety of ways. Some welcomed 1951 at private parties but the largest single gathering was at the Elks annual dance. About 500 attended, not as large a crowd as some former years, but the quality of enjoyment was the same. It just occurred to me that some of our readers might be wondering what happened to the four racehorses that Stampede empressario Abbott ac- quired for resale following his dis- posal of the first lot of imports. Benny informs us that the horses are doing well. He hasn't disposed of them but has wintered the animals on a nearby ranch. Comes, spring the bangtails will be available again, If you have never quite got over (Continued on back page) THE WEATHER Taken at the airport for daily hours between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m pending installation of 24-hour re- zording equipment. coldest Last night was the night of the winter so far with P.G.E. thermometer registering 16 below. Snow which started falling Sunday has blanketed the town with about a foot of snow. Sunday morning his order, is expanding AIRCRAFT INDUSTRY GETS "GO" SIGNAL Canada’s aircraft industry, stimulated by a $200,000,000 government Lancasters and other planes stored since the end of the last conflict, At Malton airport, Ontario, reconditioning has already started as shown |1950 BUILDING FIGURES DOWN Building permits for the year 1950 “owed a sharp decline from 1949's ecord-breaking total. Last year 23 | Jermits wére: issued for a total value vf ($104,630 compared to $225,061 in 1949. ‘fo give a three-year picture, figures for 1948 were $103,150. The 1949 figure Was swelled by the Elks Hall, War Memorial Arena and the new elemen- ‘ary. school. B Commercial building accounted for 564,550 of the 1950 total, with residen- ‘ial. work amounting to $40,080. Largest single permits were for the anew Oliver Theatre, $20,000; and the work for alterations to the Masonic building, $17,500. HEAVIEST SNOW OF YEAR Heaviest snowfall of the a foot at Williams Lake and e New Year's Day was free of snow, but by nightfall the storm returned and continued all day Tuesday. The situation was aggravated Tues- day evening when a north wind sprang up and heavy drifting took place. On the Chilcotin road, where the wind gets a clean sweep over Becher’s Prairie, a westbound Hodgson’s bus was stalled in a snowdrift four feet deep Tuesday afternoon. According to Stamps Humble Clinton, 9-3 In their first appearance against Clinton last night at the southern town, Stampeders didn’t encounter much difficulty in turning out a 93 victory and ensuring themselves of the top perth in the new Southern Cariboo Joop. » Young Doug. Norberg turned in a Stellar performance for the locals, scoring three goals for the first hat trick in league play. | A lack of spare players on the Clin- ton squad showed up in the final period when the winners beat goalie Clarence Pigeon five times. Clinton's defence- men played the full time, but at that _ —Centra) Press Canadian According to a report of the incident Mr. Swelander, who is working for rancher Dave Wilson, left his cabin on the lake last Friday on horseback and accompanied by Duke, a brown Chesa- -peake. Not familiar with the country, he lost his way and for two days he rode around searching for the cabin and camping at njght. The first + Swelander had enough matches to light a fire but the second night man and dog had to niga sleep close together to keep warm, Zero temperatures and lack of food were wearing the lost man down, but worse was ahead. On the morning of the third day he awoke to find his horse gone and he had to start follow- ing the animal's tracks through a foot: and a half of snow. This hard journey kept on through- out the next day. Whenever the man faltered, his dog would bark and jump up at him, encouraging him on. hard trip was over as he stumbled within sight of Handle Record Amount Of Game Through Cache Creek A record amount of game was handled through the B.C. Game De- partment checking station at Creek this year, according to a report appearing-in the December issue of “Peak,” a G zine printed in Kamloops. Cache a Game Department maga- When the station closed on Novem- ber 30 a total of 1591 moose and 1128 deer had been checked through. Check- ers had also tallied 48 mountain goat, nine bighorn sheep, and 15 grizzly bear. “Many well meaning people learning what a large number of moose and deer have been taken maintain that the kill is too large,”"states the maga- zine article, “it may be so. But those who have given the matter consider- able study are inclined to the opposite view and say that in some places at least a larger kill of moose would be a benefit. “This is because of the serious over- grazing that has taken place over a large part of the moose winter range. “Animal populations, of course, are limited by their winter range. When there is not enough winter range, then they will starve simply because they cannot find the necessary food,” Lost Five Days in Chilcotin; Man Owes Life to His Dog __ * Westet Sweland@, 32, probably owes bis lite to nis dog Duke, as fhe result of a harrowing experience near Smoke Lake in the far reaches of the Chilcotin over the weekend. Smoke Lake is 20 miles from Tatla Lake. Yusky ‘Baldie’ Boyd managed to slip Qyo. between fhe pipes in the last ffame. }Doug Norberg put the winners out gst period and added a ee with. his death as a result of being struck a blow on the head with a blunt instru- ment in the hands of the accused. According to RCMP officers Basco and Michel became involved ina fight sometime about midnight Thursday, December 21. Michel suffered a blow on the head and died at his Alexandria home some hours later. RCMP officers were first notified of Michel's death on Friday, December 22. Basco offered no resistance when taken into custody. The accused is being held pending a preliminary hearing on the charge of Drifting Snow Ties Up Traffic On District Roads year, that measured well over ffectively plugged sideroads in the district, started to fall last Sunday afternoon. By that evening about six inches had fallen. 100 Mile and town, keeping the road clear throughout the storm. Yesterday was the public works’ busiest day with the full complement of machines, six graders, three cats and eight trucks in operation. At least five men worked on their ma- chines around the clock to open out district roads. 3 Longest single run is the road where machines have the road 220 miles: west to Lake. The heavy snowfall put an end to icy road conditions that had prevailed since the Christmas week-end when freezing rain created some of the most hazardous driving conditions ever seen here. Greyhound busses were able to main- tain regular trips with two exceptions. December 23 two southbound busses and a northbound bus stayed over at 100 Mile. Last Friday the night south- bound from Quesnel was forced to lay over at Marguerite for a few hours. both tie-ups were due to icy roads. ~ CPA maintained all schedules dur- ing the past week except Tuesday when all flights west of Regina ‘were can- celled. Gales and heavy winds were lashing the coast while the heavy snow was falling here The P.G.E. has maintained schedules throughout the storm. Following Tuesday’s heavy snow, the temperature dropped to a new scason low. Last night the minimum temper- ature in Williams Lake was 16 below. Chileotin to clear Anahim Predator Hunter Finishes Wolf-Pack There were a number of interested spectators around the truck of preda- tor hunter Marius Mortenson last Fri- day when he brought in three large wolves poisoned at \Nine-Mile Lake. Largest of the predators, a large grey female, weighed about 95 pounds. The hunter had poisoned six on the lake the night before with strychnine treated bait. He believes this is the last of a pack that originally number- ed eight. Two were poisoned over the murder. Date of the hearing has been deferred pending the outcome of the/| coroners’ inquest. preceeding weeks. Nine-mile Lake is between the Mountain House and Big Lake. Sunday’s game in the week double fixture will be played at Lac La Hache. In the schedule listed below, when- ever these two teams play a week-end bill with Lac La Hache named home team, the Saturday game will be play- ed here. Reason is lack of lights at the latter squad’s home rink. By Standards Bureau It was back in July that Phillip Temple, station electrician at Dog Creek airport, gave The Tribune an inkling of what inventions he was currently working on. Recently Mr. Temple dropped in again to say that his patented electric- SCHEDULE al outlet box had been approved by Visitors Home anadi rical Standards to interest manufacturers in. it. Jan. 7 Wms Lake vs Lac La Hache The box was particularly useful in] Jan. 10 Lac La Hache ys Clinton alteration work, the inventor explain-| Jan. 13 Clinton vs Williams Lake ed. With his model it was not neces-| yan. 14 Clinton vs Williams Lake sary to cut an oversize hole in he wall! 5. 47 Giinton vs Lac La Hache put only one large enough to allow the box to slip in in its collapsed position. Once behind the wall, the box is snap- Williams Lake vs Clinton Williams Lake vs Clinton ped back to normal size. The box grips| Jan. 27. Clinton vs Lac La Hache on any type of wallboard. z Jan. 28 Clinton vs Lac La Hache Jan. 31 Wms Lake vs Lac La Hache Feb. 3 Lac La Hache vs Clinton Coust Hoopsters Feb. 4 Lac La Hache vs Clinton May Visit Here He 7 Clinton vs Williams Lake eb. 10 Lac La Hache vs Wms Lake Local hoopsters are planning a week-" pep. 11 Lac La Hache vs Wms Lake end bill with a coast aggregation January 20, according to team captain Jack Abbott. i é If the scheme works out, the team, Magazine Features New West-} ‘ re on the Satur Cattle Sale Pies , play that night and again Sunday afternoon. The locals are waiting for | a‘letter from the coast giving final approval of dates. Cariboo ranchers and the local an- jnual cattle sale received valuable j pictorial” publicity in the December issue of the Canadian Hereford Di- ' gest, official organ of the Canadian Hereford Association. The front cover plate is a picture of the drive from Gus Piltz’s well- known Big Creek Ranch. Other pic- in the inquiry into the death of Mrs. | tures included champion and reserve Eliza Dick, Alkali Lake, whose body champion bulls, Martha Twan and was found near Railway Avenue De-' her grand cliampion steer and scenes asked for when the! in the new sale ring. reconvened Wednes-' The photographs were all taken by ENQUIRY INTO DEATH SET BACK EIGHT DAYS A second adjournment of eight days cember 23, Coroner's jury dase Ithe local firm of Blackwell's Studio. lary FIRST YEAR WILL BE AWKWARD The five-year drivers’ licencing plan which became effective January Ist, is complicated enough to cause a wealth of confusion among the ranks of drivers, government officials and! police officers. The plan will gradually bring into effect the five year driving licences and semi-permanent licence plates. All drivers’ licenses (except minors) Mill be issued on a five-year basis and will cost §5 instead of the present $1. Passenger cars will be given valida- tion tabs for their license plates. Com- mercial vehicles, trailers, dealers, farmers and motorcycles will get new plates. : Fine for not having a current driv- er’s license will jump from $5 to $: BIRTHDAYS Most of the confusion will arise from dating the new drivers licences from a person’s birthday instead of from February 28. To bring the scheme into force, 1950 licences held by people who have birthdays between March 1 and Aug- ust $1 will be good until the birthday. That is to say, they will not have to renew them by February 28 «s they usually do. Thus a person born on May 21 will wait until that day to get his new licence, and it will then be good until May 21, 1956 People born between September 1 and February 28, the procedure is the reverse. They must renew their li- New Five-year Plan For Drivers Underway A person, for instance, born on De- ceniver 10, will get his new licence before the end of February, but it will only be good until December 10, 1855. MINORS For minors a different system will prevail. They will get licences which expire on their twenty-first birthday, and will pay varying rates according to their present age. Thus, minors 16 years old but not. over 17, will pay $6; with each succeeding yearly age group the rate goes down $1, with the final group between the ages of 21 and 20 paying $2. Chauffeurs licences drop $1, but instead of receiving a free driver's licence, applicants must pay the same rate as others. Thus a person holding a Class A chauffeur’s licence will pay $3 instead of the previous $4 for this Nicence but will have to pay for his five-year’s driver’s licence as well. will Last of Cougar Family Shot What is believed to be“the last of one cougar family in the district was caught in a lynx trap set by Jimmy Baptiste of Castle Rock Mar— guerite Lake last Wednesday. The cougar was a very thin cub. The week before, Jack Alexander Killed three cubs and wounded the mother cougar at Spout Lake. It is (near. cence by February 28 and the licence will be back-dated to their birthday. believed the female died and one cub ; Was left to fend for itself, 4 4 eee TE bd ‘Fase