5 NEWS EXCHANGE OF THE CARIBOO Williams Lake Tribune Volume 19 -- Number 31. WILLIAMS LAKE, B.C. Thursday, August 9, 1951. Single copy 10e, $2.50 per year. Over 200 Men Fight To Control Raging Forest Fires at Quesnel Lake Over 200 men are still fighting to control dang forest fires in the Quesnel étice district that have already burned over 2000 acres, Ranger Ken Petersen stated today. “Gradually being brought under control” serious one known as the ‘June Fire” which is burning at the orth and East Arm of Quesnel Lake. The fire junction of the 3 has burned over a thonsand acr‘ the fire line. The blaze.is burning over woodland that has mostly watershed value. Twenty men, aided by three bull- dozers, are fighting a blaze south of Folly Lake that has burned over 200 acres of valuable timber stands. Rugged terrain that made fire fight- ing a hazardous job resulted in a decision to let the three fires on Lynx Bay on the East Arm of the Quesnel burn uncontrolled. The fires have Burned over 400 acres and are raging in country that has scenic and water- shed value but contains no valuable timber. The fires are advancing by falling snags rolling down steep rocky grades and fire fighters were with- drawn when it became evident that lives were going to be endangered trying to backfire under those con- ditions. Twenty men are fighting a fire at the mouth of Cunningham Creek on Cariboo (Swamp) River. The men made their way up the river by boats and supplies. and equipment were dropped to them by parachute: In order to reach a blaze near Crooked Lake, another 20 men had to be flown to the scene. This fre, which is now under control after burning: over 50 acres, is the only one that has been entirely serviced ‘by plane. Z : A small fire south of Roaring Creek on the North Arm has kept ‘Six-men working on the firelines. LIGHTNING CAUSE All of the fires have developed trom the rash of small lightning fires that were started two weeks’ ago. BOARD DELEGATES WANT MUNICIPAL ACT ALTERED Among the resolutions approved by the B.C. Council of Associated Boards cf Trade while in session here last Wednesday was one urging the pro Vincial government. to amend the Municipal Act so as to base the auali fications for public office on a citizen's equity in his property and not on the method of purchase. The Council strongly opposed the Proposed amendment to the BNA Ast permitting the provinces the rigat to impose an indirect sales tax (turnover ax), It was considered to be a piece- meal approach to the financial prob- lems of the Dominion and Provinciat governments which might only fur- ther complicate a long range soluti A request was made to the provin- cial government to hold a plebiscite concerning" the sale of liquors and wines in restaurants, cocktail lounges and night clubs. It was particularly stressed that if such a plebicite is held and approved hy the people, that such increased outlets for liquor ana the granting of licenses for same be closely supervised by the government. Di ion on highway i resulted in the formation of a special highway committee which will study all resolutions and obtain further in- formation on the current government program so that an overall policy can ye determined on degree of priorities to recommend. ‘A resolution urging amendment to the Criminal Code tc permit the oper- raffles for ation of sweepstakes or charitable purposes was referred back to the sponsoring association for pos- sible modification. Will Hold Scout Camp This Month If there is enough response from boys in the local Scout Troop and Wolf Cub Pack, a camp will be held August 17 at Lac La Hache. ‘The number of boys wanting to go to the camp and staff problems of oP- €ration will dictate whether the camp will be run for the full week. Scouts and Cubs who intend to go Should contact Scoutmaster Henry rE at Williams Lake Motors, Quesnel Open Set for August 19 The second annual Golf Championship will be Quesnel Open held in recent is the most and there are 135 men on Main problem in trying to bring the blazes under control is caused by the dense forest growth and rough ground in the area, with supplies being brought in by plane and boat. The fires are scattered over a vast inaccessible region with some eighty miles separating the two farthest apart. Securing manpower and equipment has also added to the work of the Forestry Department men who have been on the job day and night for the past week. Men from Williams Lake district make up most of the crews but 56 have been imported from Quesnel end Kamloops. Crews from mills and logging camps are also on the fire- lines as the operations east of Wil- liams Lake closed down. Many firms in Williams Lake are operating on short staff as their employees were pressed into service. 1¢c0 MILE FIRES Thirty-eight men are on patrol duty in the 100 Mile area watching 12 fires there. 2 “Under control” are two big fires about 20 miles west of Exeter that Provincial Employees Hear General Sect’y A review of the? work -done to se- eure the’ recent raise obtained by pro- vincial employees was given by E. P. @’Connor, general secretary of the B.C. Proyincial Employees Associa- tion when he addressed the local branch here July 28. Mr. O'Connor stated the govern- ment's first offer of a six percent in- crease was turned down because it was felt that the increase would not be enough for those employees réceiv- ing less than §2000 per annum, The petitioning group finally ob- tained a 10 percent increase for the association, retroactive to April 1,! with employees receiving annual pay! hikes until they reached the maximum for their grade, Formerly pay increas- es were granted every two years. Henry Windt, former government : employee, who was instrumental i the formation of a branch here and before that at Skeena, was presented with a life membership in the associ- ation. Mr. Windt served as president of this branch and also the Skeena branch. The Williams Lake branch will hold its annual picnic this Sunday at Em- erald Lodge on Lac La Hache. COMBINED TROUBLES DELAY “TRIBUNE” Forest fires, the employment situa- tion, and mechanical troubles in the back shop, combined to delay your issue of The Tribune this week. One of our back shop stalwarts left us just before we shut down for staff holidays, and as yet we have been un- able to replace him. While we were closed down the Forestry Department borrowed” two more of our staff, but Kindly returned one man Monday. The! second is probably out in the Quesnel Lake district for the “duration.” But the biggest set back was handed out -by our Linotype, the machine which sets the type you are reading— hence an indispensible piece of ma- chinery. ie We had just started back to work Monday morning when one of the elements in the electric pot that melts the lead gave up the ghost. In a small country town, miles from the source of supply of replacements, a preak- down has to be fixed, even if you practically have to manufacture the necessary part. Operator Jim Stitt ana! jocal electrician Vince Racicot finally managed to put the machine back into working order but we lest a day ana a half typesetting, which completely disrupted our schedule, burned over 2400 acres and took 50 men and two bulldozers to stop the threat after a week-end of hard fight- ing. The fires were started by lightning July 20 and broke out the following week. Ranger Omar Paquette had to move his crews into country that hasn't cven been mapped in order to reach his toughest fires. The bulldozers werd moved in along an old Inlian trail and two planes brought in the first crews and kept the men supplied. Only shower in that district occured Saturday morning and wasn’t enough to help the situation much, but cooler weather has helped considerably. WESTON FAVOURS MAIN CHANNEL FOR POWER USE Development of a hydro project on the North Fork of the Quesne] River would cost approximately 30 percent more than a development on the main channel, and would produce less pow- er, S. R. Weston. chairman of the B.C, Power Commission stated when he spoke to members of the local Board of Trade and delegates to the quarterly meeting of the B.C. Council af Associ- ated Boards of Trade at a luncheon herei last Wednesday. Mr. Weston said that the Commis- sion had spent $60,000 in surveying power sites on the Quesnel River and had turned all information over to a special government committee. To his knowledge this committee had not yet made any recommendations to the government. ve he z Whig the }Power CRminissic¢h felt that fis area could be served by a power project, Mr. Weston pointed out that such a development needs a major industry such as a pulp plant to be economically sound. Mr. Weston is currently on a tour of all Commission plants in British Columbia and is being accompanied by T. B. Bird, Tecently named super- visor of all Commission plants in the province. The speaker and delegates to the Council meeting were welcomed by Village Commission Chairman John Anderson and by R. M, Blair, presi- dent of the local Board of Trade. PAPER USEFUL IN LOCATING FIRE Ever since. the fires in the Quesnel Lake area started breaking out, one of the hardest jobs facing the For- estry men has been to find them be- fore they reached large proportions. But in one case the men were more than equal to the occasion, The other day a small fire was spot- ted from the Forestry ‘plane near Joan Lake. The blaze was located about three miles into heavy bush from the nearest road and department men knew that firefighters working in from the road would have a diffi- cult time locating it so they hit on the idea of blazing a trail by paper. The next day the plane was over the area loaded with several cartons of paper usually associated with bath- rcoms, and as it made several runs over the route, the rolls were unwound and fluttered down on the trees. The rail marking was pretty sketchy, but the three firefighters who were wait- ing at the road to follow it in had no trouble finding their fire. LEAVES FIRELINE, FINED $50, COSTS Charged with failure to remain on a fireline, a resident of the 100 Mile district was fined $50 and costs or 30 days in default when he appeared before Stipendiary Magistrate J. D. Smedley yesterday afternoon. Charge was laid by Forest Ranger Omar Paquette of 100 Mile and was the first one to come before the court this year. The man was pressed into service to fight a fire in the Mahood Lake area, and left the fire line the follow- ing day, ‘Thevopen tourney is over 36 holes and play gets underway at § a.m. Fees «are $2.50 for amateurs and $5 for professionals. Four prizes will be offered for both classes. “Tommy Bisset of Quesnel is defend- ing champion, Importance Of Town Planning Stressed Town planning work is just as im portant as that of any job carried out by the Village Commissioners, Chair- man’ John Anderson told the town planning board Monday night, July 20. In speaking of the work done by the original planning board six years ago. Mr. Anderson said the members had not gone far enough. Commissioner Poston disagreed and stated that he thought the fault had been with the Commissioners at that time for not carrying out the board’s recommend- ations. Because the town has changed so much in the intervening years, the old recommendations will be scratch- ed and the board will work on new ones. These will be presented to a public meeting and then the Commis- sioners will frame the necessary by- law. Present at the meeting were board members George Renner representing the Board of Trade and Roy Nelson, representative appointed by the Vil lage. Absent was the third member, Herb Gardner, who represents the Junior Chamber of Commerce. R.C.M.P. VACANCY FRE FILED ‘orporal’ J. Howe, RCMP, is now stationed at Williams Lake, taking over the job of patrol sergeant, which was' vacated by the’ retirement of Staff Sgt. A. Fairbairn last month. Cpl. Howe, who put in 23 years ser- vice with the B.C. Police before that! body was absorbed by aP, comes here from Revelstoke. He had | been stationed there for the past year.| Although he spent 15 with | coast detachments, Cpl. Howe is no stranger to this part of the province. When he first joined the provincials he was stationed at Prince George where | he stayed for seven years. At that time a constable at Prince would find his duties taking him as far south as| Clinton as the Assize Courts for the| entire district were held at the nor- thern centre. | Cpl. Howe is married and has one daughter. Several Business Changes in Town Several business changes have oc- curred in town this past week. Saturday afternoon, after eight. years operation, the butcher store of | C. H. Poston & Co., closed its doors. | High meat prices and a narrowi of the retail market in town through | the increased activity of meat packing firms, were cited by Mr. Poston as reasons for closing his store on the of Oliver Street and Second Avenue. Mr. Poston has said that his | future business plans are still in: definite. Tony Borkowski has purchased the| business formerly known as Hunt's Beauty Parlor, from Mr. and Mr. Jack Hunt. The business, which operates on the main floor ofthe Borkowski Block, will be managed by Mrs. Borkowski.| The shop is not operating at present) pending the arrival of a trained hair- dresser. years corner Teacher To Attend B.CT.F. “Workshop” | Owen Kerley, teacher on th of Williams Lake High School, stat will attand= the second annual workshop of ‘the BC. Teachers’ Federation August 21 to 28 at Qualicum College Qualicum Beach, from the local association. More than 80 delegates will attend the workshop, which will be divided into four working groups on pen- sions, group dynamics. salary negoti- lations and public relations, |v ACCIDE. VT OCCURS AT TASEKO LAKE University Student Dies As Rvoiown supe, wcvans tos D@LONATOL Caps Explode. Thinking of the safety of others brought sudden death to a young university student -vo. king with a government survey crew near Taseko Lake, Saturday. 160 miles west of here Dead is Ian McLeod of Edmonton, medical student who was working during the summer as a student assistant on the topographical survey. According to Gerald S. Langman, in charge of the party, who was with McLeod when he was terribly injured by the explosion of dynamite deton- ators, the accident occurred on a mountainside several miles from thelr base camp, Langman, McLeod and a third mem- ber of the party had gone up the mountain to carry out survey work when low cloud conditions forced them to. start back to base camp. Part way down the men came across an old mining camp, the Pellaire Mine. MeLdod and Langman stopped to ex- amine the buidings, while the third man took the pacl: horses on to camp. In the course of their investigation, McLeod found five boxes of dynamite detonator caps near an old