Wednesday, December 24, 1982

: THE TRIBUNE, WILLIAMS LAKE, 8.6,

ee Page 8

BIG CREEK

Official School Opening Features

Surprise Concert On

Residents of Big Creek were treat-
ed to an original and very entertain
ing Christhhas Concert held in the
school Thursday night. The official
opening of the school was used as |

the reason for the gathering t-!
gether as the concert itself and all

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Cole & Clear

Anton's Pele Yard

cake was. made and decorated by
/ Mrs. Wilson.

A TRUCK LOAD of Christmas
trees Jett here last week for tie
coast. They were cut by Bruce Watt
on his own property and taken cut
by Doug Barker of Chilliwack.

Program

its details was kept a deep, dark
secret. A remarkable feat in itself
for thirteen children — and their
teacher.

The darkness prevailed until the
very opening of the program. Guests
were ushered in with flashlights by] MRS. AN}
Sherwood Henry and Billy Hutch. |turned Saturday from a v

After a humorous introductory] relatives at Big Bar.
poem by the teacher, Miss Gwen
Fletcher, the pupils presented the
“Night Before Christmas’ as Miss
Fletcher read the poem in the back-
ground.

Carol singing followed and then.
that much awaited event, the arrival
of Santa:

After Santa had continued on his

FIVE HUNDRED head of calves
were recently brought up from the
Chileo Ranch to the Bell, where they
will be taken care of through tie
winter.

NA HIGGINBOTTOM re-
it with

VISITORS to town lately were
Mr. and Mrs. C. Henry, Murray Tay-
lor, R. Church. J. Bonner, J. Cassél-
man, F. Witte and W. Bambrick.

MRS. TOM WILSON was taken to
Williams Lake hospital Monday suf-
fering from a nasal hemorrage. Sle

returned home Wednesday,

ENDS 47 YEAR

Familiar sight in the local

jhas been Hope Patenaude,
| December 10.
t

SERVICE... ._

veteran operator

enaude is the man responsible for a
return to popularity of ‘Domimon'
ammunition back in the early days in
this part of the country.

It seems that the first company to
produce the ‘Dominion’ line were not
having much success with their pro-
duct and marksmen just wouldn't
use the shells. Then the company wae
bought out and the new firm worled
hard to convince sportsmen that
their product was now one of the
best.

In line with these attempts, a com-
pany salesman was in Quesnel just
before the Hudson’s Bay Company
championship shoot and picking out
the most likely man, he tried to p
suade him to use Dominion shells
the following day in the competition
The man was Hope Patenaude and
the offer made to him was that if be
would use Dominion shells in the
competition, the company would give
him a case of shells absolutely free

—Photo by Blackwell's

telephone office over the years
who retired

The salesman had to work hard

y, Miss Fletcher very ably con-
ducted a little audience participa-

under the tree to various adults.

For Murray Taylor there was a pair

5 e
of boxing gloves to assist him in 2) e at ar er S am in
work punching cow Another ex-

ample; our school representative W.
Just over 50 years ago th

pleted into Harper’s Camp and

people had the magic of instant

Bambrick received a very wooden
School Board, all his own, suitably
inscribed.

Coffee and refreshments terminat-| tne frst
ed the evening's fun.

operator at Harper's
Camp, or Horsefly as it was to be
known in later years, was a local
WILSON| young man of 17 summers who had
been trained especially for the job.

MR. and MRS. J. T.
were hosts Sunday evening at a re-
ception in honor of Mr. and Mrs.| His name was Hope Patenaude and
Oscar Dupont who returned from|e had been well trained in the tele-
their honeymoon Friday. Most of} STapher’s stuttering language by lis
Big Creek attended to offer congrat-| father, a one-time operator in East-
ulations and good wishes to the|¢ Canada who had spent the winter
ous courle. before training his son to be ready

tor the completion of the new line.
After opening of gifts and cutting} Young Hope must have liked the

WILLIAMS LAKE

guests.

of eake by the bride and groom, re-|dife, because with the exception of
freshments were served to all the] three years he was to continue as an
The lovely 3-tier wedding] operator for the next 50 years. On

December 10th, 1952, this senior
man on the Dominion Government

Cross of

Always th

REVELS'

“Revelstoke Lag
English Dark

Both Beers Awarded

for the Dom‘nion of Can.

Brussels, Belgium 1951
Also

English 3-X Stout

“Ask tor these popular Brands by name”

Brewed with Pure Rocky Mountain Water

ENTERPRISE BREWERY LIMITED

| line left his key in the Williams Lake
office with 47 years of service behind
him. It also happened to be his 44th
| wedding anniyersar,

SAW A LOT OF CARIBOO

During the interyening years
Hope saw a lot of the Cariboo and a
lot more of its passing parade, He
left Horsefly in 1908 and was

ie

er

Honour

he did a stint at Blackwater, return-
ing to the 150 for 15° years before
4 coming to the Williams Lake office.

Coming to Williams Lake was
fs

something like coming home too,
When Hope first came to the Cariboo
at the age of nine, his father was
manager of the 150 Mile Store and
\in 1896 leased the former Pinchheck
ranch where our town now stands.
The family stayed here four years
and then moved out to Horsefly.
Back in the days when Hope first
started operating, the man with the
key was an important fellow in the

e BEST BUY

TOKE, B.

community. There were no telephones

Year be one of

con:

NO

forming groups in your re:
keep in closer touch with

your dis

- °
Season's Greetings
‘to all Social Credit groups, their members,
future members and friends, may your New

PROSPERITY and SECURITY with FREEDOM OW

from your

Your executive is most anxious to hear from groups
and/or members, especially those

you posted on Social Credit activities and to convey
rict problems through proper channels.

and news of the world’ or news of
| neighboring communities came over
the ‘wire.’ The retired operator re-
members when the news of the San
Francisco earthquake crackled out.
Horsefly residents had more than a
passing interest in the tragedy be-
cause a daughter of one of the mine
owners was visiting the United States
centre at the time.

LINEMAN

The old-time operators were their
own linemen too. If snow or some
other trick of nature broke the cop-
per link, the operator had to start
out and find the break and repair it.
Each operator was responsible for
half the distance between his own
post and the next‘one, which could
entajl a lot of territory. Along the
Cariboo Trail and the side lines there
were operators at Ashchroft, Clinton,
108 Mile, 115 Mile, Soda Creek,
Alexandria and Quesnel. From Ques-
nel a line went to Barkerville and
east of here operators were located

stituency president,
JIM McKELVIE,

Wells, B.C.
TE

interested in
spective areas so we may
you and assist in keeping

J. McKelvie.

world at their disposal through the singing telegraper’s ‘key.’

tion show of her own. With approp- 2
covmreevenetss em Qperator Handied First Telegrap

e first telegraph line was com-
that mining centre of some 400
communication with the outside

Forks. When the operator was doub-
ling as a lineman he used saddle
horse, or snow shoes if it was neces-
sary in the winter time to look for
trouble.

This state of affairs existed for
some time in the Cariboo, Hope r.
members. The first cars to appear
were too expensive for a working
man to operate, particularly over
our roads. He recalls that the first
cars to appear on the ‘road’ were
the Winton Sixes brought in by the
B.C. Express Company in 1910. Tires
were the big obstacle in successful
maintenance as they were made per-
fectly smooth with no tread on them.!
When they werent vainly trying to
propell the vehicle out of a mud hole
they were usually in a state of col-
lapse. Hope remembers the stages
going up the road with eight or ten
spare tires attached to them. He also
remembers when Arthur Haddock re-
ceived the first tires in the country
prith tread on them and made history
frben one went 1500 miles and was

J ii one-piece. The tire manufac-
fing company had him. send the
tire back and gave him a new one.

MISSING PHONE

Hope has another story about his
Quesnel days when he was post
master as well as operator and work-
ed on the latter job from 8 a.m. to
8 p.m. and was on 24 hour a day mail
duty. This one concerns the mysteri-

because Hope wanted more than any-
thing else to win the shoot, but he
finally got the young competitor to
agree. Of course Hope went on to wia
and he received his case of ammuni-
tion. Needless to say marksmen in
the Cariboo again started using the
popular make of shells. Z
In 1908 Hope married Catherine
Rose. who was born at 150 Mile.
a well-known trap shooter in his|Was the daughter of Fred Rose, con-
youth and this love of outdoor sport| Stable at the 150 in those days. The
may in some measure explain why !Patenaudes have one daughter, Mrs.
today, although he is nearly 67, he|Doug Mallete of Williams Lake, and
has the energy of a much younger|a son, Spencer, at Boston Bar.
man,

St. Nick’s Spirit

It is thought that St. Nicholas

He has the Cariboo Observer Cup
and the Hudson Bay Championship
of Cariboo trophy to back up his
marksmanship claims. And those | died about 345 A.D., and for 30
were won in the days when trap aud} days following his festival day his
range work were outstanding sport | eetah apie Foamed the earth,
ae : illing the hearts of mankind wi

attractions in the Cariboo, love ‘and generosity. He gave the
USED NEW SHELLS gifts without thought of return—

| the true spirit of St. Nicholas and
Christmas.

In regard to shooting, Hope Pa’

May we flash you this message of gpod cheer —
“A Jolly Christmas and a Happy New Yea

Huston Agencies

Ken Huston

Claude Huston

ous disappearance of the first tele-,
phone to be shipped into Quesnel.

This was in 1910 when the first
composite or ‘howler’ type phones
were being installed along the road
and Hope had been informa by bis
superiors that one was on the way for
Quesnel. Weeks went by and the
phone never showed up. The express
company began to check and could
trace the piece of equipment to Soda
Creek, but from where it took to the
river boat there was just no sign of
it. The shipper’s description of the
package gave the first hint of where
it might have disappeared. The phone
had been carefully packed in a whi
key box, and in those days the riv
steamers carried fairly large ship-
ments of whiskey boxes containing
the real article. It is believed that
someone made off with the govern-
ment’s box in the belief that the
markings on the exterior indicatea
the true nature of its contents and
probably threw the queer looking
contraption into the river when he
opened the box in pleasant antici-
pation.

Hope has contributed his bit to
community activities during the
years. For the last 15 years he was
at the 150 Mile he served as secie-

at Horsefly, Bullion and Quesnel

tary of the school board. He was also

may it be yours
to the fullest extent

The Famous Bakery

ission, $1.50 each
Music

BLAS ANNUAL NEW YEAR'S EVE. FROLIC

Wednesday, December 3lst
Dancing 10 p.m. to ?

by Larry House’s Orchestra

Bring in the New Year at the Elks Hall