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Williams Lake, B.C., Wednesday, April 16, 1953

Single Copy 10c — $2 per year

At Quesnel on Move

Some seven homes are in ‘Maheer of complete
destruction as a resultvof a-htge landslide on the
Red Bluff sub-division -across the Quesnel- River
south of that northern town. Three homes are
directly in the path of the slide and are already

PRACTICING FOR BIG
MOMENT ON STAGE

Scenes like these are being
repeated in homes through- *
out the town and district
as youngsters practice for
the second annual Central
Cariboo Music Festival, t

be held this Friday and

twisted wreckage.

The huge slide began last

— week following heavy rains in

the area. Small sections had
broken away from the top of the
long hill over the past few years
but it was not until last Friday
that the whole mass began to
heave and move down toward
the river mouth.

On that day, the home of
Bert Brinkman, half-way up the
hill on the new highway cut-off,
began to heave and twist. Mr.
and Mrs. Brinkman and their
two sons moyed to the home of
a brother. Yesterday their
home was almost crushed fiat.

‘The pretty four-room hose was a

built only five years ago.

MOVING MASS

The whole hillside is a slowly
-moying mass of broken earth,
with trees leaning at odd angles
or smashed and broken by the
slide. A bulldozer is kept busy
clearing a harrow channel
through the morass to allow the
single line traffic to get through.
It is the. only way out of
Quesnel or 20 north—except by
railroad. This is the third road
built to miss the slide area.

So far, the P.G.E. is not
effected. The river is high and
no trouble is expected until the
water level drops.

The home of Leo Demas is
some 300 yards below the
Brinkman house and is also in
the path of the slide. The pres-
sure of tons of clay above is
pushing up underneath the lower
homes. The whole scene looks

us aoseh Where kad been ‘an

earthquake—huge cracks are
everywhere, roads are tipped at
45-degree angles and cracked
open every few feet with some
fissures over six feet deep.
SEES GROUND HEAVE ©

The Demas family left their
home Saturday. Leo tells of
noticing the ground weaving
when he and his wife returned
home from a dance at about
2a.m.. The next morning they
were forced to move.

Just up the hill to the side
of the Demas home is’ what is
left of the home and garage of
Les Aitken. The garage is
tipped down into a newly-
formed gully, while the house is
tipped crazily in another direr-
tion. ‘They were just, able to
pull their small trailer out of
danger before the earth opened
up. The Demas well is being
“pushed out of the ground,’””

All the families at the iower
end of the slide were able to
remove theih Wielongings. Not
50 lucky are several families
living high up the hill ow’ the
old road—now absolutely im-
passable. = =

The $14,000 home of Norman
Zoharis is in the path of the
upper edge of the slide—but he
can’t get in to rescue any of his
furniture. Three other homes
in that area are also in danger
—their foundations are cracked
and the earth about them is
moving.

Value of the other homes al-
ready in the slide ranges from
$3,000 to $6,000, The -large
burner of Patchett’s Sawmills is
directly below the slide on the
Johnson flat. Fear is being ex-
pressed for it as already the bot-
tom of the slide is breaking out
directly behind it and clay is
being pushed toward it. Huge
boils of clay push up all along
the bottom of the slide and new
holes appear without warning.

The Red Cross haye been busy
and all families are being cared
for.

4

Several theories are being put
forward concerning the slide.
Some report digging wells and
finding blue ice very deep.
Others report (and many people
seem to concur-on this) of see-
ing steam or smoke rising from
pictions high on the hill over
the past years, where snow will
neyer lie.
RELOCATE HIGHWAY

Efforts are being made to re-

locate the highway on the other:
side of the dangerously sliding
Red Bluff—this road would run
from Dog Prairie, present .end
of the blacktop, about eight
miles out of town, past the
Johnson sub-division and across
the river by the Pacifie Western
Planer Mill. This would mean
a new bridge and’ the new road |
would by-pass the main city of |
Quesnel. Local M.L.A. William

ernment approval.

The length of the slide is|
approximately a quarter of a
mile and some reports have it
2,00 feet high and 1,00 feet
jeep.

Mill Rate
Stays Same
As Last Year

Property rate tax in Williams
Lake will remain at 20 mills,
councillors decided at a special
meeting Monday night.
Chairman Herb Gardner, at
last fall's stewardship meeting,
had intimated the mill rate
might drop, but it has been evi-
dent for some time now that
the village will need all the
money it can get to handle a
major job on water line re-
placement.
Problem is that
trank Line inte jtown mast be
replaced

the main

immediately, ana it!
was planned to have this work
included in a general water im-
provement plan for which u
money bylaw would be prepared.
It wouldn't be possible to have
this bylaw ready for~presenta-
tion this year, and: councilors
plan on taking the major portion
of $30,000 alloted in this year’s
budget for street work to finance
the water line. They are check-
ing to see if it is possible to do
this and replace the money in
the general revenue account

Continued on Page Six
First Section

Speare is trying to hurry gov- §

Saturday at the Elks Hall.
At the right is Lillian Lar-
son, daughter of Mr. and
Mrs. T. A. B. Larson, and
at the left is» Marilynn
Jones, daughter of Mr. and
Mrs. Arnold Jones. Both
girls are in the solo classe}
Popularity of the mu
festival is a source of
amazement to the sponsor-
ing groups, Classes are so
heavy that consideration
is being given to making
it a week-long affair next
year,

— Tribune photos §

Spotlight on Children
In Music Festival Week

It’s festival time in Williams Lake this week, | ing
died suddenly

and hundreds of town and district youngsters are
putting the finishing touches to their hours of prac-
tice as they prepare for the final moment when their |,
talents will be displayed to the adjudicator.

The second annual Central
Cariboo Music Festival will he
staged for two days, Friday and
Saturday, with morning, after-
noon and evening sessions in the
Elks Hall.

These final pre-festival days
have been busy ones, too, for the
hard-working committee mem-|{ne public to provide a good
bers. Because of the lateness| audience for the youngepertorm-
of some entries, it was not pos-|ers, They emphasiny Qe pub-
sible-to mgke up atime schedule | tic suppert, of an ens Pour of
until Monday night, and there is|inds nature is of parajnodnt im-
a feeling that even yet there) portance to its contfhued suc-
tnay he changes as some classes | cess, ay
go over their alloted time.

Teachers’ Association is giving
a $10 scholarship fox the high-
est marks in yoeal solos, and | ¢l
the Skyline P-TA has
offered a trophy for one of the
competitions. a

The committee is appealing to

cy

Tig

Season tickets, good for all
sions, including evenings, are
r and a

The tremendous
entries, which indicates
growing interest in music

valanche ot'|
the
and

drama in ths area, has the com-|may ye purchased at The
mittee already discus the|myipune office.
possibility of next y festi-

affair. Class competitions will start

val being a week-long
at nine o'clock Friday morning,

Several trophies have been put] roniowing a brief opening cere-| >

up for competition this year for

also |- district
Lean was educated in Vancouver

British Columbia prior
ing his arteleship.

miitil 1941

Williams Lake 1:

Local Lawyer
Dies Suddenly

Courtenay MacLean, practis-
lawyer in Williams Lake,

onday night in

his room at Valley View Motel, |:
where he was resident,
by

He was
the motel proprietor,
on, at noon Tuesday
Mr. MacLean had

ound

been ailing for some time.

Born
hewan,

in Battleford, Saskat-
where his father was a
court judge, Mr. Mac-

nd attended the University of
to tak-

He was called to the Bar in
and practised in Vancouver
From there he went

tora rls and thea moved |
to Kamloops in 1946, where he

iS registrar of land. titles for

In 1953 he returned to pri-

vate practise and came to Wil-
liams Lake in November, 1955.

He is survived by a wife and

two children living n Kamloops

The Indian Department health
rty arrived “in
night.

mony. Spoken verse, solos and
the first time. The Order of the) Gora) speaking by presschool| _ It Will map out a program to-
Royal Purple is giving a shield day to visit local Indian reserves
for grade five choral speakin: | Continued on Page Six where routine chest examination
the Williams Lake District! First Section will be carried out.

Committed For Trial
On Murder Charge

Violent death came to Harvey Herman Bowe
during- a drinking party at thé old Becher House
near Riske Creek on the night of April 15, follow-
ing his attempt to force his attentions on a young
Indian woman.

This was the story told in
court last week at'the prelimin-
ary hearing of a charge of mur-
der laid against Mrs. Celestine
Sam. The accused has been
committed for trial at the spring
Assizes.

from the bedroom: “1 don’t
care if I get hanged, I'm going
to shoot all three ofyou.”

Cross-examined by defence
counsel Norman Mullins, Whitey
said the men were pretty drun
by the time they reached the
Becher House. Te said Bowe
did not hit Celestine when’ he
threw her on the bed, but he
said Harvey was trying io rape
the woman and she fought him.
He said he did not help Bowe
by holding Celestine.

Medical testimony revealed
that Bowe died from hemorhage

Four men, Don Woodward,
Ernest Hance, Frank Whitey and
Bowe left a dance at Riske
Creek to visit the Becher House.
Witness Ernest Hance said Bowe
wanted to go to the house and
drink, and thought Dave Sam,
husband of Celestine, was at
home.

The men arrived about 2 a.m.,

bullet entered the chest [j73x #7

went into the house, and in a] ine~"gofiat and —ravelled
back bedroom found Mrs. Sam] agin,

and another woman, Theresa 5
George. The group stayed in| Crown prosecutor in’ thé trial

of Mrs; Sam is Dougias MeNeil,”
of Quesnel.

the bedroom drinking wine for
about three hours. One of the

men, Woodward, lay down and
slept through the ensuing
trouble.

Cai Operator
Missing

Sulo Heikkila, a 31-year-old
erawler operator, is reported ~
anissing from his home in Smed-
leyville. He'was last seen by
his wife on Friday when he said
he was going to 150 Mile House

to a job helping to jack up a
house,

Hance testified that sometime
during the night, Bowe was
wrestling with Theresa on the
bed and Celestine helped her to
break away. He said Celestine
got a knife and when Franik
Whitey tried to take it away,
she stabbed him. He said
Celestine then picked up a lan-
tern and the girls went into the
kitchen. The witness. testified
the accused said: “I'll shoot

t

you all. I don’t care if 1 ge
hanged.” First signs of his disappear-

ance came to light Friday night
‘GUN: DISCHARGES: when an R.C.M.P. police con-
S Going on witt his story,|stable found a 1949 car appa-
Hance said he aja féwe foi-|rehtiy abandonadon Uns Carinod
lowed the girls, ‘Bowe in the; Highway ne: the Drive-In
lead. The lantern was’ on the} Theatre. Tt was Heikkila’s car.

floor as they entered the kit-|The iguition kev had not been

hen and Bowe approached to|removed and the car was
within four feet of Celestine|brought in. to police head-
and kicked the lantern, Hance| quarters.

heard a gun fire twice. He said

It was Sunday before Mrs.
Heikkila reported that her hus-
band still had not returned. The

he ducked under a table and
then crawled to the door. He

and Whitey then broke a win-| (5s talon to her on Monday,
dow'to get outside. In the meantime, the police

Whitey related a relatively|search continues ana anyone
similar story to Hance’s, al-|able to supply any information,
though he did not see the inci-| however small, is requested to
dent in the kitchen. He said he|contact R.C.M.P. headquarters

heard Celestine say as she ran|in Williams Lake.

Red Bluff slide area that

uth of Quesnel:

mile

Pictured at the left, northbound traffic
moves down the emergency route being
maintained ona 24-hour
Highways Department crews over the

disrupt travel over Highway 97, one
Seen in the pic-
ture is the Bert Brinkman home, first

WHEN RED BLUPFP HILL MOVED

Four other houses, all modern homes,
located on the route of the old road
east and south of the area seen in the
picture, are in danger of being treated
in the same manner as the Brinkman
While traffic has been kept
the Highways Department

basis by

threatens to

| of three to be demolished by the slide. )
| |
| \

|

will abandon the entire Red Bluff hill
round Dragon Lake

detour
avelled

the
been
sufficiently to car
carried by the C
In th ght picture,
men,
Doug Jones,

ouce

and

y the flow of traffic
boo Highway.

three Quesnel
ith Campbell, Peter
Stand out on the crumb-

me
3

— Cariboo Observer

ling land that was once the old route
around Red Bluff Hill, familiar to all
travellers, entering Quesnel from the
south. Cracks ali two feet in
width and more than 15 feet deep have
developed as the road slid away in the
mammoth slide that has n continu~
ing on the hill for the pasi week.

photos

st

aightened

r Gook and

caused by a gunshot wound. The &