Wednenteys; Suly 28,08! et THE TRIBUNE, WILLIAMS LEX, 8.6. 7 Princess" informality keynote. of. Royal, luncheon here Informality was the keynote for the luncheon preparations for Princess Margaret. She was met at the top of the chute seats by Mrs. J. B. Ring- |) ‘wood and Mrs. D. Stevenson, colorfully garbed in‘ their Trail- Riders’ outfit of jeans and rea cowboy shirts, and luncheon was served by girls similarly dressed. “The tables were set with red and white checked tablecloths with place-mats of red, yellow, green and blue heavy paper, some painted with scenes of the beautiful Cariboo countryside and others with cattle brands. Paper napkins, wooden ‘salts- and-peppers, and “Western” crockery maintained the simple pattern, with the coffee served in mugs without saucers. The only distinguished note on the Royal table was a centre- piece. of blue delphiniums, white and red dahlies attractive- jy arranged in an Indian basket. Thé plain fare of pancakes, scrambled eggs and bacon wafted up from the chuckwagon brought into the arena where the Princess could see her luncheon being prepared by members of the frail Riders Club in jeans, cowboy hats and brilliant shirts of either red, green or blue. SPLITTING THE JACKPOT Joint candidates for the position of “happiest person in town” Friday night were Mrs. M. Shoemaker, left, and Mrs. Kleon Dietrich, shown here accepting $500 each from Harry Brown at the conclusion of the big $1000 Bingo night. In the jackpot play, Mrs. Diet- rich was the first to call out “bingo” and she jumped straight out of her chair on the arena floor as she announced the news. A couple of seconds later it was established that Mrs. Shoemaker also had a full card, and after a hurried consultation they decided to make sure of the $500 rdther than play another game to split the tie. Mrs. Shoemaker’s husband is in town to work on the Bank of Montreal building and Mrs. Dietrich is a town resident. Tribune photo. BRINGS PLANE DOWN IN NORTHERN CANYON Miraculous escape attributed of. Don Meyers” said Angus*MacDonald in Williams Lake yesterday following the forced landing of Don’s seaplane 400 miles north “His skill in the air and on the-turbulent surface of ’a rock- strewn, torrential rapid on which weihad to land saved the day,” thé-Vancouver geologist contin- ued> “Just another 50 feet downstream and all would have beén lost.’”” These remarks arose in an in- terview with three lucky-to-be- alive men’ who experienced a forced-landing under impossible conditions Saturday morning. They were on a prospecting trip at the time in the same area 400 miles north-west where local flyers Bert Lloyd and Bert Good- ridh lost their lives two years age. Third member of the party was prospector Tom Williamson. ‘Circumstances downing the plane occurred all too suddenly in?what appeared to be a rout- iné: flight from Sustut Lake to anpther lake a mere 20 minutes flying away. Custom in this mountainous terrain of towering peaks is to use such valleys as flying “roads”. Vigilance on cloud formation is always ob- served but there appeared to be litle danger on this morning as the plane took off in bright sun- shine. ESCAPE CUT OFF When over half way to their destination with mountain peaks on either side, the trio were sud- denly confronted with heavy cumiulous clouds ahead which made further advance out of the question. lot, Meyers wheeled the plana around’to return to the lalie until the weather lifted. They had only flown a few min- utés’ when they found that the clouds had also filled in on the refurn route making escape im- possible’ A try at’ an intersec- ting valley wasted precious min- utes and a dwindling fuel supply when cloud again turned the plane back into a cloud box wliose opaque sides were filling in by the second. Don told his passengers that there was only one hope . try a forced landing in the can- yon of the Sustut River which snaked below with 200 foot walls hemming in its 20 yard width. Straightest stretch they conld find was just over 200 yards long with no hope of a low, straight approach. ‘The three men shook hands as of here Saturday. the fuel tank showed a bare 15 minutes of fuel in the tanks, and down they went. “Don had to put the plane in a near-vertical dive to get into the canyon as near one end of the straight stretch as possible,” Angus exclaimed. “Suddenly we had hit the torrent and Tom Williamson nimbly jumped out, fastened a rope to a strut and leaped for the shore. Five feet short he was bowled over and swept off his feet but still clutched the rope.” Angus then followed suit and he too was overpowered by the current. Lessened weight on the plane, however, had made it more bouyant and it began to float towards a deadly whirl- pool with the two men in the water. Don switched on the mo- Cariboo scenes in program for Princess Cherished souvenir of Prin- cess Margaret’s stay in Williams Lake will be a special, hand- painted program, product of well-known local artist Mrs. Sonia Cornwall of Onward Ranch. The small booklet contained page after page of Cariboo scenes, ranch life and Indian camps. In the centre was an im- printed sheet giving the names of the contestants, show officials and the events. Is also contains a few lines about the artist. Two other artists, Mrs. Vivien Cowan and Mrs. Doug Chamber- lain painted the place mats used for the luncheon, and the Prin- cess took hers for a souvenir. She also received her special place card, made out on a mem- bership card of the Trail Ride’ Club and making her an honor- ber. to }@7Y member. An ashtray imprinted with the picture of the stage coach she took her morning ride in was also asked for by the Royal visi- tor. Mrs. John Young and daugh- Mr, and Mrs. S, Kinkead. cal_pilot _ ‘We're alive today Eeyen the skilful piloting tor while Tom had-’somehow managed-to make the bank -with his rope. The downward motion ceased and Angus scrambled along Tom’s rope to the shore where the two men, aided by the powerful motor, wriggled the plane upstream over rocks to a sand-bank. Pilot Don stepped ashore without getting his feet wet! “It was no 9:30 a.m.” Don related “‘and things looked de- cidedly brighter. We were un- hurt, the plane was little dam- aged and we had stacks of food, first aid supplies, weapons and cooking utensils. It was no use using the radio during the day so we went fishing and caught some wonedrful Dolly Vardens.” HEAR SIGNAL At 8 p.m. Don started trans- mitting and had just about given up hope when a weak signal was received from Smithers, 132 miles away. They were hearing the distress signal and Don said he would use “Sarah” his new emergency transmitter from 9 a.m, to 1 p.m. for the next four days. This would enable search- ing aircraft to tie in on Sarah's beep . . . and their position. “J knew air-sea rescue would get us if we could just give them a chance with Sarah” Don af- firmed. Sunday dawned cloudy and drizzly and although Sarah was switched on, they had little hope of being discovered in such weather. Sarah was doing a wonderful job, however. It was her first try-out in B.C. and possibly in Canada and just after 9 a.m. she sent her tiny signal to a Sea Island R.C.A.F. jet plane 37,000 feet above the marooned party. The jet located the party, ra- dar located the jet and a signal was sent to a Pacific Western Airlines helicopter instructing it to search the area. An odd coin- cidence had intervened, though. A Beaver aircraft spotted the men when it passed over low ou _|a routine flight that afternoon. (They had shot off flares and lighted a huge smoke pyre when they heard the aircraft engine). When the Beaver landed at Bear Lake it met the helicopter which had been searching all day. The helicopter pilot was sur- prised when the Beaver pilot said, “Yes, I’ve just seen your party.”’.. . and directed him to ter of Hope are the guests of|the precise spot. They weren’t meant to die, Old-timers prize presented by Princess It seldom happens in a cow- boy’s life that his prize for arena work is presented by a real princess, but it happened in Wil- liams Lake last Friday. The retired cowboy, rancher and Stampede contender con- cerned is Antoine Boitanio, who at this year’s main show won the old-timers calf-roping con- lest with a time of 28.03 sec- onds. During Friday's acual show, Stampede Association president Bert Roberts was brought up to the. stands. and presetited to: (Princess) Margaret Hen turn) presented Antoine and asked Her Highness if she would consent to giving the prize, an engraved buckle and belt. The presenta- tion was made and the Princess congratulated the winner. Antoine has another memory of thé gracious Princess. As she was leaving the stands’ to go to her car, she caught sight of him in the crowd and smiled and waved to him. Contestants receive scrolls All contestants and officials at the Royal Stampede last Fri- day took away with them a specia! seroll to mark the occa- sion. The original scroll was the work of Paul Wong, talented manager of the Ranch Cafe. This was then reproduced in quantity by The Tribune for the Stam- Except for wild coach ride, day’s program outstanding “T shan’t’”, stated the very petite and very inde- pendent young lady. And because the lady is a princess, the Royal tour was 15 minutes late in leaving Williams Lake Stampede grounds last Friday afternoon. Although only here for two and a half hours, the royal visi- tor was treated to what was probably the fastest stage coach ride ever made along the town’s main street, a luncheon from the Riding Club’s “chuck wagon” that she found so much to her liking that she had two helpings, anda close-up view of some of tthe Cariboo’s top cowboys com- peting in the arena. 1 STAGE COACH BUNGLE The only flaw in the other- wise perfect arrangements was the stage coach ride; and no blame could be attached to ‘the local organizers for this mix-up. The coach had been suggested “| several times, but had been turn- ed down by the tour officials. However, Thursday night, Lieut- enant - Governor Frank Ross heard about the coach and-asked the Princess if she would ride in it if he could arrange it. She replied that she would if he would come along too. Result was that Mr. Ross arrived in town by car about ten o'clock Friday morning; the coach was readied for the trip and the only team of horses available were taken from the chuck wagon. Down at the station, members of the Riding Club who were acting as outriders, had their work cut out for them as they held the frightened stage coach horses. Scared by the presence of so many people, the horses reared repeatedly as the presen- tations were being made. One of the first things Prin- cess Margarét~said® to Village Council Chairman Herb Gardner when she met him on the plat- form was “is it safe?” as she looked at the coach. The presentations over, the Princess was assisted into the coach in between lunges of the horses and when Mr. Ross climbed aboard ‘the cavalcade thundered up to the street. WILD RIDE Along Oliver Street an estim- ated crowd of 5000 people were waiting to see the Princess in a car. The coach they took as an “extra” to the cavalcade and since it was being pulled along at a dead run, no one had an opportunity to catch more than a fleeting glimpse of its Royal occupant. Riding Club president L. C. (Spike) Hannah, who acted as one of the outriders, said the fault was with the lead police vehicle, He said they had been warned on no acount to let any pede Association. space open up between the pac- battling two blazes on the At Niagara Creek two bull- dozers and 50 men are trying to contro] the march of a fire burning in heavy stands of spruce and cedar. The fire is on a steep sidehill and efforts are directed to letting the bunr tra- yel up to the alpine meadows. It is burning over from three to five hundred acres. To reach the scene of this fire, men have to travel by road 30 miles from Horsefly, by boat 40 miles up the lake and then pack in eight miles through the bush. Aircraft have been used steadily to drop food and supplies to the fighters. The other big fire is at Blue Lead Creek, where some 130 men are fighting a raging fire burning over 200 acres of heavy spruce, fir and cedar. ACT AS CHIMNEYS The land here varies from level to sidebill in terrain and high winds have made the prob- lem an acute one. | one of the worst problems \taced by fighters in the area-are [the huge cedar trees, ranging in diameter from six to ten feet. |These trees are usually rotten 150 men fighting forest fires on north arm of Quesnel Lake Bulk of 150 men being used by the Forest Ser- vice to fight fires in the Quesnel Lake area are East Arm of the lake. they act like huge chimneys, Seattering sparks in the wind. Men with power saws try to re- move the cedars, but this same rotten condition makes felling dangerous to the men. Both of these fires were start- ed by lightning strikes. Electri- cal storms in this district are usual with hot, dry summers. Blue Lead started July 11 and the Niagara fire July 12 The forestry office in Wil- liams Lake has supplied 102 men so far for the Quesnel Lake fires. There have been several more in this area, but they are now under control and being patroll- ed. Reporting for Ranger Tom Hamilton, who is on the fire line, Assistant Ranger Glen Allan states there is little chance of men being released for a while in view of the seriousness of the situation In the Chilcotin, scene of large fires earlier this summer, Ranger Jeff Bodman reports eight fires burning but all un- der control. Largest is burning over 20-30 acres. The fires are all in the Tsunia lin the centre, and once alight Lake district. ing car and the stage coach. At that the coach was unable to keep up and by the time it reached the corner of Third Avenue the lead vehicle had dis- appeared around the corner. At Beath’s garage the coach was stopped and the Princess transferred to one of the auto- mobiles for the remainder of the trip to the grounds. She did comment to Stampede Queen Jean Stevenson, who had been riding in front of the coach that she was sorry she couldn’t have finished her ride in the old BX stage. The whole town was ready for the Princess's arrival at 11:45. Crowds jammed the foot of Oliver Street and people were perched on nearby store ‘roofs. Down by the station several hundred Boy Scouts, Wolf Cub and Brownies formed a smart backdrop for the coming plat- form ceremonies, and to one side stood members of the Canadian Legion branch. The train pulled past the sta- tion and stopped as the royal coach came abreast the two flags marking the spot where the presentations would be made. A moment after the train stopped Her Royal Highness moved out on the observation platform and down the steps. A small person, she looked even tinier as she paused on the last step and then came down to the platform to be met by Lieutenant - Governor Ross. PRESENTS FLOWERS, Mr. Ross presented Mr. Gard- ner to the Princess and the Council Chairman then took over the focal point of attention with the Royal visitor. In welcoming the Princess, Mr. Gardner said it was the first time in our history that we have been visited by a member of the Royal Family and the town felt very proud to have this honor bestowed on us. The traditional gift of a West- ern hat was made by Mr. Gard- ner and the Princess accepted it with the words “How very lovely.”” A bouquet of flowers was then presented to the Princess by Diana Peaerson, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Earl Peterson. The little girl, blind since birth, was overwhelmed by meeting the delays departure from stampede BUYS THEATRE K. WwW. deau of Quesnel has pur- (Ken) Thibau- chased the Alston Theatre here from W. S. (Sid) Western. Mr. Thi- baudeau takes over man- agement November 1. LOCAL THEATRE SALE ANNOUNCED Sale of the Alston Theatre to K. W. (Ken) Thibaudeau of Quesnel has been announced this week by W. S. (Sid) Western. Mr. Thibaudeau, at present Shell Oil agent at Quesnel, will take over active management on Novembr 1. The move will bring a close to 27 years association with the theatre business for Mr. West- ern. He first settled in Williams Lake in 1922, and was manager of the old T. H. Moore Store. Although he continued in the food store business, eventually owning his own in partnership with Ken Rife and Les Pigeon, he also became involved in theatre management in 1931 when he purchased the then Oliver Theatre. Seven years ago the new Als- ton Theatre was constructed, al- though the name was not chang- ed until two years ago. The Thiadeau family is well- known in the Cariboo. Mr. Thi- baudeau first went to Quesnel 20 years ago and for the past 14 years has been in the oil busi- ness. He once ran as Progres- siye-Conservative candidate in a provincial election. He is a keen curler and has serv- ed as president of the Quesnel Curling Club. Mrs. Thibaudeau was matron of War Memorial Hospital in Williams Lake prior to her mar- riage. Princeses, and the picture of her making the pr i tugged at the spectators’ heart strings. Then presented in order, were Bill Sharpé, president of the Centennial committee, and Mrs. Sharpe; Provincial Government Agent, Mrs. Les Pigeon and Mr. Pigeon; pioneer residents, Mrs: Norman Lee of Hanceville and Mrs. Wayne Huston of Soda Creek, and Stampede queens Miss Jean Stevenson and Miss Lorraine Squinahan. Following the ride through town, the motorcade went out the highway to Lakeside Motel and then down the lake road to the bottom entrance to the the grounds. The cars travelled part way around the race track and into the inner oval. Princess Margaret and her ladies-in-waiting walked up to the grandstand over the chutes, and were there met by Mrs. B. Ringwood and Mrs. mite Stevenson, who escorted the party to the end cordoned off for the Royal party. COWBOYS' BREAKFAST Out on the Stampede arena, the Trail Riders’ Club chuck wagon crew could be seen busily making up plates of bacon, eggs and hotcakes. In the chuck wagon were Dr. Barney Ring- wood, Mrs. Ken Rife, Mrs. Fred Downs, Mrs. Hazel Exshaw, Del Fowler and Mrs. Fowler. Nine girls, Jean Stevenson, Lillian Moon, Gail Pulver, Cecili Beauleau, Rita Rife, Bar- rie Benny, Freda Kozoki, Nona Bareson, and Susan Ringwood served the guests. They drew lots for the honor of waiting on the table occupied by the Prin- (Continued on Page 4) Visit was no financial success The Royal visit last Friday Was a success in every way but financial. A rough estimate on the Stam- pede shows that a loss of $700 can be expected. The gate real- ized $1051, far short of the ac- tual number of people on the grounds. The giant bingo run the same night for the artificial ice plant fund showed a profit of some- thing like $400, but this was offset by a loss at the dances Friday and Saturday. Attendance at the bingo was an estimated 700: To start adult swim classes Adult swimming classes will be started this Sunday at 10 a.m. at the public beach, it was decided at Monday’s meeting of the Aquatic Society. A small fee will be charged for the course. The Aquatic Day on June 29 showed a net profit of $500, which is about enough to cover the lifeguard’s wages for the summer. Mr. and Mrs. Dean Getz and family are on a month's yaca- tion to Saskatchewan.