or

‘13a Terrace Review — Wednesday, April 20°

and Country Club in Thornhill marks the begin-

| The opening this weekend of the new, long- |

awaited clubhouse at the Skeena: Valley Golf

ning of a fresh era of development for both club
members and the community as a whole. To
commemorate this event the Terrace Review this
week takes a look at the club’s history, courtesy
of Skeena Valley Golf and Country Club board

member and former Ladies’ Champion Leona: | .
Wilcox. _ ani

by Leona Wilcox

In the beginning the property
known in legal terms as Lot
1430, Range 5, Coast Range,
was pre-empted by Mr. Edward
M. Haynes, single, who ham-

_ mered in a claim post on Octo-

ber 9, 1907 on a piece of Crown
land located at Little Canyon
about two miles southeast of the
Skeena River. On the post he af-
fixed a notice, ‘‘Initial post, pre-
emption claim, northwest corner
160 acres’’. Under the Land Act,
he submitted an application for
this unoccupied and unreserved
Crown land (not being part of
any Indian settlement). He per-
sonally surveyed the acreage and

From idea
1951-1

Terrace mayor Emil Haugland
was one of the people present
on opening day of the Skeena
Valley Golf and Country Club. «

In late 1951, H.R. (Bob and
Doris) Grabler from Salmon
Arm ventured into the Pacific
Northwest lured by the promise
of work in the new town of
Kitimat. Finding Kitimat still
more or less in the planning
stages, they decided to look
around and find some farmland
suitable for a golf course. They

"Early beginnings —
— back in 1907 |

in the application noted the Land
was not designated as . timber
land under the Land Act. The
application was. sworn at
Kitselas on October 14, 1907 in
front of the then Justice of
Peace, Mr. George Little. The
description read, 40 chains all
sides. He was issued a Pre-

emption Record on December:

21, 1909, The Crown Grant was
issued to him on June 1, 1911.
The land was then farmed by
himself until 1920, a Mr. Young
from 1920 to 1925 and then Mr.
Arthur Cote until about 1935.
Some of the fruit trees planted
then, still produce apples today!

, 3
oe
.

he

rad

This Saturday the Skeena Valley Golf and Country C

clubhouse.

lub will celebrate the official opening of thelr newly-completed

areas for the sand greens. There
was much work to be done to
establish a golf course. Mr.
Grabler with his crew of 15 men
set to work to have three holes
ready for play as soon as golfing
weather would allow. In the
meantime on the local front,
once it became known in the
‘small community that there was
a golf course being constructed,
Mr. Grabler had a lot of vol-

that he could have three holes

MH unteer support. Bob promised
to reality:

952

had discovered there was not a
golf course anywhere in the
region and decided this might be
a good investment, After look-
ing at various abandoned farm
properties available, they heard
about Mr. Cote’s farm that was
for sale back in the bush in
Thornhill. They put on their skis
and skied the four miles to in-
spect the area. Many of the ‘fair-
ways’ had been previously clear-
ed but were now covered with
secondary growth, With its
beautiful setting up under
Thornhill Mountain — it didn’t
take an avid golfer like Bob
Grabler long to realize the
potential of such a setting! They
bought the property from Mr.
Cote in February of 1952. The
land had not been farmed since
1935. During the Second World
War it had been used by the ar-
my as a rifle range.

As soon as the snow was gone,
Bob, with a crew of 15 men,
cleared fairways 1, 2 and 9 by
hand and bulldozed out the

ready by June and another one
or two shortly thereafter.
Aclub was formed in connec-
tion with the course under the
Societies Act and was known as
the Terrace Golf Club. One of

_their purposes back.in 1952 was

a

The firet road into the Skeena
Valley Golf and Country Clubwas
a primitive but serviceable axam-
ple of the roadbuilders’ art.

that eventually the members
would buy the facility from Mr.
Grabler. The reality of the pur-
chase was a long time coming,

- but the members finally bought
_ the club — long after Mr. Grab-

ler was gone,

The first officers were: Presi-
dent: Mel Peeke- Vout; Vice-
President: Jim McConnell;
Treasurer: ‘Sandy’ Sandover-
sly; Secretary: Ken Coleman.
The club that summer had a
membership of 51 members —
41 adults and 10 juniors. Men’s
fees were $25/year and green
fees were $1/day.

Throughout the remainder of
the winter months, the work
continued and the volunteers
turned out to assist in every way.
By spring, many old logs from
the buildings down near the pre-
sent pond area on 7 and 8 were
hauled up to where the club-
house stands today. The founda-
tion and base for a one-room
clubhouse was readied, finished
and in use by the following
winter. As promised by Mr.
Grabler, holes 1, 2 and 9 were
ready for play by June 1952. On
June 6, a grand opening was
held with the Honourable E.T.
Kenney, Minister of Lands, hit-
ting the first ball and Emil
Haugland, Commissioner of the
Village of Terrace, teeing off
second. It was a great day with
over 100 people turning out to
join in the festivities. It is to be
remembered that although this
was only four miles from town,
the road was a slash cut through
the bush from the old Kitimat
Highway (new then). It was also
a picnic day since only minimal

The Hon. E.T. Kenney, MLA for
Skeena In 1952, winged the first
ball down the fairway on the
Skeena VaHey Golf and Country
Club’s opening day 37 years ago.

refreshments were available at
the course.
On opening. day the 100 peo-

ple who visited and played dur- —

ing the day and those who saw
the course for the first time were
charmed and delighted with the
setting and totally surprised at
the amount of work that had
been accomplished in such a
short time. ;
In September 1952, two mor

holes were put into play — 4 and
5. In 1953 there were six holes in
play with the remaining three
holes ‘being opened in 1957.
These holes cover much the

-same area as the present course,

which existed until the changes
that have taken place over the
last couple of years. The course
was much shorter and very nar-

row as the old photographs in-

dicate. Par was 66.

EA

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