1936 tragedy reminds us to take. care of Skeena’s beauty today _ - FROM HIGH water to forest fires, let’s look back to 70 years ago, to the devastation ofithe big flood of 1936. _ As I started writing this article in early June, Terra- cites were out watching the fast flowing waters of -the Skéena, And by looking at the amount of high water and debris, the mighty Skee- na was again threatening all’ that gets in its way. It was a little reminder,. that we who live here have: ‘learned to respect her. She completely rules the lives. of those who live along her banks, and lets. nothing , get: in her way. There are {still a few | people around who can talk about the damages that oc- curred 70. yearsago. =» eT would like to reprint = .some quotes from an old: ® timer Floyd. Franks recol- "lection of the Skeena River flood of 1936 from the book .. My Valley Yesteryears: Ter-_ race Region was Devastated by the Skeena: The whole North Skeena -~«-Valley was devastated by . the. rampaging Skeena Riv- - er. Farm ‘homes,’ livestock, | buildings, and vast tracts _ Of the farm land itself: were " swept away. The 1936 flood was so high that Ferry Island was - under five feet of water, as - was Little’s Island further “downstream. | _” The slough that separates Ferry Island from the main. land started eroding. — Just south of Haugland -Avenue was John Loen resi- | ’ dence, along the bank of the slough. In only a,few hours their back yard had disap- - peared and it was evident the ‘house was in danger. . . +. Clare Giggey . brought a. big crawler tractor down, put a cable around the house and attempted to haul it back from the riverbank. But a large stone fireplace in the house was too firmly established, and the onlook- ers had to stand by help- lessly and watch the house be slowly underminded and then slide into the swirling water and float helplessly away. Closeby but further downstream on Graham Av- enue was Nigel Sherwood’s home. Giggey turned to. _ its salvation and found the house had been built in two sections which, with very. little trouble, separated. ‘Both . sections were dragged back from the river, later rejoined and the, Sher- wood’s were able. to ‘once again take up residence in ‘|. | the home. This house still ‘sits on Kerr Street today. The lower land at the ‘south end of Hipp, Amdam . and other .properties along the south side of Graham Ave. were all under water, but no damage. was done i in the area. Braun’s Island was also under at least five feet of ‘running water, but fortunate- ly, at that time, everyone had . left the island. The peak of the flood came about the first of June and lasted about three days before it started to subside. Henry Frank’s and Billy ‘Goodwin’ S. land was located © in the Bend i in the river where . erosion is the usual thing... At that tinie, Goodwin YVONNE-MOEN had about 10 acres west of Frank’s place and south of the tracts, while the Franks property totalled. about 30 acres: ‘The bank “along “here started to disappear at an as-: tonishing rate. Billy Goodwin started moving furniture out of his house, and Ivan Frank, see- ing him rushing around, went to give him a hand. As. the last of the furnishing was removed, the house ‘tilted and slid into the river. In that first day, all this property south of the tracts disappeared, and the Frank property. started to go at a more rapid rate. In this bend of the river” (Frank Street), the land loss was 25 to 30 acres — all in three days. . Lloyd Johnstone wrote the last train went through day. _ THE Loen house on Kerr Street right before it slid into, the water and floated down: the river during the flood of 1936... » CONTRIBUTED PHOTO Terrace May 29 that. year - and it was Aug. ‘14 before ‘another. arrived,. as many miles of tracts were washed away. The site of what + ‘is re- ferred to as Eby’s Landing was..just a stone’s throw south of where Keith Av- ’- enue reaches the Skeena at the avenue’s west end to- All this land has disap peared, as has the Billy - Goodwin farm. Goodwin bought a 10- acre triangle piece of land _along. the river. He built “a two-storey house, a ‘log barn and, a few years later, built the first greenhouse in the valley. He cleared a few acres of land and planted quite an orchard and a good . garden. The heritage home built in 1908, by Henry Frank on Frank Street still remains, surrounded by only about 10 acres left from the’ original homestead. a It had been a slow spring and then suddenly tempera- tures shot yp. The river just couldn’t contain the rapid runoff. Throughout. the | whole region, dwellings and other ~ buildings floated about like boxes and were smashed by » . the rushing water. Terrace, Remo, Usk, Kit- wanga the entire area was affected. : After 33 years of operat- ing Frank Bros. Dairy, Floyd -and Ivan Frank sold the busi- “ness to new owner Ted Hid- ber, who officially took over the business Sept. » Floyd Frank retired as the - Terrace’ milk man after 32 years on the milk run. ; Then on’ Sept. 4, - 1973, Frank Bros. Dairy made its ‘Jast door-to door delivery, _ after 41 years, serving the , community. Since the new owner took : over in 1965, more land has disappeared from the origi- nal Henry Frank homestead. When we write of the Skeena, we write of its rich - history. . I remind everyone please do not pollute her, but re- spect her. She is a beautiful river. 1,. 1965 — ‘under the sameé name. | - 4 live inthe most beautiful. part of the world. We have’ «so much beauty that sur- “rounds.us, a And. now as this: article will come to print, another" disaster is threatening our ~ beautiful Valley — a forest fire possibly caused by care- , less people. In Terrace’ s early history, fires swept’ over the valley and destroyed acres upon . acres of the forest. I remind-.everyone to please take care when enter- ing the woods, make sure — of camp fires, and burning - cigarettes. Let’s not have a careléss act destroy our beautiful Skeena Valley. SALE Ow WOW It's worth it MeBike Comput ER CAMP zl Congratulates _@ THE TERRACE PUBLIC LIBRARY JULY 4-7, 11-14, 25-28 auGusT 1-4,°8-11, 15- 18 | AGES 6- 9° oa . WEDNESDAY & FRIDAY @ 10: 30AM.. “AGES 10-14 ; _ TUES, wep, THURS, FRI 1@ 4: 30PM . ; HIGH roo Royal LePage Terrace We are so -fortunate, to” tke| Garden Talk. The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, duly 1 9, 2006 - B3 “Community, BBQ fundraiser | “YOUTH EMERGENCY SHELTER eee ‘Thursday, July 20 : cor elie M to nomial | r pin gs ites &'Mar adées: cF A , 7 Baws =a ae — —— 4 AWE SHIP FOR A SS CHARGE Va GREYHOUND Open Sundays Noon - 5:00 p.m. Skeena Mall > Terrace gemmas@monarch.net 7 1-s00- Wee 563-4262 eae UPLAND’S NURSERY Creating a ‘Pond Ecosystem The pond ecosystem is a delicate balance of life designed to achieve a beautiful display. Not: only is a balanced pond ecosystem pleasing to | » the eye and mind it’s also self sufficient and low maintenance. The lager the pond the easier it is. -to balance. It is critical to consider all the pieces of the pond puzzle before building your water feature. In a healthy pond you have beneficial bacteria living in the filters and among rocks and gravel, that consume ammonia and change it to nitrite. Then another bacteria changes ni- |. trite to nitrate. The plants absorb the nitrates; | ~~ the fish eat the plants and produce ammonia, ‘which starts the cycle over again. Ifa pondis|.. | shut down the bacteria start to die from. lack of: oon oxygen in as little as 2 hours. Nae ‘The most common ‘complaint: about ponds i is al gae especially string algae. “The reason for ex- | . : | cessive algae growth is an over load of-nitrates‘| =. -in the water, and not enough plants:to absorb | .. them, a lack of beneficial bacteria, and/or fish }) | that consume~the- algae. Mid summer can be a bad time. for algae. The warm sun beating ‘down on the pond causes the plants and, like other gardens, the weeds (algae) to grow ‘well. If your pond is not balanced properly. then you will get an abundance of algae. We have several | fish safe products at the store that can help you with these problems.” You could also add a few Vance Hadley Success on attaining - “Platinum Award”. For the month of July . Royal LePage Terrace Our Growth in sales means many satisfied home Buyers & raumat Sellers in Terrace & Kitimat © “=~ We've Moved - 4724 Lazelle on | ‘|. more plants to.absorb the excess nutrients. In order to have a healthy, low maintenance pond you have to have a balanced ecosystem. Once you have achieved this all you have to do is sit back and enjoy! - THE DEMAND WAS SO HIGH... SIGN UP NOW FOR OUR... -] Tasty jazz. "| SAXOPHONE players Wes Laing (left) and Bob Tarr funked it up at the “Artful Cup with their band the Jazz Banditz July 12. SARAH ARTIS PHOTO Behind McDonald's on Lazelle EERIE Te eeprcered DEED D RED excoccores BEDE ER NE pcencescores DOE ee THEE | |. YOU’RE READY FOR SUMMER. IS YOUR HONDA? a) . . . 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