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Floyd Frank’s memories of

the Skeena Valley printed

by Betty Barton

My Valley’s ‘Yesteryears, by
Terrace pioneer and author Floyd
Frank, is now available at the
Terrace Co-op and Misty River
Books. The price is $11 for this
colourful personal history — “the
story of the early settlers to the

. Skeena River Valley, those hardy

folks who came from all corners of
the globe, drawn by the prospect
of a good life for themselves and
their families." On the back cover,
Frank goes on to say, “Though the

hardships were many, and the.

retums sometimes few, those who
stayed created a close-knit com-
munity where everyone was wel-
come."

Floyd Frank has lived his entire
life along the Skeena River. His
family were among the first set-
tlers drawn to the area by promises
of land with "great agricultural
potential". For more than 80 years
he has lived on a plot of land just
east of the confluence of the
Skeena and Kitsumkalum rivers.

Floyd Frank was born in Port
Essington in 1904, In 1908, the
family moved to a preemption in
the Skeena River valley. Floyd
Frank remembers making a game
of sawing firewood with his
brother Ivan, seeing who could last
the longest on his end of a Swede
saw. The Frank Brothers later had

a bit of a logging company with

Tommy Leaver, a faller. They
spent many hard years developing
their farm, on which they grew
strawberries and potatoes, In their
biggest year they grew 50,000 Ibs
of potatoes!

This year has been the first in 53
years during which Floyd and
Aileen Frank didn’t grow potatoes.
Frank Bros Dairy evolved from the
farm and operated for 33 years,

with house-to-house delivery of
milk and cream in glass bottles. In
33 years, the price of milk had

gone from 12 1/2 to 30 cents, In —

the chapter titled In the Retirement

Business, Frank recalls, “In the 32.

years I was on the milk route,
there were only two days when I
failed to finish my route,-a six
day-a-week job. Once was from
falling ill, and the second time was
when extreme cold weather froze
up my car engine and I had to be
towed home."

Floyd Frank dedicates his book
"to the early settlers of the Valley,
both men and women. They were
an honest Jot who cheerfully
accepted the hardships of life in
ihe wilderness.”

Nadine Asante was one of the
people to spark Floyd Frank’s
interest in writing down his .mem-

ories of life along the Skeena
River. When Nadine was writing
the History of Terrace, she called
Floyd, "my best source of informa-

tion", She had wanted him to co-

author the book with her, but he
declined. Instead, he provided the
material for the timber and logging
section of the book.

’ After that, he had a column in
the News Advertiser called Out-
look from the Lookout. The editor
was very supportive, and with
Frank’s permission even published
one of his articles in a lower main-
land paper.

It was Terrace Museum Society
member Mamie Kerby requesting
write-ups of local family histories
that finally set the wheels in
motion. Floyd Frank provided her
with a written account of remem-
bered events every few weeks, and
that was the beginning of his
memoirs.

With 95 pages completed a num-
ber of years ago, Floyd Frank
loaned the original manuscript out.
When it was eventually returned,
only 31 pages were included. With
his eyesight failing, he re-typed the
missing copy from memory and
carried on from there.

The whole book has been written
from Floyd Frank’s remarkable
memory. He prefaces the book
with the clarification, ".,.this is a
story of my life and family and
events as I remember them. In
some cases, my recollection of
events may not be the same as
others and I know I have left out
some of the early settlers. These
are just my memories of my val-
ley’s yesteryears." Frank still has
a wonderful memory for details,
poetry and ditties, as illustrated by
his recitation, during this interview,
of all the verses of a song he heard
in the old snack bar on Lakelse
Avenue, during World War II.

All the photos in the newly pub-
lished book were Frank family
possessions. Floyd especially likes

to joke about a photo taken at

Eby’s Landing (where the river-
boats used to dock) of him and
brother Ivan. He calls them “the
first team of jackasses in the val-
ley."

My Valley’s Yesteryears contains
21 chapters including The Bach-
elors of the Dutch Valley, Farming
and Bears Don't Mix, Cabins and
Other Reasonable Facsimiles, and
My Partner, Billy de Beavair.
Floyd Frank says of the completed
book, “I will give one to Mamie
for prompting me. Ted Johnston
helped a lot, too. I have a copy of
his book, so he should have a copy

Sports.
Community News
Arts & Entertainment

_ Features

Floyd Frank: They were an honest lot who cheerfully accepted the hardships of life in the

wilderness.

of mine." A total of 2,200 copies
of My Valley’s ‘Yesteryears have
been published for sale and as gifts
to the Frank. family and friends. A
donation will be made to the Dr.
R.E.M. Lee Hospital Foundation

for the CT scanner from the pro-
ceeds.

This Friday Floyd Frank will
celebrate his last birthday in their
old house, with their four children
from Vancouver, Prince Rupert

and Terrace. Their home was built
53 years ago by Floyd’s brother,
Ivan. Floyd says proudly, "My son
Norman takes after him." The
Franks will soon be moving into
the Twin River Estates.

City taken to task by Rotary
for condition of bus shelters

The Terrace Rotary Club has
written a letter to city council
noting the “sad state of repair" of
many bus shelters in town. The
bus shelters were originally pur-
chased by the club and donated to
the city for the convenience of the
public ridership. The only condi-
tion to the donations was that the
city maintain the shelters in a
reasonable state of repair.

This apparently hasn't happened,
though, and at their July 18 meet-
ing the club passed a resolution
calling for the city to maintain the

shelters “to a higher standard than
they are at present" and consider
the installation of Lexan, a type of
shatter-proof clear plastic, in bus
shelters where the glass is fre-
quently vandalized.

The matter has been referred to

council’s Planning and Public”

Works Committee but according to
Public Works director of engincer-
ing Stew Christensen there may be
no easy answer, The bus shelter in
front of Northwest Community
College has been the most difficult

to maintain, he says. On the aver-
age, the glass in that shelter is
broken about once a month.
Because of that, city crews have
resorled to a strategy of replacing
the glass only when faced with
winter winds.

Installing Lexan is an alternative,
Says Christensen. It won't break
and would frustrate vandals to a
certain point. But on the other
hand, Lexan is very expensive and

can casily be scratched, carved, of.

melted with a lighter,