_ flood of 1936.

One father and two sons
served in two worl

CLOSE TO Lakelse Lake is
Mount Attree, named after
Henry “Harry” John Attree.
It’s the most visible re-
minder of a family that lived
in the northwest from the
» 1920s to the 1940s.
_ The Attree family’s sto-
ry presented below comes
courtesy of Todd and Terri
Finlayson. Todd is grandson
to Harry.

The Family
ALFRED, - KATHERINE

and their two sons,. Harry
and Ken, moved to Terrace

in the late 1920s.

Alfred was a butcher by
trade and worked for Burns
& Co, in Prince Rupert and

" then took over the meat mar-

ket-in Terrace, and named it. °

Attree’s Meat Market.

' » Katherine was a nurse by
trade and worked i in Terrace
as a midwife.

‘The Attree family first
lived in a house on Hatg-
Jand near the river.-At that
time, the street was not, yet
named. They then moved to
what is known as the Gilbert
house on Walsh. Mrs. Attree

(Katherine) actually assisted

in the birth of a baby. girl in
that house during the great

Alfred Attree  waliking
down a street.

The boys did some of
their schooling in, Prince

Rupert''but mostly in Ter-" ’

race. They attended the Kit-
sumgallum public school
and high school. Harry. was
an avid fisherman and hunter
and spent many summers out
at Lakelse Lake. ;
_ Ken and Harry had many
friends and were well known
in the community along with
their parents. Many people
that we have spoken to re-
member the family fondly.

_ Corbin King, Maxine
Llewellyn, Gordon _ Little,
Freda Hall, Joyce Cole and
Marie Piffer are just a few of
‘the many friends and class-
mates that Harry and Ken
_ had while they lived in Ter-
race. ,

Katherine
KATHERINE was known
for her strong British accent

and the way she kept the -

family in line.

She was also known as
being a very kind and con-
siderate woman.

- Alfred
‘ALFRED was known as a
very patriotic man. At the

A teen’s life | in Terrace in

JOHN LITTLE was a nephew

to Terrace founder George

Little‘and wrote this letter as
_ayoung teen.

He joined the Canadian
Signal Corps in 1941, was
sent to Hong Kong, was cap-'
tured in Dec. 1941 and died
the following year. He was
barely in his: 20s. A waterfall

_ west of Terrace now bears
his name.

Dear Duncan: Oct. 5,
1938.

It’s a long time. since I
wrote to you so it’s about
time I wrote now. How are
you? I am in grade 10 now,
we have two teachers, Mr.
White and Mrs. Crocker. I
don’t like school and would
rather stay home and work.

We are getting wet weath-
er now and it is about time

-because all the wells around
_ Terrace are drying up.

1 worked . for ‘Uncle

George this summer from
June 15 to September 5.
He got in about 50 tons of

outbreak of the. First World
War in 1914, Alfred enlisted
in the 16th Canadian Scot-

tish in Victoria and went i

overseas with the First Divi-
sion.
While
was also the president of
the Legion in Terrace. He
then joined the army at the

unbelievable age of 60. He ©

of course. had to pull some

strings to get in but Alfred . |
felt that there was no way —

that he was going to sit at
home.

Alfred sold his business
and let the home and prop-

erty go, sold everything and
went to Victoria where he

was a Sergeant in the Army
Service Corps.

Some remember Alfred 7
giving out hot dogs to the -
children who would come

in to the butcher shop with
their parents. He was a very

large man and could be in- »

timidating to those who did
not know. him, as well as
those who did.

‘He was known as aman |

who was always happy and

smiling. He was a:prankster .°
with a good sense of hu-

mour.

again i in 1948.

Harry —
HARRY‘ WAS employed in

_ Prince Rupert by Swift &

Co. meat packers and at the

. time war broke out was the -
_ Sales manager for the north-

west part of B.C.
Prior to the war, he had

_ joined the 102nd Heavy Ar-

tillery Militia with a group

of his friends (the so-called -

Saturday Night Soldiers)..’
‘He. was called up right

around the time Canada de- .

clared. war on -Germany’ in
1939, Harry was given the
Regimental Number K10084
and was one of the first, if

not the first, person to Join,
up from Terrace. in 1939. He...

was 22 years old.

He left Prince Rupert a.
‘few months after his enlist-

ment and was in England by
Christmas serving with the
Ist Canadian Light Anti Air-
craft Battery. Harry manned
the anti aircraft guns on the
south coast of England dur-
ing the Battle of Britain.

In 1943,, Harry was with
the ‘first Canadian troops
that landed in the invasion of

. Sicily. Later in Italy, when
there were few replacements:

for the infantry casualties,

he was transferred to the

Lanark & Renfrew Scottish
Regiment as a Sergeant.
Harry was on active duty

all through the Italian cam-

paign until he was killed in
action on December 2, 1944
in Ravenna Italy. He is bur-

ded in a military cemetery in .
’ Ravenna. .
Harry died while leading .

an attack on a farmhouse
where German snipers were
concealed. The Canadians
were pulled out of Italy only
a few weeks later.

While “overseas, Harry

hay and thrashed about 900
bushels of oats. He shipped

a carload of steers to Prince’
,Rupert about 3 weeks ago

but he still has about 40 head
left. He. put in 3 dams in

“creeks on his land and piped

the water to his troughs.
Last week I helped a man
dig his spuds. I worked for
six days and he gave me 12
sacks, this should be enough
for us fora while. He got
about 8 tons of market spud

-and about 2 tons of pig spuds.
How are you making out on’

the farm? J am still milking
a cow for Uncle George but
we don’t get much milk now

because the pasture is so dry.

and there is about half a foot
of water in the well.

The two sawmills in town
have been running quite

steady all summer but the .

ones outside haven’t been
running at all. There are four
pole yards shipping poles
and broomsticks.

The fellow who I. helped
dig spuds was hauling poles

in Terrace, he-

_ The meat ‘market was lo-.
cated on the corner of Kalum”
* St. and Greig Ave. Alfred .
and Katherine returned to |
. Terrace in 1945 and then left

f

HARRY AND Doris Attree on their wedding ay in ngland i rE 1943, He was’ killed .
the next year in Italy. Doris now lives i in. Powell River.

met and’ married his _ wife. '

Doris in 1943.-in Sussex

England. They had a child -

together’in 1944 .but sadly
Harry was killed when. his

son Brian was only five
months old and he never did

get a chance to see him. ~
Brian (Harry’s son) came

to Terrace» with his mom -f

- and older. sister’ Maureen
from England after the war
and lived beside Alfred and

Katherine.
In 1945, a mountain near
Lakelse Lake was named

“after Harry in his honour by
E.T. Kennéy,'then the’ Minis- °

ter of Lands in the provincial

“government and a family

friend.
’ The mountain was firwst
called Attree Mountain then

renamed Mount Attree in.

1951. There is also a street
in Jackpine Flats named At-
tree Rd. and its name came

from the mountain in 1966.

Harry Attree’s name is
also written on the cenotaph
here in Terrace as well as
Prince Rupert.

’ Ken
KEN JOINED the B.C. Pro-

_ vincial Police in the spring

of 1939 as a probationer and

was sent to Rivers Inlet for.

the summer months. __.
By the time he got back

to Prince Rupert, -war had .
-broken out so he quit his job

and went back to Terrace. He
stayed in Terrace until April
1940 when he enlisted in the
102nd at Prince Rupert. He

enlisted with Maurice Her-
- bert who was one of the ca-
. sualties of the war.

Ken met his wife Marion

this summer from a place 27

miles north of Terrace. John.

Nielson, a friend of mine,
was running’ a boat which
tows the poles down the lake
to where they load them on
trucks. The lake is 8 miles
long. The poles range. from
50 to 85 feet long and some
are over two feet thick at the
butt.

I was in Prince Rupert this

- summer and saw some of the

fishing fleets. I went down
on a Saturday moming and
came back Monday night. I
tried to go through the cold
storage which is suppose to
be the world’s. largest but I
couldn’t get there on time.
Amy is writing to you and
has been waiting over a
week for me to write so we
could both send together.

- It will soon be Halloween.
Last year there was all kinds
of damage done. Some fel-
lows even broke the school
flagpole off. An 18-year-old
boy who I know quite well
shone a flashlight in the po-

KEN AND Marion Attree on their wedding day i in 1939.

Ken served in the Royal Canadian Air Force.

in Terrace in 1939 and. they:
were matried in the old St. .

Mathews church in 1941.
Ken joined the Royal Ca-
nadian Air Force that: same

year for aircrew training as

a wireless air gunner. He
served overseas in that ca-
pacity as'a Warrant Officer.

When he returned back
to Terrace years later, he re-
joined the provincial police
force which was taken over
by the RCMP in 1950.

He served in various loca-

_tions in the province, ending

in 1938.

liceman’s eyes while some
other boys were doing some
damage. The policeman
caught him and he was sent
to jail for six weeks.

How tall are you now? I
am 5 foot 9 1/2 inches and
weigh about 160 Ibs.

- There was an airplane
Stationed at Lakelse Lake
this summer for two months

it was taking pictures and

looking for, forest fires.
Jimmy Walsh a. friend of
mine and myself. rode out
there one day on bicycles a
distance of 4 miles. We had
a ride in it with two other
people. There were a lot of

- forest fires around here this

summer one came within
3 miles of Terrace.. When-
ever there was a south wind
blowing you could smell the
smoke and the mountains
looked hazy from the smoke
from the fires in the south
around Vancouver Island.
There was a circus here
this summer but the men
in it were a bunch of bums.

. (Hall) Mallory,

up as a Staff Sergeant Major

in charge of the Kelowna de-
tachment.

' The Finlaysons thank the
following’ for their  assis-
tance:

Corbin and Lilian King,
Marie (Hall) Piffer, Freda
Dorothy
(Cole) . Sebiens, Lorraine
(Kenney) Jolinstone, Julia
Little, Ted Hamer, Max-
ine (Llewellyn) Brett, Jean
Woodrow, Jean Dover,

Yvonne Moen, Jo Sandhals —

And crooks. The. only thing
in it that I liked was the mo-
torcycle riding. They had a
tank that was about 18 feet
high and 20 feet across. The
walls were straight. up: and
down. The men got on mo-
torcycles on the inside of
the tank and drove onto the
walls as they came around

the walls they kept going -

higher until one fellow was
about a foot from the top. He
turned around and sat on the

seat backwards. The other

fellow tied his handkerchief

over his eyes and rode with |

his hands in his pockets. The
people watched them from a

platform built around the top |

of the tank.
Dad got a letter from his

‘brother Duncan who is liv-

ing up in Alaska. It was the
first letter he got from him
for 33 years. He is about 4
years older then Dad. I must

‘close now because it is get-

ting late. Please write soon.
Your cousin,
John Little

The Terrace Standard, Wednesday,-December 21, 2005 - A5

CORRESPONDENCE FOR THE TERRACE STANDARD
The Mail Bag ©

Wise decision
Dear Sir:

I’m an online reader living in Whitehorse and am writ-
ing about local realtors being upset that the City used an
outside agency to buy the Co-op building and land.

The decision to go out of town to locate a realtor for the ;
purchase of the Co-op property is a wise one.

Just the very fact that local realtors are complaining
makes one think that how could the Mayor of Terrace not
-have be accused of “picking a favourite” within Terrace
without the backlash?

There are many needful things that need addressing.

In these days that we’re living, our government needs
all the prayer it can get.

' Holly Cowman,
_ Whitehorse, Yukon

“Co-op buy a good move
Dear Sir: | _

1 am writing in regards to a Nov. ‘30, 2005 letter tothe
editor from Patricia St. Thomas in which she makes a
drastic accusation that our mayor and council schemed. to
purchase the Co-op property.

I have to admit that being a co-owner ofa piece of
property, and not in the best neighbourhood I might add,

. I was a little concerned about my property taxes going up -

to pay for something the city owns.
But after thinking about it more, I came to the conclu-

| sion that this purchase may have some good uses other
than an eye sore, and avhome for ferule cats,’ although
~ with the cats being there, I would bet that the mice and rat

population is down in the downtown core, if there were ~
any to begin with.

This property is a reflection of the city and being the .
eyesore that it has been over the past five-years that’s not «. .,

_a very good reflection. There are potentially thousands of

ideas out there to make the property useful.

So I believe ‘that Mayor Jack Talstra and the council’

made the right choice in purchasing this property, and to.
use it as an investment tool for Terrace. _

Patricia St. Thomas questions the idea of. convention’
centre being -built on the location. I don’t see what is

‘wrong with that idea. From the Winston’s dictionary, con- 8

vention is “a formal meeting; an assembly of delegates.”
Sounds to me like a great place for local business own-

ers, city council, politicians and delegates from ‘world:

wide to gather and discuss business expansion, politics .

- and whatever else comes along. The city can rent or lease.”

these convention rooms for seminars, meetings and so on.

Now the key words there are “rent or lease” which means

making money, money thaf’can be used to go back into the
city again for more projects.

As for the other. questions from: Ms. St. Thomas, let's”
review and answer them with clear and precise answers.

First question is “who will come? Answer: Business in- -
vestors, politicians, entrepreneurs and economic develop- oo
"ers, Is this a good answer? .
Second question is, “where. will they stay?” Are you

serious when you asked this question? Anyways. Answer:

’ The Best Western/Terrace Inn which is right next door and

it has 68 available rooms in total and the Coast Inn of the.
West has 58 guest rooms available. That’ s 126 rooms:in a
one ‘and | half block radius, ‘not to mention ‘the’ Skeena Ho-
tel'also within a two block radius, among many other inns,

_ hotels and motels in the Terrace area.-Does this answer

your questions that commonsense could have answered?

Where will they shop? Answer: considering this prop-
erty is on the edge of the downtown core surrounded by
many retail stores, gift shops, fishing supply store and
even a couple of grocery stores for their convenience. I
am surprised you didn’t ask where would they eat?

How will they get here? Answer: we have an airport
that has at least two airline companies there with daily
flights in and out of Terrace. There are also a few helicop- _
ter services here, the Greyhound bus station, RVs, truck
drivers and their own personal vehicles or rented vehicles.
How else did you think people got here? , »

Ms. St. Thomas will find a whole world out ‘there,
other than what you read in the papers or watch on .
television. Go for a walk, explore and ‘take a good
look around at what Terrace really does have to offer.
The answers are out there. You really have to broaden _

‘your mind and open your eyes.
If people would take the same amount of energy and 3.

effort to think positively, as they do to think negatively, it _
would be real amazing what this world could accomplish _ .

working together instead of against each other. I believe
- these words are very true, ‘Your mind i is only as good'a as

the ideas that come from within it”. ‘
Tam glad to be putting in my share for the purchase of .

this property. What do you think the property taxes pay

for anyhow?.

- Who knows, maybe it, will increase the value of your
home or business. Now that sounds like a great reflection
of our city.

I think Mr. Talstra and council made a great in invest-
ment, and I am looking forward to seeing what becomes
of the property.

Hopefully there are a lot of residents and business :

‘owners that agree with what I have pointed out here in.
this letter.

Take it to heart, think positive, make a difference and
work together not against each other. Pointing fingers is a
bad approach to making things better. Remember, when
you point a finger, you have four pointing right, back at
you on the same hand. -

Congratulations to ail the resident and business owners
of Terrace on our new investment in the city. _

Tam looking forward to future investments and devel-
opments i in the City of Terrace. .

Daryl E. Skinner,
- Terrace, B.C.

“Cat lovers thanked

Dear Sir:
I am glad the RagaMuffin Rescue group will be able to

care for the feral cats at the old Co-op property. .

We saved 300 ferals here in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Go to Google Search and type in: /boardwalkcats/

Then click on I’m Feeling Lucky to read about our cats.
. Carl Simonsen,
Little Egg Harbour, New Jersey

About the Mail Bag

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