+4 i a ee oR oo 9 oe eRe

"date.

Long recognized as. one of the city’s main tourist attrac-
tions, Heritage Park is evidence of the success of the Terrace
Regional Museum Society's efforts to provide a link to the
area's past. As the community prepares to mark Heritage
Ee Week:(Feb,: 19-25), saciety President’ Mamie Kerby recalls
1... below the history of that organization and its achievements to

By MAMIE KERBY

What is. now the Terrace
"Regional : ‘Museum Society was
Started .in January, 1983 whena

group’ of- five people got

:together to form a provisional

“organization to. collect and
preserve the “histories and ar-
_ tifacts left by local pioneers and

: early settlers. °

-Realising a-building would be

“needed to house these articles,

.that group took a look at the

*-Kalum. Lake Hotel: A heritage
._ Structure still on its original site

-at Kalum Lake, the building
was at the time falling victim to
attacks by vandals,

* Built in ‘the early '20s by

“George Cobb, the hotel had
~~: been used as a ‘road house’ for

“miners, homesteaders and pole

“cutters travelling to the north

end of Kalum Lake and beyond.

-. Several years later it had been

~ os purchased by Everrett and Ethel
‘Dix of Florida who upgraded it
“to a tourist hotel, As such, it
was much used by American

‘hunters and fishermen taking
advantage of the opportunity to

enjoy the wild country of nor-

thern British Columbia,

Having determined the log

"structure could be adapted to
.. sefve as a museum, the group
» decided to have it moved on to

> “park land in the city — this also
“ensured its preservation. Short-

dy thereafter, other. pioneer log

“structures were donated and the
< location. was officially named
Heritage Park.

=. The range of buildings — the
architecture of each was slightly

different, from the others. — ib
-fistrated the different lifestyles
~ “OF the early settlers. —

“In June, 1983 the Museum

: From the

- | News

‘ducing’ a special edition
‘T and attractions.

2 - Terrace.

| tional ‘Railway in the centre

‘T of the Lakelse, Kitsumkalum

| lies the pretty little village of

“having a temperature of 187

“nigh, Conitcnably cool. ”

pages of
the past

On Dec, 15, 1922, the
Omienica Herald and Terrace
Tesponded to ‘‘en-
quiries from every part of the
civilized world, from in-
vestors and homeseekers for
information of Central
British Columbia”' by pro-

outlining the area’s economy

The following exerpts are
taken from its description of

oO tok Wok
““On the Canadian Na-

‘and Skeena River Valleys,

Terrace.

“The chief natural pro-
duct i is. lumber, a number of
mills ‘being located in the
vicinity,, and one in the
village, it being the Geo. Lit-
tle Lumber Co.’s mill, about
25 people being employed,
Mining prospects are of the
best; a number of silver, lead
and gold properties having
being bonded, Oil prospects
also are bright.

4} “Fourteen miles from Ter-
‘race, situated on Lakelse
Lake, is the celebrated
Lythia Water Hot Springs,

degrees. A large new hotel is

the steadily increasing tourist
trade who seek the springs
for their marvellous curative
purposes,
 Approalmately ten
‘billion feet of: timber is
available in these two valleys.
“Terrace climate is ideal,
the lowest temperature being
about 10 below ,[-23C], with
_the surimer warm and: the

‘

.Membership has climbed to

ment the early history of the

contemplated to take care of } ~.

society gained provincial status
as a non-profit organization.
With a capable supervisor, city
support and using government
work programs, development
work at ihe park forged ahead.

A Heritage Trust grant allow-
ed us to put in extra time and
finishing work on the Kalum
Hotel and, through the New
Horizons program, we were
able to build cupboards and set
up the interior as a workable
museum. Donations from local
pioneer families also financed
the purchase of a gas furnace
and washroom equipment.

The introduction of the
Challenge program in 1985
allowed us to hire student
guides to conduct tours of
Heritage Park during the sum-
Mer months. Training and
supervision of these guides was
provided-on a volunteer basis.

We now have eight log
buildings, a gate house/gazebo
and a large post and beam
storage building on the 1.73
acre site. A large number of the
items found in the buildings
were used by the original
pioneers and early settlers. The
larger artifacts, including a fire
truck, grtader, wagons, farm
machinery and* sternwheeler
parts, are kept in the storage sh-
ed or on display around the
park.

Today, the society —
more than 40 (plus volunteers)
— continues in its efforts to
preserve historical
buildings/landmarks and docu-

area. To date it has produced.a
number of books, calendars,
posters, notepaper and cards all
on the heritage theme.

THEN AND NOW. Its location on the shores of the southern end of
Kalum Lake made George Cobb’s Kalum Lakeview House a
popular spot with area residents as the crowd at the holiday gather-

ing above shows. Today (inset) it still serves as a focal point for local
festivities such as Riverboat Days.

TERRACE — Believing the
region's history is something
worth making a song and dance
about, organizers have made

| that the theme for this year’s
8 Heritage Day celebration.

Those attending the three-

f hour event will have an oppor-

tunity to enjoy a wide range of
entertainment reflecting the
many cultures that have played

. their part in building today's

community.

‘.: From native songs and dances ©

to performances by members of

audience will catch a glimpse of
the musical traditions of the
many ethnic groups that have
over the years made the Skeena
Valley.

Artists will include old time
French Canadian fiddlers and
step dancers, square dancers,
the pipes and drums of
Scoiland, the Vicki Parvianen
troupe and students from the
Northwest Academy of Perfor-
ming Arts.

‘Tt-all gets under way at’ 1
p.m., Sunday, Feb. 18. Admis-

sion is free and local Guides and

Scouts will be offering
refreshments during the
2.30-3.00 p.m. coffee break,
That pause will also give people fj
a chanee to talk to the per- |
formers and take @ closer look [|
at their costumes and in- §
struments.

The event is jointly sponsored
by the Terrace Regional f
Museum Society, the
Guide/Scout movement and the |
city recreation department:and”
promises to be a fine kick-off to
Heritage Week.

the Multicultural society, the

A look at municipality’ S first election

By VIC JOLLIFFE

Thirty years ago this week the Village
of ‘Terrace was going through the
democratic procedure of electing 'a new
enlarged seven-member council to repre-
sent the extended area.

An all candidates meeting was held in
the old civic centre. There was a record
number of candidates, some represented
the old guard who had been in charge of
the village affairs for many years; there
were candidates from the business com-
munity, and there were candidates con-
nected with the woods industry.

I thought it would be of interest to
record the names of all those who ran
for public office, not just the winners,

We will begin with EMIL
HAUGLAND, He had served the old
village council off and on over the
previous 25 years. He was the village
barber and therefore knew just about
everybody in town. Emil ran unsuc-
cessfully for the position of Reeve
(mayor). _

There was JAMES McKAY, The
village undertaker. He had served on the
village commission: active with the

. Board of Trade, and ran unsuccessfully

for the position of reeve.

HARRY PEDRINI was also ranning
for the position of Reeve; had served in
the last year as the village commission
chairman, and had been one of the
guiding lights in moving Terrace from a

village to district municipality status.

He was struck down by illness during
the election campaign and failed in his
bid to become the Reeve. He was by pro-
fession a lawyer and was in partnership
with Cecil Pratt, who is still in business
taday.

ALEX GRANT, also running for

Reeve, was an electrical contractor and-

store owner; his wife Verna, owned and
operated the Sheri-Lynn Ladies Wear
Store on the corner of Lakelse and
Kalum, which is now Northwest Sports.
Alex failed to get elected,

The successful candidate for Reeve
was WALTER YEO. He had served for
a couple of weeks as the interim chair-

man of the caretaker village commis--

sion, was the general manager-of Little,
Haugland & Kerr, a local company that
had been bought out by a large
American conglomerate with head-
quarters in Sandpoint, Idaho and
Chicago.

Yeo was regarded by some of the peo-:
_ ple as an American, however this was
he was actually born in .

not sa,
Courtenay, Vancouver Island, [ll have
more to say about this interesting Ter-
race character later,

Persons offering themselves as can-
didates for Councillor inchided:

MENNO BULLER, who was a
farmer, lived on Graham Avenue, and
also worked for the highways depart-

ment.

HANK BUNCOMBE, part of the old
village commission, was a superinten-
dent for Columbia Cellulose, another
large American company that owned
and controlled large tracts of timber
around the Terrace area.

“AL DAVIS was a contractor that had
been engaged in buiiding both residen-
tial and commercial buildings in the
area, worked under the name of Skeena
Construction, and was in partnership
with Helge Sundberg, another long time
resident of Terrace. ;

Al had been appointed by the govern-

ment to the interim village commission
along with RUDOLPH Rapske, They
were there to provide input during the
transition period between village and
district municipality. Both.of them got
elected to the new council,
* RUDOLPH RAPSKE was also a
Reverend, having come to Terrace to
manage the North American German
Baptist colonization group. The Zion
Baptist church on Keith Avenue is a
result of the work of those German im-
migrant families that were part of the
Reverend Rapske’s flock. :

These families were involved in exten-

’ sive land clearing and farming, and there

was quite a size German colony in and
around Terrace at that time.

‘Another successful candidate was
PARKER MILLS, Parker was the son

of a Terrace pioneer couple Dr. and
Mrs, Stanley Mills. He was active in the
Kinsmen, a local boy, and cruised to an
easy victory, He was employed with
George Martin, civil engineer, as a
bookkeeper. ;

Also successful was MRS.
DOROTHY NORTON. She had served
on the old village commission, lived on
Lakelse Avenue, in an old army building
on the site that the present Totem Fur-
niture building now occupies.

Dorothy had the best ‘bush
telegraph” system in town, Her house
was opposite the government building,
and from her kitchen window.she. could
keep an eye on-the fire hall, which also
doubled as the public works yard, Mrs.
Norton topped the polls and went on to
serve for many years.

Also elected was CURLEY WATSON
BAILEY. Curley operated a gas filling
station located near the turn off of
Kalum Lake drive, It was a B/A or
British American sation — really just
two gas pumps in front of a wooden
garage.

Curley stayed open all night, had a
bed right there in the building, was the
first gas station coming from Prince
Rupert, and the only one to stay open
and give 24-hour service in the late fif-
ties, He was a staunch supporter of the

Cont'd Page A6

FIRST COUNCIL for the District of Terrace took office Feb, 23, 1960, From left to
right, Councillor Parker Mills, counclilor Watson (Curley) Balley, councillor Al Davis,

Reeve Walter Yeo, Magistrate C.J. Norrington, Councillor Hank Buncombe, Councillor °

Dorothy Norton and Councillor © Rudolph Rapske, A copy of this photograph was

presented last right to the Terrace council by Bill Yeo, son of Walt Yeo, and by former --

mayor Vic Jolliffe, on behalf of the Yeo family, to mark the 30th anniversary of the. :
vilage expanding its boundaries to become a district municipality, :

eRe oper ae GED