I have no information as to when he entered into partnership with "MR. CAMPBELL and BODDY" but in the
History of Manitoba there is an item saying that in 1879 the first large real estate trasaction took
place when "JOHN McLEAN" sold the bulk of his farm to Campbell, Hay and Boddy for the sum of $30,000.
While this does not seem a large amount, at a later date in 1895, Father paid men at the rate of $1.25
for a man and team (this was for 10 hours) and the same amount for carpenters so that it would be a
large amount according to present day values.
Re the firm of "Campbell, Hay and Boddy", copies of letters dated Sept. 6th 1887 state that Father
had purchased their interests. Mr. Campbell and Mr. Boddy both became millionaires and died in California.
While never becoming that wealthy, Father, who at times drew up a statement showing his financial
standing, in 1892 listed assets of $36,800 and in 1901 the amount was $47,000, certainly a large sum at
that time. In a letter written Sept. 2nd, 1887 from Portage La Prairie, Father wrote that he had opened
an office in Portage La Prairie and was prepared to do business in purchasing wheat, oats and barley. He
was the owner of substantial amounts of property, farm land as well as property in Portage, Winnipeg
and Vancouver, also farmed extensively.
The family moved to B.C., first to Victoria but I am unable to find any record of the year they moved
from Manitoba. However, I remember my sister Elizabeth (Lizzie) saying that she remembered playing
in Beacon Hill Park in Victoria as a child, and if she were living now, she would be 92 years of age
so it is a very long time ago. I wrote the Provincial Archivist in Victoria for information about
Father in B.C. and received the following:
Regarding the time we lived in Portage between 1892 and 1897, when we moved to Grand
Forks, B.C., I do not have anything to write.
In 1897 the family, consisting of Father, Mother, Alice, Ethel, Charles, Earle, Gerald, Maurice and I,
left Portage and moved to Grand Forks.
As there was no railroad into the Kettle Valley, where Grand Forks is located, at that time we went
via Spokane and Bossburg, Wash. from where we went by stage the balance of the way.
Evidently, shortly after his arrival, he entered into partnership with "NEIL McCALLUM" and "PETER WRIGHT" to
form the firm of Hay, McCallum
and Wright.
In April 1897, Father bought 320 acres of land from Neil McCallum and the firm established the
townsite of Columbia.
In information obtained from the Provincial Archivist, he wrote that Columbia, as the town was known,
was incorporated on May 4th 1899. He also stated that the firm of Hay, McCallum and Wright
was listed as dealing in real estate, mines and insurance.
On account of having no railroad into the valley at that time, everything had to be moved by freighters
with four and six horse teams while people traveled by stages into towns such as Grand Forks, Greenwood,
Phoenix and Republic, Wash.
Things were really booming at that time in Grand Forks which had the reputation of being the toughest
town in the West. It was a wide open town in every sense of the word. The tough part of Grand Forks
was located in the east end and had many saloons, gambling joints, dance halls, etc.
In the dance halls the girls wore little or nothing while putting on their acts and the red light
district was prominent.
Statistics state there were twenty two licensed premises there in 1903 but, with the arrival of the
railroad things had quietened down considerably compared to the hectic days of the freighters.
There was a great deal of rivalry between Grand Forks and Columbia which eventually resulted in the
burning of the Columbia hotel. (Clipping attached re. this).
Quite a number of houses were moved as they were located on the right of way. In 1905 the
Great Northern Ry
built through Grand Forks and later the
Kettle Valley Ry, known locally as the Hot Air Line (because it was said to be built on hot air)
also started construction.
The Granby Consolidated Mining Smelting and Power Co.'s smelter at Grand Forks began operations in 1900.
In 1907 it had 8 furnaces with a capacity of 3,000 tons per day. It operated for 19 years handling in
that time 13,000,000 tons of ore. The ore was low grade averaging about one per cent copper which
caused the mines and smelter to stop operations whenever the price of copper fell too low and the
miners and smeltermen would leave Poenix and Grand Forks for places such as Butte, Montana. It
eventually closed down for good in 1919. Two other smelters were built in the valley, one at Boundary
Falls and the other at Boundary Creek.
After moving to Grand Forks, Charlie, Earle, Gerald and I attended what was said to be the oldest
school in the interior of B.C. It was built in 1892 of logs and cost $1,200 to construct. The pupils
came from both sides of the International boundary and there were about equal numbers of Canadian and
American children attending. Quite a number came for a long distance and rode or drove horses.
On account of Mother's deteriorating health, Father and Mother moved from Grand Forks to Vancouver in
June, 1909, bought a home
at 2325 - 7th Ave. West where they resided as long as they lived. She died
July 23rd - 1922 and he died Nov. 14th - 1924. She was 68 years of age and he was 81.
When our family left Portage in 1897, Father arranged that my grandmother, Mrs. Wild, was to have the
use of the cottage on the rear of our property as long as she lived. I believe she lived to the age
of 97 years and was considered to be the pioneer of pioneers in that part of Manitoba.
In speaking of the outbreak of scurvy
which took place at York Factory, Father said the sick men were
always looking for a warm place as they always felt cold.
The bread was cooked in an outside oven built of stones in which fire was placed to heat it and, when
hot enough the fire was drawn out and the pans of bread placed in it.
On one occasion, when the cook opened the door, smoke and steam gushed out as a poor man had climbed
into the oven and cooked with the bread.
back to narrative
Father had the reputation of being one of the best snow shoe runners in the West after he quit the
H.B.Co.'s service and the H.B.Co. also had an expert snow shoe runner. Father was not at all anxious
to race with this man, but eventually on an occasion when they were both in an Indian camp at the same
time, a race could not be avoided.
They were to run 40 miles down the river on the ice. They would take turns breaking the trail, each man
driving his dog team ahead of him. After running a considerable distance they came to a place where
the water had overflowed and the other man lay down and drank deeply.
Father said he knew then he had the race won as the man would be unable to keep up the pace with his
stomach full of water. He started to crowd his dogs up on the other man's snowshoes, thus impeding his
progress.
He won the race and on his arrival home his partner, Sinclair, looked at him and said "My God,man, did
you fall in the river?" as he was wringing wet, however, he said he took a good drink of rum, went
to bed and had no bad effects afterward.
On one occasion, when he and Sinclair were traveling, they came upon an Indian who was beating up his
squaw so Sinclair went to the squaw's assistance. After a very hard struggle he was getting the best
of it when the squaw turned on him too. Father said he couldn't do anything for a while as he was laughing
so hard but eventually he did join in and help Sinclair.
Once Father and Sinclair were alone in a small house and a real Manitoba blizzard developed. Sinclair
bet Father that he couldn't go out a certain distance from the house and put up some kind of a mark
and come back. Father went out and at once realized it was impossible for a man to do so but he stayed
out in the shelter of the building for a little while then went back in and told Sinclair he had done it.
In the morning he woke up early, the storm was over except for a slight drifting so he took a stick and
went out the proper distance and stuck it in the snow which soon drifted in his tracks. When Sinclair
got up later, he said he did not think a man could live and do it and Father took the money and didn't
tell him till long after how he had fooled him.
On one occasion when Father and Sinclair made one of the trips south to the U.S. to buy goods to trade
to the Indians, they had a very narrow escape. They were part of a brigade of Red River carts the
speed of which was naturally very slow.
Having a good outfit which was capable of making better progress, Sinclair became very impatient and
wanted to go ahead of the brigade.
At last Father agreed and by nightfall they had left the others far behind. They camped on top of a
hill where they could see the country round about and saw another camp two or three miles away.
Father suggested that Sinclair ride over and see what they looked like. Sinclair did so and on his
return, said there were several men and two or three women and that they were a tough-looking outfit.
So Father said they would keep watch through the night. He took the first watch and sat by the tent
flap while Sinclair lay down and slept. Everything was quiet and he woke Sinclair and he lay down
and slept. He had a very vivid dream in which a man stood over him with a knife about to plunge it
into him. He awoke and there was a man about to kill him. He overcame the man and looked around for
Sinclair who was sitting asleep by the tent flap.
They had the man tied up and the problem was what to do with him. There being no law to turn him
over to, they either had to kill him or turn him loose, so they waited until they heard the rest of
the brigade drawing near next morning and kicked him down the hill.
Once Sinclair went to a dentist in Winnipeg to have a tooth filled. It was a very hard tooth to pull
and eventually the dentist had Sinclair out of the chair and on the floor with his knees on his chest
in which position he finally pulled the tooth upon which Sinclair chased him around and out of the
building, threatening to kill him.
Two men left Winnipeg one day in a cutter to go to a place some miles out of town and a Manitoba blizzard came up.
They knew they must be very close to the house they were looking for so one man got out of the cutter
to look for the house and the other man turned the team loose and turned the cutter over and got inside.
He survived the storm but the frozen body of the other man was found just a few feet from the house
he was looking for. It was a common practice in Manitoba in the early days to string a rope or something
of that nature between the house and the barn so that a person could go back and forth in the very bad
storms without getting lost.
The conditions existing in Grand Forks in 1898 were well-described in an article written by JUDGE W. R.
WILLIAMS who wrote
"When I came to Phoenix in 1898 my trip from the North Star mine in Cranbrook was
a roundabout one as it was necessary to go back as far as Lethbridge on a construction train, from there
on the narrow gauge, commonly known as the 'Turkey Trail' to Shelby, Mont. Jct. on the Great Northern
Ry and thence to Spokane and Bossburg by train. I arrived in Bossburg about noon and had lunch, after
which I mounted the front seat of the four horse stage and hit the trail for Grand Forks where I
arrived at midnight, cold and hungry. The only delay on the road was a short stop over for supper and
to pass the customs.
"Grand Forks was booming and the city was alight with all the colors of the rainbow with the accent on red.
There were all kinds of liquid refreshment in sight but very little solid food to be found. Blackjack
and roulette were as plentiful as wild oats. Hundreds of freight wagons had stopped overnight on their
way into the Boundary. The crowd on the streets would make Broadway on a busy night look like a piker.
The room I was lucky enough to get was over the bar room in the hotel. The negro piano player had
removed the soft pedal from the piano. The sweet strains of "Hit it and take it" - "Double O and the
green" "Hit me again" and "That's good" were wafted on the chill Sept night air until about
5 30 A.M. when the porter knocked at my door and in a loud voice said "Last call for the Phoenix stage."
"I got up, put on my coat and vest, went downstairs and had a kind of a wash in an old tin basin. After
breakfast,I again mounted the four horse stage and started for Phoenix. It was a long, hard, slow climb
but we finally arrived in Phoenix about noon and went into Graf's hotel where I think I had the finest
meal I ever ate in my life. Those were the good old days. The latch string was always hung on the
outside and welcome in large letters on the door mat. Every cabin had a good supply of grub and a
little booze in case of snakebite and the stranger as welcome as the flowers in May. The brotherhood
of man was a reality and there wa not an old-timer in the camp that would not go fifty fifty with
anything he had."
Further about the burning of the Columbia Hotel. You will note in the newspaper clipping re. this
that it was stated in the evidence given in the trial, that Royce and Cameron hired a team and drove
to the woods about a mile above Columbia to test the fuse and alcohol with which they were going to
set the hotel on fire. This would be not far from the log school we attended and my brother, Earle,
while playing in the woods, found a piece of fuse and, as a result, was a witness in the trial at
Kamloops. At this trial I understand Cameron received a sentence of 14 years for arson and Mr. John
Manly left the country and didn't return. Mr. Escalet, the lessee of the hotel, later opened a hotel
called the 'Escalet Hotel' across the street from where the Columbia hotel was burned and one day
fire broke out which destroyed it and about twelve other buildings including the Presbyterian church.
When we moved to Grand Forks, this church was located a half mile or more away from our home. It
was in the cemetery and had a dilapidated old manse near it which during the frequent smallpox epidemics
which broke out, was used as a pest house for people with that disease. I feel sure Father was
instrumental in having the church moved to a location just across the steet from our home.
As I remember, our family were at that time one of the mainstays of the church. There is no doubt
Father was generous in his financial support, some of the family played the organ and sang, helped
to clean the church and I remember ringing the bell at times.
At the time of the Escalet hotel fire, there was a very strong wind blowing and, eventually, a
burning board or something of that nature, blew unto the roof of the church. Unfortunately, the
minister had taken the ladder away to some other burning building and, before one could be obtained,
the fire had a bad start.
The wind was blowing directly across the street towards our house and pieces of burning stuff were
landing on the roof of the house and barn where men were stationed with wet cloths, etc. to put them out.
Eventually, 1/2 box of dynamite was placed under the church and it was blown up. Children in town
said, "They blew up God's house to save Hay's house." The heat of the fire had destroyed many of our
fruit trees and ornamental shrubs and, when the explosion took place, it broke windows and cracked
plaster in the house and Mother said the house might as well have been burnt down. There was never any
suggestion that this fire was not a natural fire.
When living in Grand Forks we all slept upstairs except Father and Mother whose bedroom was downstairs.
One night a burglar or burglars entered the house and stole a few dollars. There were several places
robbed about that time and, in one house a club was found alongside the bed next morning which indicated
that probably one man stood over the bed with the club, while the other man did the robbings. Father
had formed the habit of sleeping with a loaded revolver under his pillow in the early days and we
were glad he did not wake up and try to use it on this occasion as it might well have proved fatal.
When he was an old man in Vancouver, he gave up the revolver but had a hammer on a chair by his bed.
It was rather pathetic as he didn't want to be without a weapon.
As a boy, I do not remember our heating or lighting arrangements in Portage La Prairie but do know
that, during the first years in Grand Forks, we had no electricity, and , of course, there were no
automobiles, telephones, redios or T.V. sets.
I understand that in Portage Father kept a driving team in order to get around the country and we always
had a cow and, of course, in both places a large garden.
Our home in Portage had a large grove of trees which were planted by my parents. I know there
were lots of maple trees but do not know what other varieties there were.
In Grand Forks we had a large house located on a large piece of property in which were many fruit
trees, apple, pear, plum, cherry, apricot, peach, etc. also raspberry bushes and strawberry plants
also many rose bushes and other flowering shrubs. I do not remember our home in Portage as to how
many rooms, etc. but recall the fact that there was no central heating in those early days necessitating
having stoves in different rooms as the Manitoba climate was and still is severe in the winter. I
remember that in Grand Forks we burnt a lot of wood as well as coal. The house had downstairs a
parlor, dining room , kitchen and an outer kitchen into which the kitchen stove was moved during the
hot weather in the summer. There was quite a large hall with the stairway from it to the upstairs.
Father and Mothers's bedroom was also downstairs. Upstairs was a large hall, three bedrooms and
a bath room which was never equipped with bathroom facilities. The toilet was in the back yard.
There was a furnace in the basement and a heater in the hall.
In the backyard was a barn and wood-shed as well as the toilet.
As Mother became older and my sisters having married and left home, it became necessary to have help
in the house and, as it was practically impossible to hire girls, we had several Chinamen at different
times. Sometimes an older Chinaman would come around to give a younger one pointers about what to do
as the older one would be experienced in what was required. As I remember them, they were pretty good
cooks but not very good at housework.
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