Community Memories Printable Version

A Harvest of Memories: Rural Life in the Kettle River Valley
Kettle River Museum
Midway, British Columbia

Memories of Childhood

1

Learning farming skills began at an early age
Circa 1915
The Kettle River Valley

Credits:
Kettle River Museum
Donated by Nora Eveleth, 1978

2

"Boys were handling teams of horses at an early age, and at twelve and thirteen were driving teams in the grain fields during the threshing. They also learned the use of firearms, and had plenty of opportunity to become good marksmen with the twenty-two rifle considering the unlimited number of ground squirrels to shoot at.

Most young men bagged their first deer at an early age. Trapping gophers was a popular pastime during holidays from school, as well as a chance to make a little pocket money. Farmers paid a few cents a tail for each gopher caught.

Girls as well as boys became adept at trapping and were just as good shot with the rifle as boys. They also did a share of the horseback work that needed to be done on a ranch, such as rounding up stock and checking cattle on the range."

- from "A Harvest of Memories" by Bill Hatton, 1985

3

Up at the Fred Davis place
Circa 1910
Benchlands of the Kettle River Valley

Credits:
Kettle River Museum
Donated by Nora Eveleth, 1978

4

Midway's first school, built in 1896
Circa 1905
Midway, BC

Credits:
Kettle River Museum

5

"School was three and a half miles from home, which meant using a horse and buggy in summer and cutter in winter. The first school attended was held in the old building in Midway, which still remains today.

High school was another problem and this necessitated mother keeping a home for us in Victoria. Each one of the family attended high school after passing entrance exams in the local school. A trip to the coast at that time was made by train east to Robson, up the Arrow lake by boat to Revelstoke, main line train to Vancouver and boat to Victoria."

- from "John Robert Jackson", contributed by the Jackson Family, Boundary Historical Society 4th Report, 1968

6

Off to school in Rock Creek
Circa 1905
The Kettle River Valley

Credits:
Kettle River Museum
Donated by Ron Roylance, 2004

7

Teacher W.C. Mitchell and students of Boundary Falls School
1907
Boundary Falls, BC

Credits:
Kettle River Museum, William C. Mitchell collection

8

"The early one-room schools of our country were a testing ground for children. Long hours were spent getting to and from school, sometimes through cold and snowy conditions, with farm children having chores to do before leaving home and then again upon their return. Janitor was a word not in the dictionary at that time and all school chores were taken care of by the pupils. Students split wood and lit fires in the heater on their arrival on cold mornings."

- from "A Harvest of Memories" by Bill Hatton, 1985

9

An outing from Rock Creek's first school, with teacher A.M. Stephens
1905
Rock Creek, BC

Credits:
Kettle River Museum
Donated by Mrs. J.C. Ellis, 1977

10

Memories of Rock Creek School

"The fist school property was donated by Harry Pittendrigh and was located on the hill above the present Rock Creek Hotel. The first teacher was William Barton and in addition to myself, the early pupils were Eddie, Connie and Eileen Pittendrigh, Edward, Fred, Mary and Henry Madge, Caroline and Lillie Lum, Calvin Hopper, Irma and Shirel Ingram, and a little later, Johnny and Robert Bruce, and Sherwin and Stanley Warnock.

Sometimes in bad weather Dad sent one of the men to take me to school on horseback but mostly I walked the mile to Rock Creek with my schoolmates, Ed, Fred, Mary and Henry Madge, and Calvin Hopper. In winter Calvin had a dog team and sled for transportation and occasionally he would let us girls ride.

The nearest High School was at Grand Forks, 40 miles away, and it was much more of a problem to get there then than now. Dad would drive me to Midway with the horses and buggy where I would take the train for Grand Forks. I lived at the private home of Mr. and Mrs. Al Traunweiser and only went home at Easter, Christmas and summer holidays."

- from "Early Days in Rock Creek - Riverside" by Gladys Bell Burlton, Boundary Historical Society 3rd Report, 1960

11

Teacher Kathleen Ferguson and students at Ingram Mountain School
1905
Benchlands of the Kettle River Valley

Credits:
Kettle River Museum

12

Teacher and students at Kettle Valley School
Circa 1915
Kettle Valley, BC

Credits:
Kettle River Museum

13

A Kettle Valley School Picnic
1911
Kettle Valley, BC

Credits:
Kettle River Museum

14

A teacher's memories of Myncaster School
1920-23
Benchlands of the Kettle River Valley

"Teaching jobs were hard to get in January 1920 but I was lucky and boarded the Kettle Valley train in Vancouver and headed for Rock Creek. The next morning Mr. Pitman arrived with horse and buggy and took me up the hill to the home of Mr. & Mrs. Shelly where I was to board. I thought I had come to the end of the world for the farm was up on top of a hill and could not be seen from the road. However, the Shelleys were a nice couple and the food was good if plain.

The school was on a hillside above a ravine where most of my pupils would walk to school. The building was about 14' x 24' with a porch along the front where wood was piled to be handy. Three windows on each side made it light and a large iron stove stood in the middle. Some of the desks were homemade, others regulation wood and metal. My desk had a slant top with a globe and flag folded on top. Inside was a very good selection of tiny paperback booklets. A woodshed and outhouse were slightly up hill to one side. One of the Rosch boys was to be janitor but failed to materialize so I took on the job (without pay). There was no snow.

I went back to visit in 1968. How could I have forgotten that dust? The old hotel (we called it then) was gone. I had taught Sunday School here, all of us sitting on bales of hay. The Great Northern station was gone, even the tracks had disappeared. The Customs House was still there but so shabby. The road to Cheesaw was closed. However, the lake was still there and the birds still full of song.

When I went to Myncaster, we used to have a daily train but gradually the service was discontinued until in 1931 the line was abandoned and in 1932 the track was taken up"�

15

School sports day at Ingram flats
1914
The Kettle River Valley

Credits:
Kettle River Museum, Sonny Jackson collection
Donated by the estate of Mike Downing, 1977

16

"My sister and I were sent for a short time to the new little school at Kettle Valley, but my mother soon withdrew us and taught us our lessons at home. This made my life a very solitary one. My only playmate was Mae McMynn. She lived on the bench nearby, were her father, James McMynn, had a fine farm.

I remember with intense pleasure the occasional school picnic which we attended after school was out in June at Ingram Bridge. What delight to watch Mrs. Weed from Ingram Mountain making a large freezer of ice cream with thick yellow cream, dozens of eggs, pounds of sugar and a whole bottle of vanilla! And then, after helping to turn the crank after what seemed like ages, the bliss of licking the ice cream off the wooden blades of the beater!"

- from "Seven to Seventeen - 1909-19 in the Kettle Valley" by Anne Margaret Angus (Annie Margaret Anderson), Boundary Historical Society 5th Report, 1967