Forty-Six

On April 15, 1946, Earle Kelly died. Kelly was known to radio listeners in British Columbia as "Mr. Good Evening" from 1929 to 1946.

Kelly was born in Australia to Irish parents. He had been a major in the Intelligence Corps in the Australian army in addition to working as a journalist in several commonwealth countries before coming to Canada. Kelly was on his way east to work for a newspaper there when he stopped in Vancouver and got a job with the Daily Province. He progressed to the position of night editor.

In 1929, four years after his arrival in Vancouver, Earle started his radio show "Good Evening" on the Province's radio station, CKCD.

On April 22, 1946, it snowed in Haney. This is probably the latest date of recorded snowfall for that town.

On April 30, the City of Vancouver hosted a dinner at the Pavilion for nine "Jubilarians" - people who were born in Vancouver in 1886, after the city was incorporated. This was in celebration of the city's 60th anniversary.

June 4, 1946 is the day that former mayor, L.D. Taylor died. I wrote on Taylor in a previous entry if you are interested.

If you have ever watched a Canuck's hockey game, you may have heard the rich baritone of CKNW's John Ashbridge. He was born on June 8, 1946.

On June 23, an earthquake, which was mostly felt on Vancouver Island, stopped the clock on the Vancouver Block. The same thing happened in 1918.

July 1. Dominion Day. This day in 1946 was the first one since the end of the war and Vancouver partied. 250,000 people attended the spectacular parade in the world's largest outdoor theatre at Brockton Point.

Also on July 1, 1946. Steveston held its first Salmon Festival. Sophie Kuchma was crowned the first festival Queen. She won by selling the most tickets to the festival at 10 cents a piece.

Thanks to The History of Metropolitan Vancouver website for the information on 1946.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Chang Toy

Today I am going to tell you about one of the men responsible for the building of Vancouver- Chang Toy.

Born in Guangdong province in southern China in 1857, Chang Toy's father died when Toy was three. This didn't stop Chang Toy from going to school though. He was married as a child - so that his mother could have a servant.

In 1874, Chang came to Canada. Initially, he lived in Victoria before moving to New Westminster where he worked at a sawmill. In 1876, Toy moved to Granville and bought a share in a laundry. He then added a small grocery business and started labour contracting other Hakka speaking Chinese workers.

As the years passed, Chang Toy got involved in more businesses such as charcoal burning, an import and export business, steamship ticket sales and real estate. Originally, the goods were shipped from a more established Victoria merchant, the Wing Chong Company to Chang's business, the Sam Kee Company. Funny thing is that Sam Kee appears to be a totally made up name.

Chang Toy. Photo courtesy of the City of Vancouver archives.

After the Great Fire of 1886, Chang Toy moved to Steveston. But by 1888, he was back in the newly named Vancouver. Retail sales rose steadily and the company also acted as a wholesaler - bringing in goods from Hong Kong then shipping them to other parts of B.C. 

In the early 1900s, Sam Kee's store was on the south side of Pender backing onto a much larger False Creek. Sam Kee was also a clearing house for Chinese sending money back to China. By 1908, trade in things such as rice had grown hugely. Chinese sourced rice was shipped mainly to major Vancouver wholesalers like Kelly-Douglas and W H Malkin. On the export side, Hong Kong and later Shanghai had a market for salted fish.

As that trade expanded, Sam Kee made complex relationships with Japanese fishing concerns. When the sources of fish declined, the company made connections in Nanaimo. Sam Kee added a wharf, fish tanks and a saltery. Then Chang Toy's company turned around and leased the area to Japanese companies who supplied the fish Sam Kee exported. 

The different traders in Chinatown were rivals but they worked together when needed. In 1893, Alexander Cumyow and Chang Toy pooled their resources to buy property, which they then leased to Wing Sang and other merchants before selling two years later.

I want to thank the website Building Vancouver for the information on Chang Toy. I will tell you more about him on Wednesday.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Natural Facts

Remember when I said that it had snowed last week? Well today I am going to show you some photos of my city on that day. I'm also going to fill you in on some historical facts.

Right now I am going to review the year 1900.

Dantai, the recently incorporated  Japanese Fisherman's Benevolent Society had their first meeting at the Phoenix Cannery in Steveston on May 10.

On the issue of the Japanese on October 26 a Collector of Votes in Vancouver, Thomas Cunningham, refused to register any Japanese on the voters list even if they were naturalized citizens. Yet on November 1, less than a week later, Mrs. Shimizu hosted a ball at the Hotel Vancouver in honor of Her Imperial Majesty, the Empress of Japan.

On July 1 there was strike on the lower Fraser. Due partially to overfishing by the Americans (until 1934 fish traps were legal in Washington State) the salmon stock was greatly depleted. Hostilities arose between the White Fishermans Union and the Japanese fisherman who not only lived in cannery houses but depended on the canneries for food. The friction rose to a point where four hundred soldiers were brought in to protect the Japanese.

On June 9 John Oliver, a future premier, began his political career as an MLA for Delta.

On August 5 there was a letter to the editor posted in the Province newspaper. It read:

“There are few residents in the city and particularly in the West End who are not disturbed in their slumbers from 5 a.m. by the fearful and nerve-killing noises made by the crows. A vote should be taken as to whether the people want crows or not.” (I wonder what they intended to do about the crows?)

On May12 a ferry began regular trips between the south shore of Burrard Inlet and North Vancouver. After many successful trips North Vancouver No. 1 was retired and became a private residence, beached on a small island near Tofino.

September 5, 1900. A teacher's salary in Surrey was $60 to $100 a month. Lots by the river - between 10 and 13 acres - were being advertised for $105 a lot regardless of size. There was a partially cleared, 80-acre farm with an orchard and farmhouse advertised for $40 an acre.

The bells at Holy Rosary Church (it wasn't a cathedral yet) were blessed by a visiting papal delegate on October 21.

The Hudson's Bay Company opened a four storey emporium at the corner of Granville and Georgia on December 15, 1900. They have been there ever since.

December 30 Vancouver honored returning soldiers from the Boer War by holding a big civic parade.

Also in 1900:

The Canadian Pacific Railway financed a film to be made in Vancouver. They wanted it to be documentary to promote Canadian immigration to the west. But CPR didn't want any snow to be shown so it took two years to film.

Cannery owners united this year. They formed the Fraser River Salmon Canners Association in order to protect their interests against dissatisfied fishermen.

And this one is interesting. We all know that many Chinese were brought over to build the railroad. But in the early twentieth century Chinese men were often brought to Canada as 'indentured  laborers' by a 'Chinese boss'. These men would butcher and can the fish. Native and Japanese women would clean the fish and fill the cans while Japanese and European men would catch them. And there was a lot fish going through the canneries. About 57,600 pounds or 26,000 kilos a day. More than 200 cannery and fishery workers were need to process the 1,200 cases daily.

The Dewdney Trunk Road was built on the north shore of the Fraser.

In 1901 Vancouver reported a jump in populaton. In 1801 it was recorded as 13,709 and now the number was 29,000.

In January of that year CPR bought out Canadian Pacific Navigation Co.

I've mentioned this before when I covered the Carnegie Centre at Main and Hastings. On March 25, 1901 US steel magnate Andrew Carnegie granted Vancouver $50,000 to build a library. But only if Vancouver agreed to put in $5,000 a year and furnish a site. Since it is still standing there today you can guess that Vancouver agreed to the conditions and the library opened in October of 1903.

Someone had a bit of fun with the newspapers on November 19, 1901. First the San Francisco Call devoted its entire front page to announcing that they had uncovered a conspiracy. It was called the Klondike Revolution and apparently there was supposed to a plot to overthrow the Yukon government and establish a republic with Dawson City as its capital. The conspirators, backed by 5,000 miner waiting for a signal to overthrow the mounted police, were at Seattle, Victoria, Vancouver, Dawson and Skagway. The Province picked up the story and went to report that other San Francisco newspapers declared the story a hoax. I bet there was at least one reporter in trouble that day.

I didn't quite get the effect I was looking for here. The light just below the branches was making the leaves glow.

Have a great weekend where ever you are and I will talk with you on Monday.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

TAGS:Vancouver, Karen Magill, Andrew Carnegie, Mrs. Shimizu,Klondike Revolution,San Francisco Call,Province,history,