Vancouver Voyager: Oddly Enough

Friday, February 17, 2012

Oddly Enough

In 1917 The Province reported that BC women now had the right to vote. However the story was buried deep within a report from legislature and it was prefaced by a report of agriculture.

Also in 1917 a Vancouver businessman by the name of Alvo von Alvensleben was arrested in the US as a German spy. It seems that British Intelligence agents had sent a list of 'dangerous German spies' to the US government and this fellow's name topped the list.

In 1918 a RAF pilot by the name of Lt. Victor Bishop crashed his plane, an H-2 "flying boat". The interesting point of this is that he crashed through the roof of a West End doctor. Bishop stepped out of the plane and into the upstairs hallway. From there a resident helped the pilot down the stairs and out the front door to a waiting ambulance.

If we think that penalties for not paying taxes are harsh now just be glad you didn't live here in 1919. In that year there were more than two thousand pieces of Vancouver property listed for sale by auction. These properties were seized due to non payment of taxes and some people owed less than ten dollars.

Construction on the Peace Arch was stopped in November of 1920 in order to allow time for the concrete to set. Work wasn't resumed until June of 1921.

Also in 1920 loggers in Surrey discovered a large eagle's nest. It was so big that it was too large for a farm wagon to take away. Wonder how big the bird that made it was?

Still in 1920, this time in Port Coquitlam, a fire started in the fire chief's kitchen above the firehall. The flames destroyed the fire hall and half the buildings downtown.

In 1921 the director of what was to become the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra absconded with all the orchestra's money. Henry Green was never seen or heard from again.

On July 27, 1923 50,000 people gathered in Stanley Park to hear visiting US President, Warren Harding, speak. Harding was the first sitting US President to visit Canada. Harding died in San Francisco a week later.

A two year old cow at the Colony Farm at the mental hospital of Essondale set a world record for milk production in 1923. Colony Grebegga Valdessa as she was known was the best in her age group with producing 28,371 pounds of milk in a year which works out to be about 78 pounds a day.