From Amusing to Murder

As World War I ended, the citizens of Vancouver watched a political-financial comedy play out. This comedy created one of Vancouver's larger business assets - Granville Island. This 'island' is an artificial mudbank in False Creek, which was first proposed by a city grocery wholesaler and Liberal boss of Vancouver in the pre-war days of the Laurier government, Robert Kelly.

When the Conservatives took office, the project was dropped. However, with a little assistance from H.H. Stevens (A Canadian politician), it was revived.

Originally, the plan was to dredge the creek and fill in the swamp at its head, east of Main Street. Sam McClay, chairman of the Harbor Board, became the leading promoter of the subsidiary fill at the south end of Granville Street Bridge. Under his own initiative, he borrowed $300,000 to build the necessary bulkheads.

The dredging firm took two separate contracts - one, to dredge a channel in the creek 300 feet wide and 21 feet deep. They then disposed of the spoil in deep water. The other contract was to fill in Granville Island. By combining the two contracts, it made a nice profit by disposing of the spoil in the area it was hired to fill.

Once the smoke of the political controversy cleared, the firm had its profits, the city had 50 acres of new industrial sites and the island had an autonomous existence. It only paid city taxes by consent and made a profit of $35,000 a year in rents. It is suspected that there was considerable hanky-panky about the business but nobody was viewed unfavourably in the press and everybody in this easy-going city seemed happy with the results.

Besides, there were more important things to worry about like the evolution of a new species of criminal - the automobile bandit. By January of 1919, gangs of youths roamed the streets at night and they would stage hold-ups. As many as five or six per gang per night! The thefts of automobiles became common and in 1920, about 60 and 70 were being stolen a month.

Crime rose to a climax in 1922. That was when many bank hold-ups occurred. A police court clerk ran off with over $3,000 and bandits held-up the City Paymaster Schooly and Assistant Paymaster Armstrong on the steps of City Hall one September afternoon. They got away with $76,000 meant for the city payroll.

Drug addiction was rampant and during October, a constable and a detective were shot down in a drug squad raid. That winter, Chief Anderson put armed patrols on the main streets to curb the hold-up men. It wasn't until 1925 though that an efficient prowl-car service was finally organized. The helped the police to be on a reasonably even footing in their war with auto thieves.

Thanks to Alan Morley and his book Vancouver, From Milltown to Metropolis for the above information.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Karen Magill

The Mix of 46

A mountain of bison skulls ready to be ground into fertilizer in the 1870's.

The old Pony express and the future of mail delivery.

Sitting Bull and Buffalo Bill in 1885.

LAPD officers going undercover to catch purse snatchers in 1960.

On September 19, 1946, C.D. Howe - the "Minister of Everything" - officiated at a ceremony to honour the arrival of the first plane from Australia. The ceremony was also celebrating the establishment of an air route around the world through the commonwealth. Oh, and Howe was Minister of Transport at this time.

Charles Arthur Banks was sworn in as B.C.'s Lieutenant-Governor on October 1, 1946. He succeeded William Woodward.

Ten days later, the chairman of a special advertising committee of the Vancouver Tourist association, Cecil Alton, was quoted in the Province newspaper: "At least 1,000,000 American tourists will have visited Vancouver this year . . .” That may sound impressive but according to Tourism Vancouver, 675,779 American tourists have not only visited Vancouver in the first five months of this year but also stayed overnight.

Can you guess what this is a photo of? The road leading to Woodstock in 1969.

A 1921 car accident.

Michigan loggers in 1890.

Mark Twain smoking a cigar in 1905.

On October 23, 1946, Umberto Menghi was born in Pontdera, Tuscany. Menghi would come to Vancouver and open the restaurant, Umberto's, in a little yellow house on Hornby Street in 1973. That house has a history too and I wrote on it in this entry.

November 23, 1946 was a special day for boys' band leader, Arthur Delamont since he was named Mr. Good Citizen of 1946. Delamont led seven boys bands when this award was given including the Kitsilano Boys Band, the bands of West Vancouver, North Vancouver, Point Grey, Grandview, Fairview and the University of B.C.

Arthur was born in Hereford and once played with the Salvation Army band in England, then led by composer Edward Elgar.

The year was 1937 and these people are waiting in line after the Lousville Flood.

12th Street in Miami, Florida in 1908.

John F. and Bobby Kennedy in 1960.

This was a co-conspirator, Lewis Powell, in the assassination of President Lincoln. He was hanged in 1865.

On December 10, 1946, West Vancouver voted to discontinue the ferry service. 

George Alexander Walkem - a shipbuilder - died in Burnaby at the age of 64. Born in Montreal on July 8, 1872, Walkem attended McGill University. After graduating, he joined the Royal Engineers and served in Egypt and Palestine before moving to Vancouver in 1898. He was president of West Coast Shipbuilders, Vancouver Iron Works, West Coast Salvage and Construction and Gulf of Georgia Towing.

George was also reeve (mayor) of Point Grey in 1923 as well as MLA for Richmond-Point Grey from 1924 to 1928 and for Vancouver from 1933. As befitting a shipbuilder, George Walkem's ashes were spread over English Bay from the tub George A. Walkem.

This is the 1858 Knickerbocker Base Ball Club in Hoboken, New Jersey. This is thought to be the first sports team photo ever taken.

American soldiers hunker down in a trench less than a mile away from the detonation of a 43 kiloton nuclear bomb in 1953.

Children in iron lungs before the advent of the polio vaccine in 1937.

The Rivoli Theatre in 1975

Once again, I would like to thank The History of Metropolitan Vancouver website for the above information. I would also like to thank my mother's friend, Wes, for the photos.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Albert Einstein in the Grand Canyon in 1922.

Attica inmates playing chess.

The first ambulance. Bellevue Hospital Centre, NY 1869

Abraham Lincoln inspecting the battlefield in 1862.

Firing Totem Poles

An interesting display at Stanley Park is that of the totem poles. Here is a lasting tribute to the people of the First Nations who first settled this area.

This gateway, and two others, were made by Susan Point of the Musqueam nation. This is important because the totem poles that you will see in a moment are not representative of the Coast Salish. They didn't make totem poles. Their carving talents were shown in such things as house posts and arches.

If you were so fortunate as to be invited into one of their lodges, an acrchway such as this might have greeted you.

This is called a Beaver Crest Pole and it was carved in 1987 by NISGA'A artist, Robert Tait along with his son Isaac, brother Robert and nephew Ron Telek.

It depicts a Tait family legend of how the eagle clan adopted the beaver as their crest and how the eagle and raven met and shared the sky. For the whole story you can go to the park and read the plaque in front.

The single pole you see here is the Oscar Maltipi Pole carved in 1968.  A Kwakwaka'wakw artist Oscar Maltipi trained at the Royal B.C. Museum under artist and teacher Henry Hunt.

This is entitled the Chief Wakas Pole. Traditionally in Kwakwaka'wakw ceremonies talking sticks, or carved staffs, were held by the people making speeches on behalf of the chief. This pole represents the talking stick used in an  Owikeno story relating to, guess who, Chief Wakas. The original pole was in front of Chief Wakas' house in Alert Bay in the 1890s. This one was carved by Nimpkish artist Doug Cramner in 1987.

Totem poles were like a coat of arms for the First Nations of British Columbia. They are unique to the North West coast of BC and lower Alaska. These carvings from red cedar were not worshipped nor were they regarded as idols. Rather each one tells a story - real or mythical.

This is a replica of a Thunderbird house post that had been carved by Kwakwaka'wakw artist Charles James in the early 1900s.This one was created by Tony Hunt in 1987 to replace the original which is in the Vancouver museum.

Haida artist Bill Reid with assistant Werner True carved this repllica of Chief Skedans Mortuary Pole in 1964. Don Yeomans had to recarve the moon face in 1998. It depicts his heriditary crests as well as events in his life. The board at the top covered a cavity that contained the chief's remains on the original pole.

The original pole was raised in the Haida Village of Skidegate about 1870 to honour the Raven Chief of Skedans.

The totem poles section of the park is an awe inspiring site and one well worth the effort to find.

Stanley Park and the area has been home to many different nationalities. In the 1860s Coal Harbour was settled by many Hawaiian families. They had a small community known as Kanaka Ranch, a name taken from their Polynesian heritage. The community was sustained by them growing fruits and vegetables and fishing and hunting. They produced charcoal and sold it to the Hastings Mill where the men workd and the children went to school.

At one point above the seawall is a plaque.

This slab was set here in 1863 or 1865, I can't read it clearly. It was set by the Royal Engineers and used as a survey point by the Royal Navy Survey Ship H.M.S. Egeria.

Not far from that is the Nine O'Clock Gun.

This is a naval type twelve pound muzzle loader and was cast at Woolwich England in 1816. (The Woolwich Factory is now known as the Royal Arsenal.) The crests of King George III and the Earl of Mulgrave, Master General of Ordance, are engraved on the barrel. It was brought to Vancouver about 1894.

This gun is one of sixteen that was given to the 'provinces of Canada by the British Government in 1856 (11 years before Confederation). Three of those guns made it to the West Coast.

Two guns were outside the legislative buildings in Victoria but those were melted down in 1940 as part of the War effort. This one resided for a while in Nanaimo to quell discord between nervous miners and the native population. From what I've read it was more of a visual - and auditory - deterrent rather than a weapon. Next it went to Esquimalt where unrest brewed due to the conflict between Britain and the United States over an international border line.

Once that hullabaloo was over with the gun was placed at Stanley Park and first fired on October 5, 1898. The story goes that at one time a dynamite explosion was set off nightly at nine pm to aid in navigation. There are apparently a couple of different versions of why but all I will tell you is that every night at nine o'clock the gun fires. It is heard at Granville and Hastings at five seconds after; in Marpole 35 seconds after; in New Westminster a full minute after and even in Mission at more than three minutes after the hour. I will have to try to listen for it.

A few more observations of my time yesterday at Stanley Park. I hope you enjoyed it and I wish all of you a great weekend.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

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