First Nations and Whites

In 1874, the area we now know as Stanley Park, was home to many First Nations and a few whites. Mowitch Jim lived near the rancherie and he hunted and sold venison to George Black. Then there Supple Jack - the reputed scourge of the prospectors (I don't know why). He was a handsome man, neatly dressed and lived near First Narrows with his wife, Quy-what. The couple had 24 cows, 2 horses and many pigs. Quy-what delivered milk to the mill.

Remember the lazy government agent, Tompkins Brew? He and his wife settled just east of Deadman's Island - off Stanley Park. Johnny Baker, a longshoreman, married a First Nations' woman and they lived in a home about where the Nine-O' Clock gun is now. Pete Donnelly settled there as well and he prospered making dog-fish oil and selling it for 25 cents a gallon.

Donnelly made a trip back east and returned a different man. He brought with him a blushing bride and he had turned ultra-respectable. No longer was he Pete Donnelly, dog-fish oil manufacturer. Now he insisted his name was James A. Robertson. I don't know whether James continued with the business that made Pete so profitable.

At Snaq, the present Kitsilano Reserve, there was a long-house 100 feet high and 30 feet wide where Chief Khahtsahlano ruled a Squamish settlement. Years later, the chief's grandson, August Jack, worked at the mill. 

The Burrard Inlet was a paradise for fishermen and women. And for hunters. The herring shoals were so thick in Coal Harbour "you scoop them up when you row across" and men with herring rakes could quickly fill a boat. Halibut and salmon were everywhere. Ducks were speared by torchlight at night and sold by the barrel. Deer and bear were there for the taking. That winter fresh eggs sold for three dollars a dozen (about what they are now!) but no one in Gastown ever had to starve.

Gassy Jack Deighton left Granville and Joseph Mannion arrived. This was more than a well-known businessman leaving the area and being replaced by another - it marked the end of an era. Gassy Jack was a pioneer; Mannion was not. It was a new time in Gastown.

The pioneering of Gastown was finished by 1875. It wasn't a matter of time but rather of function. However, the pioneers continued to dominate the settlement until the population explosion ten years later. After that, the pioneers adapted to the the commercialism of the growing city or were drowned by it.

I would like to thank the book Vancouver, From Milltown to Metropolis by Alan Morley for the above information.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Qua-Hail-Ta and Chief Thunder Voice

On August 10, 1948, Gassy Jack's widow died on the North Vancouver Indian reserve. Qua-Hail-Ta, her native name, was 90 years old. Madeline, as she was known, was 12 years old when Jack Deighton married her. Madeline was the niece of Jack's first wife and the mother of his only child, a son named Richard who died at the age of five. Six months after his father died. Madeline spoke fondly of Gassy Jack until her death.

A ribbon cutting ceremony was held on August 13 to celebrate the opening of the Oakridge Transit Centre on West 41st, just east of Oak Street. Dignitaries, civic and other, took inaugural rides on the city's new T-44 trolley buses. B.C.  Electric offered the public free rides on the 15th and on August 16, 30 of these new buses started making money for the city.

The first passengers received a route map and an explanation of how the trolleys worked.

On September 1, 1948, Mayor Charles Jones died in office. He had replaced Mayor Gerry McGeer who had also died in office. Jones was replaced by Alderman George Miller. Miller was a former mayor of Vancouver - 1937-38 - and covered the mayoral duties until the end of the year.

September 10, 1948 was the day Margaret Sinclair was born. 18 years later, Margaret was in Tahiti when she met the Minister of Justice, Pierre Trudeau. Trudeau became prime minister in 1968 and married Margaret in 1971.

Ten days later, Bing Crosby brought his highly popular Philco to Vancouver to record a program on the 22nd. The location for this recording, which aired on October 13, was the Sunset Memorial Centre on East 51st Avenue. Performers who joined Bing on this broadcast were jazz violinist Joe Venuti and actors Marilyn Maxwell, William Gargan and Ray Milland.

This was a benefit for the Centre and it was unique because it was the only show in the Philco series transcribed outside the US.

Before the show, the Squamish tribe made Crosby a full-blooded Indian "Chief". Bing became an honorary member with the name "Chief Thunder Voice".

Hallelujah Point in Stanley Park was named on October 3, 1948, to commemorate the work of the Salvation Army for over 60 years, 1887-1947.

On October 18, a small bust of Mayor Gerry McGeer was unveiled at the north side of city hall.

Olympic athlete, Marion Lay, was born November 26, 1948. She became known as "Ms. Everything in Sport" and was involved in the advancement in women in sports.

On November 28, at a home in West Vancouver's British Properties, a ghostly image of a basketball game in Seattle appeared on a four-by-five-inch screen. Radio-shop proprietor, E.A. Mullins, built the primitive set from a kit the cost $238. The signal came from Seattle TV station, KRSC - later KING-TV.

Thanks to The History of Metropolitan Vancouver website.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Finding Pat Lowther

Detectives Hale and Chapman followed up on the lead that Roy Lowther had given them. They checked airlines, railroads and bus companies to see if his wife, Pat, had travelled. Nothing was found, They managed to contact the poet in Ontario - the one Roy thought his wife was having an affair with - but he had not seen the missing woman in almost a year. The two were good friends and had collaborated on a a book in the past.

On October 13, 1975, Mr. Robert Kourvoisier and his family were going out to spend the day hiking and fishing. They drove their car along the Squamish Highway and pulled off the road at Furry Creek, two and half miles from Britannia Beach. Leaving the car, the family hiked through the woods for the next hour or so.

It was a beautiful fall day, nature was showing off her autumn colours. The Kourvoisier family got back to their car and Robert decided he wanted to explore a small creek. He followed the creek to a train bridge. Crossing the bridge, he happened to look down and saw a body lying face down in the water. The head and shoulders were jammed under a log.

After telling his children to stay back, Robert hurried up the road to a nearby service station where he called the police. Constable Dennis Culic of the R.C. M. P. (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) met Kourvoisier on the side of the road and the two men climbed down to where the body was located.

Once Culic was satisfied the remains were that of a body and not a store mannequin, he returned to his vehicle and radioed his detachment office in Squamish, informing them of the situation. In twenty minutes, an ambulance and a photographer arrived.

Photographs were taken, a plan of the area drawn and the body was removed from the water. The badly decomposed remains were determined to be those of a female who had been in the water for two or three weeks. She was taken to the Lions Gate Hospital.

News of the find spread quickly. Only the bare essentials were broadcast over the local radio stations but one person who head the broadcast was Detective Ken Hale of the Vancouver Police Homicide squad.

Hale arrived at the hospital at 9 pm to view the body. The condition of the victim made identification difficult but the body matched the general physical similarity to the description of the missing woman. Detective Hale notified his office and was joined by Detective Sergeant Sam Andrews and Detective Chapman.

Chapman and Andrews brought the missing person's report filed by Kathy Domphousse. She stated in the report that her mother had a scar on her knee. So did the unidentified corpse. Now, the detectives were even more sure this was the missing Pat Lowther.

Thanks to Joe Swan and the book Policebeat for the information above.

I hope you find the beauty around you.