MacDermid ‘has “set the.
i story of the community.
C lows. . : {

y'Ross: MacDermid ). 5

twas on« arm summer,
"evening xecently, wa

sitting down to. dinner, that I

 heard'‘Kinnaird’s fire siren blow-.

reasons 20 years ago. ay
The water supply: 20 years
ago didn’t leave any room for.
wasting water: ‘generally, much.
Jess when there was a fire. There
were no telephones in Kinnaird
20 years ago (the first telephone,
which came in mid-1947, had to
serve the entire area, and: was|
a single payphone on’ Alex Crei-
ghton’s front verandah). . a
It was quite certain that
more firefighters could be used
than the small: group of volun-
teers who manned the first fire-
fighting equipment, who built
the first fire hall and:who dog-
gedly struggled: against the de-
mands of homebuilding, garden-
_ ing and all'the other burdens of
the pioneer settlers. :
-"\ ‘Those first firemen’ -often
felt that local inertia, much more
“than fire, was their great enemy.
And _ if some of the citizens
felt that the siren blew too loud-
ly or too long and objected to
tne trouble and: expense the
fire department caused, a few of
the firemen in turn thought that
a volunteer fire department
wasn’t worth their own: expendi-
ture.of time, money and trouble.
© They are reassured ‘today.

: The siren also:reminded-me
that I had -promised: the ‘editor
of the Castlegar’ News to: write
a brief history. of Kinnaird, par-
ticularly the period: ‘following
the end of World War‘IL until
thé village was incorporated, and
fora few more years.” ‘

~ Don’t ask me when the dis-|.

trict came to be called Kinnaird.
Doubtless the “Canadian: Pacific
Railway knows, if someone could
persuade the head office: of thé:
OPR ‘to chase back in the records
50 or. 60 years. :

“4 The “original group ‘who
worked in: 1947, and -1948 didn’t
find out; ‘although they.did esta:

-plish that it-was named. after a

“Kinnaird “(and ‘his | <

name rhymed with laird.and not

with ‘lard). who ‘had ‘been:a ‘dist-
; riet superintendent. :

There was an argument ov-

-.. er-whether-he had been a super-

intendent or a surveyor, and an-
-. other :over:,whether: it:.was the

-OPR or the Columbia and West-
ern Railroad Co., but since these
things didn’t really matter at'the
time, the question was dropped.

_ However, in 1947 a group in

Castlegar, started. ‘working to-
wards the incorporation of Cas-'
tlegar. asa village. There was
some discussion about including
the Kinnaird area in the -pro-
posed village. ee BA

_ “Even 20 years ago it is very
possible: ‘that the “inclusion :-of
Kinnaird at: that time would have
‘aroused ‘enough opposition to
incorporation . in: Castlegar. to
have deféated the proposition.
The deciding factor in limiting
the southern boundary of Cast-
legar to’ the Sherbiko Hil.was
the opposition of residents living
south of Sherbiko Hill as far as
the CPR tracks.

And: there: were “no. com-
plaints’ from Kinnaird ‘people.
+ It did arouse. a lot of :inter-
est within Kinnaird and it was
inevitable’ that a meeting was
held in the Improvement Society
Hall to. discuss the matter.

Even in those days it was
not. unusual that if Castlegar
was for something, we were’
against it and. vice versa. 5

Perhaps: the. simplest’ way
to ‘record ‘the early ‘growth

beginning of the Kinnaird: Wat-
er Co. pees
> §.-C. Watson had acquired
some. land ‘lying: west. ‘of: the
raikway tracks’ and stretching
south. past: the ‘present: location
of the ‘Kinnaird garbage dump.
‘He: had Omar Lightle and
the late Dr. V. Goresky as part-
ners and: they. began‘ the’ water
company. ‘The. latter. two: ‘were
subsequently bought out. ‘
“=: Rast of: the: railway tracks
was land. ‘belonging to Mark’ Du-
mont of. .‘Rosebery, near’: New
Denver: To the north of the Wat-
son -land..was. some owned: by
the late Nick Kuryluk. a
This land had its own wat-
er’ and Kuryluk piped it'to the
highway. and: laid water lines on
both ‘sides of the highway.
“Jn 1942 there ‘was. a small
farm'besides the” river:on the,
Dumont: land, ‘Kuryluk’s’, ho: 6
which is now: right: at the: ju
tion of Highway No. 3 and 3A
‘and a ‘house, which had’once
been a:school; are still standing..
Perey Owles and Pete Ostro.
had farms just west of the com-

munity park, and’ there was al

Killough farm to the north of
them. These farms were outside
the area subsequently -taken in
by the: village. ea

>” In: 1942 there was an influx

of workers from Trail, who ili

pought land and water from

Watson. eee eon
That same year there were

about 26 homes occupied in the

area and ‘the. residents .formed

the ‘Kinnaird: Improvement. So-

ciety. 2: pet ene ney

“In the

e “original
i land :.was
split up between. itle
Goresky. It has all:been ‘subdiy-
jded ‘and ‘the*-entire ‘area has
been built up.)
*- As ° more © people’ :moved
here, ‘the’ society “increased in

size and finally: built a comimuni-|:

ty hall which:was turned over
to. the present village in’ 1967,

The. substantial. growth of
Kinnaird started in'1946. In Aug-
ust of that year there were 68
customers. drawing: water from
the water. company. i
Nick Kuryluk'had extended
his water system also and even-
tually supplied both’sides ‘of the

of| together with’ something’ like |...
Kinnaird: is to. work’ from: the | $2,000. ‘ Be

highway north of the: Kinnaird'{'

Water.Co.’s area. is :
‘A very forward-looking group

lof ‘Castlegar ‘commissioners: had

considered ’ town: planning “for
Castlegar ‘with the result’ that
Victoria had caused the’ new vil-
Jageto..be:examined with: town
planning in mind andthe report
of the’ planners aroused ‘a. lot
of opposition. : : x

“In' Kinnaird;-we felt that we.

were in -no:position to object if
Victoria. tried’ to planus. We

even: felt that ‘the best way to]:

ayoid it: was-to incorporate and
to'prepare: a zoning ‘plan’ our-
7 > The final incident which pre-
pared: the way.’ was a . state-
ment’ released in: Trail wherein
the town planners stated ‘they
would “have to scheme a way to

natural: that’: the = tw
went together: on the
i :

out all the details. It seems that

in ‘the strugglé’'to. make ‘both, £

projects “work, ‘the’ community

has lost sight of the fact that this | ¢
land was donated by: Mr. Wat-} ed

son..

There was. no ‘community |b
playground “in Kinnaird ‘and re-

©: Tt took a long’time..to:-work}: >) “Some

than any

trict.

- the reality

~

foe A. century ago,. our founding f thers laid the groundwork’ for a century of dev-

one of the most progressive and socially-enlightened

ountri s twice ou ge. Wars‘and-de pression have peset.us and the sheer size

-~ of our country has at times rade it:

we have overcome these obstacles and stand on the threshold of anew

"As we‘celebrate he debut of our second. century,.

e untapped natural resou!

continue to. exp: d. A

__ the willingness’ of Canadians to envision, and work hard for, a

enlightened wor

happ' 1ess-and contentment: