AS

CASTLEGAR NEWS, August 24, 1980

Parents. Your child's

first job

couid make | a difference

Look around. Some of the most successful people you know were once newspaper carriers

There's a good reason for that. Being a carrier is more thana job.. . it's an unforgettable learning ex- perience. It teaches young people how to use their time wisely . . . to handle money . . . to deal with dif- ferent kinds of people. It gives them feelings of confidence, pride and accomplishment for handling an important responsibility, reliably and well.

And what's more, it’s fun

You don't have to bea boy...

Girls Make Excellent Carriers

Women’s lib is here to stay. Girls are very capable of handling a ° newspaper delivery route and more and more girls around the country are taking on a carrier job. It's a good way to meet new people, learn good business practices and earn a little extra money, too.

Learning how to be a good carrier can help you throughout your life. The Castlegar News welcomes female carriers. Join your friends today

Circulation Dept. CASTLEGAR NEWS

Box 3007

Castlegar, B.C. VIN SH4

Or Phone

365-7266

Ask for Circulation

Yes. I'd like to learn more about being a Castlegar News Carrier.

Name

Address

City

‘A Word to SENIOR CITIZENS. . .

Why don’t you consider a Castlegar News route? You get regular exercise through an interesting bi-weekly routine, it's profitable part-time work, and you get the op- portunity to meet people and make new friends. As well, you get a choice of area — even your ows) neighborhood.

For details phone 365-7266. Ask for Linda.

_P.S. We're also interested in Seniors as vacation relief carriers. It pays well and there is a gas allowance as well. Why not consider this aspect? Phone Linda at 365-7266.

t

sass seer ame

WATERLOO’

Paddle wheelers. . . _ the waterway the bloodstream

By HELEN DUNLOP In the summer ‘of 1896 there were seven steam-

boats on the run. from .

Arrowhead to Trail and four regular trips a week were scheduled. The boats: were owned by the Columbia and Kootenay Steam Navigation Company, but were taken over by the Canadian Pacific Railway that year.

In September some promising new strikes were. re- Ported and the news stated "We are on the edge of a great boom.” The entire comp. was in a state of

an icipation — prospects were brighter than ever and the future now seemed assured,

Miners and prospectors were -

arriving daily by steamer and packtrail and stores were being built to supply their needs. Plans were underway to construct a post office building and the telephone was on its way in.

During that same summer of 1896 a good packtrail was pushed through to the Salmon River country and the head

ployed in lopging the thickly-wooded enchlands above the river. Two timber inspectors were appointed to the district and in the fall of 1897 thousands of cords of wood cut on the mountains floated down the Columbia on rafts, destined far Augustus Heinze's smelter at Trail. The wood was reported to be selling at $3.50 a cord, a good price at that time.

A news itam which cppeared in the Trail Creek News in January, 1897 an- nounced the arrival of a crew of work- men with horses and graders from But- te, M 16 building a road from Trail to West Robson at the foot of the Arrow Lakes, Robson already had rail connections with Nelson and points east and it was an Important port- of-call for the riverboats,

There were other changes coming to the K Y¥8, too. The Trail-Rob: branch of the Columbia and: Western Railwoy, a narrow-gauge line built by

Heinze, was completed in the same .

year, and on Sep}. 28, 1897 the first train went through to Trail with a load of coke from Rebson.

Renewed excitement broke out in the mining camps with the news of assay results from the Bryan claims on Cham- plon Creek, The discovery was made by a packer who was returning from a trip to the Queen of Sheba and Solomon claims, and happened to pick up a likely- looking piece of quartz along the trail.

The sample, which assayed 50 oun- ces gold and 1,125 ounces of silver, was

of Champion Lakes; so that p and miners could make the trip. from Waterloo to the Salmon River mines in a day with saddle and packhorses.

A glance through some early issues of the Trail Creek News brings the little community vividly back to life. An ad- vertisement in September, 1896 infor- med the Waterloo residents that the daily paper, also “stationery needs and sundries” could be obtained at the

list of Charles Thomp Mr. Thompson's building also housed the post office and offered the convenience of a public telephone!

Fairly, regular reports on the doings.

of the Waterloo diggings were sent to the Trail Creek paper by an unknown writer using the nom-de-plume of the “Waterloo Growler.” There appear to be few, if any, records of the development of Waterloo other than these news items.

On September 10, the Growler stated: “Waterloo has a boom — the town is plotted and laid out in spite of the Lillooet-Fraser River Company. Waterloo has a fine river front of four

miles, with paying mines in close’

proximity, to her and a small payroll. A contract has been let for a tunnel at the Columbia River Mine and the townsite Is soon to é . stumps and grading the streets.”

Acontract was also awarded for 100 feet of tunnel at the Daisy Belle Mine and development commenced at the Big Kootenoy, the Found Treasure, and the Wheel of Fortune claims.

Notices which appeared with fre- quency in the paper were the ap- plications for liquor licences as saloons and hotels opened up in the town. Waterloo had three hotels in its heyday.

A blacksmith shop, a-gonoral store and a large livery stable were among other lish setting upb in the mining camp. es

The Waterloo Opera House also served asa meeting hall, and here the miners met to organize their local Union No. 77. A_ report of the inaugural meeting states that C.S. Thompson was elected president and J.C. Caie was elected secretary of the new union. Mr. Caie's name is Parpetuated in the area, by a small stream known as Cai Creek, which comes down the mountain behind the airport. In later years a school in Ootischenia was named the Cai Creek School, although somewhere along the way the spelling was changed to Cay Creek. -

The first school on the flats opened

in Waterloo early in 1897. with an

enrolment of 12 pupils under the super-

vision of a Miss Fletcher from Victoria.

The school had been built by people of

the town concerned with the number of ‘hool. hildren in the settl

authorities. Other promising claims were staked in the same area on the north fork of Champion Creek, Although most of the claims and diggings were near Waterloo Landing there were also many to the south and east in the Cham-

y mining.

5.S. ROSSLAND on the ways at Nokusp

i The Columbia and

y Stcam ig ‘s her launching In November, 1897. The Ross!

is shown here prior to land was designed for

CASTLEGAR NEWS, August 24, 1980

speed and was capable of makin: Robson and return in a day — a distance of over 250 miles!

9 the voyage from Arrowhead to

Copy of phote owned by R. A. Fowler

The mew fown of Waterloo Landing continued to develop. A school opened in 1897 and the post office had come in the year before. Mail went out twice a week on the steamboais travelling from Trail to Arrowhead. On the west side of the river the Columbia and Western Railroad was completed linking Trail with Robson and Nelson and work on the highway had commenced. The effect of changes taking

place in the district

stallment.

These old claims were well-marked on the mineral maps of that period and it is possible to pick out the trails the aniners followed through the hills so lon: ago. The maps also give the name o} each claim in most cases,

. A large block of claims running parallel to the river bank near Waterloo Eddy had rather amusing names such a series called “Boom” while the adjacent

pion Creek hills.

claims were “Bang.” Perhaps they

The "Maude S Mine" - by’ Helen Dunlop t *

In the latter half of the 1890's many clai

drilled and shafts sunk at vari in the ins back

>. -0f Waterloo Landing,.but one mine in particular stands.out.in the memory. of local people. This mine was the Maude S, located on Aaron Hill at the

head of Cal Creek. :

Aaren Hill is composed of two summits, the higher “knob” is about 5,400 feet above sea level, while the lower hill to the south is shown as 4,917 feet. The Maude S was d on the south hill.

The north hill had a large group of claims all close and’ bearing names such as Aaron's Isle, Aaron's Gem, Aaron's Rod and so on, and considerable work: had nm done on some of these but the

quip iad app n taken out at an early date. These claims appear on mineral maps of the day, showi: and location: In contrast, at least until the big forest fire in the early thirties, there

Lod

fa

_ were still buildings and equipment at the Maude S.

In 1930 when the Killough brothers, Joe, Harry and Jack were engaged in clearing the old Cai Creek Trail for the B.C. Forest Service they made their headquarters at the Maude S Mine for a time. Here they

found evidence that a great deal of work had been carried out and it ap- .

peared to have been a large operation. A tunnel had been driven into the hill for 150 fest, and at some distance in a “stope” rose at a steep pitch to an air shaft seaing to the rf Exploration of the airshaft al ended in tragedy when the rock proved too rotten for climbing, as hand and foot-holds crumbled away. ‘ The mine/mill building itself had been burned down leaving the hi d. This included two stamp mills and the ive boilers

of the |

S.S.. MINTO: — launched at Nakusp in November, 1898, the Minto was named atter the Governor-General, the Earl of Minto, and was the last heeler to

as a whole are told in this week's in-

reports of rich strikes and to the glowing: prophecies, Even the Waterloo social notes disappeared from the pages of the Trail Creek News, E

It might have been because the ore simply was not there in sufficient.quan- tities to make the expense of getting it out worthwhile or perhaps it was because the rush to thé Klondike began in 1898 and the prospectors, fired with news of greater wealth to be gained,

- left for greener pastures.

The fact that Waterloo lacked tran- sportation for the ore could also have in- fluenced the downward trend, and likely the final blow came when both the railway and the new road were built on the west side of the river, isolating the town: of Waterloo Landing for either.

route. : 7 Editorial comment in the Trail Creek News at that time was significant and may have given the real clue to the mystery surrounding the exodus from the diggings. - The article stated: “Waterloo

travel on the Arrow Lakes. In her 56 years of service she logged over two

million miles. Her final run was made in -

April, 1954. Although some half-hearted attempts were made to save her, the Minto, suffered many

prosp are all right gh as far as. surface showings, but the camp has not recovered from the terrible ‘black-eye’ occasioned by the Horne-Payne Com- pany which took bonds but did not develop the claims. The owners and:

ry - in- cluding being sold for junk, before John Nelson who loved the old starnwheeler took her home to Galena Bay with him. After his death in 1967 the Minto was towed out in the lake and set afire, ina dramatic Viking funeral, which was seen on television, Many of her former “ports of call” along the lakes were to be

- flooded later by the rising waters of the

Arrow Lakes reservoir.

p should pull together and Prove to the mining world that such im-

_ Mense bodies of ore as Champion Creek

have values underground. Some have Proven good, such as the Maude S, the Bryan and Oregon, with their high assays.”

Historians have said the Canadian Pacific Railway Co. at one time planned to build a smelter at Blueberry Creek and run a rail tine from there to

* should have been named “Bust,” since

they do not seem to have amounted to much or to have won fame and fortune for their owners!

The highway link between

y exp which provided steam power for the stamp mills, Pp on trator.

A

Pp Hler building which had escaped the first fire con- tained all the equipment for o sawmill setup. The sawmill evidently had been used to cut the lumber for two bunk houses or residences which were still standing. These were two-storey buildings and in them were found old newspapers dating back to the late 1890's.

Besides the mine buildings there was a cebin used by Tony Swanson, fire ranger for the Munson Lumber Co., an American outfit owning many thousands of acres of tiniber in the surrounding hills.

Work at the Maude S probably began in 1896, although thera seems.

to be no record as to when production started, or what came out of the mine in the following years until its closure in 1904.

According to earlier reports of Waterloo days there mus? have been gold in some quantity, and it is known there was also copper in the hills there, or as it is often called, “p k ore,” b of Its rich coloring.

There was also a large log barn built to accommodate a dozen or more horses. In those days the “pack-train" was the only means of tran- sportation available for getting materials in and out, 50 that most of the

board of trustees wos appointed to arrange for the needs of the school and see that a teacher was obtained. Shortly after the official opening a teacher's desk: was presented by Hiram Landis, who had made the desk himself from local wood. It is doubtful whether the schoo! had much in the way of equipment when it opened and the students likely sat on homemade den t fF while ing their

veh

“reading, writing and ‘r

: The same year also saw the opening of a Methodist church, the minister being Rev. Ferris.

J.R. Hunnik was officially appointed postmaster in April 1897 and a mail ser- vice was established between Waterloo Landing and points north and south along the Columbia River. The mail went out from Waterloo each Tuesday and Thursday at 630 p.m.

Mining was not the only industry in

the area as. many of the men were em. |

quig must have been taken in pi ion

When Joe Killough, Castlegar Forest Ranger, returned after the big fire swept the entire mountain, he took the Iron Creek Trail, which while steeper than Cal Creek, was more direct. On this Hp he found marks on the cliffs where cables had been used to haul up the heavy equipment found at the Maude S. He thought the large boilers and probably the sawmill inery were winched up the trail. It would be interesting to know how long this procedure took.

On this return trip Killough also found that the buildings previously seen at the mine had been destroyed by the fire.

After the mine closed Hiram Landis of Waterloo Landing was hired as caretaken and it has been said he was successful in obtaining some free gold from quartz veins nearby.

Some years later the Hackney family of R interested In the Maude S, and the mine was reopened, but it is believe to have been fruitless since Hackney found nothing of value there, according to what little is known of the operation.

Others have been Interested in the copper ore, but there has been no activity around the mine for many years now, and the Maude S is fast fading away In history. To those who dream of the goldrush days her fascination is as strong as ever.

lond bh

legar and Salmo has made the en- tire area more accessible. Several of the claims are known to be along the route of the road. In fact, some have been re- registered by local residents who have done the necessary work to “prove” the claims and so keep them legally posted.

h i

Rossland, which they held a charter to do.’ They also had an option on property needed for the smelter, but this plan did not come about. Instead, the. company: bought out Heinze's smelter at Trail in the spring of 1898,

‘ te 3 It Is interesting to speculate on what the presence of a smelter across the river at Blueberry Creek might have done for Waterloo, It could have changed the picture completely! There

* would almost surely have been a bridge

- across the Columbia at an early stage, \ a half-century before the Kin-

Who can tell — p iP: wi

find the motherlode or make “the big

strike” one of these days! 5 Certainly the golden era anticipated

did not materialize for Waterloo Lan-

ding. By the turn of the century it was apparent the growth had reached its peak. There was an abrupt end to the

4 pe es $.8. NAKUSP — launched ‘in July, 1895 trom the Nakusp shipyards, she, was larger and more efficient than her run- ning motes the Lytton and Kootenai. The Nokusp was 171 feet in length and was the best equipped ship in 8.C., having a plant for electricity, hot and cold water, steam heat and elegant decor. She was termed a “floating palace” and was put

naird Bridge was bullt.

Next week we take a look at the Waterloo ferries (there were actually two, although the first was really a rowboat). We also learn about some of the people who pioneered in the area ofter the miners had gone.

into service on the run between - Arrowhead and Trail. Unfortunately the career of the Nakusp was short-lived as she was destroyed by fire on ‘Christmas Eve, 1897. In the above picture she is shown taking on wood to fire her boilers. Some of the older sternwheelers had to carry 80 much wood there little space for cargo. A. Fewer