,

A6 CASTLEGAR NEWS, August 26, 1981 Invermere ingenuity

It took a train wreck

By Winnifred Ariel Weir’

Ifa CP Rail coal train en route from the Crowsnest coal fields to Roberts Bank near Vancouver had

Also treasured is a Father De Smet medal dated 1845, the year the Jesuit priest was first mission- ary to traverse this valley. [t is

not derailed and p through the Lake Windermere Station, Invermere would not have its log cabin museum com- lex.

It was a crisp October moming in 1975 when the northbound freight’s engine and two cars derailed on the crossing adjacent to the station and tore into the log structure. CPR decided the exten- sive damage was not worth re- pairing and sold the building to the Windermere District Histori- cal Society for a song.

The society's museum had been housed in two small log cabins on the main street of the village. The first, acquired in 1964, was a one-room cabin hauled to Invermere from Kootenay National Park when its site there was required for high- way construction. Measuring three by five metres, it was probably the smallest museum in Canada.

UP THE HILL

It rapidly became too small for the growing collection of ar- tifacts, and the chance came to acquire a second log building. This was the first clubhouse of the Royal Canadian Legion. The school board bought the land the clubhouse was on and sold it to the Historical Society for a token dollar. It was moved beside the first museum.

These two buildings are to be moved shortly to sit beside the “‘station’’ which has been brought up the kilometre-long hill to Invermere and sited in a small park. The three are now being made into a picturesque museum complex.

Many donations and much vol- unteer labor has made the project possible. The village donated the site and installed water. The Na- tional Museum of Canada gave financial assistance; the Inver-

presumed that the priest cither lost it himself or gave it to a local Indian who later lost it. [t was found by a local resident who donated it to the museum.

FIRST WHITES Thei a wealth of material regarding the famed explorer-

geographer, David Thompson, whose men were the first whites to see the Windermere, when he established Kootenac House in

The primary aim of the society has been to preserve the history of old-time families of the valley and this is done with scrapbooks, photographs and family artifacts. This collection will be kept in onc of the small log buildings. The

other will be retained as a pioncer cottage furnished as such,

The new “'station’’ museum will be devoted to the historical displays. Contemplated is a model of one of the block-houses of Fort Kootcnae, a model of one of the early day paddle-wheelers that plied the Columbia River, and a typical Indian teepee.

Hundreds of summer holidayers visit the muscum at Invermere each year.

TRAVEL B.C.

Built wilderness castle

By Lynne Schuyler

As you stand in the serene meadow surrounding this weath- ered brown structure, you can almost hear the clatter of cooks in the kitchen, or the soft clink of crystal in the dining room.

For this is Captain Geoffrey Watson’s mansion—a gentle re- minder of a more romantic, bygone era.

No one really knows forcertain when the mansion was erected.

Some say Victorian architects designed it around 1909. Yet others say the house was built and completed by 1904. Today it rests as a vacant shell outside of 100 Mile House.

It is easy to visualize Captain

Searching

Watson as a man enchanted by the splendor of the Cariboo coun- tryside. His mansion, a true “wildemess castle’’ of detailed craftsmanship, still remains sturdy some 70-odd years later.

MAN OF MYSTERY

An aura of speculation, some- times spiced with colorful facts, whirls about the. mysterious English captain and his manor.

Had he lived longer than he did, the captain might have been one of today’s cattle barons. He was reputedly a man of shrewed insight, snatching up some 20,000 hectares of land to create a vast cattle empire of 10,000 head.

Other tales recited about the

For stone gems

By Murphy Shewchuk

and

mere Business Men's A through the Devonian Society Beautification program assisted, and: private businesses and indi- viduals donated funds or labor. CP Rail chipped in a com- memorative plaque.

ELABORATE PLAN

Underway is an elaborate plan for interior displays to incorporate artifacts and depict early day settlement of the valley. There will also be space for travelling exhibits.

The artifacts owned include a Shuswap Indian dugout of unde- termined age and an interesting

stone needles are all part of the culture that inhabited the Kam- loops area before the coming of the furtraders.

The early spring months— March and April the best

cement plant on the eastern out- skirts of Kamloops. Here, turning up on sandbars that extend well out into the river, are fragments of a civilization that has gone forever.

Although persistent (and ob- servant) members of the local

man reveal a personal glimpse. into his character. Fer instance, he was known to have fed hungry native families, and, he was more than generous towards his own friends and family.

One popular story recounts that Captain Watson constructed the mansion for his fiancee, who resided in England.

LOADED WITH TASTE

It seems the lady was not too’ thrilled at the prospect of sharing the local countryside with two renegade Indians who were being chased at the time. End of romance. hat luxury this lady passed

Wi by!

The mansion was the epitome of good taste.

It was loaded with delicate ivory carvings, and had imported Tealian marble decorating the fireplace.

Plush leather chairs and elabo- rately embossed wallpaper were the order of the day.

Tired guests could rest them- selves under the delightful canopies of four-poster beds. Elegance at every touch, from the first floor to the third. =

Captain Watson's endeavors didn’t end with the house. His ranch was a beehive of activity. A stables for 100

have

time of the year for artifact hunting on the sandbars of the South Thompson River.

The Shuswap Indians spent their winter months along the riverbanks and the stone remind- ers of their culture can still be found when the rivers in the area are at their lowest.

The floods of the previous season have scoured the banks

found a few remnants of ancient copper beads, the vast majority of artifacts found are made of stone.

horses, bunkhouses, an icehouse, and even a store rounded out the picture of a'regal country squire.

*Unfortt: the’ captain was

For most artifacts mean arrowheads, but the natives of Western Canada used storte for many other tools and implements as well. Double-edged points could also have been spearheads, drills or knives.

If the stone was sharpened

of Indian

and new

papoose bags, arrowheads and tribal photographs. These are housed in the Arbell-Kinbasket room in the older museum, a room named for the first known Indian chiefs of the Shuswap and Kootenay bands resident in the valley.

and artifacts, depositing them on the riverbed, and for a few short weeks they will be visible to the sharp-eyed collector.

COPPER BEADS A good spot for artifact hunting is the river bottom east of the

ONCE A LOG BUILDING

Museum keeps pace with time

By Murphy Shewchuk

The Kamloops Museum, long considered one of the finest in the Interior of British Columbia, re- cently completed a program of renovation and expansion that

of pioneer contractor James McIntosh, the museum joined the community library in a remodel- led home originally built in 1887.

Although the new quarters were five times larger than the litle log cabin, it, too, soon

will help that One of the oldest in the pro- vince, the Kamloops Museum dates back to 1936 when a handful of avid collectors and curious historians formed the Thompson

became

In 1955, the people of Kam- loops passed a referendum au- thorizing the construction of a new museum-library building. In 1957, the present three-floor

d, it could have be a wedge, a chisel or an axe head. Smooth sides where they may have been hand-held; chipped

killed during the First World War. He never had the chance to grow old in the wildemess domain he created.

Although the mansion is standing today, its inside posing some risky footing, the other buildings have long disappeared.

You can step into the past, however briefly, by driving north out of 100 Mile House for about

surfaces wom from and grooves that may have once held rawhide or sage root bind- ings all offer clues to the original use.

On Feb. 14, 1979, remodelling and building displays completed, the museum proudly opened its expanded premises to the public.

eight ki ‘When y

to Tatton Road tum left and continue on for a few kilometres, until the mansion grabs your attention from the horizon.

made up the remainder of the’ main display area.

A large room to the left of the main entrance, once the library's

- reading room, has been: trans-

MOCK STATION Special guests, museum as- sociation members, and the pub- lic sipped coffee as they sat on the bench of the mock railway station, half expecting to see the steam locomotive roll out of. the ,

Valley Museum and Society. For the sake of brevity, the name was hanged to the

‘The original log museum had been ii d into the third

Kamloops Museum Associa- tion—a change likely welcomed by the group’s first secretary. The fledgling museum was not without material to collect. Burt Campbell's 2,000 historical photographs, David Power's pioneer artifacts, Tom Keyes’ mounted natural history speci- mens, and Jock Morse's collec- tion of Indian artifacts all formed the basis of the first collection.

GIANT OLD LOCK

Early historical writings and recollections by such men as Dr. M.S. Wade, J.F. Smith, J.B. Leighton and Burt Campbell were gathered together to form the basis of an archives.

On July 1, 1937, during Kam- loops’ 125th birthday celebra- tions, Judge F. W. Howay, a noted historian, tumed the key toa giant old lock that officially opened the door to Kamloops’ first museum. * The sun-bleached fog building was itself a historical piece. It had been salvaged by David Power from the site of the 1821 Hud- son's Bay Company fur trading post and now with a new roof became the somewhat cramped quarters for the rapidly growing collection.

‘Two years later, with the gener- ous help of Una Burris, daughter

floor and became a fine example of a fur trading post. Museum displays and the archives vault took up the remainder of the third floor. The library set up shop on the second floor while both groups shared store-rooms in the basement. :

giant ph 1. Several fine

formed into the working world of pioneer women.

The renovations have resulted in afew changes to the top floor of the .museurt as .well. Valuable artifacts have been brought out of

storage. to replace those moved

intgthe new displays, while other displays have beén reorganized to take tage of the increased

examples of hi P -d trans- portation familiar to pioneers

: - In between helping those

search out the past and guiding

groups of students through the .

museum display area, museum

curator Mary Balf. (under the ¥

eye of the association's history committee) produced a handful

of books on the history of the ;

Kamloops area.

MORE SPACE NEEDED As the library and museum continued to grow in both stature

and content, the need for more gp

space was again felt. In the summer of 1978, another move took place. This time it was the library that packed its books across the parking lot to larger quarters (which were destroyed in atragic fire earlier this year). The move left the museum and a newly formed art gallery group to share the building. 4

The Kamloops Public Art Gallery opened in the basement for its first exhibition in October, 1978, and then renovations began ‘on the second floor.

space.

lurphy Shewchuk Photo

Native artifacts form part of Kamloops Museum displays.

Park still in bloom of youth

By Jean MacKenzie

Spang in the middle of Van- couver Island, huge and rugged Strathcona Park sprawls across more than 200,000 hectares (500,000 acres) of among the most beautiful lake and mountain country in B.C.

‘Though Strathcona is the pro- vince’s oldest park, this wonder- land of snowy peaks, spectacular waterfalls, and flower-decked alpine meadows is largely unde- veloped.

‘The great tract of land was sct aside in 1911 and named in honor of Donald Smith, a Hudson's Bay Company trader who rose to become governor of the company and a prime mover in the con- struction of the CPR. Asarailway magnate, he took the imposing title of First Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal.

You can sample the park scen- ery by driving Highway 28 west

Moat Lake, Forbidden Plateau.

of the thriving town of Campbell River. This 92 kilometres of smooth blacktop skirts the shores of Upper Campbell Lake and follows the Heber River across the northern section of Strathcona to the west coast community of Gold River.

While accommodation is limit- ed in Gold River, there are, within short driving distance, plenty of resorts and motels along the eastern coast of Vancouver Island between Courtenay and Campbell River.

And there's no lack of provin- cial campgrounds nearby. You can set up your fumily tent at popular Miracle Beach or at the river-side camp in Elk Falls Pro- vincial Park.

Within Strathcona itself are the Buttle Lake and Ralph River campgrounds which together provide a total of 161 tent and trailer sites, You can enjoy fish- ing, swimming and boating all

along Buttle Lake's 36-kilolmetre length.

But the best of Strathcona is found in the high country—haunt of bear, elk and cougar. Hiking trails vary in length and difficulty.

From the parking lot at the Forbidden Plateau ski area near Courtenay, it’s a two-hour climb to the view from the top of the 1383-metre Mt. Becher, Drawn by the beauties of the plateau's alpine region, today’s hikers ignore Indian legends that warn of evil spirits dwelling there.

Overnighters slog high up to

This is the start of the 16-, kilometre hike to the highest waterfall in Canada. Della Falls: spills down 440 metres of wa~ ter-worn rock, bounding, splash ing and curving in three fantastic: cascades of spray—a sight well worth the walk. A Another ‘‘little stroll'’—and: one for experienced mountain, cers—is the climb up through; Marble Meadows and past Burman Lake to the highest poing on Vancouver Island—the top 0! the 2,200-metre mountain called Golden Hinde. The peak isnamed,

pitch their id a wild garden of lupins and crimson paintbrush. They fish for their supper in tree‘ringed mountain lakes that mirror the looming peaks of Mt. Albert Edward and Castlecrag.

in of the stout little, vessel that brought Sir Francis Drake adventuring to the westerrt coast of the New World in 157! Each year new trails probe in the secret fastnesses of the park. And each summer more Britisly Ce i b d and.

Canocing can stow their packs aboard and paddle up to the head of Great Central Lake and the park's southern boundary.

wind-blown—join the move td high adventure on Strathcona’s green-clad slopes. :

of bad weather.

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PARENT'S

Department

: Analysis by

John Ferguson OTTAWA (CP) — In the words of the Watergate t era, there was no smoking

* gun,

' The McDonald royal

* commission, after a four- year, $10-million stroll

“through thousands of

“ RCMP and government

‘cluding Prime Minister . Trudeau himself, turned , up no hard evidence of political knowledge of spec- ;. ifie illegal acts committed ,. by the Mounties.

It appears there will be no serious political prob- lems for the Trudeau gov- ernment,

The ‘closest McDonald came to smoking guns was 7 evidence Trudeau was told : at a cabinet committee

meeting in 1970 the force : had been doing “illegal |: things” for 20 years. But F there was no evidence that : the normally curious Tru- S deau ever asked for more details on what kind of “il- : legal things.”

E The matter was referred by Trudeau to a later | meeting of the cabinet ’ committee on security and intelligence, of which he was chairman. A paper was prepared by the

‘McDonald Commission

Trudeau off the hook

RCMP and federal security officials for the meeting on Dec. 21, 1970.

The paper, prepared

‘during the FLQ kidnap- ping crisis, was entitled “RCMP strategy for deal- ing with the FLQ and Sim- ilar Movements.” It sought specific answers as to what. would happen to Mountie infiltrators of the FLQ who committed ‘serious crimes” to prove they were legitimate.

Although Trudeau has invoked the War Measures Act to help police deal with the FLQ kid and

And when asked about some of these things, se- nior Mounties lied to their

Need emergency powers

By Stephen Scott OTTAWA (CP) — In times of emergency, whether it be war or insurrection, the vernment must consider civil rights as {t takes drastic

B' now senator, George Mc- Iiraith — was fingered by the commission as having been told by the force in 1970 that it was commit- ting illegal acts in the na- tional interest.

But Mcliraith denied it and the evidence was con-

flicting. ‘The result was a split in the commission with the

‘orit:

to protect national security, the’ McDonald com- mission into the RCMP says.

The 's report,

For fast arrests

A person suspected of doing a variety of illegal acts, such as belonging to the FLQ, could be held for seven days without charge.

In general, the act, passed by Parliament in 1914, allows the government to act in the case of war, invasion or in-

released Tuesday, says the government needs emergen- cy powers to make fast ar- rests, among other things. But it adds that it cannot entirely forget the Bill of Rights as it invokes them. The report says that the highly controversial War

the government had been concerned about poor Mountie performance dur- ‘ing the October Crisis, the committee never discussed the strategy paper.

It was deferred toa later meeting, but inexplicably, never reappeared.

In the absence of any tight political controls on the actions of the force, in particular the 1,900-mem- ber security service, it went out of control.

+ Mounties broke into pri- vate premises to plant bugs and look around, stole

department and unemploy- ment insurance files and spied on political. parties.

Guy Gilbert and Donald Rickerd, saying Mcllraith was told. The chairman, David McDonald, offered a minority opinion that he was not.

Proof that Trudeau knew of illegal acts by the RCMP would have sunk Trudeau just as it did Richard Nixon. It would have meant his consistent denials that he knew about lawbreaking were a cover- ~

up.

But it seems that if he made an error, it was one of omission in not seeking more details. He told the commission in secret testi- mony last year he had no recollection of being told of illegal activities.

Act should remain in existence in modified form to allow the government to take instant action.

But there must be pro- vision to limit the sweeping powers of the act which saw 467 people arrested during

in Quebec and the prose- cution of five.

It says that in time of war the government must have the right to intern potentially

dangerous persons.

But that should not mean a repeat of the wholesale sweeping up of a people — the Japanese — during the Second World War.

GAVE WIDE POWERS

The ‘War Measures Act gave police extended powers of search, seizure arid arrest.

Focuses on national security

Centiaued from front page Police looking for drugs have forced suspects to undergo strip searches during raids on bars in Hull, Que., and Fort Erie, Ont.

In Hull, police constables stood at the door as a police- woman used the same glove to examine dozens of women. In neither ‘case was much evidence found, but critics say the law encourages such excesses.

Chiefs of police have criti- ¥

charter of-rightsthat-woutd~—agenty—ts -to--be ~set “ap. 1977;

allow evidence to be thrown out if it tended to bring the justice system into disrepute. They contend, supported by figures such as Ontario Attornty-General Roy McMurtry, that such a meas- ure would hedge police in and free criminals on ‘‘technicali- ties.”” The argument has been.

between legitimate political dissent and subversion. He notes the service has 800,000 files on blacks, Indians, homosexuals, members of Parliament and others, and he recommends that many of the

was 8 testimony, that he would rather see the Mounties than civilian security officers breaking the law, is quoted in the report.

About the only senior Mountie of the last decade

hi

knowledge of international affairs, a poor capacity for legal and policy analysis, a lack of sufficient experience in working with ministers and other government depart- ments, and a serious defi-

ciency in management skills and i

files be Kaplan said a transition

clean is Simmonds, the current RCMP,

team under Gibson will report © commissioner. He was. Gzed a proposal in*Frudean’s ;x-by-next-June:on how the new “appointed im-theseumhier ots fies." ea

he rity service will continue its guardian role. FUTURE DISCUSSED Kaplan told Moun ties in the service that ‘‘their future will not be jeopardized’’ and indicated that many may be hired by the new agency. Gibson replaces Michael Dare, 64, who retired Aug. 4 as di

that any relevent is admissible, no matterhow police got it. Judges are not em to exclude such evidence, no matter how it was gained. IMPLIED AUTHORIZATION McDonald says this was taken by the RCMP, at least, as “implied izatic

Bi i of the security service.

Dare was castigated for covering up the fact that his agents had engaged in a number of apparently illegal acts in the 1970s.

Dare's

was appointed.

McDonald emphasized that there are significant differ- ences between the functions of a policeman — most Moun- ties perform police ditues — and a security agent. ‘A more experienced, better educated, broader type of individual is needed for secur- ity intelligence work,’’ he ad 3

ANALYTICALLY WEAK

He said the RCMP Security Service is weakest in analysis of what is happening in Canadian

society. P had ‘‘a lack of

Pp John Starnes, and two - RCMP of

of unlawful investigative conduc tw” He says the Criminal Code should be amended to allow judges to exclude such evi- dence on ‘four grounds: the extent to which human dig- nity and social values were breached in obtaining it; whether the accused or any- one else was harmed by police; whether “inexcusable ignorance of the law’? or wilful rejection of it was demonstrated by police; and the seriousness of the breach of law by police as measured against the seriousness of the offence.

1970s, W.L. Higgitt and Maurice Nadon, also were severely criticized.

McDonald accepted Trudeau’s testimony that he didn’t know in 1970 that the Mounties were breaking the law in the line of duty, despite a cabinet memo outlining the “inherent contradiction’ of the situation.

McDonald also concluded that Higgitt and other senior Mounties kept solicitors-

Jean-Pierre Warren Allmand ignorant of such behavior.

Guy Gilbert of Montreal

hedul:

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~ shottly-~after~ the-~

that flared briefly in the New Democratic Party in the early

the cabinet in 1975 is too broad and open to abuse, he recommended.that Parlia- ment enact a tight mandate for the new agency. Allowing a government to draft the mandate was inviting trouble of the kind that is dogging the RCMP now. ' :

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‘real or. appre- hended. Under it the govern- ment can make orders and regulations for the “security,

— Most of the emergency powers the government can invoke under the act should be cleared by Parliament be- fore a crisis develops.

— The government should not be allowed to de-natur- alize, deport or exile Cana- dians under the act.

— The period of detention without a charge should be as short as possible, seven days at most,

McDONALD COMMISSION

defence, peace, order’ and welfare of Canada.” ‘The latter. can allow cen-

; — A person should have the opportunity to. quit an nization and

sorship, arrest, dep and

had this

of property, and other things.

The commission says that even in an emergency the fundamental rights to a fair hearing, to instruct lawyers without delay, to be pre- sumed innocent until proven guilty and to have an inter- preter must be maintained.

It also makes these specific recommendations:

— If the act is invoked when Parliament is not in session, the Commons should be called within seven days.

— The act should not stay’

in force more than 12 months without a renewal. fi — Parliament must be kept

message for the government

“If fundamental rights and freedoms are to be intro- duced in the constitution, ex- tremely careful consideration should be given as'to which rights and freedoms ought not to be abrogated even in time of national emergency.”

Alberta AG is cautious

an sitting in private if neces- sary. >

findings of the McDonald royal commission.

A7

CASTLEGAR NEWS, August 26, 1981

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