Giscome Chronicle. The rise and demise of a sawmill community in central British Columbia J. Kent Sedgwick

Transcription

1 Giscome Chronicle The rise and demise of a sawmill community in central British Columbia J. Kent Sedgwick

2 College of New Caledonia History Series J. Kent Sedgwick 2008 All rights reserved Printed in Canada ISBN Document layout by Kent Sedgwick Index by Kathy Plett, College of New Caledonia Library Cover design by Jordan Bacon, College of New Caledonia Additional copies available from: CNC Press College of New Caledonia Library nd Ave. Prince George, B.C. Canada V2N 1P8 Telephone: (250) Fax: (250) Web:

3 Contents Acknowledgments; Upper Fraser/East Line (map) A Personal Note Dedication Introduction to the East Line (with map of communities) The Physical Setting East Line in British Columbia (map) Giscome Buildings Through the Years (plan) iv v vi vii x xi xii Chapters 1. The Early Years: The Rise of Giscome 1 2. The Winton Years 9 3. Roy Spurr Takes Over W. B. Milner s Era Northwood s Time: The Demise of Giscome 33 Illustration and Credits 39 Sources 41 Giscome Before and After (colour photos) 49 Index 57 iii

4 Acknowledgments The sources for this Chronicle are largely, although not entirely, based upon Prince George Citizen newspaper articles identified in the Prince George Public Library Citizen index ; and the Media Search document produced by the Upper Fraser Historical Geography Project, University of Northern B.C. I especially thank Dr. Greg Halseth of UNBC for his interest and support in my research on the East Line and for initiating the Upper Fraser Historical Geography Project. My thanks to the Fraser-Fort George Museum Society, operator of the Fraser-Fort George Regional Museum and The Exploration Place, for permission to use a number of photographs from The Exploration Place online exhibits. iv

5 A Personal Note I arrived in Prince George in 1970 to teach geography at the College of New Caledonia. Shortly after, in my explorations to familiarize myself with the area around Prince George, I stumbled upon the unique landscape of the East Line. In the early 1970s, it was still a functioning forestry community with the big sawmills at Giscome and Upper Fraser operating. But the signs of decline in abandoned buildings and communities were also there: the train station at Giscome, the restored bunkhouse at Sinclair Mills, several beehive burners, pilings along the Fraser River which marked former millsites. These remnants were characteristic of an historical landscape that told the story of earlier, prosperous times. This landscape became a teaching tool with geography students from the college taking field trips along the East Line. Especially memorable were winter daytrips by train to Longworth where we would lunch in the abandoned schoolhouse and ski around the community. Quite a number of geography term papers originated with those students. Throughout the 1970s, I continued to learn about the East Line and photographed over 200 slides (approximately 50 of Giscome) of the changing landscape, a record that includes buildings long-since vanished. The change was especially marked by the closure of Giscome in The startup of the University of Northern B.C. (UNBC) renewed interest in the historic (perhaps remnant is a better word) landscape of the East Line. In May 1999, I greatly enjoyed conducting several professors from UNBC on an introductory field trip to the area. That resulted in a major research effort: The Upper Fraser Historical Geography Project ( Hundreds of pictures were digitized and put on the website, more than 80 oral interviews of those who were still living or had lived along the Upper Fraser line were recorded and transcribed, much collection of media material was done and analysis of the forest industry was undertaken. The study area is still used for an annual geography field trip to Sinclair Mills and several theses have dealt with the East Line. So, as the area continues to decline (the closure of Upper Fraser town, school and sawmill in was the latest major loss), there is no reason to stop studying and experiencing the historical landscape of the East Line. It will reward scholars and those interested in local history for many years to come. v

6 Dedicated to the residents of Giscome through the 60 years and to Cecil Giscombe who followed and authored his own Giscome Road vi

7 The East Line East of Prince George, in central British Columbia, is a unique historical landscape created by the interaction of numerous sawmills and the small communities that grew up around them. The area under consideration in this monograph is commonly identified as Upper Fraser, referring to the main stem of the Fraser River above Prince George, and particularly above the big bend on the Fraser which occurs about 44 km upstream from Prince George. The Upper Fraser section of the river flows from southeast to northwest from Tete Jaune Cache (locally called Tee John ). It then swings southward at the big bend to reach Prince George. In all, the upper Fraser River length from Tete Jaune to Prince George encompasses well over 300 km including the sinuous bends. The railway line took a straightened route in the western portion of the Upper Fraser area to avoid the big bend on the river. It, and the later road, followed an ancient river channel marked by Hansard, Aleza and Eaglet Lakes, so that the railway mileage from Tete Jaune to Prince George is about 298 km. The present provincial Highway 16, which parallels the East Line a few kilometres to the south, extends 275 km from Tete Jaune Cache to Prince George. Upper Fraser occurs within the traditional territory of the Lheit-Lit en Nation ( the people from where the two rivers meet ). It was well known to the aboriginal people who utilized it for hunting and gathering activities. For trading purposes, the Hudson s Bay Co. permanently established Fort George (Prince George in 1915) in the late 1820s where the Nechako River met the Fraser. Through the Upper Fraser area of the Lheidli T enneh s traditional territory, fur traders passed between Fort St. James and the Yellowhead Pass in the 1820s, transporting leather goods from the prairies. The pass was referred to as the Leather Pass at that time. In the early 1860s, Overlanders from eastern Canada rafted and canoed down the Fraser from Tete Jaune on their way to Quesnel and the goldfields of Barkerville. The 1870s saw intensive travel and exploration along the Upper Fraser by surveyors of the Canadian Pacific Railway Survey. But the area was then abandoned except for the occasional traveller, without any permanent communities established except Fort George. In September 1892, Peter O Reilly, Indian Commissioner, arrived at Fort George to determine what reserves should be set aside for the Lheidli T enneh. Reserve No. 1 was created at Fort George. Reserve No. 2, straddling the Fraser River 12 km north of Prince George (later called Shelley after the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway station), was the only one in Upper Fraser, and it was at the western limit of the area. Although other sites further east may have been requested by the Lheidli T enneh, none were surveyed; and the Lheidli T enneh were left with no permanent evidence of their use of the area except at Shelley. vii

8 Between the survey for the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway (GTP) in 1907 and construction of the railway by 1914, quite a number of whistlestops and communities added names to various spots along the railway between Tete Jaune and Prince George, an area locally known as the East Line; that is, the railway line east of Prince George. In all, nearly 40 such community names occurred along the railway, some lasting only a few years. The economic basis for these locations was the forest industry, especially sawmilling. Some became long-lasting communities (Willow River, Giscome, Penny), others had a vigourous life as sawmill towns which later disappeared (Hansard, Sinclair Mills, Hutton) and some remain as rural communities relying on small, wood product industries, agriculture or simply a rural lifestyle (Longworth, Dome Creek, Crescent Spur, Dunster, Croydon). Agriculture was never a major economic activity. In fact, a reserve prohibiting agricultural land acquisition was instituted in 1907 to obviate any delays regarding the right-of-way in the railway construction. The reserve was three miles each side of the Fraser River in the narrow river valley from the summit of Yellowhead Pass (Alberta boundary) to the mouth of the McGregor River. The reserve was lifted in June of 1914 and, judging by the rush to the land office in McBride, it may have had a dampening effect on agricultural settlement between Tete Jaune and McBride. But it had virtually no effect between McBride and the McGregor River for that was not an area with much agricultural potential. West of the mouth of the McGregor, the lack of a reserve meant that some agricultural settlement did occur between the community of Upper Fraser and Prince George such as around Newlands and Giscome, but it was never the economic driver for the East Line. That was forestry. East Line communities It is impossible to determine the number of Upper Fraser camps cutting ties for the railway, balk timber-cutting operations, sawmills and shingle camps. Certainly over the decades there were hundreds along the East Line, a large number experiencing fires and many morphing into a mill with a new name because of business problems. The Upper Fraser Historical Geography project at the University of Northern B.C. has inventoried sawmills along the East Line. In the early era until about 1940, mills were common at any one time. Wartime expansion and postwar viii

9 prosperity meant that mills were active from 1940 to The growth of pulp mills at Prince George in the 1960s saw a consolidation of smaller mills to bigger units so that the record revealed a decline of mills to about Finally, after the ultimate consolidation by Northwood which led to the closure of Giscome, data shows 5-7 mills were still active, although they were large and very efficient. It is very difficult to establish the population of the communities along the East Line. They were unincorporated places and the Census largely ignored the individual communities. The first Census data available is from Men working in the communities didn t always have families with them. The populations were also affected by seasonal work; many men arrived to work in the timber camps and mills in the winter from prairie farms but they would return for the summer planting and harvest seasons. Mill closures for business reasons, fires and strikes affected the population. The communities with big sawmills (Giscome, Upper Fraser, Sinclair Mills) often had populations of several hundred; small places (Newlands, Dome Creek, Lamming Mills) with small, sometimes portable, sawmills, might have less than 100 persons qualified as permanent residents. For Giscome, the Census figures below show a consistent population of approximately with a rapid decline in 1976 when the sawmill and town was closed. For comparison, Prince George had 2053 persons in 1941, a figure that would more than double to 4703 by GISCOME Census Pop The best source for logging information on the East Line, especially the techniques of logging and the equipment used, is provided in Ken Drushka s book: Tie Hackers to Timber Harvesters: The History of Logging in British Columbia s Interior, Harbour Publishing, It is well-illustrated with black/white photographs and has a useful index. I highly recommend it. ix

10 The Physical Setting The Upper Fraser area lies within two major physiographic features of British Columbia. 1 The Fraser Basin contains the western portion of the area from Prince George eastward to just beyond the mouth of the Bowron River at Sinclair Mills. Further eastward from Sinclair Mills, the East Line, to its eastern limit at Tete Jaune Cache, lies within the Rocky Mountain Trench bounded by the Rocky Mountains and the Cariboo Mountains. The Fraser Basin is a plain about m elevation established by an ancestral, north-flowing Fraser River. The Trench is the single most distinguishable structural feature in British Columbia. It extends some 1400 km northwesterly from near the U.S. border to the Liard River. At the McGregor River mouth the trench is offset to the north, allowing the merger of the trench with the Fraser Basin at about 600 m. Within the trench section, the Fraser River and the East Line along the railway are constricted to a flat valley bottom about 4-5 km wide with mountain ranges on each side generally reaching 1800 m elevation, providing some 1200 m of relief along the distinct walls of the trench. The forest zone 2 in the entire Upper Fraser area is predominately Sub-Boreal Spruce with a hybrid white spruce-englemann spruce (often with diameters of more than one metre) being the timber of choice for the sawmills. Some white spruce and alpine fir was also utilized in this zone. Much of this zone was found in the Fraser Basin physiographic unit. There was also an extensive stretch of Sub-Boreal Spruce reaching into the western end of the Rocky Mountain Trench from Hansard to Dome Creek. On the slopes of the trench above the spruce forest, a unit of cedar and hemlock forest is present although the cedar was not a major attraction except for specially products (decorative boards, siding and shakes). From Dome Creek to McBride, a cedar-hemlock forest predominated. The trench from McBride to Tete Jaune Cache is identified as a Dry Sub-Boreal Spruce Zone with hybrid spruce but also some lodgepole pine and even Douglas fir. Lower slopes of the trench contain cedar and hemlock and upper slopes, Englemann spruce and Subalpine fir. The sawmill industry along the East Line reflected the topography and vegetation. The large mills at Giscome, Aleza Lake and Upper Fraser depended upon the relatively flat terrain of the Fraser Basin for easy harvesting of the extensive Sub-Boreal Spruce forest. Into the western portion of the trench, steep slopes made harvesting more difficult although the Fraser River provided an easy path to feed the big mills at Sinclair Mills, Hutton and Penny. The cedar-hemlock forest in the trench was characterized by small, even portable, mills that depended to an extent on specialty products. East of McBride in the trench, mills were small and agriculture played a more important role in the economy. x

11 xi

12 Buildings and Features in Giscome Over the Years to Hospital Creek Spurr Rd 19 company houses Quigley Ave 20 Spurr Rd Frost St company houses Jennings St Winton Ave sports field (rink, diamond, tennis) company houses Winton logging railway 18 Eaglet Creek Lindstrom St bunkhouse mess Eaglet Creek guesthouse Milner Cr 5 17 laundry burner 16 company store 15 manager s house 1 forestry office 2 Garland s cafe 3 Esso station 4 3rd school 5 bulk fuel plant 6 Northern Forest Prod. 7 police 8 pool hall-barber 9 Catholic church kilns 10 2nd school sawmill 11 United-Pentacostal ch. 12 1st school 13 Brown s-royal Prod. store 14 railway station stacking yard #1 15 sawmill office c sawmill office c doctor 18 hospital 19 Pentacostal ch.-comm. hall planer 20 community hall 21 community hall railway Bateman Rd Bateman homestead railway This plan is schematic, not to scale Information from 1925 Insurance Plan, 1950 Surveyed Plan, and 1975 term paper by Ken McIntosh, CNC Geography class Compiled by J.K. Sedgwick, 2008 to Willow River Prince George Hubbard Rd 7 8 Brown Ave stacking yard #2 dairy farm xii

13 Giscome Chronicle 1 Chapter One The Early Years: The Rise of Giscome James E. Bateman is generally regarded as the first settler in the area that was to become the community of Giscome. He established a preemption in and Bateman received Crown Grant #6816 in 1914 for District Lot 7937, Cariboo District on Eagle Lake, acres for $1.00/ac. 4 The lot was a narrow one extending south from the lakeshore where the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway right-of-way crossed the lot. The property would lie just east of the Giscome mill and townsite when the latter was built in In 1915, Leo Brown received a Crown Grant for Lot 7936 adjacent to Bateman s property on the west side. No further information on Brown s property has emerged from the sources. Ethelwynne MacArthur lists 10 additional early settlers in the area. 5 None appear to have established Crown Grants except James Hubbard who received a Grant in 1917 on the north side of Eaglet Lake (D.L. 7945) which was later disposed of, and a Grant on Hubbard Road at the southwest entrance to Giscome which became a permanent farm. Hubbard Road is the northern portion of the first access to the future site of Giscome before the railway was completed. The access began with a connector trail that ran from the Tabor Lake Willow River road alignment along Tsadestsa Creek, which later became East Perry Road. The access continued as a trail along the west side of the Willow River for some distance, then made a wading crossing to the east side about where the Beaver forest road bridge is today. 6 The trail continued north and connected with Hubbard Road (see p. xii).

14 2 Giscome Chronicle The GTP line reached Giscome in December. 7 The location was named for John Robert Giscome, a black prospector from Jamaica who crossed Giscome Portage (connecting the Fraser River with Summit Lake on the headwaters of Peace River) in The community of Giscome Portage was approximately 18 km northwest of Giscome. The choice of Giscome for the name of the station is somewhat of a puzzle. Communities along the East Line were named for geographical features (Willow River, Aleza Lake), railway officials (Hansard, LeGrand), politicians (McBride), a First World War battle (Loos), and sawmill operators (Cornel Mills, Lamming Mills). Some communities (Penny, Croydon, Dunster and others) were named for English towns. 9 Josiah Wedgwood ( ), great grandson in the famous pottery family, provided a list of such names at the request of H.P. Hinton, general manager of the railway (who also had an Alberta town named after him). Nevertheless, the connection between the station name and Giscome Portage was tenuous. The most direct connection between the portage and the GTP was at Willow River, not Giscome, because it was a shorter distance and a trail was in existence. 10 Moreover, it seems highly unlikely that railway officials even knew of John Giscome who died in Victoria in So why the station and community became Giscome rather than the more likely Eagle (Eaglet) Lake remains an East Line puzzle The GTP erected a Type E station at Giscome which was demolished about The more important communities were blessed with a Grand Trunk Pacific station, some of which were erected without a clear idea that the community would prosper and grow. Between Tete Jaune and Prince George, 19 stations were constructed around There were big divisional stations at McBride and Prince George but 17 smaller communities (including Giscome) received a standard-design station that was common along the Grand Trunk Pacific line from Winnipeg to Prince Rupert. It was an attractive design with graceful, bell-cast eaves and a unique half-hexagon tower extending above the eaves. In fact, over 200 such stations were built between Winnipeg and Prince Rupert, representing two-thirds of GTP stations. Very few remain today including, from the East Line, one at Dunster and one from Penny relocated to the railway museum in Prince George. Giscome station c.1973

15 Giscome Chronicle 3 A.C. Frost, an American entrepreneur, arrived in Willow River in 1914, formed the Willow River Lumber Co. and constructed a sawmill. But it never sawed a board. Frost relocated the mill to Giscome in Giscome was awarded a post office on 1 Oct 1915 with C. Lindstrom as acting postmaster until He was succeeded by I.B. Gayer who opened a store. 13 Also in this year, a road to Willow River was completed 14 which was seen as the beginning of a road to Giscome. A surveyed road is shown on the 1915 Preemptor s map from the boat landing at the mouth of the Willow River through Willow River to Giscome. However, it was a paper road in reality. The road that was eventually built (see 1926) was somewhat to the south of the map alignment This year, A.C. Frost effectively initiated the community of Giscome by relocating his sawmill from Willow River. Andrew Christian Frost 15 was born in Denmark in He migrated to the U.S.A. in 1873, finally settling in Wisconsin where he homesteaded, started a general store and had the post office contract for Frostville. His business interests included a logging operation, hotel, blacksmith shop, wagon building factory and sheep raising. In 1887, he became president of the Chicago and Milwaukee Electric Railway and he developed a tourist attraction, Ravinia Park just north of Chicago, to increase traffic on the line. He was elected to the Wisconsin State Legislature in By 1897, he was president of the Alaska Northern Railway, with investments in the construction company building the railway and a coal mine that would ship on the railway. Then, in 1900, he promoted the townsite of Dania, Florida (named for many Danish settlers). In Dania, he operated a general store, post office, bank, tomato farm and tomato processing factory. The Alaska ventures failed by 1907 and the Chicago and Milwaukee Railway and amusement park went into bankruptcy by Frost then turned his attention to the Giscome sawmill project until the Winton syndicate took over in Frost died in Dania, Florida in A.C. Frost 1895

16 4 Giscome Chronicle The relocation of the sawmill is thought to be due largely to the easy access to vast timber resources provided by Eagle (later Eaglet) Lake. Optimistic plans for the mill included an annual cut of 20 million board feet, the employment of men, and a narrow gauge railway to be constructed in 1917 to move logs to the lake. 16 There were five boilers to set up as well as much additional equipment. 17 The site was water-saturated and pilings were needed for support. The Wickes gang saw sank out of sight and the mill building settled. It was stabilized by using 24 inch high, steel beams purchased from the railway. They were originally intended for a highway lane on the rail bridge at Hansard. In response to the mill construction which employed 35 men, a railway station agent was appointed and a siding was built. 18 Late in the year, there was a movement to rename the station and community Eaglet Lake to reflect the hustling business centre, the Eaglet Lake Lumber Co. and the idea of a pretty summer resort. About 75 men worked on the mill and logging was going on to provide enough timber to start lumber production in May of Giscome 1917, Eaglet Creek in foreground

17 Giscome Chronicle Three railway carloads of new, modern, labour-saving machinery arrived in February from the Watrous people (a company making saws) for installation in the mill. 20 Whether production began in 1917 is unclear. There are no newspaper articles about the mill operating from February 1917 until September 1921, despite the fact that the Prince George Citizen newspaper began operation in 1916 and provides a consistent record from that time. According to Ken Drushka, Northern Lumber, a company which provided wood for railway construction, took over Frost s mill at Giscome and called it Eagle Lake Sawmills, which ended up broke shortly after it opened. As Drushka says: Determining who owned these mills seventy-five years ago is an almost impossible task today. The East Line was an incestuous place, Frost s sawmill 1917 with various people forming and dissolving partnerships, buying each other out, combining operations, moving mills from one location to another, and renaming them. 21 First school 1917 Also in a frame schoolhouse was constructed on the east side of Brown Avenue about the half way point between the north and south ends of the road. 23 Possibly in 1917, or in the next couple of years, a three storey, 17 room, frame house was built on a rocky spur just north of the millsite. If the date is correct, A.C. Frost was responsible for its construction. It was intended for the mill manager and gradually became a landmark in the community. 24

18 6 Giscome Chronicle Three and a half million board feet of spruce lumber already cut and piled at the Giscome Lumber Co. Ltd. was sold in New York. There is no mention of the mill being in active production at that date (see 1921). 25 Brown s store c.1930 Manager s house In this year, Alex E. Brown arrived and opened a general store just off the mill site at the north end of Brown Avenue. In December 1920, he became postmaster and he served until his retirement in February The newspaper noted that A.C. Frost, identified as the well known Chicago railroad builder and capitalist, 27 intended to log 7 million feet of timber in the winter of to recommence operation at the mill in the spring of The mill has been idle since 1919, when it last operated, at a reduced output in that year. 29 It had a capacity of 115,000 feet of lumber in 10 hours and was second in capacity to the United Grain Growers mill at Hutton with 150,000 feet per day Several major newspaper articles 31 allowed a detailed picture of the situation at Giscome in this year. The relocation and modernization of the Giscome sawmill in 1916 was said to have cost about $250,000 (equivalent to $4.2 million in ). Then it ran

19 Giscome Chronicle 7 into financial problems and was idle for about five years. In April of this year, it was in the hands of liquidators, the Canadian Credit Men s Association, of Vancouver. The logging contractors working over the past winter had placed liens on the 6-7 million feet of logs in Eaglet Lake. Frost faced the contractors at Giscome as he detrained in April and explained the situation. About $20,000 of the $28,000 owed to contractors was unpaid but Frost began to pay these debts off in May. The lack of payments was also affecting storekeepers who had advanced credit to the workers. A new company, Giscome Spruce Mills Ltd., incorporated in Victoria with A.C. Frost as president, was to operate the mill. Reportedly, the mill had the potential to be the largest on the GTP line between the mountains and the coast. It could process 100,000 to 135,000 board feet per day. In Mr. Frost s name there are twenty-four sections [square miles] of timber surrounding the lake on which the mill is located [Eaglet Lake] and stretching back to the Fraser river on the north side [of the lake]. Waste from the saws and planing mill were removed by suction and partly burned in the boilers. The remainder goes to the only enclosed burner along the line of mills on the GTP mountain division. This enclosed burner alone cost to install a sum of about $80,000. On the lake, the company has a small sternwheel boat and two launches to handle logs. A light railway was proposed to bring logs to the lake. The mill required 100 men to operate and employed about 200 persons, including all the staff. Steam was put through the mill on June 29 and test logs were processed in anticipation of full operation within a week. That operation involved only half the mill and cut 50,000 feet of lumber. By August, 2.5 million board feet of lumber was in the drying yards. The settlement of Giscome had electric light supplied by the company. There were a number of cottages located on the mill property that were wire screened with sidewalks and had all the usual conveniences. A first class hotel, with fourteen rooms is run by Fred Underhill, and a good general store, run by A.E. Brown, handles a fine line of first class merchandise. There is a telegraph and express office and a good school, which is attended by about thirty youngsters. Another forest industry at Giscome is first mentioned in this year. A general article 33 lists railroad tie producers along the GTP line and recorded Dave Jennings producing 50,000 ties at Giscome. This was the beginning of Northern Forest Products (NFP), a tiecutting company formed by Jennings, Wesley Gething of the well-known Peace River family, and Harold Fisk of Montreal. It employed about 75 men in the winter cutting and shipping ties from the camp five miles south of Giscome to a siding and warehouse at Giscome. The company had a contract for 125,000 ties for Canadian National Railway. 34

20 8 Giscome Chronicle Late in the year, a legal case was reported which revealed some of the interactions between lumber companies. Eagle Lake was used by a number of companies. In 1921, a big boom containing 2 million feet of United Grain Growers Sawmills (UGG) logs broke loose and scattered along the lake shore. They became mixed with Giscome Spruce Mills (GSM) logs and UGG sued for their logs alleged to have been sawn in the GSM mill. 35 Agriculture in the Giscome area received a major impetus when John Edstrom and his four sons arrived in Giscome with four railway cars for his stock, including 16 Percheron horses, and implements. Edstrom, from Exal, Alberta, had farmed 1.5 sections there for 13 years. Despite his Alberta success, he thought the potential in the Giscome area merited relocating. He had not finally located but was staying at the James Batemen farm; he planned to rent his horses for logging in the coming winter. 36

21 Giscome Chronicle 9 Chapter Two The Winton Years This year, like 1922, was important in the evolution of Giscome. NFP continued to work towards their 120,000 tie contract from their spur line loading platform near Giscome station. With ideal conditions in spring, four-horse teams on iced sleigh roads could move up to 275 ties; a rail car carries 325. So 3000 ties per day were rapidly fulfilling the contract with an option of an additional 35, The GSM siding was being used by another tie contractor, Abel Wemkin. Ten logging contractors were dumping in Eaglet Lake, primarily by UGG for its Hutton Mill. UGG had a log loading facility two miles east of Giscome station. It was able to load two trainloads daily using a donkey engine and cable system. And sawn ties (rather than hewn) were being made at Willow River, a technique occupying the serious thought of most tie contractors. NFP agreed to raise the price per tie to 17 cents from 15 for the tie-cutters and to improve the culinary end of camp arrangements... by the arrival of one of the best bush-camp cooks in the interior. A road dispute between GSM and UGG in District Lot 7936 was resolved by making it a public highway. This lot provided access for logs from south of Giscome to the railway and station site, and is today part of the Bateman forest service road. 38 It gradually became clear how Frost recovered the sawmill company (Giscome Lumber Co. Ltd.) after he lost it into the receiver s hands. In 1922, Frost incorporated Giscome Spruce Mills Ltd. with $100,000 capital, taking up the mill, on an operational basis, with the consent of the receivers. 39 Giscome Lumber Co. was auctioned in May in Vancouver and Frost bought it for $70,000 plus $22,000 for taxes and other lien expenses. Probably the incorporation capital was raised from Winton Bros. syndicate of Minneapolis. Charles Joel Winton ( ) and his brother, David Nelson Winton, were the founders of the Winton Lumber Co. in Wisconsin in Charles sons, David Judson ( ) and Charles Joel, Jr. (b. 1899), succeeded them. They under-

22 10 Giscome Chronicle took lumbering in Minnesota as well, making Minneapolis the centre of their vast business holdings. As timber ran out in the American midwest, they shifted their operations to the American and Canadian west. In the latter, their holdings included mills in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan; The Pas, Manitoba; and Giscome and Kamloops in B.C. 40 D.J. and D.A.Winton, John F. Ross of Wausau, Wisconsin, and W.K. Nichols of Spokane arrived to inspect the mill and have the timber limits cruised. 41 The investors also had a tour, guided by Mayor Johnson of Prince George, of the Hudson s Bay Co. property (District Lot 417) in South Fort George with a view to relocating the Giscome mill and using the Fraser River slough in South Fort George as a mill pond for log collection. H.G. Perry, M.L.A. also reassured the investors that certain provincial timber royalty legislation would not adversely affect their potential purchase at Giscome. By April, it appeared the deal was done. Eagle Lake Spruce Mills Ltd. was incorporated as a private stock company valued at $600,000 to take over the purchase, with W.K. Nichols as manager. According to David Winton, total investment was $1.4 million. 42 To prepare the mill for production, 200 piles were driven feet into the soft earth and a fourfoot thick concrete pad was placed on them for the boiler house foundation. Three logging camps, a store and boarding house (also referred to as a bunkhouse) were constructed by 100 men. When prairie harvesting was done, about 500 would be on the payroll. 43 It is said the Winton syndicate plans to have a model mill-town at Giscome. A site will be picked out with a good elevation and on this a model town will be started in which the employees of the mill will have all the conveniences of a modern city. 44 In the spirit of a model town, the three storey boarding house was an attractive design with gables and a wrap-around veranda. In the same style was a single storey mess hall and a two storey guest house (also referred to Boarding house 1944

23 Giscome Chronicle 11 as an annex to the bunkhouse, or staff house) with gables and veranda. These landmark buildings were to last until the late 1950s (see 1965). The year ended on a down note. About 50 men quit in November when the company reduced the work day from 10 to 9 hours and the wage to 35 from 40 cents. It was thought the men would find employment cutting ties west of Prince George. The road from Willow River to Giscome was not completed by winter as projected, a situation of great interest to the Prince George Board of Trade representing Prince George merchants. The 500-man workforce had only train service to reach Prince George. Harry Perry, M.L.A. promised the road would be completed early next year. 45 Guest house 1940s The year 1923 was important also because a second, and much more elaborate, school was built at the south end of Brown Avenue. It had two classrooms on a second floor above an out-of-ground basement (probably due to a high water table). Later, a third classroom was added in the lower floor area (see 1928) The newspaper record in the early part of the year was headlined by: Police start liquor cleanup at Giscome, an action Second school 1943 due to bootlegging. 47 By May, Eagle Lake Spruce Mills Ltd. (ELSM) was in production and the town was growing. The Prince George contractor McInnis & Wilson (John McInnis and James Wilson) were contracted to build 12 cottages with 5 or 6 rooms each, with the likelihood that more would be called for. The sawmill company supplied all the materials. 48 Construction of the logging railway, proposed by Frost, got under way although it extended westward from the Giscome sawmill, not north to the

24 12 Giscome Chronicle Fraser River as Frost planned. Eventually, its 18 km of track serviced an area about 9 km distant as far as Hospital Creek, north of Willow River. The locomotives used at Eagle Lake Sawmills were a Shay geared locomotive built at Lima Locomotive Works, Lima Ohio; and a geared Heisler built in Erie, Pennsylvania. 49 The Shay was named for Ephraim Shay, an American lumber merchant who conceived the design and had the Lima Machine Works build the first in It was especially adapted to light track, steep grades and sharp curves, conditions common in the forest and mining industries. In all, 2771 Shay locomotives were built in four classes weighing tons; the last was built in There are now 115 surviving examples including one at the Canada Science and Technology Museum in Ottawa that was acquired from the Crown Zellerbach company in British Columbia. Shay locomotive at Eagle Lake Spruce Mills In May, the sawmill was running a double-shift with 150 men in the mill and 100 working in the bush. 50 On the mill site was a boarding house plus annex, a mess hall for the single men, and a company store. Surrounding an open sports field area were 35 company cottages for rent ($8-12 per month 51 ) by families. 52 Sawmill 1925

25 Giscome Chronicle 13 The community matured with the construction of Giscome United Church. It was consecrated on 9 August, the first consecrated in B.C under that new denomination, 53 and was demolished in the 1960s. St. Frederick s Catholic Church was also constructed and is still standing. 54 They were across the street from each other near the school at the south end of Brown Avenue. From 1925 until the 1930 depression years, the mill and town prospered. 55 The mill often ran a double shift, employing 300 men. Women organized house parties, dances and card parties in the school, picnics, and winter skating and skiing events (downhill, cross-country and jumping). The men built a baseball diamond with grandstand, a hockey rink, tennis court and swimming place at the lake. There were baseball and hockey teams to challenge other communities along the railway line. There was a poolroom, barber shop, police office and jail, dentist and doctor with clinic ELSM filed a legal claim of $4400 against A. Wemkin, a tie and logging contractor, for not fulfilling a contract to supply 4 million feet of logs to the ELSM mill after ELSM had paid part of the contract. The dispute was settled by Wemkin paying $ St Frederick s c.1973 The road to Giscome from Willow River was finally finished by the end of July. This was the road promised for completion in early The provincial government proceeded with minimum wage legislation setting 40 cents per hour in the timber industry, and to gradually eliminate Orientals from the workforce. There was provision in the legislation for the exemption of handicapped, part time and apprentice employees from the workings of the wage law. But only 10% of employees in any one industry could be exempted and paid 25 cents In November, the sawmill closed for the season, an occasion marked by a dance in the hotel dining room for the men who were leaving. Giscome s five-piece orchestra played with guests motoring in from as far away as Prince George. Another dance at the schoolhouse, which was receiving the finishing touches, was planned with guests again attending by car due to the excellent condition of the roads. The school (the second one) was built in 1923 so the finishing probably refers to the addition of a third classroom in the lower basement level. 58

26 14 Giscome Chronicle Fire Insurance Plan of Giscome 1925

27 Giscome Chronicle 15 The newspaper recorded that the past several years appeared to have been prosperous ones for the lumber industry. The year 1926 was a banner year. The total cut east of Prince George will be larger for 1927 than for several years with Sinclair Spruce Mills being the largest producer. 59 In 1928, a record prairie wheat crop led to the need for more grain elevators and an increase in price and demand for lumber. At Giscome, the Eagle Lake Spruce Mills has been operating a double shift all summer and will make the largest cut since the company commenced operations. Shipments are going forward at the rate of eight and ten cars per day. It was noted that the F.G. Thrasher Company at Snowshoe (Crescent Spur) recently installed a battery of six dry kilns marking the introduction of dry kilns in this district This year began well; newspaper articles noted increases in cut in January, March, April and June. Later, the prairie wheat crop, upon which so much demand for lumber for elevators depended, was not promising and mills accumulated stock in the yards. Many mills closed down sawing in summer although the Giscome mill continued along with several others. Winter logging did not look promising although, again, Giscome was expected to be the exception. This article, 61 dated 17 October, obviously did not reflect the upcoming stock market crash only 12 days away In March, the U.S.A. imposed a $1.50 per thousand feet duty on lumber imports to the U.S.A which may be sufficient to put some of the mills east of Prince George out of business for a time. The same month, news arrived of the passing of David Nelson Winton, president of Winton Bros. and Eagle Lake Spruce Mills Ltd. 62 However, there was still optimism from an industry analyst, J.B. Turnbull, who thought that a period of depression would not prevent great activity on the part of the millmen...with the exception of the big mill at Giscome most of the other large mills in the district east of Prince George are in good shape for summer logging as their timber is well within two miles of their mills, or of water transport to them. 63 Eagle Lake Mills had logged in the winter of so had timber on hand. Nevertheless, the reality of the market meant that optimism was misplaced. In July, David J. Winton replaced his recently deceased uncle, and arrived in Giscome with the announcement that the Eagle Lake Spruce Mills would close which came as a shock to the people of Giscome. The lack of demand meant more stockpiling of lumber in the yards where there was already enough for two years current demand. It was thought that, with several million feet of logs in the lake, the mill would continue to operate through the summer. However, the piled lumber deteriorated in summer heat faster than the logs in the lake, which did not have to be insured. The planing mill would operate until all the rough, cut lumber was stockpiled but no logging would be done in the coming winter. Within several days, work at the planer was offered to married men

28 16 Giscome Chronicle although the mess hall and boarding house closed. Fifty men left by train; another group planned on leaving soon. It appeared that a disagreement on the closure with the mill manager, A.K. Nichols, led to the latter s resignation. A farewell social was held for A.K. Nichols and his wife who left for the coast where Nichols was to consider a company offer to be sales manager in Winnipeg. 64 The fallout from the various mill closures along the railway line led the Prince George Board of Trade to call for some of the $900,000 federal relief money to be applied to completing the Aleza Lake to Tete Jaune Cache highway (early Highway 16). A survey of the unemployed identified at least 270 men (mostly married) along the line, 50 of them at Giscome Early in 1931, D. Rosenberrry, manager of the Winton mill in The Pas, Manitoba and effective manager at Giscome, came to Giscome and confirmed the mill would not resume operation this year, although the planer would continue to process rough, cut lumber. The company store was closed in April and the stock was purchased by Ben Baird, a well-known Prince George merchant. The merchandise was to be on sale at astonishing prices in that city. 66 The closure greatly helped the enterprise of Alex Brown s competing store, allowing him to remain until retirement in In August the mill situation was inspected by C.J. Winton, Jr. from Minneapolis, assistant secretary of Eagle Lake Spruce Mills Ltd. 68

29 Giscome Chronicle 17 Chapter Three Roy Spurr Takes Over Early in March, the mill was to begin operating both saw and planing mills to deal with the cut logs in the lake which were deteriorating. Employment for 150 men was anticipated through the summer. This speculation does not appear to have occurred, perhaps because a large stock of logs in Eaglet Lake were purchased from the Eagle Lake Spruce Mills for cutting at a mill at Newlands. 69 In September, the news that...is the best that has come to this district in many months was that a local syndicate headed by Roy Spurr and Don McPhee had acquired the mill and reorganized it as Eagle Lake Sawmills Ltd. Mr. Spurr and his associates are well-known mill operators in the Prince George district, and have a record of successes behind them. 70 Spurr had owned a mill at Penny for many years and McPhee owned Sinclair Spruce Lumber Co. at Sinclair Mills since the mid-1920s. 71 Roy Spurr became strongly identified with Eagle Lake Sawmills especially because he introduced progressive changes in technology that revolutionized the forest industry in the 1930s. Spurr was born in Nova Scotia in He came west to Tete Jaune Cache in 1911 where he operated a cafe for a short time. He followed the construction of the railway, worked for the contractors and operated a stopping house at the Grand Canyon of the Fraser in By 1917, he operated Penny Spruce Mills which he sold in He married Margaret Mann in New Westminster that year and briefly retired. In 1931 or 1932, he and his partners picked up at bankruptcy sale the Eagle Lake assets of the Winton lumber interests The newspaper noted that Eagle Lake was sawing again, and probably for the rest of the year, using logs in the lake. 72

30 18 Giscome Chronicle Harold Mann, brother-in-law of Roy Spurr, arrived in Giscome from New Westminster where he had experience in his father s logging camps. He had a mandate from Spurr to organize the use of trucks to move logs to the Giscome mill. Mann took two and-a-part days to get the first two trucks 73 to Giscome from Prince George, a reflection of the road conditions in the spring of that year. Under his supervision, plank roads were built for the trucks to haul on. Mann worked at Giscome until he retired in He then served on the board of the Regional District of Fraser-Fort George from 1967 until Mann died in Harold Mann Regional Park on Eaglet Lake commemorates his service A uniform minimum wage of 35 cents per hour was established for sawmills throughout the province. It was to correct a problem with the minimum wage legislation of 1926 in which 10% of special case workers were exempt but, in fact, the employers were cutting the wage to 25 cents per hour for one-quarter of the mill crews. 75 R. Spurr, D. McPhee, H. Mann In October, the Giscome Social and Athletic Association was formed. A community hall was completed on a hill to the north of the townsite. It burned in the 1960s. A new plank road came into operation to haul logs from south of the townsite. Although the mill closed for the winter, the planer was in operation. 76 Beaver fire

31 Giscome Chronicle In May, the Beaver fire just north of Giscome threatened the millsite and the town. There were 180 men fighting the blaze, including the sawmill crews, which caused the mill to have a temporary closure. By June, the fire was under control. It had burned 6000 hectares and had come within 200 m of the Spurr house on the hill (see 1917). 77 There was an interesting newspaper advertisement with photos of Eagle Lake Sawmills Ltd. at Giscome, Sinclair Spruce Lumber Co. at Sinclair Mills, and Upper Fraser Spruce Mills Ltd. at Hansard. The ad reflected a community of interests operating Three Spruce Mills and the largest industrial payrolls in the Prince George District The community of interests led to the creation of the Northern Interior Lumbermen s Association with Roy Spurr as president from 1940 to By 1952, a permanent office was opened in Prince George and a full-time secretary-manager was employed. In 1953, a constitution was adopted and the body was registered as a B.C. Society In November, the Giscome sawmill closed for the season and there was a general exodus of single employees to the city by train and plane. Married men laid off by the closing of the sawmill will have work in the planing department for the winter months. 80 Eagle Lake burner, sawmill, planer, lumber piles; c.1940

32 20 Giscome Chronicle The sawmill began operation again in March 81 but in June a major wage dispute occurred. It was unusual in that the lumber companies (at Giscome and Sinclair Mills, and then in Prince George at Alexander Sawmills) and their employees were in agreement. To overcome a labour shortage, an increase proposed by the companies to fifty cents per hour from forty was denied by the Regional War Labour Board on the grounds that wages were to be frozen in the war and the workers were not organized in a union. The 200 men who walked out returned to work after three days when the Northern Interior Lumbermen s Association appealed the ruling to Ottawa, without success. 82 Partly as a result of the situation, in 1945, the International Woodworkers of America unionized virtually every forestry employee at Eagle Lake Sawmills, as well as many other mills. 83

33 Giscome Chronicle 21 Chapter Four W.B. Milner s Era It was reported that representatives of evacuated Japanese who were working on interior road construction (Highway 16 from Jasper to Tete Jaune Cache and Highway 5 south from there) visited Eagle Lake Sawmills...They will report back to their countrymen on the possibility of employment in the sawmills and logging camps. By November, five Japanese nationalists [nationals] were employed in the logging camps. 84 Certainly more than this number were eventually employed; a local source cites about 15 families and several single men were sent to Giscome to work in the mill. 85 W. B. Milner, described as a broker in Toronto, moved to Vancouver and purchased Eagle Lake Sawmills from Roy Spurr and Don McPhee 86 in a deal said to be worth $800,000 to $1 million. 87 Spurr remained as mill manager, and continued to live in the landmark house on the hill The newspaper reported that a pulp mill of 200 tons daily capacity, at a cost of 2 to 3 million dollars, would be constructed in connection with Eagle Lake Sawmills Ltd. at Giscome. W.B. Milner of Toronto, who with associates acquired the big mill at Giscome recently from the Eagle Lake Company, in which Roy Spurr and Don McPhee were principal shareholders, has been working out details of the proposed pulp mill since taking over the original property in a deal said to be in the vicinity of $800,000. The pulp mill would use waste products from the Giscome mill and of other mills in that part of the province In , 89 Spurr built a new home in Prince George (135 Patricia Blvd.) and commuted to Giscome two or three times a week while serving as mill manager. 90 The house is now operated as a bed and breakfast residence.

34 22 Giscome Chronicle Midsummer saw negotiations between the Northern Interior Lumbermen s Association (NILA) and the International Woodworkers of America (IWA). The association offered an additional 10 cents an hour and wanted to retain the 44 hour work week. The union pushed for 20 cents (reduced to 17 1/2) and a 40 hour week. Final agreement for a year was for 12 1/2 cents and 40 hours. 91 In September, Eagle Lake Sawmills was visited by a delegation of United Kingdom timbermen hosted by W.B. Milner, company president. The delegation were shown the processing of lumber from the sawlog to the finished product... During the afternoon, the party, convoyed in company trucks, was given sufficient thrills by being driven over the 12-mile plank logging road at Newlands, meeting during its journey the heavily laden trailer-trucks at intervals along the road. The party also went to Summit Lake on the new John Hart highway to view the great divide On June 24, local citizens were surprised to see a small twin engine plane come slowly over the rooftops as a Central Airways Cessna T-50 Crane attempted an emergency landing in a field east of the school. The emergency occurred due to an air lock in the gas line leading to engine failure. The plane s wheels bogged down in the soft ground and the plane flipped upside down. It was damaged beyond repair although the engines and other equipment were salvaged. The pilot and two passengers were unhurt. 93 Acme Electric of Prince George was installing electricity provided by Eagle Lake Sawmills to some 70 houses. Electric lights would replace gas and kerosene lamps and modern appliances would be an option in future. 94 With donations of $283 and $50 of wood, the construction of the skating ring would start in November. 95 Plane crash The Gospel Tabernacle offered a Christmas service, the first mention of this church. When and where it was located is unknown. 96

35 Giscome Chronicle Late in the year, a major advertisement 97 by Eagle Lake Sawmills, including a photo of the mill, pointed out some of the qualities of the operation which is run with the precision of a watch. The nearly 250 employees, whose annual payroll was $500,000, produced 135,000 to 150,000 board feet of lumber daily. The dry kilns could handle 100,000 board feet per day. Most employees were housed by the company, with families paying $12 per month for a five-room house, and single men $2 per day including food in the boarding house. The company provided electric power and there was a community hall and skating rink. There was also a company farm to supply fresh produce. The logging camp of 150 persons (80 wage earners) lived in the woods and had their own dwellings and spotless restaurant. Men with power saws cut the logs which were then hauled to the plank road by caterpillar tractors. There were 18 miles of plank roads upon which 22 truck and trailers hauled logs to the mill; drivers earned $1.60 per hour for guiding the 10-ton loads. Tug boats on Eagle Lake towed the logs to the mill. There was also an article about some of the residents of Giscome by Roving Reporter. 98 He notes there was no liquor store in Giscome which was fine with Roy Spurr. This doesn t inconvenience Giscomites in the slightest. Reporter was given the name of a bootlegger in Giscome even before he got off the train and he sells good stuff...in Prince George you go through the front door and buy it. In Giscome you knock on the door first. But this ups the price slightly The sawmill commenced operation in April after the winter shutdown, using logs hauled onto the lake ice in the winter. The company opened a wholesale lumber buying office... in the old Royal Bank building on Third Avenue in Prince George. The purpose was to sell lumber to be shipped direct to the consumer or to the mill for processing. It would appear that the sawmill, planer mill or dry kilns had excess capacity. 99 However, the planer mill had to shut down because of a shortage of box cars caused by a railway strike. 100 Although a company farm is mentioned in 1949, it was not until 1950 when Giscome Farms Ltd. acquired 80 acres of District Lot 9937, 1.2 km southeast of Giscome townsite. 101 The farm was a project begun (perhaps about 1948) by Roy Spurr which evolved into the major dairy farm in the Prince George area. Logged-off land was cleared and property adjacent to the original farm was put into hay production; total acreage available was approximately 500.

36 24 Giscome Chronicle Surveyed Plan of Giscome 1950

37 Giscome Chronicle By late summer, it was reported that the barn is under construction and the dairy is expected to be in operation by fall. 102 It is also likely that this year, W.B. Milner, owner of Eagle Lake Sawmills, acquired Northern Dairies in Prince George. The dairy farm and Northern Dairies supported each other through Milner s investment in both companies. 103 Dairy farm c.1980 In this year, Alex Brown, who operated the store from 1920, retired and Lew Wallace Layhew took over as manager. 104 Roy Spurr assumed the duty as postmaster. Layhew later served as postmaster from August 1954 to November 1957 after the death of Roy Spurr. 105 Late this year, the first actions were taken that led to the first major strike at Eagle Lake Sawmills and other mills on the East Line and through the interior. It was a support-for-action vote by the International Woodworkers of America in which 19 of 29 unioncertified mills voted 71% in favour of further action. Eagle Lake voted 91 to 23 in favour. 106 Then the B.C. Labour Relations Board approved a government-authorized strike vote at Giscome and Sinclair Mills. The union demanded a 10 cent per hour raise and other demands costing an additional 20 cents. Eagle Lake voted 119 to 71 in favour of a strike and within a few hours layoffs began A major article early this year 108 described, in detail, the operation of the dairy farm which employed new techniques in handling the cattle. Approximately 100 Holstein dairy cows were milked by machine using power supplied by the sawmill. There were two silos, each holding 60 tons of mixed peas and oats, and 400 tons of hay obtained from the 270 cultivated acres. The barn design encouraged air flow and electric fans allowed relatively wet hay to be stored. If Giscome succeeds, it undoubtedly will be the first of a series of large dairy units which can be worked out adjacent to sawmill industries... As it stands, Giscome represents a large investment which puts such a project out of the reach of the average small farmer. But there should be no reason why a number of dairy companies could not be formed in which farmers could participate as both workers and shareholders.

38 26 Giscome Chronicle The entire year of 1953 was essentially lost to strike and layoff action and an agreement was not reached until early January There are many Citizen newspaper articles available about the strike and Ken Bernsohn s book, Cutting Up the North, devotes an entire chapter to The Messiest Strike in Western Canada. It described, in detail, some of the negative social, economic and other aspects of the strike In August, the death of Roy Spurr from a heart attack at age 68 rocked the community of Giscome and Prince George. Spurr was seen as the key figure in Eagle Lake Sawmills success although he had sold the company in 1943 and remained as manager. His obituary described him as a man of modest beginnings who carved a community of 350 people from a wilderness Giscome c.1952 and who built an industrial empire worth millions. A close relative and colleague said: His work was his only hobby. 111 Gordon Brownridge replaced Spurr as general manager of Eagle Lake Sawmills A wildcat strike of 160 mill workers over the cost of meals occurred in June. The company had closed the cookhouse the year before and now workers were forced to eat at the cafe (Garland s, on the road into the townsite) at a cost higher than what was in the union contract. An IWA official said: All the companies are supplying board and lodging for $2.15 a day. Eagle Lake Sawmills provides this service at their logging operations, but refuses to follow this procedure at their sawmill. After several days, the men returned to work when it was agreed further negotiations would occur. 113 No resolution was mention in later newspaper articles An article that was, in effect, an advertisement for Eagle Lake Sawmills Ltd. appeared in a special Pacific Great Eastern Railway (PGE) issue of the Vancouver Herald. 114 The issue recognized the arrival of the PGE in Prince George. The sawmill and planer employed 165 men, and averaged 140,000 board feet per day, an output of 40 million board feet of finished, white spruce lumber per year. There was a total payroll of $1 million annually for 250 employees. The town of Giscome had a population of 625. The photo in the article showed that the original 1923 bunkhouse, mess hall and staff house were still in existence (see 1965). 115

39 Giscome Chronicle This year was memorable for mill fires. In September, a kiln, one of five, was partially destroyed by fire. It would have been totally lost except for the automatic sprinkler system. The kiln was built in 1942 and it would be out of commission for two to three months. 116 Late in October, a much more serious fire, which was highlighted in a Citizen article (illustrated with many photos), took its toll of the planer mill, leading to a shutdown of operations and the layoff of 250 employees. However, 200 would be employed in rebuilding the unit. Three B.C. Forest Service fire trucks attended from Prince George to aid the 100 men fighting the blaze. Damage cost was estimated to be $500,000 to $1 million. One firefighter said: It was a roaring, red-hot hell. Without the planer, the lumber was unfinished and could not be marketed. Gordon Brownridge, general manager, said: It has just put a kink in us for four or five months. The operation was the largest spruce mill in Canada and supported the town of Giscome, population On 23 October 1957, the third Giscome Superior elementary school opened on the road into the townsite (today called Upper Fraser Road). When Willow River School closed in 1965, its pupils were bussed to the Giscome school. The Superior school is still in operation in 2008, serving all the towns along the East Line from Willow River at least to Sinclair Mills where the road becomes less satisfactory for a school bus Beginning in July, negotiations for a new contract between the manufacturers (NILA) and workers (IWA) began. Workers were looking for a 15% raise and the companies offered zero increase. A conciliation board was established to deal with the large increase gap and other work conditions. The board recommended that a no-increase contract continue for a year until August The 2000 affected employees agreed to continue working as long as negotiations continued. The situation was complicated because the board recommended that southern workers receive a 3% increase for each of the next two years. The union began polling workers about accepting the board s position or taking a strike vote. The union stated 90% of those polled in 40 certified operations were opposed to the no-wage-increase position. The Citizen newspaper, in an editorial, reminded readers of the strike in 1953: of the beatings, stones thrown through windows in the dead of night, goon squads, injunctions and frantic telegrams to the labour minister. The newspaper called for a group of leading citizens to intercede as in the last strike to bring the parties to a negotiated settlement. The paper reminded the parties in

40 28 Giscome Chronicle the dispute that: You are shooting crap with our future and the future of our families. The result was that the Prince George Board of Trade formed a committee to act as mediator in the dispute. The 4000 southern workers voted 63% in favour of a strike. In the north, the strike vote was inconclusive. Although about 60% of union members voted in favour of the strike, 18 mainly small operations with 600 workers voted against, as opposed to 15 large operations with 800 workers who were for striking. The vote at Eagle Lake Sawmills showed employees to be strongly in favour of striking. Only those operations voting in favour could be closed by striking which would be Eagle Lake sawmill, planer and camp. The IWA reduced its wage demand by half, to 7.5%, to encourage bargaining; the NILA held firm at zero increase and talks collapsed. The situation was not helped by the southern basic wage of $1.72 per hour and the northern of $1.53, the wage set in the previous contract The impasse was broken when the NILA offered a 16 cent increase to $1.69 per hour, increased in 3 stages, along with a number of improvements in working conditions and vacation pay. 119 A brief announcement stated that there were plans for a new legion building in Giscome. 120 The legion branch included both Giscome and Willow River Early in the year, the IWA local and Eagle Lake Sawmills reached agreement on a two-year contract. It provided an increase of 10 cents per hour from $1.60, staged over the period. There were also improvements in vacations and probationary periods for 230 employees. 121 Gordon Brownridge, vice-president and general manager of Eagle Lake Sawmills Ltd., announced several appointments. Duncan Neil, the employee with the most seniority, 37 years (having arrived in 1924 at the start of the Winton years), was named general superintendent. Oliver Stalder was appointed production manager at Giscome and the Penny Forest Products plant. An advertisement for Eagle Lake, emphasizing its existence from 1916 to 1961, contained an aerial photo of the town and mill site. 122

41 Giscome Chronicle 29 Author s Note The year 1961 was highly notable for the interest expressed in construction of a pulp mill in the Prince George area and in integrating the sawmill industry to provide its waste wood to the pulp mills. Recent provincial legislation allowed the government to enter into agreements with companies that would establish an integrated (sawmill and pulpmill) pulp industry based upon sawmill wood waste and government-licenced timber sources. 123 Soon, Noranda Mines Ltd. confirmed it was negotiating with National Forest Products Ltd. (NFP) to purchase a number of its nine interior sawmills including those at Upper Fraser and Sinclair Mills. 124 National was a smoke-and-mirrors type of operation, put together by a promoter who bought several failing mills east of Prince George and in the Okanagan, milked as much cash as possible from them, and let them deteriorate even further. 125 Noranda bought the NFP interests in 1961, and created Northwood Mills Ltd. (Northwood) as an operating company. In 1964, Northwood joined with the Mead Corporation of Dayton, Ohio to form Northwood Pulp and Timber Ltd. 126 Interest was also expressed in a pulp mill at Prince George by Canadian Forest Products Ltd. (Canfor) whose operation was known as Prince George Pulp and Paper. Northwood s area of operation would be east of Prince George where it had recently acquired the East Line sawmills, and Canfor would focus its efforts west of Prince George. 127 In 1963, Canfor allied with Reed Corporation of Great Britain. In 1965, Canfor joined with Fedemuhle of Germany to develop a third pulp mill in Prince George, Intercontinental Pulp (Intercon). 128 A brief quote from Gordon Brownridge of Eagle Lake Sawmills was given at the announcement that Canadian Forest Products would be building a pulp mill in Prince George: This is really going to be a shot in the arm for local industry. This was because about 35% of sawmill waste that cost the sawmill companies money to burn, could be used in the pulp mills. 129 It was notable that the number and mix of Citizen newspaper articles concerning the construction of three pulp mills and the resultant growth in Prince George (its Census population increased from in 1961 to in 1976) put Giscome, Eagle Lake sawmill and other news from the East Line right off the pages in most cases. Only the closure of the town and sawmill put Giscome back in the news for a brief time in the mid 1970s Eagle Lake Sawmills Ltd. acquired Shelley Sawmills, 130 an operation with a long history dating back to the early 1920s as the McLean Lumber Co. Eagle Lake probably bought it from the Geddes lumber interests who acquired it in R.W. Hilton was the mill manager.

42 30 Giscome Chronicle Author s Note Early in January 1963, it was apparent that Eagle Lake Sawmills Ltd. (under the direction of W.B. Milner, president) published a news letter titled Giscome News. Some copies are available on the Exploration Place website 131 although the numbering sequence is somewhat confusing. The available newsletters are from 4 January 1963 to 13 December Although it is unclear whether issues were published before and after those dates, both seem probable. Fortunately, the newsletter permits some 1960s additions to this Chronicle There was mention in Giscome News of the following services in Giscome in the earliest available issue, 4 January 1963: Knox United church, Pentecostal church, community hall, Garland s cafe (which had several rooms upstairs and was considered a hotel), Legion hall and Giscome Superior school gym. In the 18 January issue, it was noted that a small library was open to the public at the school. The 25 January issue added the Royal Produce store, formerly Brown s store. In the 18 January issue, the company asserted its right under the collective agreement to suspend some workers who failed to show up due to cold weather. The 25 January issue mentions The Eagle Lake Story, a 35 minute-long, colour movie of the sawmill operations, a valuable historic record from It is now on deposit at the Northern Archives at UNBC. The 28 February issue, in an amusing manner entitled Wot? No Chush:---Screee - Chush, outlined another technological change at Eagle Lake Sawmills: The silence was appalling. The giant 12 inch steam gunshot, that drives the 7 ton log carriage for the double cut band mill must not be operating. It took three weeks of work to capture the waste heat, formerly dissipated to the atmosphere, and that now saved about 5000 pounds per hour of useable steam. The terrific noise and screech were lost forever in the maze of heater pipes. The 2 August issue noted another major upgrade. A year and a half of preparation for a two year expansion of the powerhouse began. Four water mains 12 feet deep had to be relocated to make a water connection below (Eaglet) lake level. To cut off water flow to make a welding connection, a soccer ball bladder (compliments of the Giscome Eagles team) was used. Nearly 300 cubic yards of fill was removed for the boiler foundation and piles were driven. This was followed by 250 cubic yards of concrete to support 38 footings for the boilers.

43 Giscome Chronicle 31 Also in 1963, according to a resident, 132 B.C. Hydro finally serviced the residential areas of Giscome and the power supply from the mill, which had served the company houses, was restricted to only the industrial facilities Giscome News initiated a notable, historical article about John Giscome in the spring of 1964 (no month given) which had part two in the 21 April issue. It was commissioned by W.B. Milner from Bruce Ramsey, an historian associated with the Vancouver Province newspaper. From his research, Ramsey compiled John Giscomes s Country, a typescript document produced by Eagle Lake Sawmills in Another historical article about A.C. Frost was in the 5 April issue The issue of Giscome News 5 March contained good news about the long-standing, water supply problem in Giscome. The company had located a well near Tommy Rassmussen s with a good supply of palatable water so now residents could fill their containers from the well tap rather than getting it at Willow River. In the 5 April issue, another well source became available near L.H. Brown s place so, Send the little children up after school, it s a nice little jaunt for them. In the 10 November issue, it was announced that a well-digging company would be searching for a suitable well that could serve the townsite water system because we have had bad experiences with our water system in the past. The issue of 5 September noted the replacement of the old burner, a landmark that gave many years of faithful service (see 1940). And, more importantly, the summer residential repairs were reported: 16 houses were painted, 7 houses had bathrooms installed, 5 houses had foundation repairs, and a fencing program encouraged owners to put up numerous fences which enhances the looks of the place. The 10 November issue reported that shipments of lumber from Geddes Lumber in Penny arrived daily to better utilize the planer. The Willow River and Giscome Legion was constructing a skating rink (85 x110 ) on the ball field and a curling rink was being contemplated on the old rink site. Finally, in 1965, Giscome had a community pay phone installed near the office door after 9 months and 27 letters communicating with B.C. Tel. Shortly after, residential B.C. Tel. service became available in

44 32 Giscome Chronicle Two photographs, 134 dated 1965, made it evident that the 1923 bunkhouse and mess hall that were present in 1956 had been replaced. The bunkhouse was now a plain, two storey building with a similar, one storey mess hall. The staff house had been repainted in the same colour scheme as the new bunkhouse and mess but it was the same 1923 building. Mess hall, bunkhouse, guest house 1975 Guest house 1975

45 Giscome Chronicle 33 Chapter Five Northwood s Time: The Demise of Giscome In the spring, Northwood Pulp Ltd. confirmed it had acquired all the shares of Eagle Lake Sawmills Ltd. which operates Shelley Sawmills at Shelley and Eagle Lake Sawmills at Giscome from W.B. Milner. No sale price was disclosed. The combined operation of the two mills was million board feet per year, the largest spruce operation in North America. 135 Quickly, rumours began that Northwood was planning to build a sawmill near its pulpmill in Prince George and would close the Giscome and Shelley operations. To dispel the rumours, a company official advised the Citizen that: There has never been a thought to shutting them down... The reports are not true Northwood Pulp Ltd. announced that it would build a $6.7 million sawmill and kiln just north of its pulpmill in Prince George. Its 150 workers would produce 90 million board feet annually. The company Eagle Lake sawmill 1965

46 34 Giscome Chronicle said that this operation will improve productivity at the existing mills through diversion of small logs. Wood waste would be converted into chips or hog fuel for the pulp mill In a November headline subtitled, Community Becomes Ghost Town, the Citizen newspaper announced Northwood would permanently close Eagle Lake sawmill by the end of the month. The mill would shut down November 22 and the planer November 29, which would affect 180 employees and the 350 residents of Giscome. The original plan was to shut down in June 1975 due to the lack of sufficient timber quota but current poor lumber markets advanced the closure date. Also cited as reasons were the age of the mill and the need to meet pollution control standards. Closure of the townsite would abide by the original closure date of next June and all services, including water, would be maintained until then. Jobs for all the out-of-work employees would be offered in Noranda s operations in British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Ontario, although not all jobs were in the forestry sector. The regional district had been kept informed about the coming closure and when the employees and IWA officials were notified, the union president said everyone knew. 138 Employees were quoted in a sidebar in the same newspaper issue. William Brown, the boom pond boss who started at Giscome in 1948 for 40 cents per hour, said: Who would have thought they d close this mill... but the writing was on the wall. When they started logging as far away as Barkerville you understood it was becoming an expensive proposition. Jill Howard, a relatively new secretary in the mill office, said: As ugly as it is, this is a close-knit community where people care about each other... I lived in nice places, but I like this the best. She was talking about a townsite which the Citizen reported has been going downhill for a long time... The town has a half-abandoned look, as though waiting for the axe to fall. Most of the houses are 1920s vintage, waisthigh in grass. The bright paint jobs have faded, and trailers have been parked in what used to be back yards. The general store is closed most of the time. Community life has never been the same since a [paved] road opened to Prince George 15 years ago. The town of 350 will continue on in a kind of half-life until June next year when school closes. Then the water and power will be shut off, and Giscome will become an industrial ghost town. The inevitable reaction to the closure began only a week later when a scrap iron reduction plant was proposed at Giscome by Prince George resident Dick Furby. The plant would melt scrap from across northern B.C. and reprocess it into manhole covers, catch basins or pipe. Easy access to natural gas, rail and coal (presumably by rail transport) and the use of houses, offices and some existing mill buildings were advantages mentioned for the Giscome site. This would be a step to reduce our overwhelming

47 Giscome Chronicle 35 dependence on the lumber industry. 139 The regional district directors were lukewarm to Furby s proposal (described as a mining industry spokesman ) because Giscome is a poor location and The mill was closed because of pollution problems and the decayed condition of the buildings. Northern Affairs coordinator Alf Nunweiler (N.D.P. M.L.A for Fort George, Minister of Northern Affairs) blasted Northwood for its shameful and unreasonable decision to close the sawmill on three weeks notice. He claimed six months additional operation (to June 1975, the original closure date) would make little difference to the company but it makes a big difference to the people in Giscome A series of Citizen articles traced the ultimate fate of Giscome and the sawmill. 141 In March, 45 families received official notice of the need to vacate the company houses by 30 June. When the mill closed in November of the previous year, 75 houses were occupied. The company planned to cut off the water supply on 30 June and demolish the houses. A few houses were privately owned on the company property and if those residents wished to stay, they would have to supply their own water, presumably from wells. The school would remain open and Northwood offered to donate land which had self-supporting water pipes beside the school. The houses, generally built in the 1920s and 30s, were for sale through Maynards Auctioneers Ltd. which was handling the auction of the sawmill equipment. According to a Maynard s spokesman, the houses were in excellent condition... Almost all have furnaces, plumbing, bathtubs, toilets and excellent panelling... We don t expect people to take entire houses... Most are structurally sound and could be removed to new locations. Buildings for sale in the townsite included a 3000 square foot main office, 43 room bunkhouse, cookhouse, and Royal Produce store (formerly Brown s). The lunch room and bunkhouse were built in the last five years and are just beautiful. This statement was contradicted by information in an oral interview of a resident who said they were built in about Perhaps the buildings were renovated five years before the auction. Maynards came to Giscome on 1 April and for 30 days, they sold the houses by private treaty [sale] and bartered with the people, bringing prices of $150-$1000. The remaining 42 houses were auctioned on 1 May, some not even attracting any bid. One lady bought 10 houses, a community hall and an abandoned car for less than $1000. She doesn t know what she will do with her new purchases but who could pass up houses that were selling for as little as $10 or a car that sold for $60. A former Giscome resident said: We brought one to our property a mile and a half away, $25 for a full house. It was completely wired, bathtubs, toilets, everything was in it. And a few people... around Six Mile Lake [Tabor Lake], they had bought a couple of the bigger houses for

48 36 Giscome Chronicle about $250, $200 and they transported them there and they put them on basements and there are still people living in them today. 143 One resident was disappointed that their home sold for $25. A lot of work went into this house, I thought it would go for more like two hundred dollars. A house sold for $55 when the monthly rent was $34; the former occupant said, I don t feel so good but I wouldn t buy it myself. The author has seen several industrial buildings near Blackburn school said to be relocated from Giscome. The big, manager s house on the hill, a landmark built in about 1917, attracted particular attention. 144 Leo Freindorf, the head millwright, and his family had lived in the house for five years at a monthly rent of $59. The house was auctioned off for $410, a price that included Snackbar was part of the auction event 17 rooms, some original drapes and carpets, a deep bathtub, built-in hutch and fireplace built by Roy Spurr and multiple staircases. Despite a story that the house was moved to Willow River, the new owner attempted to move the house but its size and location on the hill led to its collapse and final destruction. The double garage, built by Mr. Freindorf, sold for $550 and was moved. 145 Mrs. Spurr, who lived in the house with her husband Roy from 1932 to 1946, visited the house for a final time. She commented: It s a shame to see a home like this destroyed... It was a nice home. Wandering through the many rooms and staircases, she said, It was no wonder I kept my weight down when I lived here. The demolition of the town was not without controversy. One sawmill employee with five years seniority saw his house sold in the pre-auction bargaining period so he and his family bought another for $27 at the auction. They moved in at the end of June when remaining houses were to be demolished. They lived there until 15 August with the intent of moving the house, but it never happened. Then a representative of Northwood arrived with two RCMP officers and forced them to vacate the house with only an hour s notice. The Northwood official stated: They bought the house from auctioneers and the auction contract states flatly it [the house] can be used for salvage rights only. There s no way he should have moved it. The house was demolished by bulldozer and burned. 146 The newspaper article was subtitled: Giscome Finale.

49 Giscome Chronicle 37 The sawmill and its equipment were auctioned in over 1400 lots on April, with interested buyers from all across North America and even Asia, drawn by 40,000 brochures sent out. Every imaginable piece of equipment from the saw and planer mill was available, including Lot # Quantity of scrap on floor by door. Major mobile equipment, such as trucks, fork lifts, loaders, caterpillar tractors and boom boats, was auctioned. Buildings were also under the hammer such as the 40,500 square foot Glulam building housing 2 planers... with tar and gravel roof and bevel siding, the 30x75 lumber packaging building, and the 16,000 square foot unstacker building. Equipment was to be removed by May 21, salvageable materials in buildings by July The demise of Giscome was recorded in a final Citizen photo article. 148 It s a has been. The streets that used to wind through the village don t go anywhere now... The houses that stood in Giscome for 50 years are just a memory - their foundations can t even be seen for weeds and sweet-smelling clover. The core of the dead town is a meadow. A cluster of structures resembling... Stonehenge stand aloof and mysterious by Eaglet Lake. They are huge concrete blocks... the foundation of the former mill. The original mill site is just an expanse of gravel now. There were about ten privately owned and occupied houses left. Said one resident who had been there since 1942: It s quiet and that s the way I like it. I don t mind it at all. Another resident, who came in 1928, was stoic: Nothing s changed for me. It didn t bother me when they auctioned the town. People come and go. The mill in background awaits auction Stonehenge c.1980