50 YEARS AGO:
Water percolating through loose fill swept the fill and culvert out of Third Canyon on the road to Wells Gray Park. The old bridge had been taken out and the canyon filled in the previous year. A Bailey Bridge was quickly erected over the gap.
Bill Mattenley, district agent for Active Petroleum, opened a bulk district center in Blue River to serve the logging, industrial, farming and domestic needs of the district. Ed Urslake was the resident agent.
45 YEARS AGO:
Forty-five people turned out to a meeting to discuss a possible flood situation on the North Thompson River. Riverbank landowners from Vavenby to Roundtop attended the meeting, which was held in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Joe Wadlegger. Several people around the Ferry Road area needed immediate help.
Clearwater and Barriere Lions cooperated on a Walk-a-thon and Ride-a-thon that raised $5,000 for senior citizens housing. Prize winners were Dave Wishton, Shawn Zakall, Rocky Turcotte, Joe Niederkircher, David Baxter, Larry Hankins, Shawn Johnson, Laurie Buck and Carolyn Buck.
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40 YEARS AGO:
Kulwant Sian, lumber grader for Clearwater Timber Products, was awarded the Interior Lumber Manufacturers’ Association senior grading trophy after obtaining a mark of 98 per cent in grading examinations.
The sun smiled on the May Day parade as 26 floats, vintage cars, bands and horses wound their way from Raft River School to Clearwater Ball Park. M.P. Len Marchand led the parade, mounted on a bay colt.
Don Cameron was the surprise winner in the Kamloops-Shuswap riding as Joe Clark’s Progressive Conservatives defeated the Liberals in a federal election.
Construction was underway on an addition to Clearwater’s RCMP headquarters. “When three officers are working in the office they only have one desk between them. It gets pretty crowded,” said office secretary Karen Plugoway.
35 YEARS AGO:
Birch Island residents said good-bye to Alan and Anne Smith. Alan had been secretary-treasurer of School District 26 for 20 years. He had come to the community in 1937 to teach in a one-room school with 16 students.
Deena Seyfert became emotionally overwhelmed after being selected as Miss Clearwater. Princess was Domini Smith, and Miss Congeniality was Michelle Turcotte.
A walk-a-thon sponsored by Little Fort Fire Department raised $1,900 for the breathing apparatus fund. Gordie Campbell raised the most in pledges.
30 YEARS AGO:
A new agreement had been drawn up between Clearwater Forest District and CSS Woodlot Society, trustee Ed Shook told the School District 26 board. The logging program was five years old, he said, and it was time to review its goals.
Debbie Scott took over from Brenda Emery as Miss Clearwater. First princess was Ann Reusse, and Miss Congeniality was Theresa Danroth.
25 YEARS AGO:
A single-vehicle tractor-trailer accident spilled a large portion of 40,000 pounds of paint into a ditch on Highway 5 just south of Avola. The vehicle’s owner-operator had lost control after a large owl struck and shattered his windshield.
Work was underway by the Ministry of Forests on a new concrete and steel bridge across the Clearwater River to allow logging trucks from TFL 18 direct access to Highway 5. Slocan was to pay the $1/2 million bill, to be refunded from stumpage, said Larry Pendergast, engineering resource officer with Clearwater Forest District. The public would be able to use the crossing.
Public meetings were scheduled for Birch Island and Upper Clearwater to discuss the possibility of interface forest fires. Both communities had no organized fire protection, pointed out Clearwater Forest District fire protection officer Jim Jones.
20 YEARS AGO:
Forest technician Jim Biagioni’s dog, Bandit, saved his life when they were attacked by a mother bear near Moilliet Creek northeast of Clearwater. The story got international coverage.
About 35 people met in Vavenby to set up a Rural Crime Watch organization for the area. Charlotte Cederholm was the first president.
15 YEARS AGO:
A Chamber of Commerce beautification project along Highway 5 in Clearwater got underway.
A straw poll held at the end of an information meeting about a proposed aquatic center in Clearwater was 170 – 20 in favor of going ahead with the project. “I intend to take this to the board at its next meeting, and I think administration will back me up in saying we should have a study,” said TNRD director Bert Walker.
10 YEARS AGO:
Nearly 10,000 B.C. Hydro customers, including people in parts of Kamloops, Heffley Creek, McLure, Barriere, Darfield, Little Fort, Clearwater, Vavenby, Blue River, Valemount and McBride, were without power May 5. The power outage was the result of a fire on a transmission pole about 25 km north of Barriere.
District of Clearwater announced it was moving ahead to develop a new Official Community Plan (OCP). Clearwater’s present OCP had been done by the Thompson-Nicola Regional District and did not accurately reflect the way the community is or where it wants to go, according to councilor Bert Walker. Developing the new plan would take about one year and it would be expensive, Walker warned.
Council voted to ask for tenders to re-pave Dunlevy and Wadlegger roads in Sunshine Valley, Davy Road in Miller Subdivision, Candle Creek Road from Highway 5 to the School District 73 bus garage, and Young Road from the Clearwater River bridge to Brookfield shopping center. The re-paving project would make use of part of the $600,000 given the municipality the previous year to help repair local roads damaged by hauling logs from mountain pine beetle salvage.
5 YEARS AGO:
World-renowned artist Robert Bateman donated a painting of an eagle’s head as first prize in the Kids-in-Wild-Nature treasure hunt in Wells Gray Park. “I’m pleased to contribute artwork and hope it translates into helping the community,” Bateman said.
An article outlined how a dog guide named Valour was helping Marnie Peters. The Clearwater woman had been partially paralyzed during surgery eight years earlier.
Bal Dhanoa, Saad Hafez and Usman Sharif tried their hand at cricket on the CSS field. It was believed the first time in a long time the game had been played in Clearwater.
1 YEAR AGO:
An interesting piece of North Thompson Valley history came to life as two monks from Westminster Abbey near Mission joined members of Wells Gray Riding Club for a work-bee at the MacMillan Cabin in Upper Clearwater.
For the past few years it has been leased to Wells Gray Riding Club, who use it for day trips on horseback.
Upper Clearwater’s volunteer wildfire crew acquired its own firetruck.
The vehicle, which formerly belonged to Vavenby Fire department, was acquired from the Thompson-Nicola Regional District through an auction process.
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