Construction workers performing renovations in the premises housing the former Keremeos Toonie store came across some old newspapers that had been stuffed into an inner wall of the building last week.
Owner Jennifer Liew, who is upgrading the interior of the historic building located on the corner of Seventh and Seventh, offered them to the Review after finding several pages still legible after all these years.
Part of the Tuesday, February 12, 1957 edition of the Vancouver Province, (then a broadsheet) had survived 57 years wedged in the wall, presumably placed there to help insulate the old building’s walls.
Coincidentally, two stories in the old edition mirror two major stories occupying the media’s attention these days.
“Billion-dollar deal for Northern B.C.” shouted the lead headline of the day. The story described “a vast development project for northern British Columbia which will probably be the biggest undertaking this province has ever seen” was expected to be announced that day.
The province and Swedish financier Axel Wenner-Gren had apparently come to an agreement to develop “the enormous area north of Prince George and McLeod Lake known as the Rocky Mountain Trench, which extends through to the Yukon.”
A monorail was to be included in the plan, tying to existing rail lines in the province and running from McLeod Lake to the Yukon border.
“It’s speed would be in excess of 160 miles per hour and the trains would be elevated,” stated the article about a development that history tells us never materialized.
Apparently environmental and First Nations rights weren’t part of the equation in 1957, as environmental and native concerns weren’t mentioned – not even once – in the 1957 article.
Presumably, had the development project taken place, it would have had profound environmental implications for the entire northwest corner of B.C.
It makes for an interesting comparison of public concern and reaction, after wading through the news stories surrounding the federal government’s announcement last week regarding the Northern Gateway pipeline.
Teachers in arbitration in 1957
A second article in the edition dealt with, ironically, teachers pay.
Apparently in 1957, a high school teacher with a university degree, after two years of teaching, was paid $36 a year less than a janitor working for the school board.
In February, 1957, arbitration hearings were taking place between the Vancouver school board and the teachers, after they rejected a 10.8 per cent increase offered by the board. Teachers of the day were asking for an $800 a year increase that would boost salaries that were ranging from $3,000 to $6,000.Teachers were also looking for a reduction in years – from 18 to 15 – it took to reach the top pay level.
Maybe the old adage “the more things change, the more they stay the same” is true, after all.
