50 YEARS AGO:
More than 70 per cent of the 60 people attending a special general meeting voted in favor of a water system for the flats and the secondary school (today Raft River Elementary) areas of Clearwater. Residential connection fee would be $100.
45 YEARS AGO:
Six members of the First Clearwater Girl Guide Company won first place in the women’s category in the annual raft race to Kamloops. Manning the entry were Linda, Mary and Denise Trainer, Kathleen Zimmerman, Nadeane Nelson, Lavern Tremblay, plus leader Jean Nelson and her husband, Don Nelson.
40 YEARS AGO:
Seven people were dead, one was seriously injured, and three were presumed drowned after three separate accidents. A Kamloops couple and their 13-year-old grandson were killed in a head-on collision with a tanker truck on Highway 5 in front of Miller’s subdivision.
Also killed were two truck drivers from Seattle. Their vehicle burst into flames. A young Vavenby man was killed just south of Vavenby in a single vehicle accident. His passenger suffered a broken back. Three men, all from the Interior, were missing after their 14-foot speed boat went over the falls at the south end of Clearwater Lake.
A man and a woman were recovered from the water.
Work had started on a warehouse and line-crew facilities for B.C. Hydro’s service center in Clearwater on Hydro Road. Hydro’s old location on the corner of Murtle St. and Park Drive would be vacated when the new complex was completed.
35 YEARS AGO:
A 41-year-old Bear Creek Camp inmate was presumed drowned after he fell into Falls Creek in Wells Gray Park while working on a hiking bridge. He was apparently trying to help a Parks employee whose foot had become trapped when he was swept into a 50 to 75 foot high series of cascades.
A $12,000 grant from the federal government was to be used to construct a drop-in center for the residents of Evergreen Acres.
Central North Thompson Rod and Gun Club member Jim Jardine won a gold medal in the free pistol event at the B.C. Summer Games.
Volunteers from the Raft River Riders were busy preparing their new grounds on the flats in Clearwater. With around 100 members, it was one of the largest local clubs.
30 YEARS AGO:
Police chased a suspect in a stolen vehicle from a break-and-enter in progress on Blanchard Road through the Raft River area and Greer Subdivision to the Candle Creek area. A chase on foot followed. A local man was later arrested in another stolen vehicle near the old CTP planer mill.
Clearwater Secondary School students Ian Howat and Debbie Scott were among 145 top Grade 11 math students to take part in Simon Fraser University’s annual Mathematics Enrichment Conference.
25 YEARS AGO:
A 29-year-old man drowned after being swept over Raft River Falls. Witnesses said he either dived or fell into the pool above the falls, striking his head. The man was a recent arrival to the area.
The second-fastest woman in B.C. in both the 400 m and the 800 m, Andrena Moore de Bruyn, age 17, was to compete in the Juvenile National Track and Field Championships in Ottawa.
20 YEARS AGO:
The situation with the Clearwater River Road, closed since early June due to erosion of the roadbed, had gotten worse, said Wells Gray area supervisor Mike Rowden. The river had washed over the road and swept sections of it away.
About 150 volunteer firefighters gathered at the Sportsplex for the Volunteer Firefighters Association of B.C.’s summer seminar and annual general meeting.
Little Hells Gate Regional Park south of Blue River was closed due to flood damage to the viewing stand. The TNRD was waiting for the North Thompson to recede so it could begin repairs, said Area B director Steve Quinn.
15 YEARS AGO:
After 13 years of effort, Roundtop resident Rick Pesklevits got his master of law degree from UBC. He deposited a copy of his thesis, “Customary Law, the Crown and the Common Law: Ancient Legal Islands in the Post-Colonial Stream,” in the Clearwater library. “It encourage others to go back to school … it’s never too late,” he said.
There appeared to be little interest from a Barriere group in working with people from the Clearwater-Vavenby area in obtaining a valley-wide community forest, the Wells Gay Country community forest committee was told.
Members of the local committee felt the two community forests in the valley likely would have 15,000 cubic meters of harvest volume, far less than the 50,000 cubic meters many felt was the minimum needed to be sustainable.
10 YEARS AGO:
Things at the Clearwater Fire Zone heated up as lightning and strong winds struck the North Thompson valley. There were eight new fires in the zone, said Jim Jones, forest protection officer.
The B.C. government decided to join Ontario in harmonizing its sales tax with the federal GST, for a combined tax of 12 per cent.
Strawberry Festival was a big success. There were a total of eight baking contest entries, which all included strawberries to the recipe. Greg Yeomans was the first place finisher in the adult 5 km run during the festival. About 70 people took part in the run.
https://www.clearwatertimes.com/community/year-in-review-may-to-august-2014/
5 YEARS AGO:
About three dozen people attended a talk about the wonders of Wells Gray Park put on by Roland Neeve, the author of “Exploring Wells Gray Park.” Helmcken Falls was apparently first seen by a European when surveyor Robert Lee (an American) came across it in 1913, he said.
The talk in the Upper Clearwater Hall was one of the Wells Gray Rock series put on over the summer.
Environment Canada opened a new weather station by the eco-depot in Clearwater. Having a weather station should benefit the tourism, forestry, agriculture and other industries, said Clearwater chief administrative officer Leslie Groulx.
1 YEAR AGO:
The rest stop in Little Fort was chosen as a site for a public EV charging station, which is one of 11 new stations that’ll pop up at highway rest areas across the province. “These charging stations will support long distance travel on highway routes in an electric vehicle,” said the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure, in an email.
BC Parks announced North Thompson Provincial Park re-opened after it was temporarily closed for about eight days due to protesters of the Trans Mountain pipeline. The announcement came after a group called the Tiny House Warriors, led by Kanahus Manuel, had the park shut down from July 6 to 14, before she was arrested for mischief after disobeying an eviction notice from BC Parks.
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