50 YEARS AGO:
Owner of the curling rink in Clearwater, Lou Walker, announced he had purchased the equipment necessary to create three sheets of artificial ice. Opened the year before, Walker’s curling rink consisted of four sheets of natural ice, and attracted competitors from 40 miles away, as well as a 35-member school curling club.
45 YEARS AGO:
Former Birch Island resident John Rankin died along with the pilot when their plane crashed on a road near Kamloops. Rankin was employed with the Forest Service at the time.
Arson was suspected in a fire that destroyed the Birch Inn, one of the oldest buildings in Birch Island. The building housed the Venture Drapery and Upholstery business at the time of the fire. Police were expecting to lay charges in the blaze, which also levelled two small buildings.
40 YEARS AGO:
A contract to upgrade and strengthen the Vavenby bridge was awarded to a Burnaby construction firm. The $365,000 project included replacing the timber piers with concrete supports.
35 YEARS AGO:
Slash burning began early, and on occasion caused a haze to settle around Clearwater. Most of the 30 burns planned in the Clearwater Forest District should be completed within two weeks, said Forest Service spokesperson Doug Kehler.
Marks plotted by a computer showed the location of 886 lightning strikes that occurred in the Clearwater Forest District on July 24. That particular day was relatively slow in comparison to the 2,800 strikes that occurred on Aug. 8 of that year.
30 YEARS AGO:
Clearwater Infocenter welcomed its 100,000th visitor. Marian V. Hall of Arlington, Virginia, a member of a “Tauck Tour,” received many prizes, including gift certificates, souvenirs of the area, and information about Wells Gray Park.
25 YEARS AGO:
A total of 30 teams took part in the first annual Wheely Fine Dutch Lake Splash and Dash Team Triathlon, sponsored by Clearwater Rotary. Fastest time was turned in by chief of entries George Jennings and chief of race Dan Coleman.
20 YEARS AGO:
Over 75 people attended a meeting at the Infocenter regarding the future of the Clearwater River Road. “Half my businesses is from people visiting the park, and half is from rafters,” said Doug Hindle of Dutch Lake Motel.
The marijuana season was underway once again, said RCMP Const. Mike Savage. Police seized 35 plants from two vacant lots in the Flats in Clearwater.
The forest fire situation in the Clearwater Fire Zone had pretty well wound down, said forest protection officer Jim Jones. Upper Clearwater fire warden Steve Murray had taken over mopping up the Elevator Fire near Avola, while Matt Nicol of Blue River was taking care of two fires in the North Thompson headwaters.
15 YEARS AGO:
A bright red Eurocopter BK117 landed at Dr. Helmcken Memorial Hospital. The helicopter was taking part in a tour of the region’s communities to promote establishing a service similar to Alberta’s STARS (Shock Trauma Air Rescue Service).
Wells Gray Country services committee voted to allocate $10,000 for a marketing coordinator, $2,100 to make more versions available of a video that promoted Clearwater as a retirement destination, $5,000 for a website, and $6,000 towards a music festival program.
Rivers and streams in the North Thompson Valley had low water flows and unusually high temperatures, according to Dean Watts, a water use biologist with fisheries and Oceans Canada. Fisheries staff had found fish stressed by the conditions and felt if the weather remained warm and dry there would be fish mortalities.
10 YEARS AGO:
Clearwater council received a letter of resignation from councillor Jack Braaksma, who was moving out of the district. Braaksma formerly served as a trustee with Clearwater Improvement District as well as on the board of School District 26.
A dramatic seven-hour rescue operation took place in Wells Gray Park near Clearwater to extricate an injured 13-year old boy who had fallen 25 to 30 feet onto the boulders near the foot of the Spahats Falls.
Numbers at the Wells Gray Infocenter were up 13 per cent from where they were one year earlier, reported Mike McPhee, tourism and marketing manager for Clearwater and Wells Gray County.
5 YEARS AGO:
Volcanologist Dr. Cathie Hickson gave a three-day workshop on the volcanic features of Wells Gray Park as part of Wells Gray World Heritage Year. She had done her Ph.D. research on the park’s volcanoes.
Retired physician Dr. Bob Mackenzie called for the restoration of the former planer mill site on the Flats. It could be used as a festival ground, community garden, greenhouse and other facilities, he said.
M.P. Cathy McLeod, MLA Terry Lake, TNRD chair Randy Murray, Wells Gray Country director Tim Pennell, and Thompson Headwaters director Willow MacDonald were among the dignitaries on hand for the official opening of the eco-depot in Clearwater.
The TNRD board held a meeting in the Legion at Clearwater. Mayor John Harwood talked about partnerships in his welcoming address.
1 YEAR AGO:
District of Clearwater planned to use a negative approval process to measure if there was support to borrow about $315,000 to help upgrade the town’s water system. Major component of the $2.1 million project would be a new well that had recently been drilled in Reg Small Park.
Two new longterm physicians, Dr. Kayode Bamigboje and Dr. Gangadevi Lokuwattage started work at Clearwater’s Medical Centre. Dr. Kay was from Nigeria while Dr. Ganga came here from Sri Lanka. Clearwater had been down to just one longterm physician, Dr. John Soles, for several months.
One firefighter received a $1,150 fine and three others were given warnings for lighting a campfire next to Adams Lake during a province-wide campfire ban. A photo of the group had gone viral on social media.
Over 125 people – tourists, band members and other local residents – took part in Simpcw First Nation’s First Fish ceremony at the Raft River viewing platform. The annual event had been cancelled the previous two years because of deaths in the band.
Clearwater Trout Hatchery celebrated its 20th anniversary. “The hatchery looks quite different than it did 20 years ago,” said Geoff Giesbrecht, assistant manager and one of two employees who have been there since the early days. Before being taken over as a trout hatchery, the facility was used for raising salmon.
newsroom@clearwatertimes.comLike us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter
