An 81-year-old Castlegar resident that had an inextricable relationship to Jordan’s Cabin along Highway 3 wants to see it rebuilt.
The cabin was located about 20 minutes west of Creston and it was destroyed by a fire late last month.
Lorne Barrass spent hours inside the cabin with his friends while they helped to build the highway back in 1962.
“When we were building the highway, it was going right in front of his cabin. We used to go in there and sit in his bunk, have coffee together, and reminisce about the times that Ed Jordan spent inside it,” said Barrass.
“It was incredible that his kitchenware, knives, forks, pots and pans and his bedding had never changed since the time he was last there.”
Barrass made countless friends inside the cabin and he’s met people as far away as Calgary who knew the history behind it.
According to the Creston Museum, the cabin was likely built in the early 1900s and Jordan took it over in the 1920s from an old logger nicknamed “Pete the Packer” who had died. Over the next 20 years, Jordan used the cabin for trapping in the wintertime and to help him transport material on his way to Bayonne Mine.
In 1942, Jordan was working on another cabin he had built along his trap line near Jordan’s Cabin. As he attempted to lift one of the logs up to the wall of the cabin, it slipped and crushed him. While he managed to make his way back to Jordan’s Cabin, he became too weak and shot himself knowing that he was going to die and that no one was around to save him.
Barrass said he felt shock and grief when he found out the cabin burned down. Creston RCMP are asking any witnesses who saw or noticed anything suspicious during the time of the fire to contact them.
Barrass hopes people will step up to rebuild the cabin and he’s getting the ball rolling by promising to be the first person to donate a few hundred dollars towards the heritage project.
“It’s everyone’s responsibility to help give Jordan back his old shed,” said Barrass.
READ MORE: Castlegar fire chief shares details from Friday’s fire that destroyed two homes
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