The connection between the Creston Valley Rotary Club (CVR) and Jordan’s Cabin probably starts with the fact that one of the original club members, Ken Huscroft, actually knew Ed Jordan, the man who lived in the cabin up Kootenay Pass from Creston from 1923 to 1942.
The Rotary club connection also includes two significant work parties that have preserved this historic site. The first took place in 1996 when the club members cut and split the wood shakes, attended and installed a new shake roof on the cabin, and generally refurbished the cabin.
Then, most recently, on Aug. 13, current members of the Creston Valley Rotary Club (CVR) attended to the old cabin and did some site preservation clean-up around the cabin. Before and after pictures now even allow a view of Ed Jordan’s well-preserved gravesite from the highway.
| Jordan’s Cabin, prior to preservation work done by the Creston Valley Rotary Club. Photo courtesy of Dave Handy. |
Special thanks to Tammy at the Creston Museum for the information about Ed Jordan and Jordan’s Cabin.
Jordan’s Cabin, located just east of the Salmo-Creston summit on Highway 3, is one of the most asked-about spots in the Creston Valley. Here’s the story behind it.
Ed Jordan, who was of Irish descent, was born in Peterborough, Ont. in 1875. In 1918, he arrived at Salmo and for a few years mined there, later moving to the Bayonne Mine. Here he met Edward Peters, known as “Pete the Packer.”
After Peters’s passing in 1923, Ed took over his place at Summit Creek. The cabin was well built and located where water and firewood were easily available as well as being adjacent to the Dewdney trail.
During the winters, he trapped and was a packer for the Bayonne Mine until it closed in 1929. After this period Ed spent all his time trapping, gardening, and prospecting. He would come to Creston about every two months in the summer for supplies, but in winter would remain up Summit Creek.
Around Sept. 15 1942, William Hintz and his son Earl, on a prospecting trip up Summit Creek noticed no activity around Jordan’s cabin. On investigation, they found Ed Jordan dead inside.
A party of friends attended and found a diary of Ed Jordan which stated he had hurt himself internally — he had laid for about a week in pain and with no hope of assistance coming.
His last words in the diary were “good-bye friends – I am going to resort to the gun.”
Ed Jordan passed away Aug. 27, 1942 at the age of 67 years. With the finding of the diary, police officer William Lemm was satisfied there was no foul play involved and proceeded with the burial, located alongside the cabin. Art Hurry made a rustic cedar cross which was placed at the head of the grave.
CVR is pleased and proud to be a part of preserving the history of the Creston Valley and the memories of one of the pioneers of the area, Ed Jordan — trapper, packer and prospector.
By Dave Handy, president of the Creston Valley Rotary Club
