Glimpses of the Past: June 12, 2025
Compiled by Adam Carter, Collections Assistant, Revelstoke Museum and Archives
Walter Nelson and Bob Blackmore booming logs near the Big Eddy, June, 1920. Photo by Emma Roberts. Revelstoke Museum and Archives, P-3388
130 years ago: The Kootenay Mail, June 8, 1895
Local men Robert Blackmore and John Jackson returned to Revelstoke after a long hunting and trapping trip up the Canoe River. The pair had left Revelstoke on September 20th of the previous year and in their travels they managed to catch sixty-three martens, sixteen beavers, nine bears, two wolverines, and a lynx.
120 years ago: Revelstoke Herald, June 8, 1905
An eight year old boy named Harold Hurst fell off a train near Twin Butte, nearly eighteen kilometres from Revelstoke. A thorough search of the train in Revelstoke revealed nothing but the boy’s hat so a yard engine was sent back to search for him and he was found where he had fallen, uninjured and unfazed. When asked how it happened, Harold said, “I went to sleep on the car steps and woke up in the bushes”.
110 years ago: Revelstoke Mail-Herald, June 12, 1915
The city council passed a resolution asking the provincial government to offer a bounty for the destruction of gophers. According to the mayor, the animals were becoming a pest and destroying crops, costing much labour and expense. He stated that gophers, unless checked, would prove the ruin of the country.
100 years ago: Revelstoke Review, June 11, 1925
Tragedy was averted when Jack Cartie nearly drove into an embankment on Douglas Street hill. He did this to avoid hitting a young boy on a bike who had unexpectedly turned in front of Cartie’s car when he was driving down the hill. The car did hit the boy’s bike wheel, sending the boy flying, but the boy was not injured. Only the car and the bike were damaged in the incident.
90 years ago: The Revelstoke Review, June 14, 1935
City workers were nearly scared to death when they came across portions of a human skeleton. The workers had been doing sewer repairs near Fourth Street and Orton Avenue when they made the discovery. Upon investigation, it was believed that the remains belonged to a man that had died of smallpox in 1893 and was buried when that part of town was a forest.
80 years ago: The Revelstoke Review, June 14, 1945
A cat belonging to millionaire W. Garfield Weston went missing during a train trip through Revelstoke. The search for the animal took place over six days and involved the efforts of employees from three departments of C.P.R. because millionaires’ cats are just that important. The cat was eventually found near Glacier, about seventy kilometres from Revelstoke.
70 years ago: Revelstoke Review, June 9, 1955
Bombs were detonated on the highway near Three Valley Lake, about twenty four kilometres from Revelstoke, in order to widen the highway. The explosions occurred without any unforeseen incidents and many locals drove out to view the detonation. Work of removing the large quantities of rock began soon after.
60 years ago: Revelstoke Review, June 10, 1965
A 1964 sports car was lifted out of Three Valley Lake. The vehicle had gone in the lake four months earlier when the driver skidded on a patch of ice. The passengers managed to get out in time but the car was sent 110 feet down into the water. The recovery of the vehicle took two and a half hours and was done by Ernie’s Autobody Repairs of Salmon Arm and a scuba diver named Ernie Gurr.
50 years ago: Revelstoke Review, June 19, 1975
The local police got its hands on a brand new, state of the art, radar gun. The city argued that the purchase was necessary because the standard radar equipment already available was not effective enough at catching speedsters. With the new radar gun, Revelstoke had, as the newspaper put it, ‘entered the age of Buck Rogers’.
40 years ago: Revelstoke Review, June 12, 1985
A soapstone sculpture of a grizzly bear carved by local artist, Bill Cameron was returned to Revelstoke. The sculpture had been carved in Revelstoke ten years prior and was bought by BC Hydro for display at their head office in Vancouver. It seems the sight of it was no longer bearable, so BC Hydro sent it back to town to be displayed at the entrance of the Revelstoke Dam’s visitor’s centre.
30 years ago: Revelstoke Times Review, June 9, 1995
A local man pled guilty to charges of theft under $1000 after he was caught stealing a bottle of headache medicine from Cooper’s grocery store. After he was caught, the man expressed anger to an officer, saying he’d “hit those guys if he went back into the store”. The court eventually decided not to charge the man due to how minor of an offence it was.
20 years ago: Revelstoke Times Review, June 8, 2005
Local real estate prices were beginning to rise with some houses doubling in value in the span of just a few years. The reason for this, according to realtors, was because of the much anticipated development of the ski resort on Mount Mackenzie as well as new people coming to Revelstoke for the small town, mountain life experience.