Glimpses of the Past: October 15, 2026
Bear eating out of can by railway track at Stoney Creek. Revelstoke Museum & Archives Collection, P-11525.
By James Janzen, Museum Assistant, Revelstoke Museum & Archives
130 years ago: Kootenay Mail, October 17, 1896
A petition was being circulated in the Trout Lake district for a tri-weekly mail service rather than its current weekly service. It was estimated that the petition was going to be signed by over 300 miners, prospectors, and other residents from the district. Once completed in the Trout Lake area, the petition was to circulate in Revelstoke, where it was also predicted to be widely signed.
120 years ago: Revelstoke Mail-Herald, October 13, 1906
An editor from a Vancouver newspaper hosted a lecture in Revelstoke’s Selkirk Hall on the merits of socialism. The speaker discussed the relationship between employers and employees, and went on to describe the importance of labourers in producing capital out of mills and factories. The editor of the Mail-Herald reported “no wish to comment on this speech, but nevertheless, there are many points where the lecturer gives an erroneous conception of the relationship between master and servant.”
110 years ago: Revelstoke Review, October 12, 1916
The jam and pickle shower at the hospital was a glowing success! Donations for the annual shower were received in the waiting room at the hospital and many community members showed up to donate preserved fruit, jellies, and pickles. The total result of the shower was 170 quarts of pickles and jam, two boxes of apples, a crate of peaches, and a cash donation of $2.00.
$2.00 in 1916 is the equivalent of $48.82 in 2026.
100 years ago: Revelstoke Review, October 13, 1926
The first “Boys’ Bean Supper” at the YCMA was held this week. Twenty-six rowdy boys were served pork and beans, new bread and butter, and applesauce and cake. The editor reported that one of the boys was “only held in check by the threat of having to sing a solo, while some of the others had to be ‘sat upon,’ but everything went off splendidly.” The meal was concluded with a talk about the qualities that make one a ‘good sport.’
90 years ago: Revelstoke Review, October 16, 1936
Operations to create barriers to the erosion of the bank near the Illecillewaet Power Plant were underway. The plan was to remove the years’ accumulation of log jams and other debris opposite the power plant and pile this debris diagonally across the power plant side of the river, creating a sort of dam. Hundreds of tons of heavy boulders were also to be deposited up-river to prevent the river’s erosion of the power plant’s banks, which almost resulted in a disaster last spring during the high water.
80 years ago: Revelstoke Review, October 17, 1946
Members of the Cooperative Guild, alongside directors and staff of the Revelstoke Cooperative Society, celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Guild in Selkirk Hall. Bridge and court whist were both played, before the members and friends sat down to a banquet and birthday cake with 25 candles. A brief report of the work of the Guild in the past 25 years was also given by the secretary, before the singing of the National Anthem brought the event to a close.
70 years ago: Revelstoke Review, October 11, 1956
A keen-eared dog named “Poochie” joined the Air Force in Malakwa. The local organizer for the RCAF Ground Observer Corps had a dog who announced the coming of a plane over the valley before any human could. “Poochie’s” barks gave the organizer the signal to phone Vancouver reporting a plane in the vicinity, and the dog was entered on the RCAF books as an official ground observer. The pooch even got an official RCAF identification card!
60 years ago: Revelstoke Review, October 12, 1966
The Harlem Clowns basketball team was slated to play the Revelstoke Teachers in November. Owned and coached by Al Pullins from the Harlem Globetrotters, the Clowns were known for combining “razzle-dazzle ball handling precision pass patterns, trick shooting, fancy dribbling and spontaneous comedy” to make a most entertaining show. Pullins coined the name “Clownball” to describe this style of play. Tickets to the game were reported to cost $1.50 for adults and $1.00 for students under 14.
$1.50 and $1.00 in 1966 is the equivalent of $14.02 and $9.35 in 2026.
50 years ago: Revelstoke Review, October 13, 1976
After 169 hours and 20 minutes of testimony, Revelstoke Dam hearings came to an end. The last sitting took place the Friday before, and citizens now awaited the final. During the last sitting, a speaker from BC Hydro addressed some common pushback, including the calls for a two-dam alternative and concerns over the stabilization of Downie Slide before the filling of the reservoir. The final piece of evidence submitted was exhibit 180—a report on bears.
40 years ago: Revelstoke Review, October 16, 1986
Premier Bill Vander Zalm visited Revelstoke this week and was treated to a horse-drawn buggy ride down MacKenzie Avenue. Nearly 400 local people met with him at MacKenzie Plaza while the Old Time Fiddlers played music in the bandstand. The Premier then spoke at a rally on the achievements of the province in Expo ’86 and addressed the concerns surrounding the ongoing lock-out of CUPE employees in the Okanagan.
30 years ago: Revelstoke Times Review, October 16, 1996
Due to the increase in regular use of cellular phones and facsimile machines, the telephone area code was set to change from 604 to 250 this week. Despite the six-month transition period stated by BC Tel where either area code could be dialled, the company encouraged customers to begin using the new code as soon as it was introduced. This change was instituted for most of the province, excluding the Lower Mainland, Vancouver Island, and Whistler area.
20 years ago: Revelstoke Times Review, October 11, 2006
A conference titled “Bear Conservation in a Fast-Changing North America” held by the Columbia Mountains Institute of Applied Ecology was planned to take place at the Community Centre later this month. The conference was to include two days of presentations, a poster session, and several post-conference field trips. Speakers were set to discuss the challenges bears face, grizzly bear management, changes in human attitudes towards bears, and advances in technologies used by researchers to study bears.