British Columbia Journal of the British Columbia Historical Federation | Vol.39 No.1 2006 | $5.00 This Issue: Karloff in BC | World War One Mystery | Doctors | Prison Escapes | Books | Tokens | And more... British Columbia History British Columbia Historical Federation Journal of the British Columbia Historical Federation A charitable society under the Income Tax Act Organized 31 October 1922 Published four times a year. ISSN: print 1710-7881 !online 1710-792X PO Box 5254, Station B., Victoria BC V8R 6N4 British Columbia History welcomes stories, studies, and news items dealing with any aspect of the Under the Distinguished Patronage of Her Honour history of British Columbia, and British Columbians. The Honourable Iona Campagnolo. PC, CM, OBC Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia Please submit manuscripts for publication to the Editor, British Columbia History, Honourary President Melva Dwyer John Atkin, 921 Princess Avenue, Vancouver BC V6A 3E8 e-mail: [email protected] Officers Book reviews for British Columbia History,, AnneYandle, President 3450 West 20th Avenue, Jacqueline Gresko Vancouver BC V6S 1E4, 5931 Sandpiper Court, Richmond, BC, V7E 3P8 !!!! 604.733.6484 Phone 604.274.4383 [email protected] e-mail: [email protected] First Vice President Patricia Roy Subscription & subscription information: 602-139 Clarence St., Victoria, B.C., V8V 2J1 Alice Marwood [email protected] #311 - 45520 Knight Road Chilliwack, B. C.!!!V2R 3Z2 Second Vice President phone 604-824-1570 Bob Mukai email: [email protected] 4100 Lancelot Dr., Richmond, BC!! V7C 4S3 Phone! 604-274-6449!!! [email protected]! Subscriptions: $18.00 per year Secretary For addresses outside Canada add $10.00 Ron Hyde #20 12880 Railway Ave., Richmond, BC, V7E 6G2!!!!! Phone: 604.277.2627 Fax 604.277.2657 [email protected] Single copies of recent issues are for sale at: Recording Secretary Gordon Miller - Arrow Lakes Historical Society, Nakusp BC 1126 Morrell Circle, Nanaimo, BC, V9R 6K6 [email protected] - Book Warehouse, Granville St. Vancouver BC - Books and Company, Prince George BC Treasurer - Gibson Coast Books, Gibsons BC Ron Greene - Galiano Museum PO Box 1351, Victoria, BC, V8W 2W7!!!!! - Gray Creek Store, Gray Creek BC Phone 250. 598.1835 Fax 250.598.5539 [email protected] - Royal Museum Shop, Victoria BC Past President Wayne Desrochers 13346 57th Avenue, Surrey, BC, V3X 2W8!!!!! This publication is indexed in the Canadian Phone 604. 599.4206 Fax. 604.507.4202 [email protected] Magazine Index, published by Micromedia. ISSN: 1710-7881 Members at Large Alice Marwood #311 45520 Knight Road, Chilliwack, BC, V2R 3Z2 [email protected] Articles appearing in this journal are ab- stracted and indexed in HISTORICAL AB- Tony Cox STRACTS and AMERICA: HISTORY AND LIFE Box 571, Lions Bay BC V0N 2E0 Phone 604-921-9496 [email protected] Production Mail Registration Number 1245716 Publications Mail Registration No. 09835 Member of the British Columbia Association of Magazine Publishers Committees Historical Trails and Markers John Spittle 1241 Mount Crown Road, North Vancouver, BC, V7R 1R9!!!!! Phone 604.988.4565 [email protected] While copyright in the journal as a whole is W. Kaye Lamb Essay Scholarships Committee vested in the British Columbia Historical Robert Griffin Federation, copyright in the individual articles 107 Regina Avenue, Victoria, BC, V8Z 1J4 !!!! belongs to their respective authors, and Phone 250.475.0418 [email protected] articles may be reproduced for personal use only. For reproduction for other purposes Writing Competition - Lieutenant-Governor's Award permission in writing of both author and Bob Mukai publisher is required. 4100 Lancelot Dr., Richmond, BC!! V7C 4S3 Phone! 604-274-6449!!! [email protected]! www.bchistory.ca the Federation’s web site is hosted by Selkirk College in Castlegar, BC BCHF Prizes | Awards | Scholarships “Any country worthy of a future should be interested in its past” British Columbia W. Kaye Lamb, 1937 The Journal of the British Columbia Historical Federation | Volume 39 Number 1 2006 W. KAYE LAMB Essay Scholarships Deadline 15 May 2006 The British Columbia Historical Federation awards two scholarships In Stanley Park, You Say? annually for essays written by students Alistair Reeves .............................................................. 2 at BC colleges or universities on a topic relating to British Columbia history. One scholarship ($500) is for an essay written by a student in a first-or A Leap of Faith: The early years of the Reverend Edward Cridge second-year course: the other ($750) Robert G. Dennison, PhD .................................................. 4 is for an essay written by a student in a third-or fourth-year course. To apply tor the scholarship, Frontier Medicine in the Chilcotin Region of B.C. candidates must submit (1) a letter of Sterling Haynes, MD ........................................................ 10 application: (2) an essay of 1,500-3, 000 words on a topic relating to the history of British Columbia: (3) a letter of Death Sentence: the New Westminster Penitentiary recommendation from the professor for whom the essay was written. By Robert C. Belyk .......................................................... 12 Applications should be submitted before 15 May 2006 to: Robert Griffin, Boris Karlof in British Columbia Chair BC Historical Federation Scholarship Committee, PO Box 5254, Greg Nesteroff .............................................................. 16 Station B, Victoria, BC V8R 6N4. The winning essay submitted by a The Case of Private Roy Cromarty third or fourth year student will be published in BC Historical News. Other Fred Braches................................................................. 22 submissions may be published at the editor’s discretion. David Spencer Ltd. and the “Shopping Coin” BC History Web Site Prize The British Columbia Historical Ronald Greene .............................................................. 25 Federation and David Mattison are jointly sponsoring a yearly cash award of $250 to recognize Web sites that Archives and Archivists ................................................... 26 contribute to the understanding and appreciation of British Columbia’s past. The award honours individual Book Reviews ............................................................... 28 initiative in writing and presentation. Nominations for the BC History Web Site Prize must be made to the British Miscellany ................................................................... 39 Columbia Historical Federation, Web Site Prize Committee, prior to 31 December 2006. Web site creators and authors may nominate their own sites. Prize rules and the on-line nomination form can be found on The British Columbia History Web site: From the Editor http://www.victoria.tc.ca/resources/ bchistory/announcements.html Putting British Columbia History together is always and and only put new members on the Best Article Award a lot of fun and I look forward to opening the mail box inside back cover, along with our new post A Certificate of Merit and fifty dollars because it seems there’s always something for the card feature. The directory has space for the will be awarded annually to the author of the article, published in BC magazine. usual contact information but now offers History, that best enhances knowledge Recent submissions have covered a wide range brief write ups of member groups. ot British Columbia’s history and of topics and have provide many hours of enjoyable The other change is a minor one but provides reading enjoyment. Judging will be based on subject development, evening reading. One submission I was particularly an important one. I’ve decide that Ron writing skill, freshness of material, pleased to see arrived from Fred Braches the former Greene’s wonderful feature on tokens will and appeal to a general readership editor of this magazine. He publishes Whonnock Notes be listed in the table of contents as an article interested in all aspects of BC history. which is full of great local history and is available from instead of as a column; that way each one www.whonnock.ca. will be now indexed seperately by those that You will note with this issue that the Federation do indexing. • has decided to publish an annual members directory BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY - Vol. 39 No. 1 1 In Stanley Park, You Say?: Killing Caterpillars on a Sunday By Alastair Reeves Alistair Reeves has ach spring during the late 1920’s a over twenty years defoliating caterpillar ravaged a beautiful experience teaching stand of stately Douglas fir trees on British in the fields of Columbia’s west coast. These caterpillars horticulture, Ehad the innocuous name of the Western hemlock silviculture, looper (Ellopia sominaria). The infestation was forestfire localized in two areas: in what was originally the First management and Narrows Military Reserve and what we now environmental recognize as Vancouver’s famous Stanley Park; the management. He is other outbreak was in the Seymour watershed, the keenly interested in main source of drinking water for the city of Canadian aviation Vancouver. Douglas fir trees are fairly resilient even and forest industry when repeatedly attacked by defoliating insects but history. if bark beetles or wood boring insects subsequently attack a weakened tree, they ultimately kill it. In He is president of Stanley Park this pre-mortality defoliating problem the Montreal chapter was primarily one of aesthetics, in the Seymour of the Canadian watershed