Museum Newsletter Published by the Pemberton Museum & Archives Society Edition Number 70, September 2010

Logging Arch Display Item Music at the Museum— Russell Mack planted the seed for having a distinctive piece of equipment Rescheduled on the front lawn to attract attention of tourists. When Dianne Valleau offered the track arch there was no doubt that this could be the item. A suitable spot was selected for best visibility. The Music at the Museum event has been The Village crew of Greg Burt and Chas Yon came down with the back rescheduled to Saturday Sept 18th. The hoe and removed the old sign, dug some new holes, and replaced it in its event, originally scheduled for Aug. 7th was new location. The next day the clean up crew of Chas Yon and Dee cancelled due to the evacuation alert filled, leveled and removed all of the rocks and debris. associated with the Meager Creek slide. Co-ordination of equipment between Russell Mack, Rick King and Jim The event runs from 11-4pm. Everyone Kernaghan resulted in the arrival of the arch on the back of Jim’s low bed Welcome! trailer. Jim also brought along his loader so that he could unload and place the arch in its place of honour. After an hour the arch was in place. A quick call and Jodi Atwater stopped by and removed a sharp piece of metal which could have injured someone crawling on the arch. Some of our supporters have a plan to place the arch on concrete pads, support the draw bar with a carved log and tie down. There is even talk of paint. Thanks to Dianne Valleau and Rick Valleau for this interesting contribution. And thanks to all the helpers who made this happen so quickly. For your information, the arch was made in 1933 and was used in the Alta Lake region before coming to Pemberton.

Music at the Museum Sat. August 18th Climb Through History If you want some exercise and a bit of historical insight into early Pemberton, then climb the stairs across from the museum, and read the plaques fastened to the rails. There are 127 steps and 25 facts about the area starting with the gold rush in 1858. It makes the climb easier as you have to pause every 5 or so steps.

Jim Kernahan and the Valleau Logging Track Arch

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Image Bank Project September Closures The Image Bank will be up and running in the fall and visitors to our website will be able to browse through our photo catalogue of scanned archival images. Scanning archival photos seems like a simple thing to do but in actuality it is a ton of work The Museum will be and requires much attention to detail and patience with computers. Carol has done a great job with this project and has ensured public access to many of our oldest images. closed: This ensures the original photos are handled less by public when researching. Carol has Mon Sept 06, Tues Sept 07, scanned 500+ images, and she focused on our oldest photographs, those prior to 1958. Look for the Image Bank online later this fall at www.pembertonmuseum.org. Carol Sun Sept 12, Mon Sept 13. disappeared on the day we were getting photos of staff but left me a note for this newsletter that said, “My jpgs speak for themselves”. The museum closes for the season after Sun Sept 19th.

The curator will be on site until Oct 16th. Summer Workers Margaret Mc Leod was the museum’s Promotion and Program Co-ordinator and did a great job in her role this summer. She is a gal with many skills and easily moved between construction tasks through to website updates. She co-ordinated all of the Tea Service Website Upgrades details including rounding up bakers for the summer and assembled the signs each week for Custom Fit Communications have Promotion in town. She also worked tirelessly on some promotional products like the completed some upgrades to our Calendar, the Cook Book and the Garden Tour. She managed all of this while handling all website. A video gallery has been of the day to day operational tasks. The museum was lucky to have an employee as added. Currently our videos are linked dedicated and capable as Margaret. Margaret’s position was funded by a Young from our Events page but you will see Works grant for the Heritage sector. these move to the video gallery soon. The photo gallery was also updated and George Henry was the museum’s Maintenance and Operations employee for the summer. we plan to use this page for online George has good trade skills and was a real asset to the museum. Some of the projects he exhibits. worked on include: Sam Jim house roof, The Priest Wagon, The New Building, The Climb The Image Bank will go live later this fall Through History signs, The Fountain, The Kiosk, and inspections of the Heritage houses. He and will provide access to 500+ archival also kept the grounds clean and the grass mowed and helped out in the Gift Shop with images for research and reproductions. Visitor Services during the Tea & Tales program. George is a talented guy and the museum Since the launch of our website in the fall was lucky to secure him for the summer. We got much accomplished this year due to the of 2008 we have had 5000 visits. efforts of Margaret and George and commend them for their efforts. According to our stats most visitors spend 80 seconds on our site and view 2.5 pages. Our most popular page is our Home page, followed by Events and Clockwise Blog pages. Most of our visits are from Flo & Janice Canada followed by the US. keep the beans Most people end their visit from our counted. website on You Tube which is where our

Tea & Tale videos are hosted. Margaret Some of our most popular videos have McLeod paint- been the 1984 flood, Gus Zurcher’s tale ing Priest from 2008, Alan Mc Ewan’s Hunting & Wagon parts. Wildlife presentation, Bob Gilmore’s

presentation on Logging and the About George Henry Pemberton clips that were produced in assembling the lead up to the Olympics. Kiosk panels. Having a website helps us connect with

people outside of Pemberton and gives George Henry us information about what people are (Sr) and Niki interested in when they visit our website. Madigan hav- Now if only it was that easy to get stats ing a morning on our visitors through the gate. meeting.

Page 2 Museum News…. Calendars Why Membership? Membership Fee Get your 2011 Calendar Although our fee for membership is relatively low it is important that members help keep our expenses down by paying this annual amount. When the museum was smaller and now on sale in the Gift running on volunteer support and fund raising the amount collected from memberships went Shop. Featuring Marjore to pay the office keeping expenses which were considerably lower 15 years ago. Today Gimse drawings of historic our office costs are much higher but this is covered through our requisition. Your membership fee is directed toward the newsletter which is sent out at least six times per buildings and a location year. The newsletter keeps our members informed of our activities, events, projects, map. fundraisers and any other news that we feel is important to our readers. The cost of printing this letter has risen over the years. Postage, envelopes, printing, paper costs have all gone up. The size of the newsletter has increased to eight pages as we include more information, photos and as much local history as can squeeze in per issue. A recent calculation shows that an average newsletter costs about $1.35. The postage for a regular letter is about 58 cents. It rises to $1.10 if we add an extra page. The cost almost reaches $2.00 for a special edition. This is what your membership supports. We have quite a large complimentary mail out list. A copy is sent to many businesses who support our activities. The library, agencies and individuals who represent clubs and organizations are also on the mailing list. They are necessary because they contribute by donating expertise, goods and services and they give us publicity by promoting our activities. A single response from a local business can be worth hundreds of dollars to us and would not be forthcoming without the newsletter. So when you receive you notice to renew your membership, your dollars are at work for you. The more who pay, the more we have for other museum projects. Thanks for your The Shantz House by Marjore support. Gimse

Thanks to George Henry (Sr) for the loan of all his tools and trade skills over the Cook Book Coming…. summer. None of the construction projects are possible without the dedication of The final work on the Pioneer Cookbook should be completed by the end of August. The volunteers like George as we simply can book will contain many popular recipes submitted by our members as well as recipes that not get all the repairs done, especially were used by the early settlers of the valley. Of particular interest is the section on wild on the Heritage Houses without local game and trail skills. Much of the diet came from natural sources as a supplement to expertise and support. If you would like domestic products. The bulk of the book deals with baking, preserving and preparation of to help with building projects next year, local foods to feed the growing families. There is also a variety of home spun cures for please contact us. Even a few hours illnesses, beauty care, spot removal and just about any emergency that would have been a helps! part of early valley life. The divider pages are sketches drawn by Sharon Cipp and add character to the edition. Archival photos will also be interspersed with brief bits of early history. The cookbook will be available in the fall. Margaret McLeod has spent many hours transcribing, researching and organizing this book.

Thanks to the Village Works Crew for the fence fix this month. Sharon Cipp provided drawings for the cookbook.

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The Country Fair Organized by the Pemberton W.I. Tea & Tales We had some wonderful presentations this year. Tea Goers heard tales Saturday Sept 11th from about Local Artists, Growing Great Children, Pemberton Wetlands, Early Medical and Emergency Services, Lil’wat Archaeology and the Paving of 10-4pm the Meadows Road. You can also view video clips of the presentations by clicking on the links Many Vendors, Art, Jewelry, in blue at: www.pembertonmuseum.com/events. Knits, Farm Products, Honey, Beauty Products, Pottery, Entertainment, Concession, Kids Activities. Thanks to our Volunteers at Tea & Tales Many thanks to all out volunteers and helpers at the Tea this year. We hosted 424 Everyone Welcome! people and had some record breaking attendance in the month of July. This museum program was possible thanks to:

Our Bakers: Flo Bilenduke, Margaret Mc Leod, Val Megney, Louise Deegan, Fran Cuthbert, Carol Morphy, Judy Mc Nolty, June Perkins, Grace Chadsey, Mable Stillwell, Barb Brooks, Heidi Kym, Cathy Beaudry, Niki Madigan

Our Servers: Isabell Peters, Brooklyn Koning, Judy Mc Nolty, Flo Bilenduke

Our Presenters: Karen Love, Meg Gallup, Veronica Woodruff, Cathy Konkle, Bob Priest, Milt Fernandez, Johnny Jones, George Henry

Our awesome big red signs for the railway track board were designed by Michele Kuyek Young Alex learns about the of Heritage Sign Works mysteries of the museum Do you have an idea for Tea & Tales for 2011? Please contact the museum if you have washroom a tale or a character that you think should go on the record. Brooklyn Konning and Isabell Peters volunteered at the Tea & Tales program all summer. We were very grateful for the extra hands with clean-up and dishes and thank Patti Peters for suggesting the museum as a place to volunteer.

Isabell & Brooklyn #1 Volunteers!

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Thanks to Our Volunteers! Outdoor School Buildings Volunteers are vital to the many activities Once again an attempt will be made to the School Board to start making arrangements that take place at the museum during the to return the two buildings that were loaned to the Outdoor School back in the 70’s. The year. Without their contributions many two buildings are the Pemberton station school house and the Arn cabin. The events would not be possible. So we’d like to schoolhouse is used as a gathering place in the Pioneer Village and the Arn cabin was thank them for their support in promoting used as a store and trading post for the many programs that took place there. what we do. However, in recent years there has been little activity and the buildings are infested First of all, we have the bakers for the Toonie with pack rats and starting to deteriorate. Teas. This year we have had record turnouts The two buildings were moved there as a temporary measure before the museum was and we know it is because of the high quality built. The decision was made to lend them to the school for learning purposes until a of the baked goods served. You bakers museum was established and they could be moved to a permanent site. outdid yourselves. You are: Val Megeney, Flo Slim Fougberg was on the Board when the decision was made to buy the Soloway farm Bilenduke, Margaret McLeod, Louise Deegan, and turn it into a learning centre which would teach farm skills and early pioneer life. It Fran Cuthbert, Grace Chadsey, Pat was hugely successful and attended by just about every elementary student in the area. Bencharski, Judy McNolty, June Perkins, There were also high school programs designed to take advantage of the unique Mabel Stillwell, Heidi Kym, Carol Morphy, atmosphere of a rudimentary village. Budget cuts, travel restrictions, and other factors Cathy Beaudry, Niki Madigan, Barbara have virtually eliminated the use of the facility. Brooks, Shirley Henry, Sarah & Donna Previous attempts to open a discussion with the Board were ignored. Our concern is McLeod. that the buildings are subject to damage and vandalism. They could easily be burned Thanks so much and your efforts are bringing down if someone decided to shelter in them. us closer to our kitchen. Both buildings would need minimal repair at this time but the lack of maintenance is Our gardens have never looked more noticeable and they will continue to deteriorate if something is not done soon. Further brilliant and thanks goes to Debbie Antonelli attempts will be made to contact the Board and come to some arrangement to have the for coming in at 6:30 in the morning and buildings relocated to the museum site. The schoolhouse will occupy the spot currently caring for the plants. used by the machine shed. The Arn cabin could be the new home for the spud museum. And thanks to Ian McLeod for doing our excavating and chainsawing Thanks also to Gail McKellar for transcribing the Tea & Tales tapings. Thanks to Laurie Laursen for the wiring a new heater & panel in the Soo Building. If we’ve missed anyone, accept our apologies.

Have you done the Scavenger Hunt? We have Hunts for various reading abilities from 3yrs-12yrs. Great activity for families. Pick up a “World of Yesterday” hunt in the Shantz House and work with a friend on finding the answers. Thanks to Katie, Willow, Katherine and Jenny for the new Scavenger Hunt this year. It’s been very popular and a great addition to the museum.

The Pemberton Station School and Arn Cabin

Page 5 Museum News…. Information Kiosk Although the information is not in its final format, the kiosk greets visitors and is helping them to learn what the museum is about before they start looking around. A visitor sees the “Welcome to the Museum” sign and reads the brief history of the area and what the buildings are about and what they might see during their tour. The outline puts the exhibits into context and increases the understanding and appreciation of the museum. Over the winter permanent information panels will be produced. These will include a site map, brief historical overview, program information, and donor display board. There are four areas for this information to be displayed and each can be closed up to protect it from the weather. Fountain Finally Flows Only 8 years in the making but the drinking fountain is finally ready for use. Ivan Knowles donated a refrigerated drinking fountain to the museum thinking that everyone The Kiosk in action could use a fresh free drink of water. The quick solution turned into a snail paced venture that has finally reached its goal-fresh drinking water. To recap, the services are linked into the washrooms. A base slab had to be poured. Then a log cover was built. The fountain base was constructed and the services connected. Presto! After 8 years it is finally completed. And the bonus is that there is a tap at the back for filling water bottles and providing water for the teas. The entire unit can be easily removed and stored for winter so that there will be no damage from freezing. New Building Footings Complete The four supports for the columns which will hold the roof for the covered area on the new building have been poured. Ian McLeod stopped by with some spare time to do the excavations with the little of Al Bush’s. A few hours later and the holes were dug. The forms were made and placed and the concrete poured by the two Georges. The post anchors were made by Kyle Bubbs. The covered area will be eight feet deep, with ten foot headroom and run the length of the building. It will protect the openings but will also provide space for artifact displays, demonstrations, tea parties and a host of other uses. The Water Fountain Priest’s Buggy The rejuvenation of the Oblate Priest’s buggy that was used to transport the priest from Port Douglas to Tenas Lake is in the final stages. Once the old junker loader is removed a shelter will be constructed to protect it from the elements. This will be an open structure on poles with a metal roof. A stand to support the buggy has been made and will replace the old cedar rounds. The last item to be dealt with is the wheels. Plans are to take them to a wheelwright in Armstrong to be respoked and retired. The cost for each wheel is $275 and we have had an offer from one of our members to pay for one of the restorations. Once the wheels have been fixed, Bob Menzel has offered to supply the rigging that is missing to pull the wagon. If all goes well this could be the museum’s entry in the 2011 Canada Week parade.

After 8 years, Flo gets a drink

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Gift Shop Fundraising The museum advertised the Gift Shop in Local fundraising is just about the only source of income for museum capital projects. In the the Whistler Question this summer on a bi- past, there were many programs sponsored by both the federal and provincial weekly basis and this has resulted in some governments. But in these cash-strapped times most of these programs have been removed business. Though our Visitor numbers are or become specific to large city museums. One major project may cost millions and there down, 400 behind last year, our Gift could be 100 smaller museums benefitting from the same amount of money. But the Shop sales have remained on par with exposure and publicity that a large urban project generates eliminates the small museum 2008 and 2009. We have almost 40 from any consideration. That leaves a limited number of opportunities for fund raising. vendors this year and many unique There are local foundations and financial groups who try to help. But they are flooded with curio’s, art, jewelry, knits, pottery, so many applications for funding that they can only help in a very limited way and they try sculpture, paintings, gift cards, beauty to make the best choice that they can. Most organizations are left with the support of the products, books, glass, Lil’wat Nation community and the people that live in them. So we depend on individuals and local groups products, and much more. If you haven’t and businesses to assist us in our fund raising. checked out the Gift Shop this year you must drop by before we close. Our last We try to give value by putting on events and providing entertainment. With these we day is Sun Sept 19th. realize profits which go towards our projects. Most of our help is volunteer and we try to get supplies donated whenever we can. By any measure it is a very hard sell as we are 2011 Calendars are Back competing with so many groups in the community who all have good causes and projects. Once again the ink drawings of old buildings done by Marjorie Gimse years Our biggest project is the new display/administration building. This is needed for ago are featured on the latest calendar processing, storage and display of historical objects and is critical for the long term which runs until January 2011. Marjorie preservation of the Community Memory as it will house the Archives upstairs, high above the spent considerable time preserving the flood plain. It also provides a venue for country fairs, etc. When this building is completed images of old buildings and houses in the the gift shop can be expanded and the temporary machine shed dismantled. This will are when she noticed that, one by one, provide a site for the school house which will provide a unique opportunity to expand the they were being torn down and replaced Pemberton story. The museum has been continually growing since 1992 and still has a way with newer structures. Some of the to go. The generous support of our donors and supporters has enabled this progress. So drawings were done on site and others we ask you to continue to support our efforts and attend our events. Every year the were done from old photographs as the museum gets better and more visitors and locals drop by and take advantage of this unique buildings had disappeared many years community project. We look forward to your continued support and thank you for your ago. The sketches capture the flavour of past support. the architecture of the area and are quite unique. The calendars make a great birthday or special event gift and if you’d like one they are available at the gift shop. New Building: Water on the Way A brief meeting with Russell Mack and Allan LeBlanc resulted in a tour of the site and a discussion of the water supply problems to the new building. VOP Councillor Allan was Finally, the old junk apprised of the needs for the sprinkler system. The supply will require connecting into the water main by NAPA parts with a four inch iron pipe complete with shut offs. This will cross loader is gone. the road and enter the new building and connect to the sprinkler system. A tee will supply It was thought that the old John Deere water for the washrooms. The problems begin with the supply of water to the washrooms at had some historic significance but it was the other end of the property. Village regulations state that only one water supply per lot is just a machine brought in to do some allowed so the old one will have to be disconnected. A trench will have to be dug the routine loading. Nick Antonelli has spent length of the property and a new water and sewer line run to connect to the washrooms considerable time taking the pieces as he which is the location of our sewer connection. Allan will prepare a plan and cost estimate has a loader which is almost identical which he will present to the Village council in mid-September. With any luck, the work can and has a taker for some of the other be completed this fall and the rough plumbing installed in the building. parts. The space occupied by the loader will become the home of the Priest’s wagon which will be an open covered area to protect it from the elements. Thanks to George Henry, Russell Mack, Greg Burt, and Nick Antonelli for completing this project so we can build the cover for the wagon before winter The old loader finds a new home sets in.

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BBQ-Fund Raiser 70th Newsletter Time sure flies when you are having fun. It was December 1999 that the first newsletter was sent to members. It was an RESCHEDULED idea picked up from the Lytton Museum and has proven to be a great way of keeping Saturday, October 16th from members involved. The newsletter has grown from one page to eight and pictures have 6:30 to 10 pm been added. Location: To be Announced An excerpt- “OLD PROJECTS FOR NEXT YEAR” (1) Skirt two old houses. (2) Slab side storage building. (3) Fix Priest’s buggy. (4) Plaques for benches. (5) Finish front street sign. Menu (6) Sponsor display board. Delicious spring lamb & fire-cooked salmon After 11 years the list is finally complete. We are mailing out over 130 to members Other delectable viands and our loyal supporters-up from 15 at the start. Salads-Pemberton greens Shirley and George recently donated an old Roasted potatoes-Pemberton, of course copy of the Pemberton Valley News (Vol.1, No.1, March 1972). This was a newsletter of Vegetables the Pemberton Chamber of Commerce and in Desserts this inaugural edition there is an article about the formation of a museum. To celebrate our Refreshments 70th Newsletter we wanted to transcribe this Music and entertainment article for our members. Wacky raffles, door prizes Let Us Preserve Our

Fabulous Past Limited seating so reserve early. Price $30 By Olive E. Allen

Because of Highway 99 being built only recently and pavement just one year ago, tourists and outsiders think of Pemberton and surrounding district as being a newly developed area. Pemberton is, in fact, one of the oldest settlements of , having been the original route to the Cariboo Gold- Fields. We should begin to formulate plans for a Museum to house the many treasures of ur Valley’s past. With this in mind, I would ask that local residents start searching their memories for possible articles or antiques, large or small, that they or their friends may have that would be of Historical Interest. Bob Priest told us his tale about starting up the first Pharmacy in Let us begin now to compile a list of suitable Pemberton on August 3rd. Items he donated are now on display in the donations, to be housed eventually in our Sam Jim House own museum, now a dream ….someday a reality.

March 1972

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