Winter 2015

The Princeton Museum, 167 Vermilion Avenue Princeton BC | 250-295-7588 | princetonmuseum.org

MUSEUM NEWSJanuary 2015

Museum hours Fridays 12-4

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Princeton & District Museum & ArchivesOUR BOARD

Acting President – Rika RuebsaatPast President – Bob Wicks

Secretary – Marjorie HollandTreasurer – Martin Hough

Directors – Tip Anderson, Jon Bartlett, Kathy Clement, Terry Malanchuk, Evelyn McCallum,

Lori Weissbach

Message from the Acting President

At our AGM in March the Museum elected Jerome Tjerkstra as president. He has worked hard on our behalf ever since. Jerome is now a new town councillor, and regretfully has resigned, due to the pressure of work. As vice president I have now taken his place as acting president. It is with great humility that I take on this responsibility. Luckily we have a very active and competent Board of Directors to back me up, some of whom have been with the Museum since its beginnings. The Museum also has a highly competent manager in Robin Irwin, with whom I look forward to working. I plan to draw on all these people’s energy and expertise over the coming months.

princetonmuseum.org

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Message from the Editors We are delighted to introduce this first issue, of Museum News, the new bi-monthly newsletter of the Princeton and District Museum and Archives. In each issue we plan to share information about the Museum as well as news of current and upcoming activities. We will also publish excerpts from the archives, such as newspaper articles from Princeton newspapers going back to 1900. There will be a regular feature article about some aspect of Princeton’s history. The article in this issue will tell you all about who lived in the Princeton area in 1891. That was a census year in Canada and the article will be a profile of who lived in the area, where they came from and what kind of work they did. We hope you find it as fascinating as we did. If you have suggestions for future articles we would be pleased to hear them.Members and Volunteers Have you ever thought that you’d like to get involved in something but weren’t sure what? Do you have a local history itch but aren’t sure how to scratch it? If this is true of you we’d love to hear from you. The Princeton and District Museum and Archives is a non-profit society with membership and an elected volunteer board. We love welcoming new members to join us in our passion for history. When you become a member you automatically receive this newsletter. To join us, all you have to do is drop by the Museum during opening hours and sign up. It’s only $12 per year. You can also join by contacting us either by email or phone. We would be delighted if you were interested in volunteering at the Museum. There are many ways to get involved: you could be a host welcoming visitors to the Museum; you could help out at special events or help to organize stuff in the basement. Don’t worry if you’re unsure of your knowledge or skills; the Museum Manager or members of the board will be happy to orient you and show you how you can help.

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The Princeton Museum, 167 Vermilion Avenue Princeton BC | 250-295-7588 | princetonmuseum.org

PRINCETON: THE 1891 CENSUSWhat did the population of Princeton look like in the

1890s? Where did they come from and what did they do? The answers to these questions can be found in the first real census done in this area in 1891.

Every ten years, since 1881 in BC and 1871 in Canada, a band of enumerators travel the length and breadth of the country in order to identify every inhabitant. We can find the information about these inhabitants online. By looking at the 1891 census we get an overview of who lived in this area back then – who they were, where they came from, and what work they did here. That is what this article is about.

The 1891 enumerators surveyed an area called “Princeton”; but there was very little population on what is now the townsite of Princeton. Though we cannot be sure, it seems likely that almost all of the population was located at or near Granite Creek, some 20 km up the Tulameen River, where a gold rush had occurred six years previously.

The total population identified by the enumerators in 1891 was 220 men, women and children. This 220 was made up of 166 men and boys and 54 women and girls. The average age was exactly 36, and the median age (the age at which half the population was younger and half older) was also 36. As is typical for gold rush populations, there were way more men than women. There were in all 13 single women (9 under the age of 40), and 103 single men (57 under the age of 40). With eight eligible men to every eligible woman, the competition must have been fierce!

Where did these 220 come from? Of the total, 76 came from China, every single one of them a man; 27 of them were married with wives most likely left back in China. Fifty-four of the 220 were identified as “Indian”: 30 women (of whom 15 were married) and 24 men (of whom 12 were married). Susan Allison, the first woman settler of European origin, speaks frequently of local first nations people in her

book, Recollections of a Pioneer Gentlewoman, but she doesn’t describe where they lived. She had first nations friends at Chuchuweya, near the site of present-day Hedley, but these would not have been included in the Census under “Princeton”.

The remaining population, those not “Indian” or Chinese, were of European extraction. Of these 90 people, 47 were born in Canada (35 in BC), 18 were born in the British Isles, 13 in Europe and 11 in the USA. One person (Susan Allison, again) was born in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) where her family was involved in tea planting.

Princeton was a mining district. There was a large coal basin underneath the area (in fact John Fall Allison gathered coal from the riverbank to heat his home) and people knew there was copper nearby, but coal and copper were not yet mined in 1891. Gold, particularly placer gold mining, was the overwhelming occupation of people in the area. Sixty-seven of the 76 Chinese were at work placer mining; 3 kept stores, 2 were cooks, 2 were gardeners and 2 were general servants.

The Europeans were, like the Chinese, overwhelmingly placer miners (37 of 52 employed). A further 9 were farmers, stockmen, or farm labourers, 5 were storekeepers and one was a Mining Recorder. Nine of the first nations people were recorded as farmers or farm labourers, five were horse packers (there were no roads yet in the area, and everything came in or out of the area on horseback), and one, Mosso by name, was an “Indian chief ”. No other first nations person is identified as having work.

This is the first in a series of articles looking at the various Censuses in Princeton. The next issue of the Newsletter will speak about the 1901 Census, when the town had finally come into being.

Submitted by: Jon Bartlett

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The Princeton Museum, 167 Vermilion Avenue Princeton BC | 250-295-7588 | princetonmuseum.org

POLLARD COLLECTIONWinter at the Museum brings about all that

work that we simply do not have time for when we are busy greeting visitors in the summer. This is the time of year when we repair the things that are not working, revamp our displays, and work work work away in our basement archives - cleaning, sorting, culling, data entry, all the "unsung hero" tasks that help us to run a great facility year-round.

With only one part time employee, and without volunteers, this work would simply never get done, so kudos to those who give their time and skills to help us do better! John Henry has spent countless hours "digging" away in our Fossil and Mineral storage, with a focus on the "Joe Pollard Collection" that contains over 40,000 specimens. Although Joe was a meticulous collector who had many effective cataloguing systems for his time, we are now racing to catch up in a digital world.

With interest in our collection from archaeologists, paleontologists, educators and general enthusiasts, we have our work cut out for us in creating searchable databases that will make the collection accessible. This is of course an ongoing process that could take years, but this preliminary work is an essential step in moving forward, and we are so lucky and grateful to have John working away at this initial sort. An enormous amount of gratitude to you, John!

LOGGING ARCHESA not so new project has risen from the ashes!

The "Michigan Wheels" restoration project has been green- lighted by our board of directors. The project, led by Bob Wicks, will resume in the spring, as soon as the ground thaws enough for us to relocate this enormous historical object on to the Museum grounds. This extremely rare artefact

dates back to 1926 when the wheels were purchased for use at the "Gibson Mill" which was then located at Jura, a site on the Princeton Summerland road, just outside of Princeton. The wheels were later  rescued from the woods near Jura in the 1950s and relocated to "Sky Blue Lodge", now known as Allison Lake, a lakeside

community located on Highway 5A. When Sky Blue was sold, Tom Stout brought the wheels to town and in the early 70s had them rebuilt , later donating them to the museum.   The project is large, and will require considerable fundraising and volunteer efforts. The end goal with this amazing artefact is to restore it to its original state, and house it permanently here in a covered, cement-padded structure that will allow visitors to see this important piece of logging history - a great tribute to the logging industry in general, but even more, to our very own industrious local loggers who endured the most difficult conditions, working with horses and simple equipment nearly a century years ago. Keep an eye out this spring for new developments on this exciting project.

Museum Happenings

Logging Arches stored at Tri Valley Construction

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The Princeton Museum, 167 Vermilion Avenue Princeton BC | 250-295-7588 | princetonmuseum.org

Our own Evelyn McCallum was honoured 3 November at Princeton Town Council for her more than 50 years of service w i th in the communi ty o f Princeton.   Evelyn joined the Princeton Museum in its new building for the Canadian Centennial in 1967 and has been involved in many capacities, serving as President for 20 years, also holding the position of secretary for many years. Evelyn is currently a board director, volunteers for hosting duties, and is our longest standing board

member. Evelyn has made enormous contributions to this society and continues to be our main point of contact for the history of artefacts and donors.

Evelyn was also a member of the Daughters of Rebekah before moving to Copper Mountain upon her marriage to Jack McCallum in 1952. They raised two boys together.   In 1957 when Copper Mountain closed, Jack and Evelyn moved to Allenby until 1960, and have lived in Princeton ever since. She has been a member of Order of

the Royal Purple for 50 years, as "Honoured Lady" and Secretary. Her other work within the community includes her role as Assistant Returning Officer for town elections for many years, back when elections were held annually. She was also Chair of the  Provinc ia l Property Assessment Board for many years.

Congratulations, Evelyn, on your well-deserved award!

Well Done Evelyn!VOLUNTEER RECOGNITION AWARDED TO OUR OWN EVELYN MCCALLUM

Evelyn with her award and recognition pent from the Town of Princeton Evelyn with Mayor Frank Armitage

Appeal for Photos and VideosIf you live in the Princeton area, you are part of our ongoing history. If you have lived here for a long time you may have photos and videos that would be of interest to the Princeton and District Museum and Archives. The photos and videos could be of local landscape, of buildings, of special events or of people. We would love to see them and would be really grateful if you could bring them to the Museum; then we can examine them for historical relevance and, if appropriate, arrange to have copies made for our archives.