The fire at the Norbury Hotel in 1959
Collection No. 0014.0003, 1959- Image courtesy of the Columbia Basin Institute of Regional History (CBIRH) By Mount Baker Secondary School (MBSS) Student Intern Sasha Buckley This image represents 'The Fire of the Norbury Hotel' that happened in 1959 - not quite sure how it started. But it ended up destroying the entire Hanson...
Alyson Drysdale's "Skookumchuk in the Rockies"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoz50ndo1q4 Alyson Drysdale's "Skookumchuk in the Rockies" depicts camp life at a remote ranch in British Columbia. Alyson Drysdale's film "Skookumchuk in the Rockies" showcases the best of a family camp run by the Staples and a beloved gathering place for campers in its time. The film footage...
Community ties in Wycliffe
Houses sprung up in Wycliffe with the Staples Company in full bloom - Image courtesy of the Columbia Basin Institute of Regional History In his series "Wycliffe in the Early Days," George James has the following memory of the town's growth. "It was a regular beehive of industry. Houses were springing up everywhere until...
Railway Logging and Wycliffe
Railway logging in East Kootenay c. 1910 Otis Staples was a visionary. He came to British Columbia from Minnesota, having cut himself out of his timber limits there. He wanted new territory, sizeable merchantable timber, and access to the vast land. The standard way of logging in East Kootenay in the very early 1900s was to...
Sawmill of the Otis Staples Lumber Company
Otis Staples Lumber Company sawmill was located adjacent to the St. Mary's River - Image courtesy of the CBIRH The Cranbrook Herald in 1904 stated that Otis Staples had secured "a large area of first-class timber on Perry Creek and as a result, he has now in the neighbourhood of 12,000 acres ranging from St. Mary's...
