Browsing “Vancouver Was Awesome Series”

A Vancouver time travelogue brought to you by Past Tense.

Native men worked as longshoremen on Burrard Inlet since before Vancouver was incorporated. In many cases, several generations of men from the same family worked on the docks beginning as young as thirteen or fourteen years old. Members of several of the families that lived in Stanley Park earned money through longshoring, including William Nahanee, pictured in front holding a bag in this 1889 photo. Numerous indigenous leaders worked as longshoremen, including Andy Paull, Chief Dan George, Chief Simon Baker, and Chief Joe Capilano, who used money earned on the waterfront to finance a trip to London to lobby the King for the rights of BC’s First Nations in 1906.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, specialization on the waterfront roughly followed racial lines, and the work gangs comprised primarily of indigenous men became known for their skill and efficiency in handling lumber. They were also the first to organize a longshoremen’s union in 1906, Local 526 of the militant Industrial Workers of the World, informally known as the “Bows and Arrows.” Although Local 526 lasted less than a year, other “Bows and Arrows” unions followed until all longshoremen became part of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union after WWII.

Source: William Nahanee and a group of longshoremen on the dock of Moodyville Sawmill by Charles S Bailey, 1889, City of Vancouver Archives #Mi P2

A Vancouver time travelogue brought to you by Past Tense.

Back in 1918-1919, Canadian and other allied forces were getting a head start on the Cold War by battling the Reds in Siberia. They withdrew in 1919 and brought back this enormous bear as a souvenir for the Stanley Park zoo. Naturally it was named Trotsky, and for 20 years the good-natured beast charmed park visitors as the zoo’s most popular attraction. At 520+ pounds, the great Russian bear was thought to be the largest in captivity. As a sign of his popularity, Trotsky’s death in 1939 made the New York Times.

Source: City of Vancouver Archives #371-2843.1

A Vancouver time travelogue brought to you by Past Tense.

Barbara Howard was once among the fastest women in the world and the first black woman to represent Canada on the international sports stage. At the age of 17, while still a student at Britannia High School, Howard qualified for the 1938 British Empire Games by sprinting 100 yards in 11.2 seconds, a tenth of a second faster than the Games’ record.

After a month-long voyage to get to the games in Sidney, Howard drew much attention from the Australian media and sports fans, according to the Globe:

Barbara Howard, dusky sprinter from B.C., caused quite a stir among Sydney’s populace during her appearance at the Empire games … She apparently was quite a novelty … appearing on the front page of every newspaper. They seldom see colored athletes down there … the photographers and autograph seekers kept on her trail.

Howard placed sixth in the 100 yard dash, but helped bring home silver and bronze medals in two relay races. She felt she let down Canada, so never made a big deal out of the Games when she got home. “I didn’t think I did well,” she said. “It was nothing to be boasting about if I didn’t get the gold medal.” Her plan was to redeem herself at the 1940 Olympics, but those hopes died because the world was at war and the Games were cancelled. With her sports career behind her, Howard completed the teaching program at UBC and became the first visible minority hired by the Vancouver School Board.

Only recently has Barbara Howard’s pioneering role in sports been recognized. Last month, at the age of 92, she was inducted into the BC Sports Hall of Fame. She is also depicted in a mural commemorating the centenary of her old high school and was awarded the “Freedom of the Municipality” by Belcarra, where she lived for years.

There has been speculation that Howard might be related to Olympians Valerie and Harry Jerome. Maybe, maybe not, but there is definitely one other fleet-footed person in her family. Barbara Howard’s uncle was Elijah “Lige” Scurry, a local lacrosse legend in the 1890s, when it was the most popular sport around. Lige was so fast on the field that Victoria and New Westminster joined forces to impose a “colour bar” on the league, which effectively ended the lacrosse career of the Vancouver team’s best player. For both Lige Scurry and his niece, the journey to their full athletic potential was cut short by circumstances beyond their control.

For more on Barbara Howard, see Tom Hawthorn’s blog.  Thanks to John Burwood for spotting the link between Barbara Howard and Elijah Scurry.

Source: City of Vancouver Archives #371-1643

A Vancouver time travelogue brought to you by Past Tense.

As City Hall scrambles to address its realization that million dollar abodes aren’t for most of us, I thought it a good time to remember some of the affordable housing options that our resourceful predecessors came up with, including houseboats in Burrard Inlet and False Creek, squatter shacks in Stanley Park and on Deadman’s Island, and of course tree houses. This Mount Pleasant tree stump contained a three-room home. A note on the photo from city archivist Major Matthews provides the particulars:

Mount Pleasant pioneer’s shack in stump, photo taken before 1910. It was built by a Mr Berkman and was on the east side of Seacombe Road, now Prince Edward Street, between 26th & 27th Avenues. The location is now 4230 Prince Edward St. It was reached by a short forest trail from Horne Road, now 28th Ave. The lower stump on right was the kitchen, the lower part of the higher stump on left was the living room. The bedroom, doorless, was reached by a ladder removed in daytime to the kitchen. This photo & particulars was given me by W. J. Moore, photographer, 420 West Hastings St, whose home was nearby. It appeared as an illustration in “Province,” magazine section, 29 May 1943.

Source: Photo by WJ Moore, City of Vancouver Archives, #Sgn 988

A Vancouver time travelogue brought to you by Past Tense.

The earliest known use of the name Jericho in this area was in reference to an 1872 incident dubbed “The Battle of Jericho.” Frank Shepley and William Brown, American pirates who “proved themselves a terror to residents of British Columbia,” stole some guns from Mr. Maude on Hornby Island. Maude tracked the duo to Burrard Inlet and alerted Constable Miller, the lone cop at Granville Townsite. Mr Bridges also reported the fugitives for trying to sell him one of the two boats in their possession; when the duo were unable to produce a receipt, Bridges correctly deduced it was stolen.

Constable Miller recruited his predecessor, Tompkins Brew, and a Mr Handy as his Special Constables to help nab the outlaws. Shepley and Brown got wind that the police were onto them and booked it from around Hastings Mill to False Creek to make their getaway. The police caught up with them at Jerry’s Cove (hence “Jericho”). Shepley spotted Tompkins Brew and began shooting. Brew drew his revolver and returned fire, and soon Constable Miller was on the scene joining in. No one was hurt in the gunfight, but the freebooters escaped into the bush, leaving their boats and most of their loot behind.

A correspondent in one of the Victoria newspapers criticized the police for failing to capture the fugitives. In response, Tompkins Brew wrote an indignant letter to the Mainland Guardian:

It was to be hoped the battle of Jerico would be forgotten, almost as soon as Gravelotte, or other comparatively insignificant engagements, but no – it is still the subject of comment by wiseacres, who think they would have done better than the Constables. When the Magistrates in New Westminster wanted Specials to hunt up Brown and Shepley, there was an excellent chance for some people to display their patriotism and valor by going. No doubt they would have done better than the Constables, and many people regret that some of them did not go. There would then be far less comment on the matter.

Shepley and Brown left Burrard Inlet, but continued pillaging the coast of the Pacific Northwest, except now there was a $250 reward for their capture, dead or alive.

On 20 July, the bandits were recognized by a storekeeper when they tried to sell him butter in Tulalip, WA. About a week later, they attempted to break into Mr Brannan’s farmhouse on the Cowichan River. The pair nearly met their demise in early August after a dramatic shootout with the sheriff and his posse near Seattle left both men wounded. Once again, they got away. Shepley was spotted two weeks later on the San Juan Islands, which, until October of that year, were the subject of a territorial dispute between Britain and the US, thus making it feel like a safe haven for the desperadoes. According to a witness, Shepley was in rough shape, but still had an air of bravado and boasted about digging a bullet out of Brown with a pen knife.

In September, some natives recognized the marauders near Georgison’s house in Active Pass after barking dogs on the property scared them off. And that’s where the online newspaper trail goes cold for the outlaws Shepley and Brown, though I can’t imagine it ended well for them.

Source: Jericho Beach and Tidal Flats photo by Bailey Bros., ca. 1890, City of Vancouver Archives #Be P41

A Vancouver time travelogue brought to you by Past Tense.

Source: Vancouver Sun, 28 November 1959