Chronicles of Boundary Country from the pages of The Ledge (Greenwood)
Volume 31, No. 15 – November 6, 1924
Compiled by Al Donali
KVR Day Coach Blown Up – “Accurate reports are hard to get as to the real cause of the accident on Wednesday morning (yesterday, October 29, 1924), a mile west of Farron when the first-class day coach of the Kettle Valley train No. 11 was blown to pieces, and killing nine persons and injuring eight or nine. The cause of the accident is still a mystery and may remain so until after the inquest which will last several days. It is thought, however, by persons who have been at the scene that the cause of the tragedy was due to a bomb or high explosives of some kind. The dead are: John McKie, MPP, Grand Forks; Peter Verigin, Head of the Christian Community of Universal Brotherhood; Mary Strelaeff, a relative of Verigin; Neil Murray, of Grand Forks; W.H. Armstrong, of Vancouver; H.K. Fossett, of Vancouver; Harry Bishop, of the Swift Canadian Co., of Nelson; a unknown Hindu; and a Doukhobor girl.”
District Hospital – “The Greenwood District Hospital is progressing very favorably. The operating room has been thoroughly renovated, the woodwork having been painted and enameled and the walls repapered. The other rooms are being cleansed and made in order to receive the furniture. A new road was made by which patients may enter the rear of the Hospital, instead of being carried up the front steps.”
B.C. Highway System – “Another link in British Columbia’s highway system is to be forged. Tenders have been called for the completion of the Hope-Spence’s Bridge section of the Trans-Provincial Highway, at a cost of $1,000,000. An additional $250,000 will be required for construction of a steel bridge across the Fraser River at Spuzzum.”
Fast Trains – “The Trans-Canada Limited train, the crack transcontinental express of the Canadian Pacific Railway, operated from May to September, completed its 1924 schedule on September 13th, when its fast trains steamed into the termini at Montreal and Vancouver, bringing to a close one of the service’s most successful seasons. The train covers the 2,886 miles of its run between Montreal and Vancouver in 90 hours, and its Toronto-Vancouver run of 2,707 miles in 86 hours.”
Golfing in Greenwood – “Dr. A. Francis and P.H. McCurrach had the privilege of playing the first game on Greenwood’s new golf course. Just a few holes have been laid for the present, but it is the intention to have a 9-hole course if sufficient interest can be aroused to accomplish this. The site of the course lies to the north of the town and includes the old recreation grounds.”
Eaton’s Catalogues – “Eaton’s fall catalogues have recently been distributed, great loads of them. The quantity delivered here in a single week represents more money than is expended in other such advertising schemes in a year. This distribution has been kept up for 20 years or more. Surely the firm has found this expenditure profitable, else it would have been discontinued long ago. It is estimated that one percent of the business brought by these catalogues pays the whole of the expense connected with them.”