As the spring freshet continues to threaten nearby towns and cities, Trail Blazers looks back a hundred years to remember how water — creek and river — has historically affected life in Trail.
“As we watch the river begin to rise and waters from the Trail Creek culvert spill furiously into the Columbia, we take a look back at the year 1904, where high water impacted businesses and residents of downtown Trail,” begins Trail archivist Sarah Benson-Lord.
“The abounding Trail Creek left the downtown core a right mess on the morning of April 15, shutting down trade for most of the day.”
Two buildings collapsed “like a house of cards,” including the back end of the famed Central Hotel at the northeast corner of Bay Avenue and Eldorado Street.
The hotel had only recently undergone a thorough renovation including new carpet and furnishings, much of it lost, including a new piano.
In this photo, Trail Creek News owner, W.K. Esling stands at the door of his newspaper business to assess the state of affairs. He thoroughly reported in the Saturday edition of the free use of dynamite to clear the many obstructions from Trail Creek, the closure of the unstable Bay Avenue and Bowery bridges, the loss of five homes downtown and in the Gulch, the damaged railway bridge across Trail Creek, and the switching off of water due to Gorge Creek debris blocking water mains.
By the following week, nothing more was reported on the carnage and Esling had moved on to more interesting topics and stories.
“Weekly newspapers of the day, like the Trail Creek News, are a delight to read now and served then as the primary authority on not just news items, but also comings and goings, society gossip, and a healthy dose of editorial flavour,” Benson-Lord notes.
Mark your calendars for Monday, May 29, when the Trail Museum and Archives hosts Ron Verzuh, in town to present his new book, “Printer’s Devils: How a Feisty Pioneer Newspaper Shaped the History of British Columbia, 1895-1925.”
Verzuh’s new book offers readers an indepth look at journalism in a forging industrial city, growing in population and prosperity by the year.
“Early editors injected their own biases and opinions (and those of the town’s movers and shakers) into much of what they printed, painting an interesting picture of culture at the time,” she adds. “The book is a fascinating read.”
Verzuh’s talk will talk place at 3 p.m. in the Riverfront Centre’s multipurpose room.
Everyone is welcome.
Read more: Trail Blazers: Resting for Eternity
Read more: Trail Blazers: Stricken by flood 50 years later
Read more: #LocalHistory stories
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