14

A teacher's memories of Myncaster School
1920-23
Benchlands of the Kettle River Valley


"Teaching jobs were hard to get in January 1920 but I was lucky and boarded the Kettle Valley train in Vancouver and headed for Rock Creek. The next morning Mr. Pitman arrived with horse and buggy and took me up the hill to the home of Mr. & Mrs. Shelly where I was to board. I thought I had come to the end of the world for the farm was up on top of a hill and could not be seen from the road. However, the Shelleys were a nice couple and the food was good if plain.

The school was on a hillside above a ravine where most of my pupils would walk to school. The building was about 14' x 24' with a porch along the front where wood was piled to be handy. Three windows on each side made it light and a large iron stove stood in the middle. Some of the desks were homemade, others regulation wood and metal. My desk had a slant top with a globe and flag folded on top. Inside was a very good selection of tiny paperback booklets. A woodshed and outhouse were slightly up hill to one side. One of the Rosch boys was to be janitor but failed to materialize so I took on the job (without pay). There was no snow.

I went back to visit in 1968. How could I have forgotten that dust? The old hotel (we called it then) was gone. I had taught Sunday School here, all of us sitting on bales of hay. The Great Northern station was gone, even the tracks had disappeared. The Customs House was still there but so shabby. The road to Cheesaw was closed. However, the lake was still there and the birds still full of song.

When I went to Myncaster, we used to have a daily train but gradually the service was discontinued until in 1931 the line was abandoned and in 1932 the track was taken up"…

15

School sports day at Ingram flats
1914
The Kettle River Valley


Credits:
Kettle River Museum, Sonny Jackson collection
Donated by the estate of Mike Downing, 1977

16

"My sister and I were sent for a short time to the new little school at Kettle Valley, but my mother soon withdrew us and taught us our lessons at home. This made my life a very solitary one. My only playmate was Mae McMynn. She lived on the bench nearby, were her father, James McMynn, had a fine farm.

I remember with intense pleasure the occasional school picnic which we attended after school was out in June at Ingram Bridge. What delight to watch Mrs. Weed from Ingram Mountain making a large freezer of ice cream with thick yellow cream, dozens of eggs, pounds of sugar and a whole bottle of vanilla! And then, after helping to turn the crank after what seemed like ages, the bliss of licking the ice cream off the wooden blades of the beater!"

- from "Seven to Seventeen - 1909-19 in the Kettle Valley" by Anne Margaret Angus (Annie Margaret Anderson), Boundary Historical Society 5th Report, 1967

17

Gymnastics at Ingram flats
Circa 1915
The Kettle River Valley


Credits:
Kettle River Museum
Donated by William Moll, 1978

18

Sunday School class at the Presbyterian Church
Circa 1920
Midway, BC
TEXT ATTACHMENT


Credits:
Kettle River Museum
Donated by Ellen Clements, 1977

19

Sunday school picnic at "Palm Beach", a favourite swimming hole on the Kettle
1924
The Kettle River


Credits:
Kettle River Museum
Donated by William Moll, 1978

20

Joe, Elsie and Ted Gane punting on the Kettle River
Circa 1925
The Kettle River
AUDIO ATTACHMENT


Credits:
Kettle River Museum
Courtesy of the Gane family

21

Margot Rock, Joan Glossop, Tuck (Francis) Glossop, Joe Gane and Doreen Hamilton
Circa 1925
The Kettle River
AUDIO ATTACHMENT


Credits:
Kettle River Museum
Donated by Mary Rock, 1978

22

The Boy Scouts of Midway
1927
Midway, BC


Credits:
Kettle River Museum
Donated by Mae Helphrey, 1984

23

Ted, Elise and Joe Gane out skiing
Circa 1930
The Kettle River


Credits:
Kettle River Museum
Courtesy of the Gane family