March 24, 1921
What was happening a century ago this week from the front page of the Cowichan Leader.
March 24, 1921
This is going to be an abbreviated front page of The Leader for this week. Fully one-third of the page is dedicated to THE POULTRY SITUATION, a matter of great concern to many Valley residents when most of them lived on small acreages and even those who lived in town kept chickens.
As we’ve seen in previous weeks the issue was that of local farmers trying to sell their products beyond the Valley via the Cowichan Co-op and having to compete with imports. Victoria was the nearest market of size but that involved farmers getting their eggs to Duncan then, using the E&N Railway, to Victoria. Freight rates had just gone up, there was competition from Washington State and China. Last week, we saw that most local farmers with 1000 Leghorns, the most productive layers, could expect to be in the red by $250-500 at year-end.
What was he to do to make a profit?
This was the dilemma addressed in great length by The Leader. According to renowned Westholme farmer L.F. Solly, guest contributor, another factor in the mix was that an unusually mild winter had allowed poultrymen in many American states a six-week head start on the selling season. This had led to a softening of egg prices across the U.S. and Canada when farmers from California, Oregon and Washington found their usual markets in New York to be glutted.
I could go on and on but what was considered to be pressing news in the Cowichan Valley in 1921 won’t appeal to many of us today, at least not in detail.
There was another prominent display ad for STONES OF REMEMBRANCE, the campaign to raise funds for a Cenotaph in Duncan and a memorial on Mount Prevost to honour the 160 Valley men who’d died in the Great War. Timed and themed to coincide with Easter, organizers were hoping everyone would donate within their means, be it large or small.
‘Remember: the Message of Easter and lay YOUR gift NOW on this ALTAR of REMEMBRANCE.’
There was a poem by William Banks, simply entitled EASTER, another public talk, one of a series by mining engineer W.M. Brewer, and, incongruously tucked beneath that news item, a short report, DROWNED IN WELL. The body of three and a-half year-old Mary Louie Laurie Browne was found in the well of the family’s Cowichan Bay property by her grandfather. She’d accompanied him when he went to the barn for a wrench but when he didn’t see her immediately afterwards, he started looking for her.
After two hours a search was begun. The discovery of small footprints leading up to the well, said to be 18 feet deep and full, led to the recovery of her body by a hired hand. Her funeral was to be held in Victoria where she was born.
City Council was optimistic that electrical service would soon be extended to the McKinnon, Norcross and Herd Road district if the 40 residents bought $7500 in bonds in the city-owned company. These were to be over 20 years at an interest rate of 6 1/2 per cent.
The streets committee was awaiting a report from a firm hired to survey city streets and the owners of a damaged cellar trap door in front of the Odd Fellows’ Hall were to be “communicated with”.
Town merchants were also being warned against over-sized awnings in front of their business premises and using the sidewalks to display their merchandise. Two war trophies, a German mortar and a field gun, were to be mounted in front of the post office until a permanent site could be found for them. Local resident Arthur Burchett was thanked by Council for having determined the guns’ original camouflage paint schemes.
Council was also debating whether to buy PGE (Railway) or Victoria bonds.
A war memorial to the fallen parishioners of St. Andrew’s Church, Cowichan Station, had been dedicated and unveiled before an overflowing congregation, the church having been filled to overflowing with some having to sit in the aisles. No fewer than four clergymen presided: the Rt. Rev. Bishop Scholefield, Rev. F.L. Stevenson, Rev. F.G. Christmas and Rev. A. Bischlager.
Before a hushed audience the Bishop read out 13 names:
Arthur William Baker
James Robert Boothby
James Kinver Doney
Alexannder Gordon
Montague Vernon Gore-Langton
Thomas Edwin Guns
Austin Roldolfo Ordano
William Paterson
Charles Leslie Price
Alexander Daniel Reid
Gilbert Spencer Smith
Noel Beaumont Souper
James William Youle
Mrs. Cole played the organ throughout the service and Mrs. Wilson Jones sang ‘O Rest in the Lord.’
The three-panelled stained memorial windows had been ordered from England. Also dedicated that day was the just erected bell tower, another symbol of remembrance for the war dead. Bugler Hodding concluded the ceremony with the haunting Last Post. Many of those in attendance were said to have come from around the Valley.
A St. Patrick’s bridge party and concert at St. John’s Hall, Duncan, took in $40 for the King’s Daughters’ Hospital.
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