Mr. Crofton speaks of the Harbour House Hotel owned by his family, his military career, and life on Salt Spring, 1910-1960.
Cassette tape with good quality sound (but the questions are distant)
No intro on the tape, so no date, but c1965, from BC Ferry date referred to.
Desmond Crofton (being interviewed by an Imbert Orchard 1965)
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1ACrofton.mp3
manual
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Rev. Wilson
My grandfather came to Salt Spring Island about 1893-94. He was going to settle in the United States after coming from the Shingwauk Home in Manitoba, where he ran, it was an Indian School, and then he brought all his family to Victoria, and he spent some time in Victoria. Then there was an opening on Salt Spring Island to create a new parish. There was a Mr. Haslam who came over occasionally from Chemainus, Duncan area So, the population was growing, and they wanted a resident rector, and my grandfather undertook it. They promised him a salary of $171 a year from St. Marks, which was a church he helped to finish, and at Fulford, he built that church, and they were able to dig up $1 per year to help out.
But he, as I say, was a lawyer, a doctor, and artist, a wonderful artist. He did really everything in the way of the administration in those days, because the average person could hardly read or write, some of the old timers. So he had great talent. He was a great figure in the community.
So he finished off St. Mark’s Church which Mr. Haslam and some of the local people had started, and as I say, he built the church at Fulford, St Mary’s. And he would have to go, to cover the island, either on horseback or in an old buggy; and the old buggy gave up the ghost one day, and of course having no money, and some friends in England gave him the price of a buggy, or rig, to carry on his work.
His name was Edward Wilson, the Reverend Edward Wilson.
He came from England, originally, he and my grandmother, and they had ten children, eleven children, ten living, and they were all brought up here on the island, and they gradually all married, and settled elsewhere. Two or three of them settled on the island here.
He was a very strong character, very strong; a disciplinarian, especially amongst his family, but he had a great wit. But he never seemed to tire, he was full of energy.
For instance, surveying, there was very few surveyors here, there was really no doctor, there was no lawyer, there was all that sort of thing that he attended to. He knew a little bit, he was just self-read, acquired (his knowledge) through reading in books. All the vital statistics he kept here. So often, there was a doctor on Vancouver Island, but he was able to bring children into the world and administer a certain amount of that sort of thing, but they would have to bring a doctor over from Sidney, I believe, if it was really urgent.
He painted a great number of pictures, sketches, he was wonderful at sketching. We have an album in Victoria that’s just fill of these sketches. In fact some of my family have a number of sketches that he has sketched. My brother across the road (has some). I have one in the back room here, I’ll dig it out. It’s just a small one.
4. 25 Nona Crofton, née Wilson, and Fred Crofton
My mother came out with my grandfather, and she was only about thirteen when she arrived on the island, and she used to play the organ, in the church, along with her sisters.
My dad, an Irishman, came out from Dublin in about 1899, and he was a boy of about 16, or 17, and he was supposed to go into the Royal Navy, but he didn’t like the idea, so he came out to a Mr. Scovell who owned this whole property here, and he was sort of an apprentice to him; and then of course he met my mother, and they were married about 1903, and my brother was born 1904, and I was born 1905, and we’ve lived on this property ever since.
5. Mr. Bullock
(Growing up here, the community) was very scattered, there was really no phones, you’d have to do everything on horseback. I think perhaps the centre of the social activity of the island was a Mr. Bullock. a Henry Bullock, and he was really known as the Squire of the Island. He lived up the road here about two miles, and he had a lot of money, and he used to give great dinner parties, and dances, and he had boys in buttons; the old English country squire.
He was very fond of seeing the young ladies dressed properly, and he’d be always giving them gloves, earrings, and he used to try and get his housekeeper to make them wear corsets, and they were available as well; so he was quite a character.
He was a big man with a beard, weighing about nearly 300 pounds
He used to drive to church every Sunday morning, with a top hat, and frock coat.
And then of course when the cars came, he had the old Model-T Ford, with lots of brass on it. He’d have the boy drive the car, or he would drive it himself, but he’d always arrive at church with his top hat, and even the boy in attendance would be wearing a top hat as well, and an Eton collar. These boys would be 16, 17; but they used to get a dollar every Sunday they went, and in those days that was a lot of money
He came out from England, and as I say, he had a lot of money; and he did a tremendous amount of good work on the islands, especially completing St. Mark's church, and he gave a lot of land to the church, and we’re still drawing interest from it. It belongs to the diocese of Vancouver Island, Victoria headquarters. But he was the person that everybody went to in their troubles, and he had a huge cellar, and if anyone had a sick cow or a sick horse, or a man would pretend to be very ill, why, there was always that great basement cellar full of whiskey, and all the other liqueurs. He was the centre, and of course people used to abuse his generosity.
He was instrumental in starting the Creamery, along with the Scott brothers and a number of other old-timers. We had a very good creamery here, it used to produce a lot of butter. Farming was the chief industry on the island, and then they eventually started a jam factory which didn’t last too long. Mr. Bullock was connected with most of those early endeavours.
Henry Bullock had a sister Mary, who came out, and my uncle married her, and they settled on Salt Spring Island, and lived here until just a few years ago, and they both died.
Mr. Bullock was a large, short man, he was short and large, with a bald head, wore glasses, and a great beard. Very round face, but a kindly face, a very kindly face.
Q. It was quite an establishment, he had these boys in livery?
Yes, they would come out from England, or most of them came out from England, from the orphanages, most of them came from. But there’s still a few living here on the island, they’ve done very well.
He had an estate, he had two lakes. Unfortunately the building was burnt down about four or five years ago. But the old house, high ceilings, a very stately English home, that’s what it looked like.
He farmed, he had - the Japanese in those days, they would work for 50¢ or a dollar a day, and he had a number of them, and he was a great farmer. Then we started the old Agricultural Fairs, and he produced a lot of good stock to show in the fairs, and as I say, he brought in a lot of good stock, which still remain on the island, that other people bought.
He was very fond of his food. He would have these dinner parties, and he would have about a ten course dinner, and people would be groaning after they’d had about the third or fourth course, and he’d be just piling it on your plate. I can remember when I was a boy of about 17, he needed a hostess, and one wasn’t available, and he got me to be at the other end of the table to serve, to carve the ham, and to do all the rest of it, and you can imagine a boy of about 17 the head of a large dinner party, felt a bit embarrassed, but he was like that, he always had someone as a host or a hostess, to help him.
The Caldwell family had about 200 or 300 or 400 acres. The Ruckle brothers out at Beaver Point had over 1000 acres. Then there was the Akermans, and the Maxwells, Mount Maxwell is named after the Maxwells, but they were just general farmers, and didn’t have the money. But Mr. Bullock had quite a bit of money, and he was able to do all these - .
Q. But he was the only one that really sort of lived as the lord of the manor?
Yes, he was. If the Navy came in, or anything special, he ws always the man that was called upon to entertain them, and wine them and dine them.
He lived until about 12-14 years ago when he died, but he came out about 1888, 1890, from England.
Up on his estate he started a creamery, and all the local farmers brought their cream to his creamery that he built, and then they wanted something more permanent, because the island depended so much on the creamery, farming, and they built one right in the centre of Ganges, a stone building, and it produced a lot of butter. It was a very thriving community. People bought shares in the creamery, and it was only about 10 years ago that the creamery closed down.
13 Turn of the Century
When I was a small boy, I used to see the oxen, people perhaps up in the Cranberry up there, living ot quite a way, would come in with their oxen and the old sleighs, to bring their produce into Ganges. And then of course the horse and buggy and the wagons, and then of course later on, the old Model T Ford came into existence. But the roads; between Ganges and Vesuvius really was the first road, and then they put a road through to Fulford, and then eventually out to Beaver Point, and all the side roads; but that was all done by local farmers, getting about a dollar, 2 dollars a day for their work, working on the road, and after they’d finished their day’s work they were perhaps to walk 4 or 5 miles home, perhaps 7 or 8, to do all their chores, and then do their chores before starting to work (on the road) in the morning.
14 Central Settlement
Q. For a long time the two communities, North and South, were quite separate then?
Quite separate, yes. ‘Vesuvius’ was actually the Central Settlement, that’s near the golf course. That’s where my grandfather had his place, and there was a little boarding house there, operated by the name of Stevens, and there was a little jail, even, up there, (and a schoolhouse) and a little community hall, and that was socially the part of the island they had their get-togethers. All the people would come in their horse and buggies and tie up to an old post, and they would dance, and bring their children, and stay until midnight, and then have to drive home, with their horse and buggy. That was the Central Settlement, which is about two and a half miles from Vesuvius, which was the port of call, the easiest to get at, from Vancouver Island - it was only about 3 miles between Crofton and Vesuvius . There was no Ganges.
15 Ganges
I think it was really the Mouat family that got Ganges started, and the Bittancourts. There was Granny Mouat, who was a wonderful person. Her husband died, and she had all the Mouat clan, and she had a boarding house, and then she started a store, and there was a Mr. Bittancourt who also had a bit of a store down there, but the Mouats, I think, who developed the community of Ganges more than anyone else. Gilbert, who was the eldest, and then there was Will. E., and Gavin. Gilbert and Gavin did a tremendous amount for the island.
16 Ferry Service
Gavin (Mouat) was the one that carried on the ferry company. We got Mr. Matson, of the Victoria Colonist, who started the ferry - Colonel Cy Peck, who was our Member (of Parliament) for the Islands, felt that we needed better transportation, and he got Tim Matson to build a ferry and operate it - and then the government didn’t feel like carrying on the subsidy, so Mr. Gavin Mouat and a few of us formed a company, and that was known as the Gulf Islands Ferry Company, and then eventually, about 4 years ago, 5 years ago, bought us out. (The ferry ran) between Fulford and Swartz Bay. It was the old Cy Peck, she’s still tied up at Fulford now. She carried about a dozen, 14 cars, and about a hundred passengers. And she only ran twice a day. She’d take off at about 8 o’clock in the morning, and then do another run at 4 in the afternoon, two round trips a day, to Swartz Bay. The Vesuvius ferry didn’t come until about 7 or 8 years ago. We used to have the old Charmer years and years ago, and then of course the Princess Mary was on the run for a few years, and then of course when the CPR pulled out there was nothing. That was to Ganges.
Q. What would account for the development of Ganges?
When we built the docks down at Ganges, and the CPR started to call in here, then of course it became a very flourishing community. Fulford did quite a lot of their business with Sidney - they had a launch that used to go in every morning, from Fulford to Sidney, it’d carry a certain amount of freight, and mail, and passengers.
Q. When did the road go in?
Tou mean the road between here and Fulford? About 1880 something, it was done just with the old horse and team, and pick and shovel. And it was really, I think the roads were the old cow trails, deer trails, more or less , they followed the contours.
18.50 First Settlers
Q. Who were the first settlers?
The Negroes came her about 1858. There was about 600 Negroes set sail from San Francisco, for Fort Victoria. Sir James Douglas promised them a spot here, in the Crown Colony of Vancouver Island, and Salt Spring Island was chosen, and he gave them land at a dollar an acre, and a lot of them settled here. Of course a lot of them went back to the States, they became very lonely. But they were really our first settlers, about 1858, 1859.
Q. What part of the island di they settle?
They were up around the Central Settlement, out on Stark Road. Stark Road was named after the Stark family, and the old original Starks escaped from slavery, Stark family - Sylvia Stark died a few years ago at the age of 108. And she had quite a number of children, and a few of them are still living on the island. The first schoolmaster was a Negro. They made wonderful settlers, they were good citizens. There was one or two people murdered by the Indians, and I think one of them was an Negro. The Indians were very hostile in those days, and people didn’t travel very far from their homes because of the hostility of the Indians, and they’d sometimes shoot an arrow at you.
20.38 Battle of Ganges
Down on the Harbour House beach right in front of Harbour House hotel, there was an Indian battle in 1863. The northern Indians, that’s the Bella Bellas, often came down to Fort Victoria with their furs, and they camped in here one night, and about 4- or 5-, 600 of the Cowichan Indians set upon them, and there was quite a massacre right on the Harbour House beach, and I think a little boy and a little girl were the only two survivors, except one man, an Indian, Bella Bella, was able to escape to Sidney, and to get into Victoria and inform Sir James Douglas, and they sent up some gunboats to preserve order.
Q. So the Negroes would have been the only settlers...
And then they became, Mr. Joe Akerman was born here about a hundred years ago, and he was the first white man, the Akerman family, and he died about 10, 12, 14 years ago.
Q, And that was the first white...
The first white child, yes. (sic - he was the first white child not born of an Indian mother).
Q. (To?) the first white settler.
Yes, and then there was the Maxwells and a umber of other families that came shortly afterwards.
Q. And they settled in the south, didn’t they?
The Maxwells and the Ruckles, yes, at the south end of the island. And Mr. Joe Akerman settled at the north end of the island, and he had one brother Jim who settled at the south end of the island.
22 Harbour House
“Now I could give you just a little bit on my mother and the guest house.”
My father, being an Irishman, and all the young remittance men, there were so many remittance men were living here on the island, 1912, 1913, 1914, and as soon as the war was declared they all went back, and went overseas. And my dad went in 1915. So my mother was bringing up a family of 7 (sic), we were all young, and so she started a guest house; that is, the present Harbour House, which was just a farm, and my brother and I, as small boys, helped to run it, and we had an uncle of mine, a Mr. Norman Wilson, that’s a son of the Reverend Wilson, who gave us a hand to start it. And the guest house grew and grew. Mr. Wilson built on a number of guest rooms, and Harbour House has grown - where we used to take in about 6 or 8 guests, to the capacity now of bout 40 odd guests.
I have six brothers and sisters, and all of their names start with D - Dermott, Desmond, Diana, Doreen, Denise, Donavon and Dulcie. And they all contribute to carry on the good work at Harbour House.
And then when my dad came back in 1919 from the war, he was pretty badly shaken up from the war, and he carried on for a while, but my brother and I really ran the farm and helped run Harbour House from then on. The farm was connected with it. Then in 1925 I got married and had my own little farm here, but I used to work with Harbour House, at Harbour House, to help out.
24 Harbour House Visitors
In the early days (the visitors) would come with the old Princess Mary, and they would stay for a week or two weeks, or all summer. And of course there was no car, they would just come families and all, and a lot of them would come in tents, and we’d have the tents all set up for them. And the older they got they would like the more comforts, and of course we had the rooms in the lodge.
24.30 Boys Back From The War and Alcohol
In the hotel we had a number of the men who came back from the war, and they didn’t know where to go, and they stayed at Harbour House, and some of them went logging, but they always their home as Harbour House for a good number of years. And naturally these boys would like to play a game of poker, and they’d have to go and see Mr. Bullock, that one was not feeling too well, and he’d produce one or two bottles of whisky, and the boys would have a party.
And then some of the local residents found that the Okanagan had done away with their apple crop industry, and so they produced cider, and some of them made very good wine. And quite often these old Model T Fords would head up into the Cranberry or somewhere where these stills were, and they would fill up with the applejack, and there would be some more parties. But that was the way of life, there was very few, er, anything in the way of entertainment, there was really nothing, so you had to make your own.
25.50 Cider & Wine
Q. This cider-making was illegal then?
Oh yes, Tt was illegal, oh yes. You could buy it for a dollar a gallon, and good wine for two dollars a gallon, and it was wonderful stuff.
Q. Where was the wine made?
Either out at Beaver Point, or in the Cranberry, or in around herel with a big orchard a farmer would set up his cider press, and it was very good.
The wine was made from grapes, and prunes, a very good prune wine, blackberries, even potato cider they used to make.
Q. There was quite a lot of it then?
A lot of it, yes, oh yes, it was excellent.
Q. Did the authorities ever come along?
I believe during the early part of the last war, they came and cracked down, the provincial police came down, because the liquor stores were going, and this people (chuckling) were keeping them out of business!
Q. Did the island have a reputation for this kind of thing?
(Desmond Crofton much amused) A lot of people got to hear about the excellent cider and wine that they made over here! Because so often there’d be a party, and the boys would go back to Victoria, especially the football teams, basketball teams, and we’d fill them up with this ‘goof’ as we used to call it, and they’d go back, and say “Well, we’re never coming back to Salt Spring Island. It took us a week to get over it!”
27.29 The Tale of Fred Crofton and the Conservatives and the Liberals
My dad was a very ardent Conservative, and Harbour House was the headquarters for the Conservative Party, and then down at Mouats - Granny Mouat and Mouat’s Boarding House, and Mouat Brothers - ... Gilbert Mouat was head of the Liberal Party. So many people have asked us why the population consists of so many Mouats and Croftons. So my dad would say “Well, um, it’s this way, I would produce a son, Dermott,” and he’d go down and tell Gilbert “That’s a good Conservative vote,” And Gilbert would laugh and giggle and shake his head and says “Well you wait Fred, it won’t be long,” and then HE would produce an offspring, so this went on and on, and we produced 7 Craftiness, and he produced about the same number of Mouats, so we can call that politics, (as the reason) for the increase in the Mouats and the Craftiness!
28.30 How the Island Got Its Name
The Indians called this island Klaat-heem, which is ‘salt’, and up at the north end of the island we have some salt springs, and it’s really derived from the Indian name. And then, when in 1845 the British survey ships came here, they called this, because it’s the largest of the Gulf Islands, ‘Admiral Island’. It stuck for some time, it’s on most of the navy charts, bu Salt Spring seems to have been the most popular name, and they retained it.
Q. Are those springs ever used?
No, you can go up and see them, they’ve analysed them but there’s nothing really very much there. It’s a sort of muddy brownish water, of very little value.
29.30 A Future for Salt Spring
In recent years, this has become really a playground, for Victoria, Vancouver, and Nanaimo. We’re situated exactly in between, in sort of a triangle, the Gulf Islands, and I think the tourist industry is growing, and will grow more and more. We have developed a very fine golf course, which was started in the early 1930’s with sand greens, but now we have a very fine club house, and good grass greens, and avery good membership, and that is a great acquisition to the community. And a lot of resorts are going up all over the island, a number of subdivisions, and people are coming in now and buying a lot on the sea frontage, paying 5 and 6 and 7 thousand dollars for a lot, and in those days you could buy it for perhaps for $100 or $300 an acre.
30. Cliques and Community
Q. The Society, was it Cliquey?
No, I don’t think on Salt Spring Island there were. There were naturally a lot of little cliques or groups of their own personal friends, but they always went to all the community dances together. For instance, my brother and I used to play hockey, football, rugger, tennis, golf, and we used to go all around and play elsewhere, and they used to come back, and there’d be - the community spirit was there, and I don’t think there was snobbishness, shall we say, no, I wouldn’t say that. But I say there were the people that were born in England and knew their own counties so well, and they would form their own little groups and the same the south end of the island. And so many were very fond of painting and they’d have their little artist groups; musical groups, and that sort of thing.
31.40 The End
1A_Crofton_Military-SS-Life.mp3
otter.ai
20.01.2023
no
Unknown Speaker 0:00
Yes, well my grandfather came to Saltspring island about 8093 94. He was going to settle in the United States. After coming from the Shem washing law home in Manitoba, where he ran was an Indian School and then he brought his family to Victoria and he spent some time in Victoria. And then there was an opening here on Saltspring Island to create a new parish. There was a Mr. Haslam that was came over occasionally from chumminess Duncan area. And so they population was growing. And they wondered a resident Rector and my grandfather undertook it. They promised him a salary of $171, a year from St. Mark's, which is a turkey helped to finish. And at forfeit, he built that church and they were able to dig up $1 per year to help out. But he has a say was a lawyer, a doctor, an artist, a wonderful artist. He did really everything in the way of the administration in those days, because the average person could hardly read or write some of the old timers. But so he had great talent. And he sort of was a great figure in the community. So he finished off at Mark's Church, but Mr. Haslam and some of the local people had started and those who say he built the church had Fulford St. Mary's, and he would have to go and cover the island either on horseback or an old buggy. And the old buggy gave up the ghost one day and because having no money and some friends in England, gave him the price of a new buggy or rig to carry on his work. His name was Edward Wilson, the Reverend Edward Wilson. Where did he go? He came from England originally, he and my grandmother. And they had 10 Children 11 Juror and 10 living. And they were all brought up here on the island. They gradually all married and settled elsewhere. Two or three of them settled on the island here.
Unknown Speaker 2:17
Grandfather was quite a character.
Unknown Speaker 2:19
He was a very strong character, very strong. The disciplinarian, especially amongst his family, but he had a great wit. But he never seemed to tie he was full of energy.
Unknown Speaker 2:36
How did he how he legal activities?
Unknown Speaker 2:41
Well, for instance, surveying, there was very few surveyors here. There was really no doctor, there was no lawyer, there was all that sort of thing that he attended to. He knows something about law a little bit, or he was just self read and quoted through a thorough reading books. legally responsible? That's right. Yes. I mean, only the vital statistics he kept here.
Unknown Speaker 3:16
And how about as a doctor?
Unknown Speaker 3:20
Well, so often, there was a doctor on Vancouver Island, and he wouldn't be able to bring children into the world and administer a certain amount of that sort of thing. But they'd have to bring a doctor from Sydney. I believe they used to rover and get one was very urgent. Or take? That's right. He did. Yes, he did.
Unknown Speaker 3:48
And tell me about him as an artist. Well, he
Unknown Speaker 3:53
painted a great number of pictures and sketches. He was wonderful at sketching. We have a an album in Victoria that's just full of his sketches. And fact some of my family have a number of sketches that he has sketched. See some? Yes, if you could, my brother across the road. I have one. I think in the back room here. I'll dig it out. It's just a small one. But my mother came out with my grandfather. And she was only about 13 When she arrived on the island, and she used to play the the organ in the church along with her sisters. And my dad nourishment came out from Dublin about 1899. And he was a boy of about 16 or 17. He was supposed to go into the Royal Navy, but he didn't like the idea. So he came out to Mr. Scoville who owned this whole property here. And he was sort of an apprentice to him. And then of course, he met my mother and they were married about 1993 and my brother was born 19 For and I was born in 1905. And we've lived on this property ever since.
Unknown Speaker 5:10
Growing up here,
Unknown Speaker 5:13
what kind of a community that seemed to be? Well, it was very, very scattered. There was really no phones, you'd have to do everything on horseback. I think perhaps the center of the social activity of the island was a Mr. Bullock, Henry Bullock. He was really known as the square of the island. He lived up the road here about two miles and he had a lot of money. And he used to give great dinner parties and dances and he had boys and buttons and the Old English country squab. He was very fond of seeing the the young ladies dressed properly and he would always giving them gloves, earrings and used to try and get his housekeeper to make them wear corsets. They were available as well. So he was quite a character. He was a big man with a beard, weighing about nearly 300 pounds. And he used to drive to church every Sunday morning for the top hat, frock coat. And then of course, when the cars came, he had the old Model T Ford with lots of bras on it. And he'd have the boy drive the car and or he would drive it himself, but he'd always arrive at church with his top hat and even the the boy that in attendance would have a top hat as well as Nick and Carla. How old are they been wearing anything? Oh, these boys would be 16 and 17. But they used to get $1. Every Sunday they went on those days. That was a lot of money. Yes. Well, he came out from from England. And as I say he had quite a lot of money. And he did tremendous amount of good work on the islands. Especially completing St. Mark's Church and he gave a lot of land to the church. And it's still we're drawing interest from it, it belongs to the the Diocese of Vancouver Island, Victoria headquarters. But he was the person that everybody went to when that troubles and he had a huge seller and if anyone had a sick cow or a sick horse or a man would pretend to be very ill like there was always that great Baseman's seller of full of whiskey and all the other like yours very much. At the center. He was the center and cost people used to view his abused his generosity. He was instrumental in starting the creamery along with the Scott brothers and a number of other old timers we had a very good creamer here is to produce a lot of butter. Farming was the chief industry here on the island. And then they eventually started the GM factory, which didn't last too long. But Mr. Bullock was connected with most of those early endeavors. What was his full name? I'd have to it was Henry Bullock. I know that. Henry Bullock, and he had a sister, Mary, who came out and my uncle married her. And they settled on Saltspring Island, lived here until just a few years ago and they both died. What he looked like Mr. Bullock, he was a large, short man. He was short, large, and sort of bald head wore glasses and a great beard. A very round very round face. Yes. But a kindly face very kindly phase.
Unknown Speaker 8:57
was quite establishment he had he had these boys and literally,
Unknown Speaker 9:02
yes, they would come out from from England or most of them came out from England. These from the orphanages. Most of them came from but there's still a few living here on the island. They've done very well. Did he have the state there? He had an estate they had two lakes. And unfortunately, the the building was burnt down about four or five years ago. But the old house high ceilings, a very stately English home, that's what it looked like. He finally had the Japanese in those days, they'd worked for 50 cents or $1 a day and he had a number of them and he was a great farmer. Then we started the all agricultural fairs and he produced a lot of good stock to show in the fairs and as I say, brought in a lot of good stock, which it will still remain on the island to other people bought Yes. Any anecdotes?
Unknown Speaker 10:07
No, I can't say that I he was very fond of his food. He would have these dinner parties and he would have about a 10 course dinner. And people who've been groaning after they've had about the third or the fourth course and he would just be piling it on your plate. I can remember when I was a boy of about 17 He needed a hostess and the one wasn't available. So he got me to be at the other end of the table, though, serves to carve the the ham and to all the rest of it. And you can imagine a boy of about 1617 at a large dinner party felt rather embarrassed, but he was like that he always had someone as a host or hostess to help them
Unknown Speaker 10:52
or any other people like that that had larger state tournaments. I
Unknown Speaker 10:56
know I can't say there was the coral little family they had about two or three 400 acres then the record brothers that had beaver point they had over 1000 acres. Then there was the a Cummins and the Maxwell's bump Maxwell is named after the Maxwells, but none of them they were just general farmers and and didn't have the money but Mr. Bullock had quite a lot of money and he was able to do all these.
Unknown Speaker 11:25
He was the only one that really started.
Unknown Speaker 11:29
That's correct. Yes, he was. He was really, I mean, if the Navy came in or anything special, he was always the man that was called upon to entertain them and dine them unwind them. How long did he live? He lived until about 1214 14 years ago when he died, but he came out about 1888 8090 from England.
Unknown Speaker 12:06
You spoke about the creamery. How was it that got started? Well, he up on his estate he started a creamery. And all the local farmers brought their cream to his Creamery that he built. And then they wanted something more permanent because the island dependent so much on the creamery farming, and they built one right in the center of Ganges a stone building. And it produced a lot of butter. There was a very thriving community. And people bought chairs in the creamery. And it was only about 10 years ago that the creamery closed down
Unknown Speaker 12:52
in any of the earliest history of Ireland, remember just going back
Unknown Speaker 13:00
when I was a small boy, I used to see the oxen people perhaps up in the cranberry up there living out quite away would come in with their oxen and the old slays it to bring their produce into Ganges then of course, the horse and buggy in the wagons. And then of course, later on the the old Model T Ford came into existence. But the roads between Ganges and Wazoo is really was the first road and then they put a road through to full fit and then eventually out to Beaver point and all the side roads. But that was all done by local farmers getting about $1 $2 a day for their work working on the road. And after they'd finished their day's work, they've had perhaps to walk four or five miles home, perhaps seven or eight to do all the chores and do the chores before they started for work in the morning.
Unknown Speaker 14:02
quite separate, yes. And Vesuvius actually was the was central settled, and that's about near the golf course about two miles up the road. That was what we call the central settleman. That's my grandfather had his place. And there was a little boarding house there operate by the name of Stephens. There was little J leaving up there and a little community to haul and that was the sort of social air part of the island where they had their get togethers. All the people would come in the horse and buggies and tie up to an old post and they would dance and bring the children stay till midnight and then have to drive home or their horse and buggy. Now, that was the central settlement, which is about two and a half miles from the zoo is but Vesuvius was really the sort of port of call the easiest to get out from Vancouver Island. There's only three miles between Crofton and Vesuvius.
Unknown Speaker 14:59
There was The main park was in the center rather than on the on the shore, which
Unknown Speaker 15:04
I don't understand, but that's what it was. There was no Ganges. I think it was really the mud family that sort of got Ganges started. And the Betancourt's Well, there was granny Merlot, who was a wonderful person. Her husband died and she had all the mullet clan. And she had a boarding house and then they started a store and there was a Mr. Betancourt that also had a bit of a store down there. But the mods I think really developed the community of Ganges more than anyone else. There was Gilbert, who was the eldest, and then there was Willie and Gavin. And Gilbert, and Gavin did a tremendous amount for the island. And in fact, Gavin was the one that carried on the ferry company. We got Mr. Matson update Victoria columnist who started the ferry. Colonel side Peck was who our member for the islands felt we needed better transportation and he got Tim Matson to build a ferry and operate it and then the government didn't feel like carrying on the sub state and so Mr. Gavin moat and a few of us formed a company and that's was known as the Gulf Islands ferry company, and then eventually the government but four years ago, five years ago, but bought us out. Where did that ferry run between Fulford and Swartz Bay was the old side Peck she's still tied up at full foot now. She carried about a dozen 14 cars, about 100 passengers. And she only ran twice a day she would take off at eight o'clock in the morning and then do another run at four in the afternoon two round trips a day to Swartz Bay. No, the wazoo was very didn't come until about seven or eight years ago. No, no, no, that's all we used to have the the old shopper over years and years ago and then of course, the Princess Mary was on the run for a good number of years and then of course, when the CPR pulled out we had nothing that was again Jesus.
Unknown Speaker 17:26
count for the development of Ganges apart from the species energy. What do
Unknown Speaker 17:41
you mean what brought people here? Why would it just become the Ganges become? Well, it was readily the center of the island and the CPR that we built the docks down at the Ganges and the CPR started to call in here and cause it became a very flourishing community. And, as I say full fit, did most of the quite a lot of their business with Sydney, they had a launch that used to go in every morning from full foot to Sydney carry a certain amount of freight and male passengers
Unknown Speaker 18:17
was the road
Unknown Speaker 18:19
to I mean, the road between here and Fulford about 1880 Something had was done with just with the old horse and team and
Unknown Speaker 18:34
pick and shovel. And it was really I think the roads were the old cow trails deer trails, more or less they followed the contours.
Unknown Speaker 18:51
The Negroes came here about 818 Fifth, D, eighth, there was a about 600 negros set sail from San Francisco for Fort Victoria as the James Douglas promised them a spot here in the Crown colony of Vancouver Island. And Saltspring Island was chosen and he gave them land at $1 an acre and a lot of them settled here because a lot of them went back to the States. They became very lonely, but they were our really our first settlers about 1858 59. And they were up around this central settleman out on stack road. That stack road was named after the stock family and the old original stocks were escaped from slavery. And Sylvia stock died a few years ago at the age of 108. So she had quite a number of children, and a few of them are still living on the island. Yes, that's right.
Unknown Speaker 20:01
And there are there any stories about the pharaohs in those days.
Unknown Speaker 20:09
There was the first schoolmaster was was an ego. They were made wonderful settlers. They were good citizens. There was one or two people murdered by the Indians. And I think one of them was a negro. But the Indians were very hostile in those days. And people didn't travel very far from the homes because of the hostility of the Indians, and they'd sometimes shoot an arrowhead tool. But down on the harbor house beach right in front of harbor hotel, there was an Indian Battle in 1863. The northern Indians that's the Bella Bella's often came down to Fort Victoria with their furs. And they camped in here one night, and about four or five 600 Of The Caribbean Indians set upon them and there was quite a massacre right on the harbour house beach and I think a little boy and a little girl were the only two survivors except one man. Indian was able to Bella Bella was able to escape to Sydney and to get into Victorian informs the Dean Douglas and they set up some gunboats to to preserve order. negros would have been able to separate the settlers and then they became and Mr. Joe Aikman, was born here about 100 years ago. And he was the first white man to come and family and he died about 10 1214 years ago. Fight first white child, yes. First white. First white. Yes. And then there was the Maxwells and a number of other families that came shortly afterwards. The Maximals add the records Yes, in the south end of the island. And Mr. Joey came and settled on the north end of the island. He had one brother Jim that settled at the south end of the island.
Unknown Speaker 22:10
Now I could give you just a little bit on my mother on the guesthouse. My father, being an Irishman, and all the young remittance men that are so many remittance, we're here living on the island 1912 that the 1914 and Sons Ward was declared, they all went back and went overseas, and my dad went 1915. So my mother was bringing up a family of seven, we were all young. And so she started a guesthouse. That is the President harbor house, which was just a farm. And my brother, a small boys helped to run it. And we had an uncle of mine. And Mr. Norman was and that's the son of the Reverend Mr. Wilson gave us a hand to help start it. And the guest house grew and grew, Mr. Wilson, built on the number of guest rooms and harbor house has grown, where we've taken the guests of about six or eight guests to the capacity now of about 40 up guests that I have six brothers and sisters in all our names start with D, Dermot, Desmond, Diana, Doreen, Denise Donovan, and dulci. And they all contribute to carry on the good work at Harbor house. And then when my dad came back and 1919 from the war, he was pretty badly shaken up from the war. And he carried on for a while, but my brother may really ran the farm and helped run harbor house from then on. The farmers connected with it. Then, in 1925, I got married and had my own little farm here that I used to work with harbor house at Harbor house to help out
Unknown Speaker 23:58
what would be the special kinds of visitors and the
Unknown Speaker 24:00
kind of the early days they would come with the old Princess Mary, and they would stay for a week or two weeks all summer. And because there was no car they would just come families and all and they would love them to come in tents. And we'd have the tents set up for them. And the older they got the they'd like the more comforts and of course we had the rooms and the large
Unknown Speaker 24:31
any incidents
Unknown Speaker 24:39
in the hotel Well, we had a number of the men that came back from the war and they didn't know where to go and they stayed to harbor house. And some of them went logging but they always Their home was harbor house for a good many years. And naturally, these boys were I'd like to play a game of poker and I'd have to go and see Mr. Bullock, that one was not feeling too well. And then he'd produced one or two bottles of whiskey in the boys that have a party. And then some of the local residents found that the Okanagan had done away with their Apple crop industry. And so they produced cider. And some of them made very good wine. And quite often these old model T Fords would head up into the cranberry or summer where these stills were and they would fill up with the Apple Jack and there would be some more parties. That that was the way of life there was very few anything in the way of entertainment, there was really nothing. So you had to make your own cidermaking was illegal. It was illegal. Oh yes. You could buy it for $1 a gallon and good wine for $2 a gallon. And it was wonderful stuff. Either out of beaver point or the cranberry already in around here with the big orchard a farmer would set up his the cider press and and it was very good. The wine was made from grapes and prunes. Very good prune wine.
Unknown Speaker 26:20
Blackberries. Even potato this side of these didn't make a lot of it. Yes. Oh, yes. That was excellent. The authorities ever come along.
Unknown Speaker 26:32
I believe during the early part of the last bore. They came in crack down the Provincial Police came down because they were the liquor stores were going and these people are keeping them out of business. So
Unknown Speaker 26:47
the island did have a reputation.
Unknown Speaker 26:50
I that a lot of people got to hear about the excellent cider and wine that they made over here. Because so often they'd be a party and the boys would go back to Victoria, especially the football teams basketball teams, and we'd fill them up with this Goofus we used to call it they'd go back and they'd say, Well, we're never coming back to Salzburg, Ireland. Took us a week to get over it.
Unknown Speaker 27:20
You're sad and conservative. Yes. My dad was a very hardened conservative and he was the Harper house was the headquarters for the Conservative Party. And then down at much the granny moat and modes boarding house and mud brothers was the head of the Liberal Party, and gibber Ghibli mutt was the head of the Liberal Party. So so many people have asked us why the population consists of so many modes and croutons. So my dad would say, well, it's this way, I would produce a sudden Dermot and he'd go down and tell Gilbert that's a good conservative vote. And Gilbert would laugh and giggle and shake his head and says, Well, you wait, Fred, that won't belong. And then he would produce an offspring. And so this went on and on. And we produced seven Kraft Heinz, and he produced about the same number of minutes. And so we can call that politics for the increase in the votes and the Croft hands. Like conservative? That's right.
Unknown Speaker 28:33
Yes, the Indians call this island, plant him, which is salt. And at the north end of the island, we have some Salt Springs. And it's really derived from the Indian name. And then when 1845 The British survey ships came here. They call this because it's the largest of the Gulf Islands admirals island. It stuck for some time, and so on most of the Old Navy charts, but Saltspring seems to be the most popular name and they retained at those strings ever, you know, you can go up and see them. They've analyzed them, but there's nothing really very much there. It's a sort of a muddy brown ish water. Very little value. No, no.
Unknown Speaker 29:38
Recent years, this has become really a playground for Victoria Vancouver, Nanaimo Western, situated exactly in between and sort of a triangle, the Gulf Islands, and I think the tourist industry is growing and it's going to grow more and more we have developed The very fine Golf Course, which was started in the early 1930s was sand greens. But now we have a very fine clubhouse and good grass greens, and a very good membership. And that is a great acquisition to the community. And a lot of results are going up all over the island, a number of subdivisions and people are coming in now and buying a lot on the sea frontage paying five and six and $7,000 for a lot. And in those days you could buy it perhaps for 100 or 300 an acre
Unknown Speaker 30:37
these society
Unknown Speaker 30:40
No, I don't think on Saltspring island there were naturally a lots of little cliques or groups that their own personal friends but whether they always went to all the community dances together. For instance, my brother and I used to play hockey, football raga, tennis golf, and we used to go all around and play elsewhere needs to come back and then the the community spirit was there. And I don't think they were as snobbish as we say, No, I wouldn't say that. But I say there were so many of the people that were born in England and knew their own county so well and they would form their own little groups and friends in the same the south end of the island. And so many were very fond of painting and they'd have their little artist groups and me musical groups and that sort of thing.
Unknown Speaker 31:33
Right