This recording is part of the SSI Sound Archives Project.
Mr. Grant talks about his life in Vancouver and on Vancouver Island and describes his retirement on SSI starting in 1955.
Accession Number | Interviewer | Ruth Sandwell | |
Date | July 26, 1990 | Location | Greenwoods |
Media | tape | Audio CD | mp3 |
ID | 72 | Topic |
72_Frank-Grant.mp3
otter.ai
24.01.2023
no
Unknown Speaker 0:00
Today is July 26 1990, and today I'm talking to Frank grant it is home at Greenwood old box home on Salt Spring Island. My name is Ruth Sandwell.
Unknown Speaker 0:17
Well, Mr. Grant how, how and when did your parents
Unknown Speaker 0:21
first come to British Columbia?
Unknown Speaker 0:24
Well, I'm not sure when. How the mother came by my ship from wrong American bargain.
Unknown Speaker 0:36
Oh yeah.
Unknown Speaker 0:39
San Diego, San Diego,
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San Francisco
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and Trump in me here.
Unknown Speaker 0:51
Did you come from England?
Unknown Speaker 0:52
No. She was born in New Brunswick. New Brunswick and father was born in Nova Scotia. And they didn't meet till they got to Victoria. Your grandfather, my father came out to Courtney Amash, and he started to fire him up there.
Unknown Speaker 1:14
What do you know what year that would be?
Unknown Speaker 1:21
I'm afraid I don't know what
Unknown Speaker 1:23
must have been some time. 1860 or so.
Unknown Speaker 1:26
And he may back I don't even know. When when the dad remarried there. Yeah, but that same up there.
Unknown Speaker 1:43
Oh, yeah. So your mom,
Unknown Speaker 1:49
your mom came around? They came around?
Unknown Speaker 1:53
Long Island Rail. Crossing the American border.
Unknown Speaker 2:02
into Vancouver.
Unknown Speaker 2:04
No, Vancouver. No. No, no American down. Really? has to come.
Unknown Speaker 2:14
Was it Seattle? Port Angeles.
Unknown Speaker 2:20
No, no underway, either. So way down in California. Northern California. Border embargo California.
Unknown Speaker 2:39
I just can't it wasn't wasn't Los Angeles. It wasn't San Francisco.
Unknown Speaker 2:44
No northern North of that. You'll come back anyway. And then Tyler came out and how he came on he came I GPR crossing? Oh, yeah. When I got the GPR he was here then. And so anyway, your grandfather started this big crime. I don't know how he came here. Or when he came. But he started this farm. And there was just he was just a young fella working off and on different jobs around and he was a master builder. And your grandfather said we're delighted. Broken down again. Pick up the family, we tell you to come with me. And that was her horse and buggy days. And father's insurance as well. So ownership pulled in, and passengers tried to come off. And most I got the guy down the gangway. And he's on weather on the Gateway never sounded like before. And he said they're coming my wife. And
Unknown Speaker 4:05
was that into Victoria?
Unknown Speaker 4:08
Victoria, Victoria.
Unknown Speaker 4:10
And he'd never seen her before.
Unknown Speaker 4:12
Never sure about more than one ride. And only reach 12 children.
Unknown Speaker 4:19
Where did they live?
Unknown Speaker 4:21
They lived in Courtney and Cumberland where I was born.
Unknown Speaker 4:26
That's your dad. What was your dad doing there? You mean building building houses? Yeah, I guess for the miners and
Unknown Speaker 4:33
miners. And then is that
Unknown Speaker 4:37
we where were you born?
Unknown Speaker 4:39
I was born and then moved down. And I'm I'm all I can remember a bit about my mom. Used to live district crush corners from the Bastion you're bashing Liberty crush, corner the street
Unknown Speaker 5:00
Did your dad build the house that you lived in?
Unknown Speaker 5:04
That it was an old old place. And rightly he went into the basement and he got a whole bunch of
Unknown Speaker 5:14
Indian relics playing plant blocks are not rejected, we still had two of them. And when they moved out of ankle where
Unknown Speaker 5:29
family broke up and moved out of Vancouver, one of my nephew's got these two distorts, they call them. One of them. And one of them was a cat, Mr. And I always wanted that thing. But they gave it to another. You gave it to a cousin that was younger.
Unknown Speaker 5:50
They must have been pretty old.
Unknown Speaker 5:52
They were old. I'd like to add them in order to bad Yeah, well, I didn't want to read a record
Unknown Speaker 6:07
how long were you in Nanaimo?
Unknown Speaker 6:12
Oh till 19 Five. And then we move on on Vancouver, on all Winship in Vancouver to validate your crush there. Did you go right
Unknown Speaker 6:30
from Nanaimo, to Vancouver, Vancouver,
Unknown Speaker 6:33
right across the street.
Unknown Speaker 6:34
And then when their first their first home was up on the higher Street in those days, northeast Georgia. I didn't name it. East Georgia until they put in there by duct. Randy
Unknown Speaker 6:52
the Georgia by
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the name is Georgia Street.
Unknown Speaker 7:00
I guess Vancouver looks quite a bit different than
Unknown Speaker 7:04
Vancouver 16th Avenue was the city limits. And I remember watching him put down Surrey Jonathan Harris Street, and we're just kids then and we used to watch them. They were deep in tears. They were way down there. They throw the dirt up onto this one onto the landing. And then they shot on throw it up onto the next landing. The next one was throw it up onto the top. Those are the days
Unknown Speaker 7:33
before those big shuffles like before the
Unknown Speaker 7:37
steam shovel. And then we used to watch the mostly Italians and then said the other side bank eating lunch in Germany would be long sausage long and all of that very marginal the hat
Unknown Speaker 8:03
moved from there up up to Main Street above 14th Avenue and Daglish kept moving around building places.
Unknown Speaker 8:22
He just didn't have his own company your dad will work for other people.
Unknown Speaker 8:28
He just wouldn't wouldn't have a partner even even in his own just everything
Unknown Speaker 8:41
so how long how long did you live up there on
Unknown Speaker 8:43
Main and 1402
Unknown Speaker 8:47
or three years I guess. never kept track of the years and then removed from their father built a big apartment house for me. The Muir it was a Muir bakery making Muirhead a big bakery where Main Street and and Kings
Unknown Speaker 9:23
was it the Kings way?
Unknown Speaker 9:26
Yeah
Unknown Speaker 9:31
had a big bakery there and burned down my night. No, he didn't go back into the bakery. And got this big apartment. I was on the corner of Sixth Avenue. Sixth Avenue is below us. Oh yeah. My movie mirrors be house dad building my bed my fancy house textures, and then we're living in this meaning, which were released to quite a few bedrooms for our house
Unknown Speaker 10:09
must have been had quite a big family by then. Did your mom have quite a few children by then?
Unknown Speaker 10:17
Yeah, forever all. We're all living in Warren Merton anymore, Jonathan after that.
Unknown Speaker 10:24
Oh, yeah. Well, Mr. Neff, thank you
Unknown Speaker 10:30
for trying to check in after that. We lived there for a long time until we finally moved out to my gray. And we dated by grey. All three of us joined government numbers, right? Are
Unknown Speaker 10:48
you in two of your brothers, two brothers and
Unknown Speaker 10:51
Michelle. During that numbers were in, they wouldn't have me in the right hand. And my feet were too bad.
Unknown Speaker 11:04
They threw me out seven times before they finally decide to date me. Man, I want to run with German and German. Yep. And Vernon. And I wish there and war was over. Then one day, Sergeant Major come around and he said, Can you keep the secret? Amazing. I've kept lots of them in my lifetime. And he said, what's it all about? He's well, I've chosen you which one of them are men do? Why are you hard? unloader Germans back to the old country. Always ensure I can keep a secret. So we took 500 prisoners over to London and England and left America they engaged on me. Then we couldn't get a chip back. So they sat us down whilst you were camping. And we had a great time. And
Unknown Speaker 12:16
so that was the end of the war. So where did you go from Wales?
Unknown Speaker 12:26
Well, we came home after that, like to Vancouver. Then they wanted me to go again. During another cable and it took three chaplains over airman's over to come back and I was seasick. Oh.
Unknown Speaker 12:46
What kind of ship did you go over in
Unknown Speaker 12:48
the origin? Aboriginal Britain she was ever steamship
Unknown Speaker 12:59
she shared rode the waves
Unknown Speaker 13:04
so did you did you just go to the one time over?
Unknown Speaker 13:08
Just the ones Yeah. One of my friends. Jim, why don't you get me one of your one of your partner's a long time. So he he went three or four times. His parents were in England and he would like me and some new features. He couldn't grow overseas. So he just playing around and used to Yeah,
Unknown Speaker 13:45
this is all very, very interesting.
Unknown Speaker 13:49
So what did when you came back? Did
Unknown Speaker 13:51
you came back to Vancouver? Did you
Unknown Speaker 13:53
after the war?
Unknown Speaker 13:54
Yes, we came back in burnin. And then they shipped to Vancouver discharge,
Unknown Speaker 14:04
right where your parents were still in Vancouver. So what were you What did you do after that? After the war was over?
Unknown Speaker 14:18
I went to work. I worked for father for quite a while and then
Unknown Speaker 14:28
I mentioned many jobs. I drilled out for 15 years. Really? Where was that? In California.
Unknown Speaker 14:40
How did you come to get how did you get to California from
Unknown Speaker 14:46
the Wildcat well outside of Vancouver
Unknown Speaker 14:56
Oil Company I'm outside of Vancouver, and they got tired of working like all boys do with their fathers. And so I went, ask them for a job and they said, Well, do you mean time? I'll give you the best job and your fifth time to the moon, have you got long enough? So they said, well, the job is yours. So I went out. And the first job I had was going right up into the 84 feet up into the ground. And we were struggling the blocks which cost me a buck Brittany cables through the mean traveling. And then I worked with Derek Mann on that. And then I worked up there the four feet. Okay, hydro pipe. And I'm really nothing I
Unknown Speaker 15:55
do. How long did you work there?
Unknown Speaker 16:01
I worked here for five years,
Unknown Speaker 16:06
was where was that in Vancouver? Was it in Richmond or?
Unknown Speaker 16:11
Well, they call it the outskirts of Vancouver. Marini way out on the other side of the Delta. Oh, really. Anyway, on day membro, I'm on the road is working rubbish. And he's had to go to a north pole by any chance. Well, I say you can go to the North Pole if you like. But I'll say I want an orange warmer. And finally, I was recruited that we left that job. Man, I was bucking wood back in the bush from my mother. And he was downtown looking for a job. And he came back and he said, Well, I'm going where you going? I'm growing up to Whitehorse, Yukon. You're gonna learn how to build a river barge. Otherwise you crushed any chance of going. Jenna Thank you didn't want to go. I said it's a long way north pole. He's well, I'm going down in the morning. See the Bosch medic Come with me. Some of the other brother one of the other brothers. Brainer man. Isn't being sawmill. Vancouver alone bring me where they follow me buying lumber for the builders being barge. And so he was talking about warfarin. And I was talking to my brother he's trying to you know, he played her mill. And he went like this to me and tried out. The old policy. I want to go with this. I'm sure like to use are you gardener rough gardener? Yes, I am rough niche you will do. So we went to Whitehorse and spent the summer in Whitehorse building. How did you get up to Whitehorse Mejia by ship up to gap. And then from j where by rail in the Whitehorse river there most of the summer. And what were you doing? Do you have that you could do around building this main bridge by Friday. He came to me one day and he said, You and your brother can finish this thing yet. We had you a nice knife you think so? He's an untidy, painless. Scotchman at three good strike. Millerite shipwrights. And so just what do you think? It's we ship them back to Vancouver. And my brother nice neighborhood. And we finished this big bag. Picture out here.
Unknown Speaker 19:11
Oh, yeah. So that's up in Whitehorse. That photograph was taken.
Unknown Speaker 19:17
That's so my history there. Yeah. Enjoy those pictures
Unknown Speaker 19:29
since 1925, this one's in California here
Unknown Speaker 19:40
in California, that's me. Here, my brother. And there's right down the corner. I'm cornered in Whitehorse.
Unknown Speaker 20:02
So how long how long did you stay up there wait horse
Unknown Speaker 20:07
but three months, three months to build March is your pharmacy you and your brother you can finish the same yet you lazy Well if you think so a nice job so I put all a price on that in the first place. I knew how to drive nails. So, so he kept his eye on me. You liked it. I've been dumped it into the river and decided that we had to arrange a rope locking it down to the water and what they call light, roping it down to the war. And he said, You take one of those master potion ship, you go aboard and look after that at the end of the rope. And that another fall of Arias came. He was just a stranger but he came in he got a job and he got he went down on board with me. And he took the other end of the rope and Robert rivers running pretty hard. Joffrey they Yukon river it was pretty high and some way rather he got got his foot in the rope. And I was laying everything out. And I had to take advantage but ran out a rope Oregon and their draw. And by the I heard that he had saved him as he had gone boots. And I said take your boots off and to reject those boots off and so we got the ship tied up the war went the opposite. I saved his life
Unknown Speaker 22:11
what were they using the barge for?
Unknown Speaker 22:14
What were they using the barge for?
Unknown Speaker 22:16
Oh interesting. They use it. They were loaded that way horse with fresh meat and then knowing down the river, whatever. I never I never read a white horse that didn't get out there. And then they never they sell it. Sell the meat. But I never heard any more about it. And then we came back and on board day Yeah. Now he's a boundary Bay oil company are working for him. And they had the drillers said would you come to California? Now should I go to South America? He got me a job. He said he was going back to Los Angeles. So I just got back from UConn. And he got a wire from Charlie got a job for you. Come on down. I went on down
Unknown Speaker 23:22
to check did you take the train down or by boat?
Unknown Speaker 23:26
No, my train no planes in those days no. And so I I went to work for him. And I was I was 10 years in California. Really in the Depression he had to come back they're trying to everybody tried to get me to join the union where they run Naturalizer civilized or something I said when I go nuts well there's chip your back. Nice that's good idea. Yep, back for nothing. So anyway, they didn't. I had shipped myself back. So then jobs are hard to get down there. I was making $10 a day. A lot of money in those days. Again, $350 a month really long hours drilling. The last really drilled on was 6000 feet long waist down. Yeah. I love that. All the hype about oh, I always wanted to be as the engineer. Oh yeah. And I got it on the on the oil rigs. And me printing rigs, twin engines a year when they start coming in snorting coming up on that middle pipe and And despite I loved
Unknown Speaker 25:02
Yeah. So 10 years you did that. 10 years you were drilling down there?
Unknown Speaker 25:08
Yeah. 10 years.
Unknown Speaker 25:12
So you came back
Unknown Speaker 25:13
that I came back, and I was getting $360 a month. On a game back. I went to work for my brother in law in Victoria. And $80 a week.
Unknown Speaker 25:33
What were you doing there? What was doing? What did your brother
Unknown Speaker 25:35
in law do?
Unknown Speaker 25:37
The standard furniture. Standard. And $18 a week buy a lot of money
Unknown Speaker 25:53
were you building furniture there? Right.
Unknown Speaker 25:56
Did you were you building furniture for your for your brother in law?
Unknown Speaker 26:00
No. I'm driving you then. Load your furniture. 1012 hours a day, sometimes. It's heavy work. No overtime. $18 a week and then otherwise do it. Don't get married on that to the wife was pretty brave.
Unknown Speaker 26:23
So what what was your wife's name? Before you married
Unknown Speaker 26:27
Irene Harris.
Unknown Speaker 26:30
How did you meet her? How did you meet
Unknown Speaker 26:33
your wife?
Unknown Speaker 26:35
Well, her sister her sister was engaged to this hurt her daddy's son. My nephew. Oh, yeah. So we got dynoed than they had. I met Irene. That's her. Behind the clock. Oh, yeah.
Unknown Speaker 27:03
So you met each other in Victoria.
Unknown Speaker 27:06
Later in Victoria. So we had three children. Two boys and a girl
Unknown Speaker 27:21
did you live in Victoria?
Unknown Speaker 27:23
We lived in Victoria for a while. I didn't like living in the city at all. No. I finally finally gave up driving a Ferrari caravan. One day all companies, somebody had taken over the oil rig and wanted to deepen that and want to be involved there and patient to get out of the hole for them. So I went out and fish the tours out of the hole. It was only 4000 feet. I pushed them out. That worked for them for a while in Vancouver. And that same place boundary. And anyway, they had another driller there. And he tried to run things. So I might let him run. I walked off from lifted that was it. So how did you come
Unknown Speaker 28:29
to get to be on Salt Spring?
Unknown Speaker 28:33
Oh well, we
Unknown Speaker 28:44
when we were living at Dunkin, then
Unknown Speaker 28:47
Oh yeah. What were you working at in Dunkin?
Unknown Speaker 28:52
And ice said, well, Sandra day I said to her, Well, I'm getting around retiring age, where would you like to go and retire? Or she was born on Pender Island. And I said, she said, Oh, I always wanted to go back to Pender Island. And I know that's too far away. How about South spring? And she's well I'm settled results spring. And so it just happened that the Monday was a holiday. And so I I had we couldn't we had to go all the way out or on switch baby that couldn't go crashing. Anyway. So we went across, drove all over the island, and I saw there's nothing better Rockpile. Nothing we want. And so she wasn't happy yet. So she got a hold of a sales lady with a surgery lands. And she she came down. She left the car we left her car to the side She picked us up and she did same thing she drove us all around this north end of the island and I said I said I'll come back
Unknown Speaker 30:21
so you sheets
Unknown Speaker 30:24
you've got nothing we want Mr. Take us back to that very well Mr. Grant you're if you're a carpenter is a patient forward you might do something with a nice bow. What are you waiting for it Okay, so it took us down to forward this darn old tumble down place. That's what it turned out to be.
Unknown Speaker 30:45
Oh, that beautiful house thing. So why did you What did you like about it
Unknown Speaker 30:51
when you saw it?
Unknown Speaker 30:52
Oh, I don't know waterfront and you're gonna look out you're gonna see Mark Baker and all the Gulf Islands and all that and it just hadn't made her happy there and so I sit on this
Unknown Speaker 31:11
rubbish pile yeah what did the sales lady say?
Unknown Speaker 31:17
She said Mr. Grant your cabinet in place in forefront you might do something with it you're waiting for her she said okay. So she drove down Isabella point route and that replaces an old towel down place filler shingle Greensand goes net and layer instead all but look at Mount Baker and look at all this and look at that and I look at the house and I said okay, well I'll have a look. So I went in the basement and the foundations are 18 inches thick. My son in law's father finally turned out to be my son in law and had to made it in all the areas and more he laid on the concrete he would be able to do it now the price of it these days.
Unknown Speaker 32:15
So who built originally who built the house
Unknown Speaker 32:20
what was his name Lacey Lacey
Unknown Speaker 32:27
ya
Unknown Speaker 32:32
so you thought it would be a good good start for house with those good foundation
Unknown Speaker 32:39
locked down heavy, heavy temporary underneath it. So I went up and I already think now oh, I have to have this nice and Okay. So I wrote Jaqen whenever we were happy she was happy. So So I
Unknown Speaker 32:59
guess Fulford was was quite different in those days. That was about what year was that when when you were
Unknown Speaker 33:06
55 Different Detroit right different going in going from like say the corner or the drugs are there and I crushed the remote store. Well the position narrow dirt road and there's all Tidewater on your right side and 10 and on that beach, all that are the banks most major city and the fire
Unknown Speaker 33:38
station to
Unknown Speaker 33:40
you know, the banks and the fire station that was all Tidewater,
Unknown Speaker 33:44
Tidewater. Yeah. And
Unknown Speaker 33:47
so was moments just on the end on the end of a peninsula then like when you'd come around by the drugstore and you'd have to drive out and then mow it was at the end. Yeah. And then water on both sides
Unknown Speaker 34:02
even they had a lumber shed sitting on the side of the bank over top of the water ingress right now I shouldn't had two pictures of it
Unknown Speaker 34:24
so what did they
Unknown Speaker 34:25
so that must all be filled that they filled in because they have the park there now when the banks did they just bring in sand and
Unknown Speaker 34:35
rubbish. Everything that you're fine. Oh, yeah. Even I had one of the old fashioned telephones. You could wake it up at all. Yeah. That was on the wall that police. I read there. And a telephone man came and took it off. And he was one of the new phones and he took them in the back and I saw him dump a whole bunch of them into that place
Unknown Speaker 35:11
so they're still down there I guess
Unknown Speaker 35:13
the fire department is there Yeah. I saw a whole bunch of telephones in their all manners
Unknown Speaker 35:26
so when you first arrived what kind of ferry service was there down at the south end?
Unknown Speaker 35:33
I pick Alia just happened to go on a busy day and the carriage like my granddaughter is selling today that that was overloaded that we were sure overloaded that day too. And so he said come on in and so I drove I made family get off and walk aboard and and then they
Unknown Speaker 36:12
drove in and mainly the back end there were sticking out like this over the water and they took a rope the rope around mission boards everywhere
Unknown Speaker 36:28
that you made it alright
Unknown Speaker 36:35
then the old warfare over Hedren just an old wooden war they rebuilt all that now
Unknown Speaker 36:49
did they be when BC Ferries took over the ferry service? Is that when they rebuilt the war Yeah. Did the side pack come
Unknown Speaker 36:59
right into Fulford
Unknown Speaker 37:02
Oh, yes. Yeah. She came in
Unknown Speaker 37:12
she came
Unknown Speaker 37:14
quite regularly though, was it? You could get over to Victoria pretty well.
Unknown Speaker 37:19
Oh, yeah. It was just more or less dirt road to now they rebuilt all that
Unknown Speaker 37:42
spring, you know, in 1955. Was there was there quite a bit of logging going on there then.
Unknown Speaker 37:50
Yeah, there was a bit of logging.
Unknown Speaker 37:54
Would it be local local people doing logging?
Unknown Speaker 37:58
Or say yes, yeah.
Unknown Speaker 38:04
Right Hollings was one of the largest homeless I built a big double garage one there for logging trucks. He died.
Unknown Speaker 38:22
That's right. He recently said
Unknown Speaker 38:24
to me when I was in there and I'm an old timer in the hospital
Unknown Speaker 38:34
so Fred Hollings did logging he logged down around Isabella point
Unknown Speaker 38:39
yes, I'm logging Isabella point where we had at home. You see that stone wall?
Unknown Speaker 38:51
I built all that stone wall and then a yen just a dirt road is about a pike road then. It is much better now.
Unknown Speaker 39:07
But beyond us down the creek quite a loop there to get down to our place then. And above that. It was there already about three homes now. Must be three
Unknown Speaker 39:25
busy place down there now.
Unknown Speaker 39:26
Did you retire? Did you you did a little bit of building did you when you after you move to Saltspring. You did. Did you work as a carpenter match you bought
Unknown Speaker 39:41
and sold a couple of houses. Right. So should we leave? And then we'll share the bushing repair work.
Unknown Speaker 39:55
Did you work on any? You were mentioning that you
Unknown Speaker 39:58
worked on the Patterson store
Unknown Speaker 40:02
Did you work on the Patterson's?
Unknown Speaker 40:04
No I didn't know I did work on any of them
Unknown Speaker 40:15
so you just did I guess
Unknown Speaker 40:17
your children were growing up and were
Unknown Speaker 40:19
they they must be well
Unknown Speaker 40:20
you know this daughter was going to suddenly going to college no electronics engineer is the only one who had any range
Unknown Speaker 40:39
was there what was the road like between Fulford and Ganges when you first came dirt road
Unknown Speaker 40:46
just to do
Unknown Speaker 40:47
a dirt road? I've driven that road many a time I've never met it's all
Unknown Speaker 40:54
different now.
Unknown Speaker 40:56
And narrow was much traffic.
Unknown Speaker 41:01
Yeah. Did the in Ganges up in Ganges What did the ferry come into Ganges to or boat come into Ganges?
Unknown Speaker 41:11
No, there were no much more coming in
Unknown Speaker 41:20
I guess a lot of the people on the island there was a lot of farming men
Unknown Speaker 41:26
well, not too much sheep sheep farming
Unknown Speaker 41:38
Did you were there a lot of crops grown then?
Unknown Speaker 41:42
A lot of crops or was it mainly just to feed the sheep a lot of a lot of did they grow a lot of you know,
Unknown Speaker 41:51
vegetables or grain or?
Unknown Speaker 41:54
Oh yeah, I say mostly. Like, gosh, we had our own garden to that place. Irene had beautiful gardens in that. Valley was known. By like topsoil that deep. You invite rock. Wonderful. She grew it all her vegetables. We have a bar mitzvah all the time. And live there
Unknown Speaker 42:24
and flower gardens. Oh, all around the place now. I should see it. Is it BlackBerry vines and
Unknown Speaker 42:35
those blackberries? I know they're real. They really grow back quickly. Don't don't look at it.
Unknown Speaker 42:41
Because nobody seemed to care after that. Just shut to you even let them each fall.
Unknown Speaker 42:50
That's a shame isn't it on after all the work and you work and work to build it up him?
Unknown Speaker 42:54
I built about all that stone wall. And it's the only thing is really standing I think the house the throw the fireplace
Unknown Speaker 43:12
again, I was going to show you some of the title. She made me again. I forget I'm only here. A beautiful tile, and then cover the whole front of the fireplace. Lovely. Nice. Yeah. Who's that birthplace decided they didn't want it there. And so it ripped all thing out. And it's all dumped on the beach. Tile and everything.
Unknown Speaker 43:45
When did you sell it? When did you sell sell the house?
Unknown Speaker 43:59
You bought it in 55. So how many how many years? Were you living there?
Unknown Speaker 44:08
Up until the time. I mean, you got that? Old I called Alzheimer's disease. She died in lady mental. The slash brain? Oh yeah.
Unknown Speaker 44:19
So you must have lived in that house for a long time.
Unknown Speaker 44:23
Yeah, yeah.
Unknown Speaker 44:26
Did when you came to when you first came to Saltspring. Did you? Did you or your wife belong to any of the you know organizations like farmers Institute or did your wife belong to the IoD II or
Unknown Speaker 44:40
Oh, she she did more of her own greater Oh, yeah. She loved her people come and see her guidance. She talks went to church and all that. I take him to church reach out to your home. One day I met the preacher. He said Frank I don't I don't see you in church very often. His name was Golightly and I said Mr Golightly and as a perfect name for him I said idea far more out of my garden and I get out of your preaching
Unknown Speaker 45:24
what do you say what what church did your wife go to? United
Unknown Speaker 45:40
so when you moved when you move to Isabella point there were not many people living there no did you know all your neighbors then
Unknown Speaker 45:57
yeah, Lacey Lacey just slipped by wash. They both passed away up there. And
Unknown Speaker 46:09
what were their names the laces to remember their names
Unknown Speaker 46:14
No, I know remember his name
Unknown Speaker 46:22
did you say you bought your property? You bought that place from the laces?
Unknown Speaker 46:28
No, I bought it from her watch it he built the house the first house and
Unknown Speaker 46:50
I can't remember.
Unknown Speaker 46:53
So the lease is with some of your neighbors. Do you remember any of your other neighbors down there then?
Unknown Speaker 47:07
Hey, do I know
Unknown Speaker 47:08
it's hard to think back isn't it? It's hard to
Unknown Speaker 47:13
get an ad for a job on your head
Unknown Speaker 47:22
I've heard since I've been talking to people I hear quite a bit about that the North end was quite separate from the south end. Was that still true in 1955? Was it true that the North end was sort of separate
Unknown Speaker 47:39
more more occupied more people moved into the North End move yes the south end Yeah. But then after a while reenter I noticed beauty of the shows in I wouldn't read your name. I'm still be there hadn't been around for a while. Yeah.
Unknown Speaker 48:10
Is there anything else you'd like to? Is there anything else you'd like to tell me about about Saltspring in the old days when you when you came?
Unknown Speaker 48:21
Do you want to tell me
Unknown Speaker 48:22
about about Fulford. What was that? Was
Unknown Speaker 48:26
there just the one store in?
Unknown Speaker 48:30
Paterson store? Patterson's lived in the old house? On the corner there? Oh, yeah. That was a storage who? That was their grocery store.
Unknown Speaker 48:41
Oh, really? That was where the restaurant is now.
Unknown Speaker 48:46
No average across the street. Okay. Yeah. But I went over some groceries one day, after in the spring. And Bob Patterson said, Are you doing anything? I said, Oh, no, no, no. And I didn't get out. And I said, right. You got in mind. He said, I wonder. And he said, building across the street. I said, Well, what do you mean? He said, I want to make that into a store across the street. I said lead me to it. So he led me to it. And dump
Unknown Speaker 49:35
what was it? Was it being used at all or was it empty?
Unknown Speaker 49:39
It was empty for years. Yeah. All the time. I knew years. The doors are falling off and everything and so
Unknown Speaker 49:49
on. So what did you do? You just fixed it up the
Unknown Speaker 49:56
store my Dad Oh, I was getting about $5 a day myself and and I said to Bob, you'll have to I'll have to have help you get the help. I said it across your money at all. I knew they were tight on the money. And I told him cost about $5 a day extra. Who always had I'll help you. And so I all between them when I needed help. I had to go cross street. Wait for him to finish or curb customer delight. Anyway, then I got sick went to the hospital and they got hired another auditor. He built all the cabinet work and you rock them do it. I never liked getting any work anyway.
Unknown Speaker 51:04
Oh, my doors and windows. Made it look more like a building. Yeah. Then Bob stuccoed after that
Unknown Speaker 51:20
all right. Well, I think that that's
Unknown Speaker 51:25
a great deal. So thank you. I think that's just fine.
Unknown Speaker 51:31
Thank you very much. Got enough.
Unknown Speaker 51:39
Funny, I've forgotten the names of the people who was really out. He lived beyond us. Oh, yeah. I know him. He died since that. He married one of the Lishi girls. She's a nurse. She went in the North Country. Nursery up in the north country to pay back came home and Ryan had a wife and she had some random a crippling disease. She was in bed all the time. And then she died. And then finally, Ruby and and he got married. And then he got sick. He died. So now Ruby's all by herself. Still got the house by herself. She's one of my best friends. She looks after me. She's a nurse too. She sees that I don't do the wrong thing. Yeah, I do the wrong route.