Showing 65 results

Resource
Scott and Mildred MacDonald Photograph Collection People
Print preview View:

65 results with digital objects Show results with digital objects

Trapping shelter at Elaho

Trapping shelter at Elaho built by Charles Schoonover. The men belong to Mather's logging outfit. Photo taken around 1908 - 1909.

Elaho River forms the west branch of the Squamish River. It is named for the Indian word meaning "good hunting area".

Steam donkey along Cheekye at Yapp's Logging Camp

Squamish Timber Company's yarding donkey.

In 1907, Allan Newton Barbour and his brother Charles came to Squamish and logged using 6 yoke of oxen and took out six 24' logs a "turn" (load). The area logged was near the PGE Shops (by Castle's Crossing), across the river rom the shops, on the Burnt Ground near the cemetery, at Paradise Valley, and about five miles north of Cheekye. 2 to 20 men were employed. It was customary to log close to the river so the logs just had to be dragged into the river and floated to the Howe Sound where they were picked up by the Powell River company tugs and taken up to their mills. Log jams were broken up by men in canoes. Mr McComb was the first to tow logs down the river in a boat. The Barbours would later sell out to Mr Yapp. Mr Yapp's Squamish Timber Company was incorporated on March 21, 1907. In 1910, the Yapp Company cleared the Cheekye area. A steam donkey would haul the logs 400 feet and then an 8 horse team hauled them 1/2 mile on a skid road. Another donkey, called a roader, took the logs to the river. Here the logs followed a log trough. Instead of chokers, logging dogs were used. When the Howe Sound Northern Railway came into Cheakamus, the Yapp company used the train to transport logs to the booming grounds at Squamish. In 1911, a company owned by Mr Lamb took over the Yapp stand of timber.

In 1912, Arthur McIntyre, Fidolle Laviolette, Amedy Levesque, and George Laviolette ("The French Boys") won a steam donkey from Al Barbour in a poker game. Barbour had refused to sell it to them earlier. Mr Barbour went back to logging with horses hauling the timber out on skid roads until he could afford another donkey. The boys formed a partnership called the Laviolette, McIntyre, and Levesque Logging Co.

Elvira Schoonover with Billy Goat

Elvira Schoonover with "Billy Goat". Picture taken where present Easter Seal Camp stands.

Elvira's husband brought home an orphaned kid goat one day and Elvira raised it on the bottle. It became quite tame but as it grew it became a loving nuisance. The Schoonovers didn't know where to put it until an ad for "wild" animals in a Vancouver paper gave them an "out". An answer brought the agent for a noble English lord to Schoonover Manor and soon Big Billy was part of the Duke of Bedford's estate.

Firefighters - 1913

Firefighters at the "halfway" between Upper Squamish and Cheekye. Paid $0.25 / hour.

Seated far left, Mr Morbray (fire warden); seated left with white hat, Oswald (Ozzie) Ray; far right seated on bench, Charles Sherman Schoonover; seated next to him, Paul Sellons; standing far right, Compton Reade.

In front of logging locomotive

Left to right: Harry Brightbill, Sainsbury (cook), Amedy Levesque in front of logging locomotive, 1910-1013.

Amedy Levesque and his partners, Leviolette, McIntyre, and Levesque Co. ("The French Boys") were the first to use high rigging extensively in the valley. To rig a 70 foot high spruce tree, Arthur McIntyre would go up the tree, no spures, and chop off branches as he went. When he was tired, Amedy Levsque went up, finished chopping off the branches, topped the tree, and hung the two guy lines and blocks.

Results 1 to 25 of 65