Chronicles of Boundary Country from the pages of the Boundary Creek Times Volume IV, No.22 – August 6, 1898
> Positioning Grand Forks CPR Station –
“The rather startling news comes from Grand Forks that Mr. Wilgress, right-of-way agent for the Canadian Pacific Railway, is not a happy man…He has been trying to secure a right-of -way through the beautiful city on Grand Prairie …There are two Grand Forkses, the old town is the conception of the Manlies, and Upper Grand Forks is the home of the McCallums and the Hays. Between the good Christian people of these towns a rather bitter feeling has been engendered. Mr. Wilgress is an impartial man. He lives above the bickering and jealousies of rival townsites and he proceeded to give them a lesson. He fixed the railway station on a beautiful bench midway between the two towns.”
> Cowbells and Horses –
“Horses decorated with huge cowbells have become an unbearable nuisance in the city. Those who endeavor to get a night’s sleep shower execrations upon these horses but they never seem to get offended. Indeed, they show a still greater friendship by coming nearer one’s residence and allowing the disturbed sleeper the full benefit of the ceaseless tintinnabulations of that tuneful bell.
“They even invite their neighboring horses to come over and serenade the other side of the residence. The man who decorates a horse with a cowbell and allows that horse to come within one mile of the city limits ought to receive life imprisonment.”
> Laborers Needed –
“There is a great demand for men on the Columbia & Western Railway. The rail-line now being constructed from Robson west can use 2,000 men in addition to the 1,000 now working. Additional men are being placed at work on the road and in the rock cuts as rapidly as they apply for employment.”
> Post Office News –
“The Post Office Department has granted a post office for Greenwood Camp, calling it Greenwood Camp Post Office. “This name is not satisfactory as it is likely to conflict with Greenwood Post Office. The department has been requested to change the name to Knob Hill or Phoenix.”
> Telephone Service –
“The telephone line will be built to Greenwood before the end of August. Coils of wire have been distributed along the road from Grand Forks to Greenwood and the poles are erected for seven miles on this side of Grand Forks. From reports, no extensive conversations can be engaged in other than by the rich. A Grand Forks businessman who spoke with Rossland for one minute paid 80 cents for the privilege.”
> The Man Knows How to Make a Dollar –
“Mr. F.S. Barnard has made a proposition to the city council for the sale of city debentures. He wants a year’s option on the debentures and in the meantime will advance the city $20,000 at 10% per annum. Mr. Barnard is a philanthropist.” (editor—he built the Windsor Hotel on Copper Street and became B.C.’s Lieutenant-Governor in 1914)