Post by Jeff Clarke on Jul 25, 2008 19:57:18 GMT -8
Hi Jeff,
Got your e-mail and thanks for the photos. At this time I don't have a scanner or printer so I can't print or send you anything by electronic mail but we can keep in touch by e-mail. As for the photos, I have most of them except the Harms kids by the fence (great one) Harms kids playing in dirt (doesn't look like Renata) but the one I really like is the hauling of the big log up the shoot. That's the first mill (burned Sept 1924) Looks like a young Pete harms on the right. I wouldn't mind getting a copy off the original if you have it sometime. My dad worked for Pete on the last mill shoot hooking up the tongs to haul them out of the lake. 1930. He said when the lake was rough, it was tough to do.
You mentioned if the machinery for the mill still existed. When I taped Ray Friesen (late 1980s) he talked about trying to sell the mill for Agatha. Nobody wanted to pay anything for it. Finally he sold it to somebody in Trail. My uncle John Rohn said that too. He bought the old Harms truck "Republic" from this Trail firm and made a tractor out of it. I had 3 ninty minute tapes of Ray. I lent them to Mary Koch 10 years ago and when you and I started corresponding I went to listen to them to refresh my memory. I couldn't find the third one,(which talked about the sale of the last mill) so Mary must not have returned it. She passed away a couple of years ago. But I listened to the two tapes I have and here's a few things he said about the mill. This is about the new mill (the one you sent that shows the mill on left and Harms house on right with box factory behind house.) "The new mill was more in line to make *box shook. Mostly out of pine. Pete had to invent some of the cutting techniques to make different sizes for the boxes. You didn't have experts coming in to set up things like now days. He shipped box shook from Burton south to Nelson and area. Didn't think he shipped anything to Creston though. You had to put all this shook on a truck, take it down to the wharf and have deckhands wheel it onto the Minto or Columbia tug. This took time to do.
The machinery in the mill was antiquated - very slow moving parts from the carriage on. It was efficient to do what it was supposed to do but so slow which meant more cost. For example; the planner would do one edge and one side. Then you had to pick it up and carry it around to do the other side. Very slow process. He did all his own filing.
Running the boiler : CF Friesen ran it from the mid 1920s til early 1930s. PW had his 4th class steam ticket and ran the first mill most of the time. In the 1930s PW would come down and run the boiler from time to time in exchange for box shook. He had the orchard up top.
Pete and Bill had a disagreement and broke up their partnership. I'm not sure if it was before that first mill burned or after. Bill moved up top to PWs place and started fruit farming in season and logging on Pine Ridge in the winter ( mostly for the mill) Bill had a log dump on the old Rohn property which bordered Pine Ridge. I have a few pictures of this. They still traded. Pete would give him box shook for his orchard in exchange for Bills logs. Box shook was what that second mill was all about. When the Renata Co-op was formed in 1928 and the Packing shed built in 1932, that probably was enough to keep the mill going. Ray was working for Pete in the early 1930s and told me how bad things got. Nobody had any money. 1933 was probably the last good year the mill had.
The photo of the inside of the mill with Pete and PW is the first mill, more than likely taken in the mid teens. Not sure when the Harms took over the mill. That little booket on Renata by my mom and Mary warkintin "The Story of Renata" says they took it over in 1912, a year after it was started. Matilda told me it was 1916. I'm missing the year 1916 from the Nash diaries so that might have told you. You may have information about this.
I will copy the Nash diaries some time this month for you. What it is, is highlights of all the diaries 1912 - 1931. Most of his daily inserts are of the weather, his crops, water intake, etc. I went through them once and it takes a long time to do that, so I typed out all the main things that I was interested in. about 40 pages.
I spent quite a bit of time with Helen Klaassen ( Pete Friesens daughter) She had a great photo collection on early Renata from the George Rempel family. Also her cousin John Rempel of Abbotsford (Jake Rempels son) He had a stack of old post cards. I learned a lot about the Rempel family. Helen's mom was Anna Rempel (Agatha's sister) There's a photo of Peter Friesen and Anna Rempels wedding in 1914. Everybody in Renata seems to be on that picture.
Edgar Friesen, I taped years ago talks a little about the stencil Harms had at the mill. He was there when they first got it. Had a roller that went around with a crank. You set the letters and numbers the way you wanted it, then put your box end in there and stenciled it on. They did some for PWs orchard first and they all thought that was so neat to have your name and place on your own box. I guess I should have him draw me a diagram of it to explain it better.
Fred Nash diary from Nov 23, 1919. Dora and I had a walk in the afternoon and went to the mill to see the new house that Peter Harms is building.
Nash's horse was called Star. His first one was Jack, died fairly early. My dad looked after Nash and his horse throughout the 1930s until Fred died in 1940. He inherited one block from him and bought the other one. That's how we got the diaries and all of Freds other stuff. I'm glad my parents saved this. Most families got rid of stuff like this. I have a Seth Thomas clock, which belonged to Sandy Gaston, the first guy in Renata, 1897. This also came from Freds house.
Other Photos; Theres a nice one of Pete in his timber limits behind the mill with his horse. Have you seen this. I have an original post card of this. Theres a 1912 photo of the tug Columbia in the bay ( where last wharf was) picking up some of Harms cordwood. Its very dark. I think it goes with that picture of them cutting all that wood below PWs place which I think is around the same time. Henry is in the picture so it's before 1913. That picture you sent (I got it from Trudy) of them cutting cordwood has all 5 Harms boys in it. The only other one with all Harms boys I've seen is Henry's funeral.
The Harms ( and other Renata ones) photos I copied are from; Mary Funk, Vic Fast ( his mom was the second PW wife) Ray Friesen, Trudy Desjardins, Matilda Williams, Helen Klaassen, John Rempel. Rolla had a nice album, she showed me, but I was just passing through Sicamous and didn't have time to copy any. I stopped in to see Ed Harms and she came over.
I was wondering if you have any sterwheeler or tug photos of the Arrow Lakes. After collecting on Renata which I mainly finished 10 years ago, I started collecting on all the towns that were flooded on the Arrows. Mainly steamboats and sawmill photos.
I still haven't got onto Face Book yet. Was having trouble with the password. Maybe I'm just computer illiterate.
Thanks again for rekindling my interest in Renata.
Bruce
*Box shook
Produced by resawing standard S2S lumber. (surfaced on two sides) is cut to size for box manufacture but not yet assembled; may be manufactured in many sizes to meet each individual buyer's requirements.
Got your e-mail and thanks for the photos. At this time I don't have a scanner or printer so I can't print or send you anything by electronic mail but we can keep in touch by e-mail. As for the photos, I have most of them except the Harms kids by the fence (great one) Harms kids playing in dirt (doesn't look like Renata) but the one I really like is the hauling of the big log up the shoot. That's the first mill (burned Sept 1924) Looks like a young Pete harms on the right. I wouldn't mind getting a copy off the original if you have it sometime. My dad worked for Pete on the last mill shoot hooking up the tongs to haul them out of the lake. 1930. He said when the lake was rough, it was tough to do.
You mentioned if the machinery for the mill still existed. When I taped Ray Friesen (late 1980s) he talked about trying to sell the mill for Agatha. Nobody wanted to pay anything for it. Finally he sold it to somebody in Trail. My uncle John Rohn said that too. He bought the old Harms truck "Republic" from this Trail firm and made a tractor out of it. I had 3 ninty minute tapes of Ray. I lent them to Mary Koch 10 years ago and when you and I started corresponding I went to listen to them to refresh my memory. I couldn't find the third one,(which talked about the sale of the last mill) so Mary must not have returned it. She passed away a couple of years ago. But I listened to the two tapes I have and here's a few things he said about the mill. This is about the new mill (the one you sent that shows the mill on left and Harms house on right with box factory behind house.) "The new mill was more in line to make *box shook. Mostly out of pine. Pete had to invent some of the cutting techniques to make different sizes for the boxes. You didn't have experts coming in to set up things like now days. He shipped box shook from Burton south to Nelson and area. Didn't think he shipped anything to Creston though. You had to put all this shook on a truck, take it down to the wharf and have deckhands wheel it onto the Minto or Columbia tug. This took time to do.
The machinery in the mill was antiquated - very slow moving parts from the carriage on. It was efficient to do what it was supposed to do but so slow which meant more cost. For example; the planner would do one edge and one side. Then you had to pick it up and carry it around to do the other side. Very slow process. He did all his own filing.
Running the boiler : CF Friesen ran it from the mid 1920s til early 1930s. PW had his 4th class steam ticket and ran the first mill most of the time. In the 1930s PW would come down and run the boiler from time to time in exchange for box shook. He had the orchard up top.
Pete and Bill had a disagreement and broke up their partnership. I'm not sure if it was before that first mill burned or after. Bill moved up top to PWs place and started fruit farming in season and logging on Pine Ridge in the winter ( mostly for the mill) Bill had a log dump on the old Rohn property which bordered Pine Ridge. I have a few pictures of this. They still traded. Pete would give him box shook for his orchard in exchange for Bills logs. Box shook was what that second mill was all about. When the Renata Co-op was formed in 1928 and the Packing shed built in 1932, that probably was enough to keep the mill going. Ray was working for Pete in the early 1930s and told me how bad things got. Nobody had any money. 1933 was probably the last good year the mill had.
The photo of the inside of the mill with Pete and PW is the first mill, more than likely taken in the mid teens. Not sure when the Harms took over the mill. That little booket on Renata by my mom and Mary warkintin "The Story of Renata" says they took it over in 1912, a year after it was started. Matilda told me it was 1916. I'm missing the year 1916 from the Nash diaries so that might have told you. You may have information about this.
I will copy the Nash diaries some time this month for you. What it is, is highlights of all the diaries 1912 - 1931. Most of his daily inserts are of the weather, his crops, water intake, etc. I went through them once and it takes a long time to do that, so I typed out all the main things that I was interested in. about 40 pages.
I spent quite a bit of time with Helen Klaassen ( Pete Friesens daughter) She had a great photo collection on early Renata from the George Rempel family. Also her cousin John Rempel of Abbotsford (Jake Rempels son) He had a stack of old post cards. I learned a lot about the Rempel family. Helen's mom was Anna Rempel (Agatha's sister) There's a photo of Peter Friesen and Anna Rempels wedding in 1914. Everybody in Renata seems to be on that picture.
Edgar Friesen, I taped years ago talks a little about the stencil Harms had at the mill. He was there when they first got it. Had a roller that went around with a crank. You set the letters and numbers the way you wanted it, then put your box end in there and stenciled it on. They did some for PWs orchard first and they all thought that was so neat to have your name and place on your own box. I guess I should have him draw me a diagram of it to explain it better.
Fred Nash diary from Nov 23, 1919. Dora and I had a walk in the afternoon and went to the mill to see the new house that Peter Harms is building.
Nash's horse was called Star. His first one was Jack, died fairly early. My dad looked after Nash and his horse throughout the 1930s until Fred died in 1940. He inherited one block from him and bought the other one. That's how we got the diaries and all of Freds other stuff. I'm glad my parents saved this. Most families got rid of stuff like this. I have a Seth Thomas clock, which belonged to Sandy Gaston, the first guy in Renata, 1897. This also came from Freds house.
Other Photos; Theres a nice one of Pete in his timber limits behind the mill with his horse. Have you seen this. I have an original post card of this. Theres a 1912 photo of the tug Columbia in the bay ( where last wharf was) picking up some of Harms cordwood. Its very dark. I think it goes with that picture of them cutting all that wood below PWs place which I think is around the same time. Henry is in the picture so it's before 1913. That picture you sent (I got it from Trudy) of them cutting cordwood has all 5 Harms boys in it. The only other one with all Harms boys I've seen is Henry's funeral.
The Harms ( and other Renata ones) photos I copied are from; Mary Funk, Vic Fast ( his mom was the second PW wife) Ray Friesen, Trudy Desjardins, Matilda Williams, Helen Klaassen, John Rempel. Rolla had a nice album, she showed me, but I was just passing through Sicamous and didn't have time to copy any. I stopped in to see Ed Harms and she came over.
I was wondering if you have any sterwheeler or tug photos of the Arrow Lakes. After collecting on Renata which I mainly finished 10 years ago, I started collecting on all the towns that were flooded on the Arrows. Mainly steamboats and sawmill photos.
I still haven't got onto Face Book yet. Was having trouble with the password. Maybe I'm just computer illiterate.
Thanks again for rekindling my interest in Renata.
Bruce
*Box shook
Produced by resawing standard S2S lumber. (surfaced on two sides) is cut to size for box manufacture but not yet assembled; may be manufactured in many sizes to meet each individual buyer's requirements.