Autumn in Agassiz 1896
From choir practice, planning for future crops, and travels to Yale for All Hallows, the Wright siblings experience their first autumn in Agassiz, British Columbia, Canada.
This post is all about postal delays, train strikes, Hotel Bella Vista and planning for the future.
Postal Delays
Letters from September and the beginning of October 1896 are not included in this collection. Between postal delays and train strikes, it’s easy to see how letters would have gone missing or possibly not written at all. Residents in Agassiz complained that the daily papers only arrived two or three days in a week and other parcels and letters had gone missing or heavily delayed.
Train Strike
Trains were essential for transportation of people, goods, and mail. When the telegrapher and other railway workers went on strike it caused even more postal delays in the Fraser Valley.
Letters
Cecil’s Letter to Father
October 12, 1896
Dear Father,
I think that the strike must now be at an end for three trains have been through this afternoon. Two passengers going east & west & one freight train going west. May was in at the station & she says that there is a new station agent. The station agents were all given 24 hours notice that if they did not go back to work they would all be sacked. Pretty hard work if they have got new men from here to Montreal.
Everybody tells me how that you never do well the first year. So you see they agree with the gentleman you mentioned in your last letter I can’t remember who he was. We have got off the place this year about 50 tons of hay worth about $10 and about 5 tons of wheat worth from $20 to 25 a ton.
I am going to try and get some cattle from up country so as to use the hay in that way. We have got $100 in the bank. We owe Inkman the grocer $100 which we are going to pay with the wheat otherwise we do not owe any money except to Mr. Hamersley we have not been able to make arrangements with Mr. Hamersley as he has not been able to come up as the strike has stopped the trains.
We owe Mr. Hamersley $225 the other $100 we paid with the ploughing we did in the spring of course we are going to try & get Mr. Hamersley to make a great reduction with the rent. But I am afraid we shall have to ask you to help us as we shall have to have some money to get through the winter with.
I remain your aff son
Cecil.
P.S. I am very sorry to have to ask you for money but we have had a very bad season that as you see we have really made nothing. I will write as soon as I have some for Mr. Hamersley.
May’s Letter to Mother
Rec’d Nov 4th
Hazeley, Agassiz, B.C.
October 19th, 1896
My dearest Mother,
It is nearly ten o’clock so I mustn’t write a long letter; I am rather late to-night as Connie & Nellie came over this afternoon & as it —moonlight they stopped to tea & didn’t leave till half-past seven; they have asked us all to an oyster supper & small dance on Wednesday evening.
The boys drew their last two loads of hay from the prairie on Thursday, they didn’t finish til half past three in the afternoon, but we hurried up & went to the Agassiz’s for tennis & drove home by moonlight. This afternoon Harold has been out shooting; he hasn’t had time to go before; it is such lovely weather now & the work is nearly mostly over so we want to make the most of our opportunities before the rain begins; to-morrow as it is not Church Sunday we are going out on the lake for the day, I have only been twice this summer so far; & if only we have time. I want to go up our little mountain one day, the view from the top is said to be lovely.
The winter’s wood has still to be cut, Cecil & Mr. George are cutting some this afternoon. Mr. George has sold his team, so now he says in a few days he will be square with the world again; & owe nothing; he can’t get his wages from Burkitt though, his tooth ache has gone I’m glad to say, he was so bad for about a month. Mr. Croucher wants me & one of the boys to go up to Yale for All Saints’ Day, I think Harold & I will probably go from Saturday till Tuesday, he has asked us so often. Now I really want to go to bed, as I want to be up in good time in the morning.
Very much love,
Your affectionate daughter,
May Wright.
How is Mr. Shelding’s eye, he was so very ill when I left home. Will you tell Jessie Chandler I should like a letter, I suppose work parties have began.
May’s Letter to Mother
Hazeley, Agassiz, B.C.
October 24th, 1896
My dearest Mother,
We have been doing a good many things this week as the boys are not quite so busy now, & it is lovely weather; on Sunday we all went up to the Hot Springs to lunch & then we went down the Harrison River in a boat, Mr. George paid for the amusement; on Monday Mr. George said he he would drive me into Agassiz with his pony Lucy, but she had never been driven single before & had a great bother hitching her up, & then she would only j—- about & turn round & round, as was in a hurry he couldn’t bother with her so he rode her in; on — we hitched her up in the say in with Maud & she went pretty well, Mr. George, Harold, & I went in to the station just to get a few things & take some wheat & came straight back.
Thursday was a perfect day & Harold took a load of wheat to the Hot Springs for Dr. Farwell; & in the afternoon Mr. George, Cecil, & I went to the prayer for a about two hours, it is so lovely, I had never been before; it was a very hot afternoon & very sunny; Cecil likes the river so much that he says we must canoe next year. On Friday Harold & I walked in to choir practice, & afterwards went to a small supper party at the Agassiz’s which was very dull & very late, they seem as if they couldn’t give their entertainment at reasonable hours, we didn’t have supper til a quarter to twelve.
To-day Harold has gone to the station with Mr. George to take his team which he has sold to Inkman; they are not back yet. To-morrow is Church Sunday Mr. Burkitt is going to church with me. On Sunday with (All Saint’s Day) Harold & I will be at Yale. I expect Mr. Croucher has asked us to go from Saturday till Tuesday.
We have had one really wet day this week (Tuesday) but except for that the weather has been lovely, it is colder at night now & in the early morning. Mr. George has given one of his days to Mrs. Agassiz; its now we have only four; but that is quite enough. I meant to be going to bed as I had a fort night last night. Please thank Father for the Post Office Order.
With very much love
Your aff. Daughter
May Wright.
Cecil’s Letter to Father
Dear Father, October 30, 1896
I had a letter from Mr. Hamersley yesterday in which he says that he will take off half the rent this year. This was in reply to a letter from me in which I asked him that owing to the bad year we have had that we could not pay the rent.
This year we shall have to pay $275 cash as in the spring we did $100 ploughing half of this fell dew on the 25th of Sept.
I am going to ask Mr. Hamersley if he will let us have the place for $500 next year and on the same terms as this year that is that we an leave at the end of the year if it is not a success. I have not said anything to him about it and will not till I hear from you. Because of course we take the place for another it will mean another expense for you. As we should have to have money to run the place till the fall.
I shall be very sorry if we are unable to keep the place as I feel sure that if we could stay on and stock it by degrees we should make a very good thing of it in a few years.
Harold & May are going to Yale tomorrow to spend All Saints Day with Mr. Croucher. The rain has come at last and it is raining like anything I wish it had held off a day or two as I wanted to put a stack into the barn.
With very much love,
I remain your
Aff. Son
Cecil Wright.
Hotel Bella Vista
The Bella Vista was a popular place to stay as it was close to the Canadian Pacific Railway station and only a short ride to Harrison Hot Springs. Built in 1891 and run by Proprietress Ms. Rebecca Probert and Manager Charles Inman, it was a very popular hotel.
Ms. Probert held a lease of $1.00 a year for the area between the station and the hotel so that the guests could access a pathway that directly connected the two. Otherwise the guests would have to take the longer way around.The bedrooms on the first floor had carpet, double beds, dressing tables and wash stands. The bedrooms used coal oil lamps for lighting. The hotel was heated by firewood and coal. There was a bar up unit prohibition came in 1916.The second floor contained large rooms that were used for overflow and also for the loggers who needed a place to stay overnight while they waited for their trains.
The Agassiz station was a popular one because the trains didn’t have dining cars so they would stop at the Agassiz Station so that the passengers could have a meal at the hotel. Even thought the dining room was a good size, it couldn’t accommodate all the passengers at once which led to many impatient passengers.
Behind the hotel was the cold storage where the ice that was cut out of the Fraser River each winter was stored for use in the bar and the dining room.One of the hotel amenities was the livery stable next to the hotel were guests could keep their horses. The hotel had a rose arbor, flower beds, a tennis court and a large vegetable garden.
When the hotel opened there was no electricity. The light in the public areas was supplied by large gas or oil chandeliers that required a hand-operated pump. It from the small porch at the back of the lobby. Each day they were pumped full and lit, and each night they were lowered .
Famous Guests
Tekahionwake (Emily Pauline Johnson) 1861-1913
A Canadian poet, author, and performer. Her poetry focused on romance, nature, and themes of her Mohawk culture The Song My Paddles Sings, is her best known poem. Her funeral in 1913 was the largest public funeral in Vancouver up to then.
The Song My Paddle Sings
West wind, blow from your prairie nest,
Blow from the mountains, blow from the west
The sail is idle, the sailor too;
O! wind of the west, we wait for you.
Blow, blow!
I have wooed you so,
But never a favour you bestow.
You rock your cradle the hills between,
But scorn to notice my white lateen.
I stow the sail, unship the mast:
I wooed you long but my wooing’s past;
My paddle will lull you into rest.
O! drowsy wind of the drowsy west,
Sleep, sleep,
By your mountain steep,
Or down where the prairie grasses sweep!
Now fold in slumber your laggard wings,
For soft is the song my paddle sings.
August is laughing across the sky,
Laughing while paddle, canoe and I,
Drift, drift,
Where the hills uplift
On either side of the current swift.
The river rolls in its rocky bed;
My paddle is plying its way ahead;
Dip, dip,
While the waters flip
In foam as over their breast we slip.
And oh, the river runs swifter now;
The eddies circle about my bow.
Swirl, swirl!
How the ripples curl
In many a dangerous pool awhirl!
And forward far the rapids roar,
Fretting their margin for evermore.
Dash, dash,
With a mighty crash,
They seethe, and boil, and bound, and splash.
Be strong, O paddle! be brave, canoe!
The reckless waves you must plunge into.
Reel, reel.
On your trembling keel,
But never a fear my craft will feel.
We’ve raced the rapid, we’re far ahead!
The river slips through its silent bed.
Sway, sway,
As the bubbles spray
And fall in tinkling tunes away.
And up on the hills against the sky,
A fir tree rocking its lullaby,
Swings, swings,
Its emerald wings,
Swelling the song that my paddle sings.
Dame Ellen Terry 1847-1928
An English actress known for her Shakespearean performances. She toured the world performing. In 1922 she became the second woman to be appointed Dame for her professional achievements. During one break she joined Sir Henry Irving for a stay at the Bella Vista
Sir Henry Irving 1838-1905
Sir Henry Irving was the first actor to ever be knighted for his profession. He was considered the greatest Shakespearean actor of his generation. He and Ms. Terry frequently performed together in plays such as King Lear, The Merchant of Venice, and Much Ado About Nothing.
Jodie Foerster is a history student at the University of the Fraser Valley and a Museum Assistant and Researcher at the Agassiz-Harrison Museum and Archives. She specializes in British Columbia's settler history and archival storytelling. Learn more on the About page
