Believe it or Not

As Halloween quickly approaches, we’re ready to embrace the weird and wacky things about Pitt Meadows. Below are some of our favourite “Believe it or not” stories from Pitt Meadows.

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Is There Gold in them Hills?

The legend of Slumach says there is. At one time the most often asked question by researchers at the Museum was “Do you know where the lost gold mine is”? Our answer was (and is) “If we knew the answer to that we would all be retired”. Search the internet and learn about Slumach and the lost gold of Pitt Lake. Fred Braches has one of the best accounts. It is a story of intrigue, depravity, death and, of course, immense riches. We know Slumach did exist, he was tried at New Westminster for his supposed crimes, and he was put to death taking to his grave the secret of the gold. Truth or fiction – you decide, but please don’t ask us if we know the location.

The Grand Canal

First conceived in 1860 and then resurrected in 1912, the concept of a canal from the Pitt River to Burrard Inlet was promoted heavily in the 1880s and a survey for such was carried out in 1891. One 1912 article on the subject states Vancouver Mayor Oppenheimer was very much involved in those initial plans, another speaks of Col. Moody’s involvement. The 1860 version of the canal would have started at Big Slough on the Pitt River and the finished canal was intended to be wide enough to allow two ships to pass each other. The project never went with a lack of enough trade and a “parochial spirit abroad among the less enlightened and progressive in New Westminster and Vancouver…Several prominent citizens of the old school opposed the project” given as the reasons. The 1912 proposal was advocated for by Captain Clarke of Port Moody and the CPR, it seems, was not against the proposal. Perhaps this is because they knew it would never fly.

There’s Oil in Them Sloughs

In 1914 Pitt Meadows Oil Wells Ltd. advertised in the Province newspaper the investment opportunity in Pitt Meadows. Well heads were erected, we are unsure if the wells were dug, and shares were issued. Investors got no oil and swamp land at the same time. Oil boring in the area began as early as November 1912 when the Coast Development Company started drilling in the area of Sturgeon Slough. As of February 1913, the Company stated they were at a depth of 1500 feet having passed through black sand and granite and shale. Members of the syndicate were: “hopeful that oil would be struck before long, as indications are considered good”. And if you believe that well, let us tell you about a little thing called a scam.

Two Trains a Day

In 1885, when the CPR first passed through Pitt Meadows, and for many years afterward there were only two trains per day through Pitt meadows – a westbound train in the am and an eastbound train in the pm. On top of that, if you mailed a letter from one post office in the district to someone else in the district in the morning it was sorted on the train and delivered the same day. Two short trains per day would have meant no lineups on Harris Road at the tracks. However, before 1913 there was no Harris Road, no cars and a population of less than 250.

CBC

Pitt Meadows has a connection to the formation of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). Paul Murray, a pioneer and early schoolteacher in the Maple Ridge Pitt Meadows area, was the fourth Reeve of the community. His son, W. E. Gladstone Murray moved to England and moved up through the ranks at the B.B.C. While at the B.B.C. he assisted with the establishing of a similar network in Canada and shortly after the C.B.C. was formed in 1936 its Board of Governors recommended to the Government of Canada that Murray be appointed its first General Manager – he accepted and continued in the position until 1942.

From Bombs to Blueberries

Today we all know blueberries are synonymous with Pitt Meadows, but not many of us know that before blueberries there was peat. It was the farmed-off peat bogs that made for the great blueberry-growing soil that Pitt Meadows is known for. But how did the peat get farmed off? Pioneer Peat operated off Ford Road at McTavish Road. It was established in 1919 and was the first “industry” in Pitt Meadows. The early part of the Great Depression took its toll on the company, and it closed in late 1930 but had a short reprieve in 1933 when it reopened as Premier Peat for a three-month period. In 1934 Alouette Peat took on the business and continued to run it till 1940 when a fire took out most of the buildings on the site. The company rebuilt and by 1942 was shipping the peat from the site to Las Vegas to be used “in the war effort” to produce bombs. This continued until a new source was found by the weapon manufacturer and peat sales slowed until the end of the war. While production increased after the war areas of the bog were harvested off and of no use to the factory. Gradually J. Austring, who had been with the plant since 1934, purchased this land to grow blueberries. Eventually, Blueboy Blueberries was established, and the land went from peat to fruit.

Polo Anyone

In the 1930’s a semi-wealthy landowner and small-scale dairy farmer on Harris Road thought Pitt meadows would be a perfect place to raise polo ponies and for weekend polo matches. With this in mind, he turned much of his property into a polo pitch. Alas, it was not to be – the polo pitch went and so did the landowner. He moved his creamery to Vancouver, and it eventually became Jersey Farms.

A Spy Among Us?

Once tucked away on a lot on North Harris Road is a house with a checkered past. Was it the house of a German spy? Built 1912c. the house was originally owned by Alvo von Alvensleben who also owned vast tracts of land in the area before W.W. I. The son of a Count, von Alvensleben was born in Germany in 1879. He immigrated to Canada in 1904 and arrived in Vancouver that same year where he became a land speculator and a promoter of other business ventures. He was wildly successful with bringing in German investment dollars to the Province with some of his higher profile ventures being the Dominion Trust building in Vancouver and the Wigwam Inn on Indian Arm. As so many others did, he amassed a fortune in the early years of the 20th century but lost it all in the crash of 1913 causing him to return to Germany to find new financing. Before he could return to Canada the war intervened and his re-entry was denied by the Canadian Government. Not to be dissuaded, von Alvensleben entered the still-neutral United States and moved to Seattle (with a short internment at Salt Lake City during the war) where he remained until his death in 1963. And what became of the Pitt Meadows residence? Von Alvensleben had never lived in it, and it is thought to have been a caretaker residence for his Pitt Meadows property holdings. It was sold, along with other land holdings in 1915. Rumours abounded in the lower mainland that von Alvensleben, who had always declared himself a proud Prussian, was a German spy. Rumour was that his brother, Werner (Bodo),also an immigrant to Canada, was shot by the British navy for being a spy. The rampant xenophobia of the time made all rumours of such highly unreliable and a secret that both brothers took to their graves.

One Ringy Dingy

A little-known fact about Pitt Meadows is that dial telephones were first tested here. According to pioneer resident William Mitchell “The B.C. Telephone Company wanted a place near Vancouver to test them before putting them into general use. My cousin Robert Mitchell, who worked for the B.C. Tel [ephone Company] at the time was asked to oversee the testing here”.

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The wonderful, the wacky, the weird, Pitt Meadows certainly has a few tales that have us wondering if they’re real. Hopefully this month you can find the wondrously weird things here in our small community too!

Happy Halloween!