The Dominion Telegraph Service's Yukon Telegraph Line

Question

• Webster, Caitlin, "Breaking ground: 150 years of federal infrastructure in British Columbia -- Northwest Region: The Dominion Telegraph Service's Yukon Line." Library and Archives Canada Blog, November 1, 2021.

This entry mentions Simon Peter Gunanoot, who was the inspiration for one of the songs in The B.C. Review, a series of 18 songs performed live in front of dioramas representing the nine tourism regions of British Columbia (two songs per region) in the BC Pavilion at Expo 86. I have a soundtrack cassette kicking around somewhere. The songs were written by John Gray, who is probably best known for writing Billy Bishop Goes to War. I must try to remember who the other songs were about, because it would make kind of a fun mini-project to make sure that the subject of each song had a profile on WikiTree, and was sourced and connected.

Answer 1

One song in The B.C. Review was called "Lady Aberdeen". It was about Ishbel Maria (Marjoribanks) Hamilton-Gordon.

Answer 2

Another song was about the town of Walhachin, so it probably mentions Charles Barnes, whose idea it was to found a town there.

None of the articles I could find about Walhachin seemed to have the faintest curiosity about when or where he was born, or where he ended up. But I found a Charles Ed(something) Barnes in Walhachin in the 1911 Canada Census. At the time of the census, he was listed as 49 years old, and his place of birth was listed as USA. His occupation was listed as "Manager", and since one article describes Barnes' house as the "Manager's House", I'm reasonably sure that this is the correct Charles Barnes. His wife's name was Keturah. She was a year older, and also born in the USA.

If Charles Barnes was 49 years old in 1911, that would make his birth date about 1862. As it happens, the BC Archives site lists a Charles Edwin Barnes who died in Kelowna in 1932 at the age of 70, which would also make his birthdate around 1862. The entry lists a microfilm number, but doesn't have a scan, so I can't actually read his death certificate. However, there is a record for Keturah Craig Barnes, who died in Kelowna in 1948, and her record does have a scan. That scan confirms that she was the widow of Charles E. Barnes.

Charles Edwin Barnes is listed in Find A Grave as being born in Pennsylvania on January 19, 1862, died in Kelowna on February 19, 1932, and buried in the "Pioneer" plot of Kelowna Memorial Park. Keturah is buried with him.

Comments

the Cloverdale branch of the Surrey Regional Library system has a great genealogy collection; their staff will do a look up for any document on microfilm that is not available as an image at BC Archives site.

Answer 3

Still another song was about Charles Bedaux and his expedition across Northern British Columbia in 1934. The song has a great deal of fun at Bedaux's expense, so I assumed that it was using poetic license for comedic effect. But according to Wikipedia, that expedition was even more insane than I remember the song as portraying it.

Answer 4

Yet another song was about Fred Tibbs. A line in the chorus went, "Fred Tibbs was a most eccentric man." Apparently, he was.

Answer 5

Still another song, which was very silly (including giving lines to the horse concerned) was about how Kicking Horse Pass got its name: James Hector, who was surveying the pass, got kicked by a horse and knocked out for about 3 hours. (So, in the song, he says, "Man, that horse could kick.")

Answer 6

There were two groups of singers, and I'm still trying to remember all their names, but one group was "Bev, Babs, and Linda" and the "Babs" was Babs Chula.

(My brother and I loved Bev, Babs, and Linda. They were awesome. And one night during Expo, we ran into them at the movies. I think it was pretty cool that they liked each other enough to hang out together after work, since they had to be together pretty much every day for six months.)