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SUMMER 2008
Revelstoke’s Quarterly Arts
pg.2.... - What Matters - Artist in Profile
pg.3.... - Music Notes - Health & You - What’s Your Biz’ness - Write This Way
pg.4.... - Sleeps n’ Eats - Sponsor Thanks
This spring I spent seven weeks in Vancouver taking some courses. I don’t really love cities, having been born in one (Calgary) and vowing never to go back even if I was dragged by my hair, but Vancouver was a pleasant surprise. As far as cities go, it’s pretty aesthetic: mountains, ocean, foliage. It’s also ideal for practicing shopping and other glamorous activities like eating Pho, which is pronounced Fuh, (I think), or for spending terrific amounts of money on organic food at Capers, or for finding crazy sales, (I came back with four pairs of shoes which I paid, like, less than half price for, and stuff!). But the one thing that was surely a key factor in why city-living was tolerable for almost two months was that I didn’t drive. How you get around in the city can greatly determine how you feel about the city and there is no better way to get around than on a bicycle. No parking fees, no fuel emissions, no rush-hour or traffic jams – just you and your bike cruising past a bunch of idling bumpers. The only downside is when it’s pissing rain or when you want to
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show up somewhere looking good – my hair didn’t exactly spring out shampoocommercial style from under my helmet, but it still looked better than it would have had I been looking for a parking spot for an hour. Nothing sends me into maniacal spasms quite as quickly as city driving.
Artist in Profile:
Bill Cameron
I also avoided public transit because swearing at other people’s driving habits in the relative safety of my own vehicle is more or less normal, but on a public bus? Not so much. After spending so much time cycling around Vancouver, I wasn’t well-equipped mentally for my last day driving in the city. I had to make one last stop at an auto-wreckers in Burnaby when I came across one of the biggest construction gong shows ever. The road I needed to turn on was blocked off so I had to keep driving with the traffic which came to a complete stand-still a kilometer down the road. I thought about leaving my truck in line and walking back to the wreckers, but I opted instead to make a tire-
Heritage Moments
by Cathy English, Curator/Director, Revelstoke Museum & Archives
Revelstoke’s Built Heritage Revelstoke is fortunate to have such a large percentage of its original homes and business buildings still standing. This built heritage gives our city a unique personality, and reflects the vibrant history of the community, when Revelstoke was one of the largest centers in the interior of the province. The various neighborhoods reflect the different economic classes and even ethnic groups, and help to tell the story of the development of the community. The first settled area of Revelstoke was on Front Street and the surrounding area, originally known as Farwell. The original photographs show it as a “wild west” settlement with rough frame buildings, but it soon developed into a busy commercial area with several large hotels and other businesses, as well as a few houses on Front Street and many more on the adjacent streets. Once the commercial buildings were destroyed or removed, Front Street was rather sparsely populated until the late 1950s and early 1960s. Surprisingly, some of the older-looking buildings in the lower part of town were built elsewhere, and moved to that area much later. Farwell’s land grant extended to the area around the courthouse, but because of a land dispute, owners could not get clear title to their lands until after 1897, after which a building boom occurred in the area between the court house and the area around Mountain View school. Some of this land was owned by J.A. Mara, who, as principal owner of the Columbia & Kootenay Steam Navigation Company was given a small land grant in the area near the school. As a result of the land dispute, (and that’s another story) the Canadian Pacific Railway built their station and yards in the present location, and in the 1890s began selling lots in their land grant which roughly extended from the east side of Mackenzie Avenue to Eighth Street, and into the area across the tracks at Fourth Street. Much of the residential section has just been proclaimed a Heritage Conservation Area, which will help to preserve the heritage character of the neighbourhood. The downtown area shifted from Front Street to Mackenzie and First and Second Streets because the business owners wanted to be as close as possible to the station, to cut down on delivery costs. There was another distinct neighbourhood in Revelstoke, known as the Smelter town site. In the early 1890s, a syndicate acquired land stretching from the west side of Mackenzie to Rokeby and over to the river. As a result of erosion, the equivalent of about ten city blocks of their land grant slid into the river, including the site of the original smelter erected by the syndicate. A downtown revitalization project in the 1980s saw the restoration of many of Revelstoke’s heritage commercial buildings, and a large number of private citizens have shown great initiative in restoring and preserving their homes. Revelstoke benefits greatly from this pride in our local heritage. Chinese Legacies Exhibit: This August will see the launch of an exciting initiative between Revelstoke Railway
Museum, Revelstoke Museum & Archives and Rogers Pass Centre. Each venue will tell one aspect of the story of the Chinese community. On Friday, August 15th, after the official opening of Railway Days 2008, the Revelstoke Railway Museum will open their exhibit telling the story of the Chinese labourers who helped to build the western section of the Canadian Pacific Railway in the 1880s. The next day, August 16th at 11:00 am, Revelstoke Museum & Archives will open their exhibit on the Chinese community in Revelstoke. Rogers Pass Center will feature an exhibit on the Chinese people who worked on maintenance of the railway through Rogers Pass, as well as those who worked as cooks and servants at Glacier House. Watch for other special events, including speakers and cultural presentations
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squealing lane change and frisky u-turn. Now I was heading back in the right direction, but it didn’t really help because I couldn’t turn left anytime soon and I watched the autowreckers pass by through a chainlink fence 500 ft from my elbow and several florescent orange barriers. Cursing, I turned right and then left and up and down and found a dead end and after about twenty minutes trying to figure out how to get into the stupid auto-wreckers, I sorta lost my temper. Then I became an advocate of what I’ll call Constructive Road Rage because soon after the tantrum came the mind-numbing calm that only a really good bout of Turret’s Syndrome and pounding on the steering wheel can unleash; it was like I’d had a nap and was ready to through myself back out there. I did get to the auto-wreckers and they gave me free pop and stale nuts, so it was all worth it in the end. Constructive Road-Rage – for times when ‘damn’ doesn’t quite cut it.
Heather Lea editor@reved.net
Emerging
The flowing was written by Rayne Kramer and Kathryn Hui in Michelle Gadbois’ grade 6/7 class at Arrow Heights Elementary. Salmon Unit at Arrow Heights School At Arrow Heights School, the grade 6/7 class studied the life-cycle of Chinook salmon. We started in November and have continued it for about seven months. We have studied each stage in detail, learning by several different exercises such as taking notes, reading handouts, drawing pictures and doing activities. The first stage was the eyed, or fertilized, eggs which came from the Kingfisher Interpretive Centre. They were an orangey, pinkish colour with a small, black dot at the centre. This was the eye. These eggs needed cool and clean water in their tank as well as a steady flow of water for their supply of oxygen. To determine when the eggs will hatch, we needed to measure the A.T.U.’s, which stands for Accumulated Thermal Units. To calculate the A.T.U.’s, you add the water temperatures each day to the total for the last day. We did a calendar on A.T.U. and predicted when the eggs would hatch. The next stage was the alevins. These are the first stage of salmon after the hatch. These fish carry a yolk sac on their stomach. This sac in filled with all the nutrients and vitamins they will need for this stage. The alevin’s yolk sac is orange and the alevins are grayish with parr marks just above the lateral line. After the alevins have used all the nutrients in their yolk sac, the empty sac is sucked up into the salmon’s stomach and dissolves. This is called “buttoned up”. When they are buttoned up, they become fry. Fry stay near rocks or large wood debris for protection from predators. They also start eating real food. That means that we must give them fish food every half hour. Gradually, we begin to feed them less and less until it is only once a day. From fry, the salmon turn into smolt. At this stage, human activity causes a huge impact. But in the tank, they have nothing to worry about. They also would begin to eat insects if they lived in the wild. This brings us to the adult stage of salmon. These salmon need safe access and a clean river to start swimming to their home river where they were born. There, the female will create a redd to spawn and hatch the eggs in. They need clean gravel and a gentle flow of water. Another necessity is a river that doesn’t flood. After they spawn, they will die. That is the life-cycle of a Chinook salmon. After we had finished raising our salmon to the fry age, we took them to Kingfisher Interpretive Centre to release them back into their home river. There, we did three different activity stations to do with eco-systems in which fish live. This has been an interesting and enjoyable unit and we would like to thank everyone who has made it possible!