Many of you will know Walter Draycott as the bronze figure who sits on a bench in Triangle Park at the corner of Lynn Valley Road and Mountain Highway. That he deserved to be immortalized is without question. He was a veteran of the Boer War and WWI. But his work documenting the development of Lynn Valley is what amazes me. Using his education in topography, his experience as a sketcher during the war, his talent as a photographer, and his interest in natural and social history, he published a 140-page book called Early Days in Lynn Valley. This book has become a definitive historical record and probably his most important legacy. However, I recently discovered another amazing legacy in his annual Xmas cards, drawn and annotated by him and sent to his closest friends. Many of these cards are held by the Archives of North Vancouver. I spent an afternoon there, going through his cards, laughing out loud and uttering “wow” more times than the other users of the Archives probably wished to hear! His love of the natural world, gardening and the “good old days” is evident, documented in fine detail and with a great sense of humour. But what really impressed me was how his yearly themes are still relevant today – inflation, the “cost” of development, crazy weather, thievery and so much more. Read on as I share my favourites. And watch for his signature squirrel which is present on every single card!
The Jewel in the Green Necklace
North Vancouver’s Victoria Park is an oasis of lawns, shrubs and trees set amidst high-rises and surrounded by a steady flow of traffic. The east park is the site of the North Vancouver Cenotaph and the 1950s Cold War Air Siren while the west park is home to an equestrian sculpture and granite horse trough, a reminder of the park’s beginnings in the early 19th century when horse power was indeed horse power and when Victoria Park was created as the jewel of Edward Mahon’s vision, the Green Necklace.
North Shore Tent Homes
While researching for another blog many months ago, I was perusing the 1913 North Vancouver City Directory. I noticed that, for many individuals, their home was listed as “tent”. It surprised me that a tent was permanent enough to be listed as a person’s home. I was curious to know more about the appearance of these tents, so I visited the websites of the North Vancouver and West Vancouver Archives and entered the search word “tent”. And this is when I went down the proverbial rabbit hole into the warren of tent homes and some of the fascinating families who occupied them. As I read about the families, what struck me was that they were mostly Western European immigrants, who left a civilized life behind to come to the new world to live … in a tent! Clearly, they all came with a sense of adventure but in the end, their best attribute would be perseverance! Life in the new world was definitely not easy.
Sidetracked on a Side Street
The Pacific Great Eastern Railway, despite its name, was a Western company. Incorporated in Vancouver in 1912, it was founded to create a railroad between Prince George and the docks of North Vancouver via Squamish and the Howe Sound. Decades passed before this goal was fully achieved due to a section of challenging, mountainous terrain and ongoing financial challenges. It became known as the Province’s Great Expense to Prince George Eventually. However, the story of the PGE Railway is one of ambition and perseverance that created an important, historic route along the waters of the Burrard Inlet and Howe Sound, remnants of which still exist today.