EDITORIAL – Life in Kamloops was much different when Canada was born

An editorial by Mel Rothenburger.

WE’RE 159 YEARS OLD, as a nation, today. On July 1, 1867, the British North America Act was enacted. Of course, we were basically an east coast country back then.

B.C. wasn’t a province and Kamloops wouldn’t be incorporated as a City until many years later, in 1893.

In 1867, Kamloops had one or two hundred people in and around the Thompson Rivers Post fur-trading fort across the river from the Secwépemc settlement.

The post was operated by the Hudson’s Bay Company, with fur traders, some farmers and a growing number of prospectors and suppliers as the gold rush spread from here into the Cariboo.

By the time Canada was created, Kamloops and much of the Interior were transitioning from gold to cattle as the major piece of the economy. The cattle were originally part of the food supply to the gold fields, but more and more ranchers found the cattle industry to have more general markets.

The rail line hadn’t arrived yet, so the main mode of transportation was the horse. And there was no electricity, of course, and no water system.

A typical diet consisted of salmon, which were plentiful in the rivers, wild game, vegetables grown by the HBC at its farm, and later beef. When horses grew too old to be useful as transportation, they made a good supplement for dinner time. (After laws were formalized, a rule was put in place restricting when horses could be ridden down the main street.)

Houses were mainly made of logs, with dirt floors and shake rooves. Glass windows were a luxury. Furniture was mostly made on the spot.

It’s hard to imagine life in such conditions but our ancestors were a hardy lot. Today the city is Canada’s Tournament Capital, with parks, playing fields, arenas and swimming pools. If the fur traders of 1867 had been told Kamloops would one day have all those things plus paved streets, sidewalks, indoor toilets, churches, big box stores, automobiles and, yes, electricity in every building, they’d have suggested you be locked up or shipped out with the next fur brigade.

On this day, as we celebrate Canada Day in Riverside Park or elsewhere, we do well to be thankful for those who came before us, and to be proud of both our country and our community.

Mel Rothenburger is a former regular contributor to CFJC-TV and CBC radio, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, writes for the Kamloops Chronicle and is a recipient of the Jack Webster Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award, and was a Webster Foundation Commentator of the Year finalist. He has served as mayor of Kamloops, school board chair and TNRD director, and is a retired daily newspaper editor.  He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.