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James Murray
Johnstone
(1845-1907)
Locked
horns with Maxwell.
(page
151) |
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Picnic at the
John Murray Barn Raising, 1890
Names
are handwritten round the border of this picture.
They are:
W.
McIntosh, Sarah McInnes, Liza Culbert McInnes, J.
Norris, Hester McKee, B. Nelson, Miss Munro, Mary
Norris, M. McKee, F. Nelson, J.J. McLeod, R.
Mc___, Amos Culbert, A. Mc___on, Jim McKee,Tom
Culbert, Rod Cummings, Bob McKee, Bob Monnahan,
Neil McLeod, L. Livingstone, Mr. Mu____, S.
McKee, John Murrey, Mrs. Culbert, Mr. & Mrs.
Wilso, Mary Ann Towle, K. McLeod, Mr. Braden,
Caroline Culbert, Ed Braden, Mrs. _____ason, Mrs.
Cameron, Mille Plaxton, 3 Cameron girls.
(pages
152 and 153) |
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They called them the
gay nineties but actually were very much the same as the
years before. It was hard work from daybreak until
dark for most Langley pioneers. No one worked on
the Sabbath. In
1890 Wilkie Sr. bought an acre from
the holding family. His daughter Jessie had earlier
married Henry Holding. Henry
Wilkie later moved to Langley Village where
he became Postmaster. His son Walter was with the
Hudson's Bay Company at Fort Langley for a short time
before opening his own store. The municipality 's
first telephone office was located in this store in
April, 1896, when the New Westminster and
Burrard Inlet Telephone Company finished their line
between Vancouver and Fort Langley. To keep costs
down the company had used the abandoned Collins Overland
Telegraph line. This telephone was not absorbed
into the British Columbia
Telephone Company until 1903. Upon leaving the
store Wilkie went to work for his brother Octavius, a
Dominion Land Surveyor. Wilkie Sr. died on the job
in 1905.
(149)
In 1906 sixteen year old Robert James Wark
arrived at Langley Prairie from Londonderry, Ireland,
to take over possession of his inheritance and to build a
home for his parents and brothers. Henry Wark, upon his
death, had willed his farm to the boy. Young Wark
was accompanied by an older man named Daniel Carr. The
following year his parents, three brothers, and Mrs. Carr
joined the pair.
In the winter of 1891 Langley ratepayers got together in the Otter School to discuss the
pros and cons of borrowing $60,000 to make improvements
on the roads within the municipality. All agreed
that the road improvements would increase the value of
their property. At the close of the meeting it was
suggested that all trails and roads running north and
south be numbered and called concessions. The
trails over the years had been dubbed some rather vulgar
and unbecoming names.
The man responsible for the naming of the early trails was James Melrose. He had
dubbed the trail leading into Thomas Biggar's farm
the Shikepoke Trail because of the
many blue heron that resided in the district. These
birds were said to be able to whitewash the side of a
barn if they flew over it at the right elevation.
Biggar was so upset when he found Melrose's sign on his
trail the he offered a reward.
Other pioneers got the same treatment. He renamed the Otter Road the Warwhoop Trail because
of three quarrelsome women who live along if.
William Best had named the road as well as the school
after Colonel William Dillion Otter
of Louis Riel Rebellion fame on
the Prairies. Just before coming west, Best had
served under the Colonel during the skirmish
against Poundmaker.
Another trail was named Gumboot Trail because
it was so muddy one always had to wear rubber boots to
travel it. The Coghlan Road had been
named Bachelor Trail because only
single men lived on it. The Brown Road was
called the Last Chance since so
many of the first settlers were unable to make a go of it
and pulled out. The Livingstone Road was
nicknamed the Bull Yoke Trail
because everyone living along it used oxen.
At one of the council meetings in 1891 James Johnstone
complained about his land taxes. He pointed out
that he paid (150) more taxes on 100 acres
than Reeve Maxwell did on 300.
This annoyed Maxwell and he rose and gave an
explanation. He pointed out that Johnstone had 100
acres of the former Hudson's Bay Company
farm--the most fertile and sought after soil in the Fraser Valley--while
he had 300 acres of heavily timbered hilly terrain which
was subject to flooding. Johnstone still was not
satisfied claiming the Maxwell's farm had more value than
his and yet he had heavier taxes. Maxwell's Irish
dander flared and before he realized what he was saying
he told Johnstone he could have his farm, even trade, if
he did not like his taxes, or else he could shut up and
go home. With that he threw an amount of cash on
the council table and told Johnstone to match it.
He did. Now if either man backed out the other
picked up the two bundles of cash. Johnstone called
Maxwell's bluff and said it (151) was a
deal. All this took place in less than five
minutes, before either had a chance to discuss it with
their wives. It was afterwards felt that both men
came out losers. Johnstone, who never had any
family, was saddled with 300 acres of uncleared land,
while Maxwell, who eventually raised a family of ten, had
only 100 acres. Maxwell had to purchase
neighbouring farms in order to support his large family.
By 1893 Alexander Mavis had subdivided
his farm, the site of the Hudson's Bay Company post, into
town lots and was offering them for sale for $50
each. The survey work had been carried out by a
young architect by the name of Charles Edward
Hope. Born in Bradford, Yorkshire,
England, Hope arrived in Vancouver in 1888 and had come
to Langley two years later. In 1892 he married
Mavis' daughter and moved back into Vancouver.
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