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076 | An aerial photo of Estevan Point from the air, probably taken in the late 1930's. |
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077 | A reclusive German by the name of 'Escalante' Smith had a cabin in
the Estevan Point area. He had a dog named Betty and the two
of them made a name for themselves cougar hunting. Sometime in
193x Smith and his dog vanished. A group of men, including a
Provincial Police constable, searched the area for Smith but no
trace was found. His cabin yielded the curious clue of a chess
game, shown in photo 078. The men who went looking were, from left to right, an unidentified BC Provincial Policeman, Charlie Aitkens, and Elmo Meiss. Harry Bigmore took the photo. |
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078 | The vanished 'Escalante' Smith's last chess game, played to a checkmate as found by the investigators. The two empty glasses do not necessarily mean there were two players. Apparently home made beer had to be emptied out of the bottle immediately upon opening due to the sediment or something similar. Hence a possible explanation of the two glasses sitting on the table--they were required to hold a full bottle of beer. |
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079 | Album page showing the layout of the photos. |
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080 | Album page showing the layout of the photos. |
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081 | Escalante' Smith's dog 'Betty'. She was a good cougar dog. |
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082 | Album page showing the layout of the photos. |
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083 | Estevan Point showing Hesquiat railroad handcart detail. Ladies are unknown. |
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084 | Alert Bay wireless operators in the summer of 1929. From the left are Clarence Thomas, Basil Robson, Carl (last name unknown) & Jimmy Kitchen. [It could be Carl Ward. A person by that name was OIC of Bull Harbour Radio not long after this period.) |
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085 | Gene Aitkens' brother Clarence Thomas (Tommy for short). He was an operator at Alert Bay, BC and as shown here, later at Coppermine, NWT. He is dressed in an unidentified uniform. Thomas went to Coppermine Radio in July 1934. |
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086 | Tommy in native dress at Coppermine, NWT. |
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087 | Rail tramway to the dock at Alert Bay Wireless Station in the late 1920's. Supplies for the station would be pulled up here after being dropped off by the supply vessel. |
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088 | Tommy's residence at Alert Bay wireless station around 1929. |
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089 | 1932 view of the village of Alert Bay, Cormorant Island, British Columbia. |
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090 | Photo taken at Princeton, British Columbia, sometime after 1937. On the left is Phil & Muriel Eldridge, then Tiny (Arthur), Gene and Chas Aitkens. All were residents of Estevan Point. The men were operators. Shown here, some years before, with some of the Estevan Point crew. |
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091 | Doreen Lally & Thelma Meiss. Rob Lally was the principal light keeper at Estevan Point and Elmo Meiss was the head Wireless Operator. The girls appear to be sitting in a row boat. |
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092 | Estevan Point Station Staff and Families July 1937. Back l-r: 1-? , 2-? , 3-Ed Beart, 4-Ray Spouse, 5-? , 6-? . Front l-r:: 1-Muriel Eldridge? , 2- , 3- Mary Spouse?, 4-Lou? Gray (child), 5-Thelma Meiss, 6-Chas Aitkens, 7-Gene Aitkens, 8-Arthur 'Tiny' Aitkens (child). (Gene Aitkens notes) |
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093 | About 1937 at Estevan Point. Left rear is Escalante Smith (recluse from north of the station) and Chas Aitkens (Radio Operator). Across the front from the left are Art Unwin (Radio Operator), Ray Spouse (Power House Operator), Phil Eldridge (Radio Operator) |
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094 | Old Pete from Hesquiat visiting the Aitkens at Estevan Point 1934 or 1935. Gene Aitkens says Old Pete was then 82, and he died 29 April 1937. |
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095 | Old Pete from Hesquiat visiting the Aitkens at Estevan Point
about 1934 or 1935. He is singing with Arthur 'Tiny' Aitkens
(who
was born in March 1934). |
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096 | Blind native chopping wood. Date is most likely mid 1930's. This gentleman is a different person from the two photos above. |
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097 | Estevan July 1937. Could be the day the Aitkens departed. Back-l to r: 1 ? , 2 Ray Spouse, 3 Ed Beart, 4 Phil Eldridge?, 5 ? , 6 ? , 7 ? . Front-l to r: 1-, 2-Lou? Gray (child), 3-Mary Spouse?, 4-Muriel Eldridge? , 5-Thelma Meiss, 6-Chas Aitkens, 7-Gene Aitkens, 8-Arthur 'Tiny' Aitkens. |
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098 | Art & Ada Unwin of Estevan Point Wireless. Their children Gloria (baby) & Joyce. Radio operator Art also spent time at Pachena Wireless, most likely before his Estevan period. |
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099 | Alert Bay Station. Back left is radio operator Clarence Thomas with an unidentified man. Front left is Gladys Thomas, Nellie Langley and Gene Thomas. Gene eventually meets Chas Aitkens while on a trip to visit her brother. |
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100 | Estevan wireless operator Phil Eldridge on the day of his marriage to Muriel McPhee (librarian). They were married in 1935. By this time the Dominion Government was in the process of installing a network of low frequency air navigation aids (Radio Ranges) across Canada. The stations required some radio skills to maintain and many were located in attractive populated locations (as opposed to isolated wireless stations). The wireless service lost several operators to the radio range stations at this time. Phil was one of them and in 1937 he transferred to the new radio range station at Princeton B.C. |