Twenty years ago, when the current museum first opened, Hilary and Rita Place paid a visit.
The two represented a lot of Cariboo history. Hilary belonged to a noted pioneer family, and Rita was a descendant of Hudson’s Bay Company officials Peter Skene Ogden and Gavin Hamilton.
Rita was Stampede Queen in 1935, and for the occasion her mother made her an exquisite buckskin outfit. During their visit, Rita mentioned the museum would be a suitable home for it. My ears picked up. The museum has pictures of Rita in the outfit. It is beautiful and so was she. The years went by.
Hilary and Rita passed on, and I thought oh well. Last month members of their family arrived at the museum with the buckskin outfit and Rita’s queen regalia which we quickly put on display.
Our museum focuses on ranching/rodeo because that’s our local history.
Quesnel and Barkerville “do” the Gold Rush, but not much attention is paid to the fur traders who were the first Europeans to come to the area.
The Twan family goes back to the fur-trade era, and the museum has their story. Mrs. Place’s buckskin outfit has given us a push to “do” something about the rest of that era.
***
Using information from Statistics Canada’s Annual Income Report, an article on Rabble.ca by economist Armine Yalnizyan says three provinces, Newfoundland and Labrador, Saskatchewan and Quebec, weathered the recession well, in terms of incomes. Three did not, Ontario, Alberta and, guess who, B.C. Averaged out, the figures look OK. Just don’t read the fine print.
***
Chris “on your side” Olsen, CTV’s long-time consumer affairs reporter, is now Premier Clark’s press secretary.
His salary hasn’t been reported but long-time CTV news anchor Pamela Martin is now outreach worker for the premier at a salary of $130,000. That’s more than an MLA gets.
Diana French is a freelance columnist for the Tribune. She is a former Tribune editor, retired teacher, historian, and book author.