Rossland in 1896: A Bank Clerk Remembers
Introduction
Rossland’s mining boom brought banks almost as quickly as it brought prospectors. The Bank of British North America opened in April 1896, followed within days by the Bank of Montreal, which initially operated from rented premises.
By 1900, the Bank of Montreal had completed its substantial new building at Columbia Avenue and Washington Street. Designed by architect Francis Rattenbury, it included banking offices below and living quarters for staff above.
It was into this rapidly changing boomtown that the young bank clerk whose memories follow arrived in 1896.
Journal of a Bank Clerk circa 1896
A 1956 recollection of life in Rossland’s early mining years, preserved in the historical binder that came with The Wild Turkey Inn.
About this account
This recollection was among the historical documents passed down to us when we purchased the former bed and breakfast at 2520 Kootenay Avenue. It appears to have been written on February 22, 1956 by a former Bank of Montreal employee recalling his arrival in Rossland around 1896. We have preserved the account substantially as we received it. Some terminology and descriptions reflect the attitudes and language of their time, and not our own. Where possible, we are continuing to research the people, events and details described.
22nd February, 1956
I am afraid that some of the outstanding events in my early career in the Bank would not look well in print. My youthful years were spent in rugged surroundings and few of my early associates have survived. It is perhaps rather amazing that I am still alive at seventy-seven and apparently in good health.
I boarded the C.P.R. train at Winnipeg and commenced on my journey of over one thousand miles headed for a mining camp in the British Columbia mountains that was not even on the map. My father gave me $100, a bottle of port wine, and his blessing.
The Gold Rush Calls
No one on the train knew exactly where Rossland was. The gold rush to the Red Mountain district in West Kootenay was only a few months old. However, I left the train at Revelstoke in the heart of the mountains and boarded one of the flat bottom, stern-wheeler boats that plied on the Arrow Lakes from Revelstoke to a point close to the U.S. border. This point was known then as Trail Creek. I was dumped off in a sand bank and told to take a stage coach up to Rossland, located halfway up Red Mountain. It turned out that the first train on the narrow gauge, switchback railway, carrying a passenger coach was just leaving for Rossland, so I got a seat and went along. About a hundred yards below Rossland Camp, all passengers were evacuated on the hillside and walked the rest of the way.
The Scum of the Earth
It was a Sunday afternoon, 12th July, 1896, when I got my first glimpse of a wide open mining camp. All the saloons were doing a rushing business and the sidewalks were crowded with miners and others from various parts of the world.
At that time, there were between 6000-8000 miners and prospectors, no families and no children, and about 400-500 women following the oldest profession in the world. The men consisted largely of the scum of the earth with a fair sprinkling of fine rugged pioneers.
Home Sweet Home
A branch of the Bank of Montreal had been open in a half of a hardware store and had lately been moved to a new building, but the staff quarters above the office in the new building were not yet ready. I found a room on the outskirts of the camp over a log cabin saloon, very dirty and uncomfortable. The noise in the saloon all night long and every night make sleep impossible. I sat on the bed (no chairs in the room) and read Pickwick Papers. About a week later, I was able to move into the staff quarters at the bank.
Although I had had scanty education, I was always fairly good at figures and did not find my first work at the bank very difficult.
Tied to a Tree
One of my earliest recollections after starting in the bank was a knife fight between two Italians, which was staged in our office. We sent for the only law officer in the District. He was a huge and powerful man who was also Gold Commissioner and Registrar. This man arrived quickly and tucked a fighter under each arm and took them to the top of a bluff close by, tying each to a tree. He left them there all night and in the morning turned them loose. He told me afterwards that they were quite obviously extremely tired of looking at each other.
Survival of the Fittest
Although I was now comfortably settled in the new staff quarters over the bank, there was still the problem of how to pay $45 a month for the three rather poor meals a day at a second class chinese eating house, with a monthly income of $32.32. Through my activities in ice hockey and other sports, I had made friends with the man who operated the largest music hall. On Saturday nights he often put on an amateur boxing card. I was young and strong and had had some boxing lessons, so I got him to include me in the program on many occasions. I got $5 for appearing and $10 for a win. In this way I often collected $20-25 a month.
Another activity was not so honest, but it helped me to pay my way. I got to know a number of gamblers, and one particularly who dealt a blackjack game at one of the many saloons. This was “Joe” and I would often act as a stooge for him. He was a “smart” dealer and when I was at the table he would often throw a blackjack to me and then retain the deal on a partnership basis. This would sometimes net me $10 or $12 a night. I did not engage in this questionable occupation very often, but when I was very short of money I am afraid I gave way.
Fire Brigade Shenanigans
We had a hand drawn fire hose-cart in the camp and I was a member of the running squad that pulled the thing to any fires that broke out. We arrived one night at a boarding house on the edge of Centre Star Gulch just in time to see a woman carry out a clothes basket full of china and glassware and dump it down the cliff (some 200 feet). The stuff crashed on to the rocks below and was entirely destroyed. Funny what people will do in a panic.
On another occasion, the hotel next to the bank caught fire. I was on the roof of the bank pointing a hose where it would to the most good and also keep the fire from spreading to the bank building. I happened to look over the edge and saw the bank inspectors standing at the back door viewing the hotel fire. One of these persons was a very objectionable fellow, so I turned my hose on him with very satisfactory results, and then went back to my job. There were several jets playing on the fire, so no one thought of me on the roof. Someone else must have got the credit for a job well done.
Off to the Races
On special occasions the town used to put on horse races on the main street. The finishing line was a wire strung from the veranda of the Bank of Montreal to a hotel across the way. On the occasion I am going to speak about, it was the last and feature race of the day, but the judges were too drunk to see clearly and I was called in to check the finish. Although I was only the junior clerk in the bank, I was well known in the field of sports. I played lacrosse and baseball for the camp and was captain of the ice hockey team. The race was almost a dead heat, but I gave the decision to the grey horse that had been brought in from Montana for the event. The ruling was very unpopular and a riot broke out near the bank. The door to our stairway was locked, but that would not stop the drunken crowd who were making ready to attack the building.
Our manager had an East Indian man-servant who organised a defense force. He was an ex-prize fighter and a formidable looking person. He stood at the top of the stairs and lined three of the bank boys along the rail overlooking the stairs. I stood next to the black man and our instructions were to hit every head we could reach. He had armed us with pieces of wood from broken furniture. The front door was broken down and men started up the stairs. We did our job well and soon had the stairway blocked by dazed leaders falling back on the others. The attack was beaten off. Soon afterwards, the regular judges were revived, and promptly confirmed my ruling, so that made it official.
Lord Aberdeen visits Rossland
A Long-Standing History of Renegades
About this time or a little later, the Governor-General, Lord Aberdeen, decided to visit Rossland. He was met at the station by leading citizens and a banquet was arranged for the evening. One of the early speakers at the dinner was a well-known, but rather drunk politician, who opened his remarks by saying he fully realized he was addressing a lot of blackguards in dress suits. A big lanky miner from across the table got up almost unnoticed and walked quietly up behind the speaker. One heavy blow behind the ear was enough and the politician was dragged to the entrance and tucked away behind the door for safekeeping. Then everyone resumed his seat and the dinner proceeded as if nothing out of the way had happened.
That was well enough, but later that night a huge brawl developed on the street and several prominent members of the community were lodged in jail. This situation had to be corrected, so our Manager, who was held in great esteem by all, bailed out the leading citizens in time for them to see the Vice-Regal party off on the train in the morning. A crowd gathered at the station and just before the train in the morning pulled out a free for all fight started on the platform. Fists were flying in every direction and a few pistol shots were fired. The Governor-General got an exciting send off.
During my three years in Rossland there were several unsolved murders and quite a number of suicides, a strenuous place for a young man to spend the years from seventeen to twenty.
