HISTORY OF AREA IN THE WORKS

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WHEN ASKED why, at age 56 and during the winter of
1920, he uprooted his young family from a relatively civi-
lized life in Vancouver and moved across to the wilderness
of Deep Cove, John Moore senior would reply that it was a
quiet place to starve to death with his family.

The spectre of unemployment
on the Vancouver waterfront and a
firmly engrained pioneering spirit
brought the Moore family to Deep
Cove decades ago as the first
non-Native family to settle in the
area.

Time has proven the quip, at-
tributed to John Moore senior by
son John Moore junior, an obser-
vation made with tongue planted
firmly in cheek. The Moore family
went on to thrive and grow with
the fledgling community, making
money where they could by clear-
ing lots, fishing for crabs and
eventually building two grocery
stores in the area.

The surviving Moore clan
recently returned to the area to
mark the official unveiling June 29
of a new sign posted at the Deep
Cove lookout’ point on Mt.
Seymour Road.

The sign bears a 1927
photograph of John Moore senior,
then 71 years old, sitting in front
of the first family homestead with
wife Rhoda and offspring John,
Ike (Charles Edward), Florence
Elizabeth, Walter, Edna, Jim and
Tom.

The sign also features depictions
of two-headed sea serpent rock
drawings located on a Deep Cove
rock face, a legend of Mt.
Seymour Park and a key to the

By MICHAEL BECKER
News Reporter

Deep Cove features as viewed from
the lookout point.

Said John Moore junior of the
sign, ‘‘I think it’s absolutely
wonderful. It was a surprise and |
certainly appreciate it.”’

While Moore left Deep Cove in
1936, memories of the time he
spent there remain vivid. Said
Moore: ‘‘We were as free as the
birds in the trees.”’

He remembers how his father
borrowed $25 for the move to
Deep Cove, arriving with $5 worth
of pocket money, and a rowboat
full of groceries. To supplement
store-bought sustenance, the fami-
ly pulled crabs and clams from the
water and berries from the woods.

Before the original 14-room
family home was built, Moore
remembers sleeping in the haytoft
of a horse barn with brother Ike
and walking two miles to attend
school at the Dollar town site.

Deep Cove and Area Heritage
Association research writers Dawn
Sparks and Martha Border are
currently sifting through the oral
and documented history of Decp
Cove and North Vancouver areas
east of the Seymour River.

The historical information

31 - Sunday, July 17 1988 - North Shore News

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Address
people
formally

PAGE 32

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* NEWS photo Neif Lucente

JOHN MOORE grew up in Deep Cove and was among the first non-Natives to settle in the area. Members of
the Moore family were on haad recently a2 the official unveiling of a new information sign located at the Deep
Cove lookout point on Mt. Seymour Road.

gathered, ranging in scope from
the Valdes and Galiano Burrard
Inlet visit in !792 to the arca’s
development by 1950, will translate
into a book scheduled for release
by the association in December.
Said Sparks: ‘‘There’s next to
nothing on the area in the North

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Serving the North Shore since 1961.

Shore Archives. We want to get a
local perspective of the area.”’

The two Deep Cove residents
have been working on the project
five days a week since February.

Said Border: ‘‘These people we

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are talking to worked hard, but
they all have a good feeling about
their lives —- it’s the pioneer
spirit.”

To place an order for the book
cali the association at 929-7981.

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