34 - Sunday, April 25, 1993 ~ North Shore News

cal history has

not been

‘all lost?

“T’S JUST a piece of a doorframe, painted white long
cong ago, and broken in the collision of a sailing ship
and an aging sidewheeler off Cape Flattery in 1875.
But it bears a heart-breaking message.

“All Lost.’?

The message was scratched
“nto the paint with a pencil
aeld in the hand of S.P.
Moody. That’s how he signed
nis name, and that’s how he
oo died.

More than 280 others died
with him, in the dark, without
wany offer of help from the
other vessel, which veered off
and resumed its course, ig-
norant of tragedy.

Eleanor

CARPENTERS
STILL REQUIRED
to build the barn

VOLUNTEERS _.
24 HOUR HOTLINE
623-9950

Owned and operited by the North Vancouver Dist. Parks Dept.
YES! 1 WANT TO BE A VOLUNTEER ON THIS UNIQUE COMMUNITY EFFORT!!!

MY NAME:
ADDRESS:

RETURN THIS SECTION
c/o Maplewood Farm
405 Seymour River Place

S.P. Moody, putative father Postal Code:
of North Vancouver’s TELEPHONE: (H)_ (WY

Moodyville, the man from : INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY SERVICE DAY
Maine, had taken his last load ————— ae a — - ahcerer

North Vancouver B.C. V7H 186°

SaESRAT aN GEVURTER

of lumber to San Francisco.

He wasn’t yet 40 years old.

The piece of wood, inscrip-
‘tion plainly visible, lies under
dlexiglass in our museum down
-on Chesterfield, at Fourth
Street. Incredibly, it had been
‘washed up onto the shore
>delow Beacon Hill, where a
shap out for a walk found it
about a monti; after the trage-

ly.

It-is of course a most
valuable item in the museum’s
‘current show, ‘‘Moodyville —
Miltown and Mystery.”’

The show will be replaced as
of May 16. Therefore do go
for a little tour of those far-
aff days while vou have this
zood chance. .

There are many
‘photographs, but also artifacts
that will both remind you and
surprise you. The case of
acupuncture tools, for instance
— lots of Orientals worked in
the mills as well as in the

_ gunkhouses and’ aboard the
“ships. The presence of the little
,ools makes- you think dif-
rerently of the sort. of men
they were and their life
amongst us,

There’s. also a video that
sepeats itself obligingly, and
‘ou can drop in any time after
'0 a.m. and before 4 p.m. to
:xpericnce both offerings.

And to further enrich your
inderstanding of the local
-oots, Jobn Stuart, of the
nuseum staff, will take you on
t walk on May 2. If you come
:vith your pores open, you’re
‘ound to see some ghosts and
.tear..some echoes from the
yast that will conjure up the
lays gone by.

Why, this little burg had the
‘irst electric lights north of San
*rancisco, the first tennis
courts on the West Coast, the
“lyst school in these parts and
1 real library, to boot.

The walk will start at Third
street and Heywood Avenue,
st 2 p.m. on Sunday, May 2.
ay for a dry day. But say,
tIso telephone to the secretary
of the museum and tell her to
«xpect you. ‘

The tour guide has a heavy

rip if he’s got 50 people’

howing up ~— hard on the
“oice, eh? and so it’s much
setter if they have
‘oreknowledge of numbers.
“hen they can have two tours,
' ane going left, one going right,
?o you see, and that can be set
ap properly if there’s advance
_ botice. : .

THE VINTAGE YEARS

The number to call is 987-
5618.

First walk they had, earlier
on, people had registered, but
then their various friends. had
said, ‘‘Oh, I’d like to do that
too. I'll come with you,”’ and
the upshot was that the croco-
dile got so big, people came
out of their houses wondering
if it was a tax revolt!

That walk I hope will be
repeated, because ! missed it.
it was concerned with Lower
Lonsdale and environs, and
I’ve learned something about
those buildings over the nearly
50 years I’ve lived here, but
not enough. And sometimes
they get knocked down.

Docents are being trained,
these days, inside and outside
of the museum, and when
there’s a sufficient force to
command there will be more
walks more often.

Incidentally, don’t throw

away our past. Just the other
day a lady showed up at their
door with a fine old key she’d
had sitting on. her mantle for
years and years and years.
’ She lives in the area of this
next walk, above the old
Moodyville site, where she and
her husband: had long ago
bought property and built a
house. ;

It was when she was starting
on the garden that her spade
gave a “‘ting’’ sound, and out
of the clod of earth that
“*tinged’’ she’d revealed a
long, elegant iron key — the

sort illustrators like to show.

witches using to open creaking
doors.

She figured she’d enjoyed it
long enough, it was time to
donate it to our museum.

That was nice.

History doesn’t lie just in
handsome old keys, though —
you find it in clothing (that
deerstalker cap your grampa
used to wear?); or in the
minutes of the meetings of
vanished clubs and associa-
tions; or in the books of a
local company now merged or
perished.

Old timbers, old chairs, old
medals and china pots, old
photographs are treasures the
museum gladly hoards for you.
Nice if you can cover it with a
word about its origins.

Seldom do they anticipate
another piece of doorjamb
with a message of despair.

North Shore News
1139 Lonsdale c.
North Vancouver BC.
VIM 2H4

zention: Arer
Ac Senior

1 Merlo Representative

Dear Aren:

‘0 say b f
nd what 2 tere
gust W

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: mooring FO neo which your t

Aren, North

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