In the twilight years of a long
life, which has been spent, except for 6 months, on
this wonderful island, it is now time to set down
a story of the family which arrived on the island
on February 4th, 1885. Of those who came then, I am
the only survivor. In the party were my father, Thomas
W. Mouat and my mother, (nee Jane Manson), my half
brother Tom, whose mother had died when he was just
a few years old, my mother's sister Barbara, who was
later married to JB Mercer, and if my memory serves
me right, an old grandmother of brother Tom’s.
Our father had been a stone mason in the Shetland
Islands, (in those days stone was the only building
material available, as there were few trees there,
and any other building supplies had to be freighted
in, I expect largely from Norway, which was nearer
than Scotland). Due to the dust inhaled from stone,
my father feared that if he persisted in this type
of livelihood he would most assuredly soon face the
prospect of a speedy terminal illness.
With this in mind the family decided to leave Shetland
and head for Nanaimo, British Columbia where both
mother and father had relatives and friends.
They took a ship from Glasgow in May 1884, bound for
Montreal, due to the fact that the CPR was not yet
through to Vancouver they were obliged to travel through
the United States, reaching Spokane later in the month,
where my father had an elder brother Uncle Gavin Colvin
Mouat. I was born there August 16, and six weeks later
we arrived in Nanaimo. Once there father looked for
work and soon took on a job with Joel Broadwell who
had a grocery store. From him he learned about a farm
on Salt Spring Island, at St. Mary’s Lake, owned
by, Mr. and Mrs. Copeland. He quickly concluded after
he had seen the place that this was our desired haven,
and the family moved to the island on February 4th
1885.
It was fine productive property and I expect that
the years ahead were the happiest that my parents
had enjoyed in their married life. In Nanaimo my mother
had a cousin, who had a grocery store, and to him
was shipped a variety of farm produce, eggs, fruit
in season, mutton lambs, and meantime the family was
increasing. Brother Tom soon became father's mainstay
learning from him how to manage the live stock (two
oxen and a number of dairy cows). The house we came
to was not at all a desirable home and my father hired
a Mr. Herd from the Duncan area , to build us a new
home some distance from the other. I recall one rather
unfortunate accident which happened in the old place.
Mother had brought her prized set of wedding china,
placing them on a shelf which gave way, and a precious
set was destroyed except for one plate.
We moved into the house in 1892, (it still stands
near the lake). The winter of 1892-1893 was the most
severe that I have known - all of January was extremely
cold and the lake was frozen to a depth of 4-5 inches.
In order to get water for the stock it was necessary
each morning to chop a hole in the ice. For cooking
and drinking water we went to a spring, some considerable
distance from the house.
On the last day of January it started snowing and
continued through February until there was four feet
on the ground and it stayed until May. Father and
Tom were kept busy clearing the roofs of the barn
and house. I recall that it was piled up so high that
we could not see beyond the white heaps. Not since
then have I seen such a fall of snow. The only other
significant fall that I remember was 1916, during
the period of what we refer to as the first “World
War” at that time a number of troops were stationed
at the Willows Camp just outside the city of Victoria.
They were useful in keeping the town roads open.
But here I am getting ahead of my story, which told
about the tremendous snow and cold weather of 1893.
Nothing out of the ordinary occurred until 1896 when
Tom left home to take a job in the lumber mill of
a Mr. Andrew Haslam, who was then a member of Parliament
for Nanaimo.
With Tom away from the farm it became necessary for
me to take on a large share of the work in helping
my father whose health was not too robust. I had begun
milking cows at eight years of age. At our home on
St. Mary’s Lake we had acquired a good herd
of cows, Holsteins and Jerseys. In the early years
there was milk delivered to a dairy which John Collins
had established on what is now know as the Upper Ganges
Road (the creamery has been converted to a private
home and still stands today). Milk had to be at the
site by 7:00 am, and this of course made for early
milking. Sometime later a creamery (now Embe Bakery)
was built at Ganges; a contract for the erection being
awarded to Allen and John Brown. The stone walls were,
if my memory serves me correctly, done by Robert Mason.
Some of this stone wall is still standing at this
writing. There was a well there to provide the necessary
water for use in making butter. My father had a light
spring wagon and a large part Clydesdale and six days
a week drove to the creamery. The monthly cheque made
up a significant portion of our farm income. We also
kept sheep, pigs and chickens, shipping lambs, eggs
and quantities of fruit to a cousin of mother's in
Chemainus, Lawrence Manson, taking in return groceries
and other needed supplies. It was an excellent producing
farm. Unfortunately the problem created by my father's
chest ailment brought on an attack of pneumonia from
which he did not recover and he died in October of
1898 at the comparatively early age of 45, leaving
his beloved wife and family of six sons and five daughters,
the youngest, Grace, an infant girl of a few weeks,
who passed away very soon after her father. In those
early days anyone who contracted pneumonia was given
no chance of survival, in great contrast to later
days with skilled doctors and drugs such as penicillin
and others. Some years ago I had worked hard one winter
evening to clear snow away at the entrance to our
driveway, so my son, Ivan, who was then working at
an iron ore mine on Vancouver Island would be able
to drive up without trouble. I had overdone it and
returning to the house was seized with a weak spell
and had to be rushed off to hospital. Fortunately,
I made a good recovery and suffered no ill effects.
The tragic loss of our father and provider from the
home was a major catastrophe and a grievous affliction
to our mother who was left with ten dependent children.
In this time of stress and anxiety brother Tom was
a tower of strength when help was so badly needed.
I was fourteen when father passed away. The work on
the farm fell to me and I think with training given
me by him I was fairly well informed and equipped
to carry on the work required to be done to produce
a revenue sufficient for the needs of a large family.
In contrast to my father, mother was possessed of
a sturdy physique which was a big factor in the struggle
to survive. A great variety of produce was obtained
from the farm to supplement the needs of the family.
Unfortunately, two of my younger brothers, Laurie
and Jerry, had inherited our fathers weakness, with
Laurie dying in 1909 and Jerry in 1913. Although in
Jerry's case it was a matter of neglect, because having
measles he was put out in a cold tent at Guelph Ont.,
where he was studying for a degree in agriculture
at Guelph Agricultural College. For my mother especially
it was a tragic loss, the second of her five sons
to be taken. In January 1912 the firm of Mouat’s
Bros Ltd. advertised in a Vancouver newspaper for
a stenographer to do the necessary letter writing
which was on the increase making it difficult to keep
abreast of the business correspondence which had to
be answered. In response to the ad a young woman named
Effie Wayne applied for the position. She was then
residing in Northern BC with her father Gilbert Wayne
and brother Arthur. She proved to be a most efficient
secretary and office manager, having experience in
a law office in St. Johns NB, where she was born and
raised. We became very much in love and to say that
"she came, she saw, she conquered" would
be a mild understatement. On leaving Ganges for her
home we were engaged and later I was able to take
the long train journey to the Maritimes, where we
were married in the Ludley Street Baptist Church on
March 1913. It was my first experience of a long train
ride and at White River in Ontario the train was held
up for nearly 24 hours because of the freezing cold.
If the journey was held up for more than 24 hours
food had to be supplied by the railway, so quite naturally
every effort was made to make sure the railway company
was not penalized. The same thing occurred on the
return trip.
I may add that on my way east I stopped in Calgary
where my mother was caring for my brother Jeremy who
was suffering from TB, and unfortunately fighting
a losing battle. He died there in May of that year-a
dear lad greatly loved and mourned. His elder brother
Laurie has passed away in 1909 of the same ailment.
To our dear mother now fell the responsibility of
taking up the threads and directing the affairs of
the family business. Fortunately, she had a robust
body and a mind keen and most intelligent. With the
remaining sons William, Gilbert and Gavin and stepson
Tom, the business of Mouat Brothers Company expanded
rapidly. For 25 years we were agents for the Model
T Ford, for Buckerfields’s feed, and also Imperial
Oil Co. It is now interesting to note that Gilbert’s
youngest son Malcolm (Mac) now owns the oil and gasoline
business at Ganges Wharf. (This business closed sometime
in the 80's).
At the outbreak of the first world war in 1914, brother
Gavin enlisted for overseas service and was the victim
of mustard gas which he encountered either at Ypres
or on the Somme. This did not affect him outwardly
but was the ultimate cause of his death in 1961 at
the age of 68. He went twice to the Mayo Clinic in
Rochester but to no avail. I would have naturally
liked to have had an active part in the prosecution
of the war against Hitler, but with Gavin away and
Gilbert confined to his wheelchair because of having
contracted polio this would not be possible. However,
under the leadership of Colonel Carvoss I joined the
Pacific Coast Military Rangers whose duties were to
patrol the Pacific coast areas and in our case the
Gulf Islands. There was the possibility of an invasion
by Japanese submarines. So to forestall this a large
fleet of Japanese fishing boats was rounded up by
a Capt. Thomas and the crews interned at New Denver.
The Japanese, other than their military leaders,
made good settlers, and good citizens with great skills
in gardening. At one time they had a fine agricultural
area and grew many fine crops. It is to be regretted
that now there are so few japanese families living
on Salt Spring Island. The only other concentration
of Oriental people that I can remember was about 60
years ago when a number of Chinese were brought to
the Island by the Western Fuel Co., to cut props and
slope timbers for the coal mine. With the proceeds
from this logging, brother Tom arranged to have a
fine new barn erected just before the approach to
the meadows, which in the winter usually had water
in the lower part, and through which the stream flowed
out of St. Mary’s Lake, and where in the winter
months quantities of duck were seen. In the winter
season and with abundant flow from the Lake, trout
and even salmon came up from the sea at Dock Bay and
kept the lake restocked every winter. These fish were
delicious fried or boiled and were a staple of our
daily meals. Unfortunately today the effects of logging
and growth of weeds and deciduous and coniferous trees
these fish are unable to get up to the lake. Quite
a number of years ago St. Mary’s Lake was stocked
with small mouthed black bass and I believe some are
still there (St. Mary's Lake has an excellent reputation
for small mouth bass). Most of our nine lakes have
fish and particularly Weston Lake where large trout
weighing 6 to 7 lbs. are often taken. Salmon fishing,
not in the numbers of 10 to 20 years ago is still
providing plentiful returns to sport and commercial
fisherman.
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