The death of one of the early pioneers of the Sumas Prairie made front page news in the Nov. 1, 1923 edition of the Abbotsford, Sumas and Matsqui News.
Mrs. Duncan McGillivray died in Bellingham at the age of 64 and over 30 automobiles participated in a funeral cortege, as well as 180 mourners at Gillis Parlors in Huntingdon.
McGillivray arrived in the valley about 20 years prior and her husband was a former postmaster in Huntingdon.
An air flight from Sumas flew non-stop to Mexico, accomplishing the feat in 12 hours. Refuelling was made in the air near Rosebury, Ore.
Mrs. Elizabeth Brice of Westminster died at the M.S.A. Hopsital due to blood poisoning after a gruesome accident involving a needle.She was sewing and accidentally ran a needle deep into her finger. When she tried to remove it, it snapped in half and she chose not to seek out medical treatment. Gangrene then set in, and despite amputation of the finger, the poison set in combined with her diabetic condition killed her.
A page three international story stated that Dr. Henry S. Washington of the Carnegie Institution believes that the centre of the earth is a mass of gold, silver, platinum and other heavy metals.
The popularity of telephones in Canada and British Columbia was among the highest in the world, trailing only the United States. Canada had an average of 10.53 telephone users per 100 people, with B.C. the highest province at 15.19.
The first pulp and paper plant in western Canada was being constructed in Winnipeg. The plant will cost $3 million and have an initial capacity of 120 tons of newsprint per day. The demand for a new plant was because of the increased demand for newsprint across Canada and the mid-western markets of the U.S.
A story on page 11 reported on the effectiveness of airplanes in fighting forest fires. A total of 76 fires were put out by planes in 1923 and thousands of square miles of timber was saved.
Another story on page 11 lamented the lower numbers of people hiking due to the popularity of the automobile. Hiking numbers were down in the United States and it was believed that Canada will follow suit.
Canada was deemed the “granary of the Empire” for its wheat production and important to Great Britain. Canada produced over 300 million bushels of wheat for British consumption, over 50 million more than second place India.