The Feb. 10th edition of the Sumas & Matsqui News is a strange collection of head-scratchers, including a note on the front page explaining why the paper was published earlier than usual.
It was, it reads, to allow the public to know about the arrival of one Mr. Boyd Oliver. The news item doesn’t elaborate on who this man is, or why people would want to see him. And a quick search of the internet doesn’t reveal any clues either.
But those in charge at the paper wanted to “urge our people make the most of” Oliver’s visit.
“He is an eminent expert upon matters vitally concerning the economic activities of this section, and we are faced with problems that only men of his calibre and experience can help solve.”
He would be giving a talk at 7 p.m. that night, and wanted to meet with people before then to be apprised of the “local situation.”
Continuing with the idiosyncrasies of the publishing world 100 years ago are two items on the front page: “Lunatic Tries to End Life” and “Death takes Mrs. Jeddes.”
In the first item, a man had made “determined efforts to commit suicide” and was taken into custody by the provincial constable and admitted to the Westminster asylum. His name, Olaf Olsen, was used, and he was referred to as an “unfortunate man.”
Meanwhile, the item on Mrs. Jeddes noted her pallbearers, her widower, and the fact she was from Scotland with no relatives in Canada.
The practice of publishing such information in such blunt terms has long gone by the wayside. But a respectful note was also made on the death of a notable First Nations person.
“Oscar Ned, 30, son of Chief Ned, died Thursday morning after a long illness,” a brief note said. “He will be interred in the Indian cemetery at Kilgard to-morrow.”
All of this is intermingled with a want ad for a secretary, warnings about wolves, coyotes and cougar tracks in the area, and updates on all the local business groups’ recent meetings.
The Agricultural Society was said to select the “McCrimmon Property” in Sumas on Huntingdon Road for its fair site, a location that hadn’t been mentioned in a list of prospective properties in the newspaper the week before.
“It comprises 13 acres, four of which are clear, has good water and shade trees, and is priced at $4,000,” a story notes.
The deal wasn’t yet complete.
This edition of the paper also takes note of the “Pacific Highway” being planned to help shorten the distance from Abbotsford to Chilliwack by seven miles and travel across the Sumas Prairie.
The same article states that Sumas municipal council was assured that the west Sumas farms would “be absolutely safe from high water this year.”
Other pages in the paper include news from around the world, including the opening of the Junior Red Cross Hospital in Calgary, “for treatment of children whose parents are without funds.”
Meanwhile, they reported, Manitoba’s dairy industry was growing with 26,000 farmers in that province producing and shipping milk and cream.
And racism was ever-present in the pages of the paper, as well.
A restaurant called the Seaforth was advertising “good home-cooked meals” with the addendum below: No Oriental Labour. And right under that advertisement was a birth announcement that began “The right kind of emigrant arrived in Kilgard last week by the stork route.”
This is in addition to liberal use of now-unprintable slurs, particularly against Asian and Black people in the community.
READ MORE: The Abbotsford News 100 Years Ago: Looking Back At Feb. 3, 1923