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Thrums

Coordinates: 49°20′35″N 117°35′31″W / 49.343°N 117.592°W / 49.343; -117.592
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Thrums
Thrums is located in British Columbia
Thrums
Thrums
Location of Thrums in British Columbia
Coordinates: 49°20′35″N 117°35′31″W / 49.343°N 117.592°W / 49.343; -117.592
Country Canada
Province British Columbia
RegionWest Kootenay
Regional DistrictCentral Kootenay
Area codes250, 778, 236, & 672
Highways Highway 3A

Thrums is an unincorporated community on the northwest shore of the Kootenay River in the West Kootenay region of southeastern British Columbia.[1] The location, on BC Highway 3A, is by road about 11 kilometres (7 mi) northeast of Castlegar, and 33 kilometres (21 mi) southwest of Nelson.

Name origin

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J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan author, also wrote Auld Licht Idylls, A Window in Thrums, and The Little Minister, set in the fictional Scottish village of Thrums. In 1900, the second book in the trilogy gave Thrums, BC, a railway switch, its name. The suggested proponent/s are Robert W. and Janie A.S. Chalmers (a farming couple who settled around this time), an unknown female train passenger,[2] or the daughter of an unspecified Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) director.[3]

Railway

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CP's adding of this Columbia and Kootenay Railway siding to the timetable in 1900[2] may have been merely as a designated siding. The flag stop, which appeared around 1905 was 5.8 kilometres (3.6 mi) northeast of Brilliant, and 3.2 kilometres (2.0 mi) southwest of Tarry's.[4] Passenger service ended in 1964.

Train Timetables (Regular stop or Flag stop)
Year 1905 1909 1912 1916 1919 1929 1932 1935 1939 1943 1948 1953 1954 1961 1963
Ref. [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [4] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18]
Type Flag Flag Flag Flag Flag Flag Flag Reg/Flag Reg/Flag Flag Reg/Flag Flag Flag Flag Flag

Early community

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Fruit growing was initially the main industry,[19] which transformed to farming over time. The Chalmers, longtime residents from Scotland, also raised poultry. A general store opened in the 1910s.[20] Becoming predominantly a Doukhobor community, the Thrums Cemetery opened in 1912. Operated by the Union of Spiritual Communities of Christ (USCC) from 1940 until the 1970s, the site is now disused and overgrown.[21] Several stores operated by the 1940s.[22] The Chalmers ran a small store and tea room called The Window from the early 1940s.[2]

The population was about 150 by 1928,[23] 250 by 1934,[24] 174 by 1939,[25] 387 by 1943,[26] 250 by 1946,[27] and 218 by 1951.[28] The post office, which opened in 1906, did not reopen after burning down in 1978.[2]

Freedomites

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Various incidents linked to the Freedomites:
1930: Attempted arson of community hall[29] and damage by explosives to school.[30]
1932: Parading in nude prompted 118 arrests[31] and three-year sentences.[32]
1938: Church burned.[33]
1946: Doukhobor hall destroyed by fire.[34]
1947: Barns burned.[35]
1958: Nearby gas pipeline dynamited.[36]
1959: Three feet of CP track dynamited.[37][38]

Present community

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A market/deli and small businesses operate. Since Thrums can be used as a generic name for the area that stretches north to Glade, the boundary with Tarrys is unclear.[2]

Notable people

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Joe Irving (1911–2015), author, ironworker activist, graduated high school in his 90s, and centenarian, was the first baby born in Thrums.[39][40]

Footnotes

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  1. ^ "Thrums (community)". BC Geographical Names.
  2. ^ a b c d e "BC Local News, 14 Sep 2017". www.bclocalnews.com.
  3. ^ "Castlegar News, 28 Sep 2018". www.castlegarnews.com.
  4. ^ a b "1935 timetable". www.library.ubc.ca. p. 10 (TT 70).
  5. ^ "1905 timetable". www.library.ubc.ca. p. 62 (43).
  6. ^ "1909 timetable". www.library.ubc.ca. p. 78 (45).
  7. ^ "1912 timetable". www.library.ubc.ca. p. 92 (TT113).
  8. ^ "1916 timetable". www.library.ubc.ca. p. 159 (TT125).
  9. ^ "1919 timetable". www.library.ubc.ca. p. 183 (TT115).
  10. ^ "1929 timetable". www.library.ubc.ca. p. 30 (TT115).
  11. ^ "1932 timetable". www.library.ubc.ca. p. 471 (TT155).
  12. ^ "1939 timetable". www.library.ubc.ca. p. 126 (TT151).
  13. ^ "1943 timetable" (PDF). www.streamlinermemories.info. p. 44 (TT151).
  14. ^ "1948 timetable". www.library.ubc.ca. p. 45 (TT151).
  15. ^ "1953 timetable". www.library.ubc.ca. p. 44 (TT121).
  16. ^ "1954 timetable". www.library.ubc.ca. p. 44 (TT121).
  17. ^ "1961 timetable". www.library.ubc.ca. p. 73 (TT40).
  18. ^ "1963 timetable". www.library.ubc.ca. p. 18 (TT99).
  19. ^ "1910 BC Directory". www.bccd.vpl.ca.
  20. ^ "1918 BC Directory". www.bccd.vpl.ca.
  21. ^ "Thrums Doukhobor Cemetery". www.doukhobor.org.
  22. ^ "1945 BC Directory". www.bccd.vpl.ca.
  23. ^ "1928 BC Directory". www.bccd.vpl.ca.
  24. ^ "1934 BC Directory". www.bccd.vpl.ca.
  25. ^ "1939 BC Directory". www.bccd.vpl.ca.
  26. ^ "1943 BC Directory". www.bccd.vpl.ca.
  27. ^ "1946 BC Directory". www.bccd.vpl.ca.
  28. ^ Darshan, Johal (1958). "An Approach to Planning for Small Communities in BC". www.library.ubc.ca. p. 103 (93).
  29. ^ "Grand Forks Sun, 11 Jul 1930". www.library.ubc.ca. p. 1.
  30. ^ "The Daily Colonist, 19 Dec 1930". www.archive.org. p. 1.
  31. ^ "The Daily Colonist, 3 May 1932". www.archive.org. p. 2.
  32. ^ "The Daily Colonist, 17 Jun 1932". www.archive.org. p. 3.
  33. ^ "The Daily Colonist, 5 Aug 1938". www.archive.org. p. 1.
  34. ^ Cran 2003, p. 193 (185).
  35. ^ "Calgary Herald, 26 Aug 1947". www.newspapers.com. p. 1. The red glow of flaming barns lit the pre-dawn sky over this small Doukhobor settlement today as fanatical night raiders striking without warning, put the torch to two farm buildings and were foiled in an attempt to fire a third.
  36. ^ Cran 2003, p. 197 (189).
  37. ^ "The Daily Colonist, 20 Oct 1959". www.archive.org. p. 1.
  38. ^ Cran 2003, p. 198 (190).
  39. ^ "Nelson Star, 6 Oct 2011". www.nelsonstar.com.
  40. ^ "Joe Irving obituary". www.thompsonfs.ca.

References

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