R. J. Haney Heritage Village Honours Salmon Arm’s Past

Just south of the Highway 1 intersection on Highway 97B is the 40-acre R. J. Haney Heritage Village, one of Salmon Arm’s best-kept secrets. Not that the museum isn’t busy, with 12,000 visitors a year, but according to curator Deborah Chapman most of these visitors are tourists or locals attending special events. If drivers whizzing by could see through the trees they would be intrigued and perhaps stop to visit. What was once a mixed farm with cattle, wheat and fruit trees owned by R. J. Haney is now a growing “village” with school, church, blacksmith, tea-room, homestead, filling station, firehall and museum along a country “road” with the Haney House at the far end, all surrounded by impeccable lawns and gardens. With the exception of the elegant 1920 Haney House, the others have been either moved onto the site in order to save them from destruction like the Mt. Ida Church and the Broadview School or built as scale replicas like the Newnes Blacksmith Shop, built with a donation from the Newnes family, and the firehall, built by volunteer labour from the fire department. Salmon Arm’s first gas station was built in 1920 of logs and dismantled in 1929 to become a summer cabin for 50 years. The Vintage Car Club rescued it and restored it here. The Beemish Building houses Sam Beemish’s collection of over 7,000 records and 940 cylinders used in his popular regional radio show called Cobweb Corners. Family and friends created it to fulfill Beemish’s dream. The Salmon Arm Forest District staff and volunteers were instrumental in moving the Queest Mountain Lookout from its high perch to the Village. Families and organizations have cared enough to raise the funds and do the work to restore each of the pioneer buildings. Members of the community have also been involved with each exhibit. This love and respect for the past is what the Village is about and nowhere is it more evident than in the character of curator Deborah Chapman, who is quiet and subdued when answering questions about herself, but positively sparkling when telling the story of Percy Ruth and his conifer seeds, the Salmon Arm Farmers’ Exchange or the photo archive being developed. Chapman’s destiny was sealed at ten, when her class visited the exhibit about pioneer Mary Balf at the Kamloops Museum. She was fascinated. Later she earned a degree in Archaeology and worked at the Chase Museum and Fraser Fort George in Prince George. When she got her present job in 1990 she suddenly realized it was what she had always wanted to do. “It was a shock to me,” she laughed, “because you have to do everything from cleaning bathrooms to making exhibits. I don’t know what’s wrong with me (for caring so much about old things.)” Chapman is always looking for what is unique about Salmon Arm’s story. “Did you know that the operetta ‘The Girl of the Bandolier,’ performed in 1915, was the first one to be written and performed in Canada?” she said, pulling out copies of photos scanned from huge glass negatives preserved in the archives. The story of Percy Ruth, subject of a new exhibit that opened on May 20th, is another unique one. It began with a cone-cutter sitting on the deck of Haney House and a few questions. This led to an article Douglas Ruth had written for the Okanagan Historical Society, a meeting with members of Little Shuswap Indian Band and “a whole winter of thought.” Ruth was a Notary Public who responded to a call that went out for conifer seeds after Europe had been destroyed by World War One. He employed First Nations men and women throughout the 1930’s, collecting cones from squirrel caches that were then dried and shaken to release the seeds. “Trees from the Shuswap are all over Europe,” said Chapman. At the opening of the exhibit Chief Felix Arnouse spoke of his memories of picking cones and Douglas Ruth, who took great interest in the project, cut the ribbon. Chapman is part of a new Heritage Committee to look at the factors involved when an old building is to be torn down. “It can be more expensive to move than to build,” she said, “but we take care of what we can.” Her model is the Calgary Heritage Village and she has a vision to bring in various other specific commercial buildings and residential ones. “Lots of British ex-military retired here and built one story houses with verandas all around like they had in India. They were cold and drafty. It was a big mistake. That’s why it’s interesting,” she said, pointing to a picture in her “wish book,” a pictorial history of Salmon Arm. Check out the Museum at www.salmonarmmuseum.org or call 832-5289. Admittance is by donation. Special activities include school tours, nature trail, dinner theatre, Pioneer/Forestry Day in July, Antique Car Show in August, Taste of the Shuswap/Harvest Celebration and the popular Halloween Spooktacular. Bookings are also available for weddings, reunions and memorials and there is a tea room on site.

 

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