ber Forecast
f
Cool trerj
terly frosts.
PRINCE GEORGE CITI^N
A Weekly Newspaper Devoted to the Interests of Central British Columbia
Vol 23, No. 43
Prince George, B.C., Thursday, October 24, 1940
Year
UlflR
SflVIHGS
'CERTIFICATES^
e Perish in C. N. R. Train Wreck
 tocreek bed
,t  Fireman and Three Transients Missing and | Killed in Crash or Drowned in Swollen Waters Creek, Near Pacific—Search for Victims' Bodies
men missing and presumed dead is the tragic result plunge of a Canadian National Railway locomotive • freight car over a washed out fill-approach on the Ind of the steel bridge which spans Lome Creek, 125 It of Prince Rupert, around 10 o'clock on Saturday tt  The locomotive lies submerged in the raging waters Creek  and whether the bodies of the missing men
[urrent is as yet unknown. MISSING
jenter, locomotive engin-. Smithers, B.C. Iyer, locomotive fireman, [then, B.C.
om, New Hazelton,, B.C. |tt, of Kitwangar, B.C. Tupston, of Merritt, B.C.
kfthe missing men were [believed to have been rid-L tender of the wrecked
ptfi wrecking crews have
ling full time since the
took place, no bodies
(en recovered up to press • has it been possible to
|the wrecked engine. , yet known whether the i were killed in the crash
{bridge or drowned by the I waters of Lome Creek. I down the Skeena River
i Lome Creek empties 200
i the bridge.
was regular  No.   198.
j Prince Rupert at 6 p.m. and was due here
near Pacific had put the train behind schedule. At 10 o'clock Saturday night on approaching the bridge across what was the raging torrent of Lome Creek swollen' beyond its banks by the incessant rains of the previous few days, the engine crew cautiously took the train over the bridge .which is located half way between Doreen and Ritchie stations, at a speed of six miles an •hour. The locomotive crossed the main steel bridge and entered on •a long easterly fill-approach when the undermined left side of the grade proved unable to withstand the weight of engine and freight car and gave way, causing them to topple into the raging creek. The engine turned completely over and came to rest on its right side, practically covered by water, about 30 feet down and 50 feet north of the easterly concrete abutment of the steel bridge. In the plunge the bell. smoke stack, steam dome and cab were completely stripped from the boiler top. The tender is lying at a slight angle and butting up against the locomotive boiler, while the freight car lies upright at a slight angle   above   it.    Fortunately   the
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BERLIN'S VERSION: "HEAVY DAMAGE  TO  MILITARY   OBJECTIVES"
oday's News
— BY BRITISH UNITED PRESS WIRE  ----------------
I Items under this head are received by special wire to the Citizen Jin united Press and will appear each week. These bulletins arrived « mis nage went to press this morning; and provide our readers with f «J>-UKhe-mlnute news as gathered by this world-wide organization.
 AND COMMONS IN SECRET  SESSION DON', Oct. 24 (BUP)—The House of Lords and House of Commons t session today to discuss air defences over Britain.
IIN'FSE CLAIM JAPANESE  SUFFER HUG-E   LOSSES^ JjGKING, Oct. 24   (BUP)—Japan's  autumn  offensive in  East *,?!ded.in failure with the Japanese troops suffering at least n«h   t   m Chekian Anhwei and Kiangsu provincial border dis-wn of the Yangtze River, a Chinese military spokesman said.
GERMAN PLANES  OVER LONDON  LAST  NIGHT M, Oct. 24   (BUP)—German planes swept over the English ' <n a renewal of Blitzkrieg operations after a quiet night, the y in°rh    which only a f«w scattered bombers attacked the capf-<? in the day little activity was seen in the London area and no ft bombs or gunfire.
 BOMB GERMAN-OCCUPIED  OSLO
IbomhJAD> Sweden» Oct- 24 (BUP)—R.A.F. bombers are believed I "WfdOslo, capital of German-occupied Norway, today. Heavy Md fl           d here from th«*dn-ection of Oslo, and frontier inhab-
Oslo  v WCTe Scen in Norway and searchlight beams swept the  «o reports of damage or casualties have been received.
JNVF   B0MBS  BERL*N  FACTORY LAST  NIGHT
r on**" U (Bup>—British airplanes last night bombed a Ber-
buiMhi     Ped incend*ary bombs which caused fires and damage
Ipromni     ?•    e Hlgh Command said  today.   The communique
Ismail   a      °n by air-ra*d wardens kept damage to the bombed
le attaou 1fa.rUer communique had said the British attempted a
weatt,          only a few Plan«s reached Berlin. Because of un-
activitvTt0Ver the Britlsh fcfcs yesterday the German air force
-onion La   a!rmed  reconnaissaince during which  bombs drop-
na a factory in central England, the High Command said.
 wiles
DESTROYERS
'   (BUP)— British  troops   yesterday   attacked   Italian of Sidi Barrani, the main spearhead of the Fascist ^s said tfc    ,m UhX*> general Italian headquarters said today. Gradani if Ya       be€n atta<*ed by the British at Maktila where 18 to Eirvn* ^estal)Ushed  an  outpost preparatory  for  further titled fh   **. comn»»nlque claimed the attack was repulsed. UW bv h»    Ita"an destroyer Francesco Nullo,  1680 tons,  had er crew after a fight with British warships.
SENDS WARNINGS TO FRANCE, SPAIN
'»>ncs it iBUP)*~Authoritative British sources aimed double tion with thl V^nC€ and Spain today, stating that their active ncemoveTnen« •X1S wonld mean (for France) encouragement of a *toch now r   Ii       colonial empire (for Spain) loss of essential Ws talks JttutVrouBh the blockade.   No doubt is felt here that activ* Par«*.iiL#taval and Franco had tried to win France and 'upation in the war on th* sirt«* of the Axis nowers.
IS
 may
p*' U<*. 24 <m PLANNING  NEW "PEACE  DRIVE?
L°* a«i attemit ? P)irHitler's nieetings with Laval and Franco Si I a demanrt ?   T^ up EnroPean powers and then face Brun»» Ser« today•   /    Wt the Wockade or a proposal for peace, it is In ^"^ indicaf^S^17 of newspaper wireless dispatches from .\ Spe than^~Z, utt}**'a present diplomatic efforts are much '    Pet*»» on ^OUsly ^W^ed.- Laval left for Paris today after ms conference with Hitler on Tuesday.
Complimentary Dinner to Board Of TradeOffidal
Wm. L. Armstrong Leaves Prince George Following 18 Years' Community Activity.
The Prince George Board of Trade will tender a complimentary dinner to W. L. Armstrong, retiring secretary and past ' president of the iboard, on Monday evening. October 26.
Mr. Armstrong has been promoted bo the position of agent for the C.N.R. at Prince Rupert, having previously held the same position here for the past 18 years.
"Bill." as he is affectionally called by all and sundry in this city, has been an indefatigable worker in the best interests of all that has had to do with the betterment of this community during the long years of his residence here. He has been in turn president, and several times secretary of the Board of Trade, a valued member of the city council, and a member of the school board oKwhich he has been chairman for 1940>x
As a ^stnall token of the esteem in
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Y.S.A.T. Starts Winter Schedule On Northern Run
Barkley-Grow Twin-Engined Eight-Passenger Planes Will Make Two Trips a Week.
The winter schedule of Yukon Southern Atfr Transport Ltd. became effective yesterday, October 23. On the Vancouver-Whitehorse run planes now arrive in Prince George ndrthbound on Wednesdays and Saturdays at 1:15 p.m. Southbound they arrive Thursdays and Sundays at 8:45 a.m. The scheduled stop here is 30 minutes in both cases.
In future all planes will connect with the Edmonton and. Yukon airplanes at Dawson Creek airfield instead of at Port St. John as formerly.
This winter "Y.S.A.T. is able to offer a splendid service for passengers, mail and express from the Cariboo to Vancouver, Prince George and the Peace River country. Letters may be mailed Thursday morning at Prince George and delivered in Vancouver the same afternoon. Sunday's southbound mail will be delivered early Monday morning. Northbound express and mail may be s^nt from Vancouver Wednesday and '"Saturday mornings to be delivered In Prince George the same afternoon.
Vancouver  will be used   as   the terminal this winter instead of Kam-loops which  was used  last winter. Jft j^   mM±£*     4% Jp    S          ¦%         I   4*                  A uew airfield has been laid out at
llQAQv Kn V4%P H&n ( |>ACC Dawson Creek and all Edmonton *|r JmmW W Mk*+9 %0 I VI i^^Vi VIV99 and Vancouver trips northbound to _         —^     m                  ^^                             m                 Whitehorse, Y.T., will stay at Daw-
I M mrmumm.Mt£'%. IllAJ^WMA ^^. V^%S son Creek overnight. The next day, |||    ¦linCS    VlCOlMw    ^^^riCCi  Thursdays and Sundays, planes will
__________________*&                               leave Dawson Creek northbound to
Port  St.  John,   Port   Nelson   and
Donations Considerably in Advance of 1939 Membership       Whitehorse; [southbound to Edmon-
Drivti—Sawmill Communities Make Handsome Contribu-       ton, via GTande Prairie and Peace
r:      ac       oi-'       tn- ..         r-        j  u     vsr/ «        River, and southbound to Vancou-
tions to Funds for Relieving Distress Caused by War.      Vftr yla prince G€orge and wmiail^
At noon Wednesday #2,492.36 was the grand total for | Tlie company will operate the Prince George and surrounding communities in the national , same equipment. Barkley Grow twin-membership drive of the Canadian Red Cross Society. This figure represents a considerable increase over last year's contribution, and the local committee and those of the smaller surrounding communities may well feel proud of their accom-lishment.   The grand total was giv-'city and district, should kindly send
In the top-floor ward of a London children's hospital, nurses wend their way through twisted cots and fallen masonry after explosion of a bomb. Though most patients have now been removed from the capital, hospitals and schools have contiibuted their share to the 2000 deaths resulting from the daily and nightly German air bombardment of London.
en a big boost on Monday by a cheque for $690.34 from Giscome and Newlands sawmilling pnd logging centers.
Campaign Chairman A, M. Patterson is under obligation by the rules of the national campaign committee to close the local effort <n October 31, and therefore urgently requests that any who are desirous of participating in this charitable work, and who have been overlooked by the canvassers throughout Wie
Occupants Uninjured As Tree Falls On Truck
Wild Electric Storm with Thirty-MUle Gale on Sunday Afternoon Topples Numerous Trees" Across Highway in Vicinity of Prince George—Motorists Have Close Calls.
Like a "bolt from the blue" and'Lake road near Crescent school Mr.
with all its supposed dramatic sud-deness. a 30-mile gale of wind, accompanied by rain squalls estimated to have precipitated 1.45 inches of water within a short period, wliaL had otherwise been a lovely fall day was brought to an abrupt.end in Prince George around 4 o'clock Sunday afternoon. Many golfers and other outdoor pleasure seekers found themselves engulfed in an electric storm of cyclonic fury with all the lightning flashes and thunderous crashing of a modern military blitzkrieg. Numbers  of  motorists  out  for a
and Mrs. W. H. James and Mr. and Mrs. W. Forrester were homeward bound when the storm struck. Trees began tumbling across the road from all directions and there were trees in front of them and trees behind them. They enlisted the help of three neighbourhood farmers and with the aid of axes, three crosscut saws and improvised peavies, cut and pried and towed somewhere near thirty windfalls off the right-of-way before they could continue their journey homeward without hindrance.
In the southern  area of  British
pleasure ride or looking for the odd .Columbia and from the coast comes grouse were caught in the fury of reports of havoc caused by wind and tlie storm and sought shelter either
in  open   fields farm house.
Jack   Nicholson   and were   rolling  home   on
or  in   the  nearest
Bill   Klaus the   Chief
Lake road about seven miles north of the city in a light delivery truck when the storm hit. Trees began falling across the road with fearsome crashes and they came to an abrupt stop at 'the roadside, only to have a large tree come toppling down across the cab of the vehicle. Neither were injured although the damage to the truck cab is estimated -at $85.00.                 -Further   north   along   the   Chief
rain. A cloudburst on the Big Bend highway interrupted traffic, while at the new gold mining town of Zeballos, Vancouver Island, three bridges were washed out and flood-water is reported to have attained a depth of five feet on the streets of the town.
Westerly on the C.N.K. line from Prince George, besides the collapse of the bridge over Lome Creek resulting in the death of five men when a locomotive crashed to the creek bed below, mud slides occurred in several places between Usk and Kitsalas and at Ritchie and tied up trains for 24 hours or more.
in their donations before that date All- persons having collection books throughout the district are also requested to return them with all other supplies prior to October 31.
The first contribution to the current  membership drive  came  from Penny.   It  amounted  to  $120.  and unfortunately   the  acknowledgment was omitted  when the list of new members from Penny was published in last week's Citizen. GISCOME.   NEWLANDS SEND  S690.34
From Giscome and the adjoining Longing camp at Newlands en Men-clay came the magnificent sum of $690.34 as a result of the campaign in those communities for the Red Cross   membership  drive  and   nev
(CONTINUED ON PAGE POUR)
ing- eight passengers, captain pilot and flight engineer. The planes will be in constant communication with ground stations from, the point of departure and the next- point of arrival, Tlie Yukon Southern maintains, through its own stations, complete weather reports at all points on its route.
BUILDING   NEW  MILL AT  NICKEL  PLATE
New equipment has been ordered for the Kelowna Exploration Co.'s gold mill at Hedley. B.C., which suffered a $30,000 fire loss last week. The Nickel Plate is one of British Columbia's oldest profitable gold quartz mines, having been in continuous operation for over 40 years.
TEA IN AID OF GIRL GUIDE   RANGERS
Saturday. October 26, being the first day of Dominion Girl Guide Week, members of the First Prince George Ranger Company are holding an apple pie tea in the Scout Hall, Third avenue, directly opposite the government building, from 3 to 6 p.m. Tea, coffee and apple pie will be served, and a stall of home cooking and candy will be tended by Rangers and Brownies.
The Ranger Company has just been reorganized with Miss Clara Wleland as captain and Mrs. C. F. Straw as lieutenant. Contrary to the general belief that to become a Ranger a girl must first have been a Guide, the captain wishes to make it known that all girls 16 years or over who a,re interested may join. They are invited to come and get acquainted on Saturday at the tea. and then come to meetings which are held every Monday evening in the lower hall of the Knox United Church from 7:30 to 9:00 p.m.
1940 Soil Survey Brings Arable Land to 211,731
Survey in Prince George Area During Season Chiefly Centered Along West Bank of Fraser and North Bank of Nechako Rivers—Total Area Now Ready for Mapping Approximates 15 Miles Wide by 54 Miles Long.
C, C. Kelley, B.S.A., in charge of • the central  interior of British  Oo>
the soil survey being- carried out in the central' interior of British Columbia contiguous to Prince George for the provincial government in conjunction with the Dominion Ex-perimentals Farms branch, Ottawa, and who has been assisted during the past season by Lawrence Far-stad, has about completed the field work for this season. Mr. Kelley has kindly prepared a short report on the season's findings av follows: Tlie reconnaissance coil survey -Jt
lumbia has been carried on in the Prince George district this year for a period of about five months, and the area classified in 1940 amounts to about 104,118 acres. The largest section on which work was done lies west of the Fraser River be-tv/een the Nechako River on the north and the electoral boundary on the south, with West Lake and; the Blackwater road as the tern-l*>rary western boundary.   Smaller
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