The History of
Lumby - Agriculture, Forestry and
Justice
Agriculture was
the mainstay of the economic structure of the early
community. Logging and milling were sidelines of
land clearing for cultivation. Logging became more
intensive with the opening of the S.C. Smith and
Norman McLeod Sawmill at Enderby in 1894, though it
took some years for the effect to be felt in the
Lumby area. Logs were cut as far back as
Cherry
Creek and Sugar Lake,
floated down the Shuswap River where they were
joined by logs from the Lumby area at Bessette
Creek, and on to Mabel Lake where they were round
up into rafts and towed fourteen miles to the mouth
of the Shuswap River down to Enderby - a thirty
mile distance. Many men from Lumby were employed on
these river drives. The logs that did not go to the
Enderby mill were bought by McGee who operated the
Bessette water powered sawmill after Napoleon
Sr's death.
Henry
Sigalet operated a pole
yard in Lumby and after the CNR came into the
village in 1924, he opened a sawmill. Bell
Pole of Minneapolis
also opened a pole yard.
Peace and justice
were handled from Vernon in the beginning, but in
the first quarter of the century there was a
Provincial
Constable stationed in
Lumby. Game Wardens and Forest Wardens, sometimes a
combined position, were stationed in town and the
outlying districts. Sometimes local farmers were
appointed to this position
There was no local
government except for a school board. All decisions
that had to be made came from Victoria or through
the Government Agent in Vernon. Roads and
sidewalks, such as they were, were the
responsibility of the Department of Public Works,
forerunner of the Ministry of Highways. There were
Improvement Societies from the beginning of the
village to decide on co-operative effort, sometimes
with a little government grant, for facilities.
![First Council](council.jpg)
Lumby's first council
A very active
Community Club was always on the scene for
recreational planning. The first park was on the
Bessette Estate across the creek from the present
curling rink.
Growing pains
there must have been. Arguments, dissentions and
quarrels surely flourished. The spirit of
cooperation must have prevailed to bring the
village through its first early years and build the
community of today.
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