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BIRTH: July 18, 1899 | ||
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Henry Sigalet was born in Red Deer Lake, Alberta, July 18, 1899. He died December 28th, 1972. Henry was two years old when his parents moved to Vernon. Because of his Uncle Henry, he was known as Henry Sigalet Jr.
Knowing that the railway would make its way towards Lumby, he bought a site there for a future pole yard.
His first pole sales were to R. W. Bruhn of Sicamous. Henry married Margaret Matticks in November, 1922. Her parents moved from Winnipeg, Manitoba, in 1919 to Lumby. They lived in Blue Springs 4 miles east of Lumby.
In the midst of the depression years, Henry Sigalet started building a mill at Squaw Valley, complete with cookhouse, bunk house, and attractive housing for families. In 1940, he opened the mill. The mill was closed in 1946. Some of the families moved to Hazelton where Henry opened another mill there.
Henry and his wife had three children, Harold, Joan, and Jack; and ten grandchildren. One of the highlights of Henry's life was the arrival of the Federal Truck. He and his brother re-designed it into a pole truck, one of the first, if not the first of its kind in BC. The total time spent working on it was five months. When it was completed, Henry and two teenaged boys, Ernie and Jack Pierce, took possesion of it. It was their "baby." This all took place in 1924 and 1925.
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