Granite Creek Preservation Society
The GCPS is a registered society dedicated to preserving the history, site,
and memory of Granite Creek, BC. Membership is open to all.
NEWS
March 06, 2023 -
On March 2, 2023, Barrie Cook (born April 13, 1939 in Coalmont, B.C.) passed away at his home in North Vancouver. Barrie was the grandson of Foxcrowle Percival Cook, merchant at Granite Creek, Coalmont and Princeton. Barrie’s father was Ed Cook, Foxcrowle’s only son. Barrie was one of the ribbon cutters at the opening ceremony for the Granite Creek Walking Tour. He was a wise and talented man. Before retirement, he worked in the newspaper industry. Barrie provided the GCPS with many photos of the area. We are honoured to have known him. RIP Barrie. You will be missed!!
Barrie Cook photo
June 9, 2022 Granite Creek Pioneer Cemetery Re-Opens –
News Release
April 19, 2022 - Obituary for
Ole Juul
November 19, 2020 -
We have received some photos from Sandra Klein, from about 1980, judging by the
condition of the buildings. They're in the section "
The years of
Abandonment." Do have a look.
January 29, 2019 -
We got a grant to put on a small event. It's going to be a showing of
Charlie Chaplin's Gold Rush. A classic silent film from 1925. The event
will be held at the Princeton Museum on February 16. Doors will be open at 1:30
and there will be free popcorn and hot chocolate with marshmallows. This is
a free event for the whole family.
November 30, 2018 -
We have an exciting new work in our archives! It is a paper written by Ronald A.
Shearer who is an Emeritus Professor of U.B.C. This work is based on the Diary of
John Dean when he lived at Granite in 1886. The GCPS is grateful to recive
permission to publish such a work. Serious researchers will also be interested
in the bibliography at the end.
Read the paper here.
October 27, 2018 -
George Elliott is resigning as chair because he has been elected to
Princeton Town Council and he wishes to avoid any conflict of interest.
The GCPS board of directors has voted unanimously to appoint
Dawn Gardner as Chair until the next GCPS AGM.
October 11, 2018 -
The BC Museums Association publishes a magazine named Roundup, and this
month there is an article about Granite and the GCPS which they have
generously allowed us to republish here.
Have a look!
September 22, 2018 -
The opening party was a great success. About 50 people attended. Thank you
everyone for your support.
See here for the whole story and links to videos.
September 7, 2018 -
The official opening of the Granite Creek self-guided walking tour will be
Friday September 21. Ribbon cutting and speeches at 11:00 a.m. From 11:30
until 2 p.m. will be social and picnic with free hot dogs, burgers, pop
cookies and cake. Visit with friends and enjoy live entertainment.
See poster here.
May 25, 2018 -
We are happy to announce that the Granite Creek signs are installed and ready for
viewing at the Town Site and Cemetery. Diane Sterne has created a short “commercial” on
You Tube that can be viewed here:
YOUTUBE This project was paid for by a
British Columbia | Canada 150 Grant.
March, 2018 -
We now have a page with the wonderful Lou Hare diaries. As well as doing
an electronic transcript, Diane Sterne has also extracted some very interesting
information and put it in separate files.
Have a look here!
We also have Princeton mining records with very detailed information about Granite Creek claims.
Those are on the
records page.
May 25, 2017 -
Someone has dug numerous small holes at the graveyard over the weekend.
This has happened before, but this time the CBC covered the story.
Mysterious holes appear in ghost town cemetery in B.C. Interior. See also
Our Cemetery Violated on
the Coalmont Courier.
April 7, 2017 -
Granite Creek Hits
Motherlode With Canada 150 Grant!
It won’t be long before there will be a lot more to see at Granite Creek than
ruins of a handful of structures and a cemetery. The tiny little ghost town
located near Coalmont will soon become an educational stop of interest
revealing details of its past in British Columbia’s history. by George Elliott
February 2017 -
News Release -
Signs Of Life
Coming To Granite Creek. An update of
what has been happening with the Society and the progress we've made.
October 14, 2016 -
A man by the name of Edwin Lawrence Fisher gave us some
pictures that he had taken around Granite in 1976. there
are still quite a few structures.
See the pictures here.
September 16, 2016 -
We now have a new
Chinese section and it i hoped that
we will find more information that fits into that category.
September 15, 2016 -
The other day a piece of a dish that came from the Granite Creek Hotel
was dug up in their garden by a Coalmont resident. It is particularly interesting
because it is the only known piece from that set.
See here.
August 08, 2016 -
The Princeton Museum recieved a gift of some items from the family of
someone who was gold mining at the time of Granite. There is a new page
here.
March, 2016 -
Platinum Stash Found! We've acquired an article from 1921 about four Chinese returning to collect
their hidden treasure at Granite. They had burried a bottle with six pounds of platinum which,
after thirty years, they were luckily able to relocate. This story looks like it could be the
genesis of the legend of Johannson's lost platinum cache which has never been verified. You can
read the
article here.
March, 2016 -
NOTICE: The GCPS AGM will be held at the Princeton Museum on Thursday, March 17
at 1:00 pm.
January, 2016 -
New archive entries are now marked with a
new
tag so that it is easier to find recent entries.
January, 2016 - A new compilation of articles from the Daily Colonist which
relate to Granite Creek has been added to our archives. We now have a nice
collection from both 1885 and 1886. These give a good idea of what was going
on and the perception of the times.
Here is the latest one (8MB pdf)
August, 2015 - We have another article by Diane Sterne about the Granite Creek
Graveyard which was published in The Similkameen News Leader:
Etched In Time
June 2015 - NOTICE: There will be no
meetings in July and August but will resume again in September. Please join us
then.
May 2015 - Heritage BC has prepared an interactive map of Chinese Historic
places for their website. You can see
their website.
They used four Granite Creek photos in their heading pictures on the website.
It looks like Granite Creek has recognition to add to its growing list as it is
now a Chinese Historic Place.
February 18, 2015 -
We have a new Gateway leading to more detailed pages for each archive category. It is
hoped that this will make our historical information both more accessible and more
enjoyable to more people. But perhaps even more exciting, the image archive has very
many more pictures. Most of these are quite detailed and worthy of much study. Check
out the new
Granite Creek Archive Gateway.
February 1, 2015 -
NOTICE: The next meeting will be the AGM and will be
held on Thursday, February 19 at 1:00 pm at the Princeton Museum.
July 6, 2014 -
Some pictures of major Granite Creek artifacts are now on a new page
dedicated to the Princeton and Area Museum and Archives.
Click here.
June 22, 2014 -
Fifty six years ago, during BC's Centenial, Eric Goodfellow made a movie with scenes
from Coalmont and Tulameen. However, the key part of this movie is the unveiling of the
cairn at Granite Creek. Many were gathered for the occation and most were in period dress.
We now have a copy of this movie and it is available on Youtube for all to see.
Watch: "Granite Creek 1958".
April 4, 2014 -
The Princeton Museum and Archives has original documents spanning the years 1885 to 1895
which include a list of mining licenses with names and associated companies who had claims
registered on Granite Creek. Diane Sterne has extracted the relevant information and
compiled it into a document which we can all read now. The originals are all hand written,
so this was no small task.
Some of the information which can be gleaned from this is particularly interesting.
There were 985 prospectors, 88 were after 1887, 3 were women, 214 were Asian, and 48
of the Asian prospectors arrived after 1887. Also, among those names there is likely
to be ones which can help researchers with genealogical intent who are looking
for family connections to this area. Have a look at the
list here, and some
notes here.
March 20, 2014 -
To bring everyone up to date, there is now a
GCPS Progress Report filed, along with the minutes of today's meeting, on the
minutes page.
March 16, 2014 -
We now have a copy of the BC Archives' "Granite Creek Land Title Files - 1907-1958". An interesting
report is from C.T.W. Hyslop, the Government Land Inspector. In a letter dated July 3, 1953, he states:
"During this inspection it was found that the townsite was not a ghost town as expected but that there
were four elderly men in residence in some of the old buildings." Read a
short report here, or visit our
Documents and Links page and download
some excerpts (3.9MB pdf) which include
pictures of the residences with an outline of these gentlemen and their circumstances.
March 7, 2014 -
Some pictures of Granite townsite buildings taken in 1970 have come to light.
The photographer, Don Winslow, has graciously
allowed us to reproduce them here. Have a look at our new page called Later Years.
February 28, 2014 -
"I am happy to announce that Princeton Museum has welcomed GCPS with open
arms and are allowing us to use their facility for our regular monthly
meetings." ~ George Elliott, Chairman
Meetings will be 1:00 p.m., the THIRD THURSDAY of each Month,
Princeton Museum Archive Room.
January 26, 2014 -
An interesting news clip showed up the other day. In 1995 the Similkameen Spotlight
ran a story titled "Government buys Granite City" wherein it was claimed that $40,000
to $60,000 will be spent at the site next year. The GCPS is hoping that the Province
hasn't spent the money on something else in the meantime. Check out
our archives for the rest of the item. You will see that there are also three new transcriptions.
Notes of conversation with Thomas Herbert Murphy, at Tulameen, July 18, 1930; Memoirs of Walton
Hugh Holmes (1852 - 1940); and a delightful letter from Jessie Hunter (nee Olding),
Granite Creek, Aug. 29, 1898 written to Jessie McQueen. This letter is really a good
insight into what life was like in Granite Creek back then.
January 16, 2014 - Our archive of Granite related documents
is growing. Today we were given a copy of a 1922 survey map by Randy Rorvik who asks that we
credit AllTerra Land Surveying Ltd. Princeton. Also, another map has surfaced. This one is from
1939 and shows what we now call the Coalmont Road as going over the Granite bridge, through
Granite Creek, and then through Coalmont before it continues along Station Road on to Tulameen.
Have a look. There are also some other new documents which will tickle the fancy of any history buff.
December 27, 2013 - This web site is up and running. In addition to this news section
you will find links, both top and bottom, to history and a guestbook. The latter is
intended as a catchall for comments from visitors and those who may have an interesting
family or other connection to Granite Creek. At the very bottom of each page there is
a link to our, as yet small, repository of maps and documents. It is expected that this
will grow and become a valuable resource. On that bottom line there are also links to
the minutes of the GCPS, as well as an easy-to-use contact form where people can send
questions and comments directly to the society. There is also the standard about
page with contact information and a list of the executive.
September 3, 2013 - The formation of a group for the purpose of collecting studying
and preserving the history, site, and artifacts of Granite Creek was proposed at a
meeting held at the Riverside Centre in Princeton. It was decided to adopt the name
Granite Creek Preservation Society and to register under the BC Societies Act.
Original invitation here.
Coalmont Courier article here.