Springtime in the Boundary
BY: BG EDITOR
Winter Melts Into Spring
[ Woodcut by Oscar Droege, c. 1943 ]
Mar 17, 2018 — GREENWOOD, BC (BG)
The yearning for Winter's disappearance and the coming of Spring has been going on in the Boundary for as long as people have been writing about it… and well before that. By the end of February, each small melt-off, each pocket of warmth seems like a tease that Spring is almost here. Then we're reminded that snow in May is not uncommon… The transition period can seem so long, it could almost be called a fifth season.
Early Greenwood newspapers started to share the 'when will Winter end' angst around the end of February:[1]
THE WEATHER
"…After months of winter's snow and cold, it is exasperating to have each week to delay the publication of the springtime effusions we receive, to deny ourselves the pleasure of printing pretty poems of Spring — all because winter has returned again and more snow and more cold is added daily to our list of disagreeable-nesses. It's been cold, and is cold, and apparently the worst is not yet."
"…After months of winter's snow and cold, it is exasperating to have each week to delay the publication of the springtime effusions we receive, to deny ourselves the pleasure of printing pretty poems of Spring — all because winter has returned again and more snow and more cold is added daily to our list of disagreeable-nesses. It's been cold, and is cold, and apparently the worst is not yet."
A month later, there is a bit more hope to hold onto. Even though the Spring sunshine may not have returned, warm promise is in the air…[2]
"The winter which has been unusually long and severe can, with the advent of the warm chinook winds and rain showers of the past few days, be considered a thing of the past. Despite the "damned, moist, unpleasant" state of the roads from the rapidly melting snow, the first premonitions of springtime are most welcome.
The weather has a great deal to do with local business prosperity, as every store-keeper in Boundary knows. When the snow leaves the hills there will be a rush of prospectors, all needing supplies, into the district. Probably more development work will be done in the camp this year than during the previous three years of its history."
The weather has a great deal to do with local business prosperity, as every store-keeper in Boundary knows. When the snow leaves the hills there will be a rush of prospectors, all needing supplies, into the district. Probably more development work will be done in the camp this year than during the previous three years of its history."
The children are never content to just sit and wait. They force Spring's arrival with the strength of certainty. Dress for it, and it will come. With more than a foot of snow still on the ground, we see them already in short-sleeved shirts walking home from school. The mothers, of course, know better than to believe in this grand seasonal illusion. They wait and worry, tissues and cold medicine in hand. At the turn of the century, Greenwood moms were reminded that Chamberlain's Cough Remedy was the stuff to rely on:[3]
"Do Not Crowd the Season. The first warm days of spring bring with them a desire to get out and enjoy the exhilarating air and sunshine. Children that have been housed up all winter are brought out and you wonder where they all came from. The heavy winter clothing is thrown aside and many shed their flannels. Then a cold wave comes and people say that grip is epidemic. Colds at this season are even more dangerous than in midwinter, as there is much more danger of pneumonia. Take Chamberlain's Cough Remedy, however, and you will have nothing to fear."
Colds and flu are not the only annoyances that ride in on the early Spring breeze. There's also mud. And ticks. The 1910 tick alert came as early as March 25th:[4]
"We have the painful task of recording the annual spring advent of the festive woodtick. This sweet creature returns year after year to take our minds off life's other little worries, and dropping from the fir's green bough, makes his little bow to us, and without further introduction, introduces himself to unprotected persons in a most offensive and ungentlemanly manner.
While not wishing to discourage the little beast, we would advise all readers of this paper to kill all the woodticks they see or feel. There is no bonus on wood-ticks — at present — but there is a penalty for allowing any to escape alive."
While not wishing to discourage the little beast, we would advise all readers of this paper to kill all the woodticks they see or feel. There is no bonus on wood-ticks — at present — but there is a penalty for allowing any to escape alive."
Whether early or late in any given year, Spring always arrives, eventually. Even if we're kept waiting by incessant 'onion snows', the dreaming starts early and nothing can stop it.
"The air is filled with farewells to winter, the parting guest, and signs multiply that spring approaches. Buds are bursting, birds are calling, and beauty is looking into the matter of spring millinery."[5]
Earlier this year, we featured a selection of vintage Greenwood poetry, but neglected to include this lovely ode to Spring:[6]
SPRING
The creek, released from Winter's frosty bite,
With joyous leap and rippling laughter bright,
Outvies the sky in foamy white and blue,
'Tis Spring! 'tis Spring' The world is born anew.
The sheep browse on the benches with their young;
The hill birds sing -- all nature finds a tongue;
The cattle low, swift echoes give reply,
The tree-tops bending as the breezes high.
From out the distance soft toned cow bells ring,
While buttercups, sweet harbingers of spring,
Surmount the snow with tracery of gold,
Reflecting heaven's sunshine thousand fold.
A biding perfume all the landscape fills,
From riverbanks to bluffs on farthest hills.
In goblets, golden glisterred, brewed, 'tis sent
In waftures sweet with noon-day sunshine blent.
Each tree, each plant, bedecked in spring's young glow,
Shakes off the burden of cold Winter's snow.
Each floweret wears a coronet of dew.
'Tis Spring! 'tis Spring! The world is born anew.
-G.K.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Boundary Creek Times — Feb 25, 1910, p. 2
https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/bcnewspapers/xboundarycr/items/1.0171427
[2] Boundary Creek Times — Mar 27, 1897, p. 11
https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/bcnewspapers/xboundarycr/items/1.0170456
[3] Boundary Creek Times — Mar 08, 1907, p. 1
https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/bcnewspapers/xboundarycr/items/1.0172487
[4] Boundary Creek Times — Mar 25, 1910, p. 2
https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/bcnewspapers/xboundarycr/items/1.0171255
[5] Boundary Creek Times — Mar 1, 1907, p. 2
https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/bcnewspapers/xboundarycr/items/1.0171995
[6] Boundary Creek Times — Mar 11, 1910, p. 3
https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/bcnewspapers/xboundarycr/items/1.0171289
