"The grand drilling tournament on Tuesday evening closed the biggest and most successful celebration ever held in the Boundary Creek District. From the time of the log chopping contest on Monday morning until the last drill was pounded, in what was probably the most keenly contested and highest prized drilling tournament ever held in British Columbia, the celebration was a series of successes.

The crowds began to gather on Sunday and by Monday morning there were probably 3,000 people in the city. The number rapidly increased until Tuesday afternoon and it would be impossible to estimate how many attempted to witness the drilling tournament. The visitors entered a gaily decorated city. The decoration committee, ably assisted by the business men, had transformed the business streets into avenues of decorations. Streamers, buntings, flags and evergreens had been used to such good effect until it was impossible to realize the ordinary every day business street.

Lack of space precludes a detailed description of the decorations by business firms. Many showed a large amount of originality and taste. Special mention ought to be made of Hunter-Kendrick's where a fully armed man-of-war made out of articles of hardware attracted much attention. Rendell & Co.'s beautiful arcade was tastily decorated, as was also the Imperial hotel, Greenwood. Trading company's store, W. M. Law & Co.'s, St. Charles hotel, Pioneer hotel, Miners' hotel, P. Burns & Co. Smith & McRae's and a dozen other business houses.

At the corner of Copper and Greenwood streets were two streamers, one bearing the inscription, "We Welcome All to the Metropolis," and the other, "Success to the Boundary Creek District." Another streamer invited the visitor to Rendell's Arcade.

WOOD CHOPPING.

The carnival of sports opened with a wood chopping contest at the corner of Copper and Deadwood streets. The contestants were John A. Murray, champion of British Columbia, and Mike Hays. The log was about 18 inches in diameter. Murray who had first choice, made his cut in 1:59 1-5. Hays, the adjoining cut, in 2:21 1-5. In the next trial Hays had the small end and finished in 2:40 2-5, while Murray's time was 2:49. The contest was awarded to Murray.

LACROSSE.

For the first time Greenwood was the scene of a lacrosse match. Canada's national and popular game had been played more scientifically but never more enthusiastically. There were veterans in the teams — old players who knew all the little tricks that so annoy an opponent and amuse the grandstand. There were novices too — men who never saw a lacrosse stick until they saw it in Greenwood. Lacrosse was played sometimes, "shinny" at other times, but the crowd seemed to enjoy the game. …

HORSERACING.

A horseman is the most independent cuss on the face of the earth. If he owns a blooded horse he labors under the impression that the audience, the judges and every one else must await his pleasure. His impression is usually correct. The crowd becomes impatient and the judges curse, but the races don't start until the king horseman is ready. It so happened on Monday and is likely to happen until there are sufficient entries to make the owners less independent.

The quarter mile run in heats, was scheduled to be run at 2:30 sharp. There were four entries, Sleepy Jim, Dan McLung; Raceland, Dan McDonald; "55," J. E. Leckie, and Rossland Maid, Claud A. Cregan. At 2:30 neither "55" nor Rossland Maid put in an appearance and it was after three before they were seen moving at a funeral pace towards the track. It took another half hour to get them off. Rossland Maid won first and second heats easily and Sleepy Jim was just as easy a second. "55" was handicapped by lack of a rider who knew the animal.

The boys' pony race was one of the best races of the meet. There were five entries, Harewood, G. N. C. Hill; Little Bob, D. Beath; Gray, Charlie J. J. Winters; Buckskin Billy, D. R. Campbell, and Curlew, Geo. Archibald. Curlew and Harewood made a hot race for first place, the former winning by a head, and Harewood taking second money.

Robbins came out on top in the Livery men's race. He had three horses in the race and their only contestants was J. Sterrets Charley. Charley had too much flesh to run well and consequently Robbins' Roderick and Pinto carried off first and second money. Floyd Vaughn took three weeks to bring a donkey from Midway for the slow race. His opponents were two horses. The horses with changed riders made a strong run for second money. Just as we go to press a telephone message from the track states that the donkey is at the three-quarter post and will be in next week. The judges got tired waiting and awarded him first money several days ago.

On Tuesday afternoon the rain had made the track heavy, consequently the horses struggled in the 1% mile dash. Rossland Maid won first money, Raceland was second and Victor third. Sleepy Jim falling back to fourth place. The half mile race was won by Victor; Fairview, an Indian horse, taking second money. Floyd Vaughn won the gymkana race and Marand was second. The judges of the horse races were Thos. Macauley, J. Keene and J. W. Nelson. Starters were C. Scott Galloway and A. Cameron.

TUG OF WAR.

The tug of war which took place on the Pioneer hotel platform was a magnificent exhibition of strength and endurance. The opposing teams were one from the Mother Lode mine and one representing the city of Greenwood. The Greenwood team were declared winners, but there being some dispute about the result, another trial was made when the Greenwood team again won.

FIREMEN'S RACES.

The two races between the members of the volunteer fire department were keenly contested and attracted a large amount of interest. The first race was a wet test between the members of the hook and ladder company and the hose company. The first team consisted of D. A. McKenzie (Capt.), P. J. McLeod, F. Miller, W.H. Asquith, H. Louiser, Frank Coates, Geo. Inkster, W. Medill, Fred Wilson. The hose team was made up of A. D. Hallett (Capt.), W. S. Keith, W. A. Keith, J. Flood, J. Moody, R. H. Palmer, E. H. Mortimer, M. E. Miller and H. J. Miller.

The wet test included a run of 100 yards to the hydrant at the corner of Copper and Greenwood streets and 50 yards beyond. The hose team made the run and had water turned on in 33 seconds. The hook and ladder team had trouble in making connection with the hydrant and were seven or eight seconds longer. In the hub and hub race for 200 yards and carrying 6 lengths of hose, the hook and ladder company won after an exciting race.

BASEBALL.

An unfortunate accident interfered with the success of the baseball match between Greenwood and Grand Forks. In the fourth inning H. Russell, one of the best players in the Grand Forks team had his ankle fractured. He was endeavoring to return to first base and in sliding in he met with the accident. Dr. Foster was called and he had Russell removed to Mr. Edwards' residence where the broken limb was set. Mr. Russell was afterwards taken to the Greenwood hospital where he is recovering. In the same inning W. G. Keith and Moore ran for the same fly with the result that Keith was forced to retire for the rest of the game. Only five innings were played. Grand Forks had a good team while Greenwood was weak in several places. …

SMALL SPORTS.

The small sports which were, held on Silver street could not be considered satisfactory. The rain interfered somewhat. Then the large crowd persisted in crowding in on the contestants, delaying matters materially. The contestants themselves were slow in making their entries with the result that the time limit was reached before the programme was completed. The 100-yard dash was won by F. J. Mitchell, with P. J. McLeod a close second. The boys' handicap race was won by Ed Medill, Chas. Russell second. M. D. Richards, from Republic, won the running long jump and V. Ryder was second. F. J. Mitchell and P. G. McLeod again won first and second places in the 200 yard dash. J. A. Murray took first money for putting the 16-pouud shot; P. G. McLeod was second. The quarter mile race was won by F. J. Mitchell, P. J. McLeod second. W. Tilton, M. D. Richards and P., J. McLeod struggled for first place in the running high jump, but after repeated trials they decided to divide the money among them. A. Hallett won the potato race and R. Tilton was second.

DRILLING CONTEST.

What was easily the biggest drilling tournament ever held in Canada closed the two days' sports. The celebration committee decided to offer $300 in prices, 200 going to the winning team and $100 to the second team. This was afterwards augumented by $75 for the winning team given by the Pacific, Windsor and Commercial hotels. Then the mine owners and business men to encourage local teams made up a $595 purse for them. The subscribers being as follows:

SPECIAL PRIZE
Golden Crown Mining Co. … $25.00
Winnipeg Mining & Milling Co. … 25.00
Pioneer Hotel and Sunset Mining Co. … 25.00
Knob Hill & Ironsides Co 25.00
Mother Lode Co… 20.00
B. C. Mining Co … 25.00
Bank of Montreal … 25.00
Bank of Commerce. … 25.00
Imperial Hotel … 50.00
A. H. Sperry & Co … 25.00
Russel Hardware Co. … 10.00
A. E. Bielenburg … 5.00
T. J. Roadley … 5.00
Robert Wood … 5.00
Harry Howson … 5.00
Pat Welch … 5.00
Robbins' Livery … 5.00
F. Short … 5.00
Harris & Leckie … 10.00
Edward Woolrich … 5.00
George Rumberger … 5.00
W. T. Smith … 5.00
Rendall & Co., two suits clothes … 75.00
Hunter-Kendrick Co. two suits clothes … 75.00
Law & Co. two Stetson Hat … 15.00
Greenwood Mercantile Co. two pair Shoes … 20.00
White Front Store, two pair Shoes … 20.00

There were five teams entered. Mike Burns and E. Stevenson who figured in Rossland contests; Wm. Ross and Dan Murphy two strong men from Ymir represented the outside miners. The three local teams were A. D. McLeod and A. L. Lynch; D. Clune and J. Sullivan; A. H. Holmes and Owen Sandry. The judges of the contest were Mayor Hardy, C. J. McArthur and Harry Howson.

The rock a huge piece of hard granite was placed in position at the corner [of] Copper and Deadwood street. The first team to try their prowess were Clune and Sullivan. They went at it with their old time vigor encouraged by an enthusiastic crowd. When it looked as if they were bound to make a new record for themselves, luck turned completely against them, the drill stuck fast and nothing would turn it. Denny threw down his hammer in disgust but urged by the crowd he made a second effort. It was no use however and the champion Boundary creek drillers were forced to retire before 12 minutes had expired. In that time they drilled 26 1/8 inches.

Then came the powerful Mike Burns and his partner. Everything ran smoothly enough for them and drills sunk deep into the rock with every blow. When the 15 minutes expired they had drilled 42 inches a new record for Greenwood. They won $275 first money for the contest. A. D. McLeod and Al. Lynch were the next contestants. They drilled 34 3/4 inches and won first money for Boundary creek which included $220 in cash, two suites of clothes, two Stetson hats and two pair shoes.

Wm. Ross was probably the best driller who ascended the platform but was handicapped by a partner not his equal. They drilled 36 5/8 inches and took second money for the outside teams. Holmes and Sandry the last team to drill did some pretty work and succeeded in making 33 1/8 inches taking second money for Boundary creek teams. Their winnings were $95 in cash, two suits of clothes, two pair of shoes and two Stetson hats. The contest throughout was a magnificent one. The only unfortunate feature was Clune and Sullivan's mishap which probably changed the result.

THE FIREWORKS.

Tuesday night A. W. Strickland, Thos. Roadley and Geo. A. Guess ascended Jubilee mountain until they could go no further. All being corpulent men the trip was a hard one but they struggled to get high in the interests of the grand pyrotecharcial display which is necessary to round off every big celebration. For upwards of an hour they kept the air space above them filled with rockets and other articles of the firework order. They succeeded in making about as much noise as Pat Welch's construction gang but their work had a much prettier effect.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Boundary Creek Times — July 8, 1899
https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/bcnewspapers/xboundarycr/items/1.0170383#p1z0r0f: