A Londoner's View of Greenwood City
BY: BG EDITOR
Adolphus Drucker, M.P.
[ Photo: "Black & White" Parliamentary Album 1895 ]
Dec 29, 2018 — GREENWOOD, BC (BG)
In the spring of 1897, at the height of Greenwood's building boom, our fair city was visited by Mr. Adolphus Drucker, a Conservative member of Parliament from London. His report was published in a British news journal, and an excerpt of his comments are found in the Boundary Creek Times:[1]
Mr. Drucker, M.P. in the St. James's Budget
"In a recent issue of the St. James's Budget — a popular and influential London journal — an interesting article appears giving Mr. A. Drucker's impressions of his travels last autumn through the mining districts of British Columbia. Unfortunately the exigencies of space forbid a re-production of the article in extenso, but the following excerpt will serve to show that Mr. Drucker does not belong to the class of tourists who have eyes yet see not:
"I took steamer to Penticton, which has at least one characteristic — namely the dustiest road in Christendom, lead to Rossland, which has become the centre of the Kootenay mining industry. In the district between Penticton and Boundary Creek I saw gold mines, some, of the ores being particularly rich in copper. In most of the mines, including those which do not contain much gold, there are nearly always sufficient copper and other metals to pay the expense of working.
To give you an idea of the rapid growth of towns in British Columbia, I may cite Greenwood City. In March there was not a house to be seen; but when I was there in September-October there were three large hotels and all the indications of a considerable town. Of course there was a newspaper, and a very smart one too — the Boundary Creek Times. What a magnificent future British Columbia has! What with the mining industry, and the salmon and sturgeon fishing, the outlook is indeed splendid.'"
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