Thrums

Unincorporated community in British Columbia, Canada

Place in British Columbia, Canada

Thrums

Thrums

Location of Thrums in British Columbia

Coordinates: 49°20′35″N 117°35′31″W﻿ / ﻿49.343°N 117.592°W﻿ / 49.343; -117.592Coordinates: 49°20′35″N 117°35′31″W﻿ / ﻿49.343°N 117.592°W﻿ / 49.343; -117.592
Country|  Canada
Province|  British Columbia
Region| West Kootenay
Regional District| Central Kootenay
Area codes| 250, 778, 236, & 672
Highways|  Hwy 3A

Thrums is an unincorporated community on the northwest shore of the Kootenay River in the West Kootenay region of southeastern British Columbia.[1] The location, on BC Highway 3A, is by road about 11 kilometres (7 mi) northeast of Castlegar, and 33 kilometres (21 mi) southwest of Nelson.

## Name origin[edit]

J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan author, also wrote Auld Licht Idylls, A Window in Thrums, and The Little Minister, set in the fictional Scottish village of Thrums. In 1900, the second book in the trilogy gave Thrums, BC, a railway switch, its name. The suggested proponent/s are Robert W. and Janie A.S. Chalmers (a farming couple who settled around this time), an unknown female train passenger,[2] or the daughter of an unspecified Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) director.[3]

## Railway[edit]

CP's adding of this Columbia and Kootenay Railway siding to the timetable in 1900[2] may have been merely as a designated siding. The flag stop, which appeared around 1905 was 5.8 kilometres (3.6 mi) northeast of Brilliant, and 3.2 kilometres (2.0 mi) southwest of Tarry's.[4] Passenger service ended in 1964.

Train Timetables (Regular stop or Flag stop)

Year | 1905 | 1909 | 1912 | 1916 | 1919 | 1929 | 1932 | 1935 | 1939 | 1943 | 1948 | 1953 | 1954 | 1961 | 1963
Ref. | [5] | [6] | [7] | [8] | [9] | [10] | [11] | [4] | [12] | [13] | [14] | [15] | [16] | [17] | [18]
Type | Flag | Flag | Flag | Flag | Flag | Flag | Flag | Reg/Flag | Reg/Flag | Flag | Reg/Flag | Flag | Flag | Flag | Flag

## Early community[edit]

Fruit growing was initially the main industry,[19] which transformed to farming over time. The Chalmers, longtime residents from Scotland, also raised poultry. A general store opened in the 1910s.[20] Becoming predominantly a Doukhobor community, the Thrums Cemetery opened in 1912. Operated by the Union of Spiritual Communities of Christ (USCC) from 1940 until the 1970s, the site is now disused and overgrown.[21] Several stores operated by the 1940s.[22] The Chalmers ran a small store and tea room called The Window from the early 1940s.[2]

The population was about 150 by 1928,[23] 250 by 1934,[24] 174 by 1939,[25] 387 by 1943,[26] 250 by 1946,[27] and 218 by 1951.[28] The post office, which opened in 1906, did not reopen after burning down in 1978.[2]

## Freedomites[edit]

Various incidents linked to the Freedomites:
1930: Attempted arson of community hall[29] and damage by explosives to school.[30]
1932: Parading in nude prompted 118 arrests[31] and three-year sentences.[32]
1938: Church burned.[33]
1946: Doukhobor hall destroyed by fire.[34]
1947: Barns burned.[35]
1958: Nearby gas pipeline dynamited.[36]
1959: Three feet of CP track dynamited.[37][38]

## Present community[edit]

A market/deli and small businesses operate. Since Thrums can be used as a generic name for the area that stretches north to Glade, the boundary with Tarrys is unclear.[2]

## Notable people[edit]

Joe Irving (1911–2015), author, ironworker activist, graduated high school in his 90s, and centenarian, was the first baby born in Thrums.[39][40]

## Footnotes[edit]

1. ^ "Thrums (community)". BC Geographical Names.
2. ^ a b c d e "BC Local News, 14 Sep 2017". www.bclocalnews.com.
3. ^ "Castlegar News, 28 Sep 2018". www.castlegarnews.com.
4. ^ a b "1935 timetable". www.library.ubc.ca. p. 10 (TT 70).
5. ^ "1905 timetable". www.library.ubc.ca. p. 62 (43).
6. ^ "1909 timetable". www.library.ubc.ca. p. 78 (45).
7. ^ "1912 timetable". www.library.ubc.ca. p. 92 (TT113).
8. ^ "1916 timetable". www.library.ubc.ca. p. 159 (TT125).
9. ^ "1919 timetable". www.library.ubc.ca. p. 183 (TT115).
10. ^ "1929 timetable". www.library.ubc.ca. p. 30 (TT115).
11. ^ "1932 timetable". www.library.ubc.ca. p. 471 (TT155).
12. ^ "1939 timetable". www.library.ubc.ca. p. 126 (TT151).
13. ^ "1943 timetable" (PDF). www.streamlinermemories.info. p. 44 (TT151).
14. ^ "1948 timetable". www.library.ubc.ca. p. 45 (TT151).
15. ^ "1953 timetable". www.library.ubc.ca. p. 44 (TT121).
16. ^ "1954 timetable". www.library.ubc.ca. p. 44 (TT121).
17. ^ "1961 timetable". www.library.ubc.ca. p. 73 (TT40).
18. ^ "1963 timetable". www.library.ubc.ca. p. 18 (TT99).
19. ^ "1910 BC Directory". www.bccd.vpl.ca.
20. ^ "1918 BC Directory". www.bccd.vpl.ca.
21. ^ "Thrums Doukhobor Cemetery". www.doukhobor.org.
22. ^ "1945 BC Directory". www.bccd.vpl.ca.
23. ^ "1928 BC Directory". www.bccd.vpl.ca.
24. ^ "1934 BC Directory". www.bccd.vpl.ca.
25. ^ "1939 BC Directory". www.bccd.vpl.ca.
26. ^ "1943 BC Directory". www.bccd.vpl.ca.
27. ^ "1946 BC Directory". www.bccd.vpl.ca.
28. ^ Darshan, Johal (1958). "An Approach to Planning for Small Communities in BC". www.library.ubc.ca. p. 103 (93).
29. ^ "Grand Forks Sun, 11 Jul 1930". www.library.ubc.ca. p. 1.
30. ^ "The Daily Colonist, 19 Dec 1930". www.archive.org. p. 1.
31. ^ "The Daily Colonist, 3 May 1932". www.archive.org. p. 2.
32. ^ "The Daily Colonist, 17 Jun 1932". www.archive.org. p. 3.
33. ^ "The Daily Colonist, 5 Aug 1938". www.archive.org. p. 1.
34. ^ Cran 2003, p. 193 (185).
35. ^ "Calgary Herald, 26 Aug 1947". www.newspapers.com. p. 1\. "The red glow of flaming barns lit the pre-dawn sky over this small Doukhobor settlement today as fanatical night raiders striking without warning, put the torch to two farm buildings and were foiled in an attempt to fire a third."
36. ^ Cran 2003, p. 197 (189).
37. ^ "The Daily Colonist, 20 Oct 1959". www.archive.org. p. 1.
38. ^ Cran 2003, p. 198 (190).
39. ^ "Nelson Star, 6 Oct 2011". www.nelsonstar.com.
40. ^ "Joe Irving obituary". www.thompsonfs.ca.

## References[edit]

* Cran, Gregory James (2003). "A Narrative Inquiry into the Discourse of Conflict among the Doukhobors and Between the Doukhobors and Government" (PDF). www.library.uvic.ca.