Just imagine. It is 1920 and Bert Topliffe is two years old. His oldest memory of home is of the first growth forest on fire. He calls it the Ford Fire. Famous I guess. Massive tree trunks were aglow and shooting sparks like fireworks. Everything was black and filled with smoke. Bert tells me, “You know, you didn’t have to have a fire permit then.” Bert and his wife Grace are the oldest living pioneers of Coombs; he is 94 and she is 91.

The Salvation Army led the first group of settlers to Coombs in 1911. The Salvation Army’s strong beliefs in assisting the poor created a powerful support and community effort with valuable and necessary leadership. The newcomers arrived from Britain. Thomas Bales Coombs was the Salvation Army’s first official leader in Canada and the new town was named after him.

Eventually, more than 200,000 people migrated to all parts of Canada. However, Coombs was unique in that the Canadian Pacific Railway made land available to the Salvation Army.

Walter Ford, from Duncan, was sent to Coombs to prepare land for the 12 families coming from England and Wales. A group of 50 Sikhs were hired to fell the giant trees. On each 22-acre property they cleared and stumped five acres, built houses and outhouses, planted fruit trees, and dug wells. The settlers were each allotted 20-acre parcels with 2.5 acres cleared. Mr. Ford had a small brush fire going when an unexpected northwest wind, a “Qualicum”, blew in and ignited the forest. The fire spread furiously, destroying the dense, virgin forest in its path. “One huge blackened mess,” Topliffe says.

Topliffe’s family was one of the first groups of the Salvation Army pioneers to arrive in Coombs in 1911. However, when the Great War began, the few jobs in road building and railways were lost so the family had to move to Victoria. Topliffe was born there, on September 30, 1917. Bert’s father was a master gardener and professional mushroom grower and his mother was an officer in the Salvation Army. His father began to work for Government House, taking care of the property’s extensive and well-manicured gardens.

In 1920, the Topliffe family returned to live in Coombs. Eventually they had a new house built for five hundred dollars. It was a two-storey house on Station Road and was still standing until a couple of years ago.

The railway played a key role for the new Canadians. Until the rails had been laid, horse and buggy remained the main source of transportation. The train offered much needed work and was a link that connected them to other communities.

Topliffe recalls seeing the first train as the railway was being built through to Port Alberni. I cannot imagine how exciting that would have been for the community. Topliffe tells me there wasn’t much logging yet as it was difficult to get the logs anywhere.

Agnes Yirrell remembers her own trip from Northern Saskatchewan to Coombs. She and her mother travelled on the train together while her father went ahead with the horse, cow, and other family items packed in a boxcar which was pulled off the main track while it was unloaded in Coombs. They hooked up the horse and loaded their belongings into the wagon and headed up Station Road to their new home on Swayne Road. It was 1944.

Cars were rare at the time, however, Topliffe tells me his father and older brother bought a used Model T Ford. He chuckles as he says, “You know, you could get that car in any color so long as it was black.” As new, these cars sold for seven or eight hundred dollars, but for their used car, they paid two or three hundred. Bert’s brother was 15 years older than him so he made two or three dollars a day working in the bush – gypo logging they called it.

I loved the animation in Topliffe’s youngish face as he described the very detailed effort necessary to capture bees. He still has large hives. He can tell you how to catch one that will lead you to a coveted hive and how far away it is by the time it took the female to return to your trap. In the early 1900s you could not go to Buckerfield’s or a garden centre to get yourself some honeybees. You created your own hives and Topliffe knew how to do it!

Topliffe’s father then started his freelance gardening business. General Money from Qualicum hired him to help build the Qualicum Golf Course and his home garden, making two to three dollars a day at what is now Crown Mansion; the Heritage Forest was the Brown property). He also built 200 feet of commercial greenhouse using puffing billies to heat the 40 feet of chimney. His goal was to have the first ripe tomatoes by July 1st as they were really worth something then. He could get $4.00 per 20

During this time, Topliffe attended school in the French Creek School House in Coombs until grade eight. The school opened with 23 new students and was built by the government. Coombs is proud of this school that has endured one hundred years of active learning and social gathering. The school will celebrate its own 100th year in 2012. Agnes Yirrell also remembers school. She walked from Swayne Road and remembers feeling like she would never get there, saying, “It was such a long way!”

The Coombs Fall Fair remains hugely popular today after its humble beginnings in 1913 to support the farming and rural lifestyle. On a personal note, I recall one year winning a prize for a perfect egg and how proud I was, although I am still not sure what the hen or I did right. Coombs youth, elders, and all, look forward to the program, which comes out in July. My own children decorated bikes, baked bread and cake, made art, knitted, photographed, and rode their ponies. The fair began as an oppourtunity to exchange and sell goods and has grown over the years yet still maintains the strong sense of community. Farming has always been strong in Coombs. Bert laughs again as he recalls their first garden, “Everything they planted was eaten by deer, and it was a Godforsaken place.” However, he felt very fortunate to be able to grow up in the wild where nature takes over. “Your own personal biology lesson but boy, I wish there were binoculars then!”

Women worked hard with washing and caring for the children, plus they tended the garden for vegetables and fruit, and made bread. Each family kept chickens and a couple of pigs. The family would sell one to the butcher, which then paid the feed for the other one that fed the family. Topliffe chuckles, “You know, in the event of an emergency, they tell us to be prepared for three days, well we always had to be prepared for months!” They picked wild blackberries and made jam, to this Topliffe’s eyes sparkled. Clearly, as it is today, blackberry jam was a well-loved treat.

Things were vastly different then. Topliffe says, “Now we have the environmentalists, hell, we would brush a radish with mercury ‘cause we didn’t want the bugs in the soil, then, eat it ten days later. And, I don’t know, there are a lot more bears than there used to be.” Then, he tells me the best way to get lice off a chicken is to paint the roost with mercury. “We didn’t know any better!” he says.

General McCrae, who bought Eaglecrest from General Money, also bought Hamilton Swamp. Topliffe, his father, and the other gardeners, had to blow up a beaver dam with the powder monkey. Once it drained, they had to put on hip waders and drag their way through the tangled water lilies, scoop up a handful of sludge, and stick non-native seeds like duck potato, sage pond weed, and wild rice, and then squeeze it and stick it back down in the bog. Well, then, he had to re-build the beaver dam stick by stick. “‘Emulate the beaver,’” McCrae says to us. Boy, I could tell you stories about Hamilton Swamp.” Topliffe says.

Hamilton Marsh flows into French Creek. Today, the fish that used to return to French Creek, mostly Coho, are gone. Back then; the banks of the creek were littered with spawning salmon.

Each town, or community had its own general store but Coombs had two. Coombs General Store also turns one hundred this year. Obviously, you did not shop around or go to larger centres to find better deals. However, Topliffe does recall his mother pouring through the Woodward’s catalogue and purchasing items that were then sent on the train.

Sharon Gustafson, curator of the new Coombs Museum, has done a wonderful job of finding stories and photographs depicting the early years of Coombs, and is enthusiastic and knowledgeable. Together with many supporters, Coombs Villagers are proud of their community and have several plans to honor its heritage. The Coombs Museum is now open and welcomes visitors and stories alike.

Coombs General Store celebrated 100 years in 2011. The Old Ford House turned 100 years last year in 2010, and coming up in 2012, French Creek School will also celebrate its 100th year in 2012.

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This article was written by by Dona Naylor of Island Times Magazine.

Send your comments to dona.naylor@islandtimesmagazine.ca