Fauquier BC
Father’s Day Camp-Out
Three Days at Taite Creek
Biene took the school bus to Nakusp on Thursday, where the students attended a number of cultural sessions presented by the aboriginal people of the region. Our Ford Escape was therefore available for me to pull our trailer to the local campground at Taite Creek. I was lucky. Our favorite camp site was still vacant. It offers the most beautiful view onto the lake and is located right above the bocce field, which our son Tony had once built for us many years ago.
By setting up the trailer and having all supplies ready for a three-days stay, we had almost gained an additional day of camping. Right after Biene returned from Nakusp, we headed out to the lake. After a delicious chicken dinner I made a campfire. I played the harmonica and was amazed to discover how many of the folk songs and scout melodies I still remembered, while I was playing one tune after another. Later on at the crackling sound of the campfire, we started our outdoor crib competition. Soft popular classical music, a glass or two of red wine for Biene and a bottle of Pale Ale added a romantic touch to the relaxing evening atmosphere.
On the following days, which were mostly sunny and warm, Mother Nature provided for body and soul peace and tranquility at the lakeshore and in the nearby woods. In the shade of a pine tree, Biene immersed herself in the fascinating book ‘Suite Française’, while I took walks to the Taite Creek bridge, strolled along the rocky lakeshore, or ventured into the deep forest. Of course, my camera accompanied me on all my excursions capturing images of flowers, some so small that they would escape notice for most people walking by.
Early in the morning, well before the blazing sun could turn our gaming pleasure into pain, we played a round of bocce. Biene and I are very competitive by nature and often fiercely argue over whose ball is closer to the jack and score the point. However, at the end, we would congratulate each other for having played such an ‘amiable’ game.
On the night before Father’s Day, we sat once more at the campfire. I opened a bottle of Henkell Dry. While we were chatting and sipping champagne, we listened to our favorite music of the 60’s. At the rhythmic beat of a particularly lively hit from our teenage years Biene spontaneously started to dance. When the rain came later on, we looked at the event as a blessing from above for the tinder dry forests all around us. Cheerfully we withdrew into the shelter of our cozy trailer and listened to the music of the raindrops on the trailer roof, while drifting off to sleep.
Last Summer’s Family Reunion in Videos – Part II
Squirt Gun Battles in the Lake
Taking it Easy on Floating Toys and Rubber Boats
Short History of the Fauquier-Needles Ferry
Special Thanks to the Arrow Lakes Historical Society
for the Newspaper Clipping of 1922
The community of Fauquier has been around for over a hundred years. If you are new to this site, it would be a good idea to view and read a few of the previous articles on the colorful history of mining. logging, fruit-growing in this little town. They can be found under the heading of Fauquier BC.
Early Fauquier Ferry – Photo Credit: Anette Devlin’s Personal Archive, Fauquier BC
Right from the start there was a great need to ferry people, goods and cattle across the Arrow Lake between Fauquier and Needles, which was a thriving and much larger settlement on the west side of the lake. A few enterprising people began to provide transportation by using their boats and barges. But as the newspaper article of the Arrow Lakes News of September 27, 1922, clearly indicated that was no longer good and safe enough.
Traffic Between Edgewood and Nakusp on Increase – Roads Need Attention
NAKUSP, Sept 27, 1922
With the increase in the number of motor cars in the various towns along the Arrow lakes making the through run between Edgewood and Nakusp and intermediate points, there is an equally increasing need of a proper ferry service between the east and west side of the lake at Fauquier and Needles. The present arrangement of a crude raft operated by an enterprising rancher at Fauquier for the public convenience is inadequate and even dangerous, especially for heavy cars.
On Sunday alone four cars were ferried across both ways, one of which had its wheels in the water. There is much credit, due to Mr. Kendrik of Fauquier for assisting autoists across the water, but the operation is accompanied with a great amount of danger to lives. It is full time that the public works department of the provincial government rises to the occasion and build a ferry similar to that at Robson. The request has been made and passed by the associated board of trade on more than one occasion, but so far nothing has been done. A petition is being drawn up and circulated praying that this be carried out this fall, also the overhauling of four miles of road three miles south of Burton, which is covered with brush.
Fully Navigable Ferry – Photo Credit: flickriver.com
The outcome of increasing public pressure for better service was that the provincial government provided from that point on regular, safe and reliable transportation facilities, which included not only the ferry between the two communities, but also a highway link to Vernon over the Monashee Pass. When in 1967 the valley was flooded through the building of the dam near Castlegar, the provincial government was going to build a bridge across the lake at Fauquier. When this proved to be too expensive, a promise was made to provide government ferry service 24 hours a day free of charge.
Some thirty years later the costs of running and maintaining the service has become prohibitively expensive. The government attempted to wiggle itself out their obligation to the public by cutting back the time the ferry would be running and by charging a fee. This did not sit very well with the populace and public protests made the government back down. Another bridge building proposal surfaced, which almost became reality if it had not been for a sudden and unexpected increase in steel prices. The photo below shows the designer’s areal perception of the wonderful bridge that never was.
Photo Credit: http://www.b-t.com/
So today the cable ferry is still ferrying people, trucks and cars back and forth between Fauquier and Needles every 30 minutes between 6 am and 10 pm and is on call during the remaining night hours.
Fauquier Cable Ferry 2015
Hiking in the Spring – Part IV
A Pleasant Walk from the Fauquier Boat Dock to Detta Beach
At the intersection of Highway 6 and Starlite Road you go down to the Fauquier boat dock.
Looking north to Ingersol Mountain you can see across the bay the sandy beach of Detta Beach.
To reach Detta Beach you go back up the hill and proceed on Starlite Road,
past the Fauquier Creek,
dense growth of skunk cabbage and giant leaves of the devil’s club,
picturesque old orchards from the time before the flooding of the Arrow Lakes in 1967,
pastoral scenes complete with ewe and lambs resting in the grass,
until you reach the junction at a private sawmill operation. There you turn left and walk down to the beach passing a house under construction to the left and another farther down to the right.
The beach looks deserted now. But in July and August it attracts sun-seeking people from all over the province and even as far away as Alberta. It is perhaps the only place along the shores of the Arrow Lakes, where you can enjoy a sandy beach at low and high water levels. There you can go swimming in the refreshing water, boating, sun bathing, playing games or just lazing away the hot summer days with your friends and family.
Four Seasons Journey Through Our Yard – Part IV
What a Difference Six Weeks can make in Spring!
The Peter and Gertrud Klopp Family 