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authority records
Granite Trading Association
MS 138 · Corporate body · 1915 -1920

On April 27, 1915 a group of people met to form the Granite Trading Co-operative Association.

The association had its beginnings two years before in 1913 when a group met to form the Tappen Farmers’ Exchange. The Exchange was created to handle and sell farm produce. Henry Calhoun, J.A. Carlin, William Sanderson, J. Fleming, Gust Annala, J. Mikkelson, and C.W. Mobley erected a small building on the C.P.R. right-of-way and had C.P.R. operator Barney Kellogg paint a sign on the building. C.W. Mobley was appointed the manager, secretary-treasurer, and one-person staff.

The group affiliated with the Salmon Arm Farmers’ Exchange and Okanagan United Growers. Settlers in the area started asking the Exchange to bring in consumer goods. Flour and feed arrived by the carload and unloaded in the Calhoun warehouse located on the C.P.R. right-of-way. Settlers could order groceries or farm equipment, combine their bulk orders and receive wholesale shipping rates.

The co-operative impacted local store owner and businessman H.C. Banks. His store had been serving customers in the area since 1907. Banks contacted the C.P.R. requesting to have the co-operative restrained from doing business on the C.P.R. right-of-way. Settlers were unhappy with Banks and the members of the cooperative reacted by deciding to get into the retail trade. The first item of business was to incorporate under the Co-operative Association Act. In a spirit of fairness to Mr. Banks, the group offered to buy him out, offering him $900 for his building and well, to buy his stock at costs plus shipping, and to pay him $75 for his share in the co-operative telephone system that operated out of the store.

The sale was structured $400 cash down for the building and $300 for the stock. The balance of payments bore 8% interest.

The name Granite Trading Association was adopted, taken the name of Granite Mountain. The founding directors were C.W. Mobley, Henry Calhoun, Wm Sanderson, Gust Annala, and J.A. Carling. Mr. Calhoun was elected president and Mr. Mobley the secretary.

The Association is one of the oldest operating consumer co-operatives in the province and is famous for its outsized ice cream cones.

Harper Honey Family
MS 151 · Family · 1947-1976

Two lifelong residents of Salmon Arm: Henry Ivens (Buzz) Harper and his wife, Reba Mayne (nee Honey) Harper, played a paramount role in the local community.

Reba Mayne Honey was born on November 16th, 1913 in Salmon Arm to parents William John Honey and Agnes Lucy Bond. Furthermore, Henry Harper was born to parents Julia Edith Mary Ivens and Henry Arthur Harper on November 11th, 1909 in Salmon Arm. The parents of Henry Harper were first generation immigrants who were originally from England. Reba Honey’s parents and grandparents were born in Ontario. Her paternal great-grandparents immigrated from Cornwall and her maternal grandparents came from Scotland (Bonds and Baynes).

In his youth, Henry Harper, worked at various sawmills as sawyer, scaler and millwright including the Exchange Mill and Charlie Nakamura’s Mill as well as having his own mill on Mt Ida with his brothers-in-law, Max and Jack Honey. In 1953 he embarked on an economic enterprise for he started his own General Construction Company with another brother-in-law, Arthur (Rocky) Birkelund. Known as Harper & Birkelund, they built many commercial and residential buildings. Following Rocky’s departure, the business became known as Harper Construction. Throughout his lifetime, he was known for his industrious character and deep fondness of nature. Possessing a keen intellect, he studied mathematics and Western Canadian history in his spare time and followed the paths of the explorers and Hudson Bay trails as well as studying the C.P.R. history in BC. Meanwhile, Reba Harper in her younger years, had an incredible aptitude and intelligence for academics, and consequently furthered her studies as she trained as a teacher at the Victoria Normal School. Hereinafter she taught at Gleneden and Notch Hill Schools. Her father as Secretary Treasurer of the School Board for many years felt her to be better suited to teaching than to her dream of nursing.

Both Reba Mayne Harper and Henry Ivens Harper were positioned with fortune to see the critical junctures of the last century. For instance, during the societal, economic, and global quandaries that were brought by the catastrophes of WWI, Reba Harper, alongside her family, spent three years in Saskatchewan during the war. A rare occurrence of when she was not in Salmon Arm.

On May 8th, 1936 Henry Ivens Harper and Reba Mayne Honey were married.
After their marriage Reba became a full-time wife mother to daughter Linda and son John, bookkeeper, newspaper editor, crossword puzzle expert, and a hockey enthusiast.

Reba Mayne Harper died at the age of one hundred and four on January 14th, 2018. Her family described her as the “quiet lynchpin”. She was predeceased by her husband, Henry Harper, who passed away on New Year’s Eve of 1995.

MS 154 · Corporate body · 1946-1956

Front Street Grocery was a store that operated on Front Street (now Lakeshore Dr. NW) in the Merchant’s Block in downtown Salmon Arm.

The Salmon Arm Observer’s advertisements for Front Street Grocery are first found in 1939. Ed Porte, former manager of Overwaitea, was the first known owner. According to his death records Porte developed senility and heart conditions after ownership was transferred to Frank Farmer. Farmer operated the store from 1943. Farmer expanded the store in 1948 to include property previously occupied by Preston’s Radio Sales. The store was still in operation in 1955 but its telephone listings ceased in 1956.

According to Okanagan Historical Society President and local resident Linda Painchaud (nee Harper) Frank Farmer had pool tables in the back and the store operated into the 1960s.

Frank Farmer married Florence Gertrude Pauling in 1936 and the couple had one son Richard (Dick) in 1939. When Florence and Frank divorced, Frank married Mayo Wilson (nee Keefer) sometime after World War II. The couple had no children.

Frank and Laura Marshall
MS 19 · Family · 1939-1983

David Franklin (Frank) Marshall was born April 16, 1900 in Listowel, Ontario. While working as a reporter for the New Westminster Columbian he met Laura Bell Burroughs. The couple married June 14, 1928 and had one child, Denis Paul Marshall in 1933.

Laura was born in Kent County, Ontario February 27, 1899. Her family moved to Chaplin, Saskatchewan, where her father was a general merchant. The family’s next move was to New Westminster in 1921.

The Marshalls made their home at the coast for 16 years. Frank Marshall concluded his 23-year career as a reporter in 1944, purchased the Salmon Arm Observer, and settled into Shuswap life.

It did not take Frank Marshall long to become immersed in his new role. In 1946 Frank was the Charter President of the local Rotary Club, he joined the board of the BC Division of the Canadian Weekly Newspapers’ Association, and successfully ran for alderman - a position he held from 1947 to 1953.

In 1946 Frank was also elected to the Board of the Salmon Arm Community Co-operative Association (later named the Salmar Community Association). The Association’s goal was to buy the Rex Theatre and raise money for a living memorial to those who did not return from the recent World War. The group later built a new community theatre, paid off that debt, and, with proceeds from ticket sales, raised funds for the Salmon Arm Memorial Arena. The community asset was completed in 1958.

Frank Marshall was busy on several fronts. He built a new building for the Observer in 1947 and had a new home constructed on Harris Street in 1948 just a few blocks from the downtown core and Observer building.

When Frank died in 1964 after a lengthy illness, Laura Marshall continued in the family business. Their son, Denis Marshall, took over the position of Publisher. The two capably published the weekly paper until 1976 when it was sold to Lynne and Ian Wickett.

Laura retired to Victoria and died in 1988.

Marshall, D. F.
MS 19 · Family · 1939-1983

David Franklin (Frank) Marshall was born April 16, 1900 in Listowel, Ontario. While working as a reporter for the New Westminster Columbian he met Laura Bell Burroughs. The couple married June 14, 1928 and had one child, Denis Paul Marshall in 1933.

Laura was born in Kent County, Ontario February 27, 1899. Her family moved to Chaplin, Saskatchewan, where her father was a general merchant. The family’s next move was to New Westminster in 1921.

The Marshalls made their home at the coast for 16 years. Frank Marshall concluded his 23-year career as a reporter in 1944, purchased the Salmon Arm Observer, and settled into Shuswap life.

It did not take Frank Marshall long to become immersed in his new role. In 1946 Frank was the Charter President of the local Rotary Club, he joined the board of the BC Division of the Canadian Weekly Newspapers’ Association, and successfully ran for alderman - a position he held from 1947 to 1953.

In 1946 Frank was also elected to the Board of the Salmon Arm Community Co-operative Association (later named the Salmar Community Association). The Association’s goal was to buy the Rex Theatre and raise money for a living memorial to those who did not return from the recent World War. The group later built a new community theatre, paid off that debt, and, with proceeds from ticket sales, raised funds for the Salmon Arm Memorial Arena. The community asset was completed in 1958.

Frank Marshall was busy on several fronts. He built a new building for the Observer in 1947 and had a new home constructed on Harris Street in 1948 just a few blocks from the downtown core and Observer building.

When Frank died in 1964 after a lengthy illness, Laura Marshall continued in the family business. Their son, Denis Marshall, took over the position of Publisher. The two capably published the weekly paper until 1976 when it was sold to Lynne and Ian Wickett.

Laura retired to Victoria and died in 1988.