Читать книгу 60 Years Behind the Wheel - Bill Sherk - Страница 36

Hauling Telephone Poles, British Columbia, circa 1920

ED BROWN STARTED ONE OF the first trucking businesses in Burnaby, British Columbia, perhaps as early as 1910. His grandson, Jim Ervin, wrote:

The business was located at the family home at 3131 Royal Oak Ave. in South Burnaby. That was close to the top of one of the steepest hills in Burnaby and must have made for a real test of man and machine to drive it, especially in winter. The children loved it for sleigh riding but probably not their father.

Most of the area was forest at that time and one of Ed’s first jobs was to haul shingle bolts out of the forest with a team of horses. My mother used to have to grease the skids placed on the logging trails for the loaded sleds to be pulled out on. One time, as she told me, there was a huge forest fire and my grandfather barely escaped with his life and one last load.

Later, when the area had been cleared, he helped to build the Oakalla Prison Farm, now replaced by townhouses on Royal Oak Ave. This job led to him becoming the first contractor to haul the license plates made by the prisoners. Some of these plates would be worn by Ed’s own trucks.

His trucks included some pretty obscure makes such as Hufman, Garford, Stewart (which my mother often said was no good), Gotfredson and the more common names of Chevrolet and GMC. A Ford Model T would probably have been too light for the kind of hauling Ed was doing in the 1920s.

I always thought his main cargo was coal and coke, but I received quite a surprise with some recently discovered information. It started when I was removing boxes of general junk from the house to the garage to make more space. One of those boxes broke open and one item which came out wasn’t junk by any means. It was a copy of a business card for Brown’s Transfer, a company which hauled coal, coke, wood and did furniture moving as well. My mother often described my grandfather as a “go-getter” for business. I believe I see what she meant. Never was I so glad to have a cardboard box break open and to retrieve such an important item.

People such as my grandfather made a great contribution to Burnaby.⁵

JIM ERVIN CONTINUED: “MY GRANDFATHER’S business card was rather colourful with an orange border and oval logo. The lettering and cartoons are dark blue. On the back of the card was an ink blotter. Note the price of coal at $10.50 per ton.”