other gardeners and nurseries as far away as Asia and New Zealand. In 1938, 23 years after landing at Boat Basin, Annie placed an ad in the Western Producer newspaper offering lilies, mixed dahlias, gooseberries, currants, and blackberries for fifty cents a dozen. Gladioli and montbretia were twenty-five cents a dozen, and strawberries forty cents per hundred. Starting at the age of 48 she supported herself and her 11 children for decades through this mail order nursery. Once each month, orders were transported by canoe to the supply steamer, and the return trip would bring household and nursery supplies home after a six-hour round trip. Willie died in 1936, so Annie advertised in the Western Producer for another husband: “BC Widow with nursery and orchard wishes partner. Widower preferred. Object matrimony.” She married George Campbell in 1940. He reportedly beat her and he met his demise—some say at the end of Annie’s rifle—in 1944. A few months later, she contacted a Mr. Esau Arnold, who had responded to her first advertisement. Esau was a good worker and they ran Boat Basin until he was injured and died in 1954. In 1961, George Lawson became her fourth husband. He turned out to be another boozing ne’er-do-well, and by 1967 Annie is said to have run him off her place. 56
LEAF MAGAZINE
spring 2013