FRIDAY
< DuToit fights back at Championships
AUGUST 8, 2014
Kimberley golfer moves from 34th to 18th in final round | Page 8
Getting high on Houndstooth Spire >
Pat Morrow and East Kootenay teens on safari in the Bugaboos | Page 5
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Vol. 63, Issue 152
Proudly serving Cranbrook and area since 1951
www.dailytownsman.com
Third hottest July on record
It felt like a scorcher because it was a scorcher, according to Environment Canada statistics for Cranbrook and Kimberley SALLY MACDONALD Townsman Staff
Whether you spent the month of July cursing the sun or rejoicing in the natural sauna out your front door, it was clear that the summer had turned into a hot one. Just how hot, we know now, as Environment Canada meteorologist Andre Besson reports that the weather station at Canadian Rockies International Airport recorded July 2014 as the third hottest July on record. The daily average temperature for the month was 22 degrees Celsius. That places 2014 just behind July 1985, when the daily average was 22.2 degrees Celsius, and a further step behind the hottest July on record – 2007, when the daily average was 22.6 degrees Celsius. “It has been a fairly warm July,” said Besson. There was not much rain, either, he went on. “It has been fairly dry compared to normal.” But it was not one of the driest – not even in the top eight for dry Julys on record, according to Besson. “Normally we get about 38.3 millimetres of rain in July. We’ve had less than 10 millimetres,” said Besson. “But there has been quite a few years with less amounts than that.”
BARRY COULTER PHOTO
The North Star Rails to Trails Society is the proud owner of a new Mitsubishi microtruck, which will be used to service the immensely popular 26-kilometre biking/walking trail between Cranbrook and Kimberley. The Society acquired the vehicle with some help from C&S Performance, a Cranbrook vehicle brokerage business which helps customers import vehicles from overseas. After determining that the Mitsubishi was the appropriate vehicle, the Society approached Craig Simmons of C&S, who felt the most cost-effective way for the non-profit to get the vehicle was to import it directly from Japan. Three weeks, later, the right-hand drive truck arrived. Jason de Rijk of Sidekick Stickers contributed the decals and signage, and the Mitsubishi set set to go, transporting volunteers the length of the trail, so they can mow the shoulders, cut away tree branches, remove debris, and otherwise keep the trail spruce and looking its best for the busy summer season. The truck, with a three-cylinder, 660 cc engine, can get 40 miles to the gallon, and can travel for a week on one tank of gas. Above, left to right: Craig Simmons, Justin Meeds and Luke Meeds, trail workers and truck operators, and Jason de Rijk of Sidekick Stickers.
‘The World Convulsed:’ Part IV Smoke settles Part III in a four-part series describing the outbreak of World War One,
over region
Though existing wildfires continue to grow around Cranbrook and Kimberley, there have been no new fires since the weekend SAL LY MACDONA L D Townsman Staff
Smoke from wildfires blazing around the East Kootenay has settled over Cranbrook and Kimberley, but the fires themselves have not grown much in size. There are now nine fires around Cranbrook and Kimberley, but no new fires have been detected since Tuesday, according to the B.C. Wildfire Management Branch. The largest fire, at Whitetail Brook, about 10 kilometres east of Canal Flats, is now at 1,700 hectares.
See NINE FIRES , Page 3
100 years ago this week, as seen through the pages of the Cranbrook Herald
T
BARRY COULTER
here were two setbacks reported on the front page of the Cranbrook Herald of August 27, 1914, some three and a half weeks after Canada found itself at war with Germany and Austria. “Ladies Defeat Cranbrook Ball Team (Errors by Locals and Steady Playing of Visitors Responsible for Result)” A visit by the “American Ladies Baseball Team” to Cranbrook on Friday, August 21, left the local baseball squad with a 7-2 loss in a seven-inning game. “Crowe started twirling for the local team,” the Herald reported. “”But it was his day off — or some of the girls had his nanny — for the visitors managed to secure four scores be-
Two British infantrymen at the Battle of Mons. fore he was repolaced by Nordman.” The Herald remarked that “St. Clair, the lady twirler for the visitors, officiated on the
WARBOOKSREVIEW.COM
mound for three innings and was retired, Benway finishing the game and holding the locals safe.” E. Crowe and Sullivan
scored the only runs for Cranbrook. Cranbrook also managed to load the bases in the fifth but were unable to connect for runs.” The other setback reported, of considerably more importance, was the initial report of what became known as the Battle of Mons, the British Expeditionary Force’s first major engagement of the new war, which would ultimately result in an epic retreat to the west. “Forced Back On First Offensive Line (Allies Atttempt Forward Movement But Are Repulsed),” was the headline in the Herald, August 27. The information was issued by the French War Office.
See THE WORLD , Page 4