FRIDAY
APRIL 1, 2016
Connecting the dots … and dashes … in Cranbrook >
Changes are coming
Janus looks at the arrival of the telegraph | Page 7 Starting the week of April 18th, 2016 the Townsman and Bulletin will be coming to your doorstep Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. Thank you for welcoming us into your home.
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Vol. 70, Issue 63
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A Doctor Without Borders
BARRY COULTER PHOTO
Don Langvald of Dragon Antiques in Cranbrook has moved a 1918 grain wagon to the old Elko Station, which is being re-opened as another antique store — Phoenix Antiques.
Old Elko Station reborn as new antique store B A R RY CO U LT E R
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ike the phoenix, one of Cranbrook’s most notable and lovely heritage buildings has emerged from the ashes of a 2013 fire, and will be taking part in the local economy as a new antique store. The rejuvenation of the Elko Station, sitting at the corner of Van Horne Street and King Street, is due to the efforts of the Cranbrook Archives, Museum and Landmarks Foundation, and the generosity of local volunteers and businesses. “This building has great potential,” said Don Langvand, owner of Dragon Antiques on 10th Avenue South downtown. “I’ve been eyeing it for a while.” Langvand said the new store — named, appropriately enough, “Phoenix Antiques” — will be different from the current location in downtown Cranbrook, but will still display vintage pieces, with more of a focus on “guy stuff” than the downtown store, and pieces displayed outside in balmy weather. Both Langvand and Balfour agree an antique store is a great
addition to the complex that is the Canadian History Centre, and along with the eye-catching, freshly painted vintage locomotive, will go enhance it as a tourist attraction. This week, Langvand brought a mint condition 1918 grain wagon to the site, which is now on display between the station and the locomotive. The Elko station is a “Crowsnest B” type station, and the only one of its kind left in North America. It was assembled in 1901, from a kit shipped to Elko. Balfour said in those days, Canadian Pacific surveyed its towns along the way to determine what kind of station needed, and Elko got the Class B type. The building — in kit form — was shipped out in numbered pieces, which were assembled in Elko in 1901. The 2,000-square-foot building was moved the 54 miles to Cranbrook 86 years later. The highway was closed to traffic for that job, and power poles were even removed to make room. The station was settled on the existing foundation of another
ancient building, and served as the first headquarteres for the Canadian Museum of Rail Travel (now the Canadian History Centre). In the intervening years, the Elko Station as been headquarters to the Cranbrook Community Foundation and to Blue Beetle Creative Media. The low point for the building came in July of 2013, when it was set on fire. Balfour said the insulation helped slow the fire enough to save the building, and the fire department quickly put it out, but smoke damage was extensive, and some of the walls were charcoaled. Pigeons also made their home in the damaged rafters afterwards, filling the space with their guano. But it’s been a labour of love over the past two years, and that labour has paid off, with a beautifully renovated heritage building. “What’s cool about it is we couldn’t have done it without contributions from the community,” Balfour said.
See NEW ANTIQUE, Page 5
Dr. Stefanie Falz returns from “rewarding” sojourn at Médicins Sans Frontières hospital in South Sudan TRE VOR CR AWLEY
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a refugee camp of 120,000 in the South Sudan, a local doctor has been working for the last six months as a volunteer with Doctors without Borders. Dr. Stefanie Falz, who has been working at the East Kootenay Regional Hospital for the last eight years, recently returned from South Sudan after working and volunteering at a Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) hospital. South Sudan is the newest country
in the world, gaining it’s independence from Sudan in 2011, however, it has been mired in conflict stemming from a civil war that erupted two years later between government and rebel military forces. Dr. Falz went through the application process, including a week of training on security issues, managing stress in the field and managing personnel before she was accepted and sent to Bentiu in South Sudan.
See A DOCTOR, Page 5