A2 Thursday, April 29, 2021
West Kootenay Advertiser
History
Ombudsman pressed for Grohman Narrows Park creation Last in a series on In 1950, Donna and the history of Grohman Wilbert Anderson Narrows Park bought the west half of Lot 5180, the ranch known as Skalistoye, from the Evin estate Mon - Sat 8:30 am - 6:30 pm • Sun 9 am - 5 pm and began farming, Grocery • Garden Centre • Fruit & Produce • Locally Grown although the properOkanagan Grown Locally Grown ty was not actually Long English Ambrosia $ 49 transferred into their /each Cucumbers Apples name until 1954. By Gala ¢ ¢ /lb /lb Apples 1961, they also purthe east half of Greenhouse and Garden Centre OPEN chased Lot 5180 from Louis Cabbage, Cauliflower, Tomatoes, Peppers, Skapple. Kale, Broccoli, Eggplants $ 29 In 1966, the Depart/2.5” pot Brussel $ 99 ment of Highways /pack of 4 Peas, Beans, Corn, Sprouts, bought 19 acres of Cucumber Plants, Vegetable Plants the Anderson Ranch Squash & much more Basket Stuffers as part of a project to READY TO GO $ 99 reroute Highway 3A /3.5” pot Mixed Hanging Basket 12” through the middle of $ 99 $ 99 /2.5” pot the property. The purEmerald Cedar Hedge Bedding Plants chase saved the govBuy $ 99 10 or $ 99 ernment the trouble of $ 99 5’-6’ tall more /each /pack of 4 building an underpass Bark Mulch, Bark Nuggets, Cedar Mulch, Cedar and fence for the AnChip, Lava Rock, 100% Pure Manure, Top Soil, dersons’ cattle. Pro-Mix, Bulk Top Soil ALL IN STOCK However, the Andersons only agreed Potato Seeds, Garden Seeds, Asparagus Roots, to the sale on the Strawberry, Haskap Berry, Blueberry, Goji Berry Plants, Onions Sets ALL IN STOCK condition that the northerly portion of Hydroponic Supplies, Gaia Green Products, Lawn the land, now cut off Fertilizer, Pots, Trays, Landscape Fabric by the highway, be All your garden needs ALL IN ONE STOP developed as a park. The government paid 250-442-2510 4415 Hwy 3 West of Grand Forks
by Jonathan Kalmakoff and Greg Nesteroff
RILKOFF’S STORE
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This plaque at Grohman Narrows Provincial Park is the only interpretation at the site once known as Skalistoye. Photo: Greg Nesteroff for the property but for some reason it was never properly conveyed. Officials tried to rectify this oversight in 1971, minus the conditions of the 1966 agreement. The Andersons refused. One of the workers rerouting Highway 3A through the ranch in 1967 was John N. Derhousoff of Blewett, who, according to his daughter Joyce Tucker of Nelson, recalled that it was a former Doukhobor orchard. John approached Wilbert Anderson about picking the fruit from the orchard trees, now gone to wild. Anderson agreed, and for the next 15 years, the Derhousoff family went to Skalistoye, as they still called it, to pick fruit each fall. Meanwhile in 1971, the Department of Highways let the City of Nelson build a road through the north part of the property to access its new sewage treatment plant, built on adjoining Crown land. This violated
the agreement with the Andersons, who still held title to the property. The access road was constructed directly through the original two-storey ranch house and outbuildings, resulting in their demolition. In 1978, the City of Nelson asked the Andersons to let them use part of the property for an incinerator. They declined. The provincial government then tried to clear the way for the incinerator by establishing the entire 19 acres as a highway and obtaining title. But it became a moot point when Nelson residents defeated the proposed incinerator in a referendum. The B.C. Ombudsman’s office investigated the matter, concluding the actions of the highways ministry were “unjust and improper.” The Ombudsman also helped find a solution that gave the City of Nelson continued access to their sewage treat-
ment plant while converting the remaining property to a park. Grohman Narrows Provincial Park was finally established on May 21, 1981 containing 13.23 hectares (33 acres), but a few months later, it was reduced to 10.23 hectares (25 acres). It may have simply been the correction of a typo, but the order-in-council didn’t provide a reason. The park consists of the northerly Lot 1 of District Lot 5180 and an adjacent unsurveyed mid-channel island, known as Narrows Island. The park wasn’t formally dedicated until a year after its creation. The B.C. Ombudsman, Karl Friedmann, was present at the opening with other officials and the Andersons. Friedmann previously noted in his annual report: “Although the Parks Branch has decided to give the park a rather dry name for historical reasons, to me it will always be the
B.C. Ombudsman Karl Friedmann poses with Donna and Wilbert Anderson at the opening of Grohman Narrows Provincial Park in 1982, as seen in the Nelson Daily News. Anderson Provincial a mini-storage facilPark.” ity and surplus store A monument in the development, which park recognizes the stand across the highAndersons, but oth- way from the park. erwise it’s devoid of Over the course of interpretive signage. the past half-century, No acknowledgement subdivision, highway was made during the construction and park process that Lot new development 5180 was a Doukho- have made it diffibor farm for 50 years, cult to imagine what although Donna An- the Skalistoye ranch derson briefly men- originally looked like tioned this fact in a in full bloom. Howfamily history she ever, vestiges are still contributed to Gran- visible today to those ite Road Memories, who look for it. The foundations of a local history book published in 1985 and the one-storey ranch reprinted in 2020. house lie just south of The Andersons the head of the loop retained the south- trail at the parking lot. erly portion of the The barn foundations property, Lot A of can be found on the District Lot 5180, lake side of the trail, containing 46.3 hect- halfway between the ares (114.41 acres) for parking lot and the several more decades. road to the sewage Today, it is the site of treatment plant. A row of fruit trees stand along the sewage treatment plant access road itself, while others can be found near the mini-storage facility. These, and the memories held by descendants of the ranch families, all bear witness to its communal fruit-growing past. Special thanks to Stan Sherstobitoff, We fix all brands and will replace old parts Sharon Hoodicoff, with better machinery to keep your machine Valentina Loukianoff, going strong. Galena Hadikin, Steve Hoodicoff, Cecil FomiREPAIRS START AS LOW AS $30 noff, Bill W. Evin, Vera Maloff, Sierra Dante • and Steve Cleary
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