A6 Thursday, September 29, 2022
West Kootenay Advertiser
History
Building Centre site of former Doukhobor fuel enterprise by Jonathan Kalmakoff
While most Nelsonites are long familiar with the Maglio Building Centre, few are aware that it incorporates an over century-old heritage building hiding in plain sight. Fewer still recall that its
builders, the Doukhobors, operated a communal wood and coal enterprise there during the 1910s and 1920s. This article briefly examines the history of the Kootenay-Columbia Fuel Supply Co. on Government Road. Between 1908 and
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1912, the Doukhobor Society purchased over 10,000 acres of heavily forested land at Brilliant, Ootischenia, Pass Creek, Glade, Crescent Valley and Champion Creek. As each tract was communally cleared for fruit-growing, the Doukhobors established a mill to saw the logs into lumber to build villages. By 1913, the society had seven sawmills producing several million feet of lumber a year. Besides lumber, the mills generated wood waste such as slabs, board ends and cordwood. The Doukhobors used a portion of this waste as heating fuel in their communal homes and industries and sold the surplus for profit. By 1913, they expanded their market to Nelson. In April 1913, the Doukhobor Society purchased the coal and wood business of the Kootenay Ice and Fuel Co. in Nelson, its horse teams, wag-
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ons, sleds, harnesses and tools, coal supply contracts and customer lists, and its wood and coal yard in the CPR Flats (29 Government Rd.). The business was organized as the Kootenay-Columbia Fuel Supply Co., an unincorporated subsidiary of the Doukhobor Society, with Peter V. Verigin as president, John W. Sherbinin as business manager and Nelson realtor Henry H. Crofts as treasurer. Its offices were located in the McCulloch Block on Baker Street. The company sold various products. Wood from Doukhobor Society sawmills included fir, tamarack, cedar and birch cordwood, slabs and board ends. Coal from mines in Lethbridge and Taber, Alta., came in nut, stove and lump sizes. Fence posts from Doukhobor sawmills and feed oats and hay grown in outlying Doukhobor settlements were also available, as
was general cartage service throughout the city. The Doukhobors improved the coal and wood yard. To the existing coal sheds, horse stable and blacksmith shop, they added a dwelling house, where the Konstantine P. Verigin and Michael A. Bawoolin families were stationed to run the yard; a communal kitchen and dining room with upstairs sleeping quarters for Doukhobor labourers from outlying settlements; and a large two-story brick warehouse with concrete basement for feed storage. Day-to-day operations followed a set routine. Railcars of coal and wood arrived at the CPR Flats and were spotted on the rail siding alongside the yard. Using steel shovels and wheelbarrows, the Doukhobors unloaded the coal into the bunkers, while the wood was stacked in the yard. As stockpiles were drawn down, new shipments were ordered to replenish them. Customer orders were placed at the downtown office. An average Nelson family might order eight to 24 cords of wood or five to 16 tons of coal annually, while industrial customers ordered up to one to four tons of coal daily. Orders were relayed to the CPR Flats yard, where a Doukhobor driver was dispatched by wagon in summer, or sleigh in winter, to make each delivery. The driver drew up his conveyance and either shovelled a ton of coal from the bunkers, or stacked a half-cord of wood from the stacks, to load it to capacity. The loaded team was then weighed and driven to the customer premises. Most Nelson residences had their own wood or coal bins. The former was typically in the backyard while the latter was in the basement, accessible by a cast-iron door at the house backyard wall. The driver drew up his
Konstantine P. Verigin, foreman of the Kootenay-Columbia Fuel Supply Co. yard at CPR Flats, is seen with sons Kay and Peter, on a wagon used to deliver coal and wood, with Doukhobor brick warehouse in background, date unknown. Photo: Mary Shukin/ISKRA wagon/sleigh and either the war, the Doukho- to Harry and Gordon unloaded and stacked bors’ pacifist refusal to K. Burns, who estabthe wood in the bin, support the war effort lished a fuel distribuor dumped the coal led to intense public torship there as Burns through the coal door backlash in Nelson and Coal and Cartage Comusing a chute attached a loss of customers. At pany, offering heating to the wagon/sleigh the same time, an explo- fuel as well as moving, box. sion of new fuel busi- storage and distributing The outbreak of the nesses in Nelson led to services. The DoukhoGreat War in 1914 saw increased competition. bor brick warehouse fuel prices in Nelson These factors led to the became a main asset in skyrocket, with wood company’s downsizing their business. soaring from $5 to $7 and decline. In February 1939, After 1918, the com- the Burns purchased a cord and coal from $8 to $10 a ton — an pany closed its down- the property from increase of 40 per cent. town business office. In the receiver of the Increased wartime de- April 1920, it sold the now-bankrupt CCUB mand and high prices west portion of its yard and established Burns led to a sales boom and (45 Government Rd.) Lumber and Coal Co., record profits for the to Imperial Oil, and in selling building mateKootenay-Columbia August 1922, leased its rials, fuel, transfer and Fuel Supply Co. large brick warehouse storage services over the Buoyed by success, to Okanagan United next 39 years. By Septhe company under- Growers Ltd. tember 1948, the DoukThe Doukhobor fuel hobor dwelling house went rapid expansion. It relocated offices to enterprise might have and workers kitchen the Green Block on continued to operate were dismantled, while Ward Street and re- on a smaller scale but the coal bunker, blacktained Nelson realtor for a series of events in smith shop and stable Charles F. McHardy as 1923-24. It lost most were dismantled after sales agent. It extended of its wood supply May 1959. its CPR Flats yard, pur- with the closure of In September 1978, chasing an adjacent lot the CCUB sawmill at the lumber yard was (45 Government Rd). Koch Siding in Janu- purchased by Louis A stopping house for ary 1923, the burning Maglio, whose sons Peter V. Verigin was of the Hall Siding mill Tony and Dominic acquired at 509 Falls in May 1923, the loss operated it as MaSt. and two new coal of the Porcupine Creek glio Building Centre. and wood yards were sawmills and timber Around this time, the established at Moun- stands to forest fire in Doukhobor brick waretain Station and Trail. July 1924, and the de- house was incorporatNew sawmills of the pletion of Porto Rico ed into the main store Doukhobor Society timber stands by the structure. In February (after 1917, Christian end of that year. The 2019, the business was Community of Uni- death of Doukhobor purchased by Fraser versal Brotherhood) leader and company Valley Building Supat Koch Siding, Hall president Peter V. Ver- plies, which continues Siding and Porto Rico igin in October 1924 to operate as Rona Main 1916-17 provided left the company rud- glio Building Centre. an abundant supply of derless. Today, the brick warewaste wood. By January 1926, the house remains a hidden The wartime boom Kootenay-Columbia mainstay of the buildpropelled the Koote- Fuel Supply Co. ceased ing centre, with three of nay-Columbia Fuel operations in Nelson its exterior walls formSupply Co. to become and its coal and wood ing interior store walls. the largest, most suc- yard at CPR Flats sat This forgotten Nelson cessful fuel business in vacant for the next six heritage property is an Nelson. However, it was years. enduring testament to not to last. In September 1931, the craftsmanship of its By the final year of the property was leased Doukhobor builders.