Early Beginnings UA Local 170 celebrated its first hundred years of serving its members and the people of BC on November 18, 1998. On November 18, 1898, 17 plumbers from Vancouver were awarded a charter and became the founding members of the United Association of Plumbing, Gasfitters, Steamfitters and Steamfitter Helpers, Local 170. They were H. Burkholder, A Shead, A. Paton, N.H. Walpole, C. Weeks, A. Green, M.A. Thompson, H . McLuorrie, W.D. Archibald, EJ. McIntyre, P. Moran, J.
7 McLugan, Chas. Paul, B. Weeks, D.A. McDonal, J. Hunt and J. McMurphy. Nothing remains in the record to tell us anything about these men, not even their first names. The International Association was formed in 1888, just ten years before Local 170 received its charter. In July of 1893 a charter was issued to Vancouver UA Local 67, but that local disappeared from the records of the international in July, 1896. The records are sparse from those days, so we can only guess at this fledgling union local's demise, though
it coincides with a depression in BC which particularly affected the construction industry. (The UA local in Brantford, Ontario was subsequently chartered as Local 67.) The only insight to that period comes from a letter written by Richard E Swalwell of that original Local 67, which was published in the UA Journal in April, 1894. It said in part: "The first week in January witnessed the initiation of the only plumber in our city who had hitherto held aloof We have inaugurated a system whereby the number of jobbers in a shop are regulated by the number of journey men employed, and also fixed the rate of wages for m en and jobbers. We are also endeavouring to organize Victoria, B. C. Enclosed y ou will find names of plumbers in principal shops, and I think it would be well to add y our efforts to ours in getting Victoria organized. As it is at present it is a refuge for black sheep. We have two members in that city who will aid in getting things into shape, but they are strangers and Victoria is a conservative city. The trouble in this province is that there are so many small shops and so many without the semblance of a shop who pose as master plumbers and compete not only on work that they can handle, but on work that they cannot possibly
This photo looking north into Stanley Park 'rom Georgia shows the water main on a tresle (behind tree) which carries fresh water from the Capilano River.
