One of the enduring images of the Christmas season is snow, and it is referred to at this time of year in musical pieces such as White Christmas and Winter Wonderland. While many people travel to warmer places for Christmas and New Year's, many others search out places with guarantees of cold, crisp, snowy landscapes.
New Westminster's early years were generally colder and snowier than today, with cold snaps creating conditions that were, at times, quite dangerous to life, hazardous to travel and decidedly detrimental to the economy.
There were times, with the river frozen, that supplies, cargo and sometimes passengers, were offloaded from vessels near the Fraser's mouth, and horse-drawn wagons and sleighs carried them to their destination. Sometimes people had to walk from the mouth of the river to the city.
The weather at any given time of year can be an important part of community activities that mark the seasons and special days of its calendar.
Winter and the local Christmas season provide us with a wonderful array of stories that truly add character and colour to the Royal City's history. We quickly realize that early folks enjoyed playing as much as working, and we follow their actions as they went skating, sleigh riding down city hills (known then as coasting), and throwing snowballs at each other. They trudged through the snow or mud to visit friends, they went carolling from house to house, and they gathered around a bonfire to mark New Year's Eve.
One of the winter scenes we like to envision was the storage of stern-wheel steamers in the Brunette River, out of the grinding ice of the main channel of the Fraser. In 1867 we note "Captain Irving's two steamers Onward and Reliance took up their winter quarters in the Brunette, on Wednesday."
In 1888 there was lots of snow, and it was reported that "sleighing between this city and Vancouver is very fair. Yesterday several people came over in sleighs and they are of the opinion that, barring the cold, the jingle of the bells is far sweeter music than the rattling of wagon wheels."
There are so many stories to tell, and we will be presenting a selection of them at the New Westminster Historical Society evening on Wednesday, Dec. 19, starting at 7: 30 p.m. in the auditorium of the New Westminster Public Library.
