MY MEMORIES OF HILLCREST ~  MARY JOLIN (POLLOCK)

 

My father Jim Pollock was the bookkeeper first then General Manager of Hillcrest until he died in October 1936. I was about five years old and remember our house caught on fire. We lived close to the mill site. They figured that a spark from the burner landed on some pitch on a stump very close to the back of the house. I can't remember the extent of the fire but that was when the decision to build a house for us on the hill across from the mill site was made.

 

Eventually many houses were built there. I remember on our side of the road were the Popes, Dicksons, & Westons. On the other side were Traers, Bortolottos, Andersons, Portlances & the Drews. There were a few more but cannot remember the names. The children from Grades 1-8 had to walk to the school in Sahtlam. We would walk through a trail just behind our house through the woods which took us to the Lake Cowichan Road. Otherwise we would have to walk 2 or 3 miles on the road. When we left the trail it was not far on the road to the school. It was a one room school with a pot bellied stove. Miss McConnell was our teacher. Eventually, Hillcrest built a school right on the hill next to our house.

 

By this time my older sister and brother had to cycle into Duncan to go to high school. The school of course, again was one room but much larger than Sahtlam. Mr. McDonald an Englishman, was our teacher. We had a Girl Guide Troop & a Boy Scout Troop. Colonel Dopping-Hepenstall, Commissoner for the Boy Scouts in our area, referred to our Scout Troop like a league of nations because we had Chinese, Japanese, East Indians included in the troop as well.

 

There was a gully between the mill site and the hill where we all lived. The Japanese built a foot bridge over it. My dad could walk to work and we used to go to the Japanese store, run by the Inouyes, to buy candies, etc. Now, again looking over from our house, we could see the log pond and just beyond the pond was the Swede mill. I don't remember what year it was built but I do remember 2 Swedish gentleman, Mr. Sunbomb and Mr. Sunderquist, who came over from Sweden to oversee the construction of the mill. They visited us at the house a few times and were very interesting.

 

I'm sure you have all remembered certain words or sayings in your early life that you still remember. Today, I can't remember what I did yesterday. However, when you are young ( I would have been about 10) and in grade school, Christmas is so exciting, school concerts and festivities at home, etc. Well, till Easter seems an eternity away. I must have said or complained that Easter was a long way off. Mr. McDonnell said, "Mary as you grow older, you will find that time passes very quickly". I have thought of that so many times in my later years. Then in Hillcrest, the Drews were over visiting one summer evening. We often sat out on our front porch to relax. Well, Jack Drew's sister and husband were visiting from Vancouver, Chester and Aida Swain.

 

They were telling us about a drive-in restaurant that just opened in Vancouver, Granville & 57 called the "White Spot" !! Time moves on quickly. My dear father passed away in October 1936 and we moved to Duncan but I'll always remember our happy days in Hillcrest. Sincerely, Mary Jolin (Pollock) ***