David William Poppy Jr. oral history interview conducted by Peter Chant on 29 Jan. 1975 and 3 Dec. 1975.

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Object Description

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Object Name

Oral History

,

Recording

Object ID

SR-089 A

Title

David William Poppy Jr. oral history interview conducted by Peter Chant on 29 Jan. 1975 and 3 Dec. 1975.

Extent

1 side of 1 audio cassette.

Date

29 Jan. and 3 Dec. 1975.

Description

SR-089 A: Tracks 1 - 4 discuss Poppy's childhood and schooling. Colonel Otter is mentioned. The Otter district is described, including tie mills and the Great Northern Railway. The Poppy orchard is described.
Track 5 discusses the Depression.
Tracks 6 - 8 describe early Langley's library and roads.
Track 9 describes early home ownership, including homesteads and pre-empting.
Track 10 discusses the different railroads in the area, including the Canadian National Railway, the Great Northern Railway, and the BC Electric.
Track 11 discusses Poppy's political work as councillor, reeve, and mayor.

People/Subject

British Columbia Electric Railway Company Ltd. (BCER)

The British Columbia Electric Railway's interurban passenger service for the Fraser Valley, B.C., area came through Langley in 1910. The company was building rail lines into Langley as early as 1906, when they signed an agreement with Langley government. The company itself began as a merger of the National Electric Tramway and Lighting Company (Victoria), Vancouver Electric Railway and Light Company Ltd., and Vancouver & Westminster Tramway Company, and was responsible for hydroelectric power generation, power transmission, and electric rail lines on Vancouver Island and in Vancouver and the Fraser Valley. All three companies had gone into receivership in 1895, and the BCER was met with receivership in 1896, following the Point Ellice Bridge Disaster in Victoria. The company was only able to survive through assistance from London financers, and began operations in 1897 as an English-owned company. A station built at 240 St. in the general area formerly known as Harmsworth in Langley was named after Rochfort Henry Sperling, general manager of the B.C. Electric Company, and the area subsequently came to be known as Sperling community. In 1910, a substation was built at Coghlan, and still stands (2021). The substation stepped the voltage from the power transmission lines down for use by the trains passing through. It did not provide power to the surrounding community. Interurban passenger services on the B.C.E.R's Fraser Valley Line ceased in 1950. The company ended all service in 1958, and broke up into the branches it is modernly: BC Hydro, Translink, and BC Transit.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Columbia_Electric_Railway

Canadian National Railway

By 1919, the Intercolonial, Canadian Northern, National Transcontinental and Grand Trunk Pacific had become part of a government railway system known as the Canadian National Railways (CN).

Canadian Northern Railway

Otter (B.C.)

In 1892, settlers along the Yale Wagon road about 7 miles east of Langley Prairie decided that there were sufficient children to warrant a school. After its completion, a question of naming it arose. Two of the homesteaders, Best and Brown, ex-army veterans who had served under Col. William Dillion Otter on the Prairies from 1885-1887, suggested calling the school "Otter School." This name was agreed upon. In the late 1890's, a community hall carrying the name "Otter" was built. It was at this time that the rough wagon road running from the US border in the south to Telegraph Trail in the north was named "Otter Road." By 1909, the V.V.&E. Railway intersected Otter Road less than one mile north of Yale Road. Along the many spur lines, industry was booming and in 1910, a shingle mill, a saw mill and a lumber mill all carried the name "Otter." In 1910, the BCE Railway crossed Otter Road 4 miles north of Yale Road and built a railway station called "Warwhoop." The name was largely ignored as residents continued to use the name "Otter."

Otter Elementary School

The original Otter School was built in 1896. Apparently classes had been held in another location since 1889. The school was moved to 3825 244th Street in 1913. There were numerous additions over a 50 year span dating from 1921. The school caught fire in 1976. The school's enrolment once had only 9 students before the turn of the century and now (2003) numbers 205 pupils from kindergarten through grade 7.

Poppy, David William, Jr.

David William Poppy was Mayor of the Township of Langley from 1967 - 1971, Reeve 1956 - 1967 and Councillor in 1944, 1946 - 1955.
Term Source: Roads & Other Place Names in Langley, B.C. pg 41(Pepin).

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