By Times Staff
One of the better known North Thompson Valley families is the Johnston clan of Blackpool.
According to local history book Upper North Thompson Reflections, William Johnston was born in St. Andrews, Quebec in 1865. He arrived in Kamloops in 1894, where he met and married Elizabeth McLean, who was from New Westminster.
Her family owned a ranch at Squam Bay near Louis Creek and they often spent their summers there.
William and his partner, James Gill, were contractors. Using bricks from their own brickyard, they built Royal Inland Hospital, Plaza Hotel and other notable landmarks in the city.
William Johnston passed away on Dec. 31, 1931 in Kamloops. His wife offered to give 40 acres (16 ha) to any of their children who could afford the taxes or who wanted the land, but only four took her up on her offer. Elizabeth Johnston died on July 9, 1958, also in Kamloops.
Ruth Phillips wrote about the Johnston clan in the Jan. 22, 1975 issue of the Times. Her account was based on the memories of Tiny Mackenzie.
Tiny Mackenzie was born Elizabeth H. Johnston in 1910 in Kamloops. She married Clifford W. Mackenzie in 1934. They had four children. He died on Aug. 1, 1965, while she passed away on Jan. 26, 1997. Both are buried in Clearwater’s Riverview Cemetery.
According to Phillips’ account, in 1911 the following men decided to buy property, sight unseen, in the Blackpool and Clearwater area: Dr. and Mrs. Archibald, T. Bulman, Bob McKay, Postmaster Wiley, Mr. Brown, Mr. Herkimer, J.A. Gill, W.H. Johnston and others whose names cannot be recalled.
These men hired a locator to locate land, which they bought on speculation. One of the enticements was that they thought there was sufficient gold to justify dredging.
In the year 1915 Johnston and Gill came up here on a part-time basis, hiring men to clear land and put up buildings. Johnston and Gill were partners in the contracting business in Kamloops. Many of the old buildings still standing were built by them.
Mr. Johnston brought his family out in the summer holidays but lived in Kamloops, where his children went to school.
In 1920, Mr. and Mrs. Johnston and their 10 children, ranging in age from two years to 21 years of age, moved to Blackpool. The road there came as far as what was in 1975 the residence of Dr. Anderson, first owned by Fred Jenkins.
Mr. Johnston moved the original small house, which had been used for a bunkhouse while the clearing and building were being done, to the site where Alex Johnston is now.
Mr. Johnston took off the roof and made a two-story hip-roofed farmhouse of 12 rooms. The four youngest children started school here.
The school was in what is now known as East Blackpool. They walked the 3 ¼ miles and sometimes were driven, having to cross the North Thompson River on the ferry in all kinds of weather. Sometimes in the very cold weather they would have to be taken across in a rowboat, as the ferry would be “froze in.”
The farmland was heavily timbered with cedar and cottonwood, and the ground was wet and marshy., making it hard and expensive to clear, but the soil was very rich and produced good crops of hay.
During the winters the oldest boys would take out the ties and poles with horses and sleighs. In the summertime, land was cleared and the whole family helped put up hay. They raised cattle and sheep, having a great deal of trouble with bears, which had be be trapped or killed, as there were so many of them.
In about 1918, Mr. Johnston started buying up the land from the men who had bought it at the same time as he did.
Before he died, he owned land starting from what is now owned by Cecil Carter, Blackpool Hall, up to what is now Jenkins Road, and starting again at Alex Johnston’s farm up to the Clearwater River and over to the North Thompson River.
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