CAIN No. 141352

TITLE:
Dave Kay photograph collection

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION:
280 photographs
39 negatives

DATES:
1890-1967

ADMINISTRATIVE HISTORY/BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH:
Dave Kay was born in 1895 in Listowel, Ontario. Following his high school graduation, he went to a linotype school in Toronto to learn the printing business and apprenticed with the Listowel Banner and then worked for the Listowel Standard. When the Cranbrook Herald was sold in 1915, Dave Kay's elder brother, Tom Kay, was hired to run the newspaper under W.B. McFarlane. Dave Kay then moved to Cranbrook to work for the Herald as a linotyper from 1915 to 1918. He worked briefly for the Medicine Hat News and the Vancouver World and then again for the Herald until persuaded to work for its rival paper, the Cranbrook Courier. With two others, Dave Kay became owner of the Courier which he ran until his retirement in 1961.With his partner D.A. (Dan) MacDonald, he edited a history column "Come With Me to Yesterday" in the Cranbrook newspaper for over 15 years starting in 1961. The two of them also published several small local history pamphlets and two books, "Come With Me to Yesterday" and "Fort Steele". Dave Kay was also a musician with the Cranbrook City Band, playing the pianoforte, trombone, euphonium and saxophone. In the 1940's, Dave Kay and his wife, Rita, performed drama at the Thimble Theatre. Dave Kay was an active member of the East Kootenay Historical Association, sometimes serving as its secretary. He also played a role in the reconstruction of the Prospector printing office at Fort Steele and after, the reconstruction of the Caribou Sentinel in Barkerville. He also served on the House Committee of the F.W. Green Memorial Home, serving at one point as the Chairman. Dave Kay was married to Beatrice Alan, with whom he had two children, John and Marjie. Beatrice died in 1929 and in 1937, Dave Kay married Rita Jonasson.

SCOPE AND CONTENT:
The collection consists of photographs documenting the East Kootenays. Cranbrook is well documented in this collection by photographs predominantly dating from 1905 to 1920. Subject matter includes: domestic and commercial interiors and exteriors, school buildings and classrooms, streets, the lumber mill, the post office, the St. Eugene hospital, the print shop, St. Mary's Church, a Methodist Bible Class, a nurses' home and the Women's Institute. Several of the photographs depict Cranbrook residents-only some of which are identified. The first plane to land in Cranbrook in 1919 is photographed as well as the opening of the Cranbrook airport in 1966. Images of war- time activities include the 54th Battalion send-off and victory parades. The lumber industry is documented with photographs of the Lumberton flume, Crestbrook Forest Industries, Staples' Lumber Company, King Lumber Mills (Yahk), Taylor Lumber Company (Kimberley), Adolph Lumber Company (Baynes Lake), the CrowsNest Pass Lumber Company, the Ross-Saskatoon Lumber Company and other mills in Waldo, and logging in Windermere. Several of the photographs include portraits of loggers. The mining industry is documented with photographs of the Perry Creek gold mine, Coal Creek mining, Sullivan mining, and a St. Eugene mine marker. The construction of the Baillie-Grohman Canal in Canal Flats is documented. There is one photograph of Baillie-Grohman himself. There are several photographs of Fort Steele, including both the buildings and the people. The opening of Fort Steele in 1967 is also documented. Photographs of Wildhorse Creek include buildings, people, the Fort Steele Mercantile Company, Thomas Walker's grave, the Wildhorse trail marker, roads, landscapes, and a Chinese cemetery. Photographs documenting the Ktunaxa Nation include various portraits, the St. Eugene Mission, and petroglyphs. There are also two pictures of Father Coccola. Photographs of steamboats include a steamboat at Pigeon's Landing, a steamboat at Arrow Lakes, the "S.W. Kootenay", and the "Annerly" and "North Star" steamboats at Fort Steele. There are generally no photographs in which trains and railroads are the main focus. Many of the photographs in this collection document railways as an activity in the background. Other photographs documenting Kootenay towns include: Waldo (the flood of 1916, domestic exteriors, the lumber industry, and steamboats), Goat River (the CrowsNest Railway crossing and the Goat River Hospital, Wardner (automobiles and commercial enterprises), Marysville (town pioneers and road construction), Kimberley (North Star Hotel, Taylor Lumber Company, and Sullivan Mining activities), Moyie (newspaper office and St. Eugene Church), Radium Hot Springs, Sinclair Hot Springs, Roosville (Michael Phillips' grave), Hosmer (aerial views), Wasa (Wasa Hotel and Estella Mine), Fernie, Baynes Lake, Wyndel (bridge), Nakusp (St. Leon Hotel), Windermere and Wycliffe (remains of the Wycliffe Mill Engine House, demolition of Wycliffe bridge, and Staples' Lumber Company). There are two photographs of the local filming of "Hearts Aflame" in 1923. There is one photograph of the famous "lost elephant" escapade. There are a few miscellaneous photographs of places outside the Kootenays, including Banff National Park.

REPOSITORY:
Fort Steele Heritage Town Archives

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
Title based on name of collector.

PROVENANCE:
Kay, Dave, b. 1895 collector