The Basin Record Newsletter Vol.2 Issue 5

Simplex projectors equipped with Ashcroft lamps. The walls of the projection room were very tastefully decorated by Projectionists Burton and Ward. They must, one or the other of them, or maybe both, have some artistic ability, for each of the port shutters bears a very well painted scene.” Later in the article Richardson waxes more eloquent about Cranbrook and the Star. “…later Projectionist Burton… came over to the hotel and, after some conversation, invited us back to the theatre, then, of course, not in operation. We stepped into the darkened auditorium. The lights flashed on and we were really astounded, because here in this little town of less than 4,000 was a little theatre auditorium seating 427, the decorations of which would do no discredit to some of our New York City Broadway theatres – and that is not mere idle words, either. The screen was set back 15 feet on the stage. Its surroundings were tastefully artistic. At the front was a velvet draw curtain which, together with the other drapes around the auditorium, cost approximately $500. And, mark you well, this little theatre has absolutely no competition. I want to compliment manager Blaine again. If he does things this way in a 4,000 population town, I am wondering what he would do on Broadway. He is a manager who knows his business and does it. It is one of the finest small town theatres I have looked at in many thousands of miles of travel. In fact, it and one or two others are very distinctly in a class by themselves.” Strong praise indeed from a world authority on an emerging field of entertainment. The Star still stands at 25 -27 10th Avenue, now housing East Kootenay Realty and Insurance. Continued from page 1 0019.0383 This picturesque image is another example of the many wonderful photos of the Columbia Basin region to be found in the Columbia Basin Image Bank. Many of these images speak directly to why this region has become so well known. Service Canada and the Columbia Basin Trust have joined with the Columbia Basin Institute of Regional History to sponsor a major new regional history initiative. There is a huge scattering of images of the Columbia Basin housed in public and private collections. Historic imagesareakeyresearch tool andresearchers and publishers are always on the lookout for newmaterial. The Columbia Basin Image Bank, in its first phase, will bring 20,000 historic images to the web. The Columbia Basin Institute has been working for some time on a large database that will make these images searchable and will combine them with original research material. The result will be a large number of windows into the region’s past, available on the web The partner institutions in Phase I include the Valemount Museum & Archives, the Kimberley Heritage Museum, the Kootenay Gallery ofArt, History and Science and the Cranbrook Archives, Museum and Landmark Foundation. As well, we have three private donors that have contributed some 4,000 postcard images of the region. Project Manager Derryll White is very enthusiastic about the outcomes. “This project will give universal access to images that have to this time only been viewed in a very limited fashion, or not at all. The work goes directly toward the Columbia Basin Introducing the Columbia Basin Image Bank 0076.0003 This 1934 photo shows the members of a rail gang pressure grouting to correct heaves on the CN main line one mile west of Red Pass Junction. The work was all done by hand with a “muck stick”. Pictured are Alex Valoski, Dick Goosie (Section Foreman), Mike Czorny, Lionel DeForge and Felix Sivecki. Institute’s mandate of making history public and accessible. We areVERYhappy that our partners have joined us in this first phase of the Columbia Basin Image Bank undertaking.” The project staff is hard at work scanning some 5,000 images from the Valemount region. The Institute expects to have the first batch of material up at www.basininstitute.org early in 2007.