Brown Bag History

March’s Topic for Brown Bag History:

Lumberjack Soldiers: The Forestry Corps in the Great War

Saturday, March 21

12:00 PM

It is early Spring, 1917.

The Great War has been raging in Europe for more than two years. Many of your friends, the boys you went to school with – even your brother – have enlisted with the Canadian Expeditionary Force and even now are “doing their bit” in France.

But you have not.

You have your reasons for not enlisting. Maybe you’re too young (maybe you’re too old). Perhaps you’re the only man of the house now, with everyone else in the fighting. Or perhaps that childhood injury kept you from passing the medical examination. Maybe you’re just a little bit afraid.

Whatever your reasons, you are working hard here at home. Work is plentiful at the local sawmills, with demand for wood so high. Some days, you’re out in the woods, cutting logs and driving the teams of horses to haul them back to the sawmill. Other days you’re working in the mill, feeding the saws or hewing the ties.

But now, Conscription is looming. Within the year, you may be forced to enlist whether you want to or not. And then you see a notice posted at the mill: the government is looking for men just like you for a new type of soldier.

Today, you’re a lumberjack. Will you be a soldier tomorrow?

Join us on Saturday, March 21, to learn more about the stories of the men who faced that choice.

What is Brown Bag History?

Every month, we visit local seniors homes with a presentation about local history – and now we’re making them open to the public, too.

Sometimes, these presentations are inspired by an exhibit we’re working on, a community event, or a local anniversary. Other times, they’re the result of a research request or a donation of objects and photographs to the Museum. And sometimes it’s a specific request from one of our audience members that determines the theme.

So, come on down and join us for some wide-ranging rambles through local history!

All presentations take place at the Creston Museum, starting at noon. Admission is free for members of the Creston Museum; $5 for non-members.

Upcoming Dates (topics to be confirmed):

Saturday, March 21

Saturday, April 25

Saturday, May 30 (Blossom Festival: Building the Community for 85 Years)

Topics Coming Sooner or Later:

The Doctors, Dentists, and Nurses of the Creston Valley

Civil Defence and the Cold War

Five Years in Tye

…and any topics you’d like to suggest!