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Page 4 ^ The Hounds 1 WEST VANCOUVER B.C. - 1918 to 1924 By Jack Cruickshank Winter of 1979 During the winter of 1917, a group of us fellows who chummed around together decided to set up a summer camp. The group were: Harry Thorley, Wally Hunter, Bill Strang, John McGillvray, Herb Ballantyne, and Jack Cruickshank. In the spring of 1918 we scouted West Vancouver and found a vacant lot at the corner of 17 Street and Fulton Avenue. We located the owner and arranged to rent the lot from 1 May to 30 September. If I remember right, I think we paid $10.00 per month rent. The lot just had scrub brush and a few small alders on it, and water was piped in from Fulton with a standpipe and tap. The new Municipal Hall now stands on the property. At that time the Municipal Hall was at the corner of 17 Street and Esquimalt Avenue. We visited the Second Hand Stores on Main Street and bought a large tent 14’ x 18' and a fly to go over it 18’ x 28’. We cleared the centre part of the lot and built a framework with 2 x 4s with shiplap floor and shiplap 4 feet up on the 2 sides and back, then spread our tent and fly. We dug a hole at the back of the tent, built a box cooler with cover, set it in the hole, lined it with sand, and would pour water into the sand to keep our perishables cool. We bought 4 old fashioned wood frame double bed springs, built a framework of 2 x 4s and set them up at the back of the tent like bunk beds, two in one corner and two in the other. This gave us accommodation to sleep eight fellows. We strung a line across with canvas curtains to separate the bedroom from the living quarters. We built a cupboard to hold our pots and pans, dishes and canned goods and had a free standing two burner coal oil stove to do our cooking. We built a table and bench in front under the fly for eating. We all worked in Vancouver and travelled back and forth by the West Van Ferries leaving on the 7:20 ferry in the mornings and coming back on the 6:20 ferry at night. Often in the mornings we would hear the five minute warning whistle, leave camp, and run down the hill to the foot of 14th street and just make the ferry, usually carrying some article of clothing and finish dressing on the ferry. The captains and mates got to know us and would sometimes hold the ferry a few minutes till we arrived. About once a week we would make a trip home and our mothers always had a supply of clean clothes ready for us. Our dress at camp consisted of white duck pants, v/hite shirts and running shoes. We decided to call ourselves "the Hounds" and the camp "the Kennel", we had turtle neck sweaters made, maroon color, with blue and white trim and large yellow letters made and sewn on the front. Harry was the tallest so he was the "H", Wally was the "0", I was the "U", Bill was the "N", Johnny was the "D", and Herb was the "S". We also had little skull caps, maroon color with a blue pompom. The fellows were all very congenial, we got along well together and we really had a lot of fun. I recall one hilarious weekend. Harry and I met after work on Saturday and decided to give the fellows a treat, so we bought six boxes of strawberries. We hid them in the cooler. Wally and Herb arrived shortly after and we had a lot of fun horsing around the camp all afternoon. After we had dinner, we all went down to the Saturday Night dance at Ambleside Hall which is now the garage and workshop for the West Van Busses. There were several camps