Another in a series about Kootenay-related collectibles on eBay.
An amazing postcard of the Yale-Columbia sawmill at the Boundary ghost town of Cascade (more properly Billings) sold this month for $105.50 US.
The card was unmailed but dated March 2, 1911 at Laurier, Wash. and addressed to Miss Rosie Budow of Tonawanda, N.Y. The message read:
“Dear Sister, This is a small town right on the boundary line of the US and Canadain [sic]. The three buildings which are along the track are the GN [Great Northern] station in center and US custom office on our side and the Canadain [sic] custom on other. Have considerable snow here. Expect to be here a few days. Hope you are well. Fred.”
The sawmill was established around 1903 by the Genelle brothers of the Yale-Columbia Lumber Co., which also had mills at Nakusp, Nelson, and Westley, near Castlegar. Manager J.G. Billings lent his name to the location.
By 1910, when it was sold to the Dominion Sawmill and Lumber Co. the mill had a daily capacity of 75,000 board feet and employed about 100 men. It operated until 1924.
One other copy of this postcard sold in 2010 for the buy-it-now price of $42 US.
• A clear bottle from the Lion Brewing Co. of Rossland embossed “This bottle not to be sold” nevertheless sold this month for $147 US.
The brewery, on 7th Avenue near Monte Christo St., operated from about 1897 until sometime after 1905. Louis Blue was president, J.S. Deschamps secretary, (followed by S.E. Dias) and Ben Moyses manager.
In 1898, the company acquired the property of the Yuengling Brewing Co. of Trail, established by industry titan David G. Yuengling. His son Frederick moved to Rossland to become manager — and was later accused of absconding back to the US with $387 in company funds (well over $8,000 today).
He was arrested and the British Consul-General sought his extradition, but according to the New York Times, somehow “managed to get out of that scrape.” Still, he met a bitter end in 1908: after being arrested for passing a bad cheque, he died of chronic alcoholism in the prison ward of Bellevue hospital.
The Times wrote that Frederick “in his palmy days was said to occupy the handsomest apartment in the city,” and was linked romantically to a baroness — but his hard living finally caught up with him.
D.G. Yuengling & Son, established in 1828, is now the oldest brewer in America, with headquarters in Pottsville, Pennsylvania.
Three other Lion Brewery bottles have appeared before on eBay. The first, in 2007, failed to meet the reserve price but sold a few months later for $61 US.
The others popped up last year and went for $77 and $120 US.
This story will appear in the West Kootenay Advertiser on November 1.