By Colleen Palumbo
This will be the first of a two part story about the H.G. Parson family coming to the valley and the development of the Big Store, as it was called.
He also bought a farm at Hog Ranch (Parson) that led to the area being named after him.
The first large scale mines developed in this area were the Monarch Mine at Field and the Giant Mine at Spillimacheen, both registered in 1883. It seemed that mining was going to be a big thing for the area and the government decided that they would help out in any way they could to encourage development of the area.
George Parson and H.B. Alexander convinced the government that it was necessary to have a smelter in Golden that could process the ore here and then send the finished product away. This made sense to the government because the nearest smelter was so far away that the cost of sending the ore to the smelter was prohibitive.
The smelter was built on a site across the river from what is currently the college. A bridge was put in at that location so that the ore coming from the country could be taken straight in to the smelter.
Everything was ready for the operation to begin and the government looked it over, gave their blessing, and then added a bonus. The area on the southeast side of the bridge, which was all government-owned, would be turned over to Smelter Company to encourage settlement into the area.
In 1886 the area was all surveyed and handed over the Golden Mining and Smelting Co. and was named the Alexander Townsite, presumably after the Alexander family. Interesting that the area is still referred to as Alexander Park and is a sought after place for families to live. Today we know this survey as plan 469, and I often drag it out to look things up.
Soon, homes and businesses began to spring up all over on the south side. Among them was the Alexander Hall. This two-storey hall was home to the offices of the Golden Mining and Smelting Co., it also had public rooms for meetings and such and a large hall that was used for dances, weddings, and town meetings.
In 1894, H.G. Parson (Harry) was joined by his brother, Charles, who had come here to work for the Columbia River Lumber Co. Harry, who had been in the area since 1887 doing some surveying for the government in what is now Banff National Park, soon found himself employed by Carlin and Lake, local merchants, who had a store in the Alexander building. Today that would be the area where Lordco sits.
After working at the Big Store for what must have been just a short time, Harry was offered the opportunity to buy the store. This he did quite readily, and took over in July of 1897, making several changes and additions to the business that already existed.
This new store was named after its owner, H.G. Parson, and took up the entire main floor of the Alexander building as well as the cellar and several outbuildings. The main part of the store was 75 feet by 24 feet and was stacked high with dry goods and groceries, boots and shoes, hardware and lamp ware, millinery, and drugs.
This department was run for Harry in the beginning by G. Rehder. From the centre of that department was a passage that led to the commercial department and offices which were located on the north side of the building.
Following the passage back, a second hallway led to an area behind the offices that was filled with boots, shoes, readymade clothes, hats and caps, glassware and crockery, lamps and patent medicines.
…Continued next week.
