RICHARD ALLEN SCOTT - Through the Years

RICHARD ALLEN SCOTT
THROUGH THE YEARS
1969
Boston Bar Detachment
In April of this year I was transferred to Boston Bar
Detachment. Population was only a couple of
hundred, if that. It was a 2-man posting in the middle
of the Fraser Canyon.
I later learned that I had been moved there by the
Sub-Division OIC to ‘test me’, to see if I really was as
good as my Abbotsford boss reported.
The original settlement in this area was the First
Nations' village of Koiaum, located on the west side of
the Fraser River. By the 1860's, the area had
become known as Boston Bar because of the large
numbers of Americans that settled in the area during
the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush. When the building of
the Canadian Pacific Railway was completed in 1885,
the town's name was changed to North Bend, while
Boston Bar began to be used for the
community on the east side of the
Fraser River. An aerial cable ferry was
built to connect the two towns in 1940,
and ran until 1985.
My room
This detachment was in a house right
beside the Trans-Canada Highway. It
housed the office, married quarters,
and single room above the office for its
single Constables – me. The Corporal
in charge of the Detachment worked
straight days, and I worked straight
nights…for a year! My shift began at
4PM and ran until 8AM the next
morning, although I could usually go to
Boston Bar Detachment – 1969
bed around 2’ish or later, and then be
on call. I was often aroused from my sleep. You could
hear the tractor-trailers coming down the hill with their ‘jake’ brakes on and you just knew it was
going to stop at the office to report some horrendous accident or something. Happened quite
often. All of our calls were taken by Hope Detachment and we were contacted by radio.
June 2017
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