The postcard views of Walter Bews

A postcard of an early auto on what is described as Moran Road in Revelstoke features a tantalizing detail: a readable license plate. Thanks to Chris Garrish’s fabulous website on the history of BC license plates, we can establish that this photo was taken in 1913 and look up the plate number to see who the car belonged to. The answer is Walter Bews, a pharmacist who also served as mayor from 1920-22.

(Greg Nesteroff collection)

Bews received license 4468 for his Cadillac on Aug. 27, 1912 and renewed the license annually through at least 1916. This was perhaps the 11th car in Revelstoke. The first one belonged to an E.A. Bradley, according to the Mail Herald of June 3, 1908:

E.A. Bradley landed a handsome automobile in the city on Saturday night from Vancouver. The car is a 22-29 h.p. Buick tonneau, a smart looking machine, the first of its kind on the streets of Revelstoke, and is certainly an acquisition to the town. We understand that other residents are contemplating the purchase of these vehicles.

 

(The same edition of the newspaper noted that “the automobiling craze … is likely to reach Revelstoke this summer” and suggested a tongue-in-cheek set of “rules for autoists,” including that “The speed limit on the city roads this year will be secret, and the penalty for violation will be $10 for every mile an offender is caught going in excess of it.”)

However, a list of registered vehicles through November 1912 doesn’t mention E.A. Bradley, so he had presumably sold by the car by then and transferred the license to someone else. Here are the other people from Revelstoke who held automobile licenses as of that date:

NAME	LICENSE	MAKE
C. Tirnross [1]	1052	Ford
H.P. Cummings	1053	Unknown
Charles P. Lindmark	1064	McLaughlin
G. McCarter [2]	2020	Cadillac
Walter Bews [3]	2021	Ford
W.A. Foote [4]	2094	Ford
W. Veith	2204	Unknown
A. McRae	4002	Unknown
A.B. McCleneghan	4039	Hupp
Walter Bews	4468	Cadillac
[1] License later held by C.D. Palmer of Revelstoke. [2] License later held by Dominick Gallicano of Revelstoke. [3] Misspelled in the register as Bewes. License later held by Abrahamson Bros of the Central Hotel, Revelstoke. [4] License later held by F. McCarthy of Revelstoke.

So it turns out the car depicted in the postcard was already the second one that Bews had owned. This is one of three postcards I know of showing an early automobile around Revelstoke. The others, seen below and both from my collection, show the Columbia River Canyon and the Big Bend Road. Although it’s far from certain, I wouldn’t be surprised if at least one and possibly both also show Bews’ Cadillac. You can’t read the license plate on these ones, but the vehicle’s make looks similar.

I’d go a step further and speculate that at least some of these views were taken on July 7, 1913. That’s when BC’s three-man agricultural commission met at Revelstoke (including J.J. Campbell of Willow Point, on Kootenay Lake’s North Shore). According to the Mail-Herald, “The Commissioners after the close of the session were taken on an automobile trip through the valley by Mr. Walter Bews, when some of the best known ranches in the valley were visited.”

Bews himself was a postcard publisher, so it is curious that his car turned up on a postcard produced by Valentine & Sons, an international firm. The Columbia River card is also by Valentine, while the Big Bend card was published by S.H. Baker of Glacier.

In the Moran Road card, I can’t quite tell if we see heads in the back seat in addition to someone in the front seat. In the Big Bend photo, we can see at least two people, but one of them looks appreciably shorter than the other, and is perhaps a child perched on the front of the car. In the Columbia River Canyon postcard, one person is standing outside the car.

Below is a selection of Bews’ work that is actually signed by him (although sometimes his name only appeared on the back), plus one more unsigned card that looks like his work. He had two hallmarks, although they were not present on all of his cards: he used a camera that produced images a little smaller than the standard postcard size, leaving ample white space. And some of his images were beautifully hand-coloured. They are among my favourites from Revelstoke.

Curiously, though, several of Bews’ cards appeared in other versions that were identical except they bore the name of Canada Drug & Book Co. or the Red Cross Drug Store, his pharmaceutical competitors. What can we read into that? If a postcard was published “by Walter Bews” or “for Walter Bews,” does that mean he took the photo? Or were multiple druggists able to order the same postcards from a printer who just changed the publisher’s name to suit the client? I feel confident that the cards where Bews’ name is handwritten are his photos, but I’m not positive about the others.

(Greg Nesteroff collection)

(Greg Nesteroff collection)

(Philip Francis Postcard Collection, Simon Fraser University MSC130-07085)

(Greg Nesteroff collection)

(Philip Francis Postcard Collection, Simon Fraser University MSC130-17318)

(Philip Francis Postcard Collection, Simon Fraser University MSC130-17308)

(Greg Nesteroff collection)

(Greg Nesteroff collection)

(Greg Nesteroff collection)

(Philip Francis Postcard Collection, Simon Fraser University MSC130-07083)

(Philip Francis Postcard Collection, Simon Fraser University MSC130-17316)

(Philip Francis Postcard Collection, Simon Fraser University MSC130-17306)

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(Philip Francis Postcard Collection MSC130-17235 and British Columbia Postcard Collection, Simon Fraser University MSC130-07079)

(Philip Francis Postcard Collection, Simon Fraser University MSC130-07082)

(British Columbia Postcard Collection, Simon Fraser University MSC130-0793)

(British Columbia Postcard Collection, Simon Fraser University MSC130-07080)

Bews received an entry in Ruby Nobbs’ book Revelstoke History and Heritage and

the late Margaret Waddington wrote about him in the May 2011 edition of the Vancouver Postcard Club newsletter, Postview.

Bews was born in 1875 in Ontario and graduated from pharmacy school there. In 1899, he and Clarence Field took over a drug store on Front Street in Revelstoke. Bews went solo in 1900 and the business moved a few times before settling on Mackenzie Avenue in 1902.

By 1910-11, Walter was joined by his brothers Harry, a chemist, and Fred, a jeweler and optician. Walter served seven years on city council before being elected mayor. In 1922, he moved to New Westminster, where he took over another drug store. Brother Harry remained in Revelstoke to manage the store there.

Waddington sounded a slight note of uncertainty over Walter’s involvement with the cards with his name on them: “He may have taken the photographs on his cards ... which were printed by the Albertype Co. and Warwick Bros. & Rutter, circa 1904-10.” (Italics mine.)

While Walter’s name turns up often in the Revelstoke newspapers that have been digitized up to 1917, I haven’t yet found anything connected to his postcards or photography in general.

Walter died while on holiday in California in 1939, age 64. He was survived by his wife Lena, whom he had married in 1903, as well as their three children. However, Lena died only a month after Walter.

Bews Creek, which flows into the Perry River northwest of Revelstoke, was named after Walter upon his death. Bews’ Drugs moved to the Howson Block in 1916 and appears to have operated under that name until 1943. Afterward, Fred Bews continued to run a jewelry and optical business in Revelstoke at least into the late 1940s.

Two postscripts:

• When an automobile club formed at Revelstoke in 1920, Harry Bews was the secretary.

• The name “Moran Road” doesn’t seem to appear anywhere except on the postcard with Walter’s car seen at top. I don’t know what road it corresponds with today. Can anyone tell me?