If you'd rather place an order by talking to one of our cheerful order desk clerks, please call 1-888-232-4444 (USA and Canada only) or 250-383-6864. From Europe, ring our UK order desk clerk at local rate number 0845 230 9601 (UK only) or 44 (0)1865 722 113.

Looking Back at a Town Called Ladner

by Wm Hutcherson

327 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #02-0846; ISBN 1-55395-132-8; US$27.00, C$30.95, EUR22.50, £15.50

For those who get enjoyment from reading about living conditions during the pioneering era and later during the depression years right up until World War II, Hutcherson has put together an interesting and at times, a humorous chronicle of his own experiences while growing up in the small town of Ladner, British Columbia; a village located at the mouth of the Fraser River just south of the City of Vancouver. The reader will be taken through the formation of the Province, the pioneering of Delta, the years of the Depression and the beginning and ending of the War ­ each rather tough in their own right but presented by the author in a manner that bespeaks of the good times rather than dwelling on the darker sides.

Read more!

about the book      about the author      sample excerpts or Table of Contents      catalogue info

About the Book AUTHOR'S TWO BITS WORTH        The previous printing of my book,'Landing at Ladner', was issued during the year 1982. The book sold quite well at that time but underwent just the one printing. During the past several years I have been inundated with calls requesting information on where or how the book can be begged, borrowed, purchased or stolen but as it has been out of print for such a long period of time I have been unable to offer any assistance to such would-be readers. In order to reduce the time being wasted while searching for such a non-existent item I am now tackling a more up to date and accurate version of the area's history.        In the interim, I have received several suggestions regarding matters of fact and interest, which failed to find their way into my first attempt as an author and historian. Now, with the aid of my trusty computer I can add subtract, revise and correct all kinds of stuff whereas with the old typewriter it was a case of retyping entire pages when omissions or errors of fact were ascertained. I can guarantee that even though I am now equipped with such modern scientific marvels I will still be beseiged with the fact that I have failed to add the story about such and such or that my version of something else differs from that of someone else. One event, which appeared within the pages of Landing at Ladner remains an unsolved mystery to me. I callously had one of my classmates, Les Peever done away with in the belief that he lost his life while serving with the U.S. Navy. Vincent Murphy a career officer with Canada's navy chided me for detailing such misinformation by stating that Les was still alive and kicking when he last saw him only a few years previously. During a recent trip to Halifax I visited the Memorial for those lost while serving with the Canadian Naval Fleet Air Arm and found, not only the name of Leslie Peever but also, that of Vinnie's brother John. Now I am more confused than ever.        Should all go well and you find this latest effort in circulation, I wish you a happy read as you join me in recalling the pleasures which the town of Ladner provided to those of us who were fortunate enough to have resided there during our childhood years.        I further beg your patience and indulgence as you put up with the numerous I's me's mine's and my's throughout the text but as this is my story and I am writing it and much of it about me and mine, it is kind of difficult to avoid such usage so please just go with the flow. E.W.H. Thank you

---

About the Author E. William Hutcherson was born in Clatskanie, Oregon of Canadian parents. The family returned to the Delta during the depression years of the "dirty thirties". Hutcherson completed his basic education in Ladner and after graduating from the Room 19 wireless course held in Vancouver's King Edward High School joined Canada's Merchant Navy as a Radio Officer, an exciting occupation he enjoyed for a period of over six years before swallowing the hook and completing the Certified General Accountants' course held at the University of British Columbia. The author, William (Bill) Hutcherson now makes his home in Steveston, British Columbia just a hop, skip and a jump across the river from Ladner. He and his wife, Barbara, are enjoying retirement in this quiet villiage and get much pleasure from the frequent visits of their offspring, Rodney, Cheryl, Donald and Erin. This is his third attempt at writing; the first Landing at Ladner is no longer in print but was well received and still in demand. His second book, Sparks in the Parks was a chronicle of his experiences while sailing all over the world and can be ordered directly from the author at 3100 Broadway Street, Richmond, B.C. V7E 2W9. Hutcherson's connnection with the marine life did not end with his retirement from the merchant marine. He served a stint in the Royal Canadian Naval Reserve and continues, at the the age of seventy-eight to play with the Vancouver Naval Veterans Band where he tootles on a baritone along with a great gang of fellows.

---

Reviews

Hutcherson looks back, again
By Michelle Hopkins, Mhopkins@richmond-news.com

Richmond author Bill Hutcherson paints a scene right out of a Norman Rockwell portrait as he describes life as a child growing up in the 1930s in Ladner.

"We swam and fished in the river and sloughs," said the 79-year-old retired accountant who recently penned Looking Back at a Town Called Ladner. "Saturdays were a big night. All the shopkeepers kept their stores open and after the shopping was done, parents would send their children to the community hall for Saturday night at the movies."

A Richmond resident for 53 years, Hutcherson - a self professed Jack of all Trades - said the book is a love story, of sorts. A fondness for the delta runs deep in his family roots.

"My family has a long history of living in Ladner," Hutcherson said. "Both my grandmother, Leila Hutcherson, and my father were born there."

In 1930, Hutcherson's dad moved his young family back to Ladner. At the time, the village's population was about 1,400 and was mostly made up of farmers, fishermen and shopkeepers.

The book is peppered with wonderful anecdotes from the author's recollections - such as the time when organized crime rocked the community on a summer night in 1936.

"A gang of bicycle thieves picked up some 22 bikes from the completely unguarded supply," he said. "Included in the haul was my black and striped, no-name birthday gift."

In those bygone days, there wasn't a fire department so whenever a blaze claimed a home, the townsfolk banded together to build a new one and collect and purchase new furniture.

"It was like one big family," he reminisced. "We all looked after each other."

Although the book is Hutcherson's often-humorous account of his own experiences, he also chronicles the history of the town, from the Pioneering era to the Second Word War.

Ladner's first settler was Patrick O'Brien Murphy who acquired his virgin land in April 1857. Like others who followed, the pioneer chose land lining the mighty Fraser River. Unfortunately, Hutcherson writes, Murphy had a knack for establishing firsts.

"In 1861, he went on record as being the area's first murder victim."

By the turn of the 20th century, commerce was thriving and with it sprouted a number of saloons. However, Hutcherson wrote, the pious ladies in the town successfully curbed the Ladner Hotel's bid for a liquor licence because the hotel was directly across the street from the Methodist Church.

The book isn't Hutcherson's first - he wrote Landing at Ladner in 1982.

Hutcherson said he wrote the revised, updated book because he'd been inundated with calls to "beg, borrow or purchase" his first book which was long out of print.

Looking Back at a Town Called Ladner is available at the Steveston Bookstore, or at www.members.shaw.ca/oldhutch/

.

---

Sample Excerpts

FORWARD

       The Landing at Ladner was and remains, an ongoing
component of the village of Ladner British Columbia, a small
settlement located near the mouth of the Fraser River in the
Municipality of Delta. The history of both the town and its
surrounding area does not encompass much in terms of elapsed
time especially when measured against the recorded events of the
world - a mere trio of centuries and a bit but for those of us who
had the good sense, or the blind luck, to have lived there during the
period covered by this story we became blessed with more than the
normal share of pleasant memories. The youngsters of the
community, including myself were most fortunate in being able to
share a period which must surely rank as the purest and most
enjoyable which the small community will ever provide;
notwithstanding the fact that the country was passing through the
period known as the Great Depression. Though lack of jobs and
incomes may have caused grief and anxiety for our parents, the
reality that the river the sloughs the bog and the beaches - the
playgrounds of our community - remained clean and pollution free
lent us young 'uns the warm feeling that all was right with the world.
The backbreaking work commenced by our grandparents was for
the most part completed, an accomplishment that rewarded us good -
time Charlies with the ability to reap the benefits of their endeavours.

       My first attempt at writing about the history of the
community was chronicled within the pages of a poorly constructed
little book entitled "Landing at Ladner" that was laboriously pounded
out on my old upright, Underwood typewrter. I had envisioned some
grandiose production that would involve detailed versions of the
daily lives of our parents and pioneering grandparents. Such an
impressive narrative could, and probably would, have developed
into something of epic proportions and it did not take very long to
realize that such an undertaking would require an amount of
researching time and expense that exceeded the resources available
to me by a considerable margin. Even if the necessary information
could be uncovered it would scarcely reveal the inner thoughts of
our valiant ancestors and therefore any attempt at such a minute
examination of their daily habits would in all likelihood, have resulted
in a great deal of fabrication and conjecture on my part and would
have lost much of the authenticity necessary if such a record is to
serve as a useful instrument.

       Fortunately some background records remain available that
have allowed me to reconstruct many of the events which took
place during the emergence of the small community. I offer heartfelt
apologies for the fact that I have been unable to find the proper
words to express the admiration and respect we all owe to those
early pioneers who laid the groundwork for all that has followed but
without their adventurous spirit and unbelievable perseverance there
would have been no Municipality of Delta and nothing for me to
write about. Perhaps I have included enough about those early
days to enable the reader to gain a glimpse of the past and to
obtain a brief familiarilty with some of the hardy souls who pioneered
the land and made it into such a wonderful place for us to spend
our lives. Most of the story entails the period during which I lived
in the area a mere twenty-odd years it is true but years containing
memories I would not trade away for anything. It will be about a
boy growing up in these idyllic surroundings, about his interests
his friends and then, finally, his being pulled away from this treasure
by a war and the lure of the sea. The reader who is familiar with my
previous attempt at recording these events will find many familiar
recollections as I have relied, quite heavily on the Landing at Ladner
publication to fill in many of the various memory gaps.

       I have determined that even recallable memory alone can
be a most untrustworthy instrument when reviewing the events of
one's life as so many of the previous pleasures and joys come
booming forward with no necessity to shift the brain transmission
into compound low to bring them forward but then, most of the
more distasteful events have somehow buried themselves so deeply
that it would require a dredge to force them back to the surface.
Recalling the many events of the years gone by and I have been
doing a great amount of such pleasant recollection, I seem to come
up with an enormous deluge of warm summer days and enjoyable
evenings but strangely even though there were doubtlessly a surfeit
of rainy and miserable hours these seem to have faded from view. I
have attempted to balance out this natural failing but frankly in my
own case at least, the better times still tilt the scales in their favour.

       The town, as I knew it and as it will be described, is now but
a faded memory; Main Street with all of its busy little shops has
undergone a remarkable change. At the time of the publication of
Landing at Ladner, I wrote that the village center had become like an
old man's smile, full of gaps and decay. Now, only fifteen years
later most of the gaps have received fillings in the form of several
new small shops. The features of the strangers who now walk the
streets have replaced the familiar faces of my childhood years but
tough little Ladner still remains a small town with much of its
personality intact.

       I have endeavored to trace the very beginnings, the
tranquility, the enjoyment,the mysteries and the eventual evolution
of this vibrant community and, as the story is very closely
intermingled with the various individuals and families who gave the
area its character, it will be as much about them as of anything
else. Many of the people who lived there will be overlooked due to
the lack of total recall on my part and to those of you who I have
neglected, I offer a sincere apology and can only state that any
such oversight was without purpose. Those names mentioned will,
for the most part, be persons or families with whom I have had the
pleasure of personal contact and whose actions serve to illustrate
the way of life which existed. Names will not be used in connection
with events bringing possible embarrassment to the participants
unless such identification is presumed to be essential to the purpose
of the story and, certainly no malice will be intended.

---

Catalogue Information

---