# Thrums

Thrums is an unincorporated community on the northwest shore of the Kootenay River in the West Kootenay region of southeastern British Columbia. The location, on BC Highway 3A, is by road about 11 kilometres (7 mi) northeast of Castlegar, and 33 kilometres (21 mi) southwest of Nelson.

## Name origin

J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan author, also wrote Auld Licht Idylls, A Window in Thrums, and The Little Minister, set in the fictional Scottish village of Thrums. In 1900, the second book in the trilogy gave Thrums, BC, a railway switch, its name. The suggested proponent/s are Robert W. and Janie A.S. Chalmers (a farming couple who settled around this time), an unknown female train passenger, or the daughter of an unspecified Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) director.

## Railway

CP's adding of this Columbia and Kootenay Railway siding to the timetable in 1900 may have been merely as a designated siding. The flag stop, which appeared around 1905 was 5.8 kilometres (3.6 mi) northeast of Brilliant, and 3.2 kilometres (2.0 mi) southwest of Tarry's. Passenger service ended in 1964.
Train Timetables (Regular stop or Flag stop) :
| Year | 1905 | 1909 | 1912 | 1916 | 1919 | 1929 | 1932 | 1935 | 1939 | 1943 | 1948 | 1953 | 1954 | 1961 | 1963 |
| Ref. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Type | Flag | Flag | Flag | Flag | Flag | Flag | Flag | Reg/Flag | Reg/Flag | Flag | Reg/Flag | Flag | Flag | Flag | Flag |

## Early community

Fruit growing was initially the main industry, which transformed to farming over time. The Chalmers, longtime residents from Scotland, also raised poultry. A general store opened in the 1910s. Becoming predominantly a Doukhobor community, the Thrums Cemetery opened in 1912. Operated by the Union of Spiritual Communities of Christ (USCC) from 1940 until the 1970s, the site is now disused and overgrown. Several stores operated by the 1940s. The Chalmers ran a small store and tea room called The Window from the early 1940s.
The population was about 150 by 1928, 250 by 1934, 174 by 1939, 387 by 1943, 250 by 1946, and 218 by 1951. The post office, which opened in 1906, did not reopen after burning down in 1978.

## Freedomites

Various incidents linked to the Freedomites: 1930: Attempted arson of community hall and damage by explosives to school. 1932: Parading in nude prompted 118 arrests and three-year sentences. 1938: Church burned. 1946: Doukhobor hall destroyed by fire. 1947: Barns burned. 1958: Nearby gas pipeline dynamited. 1959: Three feet of CP track dynamited.

## Present community

A market/deli and small businesses operate. Since Thrums can be used as a generic name for the area that stretches north to Glade, the boundary with Tarrys is unclear.

## Notable people

Joe Irving (1911–2015), author, ironworker activist, graduated high school in his 90s, and centenarian, was the first baby born in Thrums.

## Footnotes

* ↑ "Thrums (community)". BC Geographical Names.
* 1 2 3 4 5 "BC Local News, 14 Sep 2017". www.bclocalnews.com.
* ↑ "Castlegar News, 28 Sep 2018". www.castlegarnews.com.
* 1 2 "1935 timetable". www.library.ubc.ca. p. 10 (TT 70).
* ↑ "1905 timetable". www.library.ubc.ca. p. 62 (43).
* ↑ "1909 timetable". www.library.ubc.ca. p. 78 (45).
* ↑ "1912 timetable". www.library.ubc.ca. p. 92 (TT113).
* ↑ "1916 timetable". www.library.ubc.ca. p. 159 (TT125).
* ↑ "1919 timetable". www.library.ubc.ca. p. 183 (TT115).
* ↑ "1929 timetable". www.library.ubc.ca. p. 30 (TT115).
* ↑ "1932 timetable". www.library.ubc.ca. p. 471 (TT155).
* ↑ "1939 timetable". www.library.ubc.ca. p. 126 (TT151).
* ↑ "1943 timetable" (PDF). www.streamlinermemories.info. p. 44 (TT151).
* ↑ "1948 timetable". www.library.ubc.ca. p. 45 (TT151).
* ↑ "1953 timetable". www.library.ubc.ca. p. 44 (TT121).
* ↑ "1954 timetable". www.library.ubc.ca. p. 44 (TT121).
* ↑ "1961 timetable". www.library.ubc.ca. p. 73 (TT40).
* ↑ "1963 timetable". www.library.ubc.ca. p. 18 (TT99).
* ↑ "1910 BC Directory". www.bccd.vpl.ca.
* ↑ "1918 BC Directory". www.bccd.vpl.ca.
* ↑ "Thrums Doukhobor Cemetery". www.doukhobor.org.
* ↑ "1945 BC Directory". www.bccd.vpl.ca.
* ↑ "1928 BC Directory". www.bccd.vpl.ca.
* ↑ "1934 BC Directory". www.bccd.vpl.ca.
* ↑ "1939 BC Directory". www.bccd.vpl.ca.
* ↑ "1943 BC Directory". www.bccd.vpl.ca.
* ↑ "1946 BC Directory". www.bccd.vpl.ca.
* ↑ Darshan, Johal (1958). "An Approach to Planning for Small Communities in BC". www.library.ubc.ca. p. 103 (93).
* ↑ "Grand Forks Sun, 11 Jul 1930". www.library.ubc.ca. p. 1.
* ↑ "The Daily Colonist, 19 Dec 1930". www.archive.org. p. 1.
* ↑ "The Daily Colonist, 3 May 1932". www.archive.org. p. 2.
* ↑ "The Daily Colonist, 17 Jun 1932". www.archive.org. p. 3.
* ↑ "The Daily Colonist, 5 Aug 1938". www.archive.org. p. 1.
* ↑ Cran 2003, p. 193 (185).
* ↑ "Calgary Herald, 26 Aug 1947". www.newspapers.com. p. 1. The red glow of flaming barns lit the pre-dawn sky over this small Doukhobor settlement today as fanatical night raiders striking without warning, put the torch to two farm buildings and were foiled in an attempt to fire a third.
* ↑ Cran 2003, p. 197 (189).
* ↑ "The Daily Colonist, 20 Oct 1959". www.archive.org. p. 1.
* ↑ Cran 2003, p. 198 (190).
* ↑ "Nelson Star, 6 Oct 2011". www.nelsonstar.com.
* ↑ "Joe Irving obituary". www.thompsonfs.ca.