Rowdy days for the Langham Boys

Fourth in a series

Previously in this series, weve seen that Charles J. Kapps (1866-1958) built the Langham in Kaslo in 1896-97 and operated a bottling works out of a now-demolished addition on the building.

In 1902, he sold his business to employee Joseph J. Storms and Arthur W. Goodenough of the Kaslo Brewery. The bottling works was still listed in the civic directory as of 1905, but folded sometime before 1910.

Kapps held on to the Langham until August 26, 1910 when, according to tax records, Alfred John Curle and Arthur R. Heyland acquired it.

Heyland was a surveyor and civil engineer, responsible for laying out the Poplar and Gerrard townsites as well as additions to Sandon and Kuskonook.

Curle was born in Maidstone, Kent, England in 1867 and came to Kaslo around 1904, where he was a member of the office staff of the Kaslo and Slocan Railway. He was also a land agent, fruit growers association secretary, an alderman in 1916-17, and a well-loved local character.

He was president of the local prospectors association and had many mining claims in the area, including several manganese properties on the east side of the Kaslo River, seven kilometers northwest of town. Although he discovered them in 1907, he didnt stake them until 1917. He shipped ore for three years, but the material proved to be of low quality.

Curle was interested in sports of all kinds. He provided scholarships and money for athletic equipment, donated swings and slides for the park playground, and put up a school trophy called the Curle Cup. Hes also credited as the founder of the Kaslo Golf Club and was reportedly the first to own golf clubs in Kaslo.

In the late 1990s, some of Curles effects turned up, including a box of tarnished silver trophy cups, which are now in the Kootenay Lake archives. With his motorboat Red Wing, he won races in 1912 and 1913.

Mary Johnson, whose family came to Kaslo in 1934, said recently that her most vivid memory of Curle is as a boy scout leader. She also recalls he had a cabin about a mile and a half south of town with a slough behind it. It wasnt very big, but we used to go skating there, she said. He made sure we had a fire to sit beside as we changed into our skates. He was very good with young people.

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Rowdy days for the Langham Boys