After driving around Delta recently, here's my rant for the day. As an oldertimer (not old yet) of Ladner, I sometimes yearn for yesteryear.
The local traffic and general congestion becomes unsettling. One cannot drive on Highway 17 or Highway 10 without being stuck behind a large truck with a pup trailer attached or a large tractor trailer container unit. I come from an era where Delta had approximately 4,000 residents, Ladner with its board sidewalks and Surrey had 25,000 residents most of whom had outhouses for sanitary purposes. No, I don't yearn for that and yes it does make me sound old and maybe a little grumpy. I do like to reflect back to Delta's early history, which is my main purpose today.
The retention and preservation by Corporation of Delta of the Harris barn to be located on the Kirkland property deserves some attention. As always there are detractors concerned over the cost and rightly so sometimes. A good friend of mine once said, "The quality is long remembered after the price is forgotten." This will be true in this case. The Harris barn is an excellent model of original hay barns in Delta. It's design of wide and high doors provide access for farm wagons with high loads of baled hay. This barn was originally owned by Fred Hopcott on his farm on Tilbury Island, located next to the Fraser River.
The barn stored hay to be shipped via a nearby dock up the river and into the valley. The late 1930s brought changes to the farm business. Horses were being replaced by tractors and the need for hay and strictly designed hay barns was reduced. In 1940 Norman (Normie) Harris purchased the Hopcott barn and moved it to 5627 Crescent Island Rd. (64th Ave.) in Delta. The barn was originally built around 1900 according to family. The lumber was milled locally from first growth high quality timber.
The barn was disassembled and reassembled by master carpenters Raymond Lowe and Fred Land with help from the Harris'. The barn was converted for dairy use, housing 32 milk cows, heifers and calves.
To give background on the family, David Harris, grandfather to Normie, arrived in Canada in 1870 and settled in Ontario. In 1899 he and his family arrived in Delta and took up farming on Crescent Island. The Harris family married into the pioneering Burr farm family. Previous councils had the foresight to preserve and relocate the Burr house (Burrvilla) to Deas Island Park as a prime example of early farm lifestyle. The Burr house was built by Raymond Lowe and Fred Land, very active builders of Victorian style quality homes of early Delta. Normie Harris died in 1964 at age 53. The large David Harris clan of six generations flourishes today as part of Delta's farm community.
We are not only preserving a valuable structure but a valued family name in our past and present farm history.
Delta's heritage committee rates the structure at the 98th percentile of its historical criteria, therefore well worth preserving.
The gala barn raising was held on Aug. 19 on the Kirkland property and will host many a fine community event.
Hope you were there to enjoy the moment.
And a good night to you... Hagel.
