Correspondence; scrapbooks; reminiscences; speeches, a genealogy of the Mallandaine family; and minutes of the Rugby Football Club Committee of the James Bay Athletic Association 1892-1893. Edward Mallandaine Junior was born in Victoria in July 1867, the first child of architect Edward Mallandaine and his wife Louisa (nee Townsend). Edward Mallandaine Senior had been born in Singapore on 10 August 1827 (the son of John Mallandaine and Mary Smith) and had resided in Singapore, London, Paris, Melbourne, Wolverhampton, San Francisco and Portland before coming to Victoria in 1858. He married Louisa Townsend (born 24 September 1831), daughter of Thomas and Harriet Townsend (nee Willis) on 1 September 1866. Louisa Townsend had come to Victoria in 1863 on board the bride ship Tynemouth. They had five children: Edward, Frederick (born 24 August 1868, drowned at Victoria 11 November 1895), Louisa (born 21 December 1869, married W.E.H. Corson in December 1889), Harriet (born 14 October 1872, married September 1907) and Charles (born 20 May 1875, died November 1940). Edward Mallandaine Senior died on 5 April 1905 and Louisa Mallandaine died in 1925. In 1885, the 17 year old Edward Mallandaine (having graduated from Portland High School) left Victoria to fight when news came through of the Riel Rebellion. He travelled to New Westminster, thence to Port Moody and on to Golden where news came that the rebellion had been put down and the troops from eastern Canada were going home. Disgruntled, he began for home and at Craigellachie on 7 November 1885 he witnessed the driving home of the last spike in the Canadian Pacific Railway by Lord Strathcona. He then took up a brief job as a pony express rider, the first in a varied career which included railway surveyor, architect, forestry and irrigation expert, business executive, soldier and magistrate. Mallandaine founded the town of Creston after he had become associated with F.G. Little while they were engaged in a railway survey from Bonners Ferry to Kootenay Lake. In 1898 when the Canadian Pacific Railway put through the Columbia and Western Railway, they presented a half share in the townsite to the Canadian Pacific Railway. Later Mallandaine associated with Colonel J.S. Dennis, who was Calgary Commissioner for the Canadian Pacific Railway, became a land agent for the Company in the Kootenay district and also had charge of tie and timber limits and the location and operation of tie camps and mills. He had his office in Cranbrook, reporting to Dennis at Calgary. He also put in the irrigation project at Invermere and subsequently was very active in the promotion of the Creston reclamation project, which has reclaimed thousands of fertile acres from the Columbia River flats. Mallandaine had been in the Canadian Militia from 1885-1934. When World War I broke out he was a reserve officer of the 5th Regiment Garrison Artillery, Victoria and went on active service as Colonel of the Kootenay Regiment. Later he served with the Canadian Forestry Corps. After the war he left his railway job to devote himself to the growth of the Creston area. He was the driving force in having Creston incorporated, formed the first hospital in 1930 (he had already previously formed the Creston Board of Trade in 1908), the Creston Canadian Legion Branch in 1919, the Knights of Pythias in 1928 and the Creston Rod and Gun Club. He was Creston's first postmaster, Justice of the Peace, coroner and school trustee. He was also a successful farmer, operated the Goat Mountain Water Works until the plant was sold to Creston about 1940 and was in the real estate and fire insurance business. Colonel Mallandaine was Reeve of Creston from 1936-1947. Mallandaine married Jean Ramsey of Nanaimo in 1904. His wife died in 1944 and they had had no children. He died in August 1949. MS-2565 consists of correspondence on a variety of subjects; scrapbooks, including two containing a newspaper column entitled Reminiscing written by Mallandaine (1939-1940); reminiscences about such subjects as his marriage, the day he “set Victoria's Harbour on fire,” foundation of Creston, his attendance at the last spike ceremony in 1885, Eagle Pass, etc; speeches given to the Kiwanis Club of Creston and on Remembrance Day 1922; and a genealogy of the Mallandaine family ordered by William Arthur Mallandaine of Johannesburg in 1897. This unit also contains the minutes of the Rugby Football Club Committee of the James Bay Athletic Association (1892-1893). Edward Mallandaine was Secretary of the Ruby Football Club and the book also contains notes, a log and some sketches presumably by Mallandaine. Source: MS Finding Aids Finding aid: file list.
