The Pemberton and District Dyking Commission was officially formed in 1947 to oversee land reclamation projects in the Pemberton Valley carried out in partnership with the federal and provincial governments. This building was the first municipal office.
In 1950, the R.C.M.P. took over from the provincial police. Before long the increase in population made more frequent and longer visits necessary. The policeman would rent the top floor of the hotel for several days, using it as his office and covering the area in a hired car. Anyone arrested was confined overnight behind the hotel in the Pemberton Valley Dyking District Office.
The duties of the part-time guard included opening the small cell to allow the prisoner to use the toilet, and when one “criminal” decided that he had enough confinement he simply walked out the door, while the guard and ex-soldier from World War I gave chase and yelled, “Halt, in the name of the Queen!”.
When Signal Hill Elementary school was being built the building was used as a school room, while the back room continued to be used as a jail. In 1961 the R.C. M.P. detachment was finally opened on Prospect St. and the new elementary school opened in 1963.
This content and the images have been provided by the Pemberton and District Museum and Archives Society and is part of their Heritage Walking Tour map.
