1937 - Cross Ranch

In 1937, my grandfather John Henry "Jack" Cross purchased a large parcel of land in Maple Ridge. If my memory serves me right, there were about 40 acres, primarily stretching along the north bank of the Alouette River from Davidson's pool to Balsam Street.

He built an auto court and a summer home on the parcel referred to as Cross Ranch below. My mother (Dell Cross) told me that some of the expensive wood came from Dick’s Clothing, which was then going out of business. (I do not know whether her version of the story, or my aunt Norm's in the clipping below, is correct.) The marble came from Spencers. Jack later erected a barn and bought two horses: a nag named “Molly” for the girls and a retired race horse named “Star” for his son. (John Leverett "Jack" Cross). Mom claims the girls only rode once, bareback, with Norm desperately clutching on so that she didn’t fall. Young Jack became a proficient horseman.

There were many family gatherings on the Cross property before my grandparents retired there in 1960. My grandmother, Nina, was a proficient piano player and one of the principal elements of these gatherings was singing around the piano. The adults also played bridge and talked. (My cousins and I found other diversions.)

Much of my grandfather's property is now parkland.

He also gave an acre on the south bank of the Alouette River to my aunt Norm and her husband (Stan Moyes) and another waterfront acre to my uncle Jack (location unknown, though I wonder if it could be Fred Johnston's old property).

My father (Roy Armstrong Hales) wanted a parcel that did not front the river, where he could build a sawmill. So my mother was given a three acre parcel.

Here is "Cross Ranch House Is History," Maple Ridge News, Saturday, August 11, 2001