Albert Edward Raab (AE)

Born 1863

Son of Conrad Joseph Raab

1881 - 47 All Saints St.,Sculcoates, Hull, England
1881 left England for Perth, Ontario, arrived with AW in Hope, BC 1891

Died 12th March 1937, Hope, BC, Canada

From;

Forging a new Hope

P 60        1901-1908 School Trustee

P 75        By 1920, A.E. Raab, J. Bailey and R Palmer had become associated with Tony De Angelis on the Idaho. Assays taken in 1919 gave 0.44 oz/ton gold across four feet on the hanging wall at a 23 foot wide “vein”.  J. Fagan and associates started to develop the high grade Pipestem Mine North of the Idaho on the summit between Ladner and Siwash creeks in 1922. The Morning group south of the Idaho, was actively prospected in 1924 by jack Nesbitt and Associates. O’Connell sold part interest in the Pitsburg Group to A. E. Raab before 1919. In the middle 1920’s O’Connell became involved in a disreputable attempt to option the claims to a senior financial concern which resulted in his leaving the area, never to return. Subsequently, the Pitsburg lapsed, and Jack Nesbitt staked the Aurum claims on September 9, 1926, as agent for A.E. Raab, L.B. Cleaves and O. Erlingsen. Exploration was pursued on the Idaho through the early 1920’s, and in 1926 a silicified zone was found along the serpentine contact. This zone was exposed in a series of open cuts up the hill. During 1927, the open cut work was continued, and encouraging results were obtained from panning the soft oxidized material lying between a persistent body of quartz and a decomposed serpentine footwall. As this trench was extended, astonishing values in free gold in a talcose shear zone were revealed.

P95         The road builders in the early 1900’s. Lacking modern day machinery, these men wielded the axe and the pick and shovel. In the oppressive heat of summers long gone they sweated and carved roads out of rock and the wilderness. T hey rested then swung the axe again, sweated a little more, rested and swung again, the ring of their tools singing through the ancient trees. And in winters, too, when the snow fell about their shoulders and on their faces, their shovels were still to be heard, grating on stone. A.E. Raab, foreman of road construction in those early days, left in his tally books a record of those sturdy pioneers who worked for him. The particular areas mentioned in Raab’s records were Similkameen Trail, Summit City Trail, Logging Skidway, Hope-Popkum Road, Siwash Creek, and the Yale and Emory Roads. Experienced workers were at a premium and money was scarce. The government of the time allowed the landowners to pay their taxes in labour. A. E. Raab’s crew often had businessmen, mill owners, carpenters, and farmers, all working on the roads and bridges

P96         Close by Angus’ home was the large cabin named the Lake House. A. E. Raab operated this shelter for travellers coming over the Princeton trail. Mrs. Park Lundstein was caretaker and housekeeper of this shelter. The charge for overnight was 50 cents. Traffic was not sufficient to make the stopping place pay, and it was closed. For years, however, this cabin was used as a shelter for free.

P110      Tom Anderson, Garfield Jones, Frank LaForge and Albert Raab were trappers but took on other jobs out of season. Garfield painted signs and umpired baseball, LaForge wrestled a bear and won; Raab was to rise to a prominent position in the village.

P112      ”A.E. and Ambrose Raab were brothers who came to Hope in 1891. A.E. was miner, trapper, contractor, then chairman of the village commissioners, along with many other projects that took his fancy. Ambrose kept house for his brother.

P116      Officials for the village of Hope 1929-1948

A. E. Raab            Chairman 1929-1937 (deceased Mar 12)

P 206     She (Annie Bulger Laidlaw) rented one of Raab’s cottages in Hope moved in with 3 children and bought herself a new Singer sewing machine with her first war service pay.

P229      Time books from 1900 to 1909 kept by A. E. Raab, the then foreman of Highway Construction, list W. Flood among many pioneers of the town and district, as an employee.

P250      On the other hand, A.E. Raab’s doorstop was a hunk of granite the size of a football, with an inch wide vein of gold running right through the centre. The use of this rock was no ho-hum disregard of its value, but just the opposite. It denoted his power, his rank, his absolute security from day one, to any entrepreneur who appeared on the scene. His office was adorned with those classic prints of great English dogs of all breeds playing killer poker and filled with the smoke of expensive cigars and cherished pipes. It was crammed with all the copies of all the deeds, since the fort became a village and was the undisputed power centre where the “word” came down.

P261      Everybody knew A.E. – The man behind the name.

When Albert Edward Raab first came through Hope it was 1882. Andrew Onderdonk was blasting the C.P.R. westwards through the Fraser Canyon and A.E. was working on the bridges. Within the next few years, with local mining and real estate interests already developed, A.E. settled in Hope- this time to stay. To Hope residents A.E. was all things: real estate dealer, conveyance, notary public, insurance agent, money lender, school trustee and mine recorder. He was the road superintendent, war bond campaigner and banker. From 1929 to March 1937 when he died A.E. was chairman of the village commission. He was also host and friend to the local male residents who played poker in his office in the evenings. With liquor, if not exactly flowing, certainly available, the card games often continued well into the night. It was probably for many Hope men a welcome refuge from the cares of the day, an all-male bastion where could be found the camaraderie that exists only in such relaxed gatherings. That he was a dog lover is easily determined, not only from the accompanying photograph, but also from the memories of Hope ladies who were forced to walk on the street to avoid facing the territorial hostility of his two Scottish terriers. That he wasn’t unkind to children, rather the opposite, is evident from Dora (Brunton) Carter’s recollections of him. “He seemed to govern Hope,” Dora says, “and was always there in his office. Saw him in that relaxed position, hands on his knees, showing that lovely diamond ring, and two Scottie dogs at his feet. Mother and I would walk into town often and see Raab. He always gave me a package of MacKintosh’s toffee. Before we left he always said ‘come again another day and I’ll give you more toffee.’ I was shy and never wanted to go just for the toffee, for he kind of scared me until I got used to him, then I liked him. Guess I did a lot of talking with him after a while. He gave all the children in Hope Mackintosh’s toffee.”

Eilidh (Powers) Palmer remembers how A.E. would sit out on the sidewalk in his big oak chair, his binoculars trained on the high crests of the Hope mountain and say ‘Look Eilidh, right over on the left where the sun’s hitting, see that big mountain goat. That’s a prize one.’ He never gave me a nickel but he always had time to talk about anything-the trophies that hung in his office, the mineral samples that lined his shelves, or the new course that the road was being diverted to.....”