The historic town of Alvin, where Pitt River Lodge is now located, is named after Alvin Thomas Patterson, a logging contractor and farmer who settled here c1901. Patterson was born July 4, 1865 at Parrsboro, Nova Scotia, and died July 20, 1942 in New Westminster at the age of 77. Alvin Patterson was one of the men who packed out old "Doc" Volcanic Brown who became lost looking for Slumach's gold and who eventually disappeared in the mountains. The legend of Slumach's gold is a well documented mystery that has many people still believing there is gold in the mountains surrounding the Lodge, and has lured dozens of people to their deaths dreaming of bags of gold ripe for their picking!
The Alvin post office opened October 1, 1915 on lot 3174 (the first location of the town was the general area at the first corner and first mile or so from the north end of Pitt Lake. The log sort was filled in later.) The first postmaster was G.S. Ward. On March 31, 1955 the post office closed, but reopened in December on lot 2573, 4 miles up the river at what is now the JS Jones Timber logging camp.
In the early 1900's British Columbia's first and still the only sockeye salmon hatchery opened at Hatchery Creek, where the logging camp is now located. The Corder family operated the hatchery, but moved out of the valley when BC Forest Products logged the valley bottom in the 1930's. Minnie Corder, who was 75 when interviewed for this article, recalled the trail the family used from the dock, and how they shimmied around the rock bluff (located between what is now the lodge and the logging camp). Finally they brought in an old Model T to make the trip easier.
At one time there were at least 200 people in the valley who logged, and farmed strawberries and potatoes. They are believed to have left, for reasons unknown, in the 1940's or 1950's.
The town had a school (which is now the clubhouse at Pitt River Lodge), a town hall, a swimming pool , tennis court (the current helipad) and a hotel. Some of the old farmhouses are still standing. After the residents of Alvin left, the valley was primarily a logging operation with just a few cabin owners remaining.
BC Forest Products moved the town from the beach area to Mile 4 in 1955. In the 1980's Fletcher Challenge took over and bulldozed the town. JS Jones Timber took over in 1993. At the present time the village of Alvin has a population of seven fulltime residents living in the remote Pitt River Valley.
The area where Pitt River Lodge now stands, lot 5424, was owned by Chris Colplough from the 1930's until the 1960's when Rocky and Lou Brockwell won the property in a poker game (or so the story goes.)
They lived in the cabin now known as Rocky's for 20 years, using the cedar stump now located in the front of the lodge as their bathroom! They bootlegged for the loggers, farmed, grew tobacco and were the village's last postmasters. After selling to the Geraks in 1988, Rocky and Lou moved to Keremeos where Rocky died a number of years ago. Since 1990 the Geraks have lived on the property fulltime. Their business has grown gradually and with the lodge open for business since October 2000, they are busier than ever.
