Cars are everywhere today, but in the early 1900s, spotting one in Vernon would have turned more than a few heads. At the time, automobiles were rare, unusual, and quite unlike anything on the road now.
The first known automobile in the Vernon area is believed to have belonged to Judge William Ward Spinks. Born near Liverpool in 1851, Spinks originally trained as a solicitor—reportedly to avoid following his father’s wish that he enter the clergy. In 1884, he and his wife Dora immigrated to British Columbia, encouraged by Sir Charles Tupper, then High Commissioner for Canada. The couple settled in Kamloops, where Spinks began a legal practice before being appointed a County Court Judge. His jurisdiction stretched from Kamloops to the South Okanagan, requiring considerable travel—initially on horseback.
In 1892, Spinks moved to Vernon, likely for its more central location, and built a large home for his family on Pleasant Valley Road. Given the size of his district, he needed a faster and more efficient way to get around. By approximately 1902, he became the first person to bring an automobile into the Vernon area.
But this was not a typical car. It was a two-cylinder steam-powered 1899 Locomobile—an American-made vehicle transported from California by ship and rail to Kamloops. These early steam cars were compact and lightweight, capable of modest speeds and only able to travel 20 to 30 kilometres before needing more water. They were also notoriously temperamental: slow to start, difficult to operate, and prone to kerosene fires. One writer famously dubbed them “nickel-plated frauds.”
To drive a Locomobile, one had to sit directly over the boiler and keep an eye on a gauge—visible only through a mirror angled at the floor—while also watching the road. Judge Spinks must have had both courage and mechanical savvy to operate such a machine, especially with the rough roads and natural obstacles of the day.
The community, however, was not entirely convinced. Whenever Judge Spinks set out for a drive, fellow Vernonite Joe Harwood would reportedly be alerted and follow at a discreet distance on horseback—ready to tow the vehicle back to town when it inevitably broke down.
In addition to his legal work, Spinks was a rancher, and allegedly the first to introduce alfalfa as a fodder crop to the Okanagan Valley. He was also an enthusiastic hobbyist and is credited with introducing ping pong to Vernon in 1898 or ‘99.
Spinks passed away in Victoria in 1938. Years later, the engine from his historic vehicle was recovered and restored by local inventor Garry Garbutt.
Archives Manager, Gwyneth Evans