This Gilbarco stands at the far southeast corner of the Rock Creek Hotel's outdoor terrace. The model is indicated as being
GR, while the lengthy serial number,
C996A-I 10-3-51 7 5 11, seems to indicate that the date of manufacture was October 3, 1951. This seems right as I recall pumping gas from essentially identical pumps in the 1950s, as a young lad. As the present owner is a Harley Davidson aficionado, the original gasoline brand has been painted over and renamed to Harley-Davidson.
With its beginnings in 1865, Gilbert & Barker must be the oldest gas pump manufacturer extant. Now known as Gilbarco Veeder-Root, the company began with the manufacture of the "Springfield Gas Machine" which converted crude petroleum distillates into a gas vapor used to light buildings. Then owned by Standard Oil Company, they built their first gas pump in 1910, the T-1, which used a push-pull motion on a long handle to draw gasoline from an underground tank. In 1911 they introduced their first measuring gasoline pump and their first first electric metering pump in 1930. It was about the year 1929 that the company name was changed to Gilbarco. In 1935 they introduced the first computing pump and registered the "Gilbarco" trade name. It wasn't until 1965 that they officially changed the corporate name to Gilbarco. In the following years the company introduced a myriad of innovations to the service station and refuelling industry, continuing in this vein today.
Built to serve the gold miners and homesteaders who either arrived in or were passing through the Rock Creek area in the 1890s, the Rock Creek Hotel had operated continuously until September 23, 2015, when it was
forcibly shut down for nonpayment of back taxes. The hotel was put up for sale at $200,000, but finally sold at auction to a West Kelowna couple for $151,300 in March of 2016. The couple were able to
reopen the hotel on or around June 1 of that year. It remains in operation today.
The majority of the hotel appears much as it did when first opened, with 11 small rooms on the upper floor and men's and ladies' shared bathrooms. Much of the lower floor is taken up by the kitchen and the Prospector Pub. The pub is now operated as a restaurant and pub, with an outdoor terrace for dining alfresco. The entire hotel is clean and well kept, while the terrace offers a profusion of gorgeous flowers through the summer, and, of course, this vintage Gilbarco.