Leed (Mandelid), Nils Johannes

Nils Mandelid was born on June 23, 1889 in Voss, Norway. He married Ingeborg Opheim in Oslo, Norway, on June 17, 1911. He died on June 19, 1962, at the Princeton General Hospital. He is buried in the Princeton Cemetery.

The family left Norway and arrived in Princeton in the late summer of  1927. They stayed with the Loberg family at Copper Mountain until a company house “just above the crusher became available.” 

Shortly after coming to Canada, he legally changed his name (and the names of his family) from Mandelid to Leed. 

The Leed family (Nils and Ingeborg)  built a ski hill at Voight’s Camp near Copper Mountain and formed a club in the mid-1930s. Here, their sons, Ole and John, trained for ski competitions. 

When the Copper Mountain mine closed (1930-1937), Nils was able to find work at the Nickel Plate Mine at Hedley, BC. He also worked for Granby and Princeton Brewery. 

They were Princeton Star subscribers in December 1942.

In June 1946, he was in charge of looking after the fish traps (set up to capture and kill coarse fish) at Lorne Lake. Leed reported that one trap was able to take “208 squaw fish” in one day. The trap was installed (June 1946) by members of the Princeton and District Fish, Game and Forest Protective Association (Game warden A. Gill, T.O Lessard, Fred Green, Bob Jameson, and Nils Leed). Lorne Lake had three traps and they were all looked after by Nils Leed. 

Nils Leed donated 24.00 to the Memorial Park fund in November 1947. 

The Similkameen Star (page 1) on February 16, 1948, reported that, at sixty-eight, the “grand old ski enthusiast” Nils Leed of Copper Mountain insisted that he open the proceedings  (at the Amber Ski competition) with his usual jump.

See more: Princeton Our Valley, pages 440-441; Pioneers File (Princeton Museum)