Ah Tuck

*A note about Chinese names in Canada — “Ah” is a prefix added to a personal name as a familiar or informal manner of address. More information on this subject is available here).

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According to the obituary of John Henry Jackson, published in the Princeton Star on November 7, 1929, Ah Tuck came to Princeton to work the Granite Creek placer mines. He was likely one of a number of men who were attracted to the area following the Granite Creek gold rush in 1885.

He opened the first hotel in Princeton – a restaurant/hotel/rooming house on Thomas Street at the Tulameen end of Bridge Street, close to where the Similkameen Garage stood in 1937, on the flat below the bridge.

Tuck began building in 1886. He is listed in the Williams’ Official British Columbia Directory for both 1894 and 1895 as being a merchant in Princeton. There is also an entry for “Tuck Kee general store” in the 1891 Williams’ British Columbia Directory Part 2.

An article about E.E. Burr (August 4, 1938) puts Sing Sing’s restaurant below the bridge and Ah Tuck’s store near China Creek. And a later article in the Similkameen Star (1951) reported that Tuck had come from Granite Creek to Princeton and had opened “a charming little tuck shop.”