Editor’s Note: The following is the second part of a history of Roundtop that appeared in the Oct. 16, 1974 issue of the Times. Part one appeared in the Dec. 1, 2016 issue.
Susan Neal
All the neighbors - Pearces, Wolffs, Pattersons, Wildgrubes, Charlie Cleaveley, Joe Cleaveley, Angus Patrick, Wolvertons and Greenwoods – helped each other and were mostly on friendly terms. There were a few feuds – one involving some huge pigs that were let loose to graze, raid gardens and terrorize the countryside.
The neighbors got together often. Many a meal was shared. Everyone attended meetings. The community went to Little Fort or the Blackpool Hall for the occasional "shindig."
Everyone had dairy cows and shipped cream. A man named Bingo used to come around during harvest 
with his thrashing machine and many took advantage and grew a bit of grain for their animals.
Living in Roundtop was and is trying at times. Every summer after high water the mosquitoes come forth in great numbers to feast on the warm-blooded residents.
During high water, the sloughs fill up and swamps dot the woods.
Always there is a lot of water, but flood years threaten daily routine. In 1948 the Pearces’ house filled with 38 1/2 inches of water. Jan remembers chasing a huge fish out of the house and back into the river. The family had to camp out on a section of high road along with the Wildgrubes for two or three weeks. To reach civilization the families hiked over the hill to Lemeiux Road and down into Little Fort.
After the ‘48 flood the Pearces jacked the house up three feet higher. During the flood of ‘72 things weren’t so bad; water only lapped at the porch and the family had their rowboat for traveling around the farm yard.
Jan Pearce started driving the schoolbus from Roundtop to Clearwater in 1953. Today, he hauls many children of children he use to deliver to school each day. The roads have changed a lot since he began his route. The trip used to take 1 1/2 hours. The roads were muddy in spring, slippery and not often plowed in winter. On much of the road only one car could pass at a time.
The highway has changed the look of Roundtop settlement considerably. The old road used to meander through fields, farmyards, hillsides and woodlands; the blacktopped highway devoured a chunk of mountainside and took of down Mt. Roundtop’s valley for three miles of unnaturally straight roadway – a perfect spot for motorists to pick up a little speed on a trip south.
But for the Pearces, the Roundtop community has new members these days. The area must be conducive to friendship, for all the neighbours share and help each other when they can.
The old Wolff place burned down several years ago but new owners, the Clarks, have build another beautiful log house in its place. The Patterson farm is empty now. The house, with vines climbing over the porch, is a picturesque sight from the highway.
Of the remaining houses, only the "Patrick" house and a Cleaveley house are untenanted. The other houses in Roundtop are being restored and cared for by their owners. Many healthy animals and happy people still live in Roundtop.
Inset photo: A sign near where the Trans Mountain pumping station is now warns, "Choose your rut with care. You'll be in it for the next 30 miles." Times file photo
Below: Children of Roundtop residents pose for a photograph in 1945 or 1946. Pictured are (back) Fanny Cleaveley, Betty Woodman, Pearl Mackenzie, (front) Leotta Woodman, Faye and Marina Greenwood, and Bruce Johnson. Photo from "North Thompson Reflections" local history book
