THE NURSE: In the summer of 1926, A Vancouver nurse, Mary Warburton, trekked to the Okanagan on foot through the Cascade wilderness.
This statement in itself doesn’t seem too newsworthy, but she got lost for five weeks and survived. She was an accomplished hiker from the UK and was very fit; single and determined.
She arrived in Hope on August 24th and called into the Provincial Police office and informed them as to her plans. The weather was perfect. The constable told her that she should be able to be in 
Princeton in 5 days over the well-marked pack trail.
She felt positive about the trek and carried only enough supplies for the few days. She was sure she would meet others along the way.
She did meet travellers along the way who took note of her. Bert Thomas and Alf Allison chatted with her while packing to Princeton and offered to accompany her along the track. She declined and sped off saying she would see them up ahead.
When the two arrived in Princeton, they thought it was odd that they had not seen any sign of her on the trail. They checked in with the local PP office to see if they knew anything about her. The constable telephoned Hope to check and was told when she had left and that they assumed she would already be in Princeton. Immediately, Constable Dougherty saddled up and hit the trail. After a day he returned, announcing that there was no sign of her. Nurse Warburton had disappeared.
THE WOODSMAN: Willard “Podunk” Davis was a Princeton pioneer, experienced woodsman and prospector. He had packed the mountains and valleys of the
Cascade for most of his life. He made a few dollars as a guide and packer for those travelling the trails from Hope. He had the survival skills of a native.
The Vancouver papers got hold of the human interest story that followed several searches from the Hope side. Warburton’s own brother took up the search but by mid-September, it was called off. With an early snowfall, the search was deemed hopeless.
But the early hunt by Constable Dougherty, haunted him. He felt a bit responsible for not going west far enough to pick up her trail. By September 15th, he convinced Podunk Davis to pack him into the off trail areas. They set off with an extra horse “to pack the body out.”
Within a couple of days, they decided to turn south down Snass Creek and head into Paradise Valley to a small shelter that Podunk had built on one of his pack trails.
When they arrived, they found the shelter had burned to the ground. Podunk said he always kept a coffee can with matches to help anyone passing by to have a fire. Obviously someone had been by. They had information of hunters in the area and headed down into the valley close to the creek. There was an obvious trail so they followed it.
By dusk, they set up their tent and were just lighting a fire, when Fred Dougherty heard a bit of a crash in the woods across the creek. He drew his pistol and shot a couple of rounds into the air. Immediately there was a faint call from the woods. Podunk flew into action and splashed across the creek and into the woods. There he found the emaciated form of Nurse Warburton. He embraced her and gently guided her to the tent and warm fire. She was barely alive.
The men were concerned that she was so ill that she wouldn’t live through the night. They managed to get a thin soup into her and she seemed to rally. Podunk was not sure whether she would be strong enough to ride the packhorse out the next morning. But he was wrong. She held fast with remarkable fortitude and within eight hours they were 
at the trailhead near Whipsaw Creek. Fred went ahead at this point and arranged a cart to be sent up to fetch her. Mrs. Barrington-Foote heard the news and insisted on coming along to help as only another woman could in this situation. She was taken to Princeton Hospital where she was tended to. She weighed in at just over 80 pounds.
Mary Warburton recovered completely and after thanking everyone who helped find her, she bid farewell and carried on to Penticton to pick fruit. The following year she did the same trek successfully.
She continued to hike through the following years until, between Squamish and Indian Arm, she did one too many and disappeared for good.
THE PREMIER: Honest John Oliver, Premier of the day, had followed the reports in local newspapers of the harrowing rescue of Nurse Warburton. He insisted that his staff arrange a ceremony to meet Podunk Davis and others involved in the search for her.
At a Princeton park in December, 1926, he awarded Podunk with the Canadian Humane Society Medal for Bravery.
