C.H. Dickie: Out of the Past (Part 6 Conclusion)

We’ve been following Charles Herbert Dickie’s memoir Out of the Past.

Last week we accompanied him on his almost round-the-world voyage as he recharged his mental battery after the stress of seeing the money he’d made from the sale of his shares in the Tyee copper mine on Mount Sicker all but disappear in unsuccessful mining ventures in the Stewart River area of northwestern British Columbia.

Ever the optimist, although he lost his money and changed careers, he never did lose the mining bug.

In between, seeking relief from pouring more money (and effort) down holes that, he recalled ruefully, offered less and less in return the deeper they went, he took another voyage, this one to the Orient. This is where we pick him up in this week’s Conclusion.

But that isn’t the end of Dickie’s story any more than it was the end of his life and career. Despite his disappointing experiences in the B.C. Legislature, he returned to politics—this time, federally—and served several terms in Ottawa as a Member of Parliament.

In the final instalment of his life story which he wrote during his retirement, he gives insight into the dark-and-sometimes-dirty politics of big government. (Some things never change...)

We’ll finish with Mr. Dickie (one of my favourite pioneers, by the way) with a recap of his mining endeavours, both locally and up North.

* * * * *