The Wonderful Legacy of Wilmer H. Gold, Youbou Photographer

Chronicles readers who’ve visited Lake Cowichan’s Kaatza Station Museum, in particular the old Mesachie Lake schoolhouse building, will recognize the name, Wilmer Gold.

Victoria-born but raised in Alberta, Gold (1917-1992) moved to out-of-the-way and (almost) off-the-map Youbou in 1934. For the next half-century he chronicled the Cowichan Lake region’s logging scenes—which is why enlargements of his fabulous logging photos form the main display in the school building.

BC Bookworld has termed his portfolio, “one of first comprehensive studies of B.C. logging”.

But there’s nothing scholarly about Wilmer Gold’s work, just fine photography. His camera was his artist’s easel and the scenes he has captured for all time are nothing less than priceless.

Personal note: I’ve visited Kaatza dozens of times and always find myself studying his photo gallery in the school, sometimes giving it more time than the exhibits in the museum itself. Always, I see something new. Many of the photos are late 1930s; I study the faces and wonder what became of them? Did they go off to war or—?

That’s next week in the Chronicles. 

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PHOTO: The cover of Wilmer Hazelwood Gold’s photo book, Logging As It Was.