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Legendary Hayes Logging Trucks Set Industry Standard (promo)
Legendary Hayes Logging Trucks Set Industry Standard (promo)

When Hayes Forest Services Ltd., an industry stalwart and one of the biggest contract logging companies on Vancouver Island, shut down in 2008, it ended the latest chapter in a forestry family tradition that went back three generations and left its hallmark on both logging and trucking.

Hayes trucks weren’t just all brawn, they were the penultimate image and fact of macho motive power.

It all started in 1920 when the Hayes-Anderson Motor Co. Ltd. built its first logging truck. Over the years, and with several corporate reorganizations and changes of brand, logging trucks continued to be the ‘Hayes’ heavy-lifters that achieved fame for their durability and revolving bunk (log trailer) system.

Even the die-cast chrome-plated or bronze hood ornament of a bear was skookum like the truck it graced, weighing no less than five pounds...

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promoPatricia MacGregor Graphic Designer
Pioneer Methodist Cemetery
Pioneer Methodist Cemetery

Our current pandemic may be a burden to us humans but, apparently, it’s been a blessing for some flora.

A resident who lives near Maple Bay’s historic Pioneer Cemetery, just off Herd Road and so tucked away in the trees as to be invisible and all but unknown to passersby, recently complained to North Cowichan Council that the vegetation between the headstones had gotten out of hand.

The Municipality responded immediately and explained that COVID-19 has also played havoc with its work schedules hence the cemetery’s temporary neglect.

I wonder how many Chronicles readers even know of the Pioneer Cemetery’s existence let alone have been there. I can assure you it’s well worth a visit and it really does call to mind the expression, “God's Acre."

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promoPatricia MacGregor Graphic DesignerCemeteries
The Monster and Mrs. Bings
The Monster and Mrs. Bings

I had no intention of following last week’s post on the Westwell’s tragedy with another tale of violent death by human hand.

And I wouldn’t want last week’s tale of a family tragedy brought on by mental illness to be equated with this week’s story—which is nothing less than a home-grown replay of the most infamous serial killer of all time, Jack the Ripper.

No, I must lay the blame on the ‘Visual Storytellers,’ an offshoot of the popular online nostalgic photo gallery, “You Know You’re From Duncan...” and their recent post about, of all sinister things, Duncan’s Holmes Creek.

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promoPatricia MacGregor Graphic DesignerUnexplained mysteries
Sasquatch
Sasquatch

Somewhere in the dense rain forests of the Pacific Northwest, particularly British Columbia, is North America’s version of the Abominable Snowman.

This mysterious creature is known throughout California, Oregon and Washington as Bigfoot or Mr. Bigfoot; in B.C., he’s Sasquatch although some First Nations tribes have christened him individually.

But, despite ongoing searching, no one has come up with conclusive proof that he exists—a living, breathing Sasquatch, or a corpse.

That said, some Sasquatch sightings have been made by thoroughly credible witnesses and have been so well documented as to all but eliminate the usual disclaimers of fraud or delusion.

We've already explored UFOs and Sea Serpents; let's take a detailed look at the fascinating mystery of Sasquatch.

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promoPatricia MacGregor Graphic DesignerUnexplained mysteries
Edgar Fawcett
Edgar Fawcett

Edgar Fawcett spent his boyhood days in and around Fort Victoria when the future capital of B.C. was still a Hudson’s Bay Co. outpost.

His memoir, Some Reminiscences of Old Victoria, has become a highly priced collector’s edition.

It was Edgar Fawcett’s classic Reminiscneces that inspired me to write about British Columbia history.

But Edgar Fawcett was no saint. At least one of his boyhood pranks had long lasting repercussions for which he, much of a lifetime later, expressed neither regret nor remorse.

You can read all about it in next week’s Chronicles.

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promoPatricia MacGregor Graphic Designer