The Chronicles Blog

(Conclusion)
As we saw in last week’s Chronicles, Phoenix was nothing less than a city in every sense of the word: modern, substantial buildings, services, fine homes, rail connection to the outside world—all the latest amenities of the first two decades of the 20th century.

In a single generation the Phoenix mines yielded an amazing $100 million ($2.5 billion today) in copper, gold and silver ores that spelled riches for its owners and jobs for its workers—both its genesis and nemesis, and all within just a few years.

British Columbia has seen 100s of ‘ghost towns’ over the past century-plus but there never was another like Phoenix.

The conclusion to the incredible story of the ill-starred “highest incorporated city in Canada” in next week’s Chronicles.

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PHOTO: Hauling equipment into Phoenix, B.C. in 1899. Within a few short years, a modern city would blossom atop a Boundary Country mountain. —BC Archives

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This was no Wild West town of false-front buildings lining a single street with a scattering of shacks. The Boundary Country’s Phoenix was nothing less than a city in every sense of the word: modern, substantial buildings, services, fine homes, rail connection to the outside world—all the latest amenities of the first two decades of the 20th century.

Then—it was gone, just a man-made lake on top of a mountain in the wilderness.

In a single generation the Phoenix mines had yielded an amazing $100 million ($2.5 billion today) in copper, gold and silver ores. But Phoenix was a company town, dependent upon a one-horse economy that spelled riches for its owners and jobs for its workers—both its genesis and nemesis, and all within just a few years.

British Columbia has seen 100s of ‘ghost towns’ over the past century-plus but there never was another like Phoenix.

The incredible story of the ill-starred “highest incorporated city in Canada” in next week’s Chronicles.

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PHOTO: Phoenix, B.C. —BC Archives

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“Been out of food for two months. For God's sake pick us up."

Whenever tragedy struck the west coast of Vancouver Island during the years immediately preceding the Second World War, it usually was a Ginger Coote Airways plane to the rescue. Sometimes, however, even its dauntless pilots couldn't help.

So it was for Vancouver trappers James H. Ryckman, 56, and Lloyd Coombs. Their sad story in next week’s BC Chronicles.

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PHOTO: The mining stampede set off by the discovery of gold in Zeballos had peaked by the time trappers Ryckman and Coombs realized they were in trouble. When, finally, a passing aircraft spotted their distress signal it was too late. —BC Archives

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Times had indeed changed for John King Barker, back in 1906.

Gone was the fortune he’d spent a lifetime wresting from the soil; gone was his youth and gone was his health. Old, bent and feeble, the miner hoped to visit an old friend one last time before joining those of his comrades who’d passed on before him.

But if the road that stretched before Barker, 118 years ago, was short and narrow, that behind him was as as long and colourful as that of three human lifetimes: a career as a prospector and adventurer which makes a modern reader marvel at the hardships that pioneers contended with in their search for gold.

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PHOTO: Although he had much in common with Billy Barker, the namesake for British Columbia’s most famous ‘ghost town,’ John King Barker, the subject of next week’s BC Chronicles, had his own story to tell. —BC Archives

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A young school teacher’s sudden death in a remote Vancouver Island logging camp was a tragedy, shocking in itself.

But when Mabel Jones placed the muzzle of a .22 calibre rifle to her breast and pulled the trigger in November 1928 after writing that she couldn’t face further harassment from school trustees, she set in motion a complete overhaul of the British Columbia Public Schools system.

In short, heads rolled—and 1000s of young men and women who followed in her footsteps benefited from her tragedy.

The fascinating conclusion to the story of Mable Jones in next week’s Chronicles.

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I long ago lost track of the number of historical articles and columns I’ve written over the decades.

We’re talking millions of words in print, all of them celebrating the accomplishments, adventures and, sometimes, missteps of Canadian (specifically, British Columbian) men and women who pioneered our great nation.

I can’t speak for my readers but some stories stand out for me.

One with particular resonance recently resurfaced without effort on my part. Maureen Alexander and the Mill Bay Malahat Historical Society have launched, for the second time, a theatre company to enact “fascinating true stories from Vancouver Island’s past”.

One of those Messages in the Dust is that of 1920s school teacher Mabel Estelle Jones who was driven to suicide by jealousy and vicious gossip. Her tragic death prompted the provincial government to reboot the public schools system.

Too late for poor Mabel, but to the benefit of the 100s of young women schoolteachers who followed in her footsteps.

Next week in the Chronicles, a second look at her tragic tale. In the meantime, the Seeds & Salt Theatre Co. are coming to a venue near you, as shown on the accompanying poster.

I’m looking forward to seeing how scriptwriter Will Johnson has interpreted Mabel’s story from my inked rendition of 20 years ago.

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PHOTO: Messages in the Dust - Seeds & Salt Theatre Co.

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For 60 years, most provincial ferry service was provided by the Canadian Pacific Princess ships which operated on the legendary Triangle service between Victoria, Vancouver and Seattle, and between Nanaimo and Vancouver.

Among the most popular of these vessels was the Clyde-built, 6,000-ton flagship Princess Kathleen which began her coastal career on May 12, 1925.

During the Second World War, she and sister ship Princess Marguerite were requisitioned by the government as troopships. The Marguerite was lost but Kathleen performed yeoman service in hostile seas for four years, steaming 250,000 miles and carrying almost 100,000 military personnel and civilian refugees.

The ‘Katey’ finally returned to her home berth in Victoria’s Inner Harbour at noon Aug. 26, 1946, to undergo major refit and return to passenger service between Victoria and Alaska.

But not for long. On September, 1952 while on the Alaskan route and within five hours of clearing Juneau for Skagway, Capt. Graham Hughes radioed that the liner was aground on Lena Point, in Favorite Channel, 30 miles out of Juneau.

At first it was thought she could be saved. But it wasn't to be so, and when she slipped beneath the waters, members of her crew wept unashamedly.

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PHOTO: Shortly before the end, the Princess Kathleen aground on Lena Point. —BC Archives

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Victoria entered the air age with a crash, 111 years ago.

During Carnival Week, August 1913, performing American aviator Milton Bryant plummeted to his death in downtown Victoria.

The Panama Canal had just opened, signalling increased maritime commerce for the length of the Pacific Coast, and the city was experiencing a real estate boom. B.C.’s capital was, in the words of one newspaper, “bursting at the seams”.

Hence Carnival Week, with activities ranging from a parade and a concert, numerous sporting events, to the stars of the show, a bi-plane and gas-filled balloon.

The resulting tragedy would make Canadian aviation history.

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PHOTO: Stunt flying over private residences doesn’t always work out well. —BC Archives

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In mid-June, 91-year-old Lou Lessard of Langley attended the 66th annual memorial for the 19 steelworkers and a rescuer who died in the horrendous collapse, June 17, 1958, of Vancouver’s Second Narrows Bridge.

The Burrard Inlet bridge is now known as the Ironworkers Memorial Second Narrows Crossing.

Mr. Lessard, a 25-year-old steelworker that day, was one of those who narrowly escaped with his life.

The dramatic story of that tragic June day in next week’s Chronicles.

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PHOTO: It’s hard to believe that anyone survived in this tangle of collapsed steel. —Vancouver Sun photo

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Fame can be a fleeting thing—today’s “celebrity,” tomorrow’s nonentity. It can get worse than that—yesterday’s hero, today’s heel!

Even though he has a British Columbia mountain named for him, if you google Andrew Onderdonk, he gets little mention beyond the first two listings of several pages of other Onderdonks which include members of his own family, and doctors and lawyers, etc.

There’s no denying that time not only passes—but times change. Once celebrated for his building of much of the Canadian Pacific Railway through the Fraser Canyon, there’s no denying Onderdonk’s engineering abilities or his strength of character even a full century and a-half later.

What has come under the glass in latter years is his treatment of the army of Chinese labourers he imported to blast his way through the mountains.

A look at Andrew Onderdonk, engineer extraordinaire and—in the eyes of some—villain, in next week’s Chronicles.

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PHOTO: Andrew Onderdonk. —Vancouver City Archives

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Losing his temper, he seized the prisoner by the throat and began shaking him violently...

During his amazing career which spanned over half a century and ranged from prime minister’s drawing room to frontier jail cell, Stuart Alexander Henderson was celebrated as the greatest Canadian criminal lawyer of his age.

His death, aged 81, made the front page of the New York Times.

His is a heckuva story and it’s next week’s BC Chronicle.

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PHOTO: Stuart Henderson, the man known as Canada’s Clarence Darrow. —BC Archives 

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Author, sportsman, dreamer. Such seems to have been William Adolph Baillie-Grohman.

He was rich, too, and it was while hunting mountain goats in the West Kootenays in 1882 that he had his inspiration.

Too bad for him.

The fascinating story of Baillie-Grohan’s ill-fated grasp for greatness in next week’s Chronicles.

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PHOTO: Big game hunter and visionary W.A. Baillie-Grohman. —W.A. Baillie-Grohman

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While at Ross Bay Cemetery last week it occurred to me to check out a subject long of interest to me: Billy Barker, the namesake for Cariboo’s Barkerville.

I had to smile—Billy’s an RBC ‘star,’ having an end-of-the-row marker denoting his final resting place. Better yet, he has a handsome and expensive bronze marker giving a brief biography. What a far cry from the time of his death in Victoria’s Old Men’s Home for indigents. Billy’s grave is in the Potter’s Field section of the cemetery which he shares with other penniless wards of the state.

Mind you, it’s prime waterfront with a sweeping view of Juan de Fuca Strait and the Olympic Mountains.

The man who made a king’s fortune, married unwisely and blew it all, left us, besides a great story and his Mainland namesake, this line from the song he liked to sing: “Go away girls or I’ll tousle your curls...”

It sums up Billy to a T.

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PHOTO: Barkerville, B.C., named for the inimitable Billy Barker who made and spent a fortune. At least he had a good time while it lasted. His later years weren’t as happy. —BC Archives

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Last Sunday marked the 128th anniversary of the worst streetcar accident in North American history—the collapse of Victoria’s Point Ellice bridge from the weight of a trolley carrying more than twice its legal limit of holidayers. Within minutes, 55 people were dead.

Sadly, like so many disasters of history, it was the result of human error—not just too many people in the car, but a bridge that was well-known to be structurally challenged. The resulting court cases went on for years.

Today, this busy crossing is known as the Bay Street bridge. By either name, it’s a heck of a story and it’s in next week’s Chronicles.

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PHOTO: Pulled from its watery grave, the doomed streetcar. —BC Archives

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She made naval history—only to die on a Vancouver Island beach.

But she hasn’t been forgotten.

The incredible story of HMCS Matane in next week’s Chronicle.

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PHOTO: HMCS Matane - Wikipedia

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During a recent tour of Victoria’s beautiful Ross Bay Cemetery, Old Cemeteries Society guide John Adams pointed out the headstone for onetime U.S. Consul Allen Francis.

Coincidentally, in his latest bestselling history book, Untold Stories of Old British Columbia, friend and fellow historian Dan Marshall pays tribute to a mutual hero of ours, David Williams Higgins, whom I’ve introduced to Chronicles readers on several occasions.

There’s a strong and fascinating connection between Francis and Higgins.

During the 1860s, the time of the American Civil War, Francis served as Consul in Victoria where and when Higgins worked as a journalist. In these professional capacities, their paths often crossed.

Perhaps surprisingly to us today, their connection was that dreadful conflict then raging below the border. Supposedly neutral Victoria was a hotbed of Northern and Southern sympathizers. Besides open rivalry and occasional acts of violence, there was a conspiracy by the pro-Confederates to outfit a privateer with which to hijack a Federal payroll ship.

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PHOTO: One of the worst civil wars in history began with the firing by Confederates on Fort Sumter, in South Carolina's Charleston Harbour, on April 12, 1861. Hostilities soon spilled over the U.S.-Canadian border, particularly in western outpost Victoria. —Currier & Ives print, Wikipedia

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Probably few British Columbians have ever heard of Steamboat Mountain. How can that be? After all, it once was the site of the richest gold strike in provincial history!

At least, that was the claim of its promoters.

Alas, it was all a pipe dream, a bubble—a fraud.

When it all came crashing down, 1000s—shades of Bre-X!—were heartbroken to learn the sad truth: that it had never existed except in the minds of two American confidence men.

What a story! That’s next week in the Chronicles.

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PHOTO: Of the 1000s of placer and hardrock mines that have been staked, worked and developed throughout British Columbia over the years, that of Steamboat Mountain was unique. —Author’s Collection

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Probably few of the 1000s of commercial and pleasure craft annually plying British Columbia waters have much fear of navigating Seymour Narrows.

True, this 2500-foot-channel between Vancouver, Maud and Quadra islands is still hazardous.

But, within living memory, this was the dreaded lair of the worst marine hazard of the entire West Coast—Ripple Rock.

100s—that’s 100s—of vessels, large and small, came to grief here. Removal of the threat of Ripple Rock, one of the great engineering feats in Canadian history, involved many years, millions of dollars and several lives.

The story of Ripple Rock and its de-fanging, next week in the Chronicles.

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PHOTO: The hydrographic survey ship William J. Stewart was one of the many of Ripple Rock’s victims. —BC Archives

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Victoria and lower Vancouver Island were in a state of emergency, 156 years ago.

Members of the Volunteer Rifle Corps and special constables patrolled city streets as British men-of-war stood at the alert in Esquimalt Harbour and cruised Juan de Fuca Strait.

All were on guard against a threatened invasion by the outlawed Irish nationalist Fenian Brotherhood.

If it all seems rather hysterical, a century and a-half later, there was no dismissing the Fenians as an empty threat at the time.

That’s next week in the Chronicles.

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PHOTO: The Fenians had already spilled blood in eastern Canada at the Battle of Ridgeway. —Wikipedia

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Last week, when Charles Taylor reminisced about some of the colourful characters of Alberni Valley history, he mentioned the tragic shooting death of a man stealing potatoes from the Anderson sawmill’s vegetable garden.

It was an accident, swore Henry, the farm overseer. He’d loaded his musket with peas not shot. He’d just meant to scare the man and his companions.

Accident or no, mill manager Gilbert Malcolm Sproat, who doubled as justice of the peace, had no choice but to hold an inquest. The problem was, the only men who qualified to serve as jurors were Henry’s workmates and friends.

The result, as could almost be expected, was anything but justice!

That’s next week in the Chronicles.

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PHOTO: Pioneer lumberman and author Gilbert Malcolm Sproat for whom Vancouver Island’s Sproat Lake is named. —Wikipedia

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