The Chronicles Blog

(Part 1)
Anybody who’s ever read anything about the Cariboo gold rush has heard of John Angus Cameron.

Not by his formal name, maybe, but by the moniker by which he’s still remembered: ‘Cariboo’ Cameron.

If you do recognize his name, you probably have a vague recall of his claim to fame as the man who pickled his dead wife, then hauled her body 400 miles over the snow and ice by toboggan to take her, first to Victoria, then back home to Upper Canada.

Why would he do that? Because he’d promised her, as she was dying, he’d take her home.

That pretty much sums up what snapshot histories will tell you. But, of course, there’s so much more to Cameron’s incredible story. Next week, the Chronicles tells of that epic winter journey from the mouth of a man who accompanied Cameron every agonizing foot of the way.

This is British Columbia history at its richest.

*******

PHOTO: John A. ‘Cariboo’ Cameron. —Wikipedia

Read More

It was all over in an instant, with a single flash of flame like that of a lightning bolt.

We know that more than 600 miners were killed on the job in Nanaimo-area coal mines over that industry's 80-year history. If we take into account those who died later, sometimes much later, from their injuries or from work-related illnesses, the death toll must be much greater.

Neither of these totals included the six longshoremen who were killed in a blast of ignited coal dust while loading the steamship Queen of the Pacific at Cameron Island, July 29, 1886. Their story, in next week’s Chronicles.

*******

PHOTO: This 1930s postcard shows the Nanaimo coaling wharves in the background, the iconic Bastion in the foreground. It was at these docks, 40-odd years earlier, that 12 longshoremen were caught in a coal dust explosion while loading a ship with coal. —www.pinterest.com

Read More

In 55 years this small sternwheeler steamed 2.5 million miles on the Arrow Lakes and won the affection of all, seaman and passenger, who boarded her. When she died, 1000s, from coast to coast, mourned.

The story of the S.S. Minto in next week’s Chronicles.

*******

PHOTO: Looking like a Mississippi riverboat, the S.S. Minto. —Author’s Collection

Read More

Canada’s iconic explorers and the builders of the Canadian Pacific Railway aside, we don’t have many land surveyors who have achieved national stature.

In his day, Victoria-based Frank Swannell was the exception, nationally recognized for his incredible feats with both a transit level and a camera. On foot, on horseback and by canoe, he probably covered more British Columbia terrain than any other man before or since.

What now can be done by aircraft in hours he, and those who worked with him, had to do the hard way, by battling mountains and streams, weather, mosquitoes and black flies and every manner of hardship as a daily fact of life; the cost of doing business, so to speak.

But Swannell’s legacy is greater than his hard-won surveys—he added to his daily struggles in the wilds by lugging along a camera and portable darkroom equipment. The result is a priceless legacy now in possession of the BC Archives—5000 quality photographs.

These black and white images not only capture the day-to-day life of a survey party at work (and sometimes at play) but record landscapes as they were and, in many cases, are no longer.

An introduction to the legendary Frank Swannell and a glimpse into his magnificent photo gallery in next week’s Chronicles.

*******

PHOTO: Frank Swannell on his way to work. And we complain about commuter traffic? —BC Archives

Read More

Although totally unlike the characters in the 1970s TV sitcom, William and Amelia Copperman must be regarded as Victoria’s very own Odd Couple. Their strange and stormy marital partnership amused, amazed and outraged fellow citizens for 15 incredible years.

They’re yet another reminder that they just don’t make real characters like they used to!

You’ll meet them both in next week’s Chronicles.

*******

PHOTO: There was seldom a dull moment in Victoria in the wild and woolly 1860s. —Author’s Collection

Read More

(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.

*******

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

Read More

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.

*******

PHOTO: Phoenix, B.C. —BC Archives

Read More

“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.

*******

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

Read More

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.

*******

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

Read More

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.

*******

Read More

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.

*******

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

Read More

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.

*******

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

Read More

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.

*******

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

Read More

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.

*******

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

Read More

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.

*******

PHOTO: Andrew Onderdonk. —Vancouver City Archives

Read More

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.

*******

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

Read More

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.

*******

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

Read More

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.

*******

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

Read More

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.

*******

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

Read More

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.

*******

PHOTO: HMCS Matane - Wikipedia

Read More