At least another week of sun, heat, no rain and wild fires ahead of us, alas...if you pore through back issues of the Cowichan Leader as I do regularly, hot and dry summers weren’t a novelty in the Cowichan Valley or on the Island. But I’ve not seen references to a summer such as we’re experiencing now, thanks in part, we’re told, to global warming.
Read MoreIt's not that Telesforo Trinidad wasn't duly recognized at the time: he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honour, the highest American commendation for courage when the CMH could be awarded for heroism in non-combat duty.
Read MoreOne of the victims of the wildfire that ravaged Lytton earlier this month was the privately owned Lytton Chinese History Museum. The creation of Lorna Fandrich was built on an empty lot on Main Street that was said to be the site of a Chinese joss house or temple, 1881-1928.
Read MoreWhat a ride it has been. Two days ago we marked—celebrated seems too strong a word in the face of recent events—the 150th anniversary of British Columbia as a province of Canada. If ever we as Canadians had a moral duty to be good citizens by informing ourselves and engaging in a renewal of our society it’s now.
Read MoreOne of the victims of the wildfire that ravaged Lytton last week was the privately owned Lytton Chinese History Museum. The creation of Lorna Fandrich was built on an empty lot on Main Street that was said to be the site of a Chinese joss house or temple, 1881-1928.
Read MoreAs you read this it’s—or it isn’t, depending upon your response to calls for its ‘cancellation’—Canada Day.
I never thought I’d live to see July 1st be anything but a celebration of Canada’s birthday. But then I didn’t foresee events unfolding as they have over the past few years, and the last few months in particular.
There’s nothing like a challenge to get the blood flowing. It’s been 46 years since I wrote Ghost Town Trails of Vancouver Island which has been in continuous print all that time. One chapter deals with my “first” ghost town which qualified as such because I could drive to it. (Not many B.C. ‘ghost towns’ allow you this luxury, believe me.)
Read MoreTraditional First Nation names are cropping up everywhere these days. Latest is the rechristening of a campground beside the Pat Bay Highway between Sidney and the ferry terminal.
Read MoreLet’s begin with an update on the Oct. 17, 1951 Mount Benson plane crash that I told you about several months ago. At the time, with 23 dead, it was B.C.’s worst aviation disaster. The 70th anniversary of this tragedy is fast approaching…
Read MoreFor me, a sad beginning to an otherwise pleasant Spring day. An email from Eric Ricker, a fellow veteran of the years-long campaign to save the century-old tipple/headframe at Morden Colliery Provincial Heritage Park, informed me that another oldtime Friend of the Morden Mine has passed away.
Read MoreI’d written it off as another victim of time and ‘progress’ but, no, the old Thorne cabin, for a century and more a landmark at the southern entrance to Duncan, is alive and well. Sort of, anyway, having been, to quote the present owner, “carefully disassembled”. He’d approached me, via the Cowichan Valley Citizen, to ask if I had any historical information about the cabin and/or photos.
Read MoreThe clock is again ticking for Hope’s ca 1916 Canadian National Railway station. Council’s decision to demolish the heritage-designated landmark, said to be structurally sound, was put on hold last month when the B.C. Ombudsman’s office intervened because the current Council is, in effect, going against both the municipal Heritage Designation Act.
Read MoreCan’t remember if I already told you about this one but...there are some great new B.C. historical websites out there; in fact, they seem to springing up like mushrooms. The latest, on my radar at least, is Daryl Ashby’s Vancouver Island – Early History Group on Facebook. In the past week he has touched on two subjects of particular interest to me, Nanaimo’s Pioneer Cemetery and the No. 1 Mine disaster, Canada’s second worst colliery catastrophe. I’ve been researching the latter for 20 years
Read MoreTwo heritage-related stories in the news this week—one with a happy future, the other on life support...
I’ve been telling you of the ongoing campaign to save the historic 1916 CNR station house in Hope which, despite having heritage designation and despite the protests of many Hope and B.C. residents, has been consigned to demolition by the District of Hope.
Just finished Maria Tippett’s excellent biography of Emily Carr. I still have a problem with Emily’s later, more impressionistic work but I certainly have come to know her a little better as a gifted artist and as a woman.
Read MoreI had begun to despair that Ladysmith would ever get off the pot but, at last, I’m happy to see that restoration of the old Crown Zellerbach No.11 locomotive is well in hand, perhaps even finished. All done by volunteers, I gather. When will governments of all levels ever learn that our history is a public trust, and accept that they have the responsibility of caring for it? Instead, they’re forever crying poverty and foisting the work and most of the expense off on taxpaying volunteers who, fortunately for future generations, do value their heritage enough to want to do something to save it. That’s my gripe for today.
Read MoreLots happening, some of it good, some of it not so good, on the museum front these days. COVID has obviously put a damper on public attendance at most museums. To cite but one, the B.C. Forest Discovery Centre has had to cancel its popular Easter Hunt and train rides, both of which drew mass attendance and income from admission fees.
Read MoreLast week I told you that Hope Council has decided to have that Fraser River community’s second oldest building, the ca 1916 Canadian National Railways station house, demolished. Even though it’s said to be structurally sound and was given heritage designation 40 years ago.
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