C.H. DICKIE: OUT OF THE PAST (Addendum)
The author of this enjoyable memoir, Charles Herbert Dickie, obviously had as much fund recounting his colourful adventures as he'd had living them. (Family photo)
We have, over the past several weeks, been reading Charles Herbert Dickie’s memoir, Out of the Past, that related his adventures as a
● Sheriff in Michigan
● Labourer and hobo in California
● Fireman and conductor on the Esquimalt & Nanaimo Railway, Victoria
● Hotelier in ‘Duncans Station’ and successful investor in Cowichan’s Mount Sicker copper mining boom
● Disenchanted Member of the Legislature for a single session
● Disappointed prospector in northwestern British Columbia
● World traveller
● And, finally, for three terms, Member of Parliament.
That’s quite a resume for any one man!
Always newsworthy, time and again his name graces the pages of the Cowichan Leader; to conclude his remarkable journey here is the weekly newspaper’s coverage of his local activities, 1905-1925.
* * * * *
Sept. 23, 1905, LOCAL AND PERSONAL
A correspondent writes that while out on a hunting trip he accidentally stumbled upon a party composed of Messrs. C.H. Dickie, T.A. Wood and H. Smith, who were out in the mountains on a prospecting and hunting expedition. Our informant writes that if they got nothing else, they did find it pretty wet and at least got a good soaking in the rain which fell for a couple of days.
March 10, 1906, WORK OF THE STUMPER
What Has Been Accomplished By the Latest Method of Clearing the Land.
Prospects For the Future Of His Machine In The Valley.
On Wednesday afternoon, the writer, through the kindness of Mr. C.H. Dickie, went over the ground of Mr. D. Evans, that had been stumped by the new stumping machine. In course of conversation Mr. Evans said that there was between 5 and 6 acres of ground, and no heavier stumping could be found, even if they went into the green timber and that this had been cleared and piled in ten days.
The ground would have cost in the old way of digging stumps, from 100 to 150 dollars per acre and then the roots would not be taken out as they are with the machine. Mr. Evans said he thought this new method was one of the best moves ever made in this district and the credit is due those who were enterprising enough to start it. Mr. Evans has eight acres more to stump, and expects to have it all in crop this year. The stumps on the five acres are piled up in one huge pile fifty feet high, in the centre of the field…
(Dickie’s ‘stumper’ was, in effect, a small steam donkey as used by loggers.—TW)
October 7, 1906
Mr. C.H. Dickie returned on Sunday last from a trip to the Portland Canal, where he is interested in mining properties. Mr. Dickie reports that a considerable amount of work is being done with very good results. The property he is interested in, development work has proven to be valuable. Other properties are being opened up with like indications. He said to a reporter that every prospector there was most sanguine as to the future of the camp and from what he saw he thought himself there was a great future for the country. Mr. Dickie is not only interested in the mines but has also secured some valuable timber rights, which are bound to be more valuable as the country is opened up. We also understand he is planning a railroad for which he is applying for a charter.
Mr. Dickie said that Charlie Bibeau had one of the best prospects he saw up there, and that there was little doubt as to it proving [to be] a very rich mine and Charlie making lots of money out of it. In fact, he said that already flattering offers had been made for the property but until they have done more work they would not sell. He said the boys from the district were all well and felt most sanguine as to the future of the country.
November 10, 1906
Victoria, B.C., Nov. 7.—Mr. C.H. Dickie of Duncan, who was a recent visitor here, on a business trip, says that mining at Mt. Sicker is a[t] present looking very good, and [he] consider[s] the outlook very encouraging. “We expect,” said Mr. Dickie, “to reach the line of the Tyee mine in about fifty days from now, striking them on their 100ft. level. According to the latest reports we have received from the Tyee, they have struck a large body of ore on their 100-foot level, and indications all point to a continuance of this body, which we expect to strike within the next fifty days.”—Colonist
(This refers to Dickie’s involvement with the Richard III Mine, just above and to the east of the Tyee Mine where he’d profited from selling his shares to an English syndicate. The Richard never proved profitable.—TW)
July 13, 1907, Town and District News
Mr. C/H/ Dickie, T.A. Wood, H. Keast and Harry Smith made a trip up the Cowichan River yesterday. It was one of their periodical prospecting trips.
Dickie's previous mining experience in the Cowichan Valley was nothing like the snow country of northwestern British Columbia. In this photo a man and his dog team cross the Frozen Salmon River north of Hyder, Alaska, in 1920. Hyder is just across the international border from Stewart, in the Portland Canal area.
--Photo from the Ozzie Hutchings collection.
November 6, 1907
Mr. C.H. Dickie returned last Tuesday from his trip to the Portland Canal country where he has been inspecting the work done during the past season on the property of the Portland Canal Mining Company.
Mr. Dickie reports being well satisfied both with the work and the prospects that have so far been developed. He regrets that the work has to be closed down for the winter owing to the extreme difficulty of getting in sufficient supplies, but looks forward to renewed activity in the spring, when the company expects to put on a launch for independent communication with Port Simpson, which will greatly facilitate the getting in of supplies and as soon as the showing will warrant it the company expect to build an actual tramway for carrying out their ore.
Mr. Dickie was accompanied on this trip by W.J. Eilendorff, a mining expert of Spokane, who pronounces the company’s prospect a very excellent one.
February 26, 1910
The following is from the last issue of the Portland Canal Miner:
Since the present controversy over the tideflats commenced some criticism of C.H. Dickie, president of the Portland Canal Mining Co., is heard because he, while being one of the most strenuous objectors to the proposed lease, has staked flats on the Salmon river. Mr. Dickie was seen by a representative of The Miner in Vancouver and satisfactorily explained his position. Harry Smith was the locator of the Salmon River tideflats and it was he who staked them for Mr. Dickie believing that he was doing Mr. Dickie a favor which he undoubtedly was. Mr. Dickie was not consulted in any way regarding the location and application…
May 19, 1910
Mr. Dickie, who has recently arrived from Portland Canal, reports that the newly born northern mining town of Stewart is a scene of bustling activity, buildings are being erected "while you wait” and at least 1,200 energetic [and] optimistic men are awaiting the disappearance of the snow from the mountains that will be thoroughly staked and partially prospected this summer.
D.D. Mann and associates have a large corps of engineers surveying for wharves and [a] railroad and if a feasible pass is found out of the valley Stewart has a splendid future assured; if not, it may still be a substantial city, for the mines from both the Salmon and the nearby Bear River valleys must be tributary to it, and there is no doubt but there will be a number of good mines, how many no one can prophecy with any degree of accuracy, for sometimes an insignificant prospect may become…
July 21, 1907, Conditions at Stewart Northern Mining Town
Mr. Dicke, who has just returned from Stewart, reports active progress in that most northerly coast town of B.C. The town has an up-to-date electric lighting plant and a good waterworks system. Three of the largest and best hotels in the north minister to the wants of transient visitors. Railway grading is in evidence for some miles up the valley and two large pile drivers are being worked over time in the construction of wharfage facilities. The Dominion government has let a contract for the construction of the public wharf. The Portland Canal Mining Company's property is attracting favorable attention and justly so and the mine at an early date will enter the shipping list. Good strikes in various quarters are reported almost daily and the country is being prospected by a thousand hopeful gold seekers.
The water front is a scene of bustling activity, with large steamers arriving regularly. Big boats with scows loaded with lumber and a myriad of gasoline launches all indicate something doing in pleasant contrast to the loneliness of a year or so ago, and furnishing a country of great opportunities of men with stamina to grasp them.
Dec. 22, 1910, Report of Directors of Portland Canal Mining Company
Your directors have to report that during the current year your Aerial Tramway, Power Plant, Compressor plant and Concentrating Mill have been completed and are now in commission doing satisfactory and continuous duty. Our Manager’s report at the annual meeting will deal fully with all data respecting mining, milling marketing and concentration of the ore. A copy of [this] report will be mailed to each shareholder as soon as printed. In April last year Directors were fortunately able to secure the services of Mr. W.J. Elmendorf as manager of our property and later on Mr. N. Sheridan replaced Mr. Beaton as Superintendent at the mine. Mr. Beaton rendered able and at times heroic services, having completed our plant last month, severed his connection with the company and it is not too much to say that no man ever did more conscientious work for any company than Mr. Abelling did for ours. The consensus of intelligent opinion is that no better concentrating mill for the purpose intended was ever designed or erected.
To finance our undertaking in November, 1909, 333,333 shares of treasury stock of the company were sold at 7 1/2c per share and netted $25,000. In March 100,000 shares were sold at 25c per share, and in July 100,000 were sold at 30c per share. In October last, owing to the depressed state of the share market it was decided to create $50,000 worth of debenture bonds, these bonds to be for one year with interest at 10 per cent, the Company reserving the right to retire any or all of the issue upon the elapse of three months by giving thirty days’ notice to the holder. $30,000 worth of these bonds were issued and practically the same syndicate acquired the debentures.
A cargo shipment of concentrates would have already gone forward except for a misunderstanding with the railway company; as it is, a large tonnage has been accumulated and is accumulating at the mill which will go forward to the smelter as soon as a few details are arranged.
The mine never looked better than it now does and the future looks bright for the company.
The Directors all retire from office, but are eligible for re-election.
C.H. DICKIE, Chairman and Managing Director
January 11, 1912 (Page 1), Dickie-Anderson
A very quiet but pretty wedding was solemnized by the Rev. Mr. Whyte, B.A., Victoria, in St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, Duncan on Monday, January 8th at 9:30 a.m., the contracting parties being C.H. Dickie, Duncan, and Miss M.L. Anderson, only daughter of Mr. R.B. Anderson, Duncan.
The bride was attended by her cousin, Miss H. Anderson, Victoria, while the groom was supported by Mr. H. Truesdale.
The bride was becomingly attired in a grey tailored costume with Copenhagen blue beaver hat, the bridesmaid wearing green velvet with hat to match. The church was very prettily decorated by her friends for the occasion, quite a number being present to witness the ceremony.
Immediately after the ceremony the happy couple left amid showers of rice and good wishes for the Sound cities. The bride and groom being very popular in Duncan, the presents were numerous and costly.
August 10, 1917
Mr. C.H. Dickie left for the Portland Canal on Friday.
March 17, 1921, MINING TALKS
Government Engineer Begins Addresses—Everyone May Attend
Mr. W.M. Brewer, of Nanaimo district, delivered his initial talk to prospectors and those interested in mining at the Court House, Duncan, last Friday night. Mr. C.H. Dickie was in the chair and the audience was not so large as might have been anticipated. Mr. Brewer is to speak again tomorrow night…
Nanaimo Free Press, August 31, 1921, Rich Deposits at Cowichan Lake
Mr. and Mrs. S. Grieve and their child from Duncans left this morning for Vancouver. They will take up their residence in Kamloops for the winter, as Mr. Grieve is unable to stand the wet season at Duncans.
Speaking of the rich find of silver lead ore near Cowichan Lake, Mr. Grieve says that it excels anything yet found on the island. The presence of this ledge had been known for some time past to an old hunter, but only recently Messrs. Harry Smith, Dickie, Woods, Wylie and a few other prospectors located it. It is about halfway up the lake, and lies about two miles from the shore.
So rich is it that shortly after its discovery, $500 was offered for a ninth interest in the claim. Higher offers have since been made. The owners have, however, decided upon opening it themselves. For this purpose shares of $1.00 each are being offered for sale. Mr. Grieve prophesises [sic] that within a few months there will be there will three or four smelters in the vicinity of Duncans. Mr. Gager, representing American capital, and who has been in search of a site for a smelter, has not yet been able to definitely decide upon the location.
November 25, 1925, DICKIE SWEEPS NANAIMO
Duncan Conservative Piles Up Decisive Majority Over Both Election Opponents.
All in all, a truly remarkable career, Charles H. Dickie!
The main street of Stewart. Charles Dickie and partners joined in the rush to northwestern B.C. after the copper mining boom on Cowichan's Mount Sicker petered out. They weren't successful and he found the experience so stressful that he invested what was left of his money to embark upon a lengthy sea voyage.
--Photo from the lOzzie Hutchings collection.
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