Editorially speaking...
A mention in last week’s Chronicles of an email from friend and subscriber Stephanie Walter re: her having found a copy of my evergreen book, Ghost Town Trails of Vancouver Island (as it was originally titled in 1975) drew a quick response:
My last ride along the E&N Mainline was on this old beauty, between the Nanaimo station and Wellington.
Hi Tom
Fun to see my name in print about the hard-bound book but more importantly Congratulations on the book being in print for so long. I have noticed historical books go in waves and so many written in each generation go out of print quickly.
Anyway, I was just reading the front page of the July Shawnigan Focus, an article including the report from The Daily Colonist of Aug 14 1886, on the trip along the E & N to drive the last spike. It says the spike was driven at the junction of two builders' contracts, then the train continued down the grade and soon Shawnigan Lake came into view. Was the last spike really at the spot now marked or was it further up the grade of the Malahat?
And it mentions Arbutus Canyon, north of Niagara Canyon but south of the tunnel, which has a seven-time repeating echo. Have you hiked there in your explorations?
One of my son's friends wants to run the entire length of the E & N railway before it disappears. Different friends join her on the approximately 20 km legs of the runs, which are a few weeks apart. I think they reached the Parksville area on the last run. In one area the blackberries have blocked the track and they had to go around that. Thought you'd like to know young people [know] about the railway too.
Stephanie.
TWP: Hi, Stephanie: On the run as usual so, quickly:
I’ve been to Arbutus Canyon several times but didn't try the echo. I'm too old and too tired to RUN the E&N but Jennifer and I have the mainline and the Alberni spur down to just under 20 miles to go on each.
I've never questioned Cliffside as the site of the Last Spike and I've never heard of it actually happening on the Malahat. I have both Turner's and MacLaughlin's books on the E&N but no time right now to check this out. An interesting snippet if it's so.
Stephanie:
Oh Tom, how could you not resist trying an echo in a canyon!
Good for you and Jennifer on the walking line projects. I think long legs with the longer stride help, because I find even a short distance on a track extremely uncomfortable. [So does Jennifer—TW.]
The comment about the lake coming into view later after the spike ceremony may be due to poor memory/notes/writing or due to heavy forests of the time. I see I do have Turner's book and I'll go through it. And something may show up in the future in an unexpected book too.
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E&N Railway - Will Ye No Come Back Again?
Speaking of the E&N Railway which, sadly, appears to be doomed, I’ve been meaning to write about it in the Chronicles for some time. Besides walking most of the mainline and the Alberni spur, I have the satisfaction of knowing that I’ve ridden the Dayliner twice: from downtown Victoria (before they removed the Inner Harbour crossing) to Courtenay, and from Duncan to Courtenay (and the special excursion train shown in the photo).
And I sure would like to do so again but, alas, that looks to be highly unlikely. Around the world, they’re building high-speed rail lines. But that’s around the world. This is Vancouver Island where anything-other-than-motorized-on-highway traffic is a dirty word.
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Three years ago, I introduced the new online Cowichan Chronicles with a lengthy post on Duncan’s late John Magor who spent the last years of his life investigating reports of UFO (Unidentified Flying Objects) sightings in Cowichan Valley skies.
The former editor of the Cowichan Leader published a magazine, Canadian UFO Reports, and two books on this subject which has fascinated millions since the first widespread reports of unexplained aerial activity started coming in in the 1950’s.
John Magor published 13 issues of his magazine; they’re collector’s items.
Despite all the evidence to date, 1000’s of photographs and highly credible eyewitness accounts which include those of professional and military pilots, governments have consistently downplayed UFO’s on the same level as Sasquatch and ghost sightings.
In other words, natural if unexplained phenomena, hallucinations or hoaxes.
But that has changed, a recent newspaper headline reporting, US. gets serious about investigating unidentified aerial phenomena.
Note the non-mention of Unidentified Flying Objects. In other words, UFO’s are no longer ‘in,’ the new moniker for unexplained aerial activity is Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, or UAP’s. I’ll bet it’s going to be a long time before people stop using ‘UFO’s,’ myself included.
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