Editorially speaking...
The unfolding horror and tragedy in Ukraine—thousands of deaths, millions of people who’ve lost everything and who are now refugees dependent upon the generosity of their European neighbours—is history in the making, history happening before our very eyes.
But there’s another, less visible angle to Ukrainian history happening as well.
That’s the determined efforts being made by international scholars, historians and computer whizzes to help Ukraine save its ancient, historic and priceless art and cultural treasures from the murderous Russian bombardments that are methodically destroying cultural icons such as churches and mosques, art galleries, libraries and museums.
Nothing has been spared as sacred in the Russian assault.
Imagine if you can a concerted effort to destroy B.C.’s history and heritage—and we’re a young province. Our footprint on this earth is nothing compared to that of Ukraine.
Among those participating in the race to “preserve Ukrainian websites, datasets, and digital resources before they’re lost forever” is the Internet Archives (info@archive.org).
Our digital world is a new one and it has its own unique parameters. As the IA explains: “We sometimes think of the internet as independent of the physical world, but data centres, routers, and cable networks are just as vulnerable to warfare destruction as a bridge or a road would be.
“Additionally, digital infrastructure can face further challenges ranging from electricity loss to advanced cyber attacks.”
More than 1000 volunteers from around the world are working to protect Ukrainian material from these threats, among them Archive Team, a loose connection of archivists, activists and programmers who are “capturing” a variety of online materials and storing them in the Internet Archives.
Other web archiving efforts are being led by Saving Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Online (SUCHO) to “capture” websites, open access journals, music and other digital materials documenting Ukrainian cultural heritage. Many of these materials are now publicly available in the Internet Archives.
SUCHO is seeking “more volunteers to help gather URLs, perform archiving operations and improve metadata. They’re especially looking for people who speak Russian/Ukrainian or have coding skills.”
How far we’ve come in just over a generation from physical and paper-based preservation of history to saving it digitally and in the Cloud.
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In response to last week’s editorial mention that Hope’s 1916 CNR station house is being moved and saved, this note from reader Bill Irvine:
“Well, that was quite read in today's Chronicles. Very well done on the gold rush days and hostility of the natives.
“I really went off on a tangent after reading about the Hope Station House. Many online articles seemed to indicate its location is not that well known so after searching online for an hour [I found it] beside the Old Princeton Highway. Google.streetviews drove right by it so here's a picture-to-prove-it.
“Hope Heritage Train Station: 49°22'26.47"N 121°26'26.88"W
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Thanks to a technical glitch, those of you who read last week’s Chronicle early will have missed the conclusion which gives an update of gold mining in Haida Gwaii. So here it is:
Interest in the so-called gold mines of the Queen Charlottes had faded even before the undeniably great strikes of the Fraser River. Although James Douglas had been appointed lieutenant-governor of the islands in 1852, as a claim to British sovereignty, most Americans had abandoned the rush for fear of the Haida and in disgust of the poor returns.
Subsequent surveys confirmed what some veteran miners had suspected from the beginning, that the ‘mines’ of Gold Harbour were nothing more scattered small veins. Once the best of these had been exhausted, they said, there was no more.
The gold rush of the Queen Charlotte Islands—with its shipwrecks and Haida pirates—was history, although mapmakers have immortalized those exciting times with Una Point, Mitchell Inlet and Gold Harbour.
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Which isn’t to say that there are no significant or promising gold deposits in Haida Gwaii. Just south of Massett are the Blue Jacket Creek beach sands where, in the 1920s, a company held hydraulic placer leases. As late as the mid-’50s it and its successors succeeded only in recovering modest amounts of gold and platinum.
There have been other attempts at full-scale gold mining, at Fife Point and Martell Creek on the coast of Graham Island, and in the Oeanda beach sands. These are beach placer deposits, only dust and grains, but small nuggets amounting to 72 ounces were found on Shuttle Island in 1918.
According to the website, Gold Creeks of Haida Gwaii, “The gold content of the beach gravels was derived from erosion of small gold-bearing veins which outcrop along...the shore. The gold veins occur in the Karmutsen Formation.”
Total production of these sporadically operated placer claims appears to have amounted to just under 800 ounces.
As late as July 2021, it was reported that one of three active mining operations in Haida Gwaii, Taseko Mines’ Harmony property on Graham Island, which it had owned for 20 years, had been sold. The sale included 58 mineral claims covering 177 square kilometres. The estimated gold content of the property is three million ounces of gold. A Department of Mines report describes it as an epithermal gold property with a substantial undeveloped resource”.
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As another reminder of the historic ‘Queen Charlotte islands’ gold rush, the Royal Canadian Mint struck a “proudly Canadian” $100,000 coin of 99.999 per cent pure gold bearing the design of the late Bill Reid, renowned Haida sculptor, carver, artist and master goldsmith.
The 180mm ‘Spirit of Haida Gwaii’ is said to be the world’s first 10-kg gold con of such purity and the “highest denomination non-circulation” coin in the world. (Another coin, produced in 2007, had a face value of $1 million.)
It’s just as well that no one carries change any more—this puppy would soon wear a hole in you pocket! —www.mint.ca