Editorially speaking...
I always acknowledge, if not immediately answer in full, requests for information from readers and others who track me down. But there are far more of you than there are of me and I’m finding it increasingly difficult to keep up, so please bear with me.
But make no mistake: I’m not complaining. I’m simply pointing out that while my archives doesn’t always contain the specific answers I’m looking for, it usually points me in the right direction. It’s the ferreting out that takes time...
That said, some readers turn the tables around and inform me. Now that’s teamwork! As of this moment, I’m answering queries and, in return, downloading a wealth of information and photos from correspondents here in B.C., in New Brunswick, the U.K., Washington State and Australia.
For all the oceans and continents that separate us, we have a common interest: British Columbia history.
Two correspondents want to know more about the legends of Vancouver Island caves containing skeletons and Spanish armour. One of them just sent half a dozen photos of what are believed to be Spanish cannon balls dug up in Bellingham, WA. I’ve written about skeletons and caves and I’ll be answering his questions and sharing with you in due course...
From Down Under, Wayne, who’s working on his family tree, wants to know more about his great grandfather who was a miner on Mount Sicker. His email certainly caught my attention with its headline, Copper, Cougars and a Cairn.
This one is going to take a while.
Tom W. responded to last week’s post on readers’ requests with several photos of the hapless training schooner Robertson II on a reef—more on that later.
From Langley, Brian D. writes to say, “I am in the process of reading Cowichan Chronicles, Volume 5. I have enjoyed reading many of your books and have at least 6 on my library shelves [only 24 more to go, Brian!]. I noticed that you mentioned somewhere you were putting out a book on houses. That is definitely one that will interest me as well. When is it coming out?”
He’s referring to my forthcoming epoch Built to Last: A Social History of Duncan’s Finest Character Homes & Buildings which is to be published this year by the Cowichan Valley Historical Society. More on that, too, in due course.
Finally, for today, a lost piano. Well, the base frame of one, anyway. A few weeks ago a gentleman introduced himself at Walmart by saying he, too, had several of my books and was using my guide book Historic Hikes, Sites ‘n’ Sights to explore the Cowichan Valley’s former railway grades that are now hiking trails. In particular, a lumber camp that burned down in the 1920s.
I’ve scratched around this site numerous times and always noticed an unusual piece of metal just breaking the surface of the soil. It’s several feet long and cast with the manufacturer’s name and serial number. I had no idea what it was and it was too big to add to my museum so it’s still there.
Which is why he, too, has seen it. He reminded me how I tell in Historic Hikes that some of the residents had struggled to save a piano from the fire by pushing it ahead of the flames on its casters. That rusty iron frame peeking out of the ground tells us how far they got it!
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