Editorially speaking...
As a latecomer to Facebook, I’m continually amazed at its reach.
Only at the urging of informed friends did I reluctantly embrace New Age media, last June, with a FB page, T.W. Paterson History Author.
Even local photos (for example, two showing Duncan’s landmark Tzouhalem Hotel in its prime and as it was being demolished), have drawn considerable response.
Proving yet again the power of nostalgia!
Most popular so far is a post on the Kinsol Trestle, a subject of particular personal resonance, and the latest, on the legendary Robert Service, because of his local connection.
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Robert Service. —Wikipedia
I wonder how many people—even those who live in the Cowichan Valley—realize that Robert Service (1874-1958), the Bard of the Yukon, lived here for a time before he went to Dawson City as a bank clerk.
He was what was termed a “mud pup,” someone from the Old Country who hired himself out to a Canadian farmer for a reduced wage in exchange for his board and an “apprenticeship” in the skills of farming.
In Service’s case, he served his time on the Corfield Farm, situated on the flats and marshlands of Cowichan Bay. (It’s still farmland but the Corfield manor burned down a century ago.) All this, his farming and his banking, was before Service became internationally famous for his poetic chronicling of the Klondike gold rush and the fabulous characters whom he met there.
His most famous poem, of course, goes...
...The Northern Lights have seen queer sights,
But the queerest they ever did see
Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge
I cremated Sam McGee.
Few passersby likely pay much attention to his roadside marker by the bridge at Cowichan Bay and Bench roads. But no matter, Robert Service has left his mark and English and Canadian literature.
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As of this morning, in a week, almost 10,000 people have read this snapshot tribute to one of the most universally popular poets of all time. Some sample comments:
Laura Anderson wrote, “I was surprised to see the cairn at the estuary area. I had no idea that Robert Service lived here as a young man. My grandfather, also a poet, got to know Service during his lifetime.”
Kathy Brierley: “I grew up listening to my grandfather, born in 1897, quote his poems. He had all the little red books we each treasured reading. You could picture in your mind what he wrote so beautifully. I now have his works by Robert W. Service. We drove to the bench and pointed out the farm when my brother and mother visited years and years ago. Thanks for sharing. Brings back great memories of his poems and my grandfather.”
Dawn Smiley: “I have camped on the marge of Lake Labarge while traveling through the Yukon!”
My point: I obviously underestimated the ‘power of the press’ via social media. What an opportunity it presents to historians to inform an almost unlimited audience about our heritage and history. That audience, the so-called ‘silent majority’ that never reads history books if, in fact, they read at all in this digital age.
There’s an even greater bonus for me: feedback. I can’t know you’re out there with your firsthand experiences, family archives, historical knowledge, or other archival treasures, but you know where to find me and to share with me that I can in turn share with my readers. The result, often, is a treasure load of photos and documents that these readers allow me to publish.
Talk about win-win!
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