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One of the benefits of being a regularly published writer is that one automatically becomes a ‘destination’. By this I mean, I rarely know who my readers are but they know me, and how to contact me.
And when they reach out it sometimes becomes a gift—more grist for my mill.
Read MoreFor months now we’ve been watching the drawn-out demise of Canada’s oldest corporation, the Hudson’s Bay Co.
Major department stores have been failing in recent years; companies we grew up with, trusted and patronized while eagerly awaiting the latest catalogue in the mail from Eaton’s, Woodward’s, Sears and the Bay, to name the four biggest.
Read More(Conclusion)
Garish headlines greeted morning readers of the Victoria Daily Colonist on Nov. 1928. Unlike Duncan’s twice-weekly Cowichan Leader which also published that day but had been caught on the cusp of going to press, the Victoria daily’s initial report was able to give far more detail.
Part 1
It’s funny how some things turn out. Funny, that is, if such a term can be applied to human tragedy—particularly to that of a sensitive young woman who was driven to taking her own life by a confined, uncaring, even malevolent community.
Such, however, is the story of Mable Estelle Jones. Almost a century after her death, her story serves as the subject of a teacher’s course in ‘historical studies’ and as a lesson in human behaviour.
Too bad that we never seem to learn from history…
Read MoreIs it really that time of year again? Where does time go...?
This week, the Chronicles observes the coming Yuletide with a look back at Christmas as it was celebrated a century ago in the Cowichan Valley, and as recounted by Margaret Williams in 1971.
Read MoreBuild it and they will come.
It may have worked in a novel and in a movie but, sad to say, it seldom works in real life. If ever you wanted proof, take the sad story of George Turner and his church.
He poured heart and soul, every penny he had and years of his life into building the Church of Jesus Christ of Christian Brotherhood that, today, minus its tower and bell, is a sales and service shop.
Read MoreAs we’ve seen, throughout the 1850’s the Iroquois guide and interpreter Tomo Antoine was in the thick of almost every major exploration and police action that occurred on Vancouver Island. He was, in fact, Chief Factor/Governor James Douglas’s right-hand man in the field. For all that, he’s been all but forgotten.
Read MoreAs we’ve seen, two men were pivotal to the events leading up to the Cowichan Valley’s only recorded hanging. The first one is well known; in fact, Sir James Douglas is remembered as ‘the father of British Columbia’.
Read MoreWith Truth and Reconciliation has come a new awareness of and sensitivity to our colonial history. Everything about British Columbia’s formative years, once taken as gospel, is now under review.
Read MoreThis is beginning to look scary. The April 28th headline of the Cowichan Valley Citizen was a stark reminder that time is running out for the E&N if it’s to be saved as a working railway and not be converted into a recreational trail.
Read MoreSome months ago, a shopper at Walmart asked me if I knew anything about the “piano” in the bush along the Cowichan Valley Trail. Was it the one, he asked, I’d once mentioned in a Citizen column?
Read MoreThe old made way for the new in October 2005 when much of what was left of Paldi, once home to one of the largest Sikh communities in Canada, went up in flames.
Read More“Have you hiked the old Mount Sicker Railway grade?”
Read MoreCan you even imagine downtown Duncan without its iconic City Hall?
Read MoreAll these years later, I can see and hear him now. The late Jack Fleetwood, the man with the photographic memory, the man fellow local historians regarded as the Oracle of the Cowichan Valley, was addressing a small gathering of the Shawnigan Lake Historical Society.
Read MoreAs I recently reported, the Cowichan Station Area Association, operators of the Hub, is working to take possession of the deconsecrated St. Andrew’s Church. Negotiations are underway with the Anglican Diocese of B.C. Apparently the beautiful century-old church beside the Koksilah River needs serious and expensive repairs and funding remains to be determined.
Read MoreI’ve often wondered why some people seem hyper-sensitive to their family histories; sometimes to the point of burning old papers, photos and other memorabilia that should have been passed on to future generations.
Read MoreToday I’m taking you back in time to December 15th, 1921 when (if we don’t factor in inflation) prices are cheap.
Read MoreOne of the downfalls of having to work most of the time is the number of lost opportunities. Over the years there have been many. One I truly regret is not having known Gerry Wellburn, father of the B.C. Forest Museum, today’s B.C. Forest Discovery Centre…
Read MoreYou won’t find this in Bob Dougan’s book, A Story To Be Told. It’s something he told me personally; of growing up on the family farm on Telegraph Road, Cobble Hill, and of knowing ever so vaguely, even as a child, that there was a skeleton in the family closet.
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