*British Columbia Chronicles special bonus section for Members Only.*
When, many years ago, I was interviewed by a radio announcer about my newest book, Outlaws of the Canadian West, he expressed amazement that we had ‘outlaws’ in British Columbia. In the American Southwest, yes, but north of the 49th parallel? He could hardly believe it.
Read MoreFirstly, this tip for what looks like a great presentation by the Nanaimo Historical Society, for those of you who’ve purchased a membership as I’ve encouraged you to do in previous editorials.
Read MoreAs we’ve seen, Volcanic Brown had to make some momentous decisions in his lifelong career as a prospector, such as the day he amputated his own gangrenous toes with a pocketknife.
Read MoreCan you believe it, already the middle of October? What happened to the sun and heat? Most of us, no doubt, would welcome the return of sunshine but not the melting pot of June-July...
Read MoreOf all the stories of lost treasure in British Columbia the legendary Lost Creek Mine has the most personal meaning for me. It helped to set me on the path to becoming a lifelong writer/historian. All thanks to my growing up in Victoria in the 1950s on a diet of, first, American comic books, then American magazines, movies and TV.
Read MoreReconciliation Day, the first of which coincides with today’s Chronicles.
Read MoreWhen we left off last week, California badman ‘Judge’ Ned McGowan had barely escaped a vigilante neck-tie for his alleged role in planning the murder of crusading San Francisco newspaper editor James King.
Read MoreI see ‘history’ is in the news again. Close to home, Duncan has ditched its town crier and North Cowichan its coat of arms, both symbols of our European roots the casualties of “inclusion” in our new age of colonial atonement, racial awareness and reconciliation.
Read MoreBloodless it may have been, a tempest in the proverbial teapot, a farce, even. But bland, never!
Read MoreIt’s that time of year again when Elder College, subject to COVID restrictions, resumes at the Cowichan Community Centre and, in some cases, on-site.
Read MoreI have no idea what young boys read today. My favourites were Mark Twain (in particular Tom Sawyer which I’ve read a half-dozen times) and Robert Louis Stevenson.
Read MoreThere is hope for the future. In response to my recent two-part series on the 1900 Ladysmith train wreck, a new subscriber kindly wrote to tell of taking his 11-year-old son metal detecting.
Read MoreSituated on Vancouver Island’s west coast, between Long Beach and Ucluelet, Florencia Bay (until 1930 known as Wreck Bay) marks the final resting place of the Peruvian brigantine of this name.
Read MoreA problem with telling a story in a neat and structured form is that some good ‘nuggets’ just don’t fit, not even as sidebars. There are three that didn’t make the cut for this week’s bio of Gerry Wellburn.
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 MoreBeing an armchair adventurer has never been my thing. I’ve always wanted to see it for myself, to touch, to take photos—to feel—then write about it. And you can ‘t get much more hands-on than by using a metal detector.
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.
Read MoreLet’s begin with this quote from Capt. George Vancouver as a follow-up to August 5th’s post on Military Mapmakers.
Read More“I’ve written a book.” This statement, from almost anyone else, would have been no outrageous thing in itself. I heard if often when wearing my publisher-printer hat.
Read MoreAt least another week of sun, heat, no rain and wild fires ahead of us, alas...if you pore through back issues of the Cowichan Leader as I do regularly, hot and dry summers weren’t a novelty in the Cowichan Valley or on the Island. But I’ve not seen references to a summer such as we’re experiencing now, thanks in part, we’re told, to global warming.
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