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Where are they now, those wonderful patent medicines that promised to relieve every ailment, human and otherwise, from “female complaints” to fallen arches and falling hair?
Alas, they’ve gone, gone the way of the old-fashioned drugstore and the dinosaur. Victims, for the most part, of advances in medicine and tightened drug laws, they’re now part of our vanished heritage.
Read MoreLast week, I wrote that “one of the occupational hazards of being a writer of history is that some people come to believe that I actually know what I’m writing/talking about and they seek me out for answers to questions or for more information...
Most recently, Duncan librarian Marina emailed to ask about one Oliver Pike at the behest of a VIPL user.
Read MoreAs a lifelong practitioner of the written word, it galls me to have to admit the truth of that old expression, “A picture is worth a thousand words.”
But, as that more modern saying goes, “It is what it is.”
Read MoreOne of the occupational hazards of being a writer of history is that some people come to believe that I actually know what I’m writing/talking about and they seek me out for answers to questions or for more information.
Sometimes, I do have an answer for them, from off the top of my head or from my files. But sometimes, too, I’m stumped. Most recently, Duncan librarian Marina emailed to ask about one Oliver Pike at the behest of a VIPL user.
Read MoreThis French-American character was right out of a dime novel—or a 1930s movie script.
In his less than 60 years he was everything from dishwasher, pimp and Foreign Legionnaire to the friend of British royalty and the fifth richest man in the United States.
Read MoreA little known Youbou geographical feature is in the news these days, most recently because CVRD directors have voted to support changing the name of Coonskin Creek.
This, because of its, in the words of the BC Geographical Names Office, “potential harms from derogatory language in geographical names”.
Read MorePioneer British Columbians could be a weird and wonderful lot, as the Chronicles have often illustrated in the past.
Perhaps it isn’t surprising then that some of the earlier chroniclers who recorded for posterity the exploits of our more colourful pioneers were every bit as intriguing—sometimes even more so—than many of their subjects.
Read MoreNot so much an editorial as an introduction to this week’s Chronicle:
A century has passed since the ‘Silver Slocan’ of southwestern British Columbia yielded millions of dollars in silver—billions by today’s measure. The fabulous Enterprise, Standard, Slocan Star, Rambler-Cariboo, Last Chance, Whitewater, Mountain Chief—and so many more productive mines—all have been relegated to the province’s colourful history.
Read MoreThe box car rolled with each motion of the barge, every gust of wind rocking it more violently on its bed of rails. Then it began to roll—through the guard rails and into the dark depths of the lake, and carrying with it, 24-year-old brakeman, Edward Connolly...
Read MoreToday, for a change of pace, a guest columnist. Retired Vancouver newspaper reporter and environmentalist Larry Pym publishes an excellent newsletter at www.sixmountains.ca.
What makes his article on Norm Tandberg so resonate with me is that Norm and I are following the same historical trails in the Cowichan Valley— without, so far as I know, ever having crossed paths. In fact, I’d never heard of him until Larry graciously passed along this piece he just wrote for Six Mountains.
Read MoreMen wept unashamedly, women swooned and young gentleman about town through kisses and flowers when Madame Anna Bishop, the toast of three continents, sang.
With her wistful Home Sweet Home, the heart-rending My Bud in Heaven, and the carefree Dashing White Sergeant, Madame Anna captivated thousands from London to Melbourne to San Francisco for half a century. Honours, fortune—and tragedy—formed the remarkable career of this remarkable lady—a true prima donna.
Read MoreA century and a-half later, the 1875 sinking of the paddlewheel steamship Pacific by collision off Cape Flattery remains one of the greatest marine tragedies in B.C. and Washington state history. There were only two survivors of almost 300 on board.
The Pacific is remembered for another reason: the likelihood that she was carrying a fortune in Omineca gold in her safe and in the personal luggage of some of its San Francisco-bound passengers.
Read MoreOf the innumerable attempts at founding the perfect society which have been recorded in provincial history, probably the best known is Sointula, ‘Place of Harmony,’ the ill-fated Finnish colony on Malcolm Island near Port McNeill. Northwest coast Vancouver Island’s Cape Scott colony was a more pragmatic approach to achieving social and economic independence but it, too, failed, albeit for reasons other than internal discord.
Read MoreThere’s been another change to Vancouver Island maps, this one at Tofino. Mackenzie Beach, named for a previous owner, is now Tinwis, meaning “calm waters” in the language of the local Tla-o-qui-aht Nation, although it’s a combination of the words “tin,” meaning calm, and “wis,” meaning beach.
An online campaign for the name change garnered 2000 signatures.
Read MoreAlmost a century has passed since the initials ‘J.N.T.’ last graced the pages of the Victoria Colonist. It was back in the winter of 1881 that James Nealon Thain, popular Victoria businessman and member of an illustrious pioneer family, was “struck by paralysis of the brain” and died in hospital the same day.
Read MoreWell, here we are, at the end of another year in a world of strife and environmental crises. Sometimes, I must admit, I do begin to doubt my lifelong obsession with the past when our global present almost seems to preclude a long-term future. It feels sort of like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic...
Sorry! A note of doom and gloom is a heckuva way to begin a new year. So let’s get down to the work at hand, history…
Read MoreThe heroine of this year-end Chronicle is of the seagoing variety.
Of them all, the Princess Maquinna truly captured the affections of crew and passengers. So much so, that Ian Kennedy has just written a book about her. Its very title spells it out: The Best Loved Boat.
Read MoreYes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. Or was.
I still remember that day at school. I was in the library when a classmate cynically informed me there is no Santa Claus. No Santa Claus? I was way too young to surrender my ideals!
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 MoreI’m pleased to be able to report that local history is alive and well, as I observed firsthand at the annual craft shows, Christmas Chaos, Providence Farm and at the Shawnigan Recreation Centre.
These shows are an opportunity for me to meet some of my readers; some of longstanding, some new. I usually gain as much from our conversations as I hope they do in return.
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