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Lost treasure is where you find it—quite possibly under your very nose! I offer this as encouragement to armchair enthusiasts who confine their treasure hunting to television, movies and daydreams. Ironically, few realize that, while there definitely is gold in some of 'them thar hills,' it can also exist, in various forms, much closer to home.
Read MoreThere are two big news stories in this issue of the Leader.
Read MoreI've wanted to write this story for years. But I was missing a key element so I set it aside then misfiled it. It's been so long now that I forgot how I happened to learn of it in the first place.
Read MoreTwo full columns of this issue of the Leader are devoted to a public debate between the Hon. S.F. Tolmie, the Dominion minister of agriculture, and federal electoral opponent (and home candidate), city alderman C.H. Dickie.
Read MoreIt wasn't long after I began researching B.C. and west coast shipwrecks that I first read of the sinking of the S.S. Islander. The Victoria-based coastal passenger liner had struck an iceberg in Alaska's Lynn Canal during the Klondike gold rush.
Read MoreHow quiet it was in the Cowichan Valley, a century ago!
Read MoreAs a kid I thrived on shipwrecks--in magazines and books, anyway. Photos in National Geographic and travel magazines of rusted hulks on semi-tropical beaches, underwater scenes of Spanish treasure galleons, and of Second World War naval ships on the sea bottom in the southern Pacific really turned me on.
Read MoreAlmost three-quarters of the front page of this issue of the Leader is devoted to the week-old story of the unveiling of Duncan's Memorial Cross, better known today as the Cenotaph.
Read MoreOver the past 24 years I’ve had the privilege of writing the Remembrance Day edition for the Cowichan Valley Citizen. At a calculated guess that would be close to 150 articles—a lot of words. All of them honouring what I believe is the most important day of the year: Remembrance Day.
Read MoreIt was Remembrance Day, 100 years ago, too. It was also the day of publication for the Leader--meaning that a report on the unveiling of the new Duncan Cenotaph would have to await the next issue, a full week after the fact...
Read MoreAs did Alcatraz so too did Victoria have its “birdman.” Whereas Robert Stroud, a twice convicted murderer, made himself famous through his studies of birds, William W. Gibson achieved immortality by being Victoria’s—Canada’s—Wright Brothers in one.
Read MoreThere's no having to guess the big news story of this issue of the Leader, the large, centre-page headlines crying out: ARRANGEMENTS FOR UNVEILING CEREMONY ON ARMISTICE DAY. The unveiling in question was that of the Duncan Cenotaph.
Read MoreThere’s nothing quite like a mystery, and Victoria certainly has had its share over the past 180 years. Some, of course, were solved. Others, like that of the “small haunted cottage” remain unanswered—and as tantalizing today as when they first intrigued Victorians.
Read MoreThere’s no doubt as to the big news story of the day in this issue of the Leader. What makes it unusual is the fact that it’s in-house, so to speak, rather than the usual third-party.
Read MoreWhen, 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 MoreFirst off the mark for this issue of the Leader is a report on Duncan Council which had had a busy meeting, Mayor Pitt presiding. Ald. Whidden reported that the new concrete pavement of Station Street had been “thrown open” to traffic and all was well but for two drainage outlets which had clogged with fallen leaves despite the installation of wire grates.
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 MoreThe front page of the Leader in 1921 looks nothing like the front page of a contemporary newspaper. Today, you have maybe three headline stories with teasers for those within. The October 13, 1921 Leader has no less than 12 stories of varying sizes spread over six columns.
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 MoreThe headline that cries out on this front page of the Leader is a nasty one: ORIENTAL MENACE – Asiatic Exclusion League Aims Endorsed by Board of Trade Council.
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