From the craggy shores of Isle Arran they came, five brothers seeking their fortunes in the New World.
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Housing, as we continually see in the news, is at a critical low in the Cowichan Valley.
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I’ve long joked that I’ve sunk more ships than Lord Nelson—in print. And I owe that dubious claim, in part, to a lady who, long ago, did me a small favour.
Read MoreScarcely a day goes by without my finding something that’s historically topical in the newspaper. Three recent news stories rate as really ‘good’ news.
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As entertainment convener for the Cowichan Historical Society, I’d just announced that the next month’s speaker would be John Adams of the Old Cemeteries Society, Victoria
Read MoreI was overjoyed to read in the Times Colonist recently that Langford has named a new park off Bear Mountain Parkway, Flying Firemen Park.
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One of his best stories is that of Anna Ullman, a young woman who set out to hike the Yukon Telegraph line from Hazelton to Telegraph Creek in 1932.
Read MoreFor years, I shunned Facebook. But, recently, social media savvy friends convinced me that I was missing the boat…
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Ozzie Hutchings, machinist by trade, historian and clock repairman by choice, was a born storyteller as you’ll see in this week’s Chronicles with his blood chilling story…
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I recently reported that a new book has been released across the line in Washington. Byron Riblet: Forgotten Engineering Genius by Ty A. Brown is the second book written in recent years of the man
Read MoreHow is that a provincial government can’t adequately fund a humble historic site such as Point Ellice House?
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Romantic though it may seem to some today, Victoria’s famous sealing industry was a brutal business.
Read MoreI’ll begin this week on a sombre note, courtesy of the British Columbia Historical Federation…
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Based primarily on Carlton Stone’s Hillcrest: A History of Vancouver Island’s Hillcrest Lumber Company by Duncan author/historian Ian MacInnes. This is the conclusion of two parts.
Read MoreI’ll begin with this note from reader and friend Bill Irvine who commented on my reference to excavation for the new Telus building in Victoria which has alerted historians to the potential loss of artifacts from historic Kanaka Row
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Even today, 72 years after his death, Carlton Stone is a legend in the Cowichan Valley.
Read MoreThere’s been something of a flap in Victoria this past week where contractors are excavating the site of the new Telus building at Humboldt and Douglas streets, once home of Kanaka Row.
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Prospector, packer and painted lady; merchant, gambler and thief; they all called rip-roaring Fort Yale home at the height of the Fraser River and Cariboo gold rushes.
Read MoreA lot’s happening on various historical fronts and, alas, I can’t pass the buck to guest columnist Bill Irvine this week, so here goes...
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Karma. It’s a curse, I tell you. Hard as it is for me to believe, it’s been almost 50 years since I wrote Ghost Town Trails of Vancouver Island and it’s still in print after several changes of format and cover, and a slight tweak of the title and byline.
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