We’ve seen how, just after midnight of Christmas Day, 1890, David Fee Jr. was gunned down on a city street as he and friend Frank Partridge were returning to a Christmas celebration after attending midnight mass.
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Black Diamond mines is a historic site where 5 different communities developed during the coal mining era of 1860-1906. What we have left are the mines; we give tours, a cemetery, and a story that continues to be told.
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It all began innocently earlier that evening with a masquerade party in the Philharmonic Hall on Fort Street. Among the celebrants were David Fee and Frank Partridge. Resplendent in their white costumes with red braid, they’d slipped away from the party to attend midnight mass in St. Andrew’s Cathedral.
Read MoreNurturing and conserving history, as is the case of almost everything else in life, requires effort, enthusiasm—and money.
All of our provincial museums, historic attractions—even those that enjoy the rare luxury of various degrees of public funding—rely upon cores of dedicated volunteers. The Cowichan Valley is no exception.
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There are 350,000 place names on Canadian maps, 50,000 of them in British Columbia. Of the 1000’s that identify our Pacific Coastline, most—indeed, almost all—were coined by officers of the Royal Navy.
Read MoreWho was it who said, “The only thing we learn from history is that we don’t learn from history?
And, does history really repeat itself?
It was said of the Eliza Anderson that “no steamboat ever went slower and made money faster”.
Read MoreMy latest project, Celebrate Cowichan, what I believe to be the Valley’s only scenic 2023 Calendar.
I have two more Christmas markets coming up: the Shawnigan Lake Recreation Centre and Queen Margaret’s School this coming Saturday, the 26th, and Providence Farm on Saturday, Dec. 3rd.
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I’ve always been a tree-hugger and have long been critical of the way forestry has been and is practised in British Columbia. But I’m also fascinated by logging history, and I make no apology for that, either.
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Well, another historic Cowichan Valley icon bit the dust this week.
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The story of Doris Gravlin has travelled world-wide over the years, mostly thanks to the internet and an almost insatiable interest in the supernatural.
Read MoreLest we forget....
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In my day, I doubt there was a teenager growing up in Victoria who hadn’t heard of Doris Gravlin.
Read MoreThey say time flies when you’re having fun—it certainly does when you publish on a weekly basis while balancing several other balls in the air.
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Human error. It has always been with us, always will be. For the 19 miners of the Pacific Coast Coal Mine on the morning of Feb. 9, 1915, someone’s carelessness cost them their lives.
Read MoreAttention, bank robbers! The strangest things pop up on the internet.
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Of all the coal mining disasters in Vancouver Island’s history that of the Pacific Coast Coal Mine in South Wellington stands out on two counts.
Read MoreThe thing that so many people seem to forget, or not to understand, is that history isn’t just about the past, the long ago—it’s happening all around us all the time.
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Of all the coal mining disasters in Vancouver Island’s history that of the PCCM in South Wellington stands out on two counts.
Read MoreI wonder how many people—even those who live in the Cowichan Valley—realize that Robert Service (1874-1958), the Bard of the Yukon, lived here for a time before he went to Dawson City as a bank clerk.
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