history

Journalist D.W. Higgins immortalized the Golden Wedding in text. (T.W. Paterson collection)

T.W. Paterson column: This ‘Golden’ wedding must be the wildest wedding ever

Things really got out of hand when police had to be called — two guests were re-enacting the Civil War

  • Mar 21, 2020
Journalist D.W. Higgins immortalized the Golden Wedding in text. (T.W. Paterson collection)
Lake Cowichan Seniors Line Dancers performed at Me & You Night in Youbou on Saturday, March 13th. (Lake Cowichan Gazette, March 17, 2010)

LAKE FLASHBACK: Criminals, a gale, and an obstacle overcome

Welcome to Lake Flashback. Reporter Sarah Simpson has been combing through old…

Lake Cowichan Seniors Line Dancers performed at Me & You Night in Youbou on Saturday, March 13th. (Lake Cowichan Gazette, March 17, 2010)
Robert Hampton Gray was the last Canadian to earn the Victoria Cross during the Second World War. (submitted)

T.W. Paterson column: Canada’s last Victoria Cross of WWII again in the news

The BC Aviation Museum is out to host a memorial monument

  • Mar 14, 2020
Robert Hampton Gray was the last Canadian to earn the Victoria Cross during the Second World War. (submitted)
Lola Sinclair, head Spark, leads her eager troupe of Sparks, followed by Nicole Berry, on a quick march from the Girl Guide Hall to Olson Manor on Wednesday afternoon. Once there, the girls handed out shamrocks and St. Patrick’s Day greetings to each of the residents at the manor. (March 10, 2010/Lake Gazette)

Lake Flashback: Bad budget, bad council and bad guys

Welcome to Lake Flashback. Reporter Sarah Simpson has been combing through old…

Lola Sinclair, head Spark, leads her eager troupe of Sparks, followed by Nicole Berry, on a quick march from the Girl Guide Hall to Olson Manor on Wednesday afternoon. Once there, the girls handed out shamrocks and St. Patrick’s Day greetings to each of the residents at the manor. (March 10, 2010/Lake Gazette)
An emergency hospital during the Spanish influenza epidemic, Camp Funston, Kansas, circa 1918. (National Museum of Health and Medicine photo)

T.W. Paterson column: 102 years ago the Spanish Flu met British grit

In effect, a declaration of marshal law.

  • Mar 7, 2020
An emergency hospital during the Spanish influenza epidemic, Camp Funston, Kansas, circa 1918. (National Museum of Health and Medicine photo)
Standing proudly in front of their new home in Lake Cowichan is the second half of the Vietnamese ‘boat family’. The members are left to right: Nga Xuan, her mother Bi Nguyet Lam, father Lao Hour Ngo, brother Vy Xuan Ngo, and sister Hong Xuan Ngo. (The Lake News, March 5, 1980)

LAKE FLASHBACK: Marner Missed, curling casualties and a family reunited

Welcome to Lake Flashback. Reporter Sarah Simpson has been combing through old…

Standing proudly in front of their new home in Lake Cowichan is the second half of the Vietnamese ‘boat family’. The members are left to right: Nga Xuan, her mother Bi Nguyet Lam, father Lao Hour Ngo, brother Vy Xuan Ngo, and sister Hong Xuan Ngo. (The Lake News, March 5, 1980)
In 1910 an explosion at the Departure Bay powderworks wrapped a rail around a tree it was so powerful. (submitted)

T.W. Paterson column: Nanaimo’s biggest bang was a close call

Capt. McDonald jammed his telescope in the wheel to keep the Oscar aimed at nearby Protection Island

  • Feb 29, 2020
In 1910 an explosion at the Departure Bay powderworks wrapped a rail around a tree it was so powerful. (submitted)
‘Have a cuppa’ it said under the photo on the front page of the Feb. 27, 1980 edition of The Lake News. ‘Oscar and Lucille Palsson receive anniversary cupcakes from Daphne Walker and Cory Schapansky at the Palsson School’s third birthday party Feb. 21. The 160 cupcakes needed for the occasion were baked by Marilyn Traer’s Grade 5 class. School principal Amato Fantillo said he thinks the school will hold a birthday party every year. The elementary school was named after pioneer Oscar Palsson.’

LAKE FLASHBACK: Police, fire, layoffs, and Citizen of the Year

Welcome to Lake Flashback. Reporter Sarah Simpson has been combing through old…

‘Have a cuppa’ it said under the photo on the front page of the Feb. 27, 1980 edition of The Lake News. ‘Oscar and Lucille Palsson receive anniversary cupcakes from Daphne Walker and Cory Schapansky at the Palsson School’s third birthday party Feb. 21. The 160 cupcakes needed for the occasion were baked by Marilyn Traer’s Grade 5 class. School principal Amato Fantillo said he thinks the school will hold a birthday party every year. The elementary school was named after pioneer Oscar Palsson.’
Fanny Rodgers shows a 45-year-old message left in the walls of her Castlegar home. Photo: John Boivin

Hidden message connects Castlegar homeowners decades apart

The Rodgers family was surprised when a message fell out of the walls as they were renovating

Fanny Rodgers shows a 45-year-old message left in the walls of her Castlegar home. Photo: John Boivin
Richard McBride was firmly on the side of management during a coal miners strike in Ladysmith in 1912. (submitted)

T.W. Paterson column: More odds ‘n’ ends and random observations

If, as they say, history occasionally repeats itself, it also does 180-degree turnarounds.

  • Feb 22, 2020
Richard McBride was firmly on the side of management during a coal miners strike in Ladysmith in 1912. (submitted)
A collection of new artifacts from the wreck of the Franklin Expedition’s HMS Erebus, is seen at Parks Canada Conservation Laboratories in Ottawa, on Thursday, Feb. 20, 2020. Artifacts include a hairbrush, handle of a stamp for a seal, clothes brush, comb, piece of sealing wax, chain, toothbrush and paintbrush. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang

Thumbprint, hairbrush: Franklin wreck in Nunavut waters reveals sailors’ lives

In 2019, the Parks Canada team produced extraordinary images of the HMS Terror

A collection of new artifacts from the wreck of the Franklin Expedition’s HMS Erebus, is seen at Parks Canada Conservation Laboratories in Ottawa, on Thursday, Feb. 20, 2020. Artifacts include a hairbrush, handle of a stamp for a seal, clothes brush, comb, piece of sealing wax, chain, toothbrush and paintbrush. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
How sweet it is. Victorious NDP candidate Jim Manly and a supporter show gleeful reaction as election results Monday give Manly a substantial margin over defeated Tory MP Don Taylor. (The Lake News, Feb. 20, 1980)

LAKE FLASHBACK: Death, destruction and a big donation

Welcome to Lake Flashback. Reporter Sarah Simpson has been combing through old…

How sweet it is. Victorious NDP candidate Jim Manly and a supporter show gleeful reaction as election results Monday give Manly a substantial margin over defeated Tory MP Don Taylor. (The Lake News, Feb. 20, 1980)
T.W. interviewed Glaswegian John Lawson ‘Jock’ Hamilton, who survived the Halifax Explosion of 1919. (archive photo)

T.W. Paterson column: There’s never been a generation gap for this columnist

As humble copy boy at the Daily Colonist I have gone where no others would go before me.

  • Feb 15, 2020
T.W. interviewed Glaswegian John Lawson ‘Jock’ Hamilton, who survived the Halifax Explosion of 1919. (archive photo)
Sculptor Nathan Scott adds detail to the tremendous clay mutton chops of John Abbott. Looking on is the ill-fated John Thompson (front right), the 68-day leader Charles Tupper (back right) and Mackenzie Bowell (back left). (Dave Eagles/Kamloops This Week)

Kamloops sculptor casting Canada’s forefathers in bronze

Four of Canada’s early prime ministers will be cast in bronze at a shop in Knutsford, B.C.

  • Feb 9, 2020
Sculptor Nathan Scott adds detail to the tremendous clay mutton chops of John Abbott. Looking on is the ill-fated John Thompson (front right), the 68-day leader Charles Tupper (back right) and Mackenzie Bowell (back left). (Dave Eagles/Kamloops This Week)
This old photograph shows a raid on the Blind Pig, with its liquor barrels emptied into Elk Lake in Ontario during prohibition in Canada. (submitted)

T.W. Paterson column: Canada’s ‘noble experiment’ was a bust

100 years ago the U.S. followed Canada’s failed example to ban booze

  • Feb 8, 2020
This old photograph shows a raid on the Blind Pig, with its liquor barrels emptied into Elk Lake in Ontario during prohibition in Canada. (submitted)
Lake Flashback: Watershed board worries, boundaries, retirement

Lake Flashback: Watershed board worries, boundaries, retirement

Welcome to Lake Flashback. Reporter Sarah Simpson has been combing through old…

Lake Flashback: Watershed board worries, boundaries, retirement
February 1916 in Duncan, after record snowfall. (T.W. Paterson collection)

T.W. Paterson column: Relax! It doesn’t snow like it used to

So I wrote, years ago, in one of the earliest Chronicles of the ‘Great Snow’ of 1916.

  • Feb 1, 2020
February 1916 in Duncan, after record snowfall. (T.W. Paterson collection)
River cowboys tie down the swimming dock, which was swept downriver from the Duckpond during recent high water. Kinsmen corralled the errant platform Sunday, with aid of cable, block and tackle and a loader which eased the dock upstream while an aluminum boat kept the dock away from the shoreline. Kinsmen later rounded up the diving platform which had dragged its anchor all the way downstream to the Co-op building. (Photo from the Jan. 23, 1980 Lake News)

Lake Flashback: Haiti relief pours in, political kerfuffle has deep roots, and BCFP acts quickly on PCP leak

We’ve also included a picture of Lake Cowichan Kinsmen rescuing the Duckpond dock

River cowboys tie down the swimming dock, which was swept downriver from the Duckpond during recent high water. Kinsmen corralled the errant platform Sunday, with aid of cable, block and tackle and a loader which eased the dock upstream while an aluminum boat kept the dock away from the shoreline. Kinsmen later rounded up the diving platform which had dragged its anchor all the way downstream to the Co-op building. (Photo from the Jan. 23, 1980 Lake News)
Couple’s love of Oak Bay Beach Hotel leads to purchase of strata unit

Couple’s love of Oak Bay Beach Hotel leads to purchase of strata unit

The best of both worlds in hotel condo

  • Dec 11, 2019
Couple’s love of Oak Bay Beach Hotel leads to purchase of strata unit
Artist Robert Amos paints Victoria

Artist Robert Amos paints Victoria

Painter is also an art writer and art historian

  • Sep 27, 2019
Artist Robert Amos paints Victoria