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Cariboo Mystery Still Resonates
NOTICE!TO ADAH HALDEN AND ARTHUR HALDEN: Take notice that you have been sued in the Country Court, holden at Quesnel, by David Arthur Clark, and that a copy of the summons has been filed for you in the Quesnel Registry of the said Court. You are required to dispute the said action by filing a dispute note in the said Registry within twenty days of the first appearance of this advertisement. EDGAR C. LUNN, Registrar.First appearance of advertisement is on the 8th day of January, 1921. Downtown Quesnel in the 1920s. The missing Halden family lived on the outskirts. —www.pinterest.com Such was the legal notice posted in the Quesnel Cariboo Observer on Jan. 8, 1921. There’s nothing really out of the ordinary about this legal advertisement of a century ago. But there is something very, very unique about this particular advertisement in the 1921 Quesnel newspaper. Although it wasn’t widely known, Adah and Arthur Halden, and their teenage son, had gone missing; had been missing, in fact, for almost six months. No wonder then that David Clark, their hired hand, who’d granted them a large loan, wanted to track them down or recover the money he claimed they owed him. The police, it appeared, had come to suspect the Haldens of having absconded with...
Read MoreForest Workers Memorial Park, Lake Cowichan
With everyone’s thoughts on the COVID-19 crisis, this year’s national Workers’ Day of Mourning passed quietly. For some years now April 28th has been officially designated the annual Day of Mourning to “remember those who have died on the job, and to reflect on what needs to be done to prevent more deaths and injuries”. Locally, it has become the practice of representatives of various labour councils and others to gather at Forest Workers Memorial Park, the first of its kind in B.C. It’s situated in Lake Cowichan because the Cowichan Lake region has a long history of logging and milling and because it’s where a loggers’ union, the IWA, first took root in the 1920s. Funded by the sale of Commemorative Bricks, the local Credit Union Legacy Fund and local industry, the small park consists of a fountain, three carved signboards depicting various logging scenes, and a chunk of concrete foundation from the Canadian National Railways bridge that used to span the Cowichan River at this site. The piece of bridge symbolizes the many logging railways that once worked around the lake; the fountain recognizes the mountains, lakes and rivers in the area; the interpretative panels carved in yellow cedar depict historic events from the forest industry. One of the carved signboards that...
Read MoreRUMMINGS BOTTLES MORE POPULAR THAN EVER
Rummings bottles, with their logo, a crossed pick and shovel, are as ‘Nanaimo’ as the Bastion, but don’t forget the much-sought-after bottles of John Mitchell, Union Brewery, Alex Phillips’ Pioneer Soda Water, and Louis Lawrence. W.E. Rumming siphon bottles. —www.theouthouse.ca Nanaimo is highly collectible these days. Old Nanaimo, that is. We’re talking pioneer bottlers: Besides Rummings bottles, Louis Lawrence, W.E. Rumming, John Mitchell and Union Brewery have become much sought-after since the bottle collecting craze arrived on Vamcouver Island...
Read MoreVANCOUVER’S OWN TRUNK MURDER
Although it doesn’t rank with the infamous trunk murders of Brighton, New Orleans and Winnie Ruth Judd, Vancouver does have its own sort-of ‘trunk murder.’ –Courtesy www.pinterest.com This bizarre case, which first broke the news with garish, glaring headlines in the July 12, 1969 Vancouver Sun—B.C. MURDER SUSPECT SEIZED WITH HOSTAGE; Buried Body Discovered—was described by an RCMP spokesman as one of “the most bizarre, unbelievable” cases ever recorded in B.C. The story broke with the arrest of former...
Read MoreCharles Taylor remembered Alberni’s colourful pioneers
“And a very interesting man he was, too,” the late Charles Taylor remembered, years ago. He was referring to Robert Parkinson who appeared in the Alberni Valley in 1885 from London, Eng. A professional shoemarker, he settled beside the small bay which unofficially honours him. Although it’s not formally listed as such in the B.C. Gazetteer, locals have long known the indentation on the west side of Alberni Harbour as Shoemaker Bay. There has to be a story behind...
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