Coal Baron Robert Dunsmuir Inspired Historians and Mapmakers
Robert Dunsmuir vs. Sir James Douglas: If Douglas–fur trader, colonial governor and statesman –was ‘the father of British Columbia’ and our greatest public figure, Dunsmuir must surely rank as his peer in the private sector. Not in terms of ‘greatness’ as most would measure it, perhaps, but in terms of status and influence. He built an industrial empire and founded a dynasty. In his day, he was the province’s Morgan, Rockefeller, Getty and Trump rolled into one. So who, today, cares? Where’s the statue to this pioneering giant, the public tributes usually given to men who achieve incredible wealth? Victoria has Craigdarroch Castle, if one counts self-made landmarks as such. Son James Dunsmuir left us Colwood’s Hatley Park, for 50 years Royal Roads Military College and now Royal Roads University. The Dunsmuirs do grace our maps, albeit in a...
Read MoreMy Victoria Childhood: the good old days!
Victoria sure has changed. Since Woodward’s went under, Mayfair Mall operates under the Hudson’s Bay Co. banner. The landmark Vancouver store has been converted to affordable housing, and the famous rooftop neon sign flashes again after a decade of disuse. When T. Eaton Co., long an anchor of downtown Victoria, also folded, Sears took it over. Now Sears is ‘The Bay,’ whose own heritage building has been transmogrified under new ownership. All very confusing, but these events set me to thinking of just how rapidly the years do pile up. Before moving on, however, how many remember the radio jingle, “$1.49 Day, Tuesday, $1.49 Day, Woodward’s”? When all three Victoria department stores had food departments and issued catalogues? Or when the Victoria Eaton’s shoe department had a foot x-ray machine that kids would play with whenever staff members weren’t...
Read MoreThe Great Chocolate Bar ‘War’
Would you believe that a handful of teenagers once took on the largest candy makers in the land? They did, you know, during the Great Chocolate War of the 1940s? They made international news, if only briefly, but the memory of their rebellion lives on… It can be satisfying, sort of, to know that some things never change. You know, ried and true stalwarts such as inflation Why, (I’m giving away my age) I can remember when a bottle of pop cost 8 cents. Mind you, it was a smaller bottle before they ‘super-sized’ it and it went to 12 cents. What is it, today? A dollar–plus GST, bottle return and environmental fee? Believe it or not, in the 1950s when I was growing up in Victoria, 50 cents (my weekly allownace) bought me bus fare to and from...
Read MoreThe Legendary Bluenose to Sail Again
From the start, the original Bluenose earned her title, ‘Queen of the Banks.’ NEWS ITEM: “Problems turning Bluenose II’s rudder mean it’s unlikely to sail this summer.”–Times-Colonist, June 24, 2014. In July 1967 a Halifax brewing company turned back the hands of time to Canada’s most glorious chapter in sail by launching the second Bluenose whose illustrious predecessor owed her genesis to a bitter ‘Scotian defeat at the hands of New England mariners in 1920’. For years, doughty Grand Banks fishermen had derided the world-known American Cup race, sneering that the rakish yachts were mere toys, unable to weather anything stronger than a summer breeze. What would happen, they loudly crowed for two decades, if REAL men in REAL deepwater boats raced? Their chance came when a Halifax newspaper publisher offered $4000 to the speediest Nova Scotian or New...
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