Category Archives: history

Great War, R.I.P.

Posted on November 11, 2018 by Alistair

  Today, November 11, 2018, marks the centennial of the end of the Great War (1914-1918), a horrendous conflict that erupted accidentally. Requiescant in pace. Ancestral military service: In addition to my grandfather’s service during the Great War, my father, … Continue reading →

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Sunken barge

Posted on April 1, 2015 by Alistair

  April is upon us and the Lake, while still low, is rising. I had hoped to obtain overhead pictures of a sunken barge earlier, but lowest water and a calm surface did not coincide, so I failed to get … Continue reading →

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Tug Hosmer

Posted on March 20, 2015 by Alistair

  Following last week’s low-water visit to the wreck of the sternwheeler, Kuskanook, another relic of the steam age was visited: the tug Hosmer. The history of this large steam tug is told on Living Landscapes, which also presents a … Continue reading →

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S.S. Kuskanook

Posted on March 11, 2015 by Alistair

  It is March and the Lake is low. Although it has become warm in the valleys, water is still locked in mountain snows. This will soon change as those snows melt and the Lake rises. Now is a good time … Continue reading →

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Pack train

Posted on November 1, 2013 by Alistair

  Occasionally I post pictures from my family’s archives that might be of local historical interest. For many years, I had misplaced shots of my great-uncle Sidney’s pack train through the Crowsnest Pass, but I found two of the three … Continue reading →

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Desecration

Posted on September 25, 2013 by Alistair

  Kootenay Lake is home to a impressively large number of pictographs. As I noted in a posting a year and a half ago: pictographs are at once art and narrative. Our pictographs are certainly the cultural heritage of First Nations, … Continue reading →

Posted in commentary, history | 23 Comments

Over the edge

Posted on September 18, 2013 by Alistair

  Most osprey chicks were still in the nest two weeks ago when I wrote about them in It’s time you went. One of the pictures taken then didn’t quite fit the theme of that posting, but appears today. In the … Continue reading →

Posted in bugs, history | 4 Comments

Slides on mountains

Posted on July 14, 2012 by Alistair

  People, around Kootenay Lake and beyond, have been concerned about the massive slide that destroyed lives and homes at Johnsons Landing (North Arm of the Main Lake). The event has been reported extensively in the media (e.g. the CBC) … Continue reading →

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Miner’s candleholder

Posted on July 12, 2012 by Alistair

  I began scanning more of the pictures from my Grandfather’s photo album from the time he was in Silverton, New Denver, and Sandon, 1909. Here are four mining pictures, three of which are from the album. Here is his view … Continue reading →

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Sandon, 1909

Posted on July 10, 2012 by Alistair

  Greg Nesteroff posted a story in the Nelson Star yesterday: Sandon photo sale causes a stir.  Sandon is our local quasi-ghost town, and the controversy centred on who actually owned the picture, circa 1900, being sold. The picture in question can be … Continue reading →

Posted in history | 4 Comments