The Real Salmon Capital

October 5th, 2020

LAKE COWICHAN: THE REAL SALMON CAPITAL OF VANCOUVER ISLAND

Many BC towns are located on or near lakes and streams but none are as fortunate as Lake Cowichan when it comes to the number of waterways and the quality of fish habitat they provide. Towns like Port Alberni and Campbell River call themselves the salmon capital of BC but they are talking more about salmon fishing than salmon production. Residents of the Town of Lake Cowichan and its immediate area (some 3000) not only have Cowichan Lake and the Upper Cowichan River at their doorsteps; they also have twelve smaller creeks, ten Cowichan River side channels, three small lakes and several productive wetlands. Many of these are very important producers of trout and salmon.

Greendale Road is on the eastern edge of Lake Cowichan. A number of its residents have salmon spawning in both their front and backyards. In their front yards is the Cowichan River and Hatter’s Run, the most important section of chinook spawning habitat on the river. In late October and early November, hundreds of chinook salmon spawn in a two hundred metre stretch of high quality gravel. Rainbows. coho, chums and steelhead also spawn at Hatter’s. In their backyards, the fortunate residents of this part of Greendale have Tiny Creek, an amazingly productive little coho stream which is less than a metre wide for it’s less than five hundred metres length. Hardly a month after the chinooks have finished their rage of reproduction in their front yard, coho are digging up their backyard creek along with a few cutthroats and brown trout and even a few chums. How many residents of BC or anywhere else can claim seven species of trout and salmon spawning in view of their kitchen windows?

Further along Greendale Road toward downtown Lake Cowichan is Stanley Creek, a mountain runoff stream that dries below the highway in the summer months but supports runs of coho and brown trout and, on occasion, chum salmon, along with resident populations of rainbow, cutthroat and Dolly Varden. Two Cowichan River side channels are located along Greendale. Both Trevor Green’s and Tony Green’s side channels support spawning and rearing trout and salmon.

Moving west into the heart of Lake Cowichan on the north side of the river we pass two springs, Bird Cage and Atchison, before reaching Beadnell Creek, a small stream some three kilometres long that supports coho, cutthroats and brown trout. Fish have a hard time reaching the best habitat in the creek because of a five hundred metre long concrete flume built in the 1950’s to help prevent property erosion. The Cowichan Lake Salmonid Enhancement Society constructed baffles in the flume between 1995 and 1998 to assist the fish in their upstream migration and they now have an easier time of it. Numbers are not up to where they should be yet but recovery is well underway.

Just a stone’s toss west of Beadnell is Oliver Creek, another small stream that Lake Cowichan people are justifiably proud of. Only one kilometre of Oliver Creek (sometimes called Hatchery Creek after a fish hatchery that operated on the lower creek from 1910 to the 1950’s) is normally accessible to salmon but as many as 1000 coho make their way up this beautiful stream in late November and December. Rainbow and cutthroat trout are also present and a large percentage of Cowichan River’s brown trout spawn in this little groundwater fed creek which originates in springs and wetlands near the Teleglobe Canada station just northwest of the town. Only the first 65 metres of the creek flow through an urban landscape, the rest is almost entirely forested including the section within the town which is located in Friendship Park, a greenway corridor along the stream which features an interpretive trail. The trail and park celebrate the creek and the relationship between Lake Cowichan and Ohtaki, a town in northern Japan. It is a joint project of the school district, the town and the BC Ministry of Environment.

Just beyond Oliver Creek are the downtown core and a bridge over the Cowichan River. Local kids fish from it in the spring and fall months and salmon and trout can sometimes be seen spawning on gravel beds just above and below it and on other beds upstream in front of Gillespie Park and near the little swimming beach Lake Cowichan people call the Duck Pond. In years of high coho escapement when water in the creeks tributary to the lake and Upper River is low, coho hold in the Big Pool and Upper Pool near the downtown core in substantial numbers and can be seen leaping and rolling as they wait for runoff to raise the creeks.

Tern Creek, another little backyard brook enters the river from the north some 200 metres above the bridge. Unfortunately, much of its productive area is buried in culverts but a few trout and coho continue to hang on in spite of it.

Just west of the town on the south side of the valley is Beaver Lake and creek. The creek enters Cowichan Lake just above the weir. This little system had become over mature by the late 1970’s and the creek had almost no trout and salmon capability left. It dried by May in most years and the poorly defined channel was mainly muck and detritus supporting a lush growth of hardhack and skunk cabbage but few fish. Realizing the creek’s limitations but recognizing its potential, Leo Nelson, founder of the Cowichan Lake Salmonid Enhancement Society began lobbying the Department of Fisheries and Ocean for permission to rebuild the creek. It was finally given in the summer of 1983. Leo excavated some 2000 m of channel removing the muck-detritus overburden and replacing it with gravel, boulders and large woody debris. The creek’s ability to support fish was vastly improved. It improved even more when Leo constructed a low dam at the outlet of the lake and buried a discharge pipe underneath it. Beavers took the opportunity to raise the dam to a point where it stored about one metre of water. The creek now had a reasonable habitat base and year round flow; the fish loved it. Coho returns since 1986 have averaged 182 and have reached as high as 600. Cutthroat numbers are also increasing. Both Beaver Lake and Cowichan Lake cutthroats spawn in the creek which also supports a few brown trout along with resident cutthroats. The Cowichan Lake Salmonid Enhancement Society continues to improve the creek. A new dam at the lake outlet was added in 1996 and habitat features are added to the creek on a more or less continuous basis.

Continuing around the circle on the south side of town, the next waterway is Money’s Creek. This little stream originates in Kwassin and Grant Lakes, two small lakes in the southeast portion of Lake Cowichan and discharges into the Cowichan River through Money’s Wetland after picking up flow from three even smaller streams known as South Money’s, Greenwell and Ravine Creeks. This creek has been highly abused to suit the needs of urban development. A diversion channel blasted between Kwassin Lake and the Cowichan River in 1971 robbed it of most of its flow then subsequent residential construction has covered almost all of it. Surprisingly though, coho returned to what was left of the creek until 1994 when a trash rack was installed at a culvert near its lower end. Although it only covers some 14% of its former area, Money’s Wetland still supports young trout and coho for a large part of the year. Money’s Creek could be restored but it would require the cooperation of the Town and every landowner on the creek, a formidable task but not impossible because many people in this community are very proud that salmon streams are important parts of their neighborhoods. The wetland portion of the creek was excavated in the 1990’s nd now provides excellent winter habitat,

The town boundary is located near the headwaters of Money’s Creek but there is more excellent fish habitat just to the east along Hudgrove Road where a number of productive Cowichan River sidechannels are present. One of these channels is known as Inner Joginder’s or Gides Creek. It is spring fed and supports as many as 600 coho and 100 chum salmon along with cutthroat and brown trout. Other side in the 1990channels in this area are Block 28, Lucky’s, Lamb’s, Lowry’s, Lowe’s, Art Watson’s, Outer Joginder’s and Fariservice. Fairservice Creek with its myriad of tributary wetlands is also located in this area which will likely be incorporated into the town in the near future.

This bodes well for the fish and their habitat because the respect and pride the people of Lake Cowichan have for their unique natural heritage should insure that the resource will survive and prosper well into the future.

TED BURNS

April, 2002

The Lake Cowichan Gazette

Tags: a strategic place for salmonids
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Canyon Heart

October 5th, 2020

CHEMAINUS RIVER: CANYON HEARTLAND

Ted Burns

The Chemainus is probably the least known river on Vancouver Island that is close to major population centres. The river is only a half hour drive from Nanaimo and a matter of minutes from Duncan and Chemainus but few people are aware of its great beauty and recreational opportunities. This is unfortunate because the river has much to offer including a relatively pristine estuary, canyonlands of spectacular beauty and a fine spring run of steelhead. If the Chemainus wasn’t located in a land blessed by an abundance of lovely rivers, it would be very well known. Indeed. Move it to Texas and it would be a national park before you could say Sam Houston.

For ease of description, the Chemainus can be divided into four general areas: the lowlands, canyonlands mid reaches and upper river. Each has its own character and special features.

There is considerable settlement and several farms on the Chemainus lowlands in Westholme. This area is part of the combined Chemainus River – Bonsall Creek floodplain and estuarine lands. Despite a number of flood control threats and development proposals over the years, the river remains relatively undisturbed from adjacent development here and the estuary, despite the proximity of Crofton Pulp Mill to the south which discharges effluent into its outer portion and highly industrialized Chemainus Bay to the north, remains surprisingly pristine.

There are two very important fish habitat features in this zone: Miller Creek Wetland and Westholme Sidechannel. Because the river is so unstable in terms of flow and bedload, off channel habitat is very important for juvenile trout and salmon overwintering and adult spawning. Miller Creek Wetland is a winter haven for young coho, steelhead and cutthroat trout while the Westholme Channel provides spawning, rearing and overwintering. The channel is on the Halalt Reserve and the band, in cooperation with Fisheries and Oceans, has done much to improve it. Unfortunately, it is at risk from river instability.

The Chemainus Canyonlands begin not far above the Island Highway and extend upstream some eleven kilometres. This area is not all canyon in the strict sense of the word but most of it is well‑incised ravine and in its heart is the truly awesome Copper Canyon where towering walls produce a feeling of insignificance in those that venture into it. Other sections of the canyonlands feature dark cliffs of crumbling shale hung with large Douglas fir veterans sometimes leaning precariously over two hundred metre vertical drops.

Chemainus Potholes or Little Hells Gate. A once very popular place cut off by a highway upgrade.

In my opinion, the best time to visit the canyonlands is in the spring just about the time the dogwoods are blooming in late April and May. This is when the spring run of steelhead enters the river and moves rather quickly into the canyons. These fish, which consist of late winter and summer runs, are not large but they are clean and fast. Neither are they abundant. If there are more than one hundred, I’d be surprised and pleased. It’s the very fortunate angler who catches more than one or two of these lovely fish in a season. The fish usually move above Copper Canyon Falls ( a series of small falls and cascades that stop salmon except a very occasional coho) by late May. Beyond the falls, the steelhead are difficult to find and seldom bothered by anglers.

The Chemainus supports a few spring and fall chinook salmon, a small coho run, a sometimes large run of early chums along with a few typical run winter steelhead ( December to March) and cutthroat trout but is only noted for its spring steelhead run. Because of its instability, the Chemainus is not very productive.

From time to time, there are proposals to dam the Chemainus in the canyon to provide water for the fast growing municipality of North Cowichan. Plans have fizzled out so far but the threat remains.

The mid reaches of the river extend from Copper Canyon to Ten Cascades and Boulder (Chipman) Creek, a distance of some fourteen kilometres. The river is still well contained with short stretches of canyon and is largely inaccessible. A noteworthy aspect of this section is its popularity with kayakers. They put in at the bridge below Ten Cascades then paddle and drift downstream to a take out point near Holyoak Creek some twelve kilometres downstream.

Above Boulder Creek, the valley opens into a broader basin of lower river gradient. Gone are the high walls, giant boulders and bottomless pools of the canyons. They are replaced by more gentle terrain, gravel bars and log jams. This section of the river was ravaged by logging. Many stretches were yarded across with logs dragged through the river and up the banks. Few trees were retained along the stream and large sections of riverbank have eroded. Where alders returned to heal the wounds, they were killed with herbicides. Most of the logging happened in the fifties and sixties.

Except for some high, steep country and a few scattered parcels elsewhere, the entire watershed has been logged, some of it twice. Due to the rough terrain, the river turned it away for much of its length. The upper river was not as fortunate and it almost seemed as if the loggers gave it extra punishment to make up for the damage they couldn’t do elsewhere. Nobody logs this way anymore, even on private forest land of which most of the Chemainus is.

Unfortunately, the new era of awareness is too late for the Chemainus. This is a watershed that needed to be logged slowly and carefully. Its long narrow shape and lack of lakes or wetlands to buffer runoff was designed to shed water quickly. Add rapid clearcutting and an extensive road network to the picture and be prepared for some hard times especially if you are a fish. The river fluctuates widely between runoff events and a few heavy showers can turn it from gin clear to coffee coloured in an afternoon. A day’s hard rain can get its bedload moving.

Fortunately, the watershed is in a recovery mode and things can only get better. More people are becoming aware of the river’s great beauty and recreational potential and there is talk of a park in the Copper Canyon area. This is a wonderful idea for this highly deserving river and its canyon heartland.

CHEMAINUS ACCESS

LOWER RIVER

Turn east off the Island Highway at the Westholme stoplight by the Red Rooster Cafe then go left at Westholme Rd. at 0.55 km. Turn left again at 1.0 km for the Halalt Campsite. The gate is often closed but its only a 600 m walk to the river and the Claybanks Pool and the Eagle Run downstream. This area can also be reached from the E+N tracks 0.6 km past the campsite turnoff.

At the Old Island Highway (Crofton Rd.) at 1.3 km from the light, turn left for .3 km to a tote road on the left which leads under the bridge. From this road, you can reach the Bridge Pool or follow the south side of the river downstream for 500 m to Log Jam Corner. You can wade the river here and hike the north side of the river downstream to the Swimming Hole.

Some people fish and swim around the Island Highway bridge.

CANYONLANDS

CHEMAINUS POTHOLES (LITTLE HELLS GATE)

Turn west off the Island Highway 1.8 km north of the bridge onto a rough road that backtracks for 0.3 km to a parking area. Its a 180 m hike down to the Potholes, a favoured summer swimming area and a place to try for the elusive spring run steelhead. Access to the Potholes has been cutoff by a highway upgade, A line of No Posts and lack of safe parking prevents people from using the area. One could remove some No Posts and clear a parking area but cars now travel at very high speeds here and getting on and off the road could be difficult and dangerous

BLACK CLIFFS AND BANON FALLS

Turn west from the highway onto Mt. Sicker Rd. at the Westholme light. Keep right at 3.8 km then turn right on Cranko Rd. at 5.0 km. Keep left at a junction at 5.9 km, drive thorough a gate past the gas pipeline to a parking area at the Black Cliff Pool. Walk upstream for the best water and a fine view of Banon Creek foaming into the river over a beautiful two stage falls.

GOLD MINE AND SANDY POOL (FOUR MILE)

Turn west off the highway at the flashing yellow light or River Rd. just north and drive west on Copper Canyon Mainline to Banon Creek Rd. at 2.8 km just past a small bridge. A right turn at 1 km just above a small gravel pit leads to a path to the Slot just 50 m before the end of this 2 km long road. By keeping straight at the junction by the pit, you come to the rod and gun club range. Park here and walk south on the rough road to where it branches. Bear left for the Gold Mine and right for the Sandy Pool and upstream water at the Swingrope and Backeddy Pool.

COPPER CANYON FALLS

Stay on the logging road for 2.85 km beyond Banon Creek Rd. and look for a small rock quarry, lookout point and guard rocks. Park here and backtrack 100 m on the logging road. There is no path but its easy going through bedrock – arbutus openings and second growth for about 500 m to the river. The main falls is 150 m downstream from where you reach the river.

UPSTREAM AREAS

Some people proceed up the logging road to fish near the mouth of Boulder Creek or in Spartan Lake high in the headwater zone of the river or to hunt and hike throughout the area. There is a gate at Copper Canyon Camp well up river but its open during non working hours except hazardous periods (fire season or heavy snow).

The river’s mid reaches can also be reached Highway 18 (Lake Cowichan Highway) via Hillcrest Road. There is a little scout park in this area. Keep right at 3.9 km for the park. A left will take you up the South Side Logging Road known as HC 1000. Look for a road on the left 4.2 km in and 1.4 km beyond the powerline. This rough road leads 1.4 km down to a lovely stretch of canyon called ” The Gate .” Its much better to walk this road than to drive it.

The author in the canyon circa 1975

Times Colonist

The Islander

December 29, 1996

Tags: rock hard but lovely
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Loggers or Pool Boys?

October 5th, 2020

PORT ALBERNI POOL BOYS?

I once had a neighbor in Cowichan who refused to believe that logging companies could lock the gates at will. He was convinced that they were in the wrong and would suffer some serious consequences if people complained. I explained that for much of The Island the companies owned the land and could care less about public access. “That’s crazy” he said and ranted on .

July 30 003.jpg

Locked gates are everywhere on Vancouver Island private land logging roads

I wish it were so. A huge swath of The Island was handed over to the Dunsmuir family to construct the E and N railroad back in the 1880’s.Some two million acres and 750,000 dollars were doled out to their company. The swath is twenty miles wide and runs from Goldstream to the 50^th parallel near Campbell River. I guess the plan was to jump start the Island economy and that happened as coal mining began in a big way. Dunsmuir was even more interested in the land value and began selling off parcels not suitable for mining as soon he could. The CPR bought the railroad and other lands and forest companies purchased large blocks. Dunsmuir reaped a fortune and built himself castles – Craigdarroch and Hatley Park – along with saving some prime land for himself such as a lovely block on the Upper Cowichan River in what would become Lake Cowichan. On this place he had his Chinese servants wrestle big boulders into the river to provide fishing platforms where you didn’t need to get your feet wet.

The E&N Land Grant

The companies started logging early in the twentieth century. It was slow at first when it might take all day to fall one large tree hauled off with oxen or horses. But it soon picked up with steam donkeys and railroads then power saws and trucks. The timber supply must have once seemed endless. I often imagine being with an explorer standing on an Island mountain like Heather where one could look east down the Cowichan Valley, then west down the Nitinat. I would try to tell him that almost all that timber would be cut in less than 100 years and the hills would be laced with roads. There had been camps the size of small towns and the woods had roared with noise: snorts, whistles engines and the crash of falling trees. Streams had been trashed and side hills washed to sea in the wild rage to cut down what was often considered the greatest softwood forest on earth

A Conservation Officer examines a small stream that logs were dragged through

I am certain my explorer friend would not believe my tale -. But it’s true. Yes, a form of the forest is still there and logging methods have improved dramatically since the “Glory Days”, especially on public forest land. The companies made billions and left the people of southeast Vancouver Island with a few scraps of old growth and an endless legacy of locked gates on private land.

There was a time not so long ago when the gates were open for a decade or more. It is interesting how it happened. Outdoors people had become very frustrated in the 1960’s. Led b y the Nanaimo and Victoria Fish and Game Clubs, they arranged a meeting between the clubs, the companies and the forest minister – Ray Williston. The year was 1962. I don’t think the companies were sweating it much. Williston was a member of W. A. C. Bennett’s Social Credit government – a government that was friendly to industry. In those days, the Forest Service was a different animal than today – much more industry friendly. Some would say an almost de facto employee of the forest industry – a branch plant of MacMillan Bloedel.

So when Williston challenged the clubs to show him some evidence that they were being locked out, they produced a letter from a company official that stated we are sorry but there is just enough fish and game in our claim for our employees so you guys are out of luck. Williston hit the roof and said that’s the end of this nonsense, you guys work out a solution or the government will pass an access or industrial roads act that will end it for you.

It wasn’t long before the gates were open. The deal was that they would be closed if logging crews were working somewhere behind them or there were hazards like fire or flood. Some companies even created small parks and campsites and had people man the main gates and collect information on use. Who can forget Lawrence Houghton at Nanaimo Lakes and Al Dyer at Nanaimo River Camp? Things were good. But it did not last. As the 1980’s dawned, things started to go backward. It wasn’t that noticeable at first. Roads got dug up here and there but companies were deactivating and putting roads to bed on a fairly large scale then which was a good thing. Then came more dug out trenches then locked gates. The companies cited garbage dumping, theft, and bush parties etc. as reasons. There is truth in these assertions and I would like to strangle the boneheads that gave the companies excuses to close their fiefdoms to legitimate users but the era would have ended sooner or later any way because a new factor was returning to the woods – big time greed.

The price of land was rocketing upward at a torrid pace and the companies recognized an opportunity to convert some of their private forest resource lands into real estate. TimberWest (once BC Forest Products) owns 804,000 acres of fee simple lands and have even created a real estate company to flog them. It won’t take much flogging. Imagine having a place on Cowichan Lake or Nanaimo River? How much would you pay? A West Vancouver developer told me he could easily make one hundred million dollars if he could get hold of the Cowichan Lake land between Honey moon Bay and the Caycuse Log sort and could get it rezoned to five acre lots. The Cowichan Valley Regional District has been holding the minimum lot size to 80 acres for a long time despite some hard charges by developers and their lawyers

So my own worst nightmares are coming true: housing tracts covering resource lands and preventing access to some of my favorite angling water. Far fetched?

A few weeks ago, some friends and I headed for Money’s Pool where the Ash River comes into the Stamp near Port Alberni. I hadn’t been since 1972 but this pool is very well known having been popularized by the writing of Roderick Haig – Brown who fished it with his friend General Noel Money. Money was a decorated military man and owned the Qualicum Beach Hotel. Sure enough, the trail was blocked by a big house with spike fencing. This area was supposed to be protected by a Recreational Fishing Corridor but when I checked with the Ministry of Environment, I was told they did not feel comfortable trying to apply the corridor to private land. My take is they were told to forget it by the government of the day.

TimberWest is trying to sell some superb resource land at Shaw Creek. High fish and forest values and an elk herd that has hung on for decades and may have supplied most of the elk that have re-populated large areas of the south In the early 1970’s, a survey revealed only ONE bull elk on the south end of the Island south of the Parksville – Alberni Highway (Highway 4). Through careful management and luck the herd has grown quite large but elk are not too compatible with suburbia

I guess I’m not either but maybe I will have to be as the companies become real estate developers. But my days are waning and I have had the best of what this spectacular province has to offer. What about the youth and theirs? How about the loggers, some of the hardest workers I know. Are they to be pool boys and lawn cutters? What about the mill workers and the mechanics, truck drivers and tree planters?

And what about the natives? Their land was taken away so someone from far away could build castles in Victoria and fill gold bathtubs with gin? How must they feel?

The fair thing would be to give the land back to the government so it could give reasonable amounts back to the natives. The rest would be retained as working forest, parks and lake and stream corridors. I doubt that will happen but what could occur is a return of the Forest Land Reserve. A program similar to the ALR where the high value forest lands cannot be sold for real estate.

It is beyond my comprehension that the Great Island Forest so productive and forgiving after all the years of abuse could be finally doomed by exploding suburbia and the loggers of Lake Cowichan and Port Alberni will be working as pool boys or firewood providers. The railroad is long gone so give the land back and take away the damn gates

Tags: a big house at Money' was a shock, selling the future
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Garbage in the Woods

September 28th, 2020

The Lake News, Lake Cowichan, B.C., Wednesday, April 18, 1990

We’re the top slobs

by Ted Burns

Lake Cowichan has one of the easiest waste disposal setups I’ve experienced. You put your garbage out once a week and its whisked away never to be seen again. If you have too much junk for curb side pick up, the incinerator is just a short hop away and it’s free.

Many would argue that it’s too easy and that there should be a recycling program. Indeed.

So why is there so much garbage in the bush?

Almost every old grade has mounds of household and yard junk scattered here and there. Old stoves and refrigerators, sofas and chairs, roofing materials, lumber and plywood, cans and bottles, magazines and newspapers, you name it. Then there are the highway ditches which collect litter at a depressing rate. I know of several area youths who have collected enough cans in a year to purchase expensive mountain bikes. There are many dollars worth of beer and pop cans in relatively small areas. Who among us is so rich that they can afford to toss money away?

I was raised in the Kootenays, the West Kootenay. Dumping garbage in the bush is unheard of there. It just doesn’t happen. Nor do people toss litter from their vehicles. I walked a mile of road

shoulder near Kootenay Lake last summer and found one small plastic bag with a McDonald’s cup inside it. There are no Golden Arches around Kootenay Lake, so it must have come from a tourist of which there are many.

A mile walk along Cowichan Valley highways would reveal a sickening amount ^–of litter. Witness the mountains of garbage collected by high school students in this area last fall, a bulging bag every few hundred meters. The Valley Fish and Game club and Wilderness Watch collect gravel truck loads of junk on their forays into the woods. I’ve seen worse damping and littering, but only in Third World countries and backward regions of some U.S. states, never in B.C. or Canada. Some nearby portions of Vancouver Island, Nanaimo, Ladysmith, Courtenay and Chemainus, are almost as bad and parts of the Fraser Valley are right up there, but we take the crown as Canada’s top slob region.

Why? What can be done to curb bush dumping?

It is against the law to dump garbage randomly, but dumpers are almost never caught. The Litter Act is not a high priority with enforcement agencies, and people who dump garbage seldom leave anything with their name on it like cancelled cheques, mail or magazine subscription labels. When they are occasionally caught by a concerned person, the RCMP are glacially slow to take action.

Bush dumping will eventually cease as community attitudes toward the environment improve. For some reason, this area has been slow to adopt a green philosophy and a casual environmental attitude still prevails.

It shouldn’t last much longer. Help dispel it by encouraging your friends and neighbors to reduce, reuse and recycle. And if you know someone who dumps garbage in the woods, let them know that this foul deed is no longer acceptable. Inform them that the generation of swine is fast drawing to a close.

UPDATE

July 25/2020

I left Lake Cowichan in 1998 and lived in Chilliwack for twenty years. The situation was no better there. It may have been worse. The roads along the Fraser River and river bars themselves were loaded with junk. It was in Chilliwack that I was introduced to pallet burning for campfires. I guess the stores want to get rid of old pallets and they are there for the taking. People help themselves and they end up in burn piles on the river bars. After burning, loads of nails are left behind along with the usual garbage. Another Chilliwack junk feature was the large amount of yard slash. People of Chilliwack seem obsessed with keeping manicured yards and I have never seen so many lawn care/landscaping businesses. There is a green depot for yard waste but a lot of it also ends up in piles along backroads. Other businesses contribute as well. When Barbara and I lived in “the wack”, one of our favorite places was Murray Lake – a mountain lake not far from the Coquihalla Summit. Other Chilliwack people went there too on long weekends and such. One summer weekend a crew from a Chilliwack construction firm (Jakes) left truckloads of garbage behind in a meadow just north of the lake. It seemed like some of it was stuff they had brought up from job sites in the Fraser Valley.

Since 2018, we have lived in Port Alberni and I am pleased to report that the woods garbage situation is much better here. Mind you, access into the woods is highly curtailed by gates. These are supposed to be open on the weekends but you never can be certain and there is a constant fear of getting locked in if they are open. So people here don’t feel they have a license to dump their junk on logging roads. In fact I would venture to say there are more people picking up junk than dropping it off. Port Alberni folks also have put in substantial efforts to control broom along the highway.

So perhaps he corner has been turned and more people are cherishing the environment than trashing it.

Tags: why pee in your own beer
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Riparian Vegetation Important

September 24th, 2020

The Lake News, Lake Cowichan, B.C., Wednesday, January 17, 1990

Riparian Vegetation Important

Stream bank vegetation is a very important component of healthy streams. It provides shade that reduces summer temperature, protects banks and property from erosion, acts as a buffer against sediment from upland runoff, insulates soils from the harmful effects of freezing and thawing and provides cover for fish in the form of root networks. The streamside canopy hosts a large number of insects in various stages of development. Many fall or are blown into streams and constitute an important food source for fish. This is especially so in many smaller creeks during the summer when some streams withdraw to isolated pools and the drifting food supply carried by moving water is no longer available. During this critical period, insects provided by the leaf canopy will make the difference between death and survival for many fish.

Leaves provided by riparian vegetation, especially alders, also contribute to the food budget of streams by providing forage for aquatic insects and contributing valuable nutrients as they decay. These nutrients, along with sunlight, form the base of the food chain in water and are very important in coastal streams which are nutrient poor due to high flushing rates and low nutrient soils.

Aside from biological considerations, streamside vegetation is an important esthetic element of the streamscape.

Most British Columbians are very aware of the values of streamside vegetation and the need to protect it. Logging companies, land developers, farmers, road builders and others are usually required to leave some vegetation along waterways. However, private land owners are usually not restricted and are sometimes tempted to include streams in landscaping projects. Some of these efforts result in complete removal of riparian vegetation. Unwittingly, these projects can damage stream banks and lower stream productivity.

The recently formed Lake Cowichan Village Waterways Committee will be sending a letter to property owners on the Cowichan River that stresses the importance’ of riparian vegetation and the need to protect and enhance it for the benefits of stream ecology and property protection.

The Upper River Riparian Zone is reasonably healthy but can be improved if property owners encourage the growth of natural vegetation like willow and red osier; low growing trees and shrubs with strong root networks that can be cropped if they grow too high or begin to create a jungle. A relatively narrow band is all that is usually necessary in most places and clearing narrow access paths to the river is compatible.

In these times of general decline in environmental quality, a community should do all it can to improve its environmental assets. The Cowichan River is one of our greatest.

A classic Upper Cowichan coho stream

Tags: streamside vegetation
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Steelhead in BC

September 20th, 2020

STEELHEAD IN BRITISH COLUMBIA

Steelhead is the name given to the great sea running rainbow trout, considered by many anglers to be the finest of sport fish. Some say commercial fishers provided the name because the fish were hard to dispatch when whacked on the head. Whether taken in October on a wet fly in Morice or Thompson, a dry fly on the Dean in August, a spoon in May in the Squamish or a spin – glo in December on the Cowichan, an encounter with a fresh run steelhead is always memorable for the angler.

Hatched and reared in the waters of western North American coastal river system, this magnificent fish migrates sea ward in its youth and grows to maturity in the energy rich waters of the North Pacific before returning to the river of its birth to spawn. Unlike salmon, steelhead do not necessarily die after spawning. Some survive and may return more than once to spawn again. Repeat spawners are rare however because he upstream migration, the spawning event and the readjustment to ocean life are strenuous and drain a great deal of the steelhead’s energy reserves.

DISTRIBUTION

When the massive ice sheets covered BC over 10,000 years ago steelhead survived in what are now Oregon, California and Northern Mexico. Imagine catching a steelhead in the Los Angeles River! As the ice retreated steelhead gradually recolonized the rivers of BC. They presently range from Central California to Alaska. They are also present in The Russian Far East on the Kamchatka Peninsula. Steelhead have been introduced to many exotic locales far beyond their native range.

Although a large portion of the4 world’s steelhead streams are located in BC, very few support large populations. Most of these streams drain small steep basins

A mint summer run from the Gordon River

which are low in soil nutrients, have wild flow fluctuations and cold water for most of the year and often do not allow migratory much access due to waterfalls close to the sea.

Some exceptional systems which have lower gradients are stabilized by lakes or drain lands rich in nutrients support larger populations. The Columbia River system including the BC section once supported large numbers of steelhead. Rivers further south like the Klamath, Rogue and Umpqua still support many more steelhead than the best rivers of BC. These streams drain richer lands with more gentle weather and terrain.

BC anglers should not feel too unfortunate however. We still have many beautiful rivers to choose from that support generally large fish. We must be aware of our stream’ limitations and govern our expectations. Currently, BC steelhead are just hanging on in many rivers and catch and release regulations have become universal in our province.

LIFE HISTORY

A steelhead begins life in late winter or early spring as a pink pea sized egg buried in river gravel. As the water slowly warms, the egg hatches and slowly begins to look like a little fish. Early in the summer, it begins struggling upward to the stream as an alevin which is about half fish and half egg. The shifting of the gravel by floods and the smothering effects of sand and silt prevent most eggs from reaching this stage: of several thousand eggs deposited by the female, only a few hundred generally survive to emerge as free swimming fry about 30 mm in length.

When the fry break through to their new environment, they quickly seek out the protection and gentle current of the stream edge. They feed on small insects and hide under stones at the first sign of danger. They are highly vulnerable and many are eaten by kingfishers, mergansers and larger fish or are swept downstream by higher flows. As summer progresses, the survivors grow and move to more favourable feeding stations further out in the stream. Chances of survival are increasing now but the heat and dryness of summer take their toll of young fish. This is especially true in watersheds that have been extensively modified by man.

A fry salvage crew works on a drying stream

As the rain and cool nights of fall begin, the steelhead juveniles now called parr or fingerlings gradually become less active and seek out a refuge area where they can avoid the perils of winter. Because they are cold blooded their body temperature falls and they can no longer muster enough energy keep pace with the increasing current. They try and find protected off channel habitat like side channels with groundwater input, riparian wetlands or areas of log jams or over hangs and boulder gardens where they can tuck themselves in. Winter is a time of stress and mortality: the survivors are strong fish that have chosen well protected hiding places.

When the milder days of spring finally return, the young trout seek out feeding stations back in the current to regain their strength and vigour. Spring is a bountiful time on the river and the fish grow rapidly. In a few of our most productive streams, some of them are now one year old fish and are large enough to undergo the physical and chemical transformation to smolts and move down to the estuary then out to the North Pacific. But for the majority one, two or even three more years is necessary to bring them to smolt size.

The ocean environment is less hostile and offers a rich energy supply. Young steelhead are quick to take advantage and grow fast .Most of them make their way to the open sea in the Gulf of Alaska where they spend two to four years growing to be the large beautiful trout so favoured by the angler. A few fish spend the summer feeding around the home estuary. They return to the river the following winter as 30 – 40 centimetre fish.

When their physiological conditions dictate, the open ocean steelhead begin the long journey to the home river. Summer runs are the first to show sometimes as early as March. They work their way into deep canyon pools and hold there ripening and darkening until they reach full sexual maturity late in the following winter or early spring. The more common winter runs begin entering the rivers in the late fall and winter and continue until April or May.

At spring spawning time the females select sites, usually near the tail spill of a pool, to construct a red or nest to deposit her eggs. In preparing the redd, the female turns on her side and with strong tail flexes, moves the gravel and small stones to form a depression some 15 cm deep. Males fight to position themselves beside the female. When the redd is ready, both sexes settle into it and simultaneously release eggs and sperm. The female moves upstream immediately and covers the eggs with gravel then begins to excavate another red and the process is repeated. She may lay from 3000 to 15,000 eggs depending on her size.

When spawning is done, the fish are much weakened. They hold near the red for a few days then drift downstream. They are termed kelts now and are often a sorry looking lot, dark and thin with worn tails and battle scared. Some will recover and mend but most will not make it.

PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

BC steelhead stocks have undergone a steep decline since at least 1965. For decades, there was no information to work with. The BC Fish and Wildlife Branch began query anglers via a questionnaire in the 1960’s and that provided some clues. Anglers also began to respond in more direct ways. By the late 60’s, concerned fishermen, were expressing strong concern about the state of their resource. The province responded with more conservative regulations almost immediately and the fish started to respond. But the issue was not just one of too liberal catch, far from it. Many land use issues had driven down the fish. Logging was especially rough before the mid 1970’s but agriculture, dams, road construction and general urban development have taken a large toll. For decades BC was the land of dusty roads and ten cent beers where one could buy a good house for less than ten grand but those days are long gone. Now we have vast cities sprawling into what was wild country and five dollar beer.

The commercial fishery was also highly problematical in the steelhead decline. Some of the land use issues have improved greatly. I am especially proud of how the forest industry has improved, but commercial interception of steelhead by the salmon fishery has proven to be hugely vexing especially where the salmon runs have been enhanced and require intensive fishing to harvest them. Steelhead run in with the salmon and the fish are caught in nets which kill everything that encounters them including steelhead. General runs of salmon are also hurting so the enhanced runs are under even more pressure. Many people at much higher pay grades than I will ever see, have tangled

This slope on Upper Harris Creek was clear cut and slash burned – 1960’s

with this issue without much resolve. Commercial fishers are a fiercely independent, hard headed bunch who are barely hanging on themselves so it will take some kind of miracle – like intervention to solve this issue.

Every time I think of a Thompson River steelhead ending up in a net, I become enraged. And I have seen them in the native fishery near Chilliwack – lovely silver slabs hanging by their gills with the sockeye bound for the same river system.

The natives must feel about like the steelheaders but even more so because they have lost so much and it seems impossible to get more than even a shadow of it back.

I haven’t even spoken about climate issues and the changing ocean environment. Are these issues are even possible to mitigate? Before too long we all may know how the natives and the steelheaders feel. Indeed.

Ted Burns

August 2, 2020

This is a modified version of a publication called STEELHEAD TROUT IN BRITISH COLUMBIA published by the BC Ministry of Environment in 1981. It was written by me and featured photos by Eric Carlisle and Tony Pletcher and art work by Jack Grundle,

Girl releases a Cowichan River steelhead

Tags: cherished fish at risk
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Rose Yvonne

September 19th, 2020

Rose Yvonne Swain – Grandma Rose was born 28 November 1882? Near Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. She died on Oct. 10, 1964 in Nelson, BC from cirrhosis of the liver. She was buried on October 15, 1964 in Nelson

Rose’s birth certificate says she was born Nov. 28, 1883 at Prince Albert. This was information that she provided the Saskatchewan government in 1941 when she applied for a birth certificate. She couldn’t locate her baptismal record (I have looked unsuccessfully in every nook and cranny for it). Her cousin Panteleon Schmidt was her informant. She was probably born earlier. Her Mother married Rose’s stepfather 10.5 months before the listed Nov. birth date. When her mother married Elzear Swain, the marriage register shows her name as Caroline Schmidt so Caroline never married Ralph Nome who was Rose’s father. It was probably more convenient for Rose to give her birth date 10 months after her mother married.(There are several other mistakes on her birth certificate other than the name of her father and the listed birth date: her stepfather Elzear was not born in England but in Manitoba,. It says children alive of this mother were Edmund and Rose. Rose’s mother married Elzar in St. Laurent not Prince Albert). As for where she was born, John Mc Nab Ballendin McKay was a witness on her Scrip application. He says he was a neighbour when she was born. He homesteaded at River Lot Township 46 Range 26 W2 which is some 25 km SE of Prince Albert. Rose never knew her father or his parents. She probably didn’t know her maternal grandmother either as he was estranged from the family. However she lived in the same area as her maternal grandmother and some of her aunts and uncles so she had some family around. The Schmidt relatives called her Yvonne because there were three other Roses.

Not much is known of her early years.

She was only three at the time of the Rebellion at Batoche but her family was affected .Her grandfather Alfred, his wife Emelei and four children were taken prisoner when Fort Pitt surrendered and were held six weeks by Big Bear. Her uncle Modeste was a member of the Battleford Rifles fighting for the rebels. Meanwhile her stepfather and brother John were on the opposite side. Elzear was charged with treason and held for four months in Regina before being released. Elzear’s brother John was killed at the Battle of Batoche and buried sitting up in a mass grave (Indian style). Her stepfather claimed land at Pt 2 & 9 Township 45 Range 27 in 1883. This is near St. Louis, SK. In 1891 they were living in St. Laurent, SK. In 1891 her stepfather is listed as a farmer. In 1901 he is listed as a hunter.

In 1900 they were living in Havre, Montana where they went about 1898. Eight of her step siblings were going to the Fort Shaw Indian Residential School there. Fort Shaw was considered “The Queen of Montana Posts” and was used as an Indian School after being abandoned in 1890. She had 10 step siblings. A number of Canadian Cree together with a small band of Chippewa’s from the Great lakes area lived a semi nomadic life in this area. For many years they moved between Montana cities such as Butte, Helena, Great Falls and Havre and in and out of Canada. They tried to obtain a reservation but were unsuccessful as they and their leader – Little Bear- were considered Canadians. The U.S. government tried unsuccessfully to deport them in 1896. Eventually they joined up with Chief Rock Boy and obtained the Rocky Boy reservation south of Havre in 1916. In 1900 and received Scrip as a Métis. In 1901 they were living in East End, SK. In the 1901 census she is listed as speaking French and English but her mother tongue is Cree and her racial origin is Cree SB (Cree Scotch Breed). Years later as a senior she still remembered many Cree words and prayed in French. She was devout Catholic and went to Mass daily for many years. Rose remembered travelling across the prairies by Red River cart and using buffalo dung as fuel.

In 1906 she was censused at the Commercial Hotel in Maple Creek, SK working as a waitress. Her mother and siblings were also there. When Rose and John Burns were married in Nelson, the Daily News said she was from Lethbridge. She told me she had lived in the Milk River Country in Southern Alberta .Her engagement notice calls her Rosie, popular local girl.

Rose arrived in Nelson about 1908. One of her sisters travelled with her settled in Ymir where she worked at the hotel. She died in the Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918/19 and is buried in Ymir. Both Cousin John and Dad and I have searched for her grave several times but there is no marker. Rose was working as a waitress in the Hume when she met her husband to be.

She married John twice. The first time was at the Anglican Church (a compromise between Catholic and Presbyterian?) then six weeks later in the Catholic Church.

rys_0004

She enjoyed life as they became relatively prosperous. They had a nice home in town and a summer home on the North Shore. She could afford shopping trips to Spokane. It was said that if she wanted a piece of furniture badly enough, she would talk her husband into buying the house furnished. She enjoyed gardening and had a lovely flower garden at the summer home in Nelson as well as nice flowering gardens around the Ainsworth pool and hotel. She also had a big vegetable garden at their Ainsworth summer home along with fruit and berries. Rose learned to swim with her children at age 40 and learned to drive a car in her late 40’s. She was an expert seamstress and even made hats. She also loved music, dancing and reading. After her children were grown, she and John spent part of the winters in Vancouver. She took her daughter Jean to Saskatchewan to meet her relatives in 1917.

When John and Rose lived across the lake from Nelson, there was boat access only. They had boathouses on both sides of the lake and John kept a garage on the Nelson side. They had a variety of small boats – some with inboard motors, some were rowboats made at Walton boat works. The rowboats were beautiful and easy to row. They used to go over for the summer around April or May but would sometimes go earlier for a few days to get things ready. Gram loved these times and liked to make her tea from a spring on the property that was near a salt lick used by the deer. Rose was an outdoor woman long before the term became popular. She was not much for cooking and cleaning but she loved to hike. She often took the steep hike up to the reservoir ( the water supply which was a dammed spring up the mountain)or Pulpit Rock. She would take a cane she grabbed out of the bush and some fruit and head out. I sometimes went with her but could not keep up. She loved to tease me about that.

In their later years, John and Rose lived in a small house at 212 Latimer St. in Nelson. John was in poor health by then and was a bit hard to live with. When he died in 1962, Rose had a period of freedom. She bought a small record player and enjoyed listening to Elvis and other popular singers that John was not fond of. She also enjoyed reading and accumulated stacks of paperbacks beside the couch. Gradually her sight gave out – likely due to cataracts – and she died shortly after.

How much Indian blood did Rose have?

Her great great grandmother Nowananikkee was a Salteaux Indian – Rose got 6.25% of her genes.
If her great grandmother mother Marianne Genereux was Metis at 50%, Rose got 6.25% of her genes here.
If her father Ralph was white, Rose would have 12.5% native blood.
If Marianne was native, Rose would have 12.5% Indian blood
If her father was Metis at 50%, Rose would have 25% native blood via him for a total of 43.75% native.

porchpair

Elaine (my mother) and Gram on porch of old Ainsworth Hot Springs Hotel

circa 1940.

rys_0002

Young Rose

John Burns

Ted Burns

Tags: girl from the North Country
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New Chinook Spawning Bed

September 19th, 2020

Chinook Spawning Bed Installed Above Weir

100 tons of washed gravel was added to an existing chinook salmon spawning area just above the weir on the south side of Cowichan River on June 7. The purpose was to increase both the quality and area of the bed which consisted of pea gravel and sand – very marginal spawning habitat. Cowichan chinooks are on the decline again after more than a decade of strong returns. Only 1100 spawned last fall, a record low. Although the amount of spawning habitat is not a factor limiting chinook production, it was felt that improvement at this site would benefit the early run which is now nearly extinct and aid overall production. Lake outlets are ideal locations for spawning beds because of a stable supply of clean water and a rich food supply for emerging fry in the form of zooplankton (tiny animals that live near the surface of the lake). The weir spawning bed is the first place chinooks spawn in the Cowichan River and the only known location where early run fish spawn. These fish were formerly much more abundant than fall run fish and spawned in several Cowichan Lake tributaries like Shaw, Nixon, Sutton and Meade Creeks and Robertson River. There are probably less than 100 left from a population that was likely more than 100,000 prior to the early 1900’s.

The gravel was hauled up from Butler Brother’s pit near Duncan, loaded onto Wayne Robertson’s barge near Ashburnham Beach and towed almost to the site with a small tug. The water was too shallow for the tug to get the barge right to the site so it had to be lined down for the last 100 m and coaxed into place with an outboard. The gravel was then shovelled overboard by a seven-person crew consisting of Wayne and Owen Robertson, Philip Lorenson, Doug Blake, Chris Davis, Gord Neva and Ted Burns. Funding, equipment and materials for the project were provided by Norske Canada, Butler Brothers, South Shore Industries and the Pacific Salmon Foundation.

Ted Burns

Cowichan Lake Salmonid Enhancement Society

Summer, 2004.

Lake Cowichan Gazette

Photos

Owenload

Photo : Loading gravel onto the barge at Wayne Robertson’s barge landing near Ashburnham Beach – Owen Robertson operator.

tow

Photo : Towing the load to the site

load

Photo : 100 tons of gravel

shovelcrew

Photo : Shovelling the gravel onto the spawning bed

Tags: s old barge put to use, Wayne
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Deer on the Move

September 19th, 2020

THE LAKE NEWS, Lake Cowichan, B.C. Wednesday November 30, 1988

Deer on decline? Or Not?

By Ted Burns

I’ve forgotten the year but it wasn’t more than 10 or 12 years ago. I was searching for a waterfall on the east fork of the Robertson River when I came across a large rut in the ground, almost a trench. I scratched my head for a while before realizing what I’d found: an old deer runway (trail) from the days when the Cowichan Lake area had one of the largest deer populations on Vancouver Island. Those times are long gone. Deer have declined remarkably here and all over the island in the last few decades. The main reason …the tight canopy of second growth forests.

Early logging and accompanying fires created a bonanza for deer. Thousands of hectares of new slash and nutritious browse. And there was still lots of old growth to provide food and shelter in harsh winters. Deer became as numerous as grasshoppers in the dry fields of August. In the Nimpkish Valley, the last area in the Douglas fir zone to experience ideal habitat conditions, I counted more than 800 deer along a two-mile stretch of road. The year was 1972.

But the rapid progressive clear cutting that caused deer populations to climb is also the main reason for their fall. As the new forest returned, its canopy cut off sunlight and the deer food supply. Because logging was so rapid, large areas of relatively even-aged second growth now cover much of the east slope of Vancouver Island and deer are the worse for it. Deer were never abundant on the West Coast of the Island except in scattered pockets.

There are now more deer in old growth forests than in second growth. The stands are not as dense, there are more natural openings and the lichens that grow on old trees provide a good deal of food when branches are brought down by winds or decay. Tree lichens are the major food source of deer in winter.

Should a severe winter occur in the near future, there could be a catastrophic deer die-off because the winter habitat value of second growth is low. The last really hard winter on the South Coast was 1968-69. 20 years ago.

It’s not likely that there will ever be very large numbers of deer on Vancouver Island again in my life time. The old growth forests are still being opened on the West Slope but soil nutrients are low in cedar-hemlock forests and there are few deer even in ideal habitat. Deer will always be present however and there will be pockets of abundance as there are now, particularly in mountain herds and in the lowland resident deer around farm land.

There could be reasonable numbers of deer again if the rate of future logging is not so rapid and it is spaced over larger areas; a more patchwork pattern instead of progressive clear cutting. And if selected stands of timber are left to reach old age and provide winter range, deer numbers could someday approach those of years ago. There may still be a few stands of what I call core habitat – scruffy old growth on rocky south and west facing slopes with lots of lichens. These places must be absolutely protected. I don’t think it will happen but the choice is there.

Update – July 20, 2020

It is now 2020 and deer have become urbanized. There are more than a few places in BC where deer are now almost pests. I moved to Port Alberni in 2018 and, on the first trip downtown, we saw a four point buck marching down Third Avenue which is the main street. It was a quiet Sunday morn and Port Alberni is by no means an expanding metropolis. It has lost population since the 1970’s. But I was still surprised. I shouldn’t have been. The lady we bought our house from kept a paint ball gun handy to protect her flowers. We took no action and now have several deer that are part of the family. We are kind of on the edge of town and deer love the place. Important stuff is fenced but the deer are constantly on the lookout for something that over tops or pokes thru the

fences,

Other island communities are similar. Even parts of Victoria have deer. Some of these places are quite urban – to developed for deer but they are there, Never mind Grand Forks or Cranbrook which have lots of deer.

As surprising at it may be to see a deer family in your yard, you still do not see many out in the bush. Some people think that deer have adapted to the urban life for protection from predators. I think they are simply taking advantage of the superior habitat conditions provide by the favorable mix of openings, forest patches at variable seral stages along with gardens and fruit trees.

I should say that overall logging practices have improved greatly since the early seventies. Smaller, openings, less roads and improved streamside and riparian treatment but the rush to replenish harvestable stands is not going to change and most of the working forest will be tree farms of questionable habitat value for deer.

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A nice buck feasting on plums near my Lake Cowichan driveway

Tags: backyard deer
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The Steelhead Story

July 18th, 2020

The Steelhead Story

It was a mild afternoon late in the winter of 1969 – a big snow winter on the South Coast. I’d finished a good day of steelheading on Nanaimo River and dropped into Johnson’s Hardware to brag. “Hit nine fish between the Willow and Haslam Runs and a couple were real sharks”. Ernie Johnson just shrugged. “You young guys just don’t know” he said. “Years ago you could catch forty on a good day”. He had the photos to prove it. Dog eared slaughter shots that would produce howls of outrage today. “Yeah, there were sure lots of fish in those days” I agreed.

But there weren’t; not in the way it seemed.

Few people fished for steelhead in BC before the 1960’s. Winter fish were ghosts of grey days and murky rivers. Most summer steelhead streams were remote and little known. Specialized steelhead tackle was still in the future. The early days were heady for the few angles who fished steelhead. Imagine having a lovely river like the Cowichan almost to yourself. Herman Mayea, a pioneer Cowichan steelheader can. “I remember one year back in the fifties when I had a contest with my fishing partner. I caught 300 but he caught more than 500.”

It’s not surprising that steelhead were thought to be abundant in the past. This misconception was one of several that led to the perilous situation in the mid seventies when steelhead numbers became dangerously low in many streams.

It was aided by information from American rivers where steelhead were more abundant. Lacking research of our own, B.C. relied on US knowledge. But steelhead streams to the south are different. Aside from Northern Washington, their basins were never heavily glaciated, their watershed soils are deeper and richer and climate and terrain are less harsh allowing the fish a longer growing season and better access to the upper reaches of rivers.

Many BC coastal streams drain short, steep basins of gravel and granite where run off is super charged by heavy rain and snow melt which causes wild flow fluctuations. The water is often cold even in the summer months and ice can be a factor in the winter. Nutrients are sparse and waterfalls often block passage a short distance from the sea. Young steelhead in the Northwest States usually smolt in their first of second year while many BC juveniles don’t head to sea for three or even four years. Every year they spend in freshwater takes a toll.

In short, most of our steelhead streams are much less productive than those to the south and where we thought we had thousands of fish, we had hundreds. Where we thought there were hundreds, there were tens.

Aside from a few premium streams like the Cowichan, the Stamp the Gold, the Dean and the Bella Coola in their good days, most of our streams carry a few hundred steelhead. With the forty fish annual catch quota before the mid-seventies, a few good steelheaders could easily catch most of the run. But steelhead research was thin in BC and American data was solid. What difference could a few hundred miles make?

By the mid –seventies, steelhead were falling back in many of our streams. Two fortunate circumstances combined to propel their recovery:

Steelheaders began to lobby for catch and release and reduced kill. Some steelheaders began asking for a much reduced kill as early as 1969. In 1970, the Steelhead Society of BC was formed. Steelheaders like Barry Thornton, Earl Colp and Ted Harding Senior not only lobbied for better angling regulations but they were instrumental in helping to improve forest policy and practices around streams and reducing the commercial interception of steelhead.
The Salmonid Enhancement Program(SEP) began in 1977

In my opinion steelheading has always attracted many anglers more interested in quality fishing rather than filling the freezer so it didn’t take much for steelheaders to demand more careful management of their resource when it appeared to be in trouble. Many anglers practised catch and release long before it became law. SEP provided funding for population surveys which quickly revealed that steelhead were by no means abundant. Prior to snorkel counts, the only available indicator of steelhead abundance in BC was the steelhead harvest analysis which was based on an angler questionnaire rather than direct observation.

More careful regulation began in 1977 when the annual catch quota was reduced from forty to twenty. It was then quickly reduced to ten and catch and release, barbless hooks and bait bans followed and have persisted to this day along with total closure in some cases.

Steelhead numbers were thought to have bottomed out in about 1979 and the 80`s were a period of recovery. In 1985, I spent a lot of time fishing the Riverbottom Reach at my friend Linda McLeod`s. She had lived there for ten years and had never caught a steelhead despite putting in lots of effort. She believed catching a steelhead was beyond her even though her yard fronted on Asha`s Run, one of the river`s best steelhead holding areas. In 1985, she caught over fifty and her nine year old daughter even caught several. I lost count of those I caught.

The bonanza was very gratifying but it didn`t last. By the 1990`s fish were dropping off again and scientists were beginning to realize that ocean conditions were a strong factor in salmonid survival. Many had thought that if the freshwater environment was protected and fostered, steelhead numbers would hold. A lot of effort was put in to careful catch regulation and habitat protection and more effort was expended on basic research. But so many factors are ganging up on these beautiful fish that their survival is very tenuous.

Ocean survival has dropped off the scale in the last two decades and there does not seem to be much that can be done about it because the problem is global and beyond the control of BC or Canada. Even if a co-ordinated world effort was undertaken, resolution would be very tough. People with far more grey matter than I have strained themselves almost beyond reach looking for answers and there are many that do not even agree about the true nature of the problem. But there are things that we can do as Canadians to make sure we are doing our best for the fish.

Commercial interception in salmon net fisheries is still a huge problem. Premier world class steelhead are being killed so we can sell our salmon to the highest bidders. I have long advocated for a more controlled salmon fishery where the harvest would be more terminal and selective. This means taking more sockeye, pinks and chums and releasing more chinooks, coho and steelhead – probably all the steelhead. At one time, salmon traps were utilized along important migration corridors like Juan de Fuca Strait. This required a shared, collective effort but fishermen wanted to catch their own fish and boats and gear developed so the Wild West approach could be employed. Efforts have been made to thin the fleet and loads of fishers have been squeezed out but things have not improved much and the few fishermen left in the not so wild west are still griping in their five dollars a glass beer when they can afford a few. Meanwhile salmon farming has moved in to supply the demand. There are issues with that but I believe they can be largely mitigated or controlled.

Can a renewed collective effort of reduced or eliminated commercial interception, continued habitat improvement and protection and some kind of fish culture input start us back to a steelhead return? Perhaps but it will not be easy or anywhere near it. I can hear the howls of outrage already as I have heard them ringing off the walls for more than fifty years in my life as a salmonid biologist.

Ted Harding with a summer steelhead from Money’s Pool on the Stamp River in 1971

Tags: the grandest of them all
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Death Down the Alley

July 18th, 2020

Death Down the Alley

There is little that is more vexing to me than a useless death – a death for a life unfulfilled or a death for no good reason. Now you are probably thinking about death from addiction or some young person felled by a rare disease but no, what I am thinking of is animals that are killed by police or conservation officers for just being animals.

Bryce Casavant, former Port Hardy Conservation Officer must also be wondering if police and CO’s may be a little too quick on the draw when it comes to dispatching “problem” wildlife. Casavant ran into trouble when he refused to kill a pair of young bears when someone complained about them so he decided to try and find out if the problem was more an itchy trigger finger than a problem with wildlife. He speculated that many CO’s were associated with the culture of hunting and perhaps tended to view wildlife as an economic asset to be exploited and killed or as a danger to life or property instead of a resource to be nurtured and appreciated. At any rate, I can’t help but feel there is a far too cavalier attitude to killing wildlife that could cause a problem – especially predators. Between 2011 and 2019, 4341 black bears, 162 grizzlies and 780 cougars were killed. That is a lot of lives lost for what I think could be rather flimsy reasons. Of course you cannot know for sure and the officer always must err on the side of caution when human life is involved. But how often is it really? Are there not better, more humane methods of dealing with problem wildlife?

When I lived in the West Kootenay Region, bears were a constant presence and if you let your guard down, they could quickly become problematic. Ted Rutherglen was the Nelson CO. He got very tired of having to almost constantly kill bears so he began tranquilizing them and transporting them away from where they were causing a problem. I sometimes helped him out. He attached a tranquilizer dart to a ski pole then climbed up the tree to stab the bear with the dart. When the bear came down, it was moved into a trap then re – located. Eventually, the dart could be fired with a rifle which saved Ted a few scraped shins. The bears never bothered Ted but they usually showed up in the same places again somewhat chagrined but still an issue. The bears were usually black bears but sometimes he had to deal with grizzlies. On one occasion he had to shoot two young grizzlies in Kokanee Glacier Park. The National Ski Team was training on the glacier in the summer and they befriended the bears who started to hang around. I had friends on the team and they told me the bears were very friendly and were even ridden by some of the kids. Somehow the Fish and Wildlife Branch got word of this and Rutherglen was ordered to dispatch these beautiful young bears or find another occupation. This was very hard on him but he eventually complied under protest.

For awhile, trapping and relocation became very common. However, it wasn’t as easy as it may have seemed and many if not most returned. I remember trying to catch a bear near Kaslo for about a week without success. We finally had to buy a side of bacon to get him in the trap.

Traps can be hard on animals especially if long trips on rough roads are involved which they often are. When you do figure a spot you can pretty well bet that another resident animal will be there and your animal will have to crowd its way in or try to find another space or go back home. Sometimes you separate parents and siblings and the list goes on.

Another factor may be the way the Conservation Officer Service is set up. Prior to about 1980, the service was part of the BC Police or the BC Fish and Wildlife Branch. I can’t say much about the BC Police time but I do know about the Fish and Wildlife Branch/ Ministry of Environment days. At that time, the CO, s were part of a team of biologists and technicians and were not directly wedded to issues of enforcement and wildlife control. Most of the CO’S were involved with habitat inventory and management, regulation formulation and public education. The job was more conservation oriented and had more variety.

I remember that many of the CO’s of the time were not completely comfortable with the variety of the tasks and some just wanted to be bush cops. They constantly lobbied for special uniforms and side arms. More police things than conservation things.

I have lost contact with today’s Conservation Officers but I occasionally come in contact with “Natural Resource Officers”. They tell me they do environmental enforcement and don’t have much contact with CO’s. In the early seventies, he CO’s were the face of the environment and well known in the communities they worked in. Most would do whatever they could to avoid killing problem wildlife. Is today’s Conservation Officer a different breed? A few years back I lived in Lake Cowichan on Vancouver Island, a place with an about normal degree of bear human conflicts. It got so the people of The Lake refused to call the CO’s or RCMP about a bear because the bear almost always got shot.

There has to be a better way. I know live in Port Alberni another place with a normal supply of bears. They are in our yard a lot and we have noticed that those that get scared off in their initial contact are very careful about sneaking back and flee easily. I wonder if it would be possible to condition bears to stay away with an aggressive dog, bear bangers or other frights. If these things were combined withal the other safety suggestions or regulations, it may be possible to save a few animals.

Ted Burns

July 18, 2020

Tags: death not needed
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The World’s Greatest Hockey Player

June 15th, 2020

The World’s Greatest Hockey Player

The world’s greatest hockey player has yet to be invented but the following are the conditions that I believe will be required to produce such a creature.

I believe the best player of all will be a person of colour other than white. The finest athletes in other sports are generally non-white. This person is also likely to be a Canadian because Canada is the greatest hockey country and encourages diversity. It is also likely that the player will come from an average economic background and not be a child of privilege trained in an elite program. However, it is also probable that the person will be from a city and reared on public rinks and programs. Of course, it would be more interesting and romantic if the player came from a small town like Trail or Sudbury and their ice time came more from a natural pond or slough rather than the town rink. I also think that the player will be from a four on four system that allows more space for creativity than do the standard five on five system where the crowded ice surface makes it much easier to play defensive hockey by simply getting in the way of offensive thrusts. One could also envisage larger ice surfaces producing more creativity in the five on five game but that would require reducing the number of spectators which is an undesirable outcome in a game so dependent on crowd revenue. Of course, this scenario is just the musings of a long-time fan who has never spent a day coaching or otherwise contributing to the game. I don’t even have any kids in Hockey so I am certain that my musings will not carry much weight in the hockey establishment.

However, if I did have kids in the game or was coaching kids, I would be very concerned that the conditions are unlikely to foster the player I imagine. How are people of average or lower income to afford the game with its remarkable expenses. Skates and sticks are like a week’s wages and no kid likes to have anything less than the best. And how can the average training program compete with the elite club programs with their coaches, nutrition specialists and so on.

A few years ago, I attended a BC Hockey League event in Chilliwack called “The Showcase”. Each team played the other and the idea was to provide fans and scouts with a preview of the league for that season. I had the chance to speak with a number of the player’s parents. I was amazed to discover that nearly all the kids had come from special elite programs and many of the parents were top business executives, lawyers and such and were based in places like Calgary or Toronto. The BCHL is Junior A hockey and few of the players will earn professional contracts. Many will gain scholarships to NCAA schools in the states but that’s about it. It is excellent hockey for sure. Maybe the best deal for hockey fans in BC but when you see what people go through to get their kids even to this level, you wonder about my player who is likely a New Canadian with parents of limited resources who will be fortunate to play in a public league with a coach who is the parent of one of his teammates in a system that has yet to be accepted.

I won’t be holding my breath but it is nice to dream.

Tags: a player yet to come
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The Characters of Nelson

May 24th, 2020

The Characters of Nelson

It seems like the City of Nelson has always had a unique collection of colorful individuals. In the early days there were people Like Colonel Lowery with his poison pen and newspapers. Then came folks like Wo Lee who fascinated the kids of Fairview and was wonderfully described by John Norris. Taffy Jack and Coal Oil Johnny were other characters of earlier times. Coal Oil Johnny was a neighbor to the Burns family. He lived up the mountain above the house and sometimes visited. That was before my time however. I guess my time to write about the Nelson oddballs was the 1950’s and there was no shortage then. Indeed.

Somewhere up by Mountain Station was Radio Bill. Every so often he would march downtown. He wore a kind of piece – meal military uniform with boots and ribbons and carried two staffs. He always walked straight upright in the military style. We often saw him on Josephine Street going past St. Josephs. I did not know him and never heard him speak but the kids of my age wove fantastic stories about his background.

In my Kootenay Street neighborhood, we had Paul and Mike Tickleball; two elderly Russians who we guessed were gay. They could sometimes be found sprawled out on the west sidewalk of Stanley Street between Latimer and Mill. They sang and laughed and propositioned little boys. We thought they lived out Cottonwood Creek by the location of the old city power plant. There were a few old bachelors out there enjoying their elderberry and dandelion wine.

Cheapie was a little Chinese man who wore a pith helmet and pulled a small wagon. He also carried around a Chicago Bankroll that was pretty fat but had to be mostly show. You could never get him to shed a dime and he was said to become irate if you pressed him. He was often seen downtown and on Vernon near the Liberty Market.

Merv Crosby roamed the downtown alleys looking for boxes he could peddle to stores or people. He often had a huge armload and had developed very creative ways of carrying them.

Cowboy Bill was missing his legs below his knees. It was said he lost them in a rodeo accident. He scuttled around on a mechanics cart and was quite mobile on paved and level ground. He lived in the riparian jungle on the CPR Flats near the mouth of Cottonwood then later moved to Shirley Beach. He fed himself from what he could glean from the dump which was right at hand. We fishermen often saw his track leading to the garbage of the day. Quite few hobos lived in the brush and big cottonwoods there. There was a family we called the Boyce Boys who it was said had a small farm or ranch near the little wetland and pond near where the Two Mile Pond sewage treatment plant by Grohman Park. We couldn’t tell if the Boyce Boys were boys or girls because they all wore the same clothes and had short hair. Hank Coleman solved part of the mystery. He was landing his plane at the dump-cum- airstrip one day when he spotted one of the Boyce clan and Cowboy vigorously making love among the junk. I think the Boyce gang moved up Wildhorse Creek near Ymir where they shot a bobcat and had to appear in court in Creston. They walked all the way over only to be told their case had been postponed.

Then there was George. A fine gentleman who was often seen at Baker and Stanley by the Hudson’s Bay Store. He helped people cross the street and would often have a small conversation with you. He was around for years.

The best known character was my old pal Bruno Bourgeois. Bruno was very friendly and outgoing and loved by all. He could usually be found around Central School. Once I tried to talk him into breaking a window there. He threw a rock but the window failed to break. We tried at other times but he would give you a sly look and decline. He had a sister who was very close to him and she must have warned him about the bad boys of the neighborhood. He used to frequent Nelson Maple Leaf games and one night he got his call: the public address announcer called for a doctor whose name sounded very close to Bruno’s. He was over the boards in a hot second and raced over to the players’ bench. He stayed there for about the rest of the period so the team likely realized what happened and were happy to go along.

Bruno was part of the fabric and charm of Nelson but eventually he got too old and was shuffled off to the Endicott home in Creston where he died a few years ago.

Spider Hansen was another one of a kind character. He showed up about 1955 and lived in a small house in the alley off the end of Mill Street. This alley runs from Carbonate to Latimer. He was a friendly fellow but had a rather short fuse at times. I remember one time Fred Goldsbury was teasing Spider after hockey. Spider started to fume and spit then threw a skate like a spear. It stuck into the dressing room wall just inches from Fred’s head. Skate guards were yet to be invented.

Spider loved to fish and would spend hours around the City Wharf and boathouses dangling some dough on a small hook to catch shiners or small chub. Once an eighteen inch rainbow raced into the school of shiners and grabbed Spider’s hook by mistake. Spider was in his glory. He put the trout on his bike handlebars and rode around town glorifying in his great catch.

Spider hung around the truck terminus to bum rides to fishing spots across Canada and one day failed to return to his pick up spot somewhere on the prairies.

The last time I saw him was perhaps 1968. I was hitch hiking to Nelson from Creston when I gave up and walked back to town. I hadn’t seen Spider for many years when suddenly he turns up. “Hey Teddy, let’s go for a beer”. That was one of his most endearing qualities: no matter how long it had been since you last saw him, he greeted you like it had only been a few days. We went in to the Creston Hotel and had a few before we took the bus back to Nelson sharing a six pack as snow caked the landscape out the window.

Goodbye old pal. I hope you found a spot where the rainbows are big and feisty.

Tags: lets go for beer, Teddy
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Grandma Rose

April 18th, 2020

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My Mother’s Canada

April 18th, 2020

My Mother’s Canada

My mother was born Helen Jane Flynn on May 12, 1920, in San Francisco. Her father was Thomas Joseph Flynn, a mining man in Nevada and Northern California and a shrewd investor who was once president of the San Francisco stock exchange. Her mother was Hazel Sanderson, a nurse who originally came from Massachusetts. Her parents became quite wealthy and built a large home on Parrot Drive in the Baywood neighbourhood of San Mateo, CA just south of San Francisco.

flynnfamcopy

Mother on left then Pappy and Nana Flynn

My mother had the best of all worlds. It was an area of great beauty with the gold hills of the East Bay cradling the bay’s blue waters. On the west were the Santa Cruz Mountains, Crystal Springs Reservoir and the Ocean Beaches at places like Halfmoon Bay. Mother went to private schools and took training in voice and comportment for a young lady of means. I doubt if such a life of privilege exists anymore. My mother even had her own play house which could happily house a small family today. She also had a number of suitors who took her to places and events frequented by the well off.

Baywoodgirl

Mom at home in Baywood

373parrotdrive

The Flynn Home at 373 Parrot Drive

Into this setting comes my father, a student at Santa Clara University down the peninsula from San Mateo and close to San Jose. Not exactly a poor farm boy, my Dad was from a different background and wildly different environment. Indeed. Dad was born in Nelson, BC in 1918 and was the son of pioneer builder John Burns and Rose Yvonne Swain, a Métis girl from Northern Saskatchewan.

Mother and Dad met at a party or dance at Santa Clara and were married in May of 1940. Now is when the story becomes more interesting. Remember that my mother was a California girl that had grown up with maids and gardeners and had been coddled by her parents and her Auntie who lived with the family as kind of an executive assistant to Grandpa Flynn. I wonder if Mom ever cooked or even decided what to wear on day to day basis let alone live in a cabin with a wood stove and shovel waist deep snow.

Dad

Dad as a young man

Not long after their honeymoon in Carmel, CA, the newlyweds travelled north to The Kootenay Region of BC, a place my mother had never seen but about which my father had likely waxed poetically. Her first views of Canada were shrouded by the low cloud and heavy rain so common in the month of June. What she could see of the country was burned off by a recent forest fire and the black spires and snags of dead timber were not exactly what the tourist brochures touted and probably contributed to a worrisome doubt: What have I done? Is this it? Her first views of Canadian towns though the misted windows of the car were of the Kootenay metropolises of Ymir and Salmo. Both had seen better days and some considered Ymir to be a ghost town.

Mom was likely much more impressed with Nelson which is a gem by all standards of measure.

They lived in a good house on the corner of Stanley and Latimer Streets but soon returned to California. I remember little of those years which must have been around 1943-44. I do remember that Pappy Flynn was very patriotic and conservative. He and Nana had a huge painting of George Washington in their ornate living room where people seldom went and I can remember him and Nana railing against Roosevelt and the Unions in the form of the AFL and CIO. In the yard was a tall flagpole and large flag that was kept clean and sparkling. I also remember Nana being an ace cook who gave me a small glass of beer with lunch and Auntie teaching me to read. Pappy Flynn had a good library of books by Brett Hart, Joaquin Miller and William Joseph Long – stories of the pioneer west

Then it was back to BC and Dad was off to the Canadian Army where he was stationed in England during the war. Mother and I lived in Kaslo in a small house on Front Street across from the wharf and where the Moyie (a beloved Kootenay Lake sternwheeler) is now parked. I have been told that Grandpa Burns built the house for her to live in. He did build a number of houses and other buildings in Nelson, Ainsworth and other West Kootenay towns.

Mother and I in Kaslo 1940’s

I was very young but remember the King George Hotel, and have vivid memories of the May Day celebrations where little Japanese girls in white dresses danced around the May Pole. I also remember the beautiful cherries that grew right on Front St. and were picked by everyone. These cherries were larger than the largest you see today. I was told their size diminished when the trees were infected by a pathogen from the ornamental cherries people started planting all over. The only business I remember was Eric’s Meat Market. Mother liked to shop there because he was very kind to her.

Then back to California once more where my sister Kathleen was born and I started school at St. Matthews. I planted a flower garden of marigolds and nasturtiums at Parrot Drive and helped Roy (the Filipino Gardner) in the main garden. I went to a baseball game with Pappy Flynn and up to his office in the San Francisco Stock Exchange. We took the train and had lunch at the Old Poodle Dog where uniformed waiters served ice cream in little silver cups and all knew Pappy.

It wasn’t long before we were on the way north again. I clearly remember that trip because of the strong heat in the Sacramento Valley. We stopped at a restaurant called the Nut Tree and at several drink stands shaped like giant oranges.

This time it was Ainsworth where we landed. Of all places I have lived, I liked it best. We lived in a house called The Wheeler which was built by Mr. A.O Wheeler, an important figure in the mining history of Ainsworth. The house rested on a flat bench above a short cliff by the lake. Uncle Jack, Auntie Helen and my five cousins lived next door in a large house built by the Giegrich family who ran the first store which was owned and operated by Pop Fletcher when we lived in Ainsworth.

But it couldn’t have been an easy place for mom. We arrived there at the beginning of a very hard winter. The lake froze. A path for the Moyie was kept open by the big tug the Grant Hall. We built a rink in the yard. Uncle Jack had played hockey in college. The winter was also hell for the deer. After stripping the fruit trees of bark, deer died in several places around town. There was a crusty snow that cut their legs so it was possible to follow them to their final resting places. We had a wood stove in the kitchen for cooking and larger one in the living room for heating. I don’t think there was insulation but Uncle Jack’s house had torn up newspaper in the walls which must have helped some. But mom did pretty well for herself. Auntie Helen helped her – Helen was a great cook and could have written volumes on country living. She and Uncle Jack ran the Silver Ledge and also had duties at the pool which Grandpa Burns had built many years before. Betty Olson stepped up for Mom in a very big way helping in every way she could. Mom’s health was starting to flag even then.

Mother and Rose Yvonne at Hot Springs Hotel

Ainsworth was an ideal place for kids and there were lots: Hawes, Lane, Turner, Fletcher, Isaacs. We roamed the country as we pleased. We swam all day at Uncle Jack’s beach in the summer then trekked our way up to the pool when the sun went down at the beach. The Burns kids all slept in little cots on the big front porch of the Wheeler. We told stories, read comics and watched lightening dance on the mountains across the lake. Sometimes we would go fishing with Dad or Uncle Jack up Woodbury Creek or Loon Lake and we often went over to watch George Hobbs come in from fishing in the evening. He often had some fine rainbows and Dollies to show us. George and Ruth Hobbs were kind of defacto grandparents to many of the Ainsworth kids. In fact, all elders were. We called them all Ma and Pa or Grannie or Grandpa. It has been said that it takes a community to raise kids. Ainsworth of those days was a prime example.

Ainsworth party: Top row – Jackie Fletcher, Flash Olson and Frisky Olson

Middle row: Brenda (Shadow Foot) Brown, Dorothy Hawes and Lynn Burns.

Bottom Row: Teddy Burns, Jeannie Burns and Peggy Burns

In the fall, dad and I would often go hunting. There were many varying hares (snowshoe rabbits) in the woods above Ainsworth so we shot lots as well as quite a few grouse. We always had trout and we shot a couple of deer at Peterson’s Ranch – a whitetail spike and a four point mule deer. Fall outings included huckleberry picking and harvesting apples. Dad and I also explored many of the old mines above Ainsworth. Both dad and Uncle Jack had semi active claims. One summer, we went on a holiday. We just crossed the lake to a place we called Honeymoon Bay near the mouth of Indian Creek. We only stayed for a few days because an obnoxious bear drove us off but I had the best fishing days ever fly fishing at the creek mouth.

The end of summer also meant school. There were eight grades and one teacher. Kids skipped quite a bit. If there was one kid in Grade 2 but 3 in grade 3, the Grade 2 kid became a third grader and so on. That’s how my cousin Peggy ended up teaching big Peace River Farm boys at age eighteen. Peggy was very bright and a good student but she got a few skips to ease her way. The teachers were Pat Currie and Margaret McDonald. They weaved magic for the eight grades in the one room school.

In the winter of 1949, my brother Tom was born in Kaslo. He was very pre mature and the sisters kept him a chick incubator for a long time at the Victorian Hospital. The hospital always seemed like just a big house to me but we were lucky to have it. There was also a doctor: Dr. Marion Irwin. There was another doc at Woodbury named Dr. Besecker. He didn’t practice but helped in emergencies. Despite Tom’s peanut size, mother and Betty brought him along fine after we finally brought him down from Kaslo. He had cerebral palsy but it didn’t slow him down until much later in life.

To my everlasting dismay, we packed up and went back to California once again. This time we didn’t go back to Parrot Drive and Baywod. We moved south for a few miles to the Hillsdale District of San Mateo and lived in a mega apartment complex which I hated. It was somewhat close to parrot Drive so mom spent a lot of time with her folks and the place was nice and modern. They built a huge mall near the apartments and are now in the process of re-purposing it. I do not remember much about Hillsdale where I learned to ride a bike and hung around with kids who are likely in jail now. Dad worked for Pacific Gas and Electric and things were OK but I missed my cousins and the green hills of Canada.

Kath at Hillsdale Apartment

I shouldn’t have worried because we were soon on the road north again headed to Nelson. This time we would stay for awhile. Dad worked for Gordon Burns at his Passmore logging and milling operation (TFL #3) and we lived in a small house at 1002 Kootenay Street well up the hill. His was a great place and I made some very good friends: Tom Ramsay, Gary Kilpatrick, the Goldsbury brothers (Freddie and Vernon), Dick Gelinas, Clare Palmer, Harry Cox, Muggsy Holmes and Gary Higgs.

Kootenay Street: me on left then Kath and Tom with Sue in front

When the highways were realigned in the 70’s, much of our old neighbourhood was lost. The Ramsay’s lovely big house at the end of Kootenay Street, The Gully behind it which destroyed our fantastic toboggan trail, all the houses in Cottonwood Canyon and upstream as far as Vancouver Street. There was a little neighbourhood in the canyon. Harry Cox lived there in a small house where Gary Kilpatrick’s grandparents (Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler) had lived earlier. Bill and Mary Vickers ( Mary was one of mom’s best friends) lived on one side of a big house while Neil McClenaghan lived on the other There was a trail that wound down to the fish hatchery and Dago Town. The Rosemont side also lost some good houses. Just across the Rosemont Bridge, a tiny dirt road led to some old places where elderly bachelors held forth making elderberry and dandelion wine and reading outdoor magazines. Mr. Oliver had hundreds of Sports Afield and Outdoor Life.

On the Hall Mines – Ymir Road side of the creek there was the old Nelson Power Plant and another small neighbourhood where the Pond family lived. There was almost always a shinny game there in the winter and early spring and my grandparents built a little house there at the end of the road. Its address was 212 Latimer St. but you went in from the Hall Mines Side. Gram and Grandpa were old then and I would sometimes see Grandpa crawling out to the woodshed to split kindling. When I offered to do it he would rant and rave. If I was working in our yard, Gram would yell across the little gully between the two houses: “ you go fishing Teddy”. This didn’t please my dad so I seldom went until I had finished the job. Gus and Natalie Madalozzo lived in the little gully and grew a large field of excellent tomatoes.

Mother enjoyed living in Nelson. She had some good friends and she really enjoyed the loads of kids that hung round our place. She was a very social person and at her best when she was around kids –the more the better. Kids loved her. She didn’t fuss over spilled milk or dirty shoes and treated all kids as if they were her own. She baked platters of chocolate chip cookies that were inhaled by the rug rats. She a happy go lucky soul and loved to tease and joke. Her main target was my father. Mom had great sport making fun of his native heritage ( his ( mother was a Metis girl from the north). She would dance around the house making great war whoops. Dad would just smile because he enjoyed to see her happy. No offense taken.

My sister Susan was born in Nelson in 1953. In 1954 mom had a fifth child – Robert Michael. He only lived for a day or so. This was a very sad day for the family and especially so for mom. Her health started to decline after that. She was not a strong person at the best of times and having so many babies in a short stretch then losing one seemed to drain her. There were some huge families in Nelson in the fifties and many of the kids went to St. Joseph’s school with Kath and me. There were the Miners who had eighteen. Leo and Art Miner were good friends who I saw often. The Miller’s of Silver King Road had twenty. I was friends with Dennis and Dick. Dick is famous for falling off the top of the Nelson Bridge when he was working on it in 1957.

How those mothers ever survived is a mystery to me but I do know that the kids did a lot of the work and even parenting of the younger siblings. Even so, it must have been hard and it sure was for mom.

In 1957, the higher grades at St. Josephs were shut down and all the catholic kids older than about 15 moved to L.V. Rogers High School which was much larger than our little school at St. Joseph’s. But LV had the right idea. They had sock hops at lunch time and the teachers seemed more worldly and informed than our dear nuns at St. Josephs. Many kids hung around the Green Door, a little store with a jukebox just down the hill. The catholic kids mostly hung around together but I made some good pals at LV such as Jimmy Rogers.

In the summer of 1958, it was back on the road again destination California. Mom was over the top. She belted out “California Here I Come” all the way to Spokane. We got a motel near a park and the river and mom drank a couple of quarts of beer and serenaded the Spokane Valley.

Dad and his friend Dick Green had a business plan: peddling light bulbs in the Golden State. They had a huge warehouse full of lighting products which still may be sitting in LA.

The first stop was Pacific Beach a fine suburb of San Diego. We spent the summer in an apartment by the beach. The beach ran for miles and had a pier where you could fish and watch the sea. I just had a little spinning rod and caught croakers and tom cod. But I also managed to hook a halibut and get him to the surface. Other anglers rushed over with a huge treble hook on a rope. They lowered it down and tried to snag the brute but it dove down and broke the line. One evening as the sun went down; a huge sting ray leaped into the air and flopped back into the sea.

We kids were among the first swimmers on the morning beach. Old guys with metal detectors were even earlier. They found rings, watches and change. We looked at houses in La Mesa and Lemon Grove but ended up heading north to the Bay Area where we settled in Sunnyvale. Sunnyvale was an agricultural town on the cusp of a huge population boom. It leaped from about 5,000 in the 50’s, 50,000 a few years later then 150,000 plus by the mid 60’s. Thousands of hectares of some of the most productive land on earth was attacked by development and covered over with housing, malls and parking lots. It was astounding but no one raised a hand. Wetlands, orchards and farms were swept away and replaced by huge subdivisions with names like Lake Wood Village and Oak Grove Estates.

We lived on West McKinley Avenue and I went to Sunnyvale High, a large prison like institution with thousands of students. I didn’t care for it but made some great fiends there. Dennis Pippin and Jim Baer were some of my closest friends ever along with Dennis David and Dick Anderson. I graduated from Sunnyvale in 1961 after a sabbatical working on the S Half Diamond Ranch at Skookumchuck, BC.

Mom was in her glory in Sunnyvale. The Cherry Chase neighbourhood of West McKinley was very friendly with squads of kids. The neighbours had lots of parties and coffee gatherings almost every morning. The ladies would migrate from house to house in their Hawaiian Mumus or bathrobes then camp in the kitchens and gossip about the neighbours who weren’t present – Mom loved it.

After a few years we moved to a nearby community called Los Altos. It was a bigger house with a nice backyard with oak trees and a seasonal creek. We even built a swimming pool which dad and Tom loved. Tom became very strong from swimming. I had worked at Ampex Audio after high school but mom and dad bugged me constantly to upgrade my education. Most of my friends from Sunnyvale High had moved on to Foothill College, a two year community college just a mile or so up in the hills from our house at 2041 Fallen Leaf Lane. It was a lovely campus and when I discovered that most of my old pals spent most of their time going to parties and drinking beer at the Roundtable Pizza Parlour in downtown Los Altos, I felt right at home. To my great surprise, I did not partake that much and got good grades. I worked at a good job at Bill Steffan’s Chevron on Stevens Creek Boulevard. The gas station and shop were part of a small mall with a pizza parlour called Pagliachi’s which became a major hang out for my friends and me. For awhile’ I moved into an old house on El Monte Avenue we called the Sugar Shack. It was great fun until mother caught me in bed with my girlfriend one early morning. The party was over. She insisted I move home and register for the draft. Like her parents, she was a patriotic republican and rather straight in some ways.

In 1964, I graduated from Foothill and moved up to Humboldt State University in the redwoods where I graduated in 1968. In 1965, the family again packed up and migrated back to Nelson. While we were living in Los Altos, mom’s health declined further. She started to have serious back issues( she had fallen out of a tree as a girl) and had to be hospitalized occasionally. I wonder if part of the reason we went back to BC was the Canadian Medical Plan. One weekend in a hospital near Los Altos cost mom way over one thousand dollars. While in Sunnyvale and Los Altos, dad worked as a car salesman which I don’t think he cared for much. Back in Nelson, he did the same for awhile then sold real estate. We lived in Grandpa and Grandma’s summer home across the lake from Nelson. The house was very old (it once served as a powder house for Fred Hume’s hardware business and dated back to the 1890’s.) There was neither central heat nor modern appliances so it must have been hard for mom. There wasn’t even a road until 1959. Of course everyone loved it when it had boat access only. Then it was truly a summer home and only a few people lived on the North Shore across from Nelson. Mom and dad built a new house in 1967 and things got much easier for mom. But with the kids gone, there wasn’t much for her to do. I was still at Humboldt then, and later down on the Island, Kath was at Gonzaga and Tom was at UBC. Sue was still mostly home but mom was used to gangs of kids in her face. They rented the old ranch house until Sue got married and a new place was constructed where the old house was. Several young couples like Steve and Gerry Ward rented the old place and they provided great friendship for mother. But gradually that started to fade. Dad was more and more occupied by his business and mom became very lonely and inside herself. Her dad had died when we were still in California and she lost a very strong anchor. At some point mom began to take what she termed a muscle relaxant. It was in fact Valium, a benzodiazepine that becomes addictive if taken for more than a week or two. Mom took it for years and no one had the heart to try and stop or reduce her intake. The docs just renewed her supply when she ran out. Dad tried to limit her intake and was slightly successful but hated being her jailer. She had no other interests and would rarely rise out of bed. The drug had become just about her only focus. The family became increasingly concerned for her welfare but she continued to claim she was fine. At one point in the winter of 1987 she came downstairs to visit me and when she saw I was drinking a beer, she got excited and said “oh boy, let’s have some beers”. She sipped one for about five minutes then retreated to her upstairs bedroom saying she was too tired to finish it. Mom wasn’t much of a drinker but occasionally went on a toot. Mixers at hockey games were a favourite format but there were others. One time Sue and her good pal Patty Troyan were coming home from the drive in at Ten Mile when they saw the RCMP had someone pulled over on The hill on Johnstone Road (this hill is gone now) – it was mom. They asked the cop what had happened and he said “look at my car”! Mom and dad had a scrap so she went over town to Mother McKim’s and had a few snorts with Ruth and Red. When the cops pulled her over she was searching for her drivers’ licence and popped the car out of gear. It rolled down the hill and crunched the cop car. Dad was furious but he had infinite patience with mom and ended up having a good chuckle. To top it all off, mom was wearing a wild looking wig at the time. The cops must have been wondering what kind of characters live along this road. Sister Sue ended up working for the RCMP not long after the incident.

Tom and Sue both reported querying her about her health later on that winter expecting to hear a litany of complaints but she was very positive and forward looking. They were both pleased. A few weeks later, she must have been suffering big time pain. She took a huge dose of ASA and died in the hospital – she was only 67 years old.

To this day we have no idea whether she was suffering from physical pain or withdrawal from the benzo. I think it was probably both and that leads me to wonder: Is it better to give deeply addicted people what they need or try to limit their intake? Of course individual circumstances will vary widely and the decision will always be very difficult but I will say that I have concluded that for older people with very limited will power and poor general health, I would favour just letting them continue at least until a clear window of opportunity for progress opened.

I think the doctors of Nelson, agreed with me and left things to dad to try and deal with. At one point years before her death, Dr. Carpenter took over her case for some reason and managed to wean her. He sent her to a rehab centre in Penticton for a month or more and she came home absolutely her old self. I think she lasted about a week or two then she was back in bed with the pills. Constant motivation and support were needed to keep her upright. I think Dr. Carpenter managed to scare her into submission but in the long view, that wasn’t enough to overcome her needs

She had been taking Valium for about 30 years. Her doctor in Los Altos had started her on them. At the time they were very popular and widely prescribed for various nervous afflictions and it was quite some time before “mothers little helpers” were discovered to be addictive. For our family it was a hard way to learn. Indeed.

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Dee Notes

April 18th, 2020

NOTES FROM DEE McKay circa 1988

Shore ladies: Dee McKay, Jean Burns and Helen Burns (Helen is one of the Denison girls in the story)

I have thought about what you wanted to know about your family background. So here goes: many times spent on the beach at your point from the time I was about ten years old on holidays and during the summer when we found flint arrowheads that were used by Indians.

Your grandma would live in the old brick powder house which has now been torn down for the new house that Sue and Norm built.

I remember when your grandfather would come home from the sash and door factory hot and tired from working all day and get into his old fashioned bathing suit and take a long swim in the cold water. He was always in a good humour then. He built a shed behind the house where your uncles Bob and Jack and your father slept. There was a separate section where your Aunt Jean and her friends could sleep. One time my sister Ella and I slept over and during the night we heard scratching noises on the wall. We discovered it was Jack and Bob scaring us with bear noises. The bears were close because of the apple orchard behind the house. One time Ted had a new kitten. It was smoky black and was rushing around the kitchen. The Denison girls, who had come over to swim, were getting lunch ready and one of them stepped on the kitten and broke its back. The uproar terrified Ted who was broken up about it. We all planned a funeral and the kitten was buried below the birch trees at the far end of the field.

There were deer trails along the shore down to the bluffs near Ross’s Point and we often hiked along the bluffs. There were Lady Slippers growing near the cliffs. It was a beautiful place to explore the rock formation below Pulpit Rock. There were shallow caves where we found some animal bones that had fed bears or cougars.

When we got married in 1940, I approached your Grandma Rose and asked to buy a lot from her that had a small cabin that had been Bobby’s and after had been used by the mayor to entertain his girlfriends. She agreed to sell it to me so it became our summer home on the lakeshore. It was wonderful to have access to the deer trails and the bluffs.

Your Grandma Rose Yvonne Burns was something special. They went on trips to Spokane quite often. She would buy special hats and come home and not wear them for almost a year. She seemed to have to get used to them on her own before showing them I guess. She would buy new socks for Jean and the boys. She played badminton at the catholic hall with Mrs. Gelinas, Mrs. Perrier, Mrs. McDougal and my Mom. They had many laughs and fun together.

Your granddad built a punt for Ted and each morning in the summer, he would paddle it across the lake to get the newspaper and milk for the family. He didn’t use a regular paddle; he just leaned over the bow and paddled by hand.

Your Uncle Bob graduated from the Colorado School of Mines and came home and prepared for a trip to Lake Athabasca up north to prospect. He and his companions were drowned in a canoe accident. The friend’s bodies were recovered but Bob was not found. Your grandparents spent thousands of dollars for air searches. When he was finally found, his fingers were worn down to the first knuckles. He had tried to get out on the shore which was composed of steep rock and sheer cliffs. It was very sad for the families.

This is about all I can remember except for the 24^th of May when we paddled around the bay in laundry tubs your grandpa had made for your gram. We often tipped and got soaked for our effort.

The McKays were such close long time friends and neighbours that one thought of them as part of the family. Danny McKay was fine gentleman very instrumental in the establishment of skiing in Nelson and a pioneer fly fisherman during the glory days of West Arm angling. He was once named Nelson’s Citizen of the year. He died in 1990.

Dee McKay was an outdoor woman with a great sense of humour and an infectious laugh. She was a good swimmer and canoeist and a hunter. She would grab her rifle and boots and take off up the mountain in pursuit of deer or grouse. She died in 1994.

Transcribed by Ted Burns

April 10, 2020

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A BRIEF HISTORY OF CATHEDRAL GROVE

August 24th, 2019

A BRIEF HISTORY OF CATHEDRAL GROVE

TED BURNS (adapted from a BC Forest History Newsletter article by Kerry Joy BC Parks Forester and former resident of Alberni Valley)

In 1886 a wagon road was punched from Nanaimo to Port Alberni. It was located on the north side of Cameron Lake. By 1911 the road was moved to the south shore and the railroad was located on the north side. These routes enabled the transfer of people and commerce and allowed people to experience the magnificence of a rich part of the Island Forest. At this time, commercial logging was just beginning to get underway on the coast.

HR MacMillan, BC’s first Chief Forester was highly aware of the value of old growth forester. As an entrapanuial opportunist, he staked claims on some of the best timber on the coast by obtaining rights to entire river valleys including the Cameron.

When the road improved, the forest industry in the Alberni Valley began to flourish and the population swelled with the increasing number of jobs in the woods and the mills. Travel over the Hump also picked up and it became traditional to stop at The Grove for a picnic or short stroll though the giants. It was said the Cathedral Grove was given its name by Governor General Viscount Willington during a 1928 visit.

For the next fifteen years, pressure was applied to HR MacMIllan by different groups including the Vancouver Island Tourist Association to donate Cathedral Grove as a park. HR stood fast citing the high timber value and its importance to his company’s growth.

Finally at a meeting with the Vancouver Island Tourist Association in 1944, HR relented and stormed out of the hall yelling “alright you can have the G.D. Grove”! The public victory resulted in park protection for 136 ha of old growth in the Lower Cameron Valley. Although The Grove trees are not the tallest or largest in the province there are heights over 50-69 m and girths up to 4.5 m. Most importantly over 300, 00 people visit each year and The Grove is the only highway accessible stand of old growth Douglas fir in BC.

Although H.R.(Harvey Reginald) gave up the grove to the delight of many, his company slammed his decision for many years after ranting that the decadent old trees were past their prime and would blow down. They should be logged before that happened they asserted. They did their best to hasten windfall by logging the rest of the upstream valley right up to The Grove. Sure enough, serious blow down has occurred and will likely continue as the forest thins out.

In 1990, a punchy pineapple express storm roared through The Grove blowing down 6 ha of forest and causing some major channel shifts and bank erosion on the Cameron River. Another 1996 storm slammed into the Grove with considerable damage.

Hopefully, The Grove will persist for much longer and people will continue to marvel. What I find ironic is that Cathedral Grove is by far the most outstanding legacy of HR MacMIllan and his company: MacMillan Bloedel.

Clear cutting the Cameron Valley up to The Grove aided blow down.

Tags: A sometimes great company, forestry
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My Friend Clare

November 13th, 2018

Remembering Clare Palmer

I’m thinking the year was about 1953 when I met Clare. I was staying across the lake with Grandma Rose when Clare came over in his little boat. He was a small blond fellow full of life and adventure.

We fished from the floats leading out to the boathouse and caught several rainbows and a big squawfish. It was a warm spring day so we took the fish up to Grandma’s sink. A few minutes later we heard her yelling. The squawfish had revived and was skittering around the kitchen floor. We dispatched it and continued fishing.

The adventure would go on for six more decades. It was about all things Kootenay boys of the day loved: fishing, exploring the country, hockey, skiing and just being very good friends.

There could not have been a better friend than Clare Palmer.

We started fishing in the early spring when the snow was still hanging on. It was the city wharf for whitefish at first then silvers at the wharf and rainbows at the boathouses, Grohman or Burns Point. Later in the summer, we fished the creeks and mountain lakes. Our Dad’s would take us to the trailheads and we would hike into the high lakes to camp and fish. Sometimes we would hitchhike to Cottonwood Lake, Apex or Hall Siding or even to Balfour to fish. The mouth of Grohman Creek was one of our favorite spots. We would boat down to the old landing then hike across the lodge pole flat to the creek, wade across and fish the mouth with flies, grasshoppers or caddis larvae – we called them “ periwinkles”. We usually caught five or six good rainbows then picked huckleberries on the way back. Once we made a pie . We forgot to add something to thicken the juice so the pie was very runny – we devoured it anyway.

In the fall, we played hockey or raided gardens. As the fifties progressed, we started to ski: the old golf course hill first then Silver King. Clare and I were among the first group to start clearing for Silver King along with such stalwarts as Clare’s parents, Danny McKay and Tom Ramsay.

We moved to California in 1958. Clare and I wrote each other a fair bit. We were back in Nelson in 1966 but I was mostly away at school so I wasn’t around much. I worked with Clare at Star Transfer for a couple of summers and we continued to fish as much as possible.

We both got married late in the sixties and my wife and I moved to the Island in 1969. I didn’t see Clare so much after that. We still fished when we could and went to hockey games when I was around in the winter months. One of my fondest memories of those times is going over to Trail for a Leafs-Smokies game in his red Comet. After the game, we drank beer at the Terra Nova and listened to Kitty Wells on the Comet’s eight track on the way back to Nelson. I think the year was 1970.

In the 70’s, Clare re-married and raised four beautiful daughters with his wife Patti. I saw less and less of him as his duties as a husband and father increased. We kept in contact though and usually managed a few visits when I was in Nelson.

Clare died September 19, 2014. I will forever miss him dearly. Words alone will never express what a wonderful friend he was.

Ted Burns

October 8/14

Clare and Jimmy Rogers, 1968

Clare at Pilot Bay

At 1024 Hoover

At Krao Lake

Tags: good friends are priceless
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George Bing – West Arm Great Angler

November 13th, 2018

Remembering George Bing – A Fisherman

Ted Burns

George Bing died on October 31st, 2010 – he was 79. I hadn’t seen George for the better part of forty years and knew almost nothing of his life since about 1970 I’m very sad to say. I left Nelson in 1969 and seldom came back for long. But I sure knew him in the 1960’s – indeed. Nearly everyone who fished the West Arm then knew George because he was almost certainly the Arm’s most successful angler.

George generally fished with bait and he usually caught lots of fish. Special regulations like catch and release and fly fishing only were more or less unknown then and catch quotas (limits) were very liberal or non-existent. On one occasion in the latter part of the sixties, two boat loads of anglers ran up the Arm to Proctor to fish for kokanee at the outlet of the Main Lake. George Bing, Frank Hufty and Dick Parker were in one boat while Gary Kilpatrick, Ken Cook and I were in the other. Someone in my boat suggested we have a “fishing contest”. George agreed and after a few hours our boat had 165 silvers on board. George Bing caught 205. Parker and Hufty got bored after a few minutes so George caught nearly all the fish himself. Everyone fished in our boat. We thought there was no way we could loose but George easily out fished three pretty fair anglers. Today’s fishers will cringe at stories like this but that’s the way it was then not all that long ago. The Upper West Arm kokanee population crashed not too many years after our bonehead contest and I can’t help but think we were partly responsible.

George also fished a lot at Grohman Narrows. He found a way to catch the large rainbows that held just where the current started to draw at the head of the narrows under the power lines. These fish had tantalized anglers for many years. People had fished at Grohman for decades but most fished downstream at the creek mouth and around the Island. They knew about the power line lunkers because they rolled and splashed like spring salmon a couple of times a day but had little success catching them. George anchored his boat above the power lines and, against all logic, sunk a grasshopper down to the bottom. I hate to imagine how many beautiful rainbows George caught at Grohman. He supplied many a summer barbecue with fine trout in those years. George was such an accomplished angler that you got the feeling that he could have sunk a hockey puck down to those Grohman rainbows and still caught a few.

Goodbye old friend. I hope there are lots of fine lakes and streams filled with big rainbows where you are – save a few for your old fishing pals.

fivepoundsilver

From left: Ken Cook, George Bing with a five pound kokanee, Dick Parker and Frank Hufty

fouramigos

Frank Hufty, Gary Kilpatrick, George Bing and Ted Burns

Twogeorge

George Bing and George Longden with Grohman rainbows

Nelson Daily News

2010

Tags: Old friends, silver bonanza
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GARY KILPATRICK

November 13th, 2018

Remembering Gary Kilpatrick

It must have been about 1950. We had moved back to Nelson after a stint in California and were living in the little white house at 1002 Kootenay St. My first friend there was Tom Ramsay who lived in a big house at the end of the street. One afternoon he brought Gary over and the three of us became fast friends. After an initial wrestling match to determine who was the toughest, Gary took me fishing to “his pool”, a lovely spot in Cottonwood Canyon at the top of the falls near his grandparent’s house. The adventure had begun.

It was an idyllic life for Nelson boys in those days. We fished Cottonwood Creek and around the City Boathouses, raided gardens and fruit trees, skied at the old golf course hill and later at Silver King, tobogganed in the gully behind Tom’s house, played hockey at Powell’s Ponds or on the lake, had shinny games on Latimer Street and swam at the boat houses and City Wharf. When the family moved across the lake for the summers, we moved the adventure over there. Tom and Gary would sometimes amaze me by swimming over from the boat houses. Other members of the uphill gang included Fred and Vernon Goldsbury, Dick Gelinas, Clare Palmer, Gary Higgs and my old friend Harry Cox.

Gary was always a ring leader and the first to try new things – the first try ski jumping, the first to dive off high cliffs and the new Nelson Bridge, the first to get kicked out of school, the first to smoke and drink beer, the first to have a girlfriend and the first to go off and play hockey professionally. He left at 15 to play junior B in Lethbridge, played Junior A in Moose Jaw then moved up to minor pro and was drafted by the NHL. Tom, Gary and I played bantam together, Mack Macadam was our coach. Gary was big and strong by then and no one would fight him. He got me to start trouble so he could step in but players soon caught on.

In the late 1950’s we moved back to California but I usually saw Gary in the summers. I especially remember the summer of 1959. Dennis Miller had a small car and we rode around all night looking for parties and drinking beer. We swam and fished during the day. This pattern continued until well into the 1960s. The Queens Hotel was our main haunt and our gang at that time included such luminaries as Buddy Mayer, Luigi Del Pauppo and Jimmy Rogers. It often included hockey player pals of Gary`s like Jack Stanfield and Bob Plager. After a night at the Queens we would often hit beach parties at Red Sands or Taghum Beach or head over to the Purple Lantern for Chinese food. My job was to hold Gary’s teeth if a fight started which sometimes happened because drunks often challenged Gary.

Gary taught at the hockey school run by Metro Prestai where some of the players also worked. One of Gary`s students was the late Brian Spencer who had a career in the NHL. I worked on construction jobs like the Mary Ann apartments and for Clare Palmer moving furniture. In 1966 I began a lifelong career in fisheries biology as a summer student on the Kootenay Lake Project. After that, Gary often called me “ the ichthyologist. “

By 1965, my family had moved back to Nelson. I stayed in school in California until 1969 when I returned to Nelson. Pat McKim and I got married in 1968 and I didn`t see as much of Gary after that. He and his brother Allan along with Kenny Dewar and Blair Olson had purchased the Savoy Hotel and Gary married Pam Ferguson. Pat and I moved to Vancouver Island in 1969 and my visits to Nelson became less and less. Gary’s hockey career wound down in the 70’s and eventually the Savoy was sold and Gary got involved with other enterprises.

I last saw Gary in the spring of 2012. We met briefly at the Nelson Mall and swapped a few tales. He had cancer by then but seemed to be doing well. By early summer 2013, he was gone.

Gary Kilpatrick was a hero of mine and one of the best friends I ever had. It was a shock to lose him because as far as I knew he was indestructible. Here was a person who, as far as I knew, had never had as much as a cold. A person who could stay up and party all night then hike to a mountain lake the next day and never break a sweat. Rest in peace old friend……

Ted Burns

April 2014.

. Kilpatrick

Gary as a Seattle Totem – 1971.

fouramigos

Frank Hufty, Gary, George Bing and I at Proctor, 1965

vimy67

Gary at Vimy Park in Kaslo, 1967

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Ted Burns

The Real Salmon Capital

Canyon Heart

Loggers or Pool Boys?

PORT ALBERNI POOL BOYS?

Garbage in the Woods

Riparian Vegetation Important

Riparian Vegetation Important

Steelhead in BC

Rose Yvonne

New Chinook Spawning Bed

Deer on the Move

The Steelhead Story

The Steelhead Story

Death Down the Alley

Death Down the Alley

The World’s Greatest Hockey Player

The Characters of Nelson

Grandma Rose

My Mother’s Canada

Dee Notes

A BRIEF HISTORY OF CATHEDRAL GROVE

My Friend Clare

George Bing – West Arm Great Angler

GARY KILPATRICK

Remembering Gary Kilpatrick

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