history

Libby Abbot helps a younger version of herself in the Station House mural with a pail of paint, while an image of Vivien Cowan stands on the station platform. Ruth Lloyd Photo - Williams Lake Tribune

Williams Lake mural brings the past to life … and solves a modern problem

What does an art gallery do when they have a storage problem…

Libby Abbot helps a younger version of herself in the Station House mural with a pail of paint, while an image of Vivien Cowan stands on the station platform. Ruth Lloyd Photo - Williams Lake Tribune
Camas flowers in full bloom. (Devon Bidal/News Staff)

Vancouver Island camas meadows reveal agricultural impact of B.C. colonialism

Lekwungen food expert Cheryl Bryce looks to raise awareness of traditional food systems

  • Sep 30, 2021
Camas flowers in full bloom. (Devon Bidal/News Staff)
Vernon summer resident Julie McCann (née Holland) set an unofficial world record Monday, Aug. 9, at Greater Vernon Athletic Park, becoming the fastest woman to run 100 metres on all fours with a clocking of 22.99 seconds. (Christine Castrucow photo)

100 metre dash – on all fours: Vernon woman breaks unofficial Guinness record

Vernon resident Julie McCann sets unofficial Guinness mark as fastest woman to cover 100 metres on all fours

Vernon summer resident Julie McCann (née Holland) set an unofficial world record Monday, Aug. 9, at Greater Vernon Athletic Park, becoming the fastest woman to run 100 metres on all fours with a clocking of 22.99 seconds. (Christine Castrucow photo)
The log barn, present day, constructed to house Captain Watson’s some 50, large Clydesdale horses in the early 1900s. (Barry Sale photo)

HAPHAZARD HISTORY: Captain Watson of the 108 Mile Ranch

Alongside 108 Mile Ranch sits a huge, log barn

  • Aug 8, 2021
The log barn, present day, constructed to house Captain Watson’s some 50, large Clydesdale horses in the early 1900s. (Barry Sale photo)
Geoff Goodship was contacted earlier this year by a man who had acquired his father’s First World War soldier’s uniform. Submitted photo

Vancouver Island man to be reunited with father’s 104-year-old First World War uniform

Geoff Goodship got a call out of the blue from an amateur historian who had acquired the outfit

Geoff Goodship was contacted earlier this year by a man who had acquired his father’s First World War soldier’s uniform. Submitted photo
Bill Merilees, a retired B.C. Parks regional information officer, collected mollusk shells from B.C. and Washington state coastlines for 50 years and has donated his 140,000-specimen collection to University of British Columbia’s Beaty Biodiversity Museum. (Chris Bush/News Bulletin)

VIDEO: B.C. man donates 140,000 mollusk specimens to biodiversity museum

UBC’s Beaty museum grateful for Bill Merilees’s historical record of B.C. marine biodiversity

Bill Merilees, a retired B.C. Parks regional information officer, collected mollusk shells from B.C. and Washington state coastlines for 50 years and has donated his 140,000-specimen collection to University of British Columbia’s Beaty Biodiversity Museum. (Chris Bush/News Bulletin)
Captain James Cook statue splashes into Victoria’s Inner Harbour, after being removed from its upper causeway pedestal on July 1. (@CJusticeVic/Twitter)

Cast in bronze, then into Victoria’s Inner Harbour: So who was James Cook?

Likeness of British maritime explorer commissioned in 1976, forcibly removed on July 1

Captain James Cook statue splashes into Victoria’s Inner Harbour, after being removed from its upper causeway pedestal on July 1. (@CJusticeVic/Twitter)
Joan Boates (from left), Ken Hopkins, Denny Reid, Bob Leckie, Williams Lake Mayor Herb Gardner and Gil McCall celebrate the official opening of CKWL in 1964. (Public domain photo)

HAPHAZARD HISTORY: The early days of Cariboo Radio

In his monthly history column, Barry Sale examines the region’s radio history

  • Jul 3, 2021
Joan Boates (from left), Ken Hopkins, Denny Reid, Bob Leckie, Williams Lake Mayor Herb Gardner and Gil McCall celebrate the official opening of CKWL in 1964. (Public domain photo)
Gwen Spencer Hethey with her uncle and mentor Major Frederick Richardson. (Courtesy of Greater Victoria Sports Hall of Fame)

‘She was a killer’: The B.C. woman who pioneered female sharpshooting

Gwen Spencer Hethey made military men ‘look like turkeys’ says her son

Gwen Spencer Hethey with her uncle and mentor Major Frederick Richardson. (Courtesy of Greater Victoria Sports Hall of Fame)
(Courtesy Photo | Frank Zmuda)

Beaver secretion found as part of ancient throwing dart in Yukon

Researchers saying it’s earliest known evidence of Indigenous peoples using the substance

(Courtesy Photo | Frank Zmuda)
A protester swings a hammer in an attempt to remove the head of the Egerton Ryerson statue in Toronto on Sunday June 6, 2021. A much-maligned statue of Egerton Ryerson was toppled in Toronto on Sunday. The statue, prominently displayed on the campus of Ryerson University, has come under renewed scrutiny after the discovery in Kamloops, B.C., of what are believed to be the remains of 215 Indigenous children at a former residential school. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young

Beheaded statue of Egerton Ryerson, toppled Sunday in Toronto, won’t be replaced

Ryerson is credited as one of the architects of Canada’s residential school system

A protester swings a hammer in an attempt to remove the head of the Egerton Ryerson statue in Toronto on Sunday June 6, 2021. A much-maligned statue of Egerton Ryerson was toppled in Toronto on Sunday. The statue, prominently displayed on the campus of Ryerson University, has come under renewed scrutiny after the discovery in Kamloops, B.C., of what are believed to be the remains of 215 Indigenous children at a former residential school. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young
Maude and R.C. Cotton, at the Cotton Ranch in the Chilcotin. (Photo courtesy of the Museum of the Cariboo Chilcotin)

HAPHAZARD HISTORY: The Cariboo history of R.C. Cotton

Who was R.C. Cotton and why is his name associated with this site?

  • May 8, 2021
Maude and R.C. Cotton, at the Cotton Ranch in the Chilcotin. (Photo courtesy of the Museum of the Cariboo Chilcotin)
Frank Ludwig in the control room. (Photo submitted)

The Day They Closed The Old Mill Down in song

Former member of Trooper captures the essence of small town struggles and triumphs

Frank Ludwig in the control room. (Photo submitted)
A petition launched by a group of University of Victoria students calls for the renaming of Trutch Street. (Google Maps)

B.C. students lobby to get racist official’s name off Victoria street

University of Victoria students say Trutch Street puts racist history on a pedestal

A petition launched by a group of University of Victoria students calls for the renaming of Trutch Street. (Google Maps)
The first Chimney Creek Roadhouse, constructed in 1864. (Photo courtesy of the B.C. Provincial Archives)

HAPHAZARD HISTORY: The Isnardy family of Williams Lake

Amadee Isnardy was born in 1840 near Nice, France

  • Mar 6, 2021
The first Chimney Creek Roadhouse, constructed in 1864. (Photo courtesy of the B.C. Provincial Archives)
The booklet roots present day activism in the history of racist policies, arguing the history must be acknowledged in order to change. (CCPA)

New resource dives into 150 years of racist policy in B.C.

Racist history must be acknowledged in order to change, authors say

The booklet roots present day activism in the history of racist policies, arguing the history must be acknowledged in order to change. (CCPA)
LADDER USED IN FIRE FIGHT: While smoke billows out of the second floor of the Maple Leaf Hotel, members of the Williams Lake Volunteer Fire Department fight to contain the blaze. The department was called out Tuesday morning to battle the blaze that wreaked havoc on the interior of the 57-year-old hotel. One man, Harold Hurst of Riske Creek, died in the fire. (Ernest Engemoen photo - Williams Lake Tribune, April 12, 1977)

FROM OUR ARCHIVES: Ladder used in fire fight

The department was called out Tuesday morning to battle the blaze

  • Feb 25, 2021
LADDER USED IN FIRE FIGHT: While smoke billows out of the second floor of the Maple Leaf Hotel, members of the Williams Lake Volunteer Fire Department fight to contain the blaze. The department was called out Tuesday morning to battle the blaze that wreaked havoc on the interior of the 57-year-old hotel. One man, Harold Hurst of Riske Creek, died in the fire. (Ernest Engemoen photo - Williams Lake Tribune, April 12, 1977)
Rob Rondeau, PhD candidate at SFU, is embarking on a mission to find definitive evidence of human migration to the continent. (SFU supplied image)

VIDEO: Marine archaeologist looking for clues of ancient migration in B.C. waters

SFU researcher hoping to find 15,000 year-old archaeological sites underwater

Rob Rondeau, PhD candidate at SFU, is embarking on a mission to find definitive evidence of human migration to the continent. (SFU supplied image)
It took five children seven hours go build this impressive snow fort on Eleventh Avenue. From left to right are builders Mark Nakada, David Redford, Diane Nakada, Jennifer Williams and Gillian Robbie. According to Mark and David somebody tried to kick down the fort but all they got was a sore toe because ‘it’s all ice.” (Wendy Holm photo, Williams Lake Tribune Archives, circa December 1983).

FROM OUR ARCHIVES: Snow day

It took five children seven hours go build this impressive snow fort on Eleventh Avenue

It took five children seven hours go build this impressive snow fort on Eleventh Avenue. From left to right are builders Mark Nakada, David Redford, Diane Nakada, Jennifer Williams and Gillian Robbie. According to Mark and David somebody tried to kick down the fort but all they got was a sore toe because ‘it’s all ice.” (Wendy Holm photo, Williams Lake Tribune Archives, circa December 1983).
FOR SOMEONE FALLEN — Legion member Bill Kohnke places wreath at War Memorial hospital cairn Remembrance Day. Sun broke through overcast skies for wreath-placing, an aspect that highlighted an otherwise dreary day weatherwise. (Staff photo - Williams Lake Tribune, Nov. 16, 1960)

FROM OUR ARCHIVES: For someone fallen

Legion member Bill Kohnke places wreath at War Memorial hospital

  • Nov 11, 2020
FOR SOMEONE FALLEN — Legion member Bill Kohnke places wreath at War Memorial hospital cairn Remembrance Day. Sun broke through overcast skies for wreath-placing, an aspect that highlighted an otherwise dreary day weatherwise. (Staff photo - Williams Lake Tribune, Nov. 16, 1960)