The following are unedited snippets from past Undercurrents. To read the com-plete articles or to follow up on information please contact the Bowen Museum & Archives at [email protected] or 604.947.2655
40 years ago - April 1979
“Gold Strike
It has been most reliably reported that gold has been discovered at Hood Point. This gold, however, may be quite difficult to mine as it is in very deep and secure pockets.”
“The renewed proposal for a four-lane blacktop highway from Snug Cove to Adams Bay has been revived. This highway would carry all Sunshine Coast traffic from a large shuttle ferry from Horseshoe Bay, across Bowen Island to connect with a second shuttle ferry from Adams Bay to Langdale. This, it is said, would expedite Sunshine Coast and Bowen Island service.”
“Editor, Undercurrent:
We see the price of power in British Columbia continuing to climb and, in an area such as ours where we are blessed with a super abundance of inexpensive power, I am beginning to wonder if this great increase may have something to do with the president chairman of the British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority who is perhaps just a bit greedy.
Alex Tricity”
25 years ago - April 1994
“Bowen time to stand still
Bowen Island is to remain an hour behind the rest of B.C., following a last-minute decision by the Islands Trust temporal subcommittee.
Most of Canada will switch to daylight savings at 2 AM a.m. this Saturday, but subcommittee chairperson B. Hynde–Times said there are many reasons to leave local clocks alone. In the interest of efficiency, BC ferries has asked the Trust to help speed up the crossing time, because Horseshoe Bay will move to daylight savings time while the island does not, passengers will arrive in Snug Cove 40 minutes before they leave the mainland.
“This will sharply reduce congestion during the peak summer months, he added.
A disadvantage to the scheme-known as daylight wasting time is that it will now take almost an hour and a half to return to the mainland, but a recent survey showed that most people leaving Bowen Island would rather stay here anyway”
Russ Francis”
The following is part of an article written by Bob Turner
Nature matters to Bowen couple.
“Few of us will ever know Howe Sound the way Sandy Ludwig does. For the past two decades, Sandy has been on the waters around Bowen five days a week, 10 to 12 hours a day, through every season. His trademark little salvage boat, the all-blue Meson, is a distinctive resident of Snug Cove.
Bob Turner spent the afternoon with Lois Myers-Carter and Bill Riddle who interviewed Sandy and Michelle Ludwig. The following are segments of the conversation about the natural environment around and about Bowen Island.
Whales - “I didn’t really pay attention to them when I first came. They were so common. They would come in groups and would be in the Sound at the same time. I don’t know what happened to the killer whales. In the early 1980s they just disappeared.
There is another whale, a solitary one. I’ve seen him for the last three years. It’s a False Killer Whale. Every time I would go out and he was around, he’d come right over for me. He must have known my engine. Then he just swim around me for a while, just playing.”
Snug Cove - “There was this mud flat with a channel across it. It is where Rondy’s parking lot is now. The channel was fed with fresh water from a creek and a ditch along Government Road. There was lots of eel grass and life. Sometimes I’d look and there were thousands of crabs moving along the channel. There was a guy who was always digging clams on the mud-flat. Flatfish were common too. They’d catch them off the government wharf. But this was before the first dredging - the first dredging changed all that. The first dredging was in the mid-1980s. The dredge material was pumped up on land, near the area of the parking lot. Water full of silt flowed back into the cove from the dredge pile. The whole Cove was covered in a thick layer of silt. It killed everything.
There used to be oyster beds in Deep Bay. Right out in front of Betty Black’s. I don’t know what happened to them. They just died.”
10 years ago - 2009
The April 2009 Undercurrents continued to reflect the Cape Roger Curtis debate.
The following headlines are found in the Comments and views section:
OCP should reflect clear vision for Bowen’s future
Cluster community finally getting things right
Neighbourhood Plan will ensure access to CRC for all
CRC plan offers wide ranging opportunities
Be careful what you ask for - it always comes with a price
Petition reflects concerns over island wide impact of CRC plan
Minimize development and maximize environmental protection in the Cape
Being well-informed is key
Some letter writers imply that petition signers are uninformed
