Chapter 9 MARINE (Sail- Paddle-Power)
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Chapter 9 MARINE (Sail- Paddle-Power) The single most dangerous action you can take on this tour is failing to pay attention while travelling on the route. Do NOT read the following chapter while actively moving by vehicle, car, foot, bike, or boat. MARINE Tour by Sailboat, Kayak, Canoe, Power, etc. “Upside-down Humpback Whale being pulled up the ramp to the whaling station” 1. Charlaine Boat Ramp (3780 Hammond Bay Rd, Nanaimo, BC V9T 1G3): This tiny launch site provides a great start and finish to the 33 kilometre route. It tends to get less use than other boat ramps in the region and so has a small parking lot. You will be launching into Hammond Bay, named for Lt. George Crispin Hammond, a surveyor for the Hudson’s Bay Company. The area around the parking lot was the site of a whaling station that only operated for three months (November 1907-January 1908). It was designed to harpoon Humpback Whales wintering in Georgia Strait and drag them up the boat ramp at this location. The Pacific Whaling Company processed up to four whales a day during that short single season, but still managed to take about 100 whales in total, almost wiping out those that frequented this area. One of four whaling stations on Vancouver Island, this was the only one on its east coast. After the whaling station the buildings were used a fertilizer plant processing Vitamin A from Dogfish livers until 1912, when buildings were moved to Graham Island near Haida Gwaii (formerly the Queen Charlotte Islands). Some remaining foundations can be seen near the shoreline here. As you launch into Hammond Bay, facing the water, Neck Point (#25) is to your left, Page/Pipers’ Lagoon (#3) is to your right, and Shack Island (#2) lies straight ahead. These three offshore islands connect to Piper’s Lagoon Park at low tide and passage by watercraft is not possible, so be prepared to travel left of these three islands at lowering tides. Drone view of Shack Island cabins (Neck Point -- #25 -- behind) 2. Shack Island: This group of three islands contains several historic fishing cabins. Before roads and houses peppered the hillsides around Hammond Bay, these fishing areas were a long way to row or paddle from Nanaimo without motors, so several families established cabins here in the 1930s. Descendants for the original families still use these as summer and weekend cottages. Orca near Pipers’ Lagoon 3. Pipers’ Lagoon Park: Originally, this area was traditional hunting and fishing grounds for the Snuneymuxw people. They had a seasonal settlement where the current parking lot and grassy fields are located. The lagoon and shallows provided them with clam harvesting opportunities. They fished, hunted, and even pursued whales in the waters nearby. Initially called Page’s Lagoon, it was named after the local, Louis Page, who lived in a cabin on Neck Point (#25), then called Page’s Point. Page’s Lagoon still shows up on many nautical charts. However, the Piper family (Joseph E. Piper and his two sons, Joseph Howard Piper and Cyril Lawson Piper) purchased 142 acres (57.5 hectares) of waterfront and set about farming sheep. Cougars killed many of their sheep and this endeavour failed. They then rented out summer cabins on the beach, but only generated enough money to pay their land taxes. From 1948 to 1952, they leased 6 acres (2.4 hectares) to a lumber sawmill that failed and shared their beach with a short-lived cannery. Remnants of boat rails can be seen among the stones. Nevertheless, the Lagoon was renamed as belonging to all three Pipers and the name stuck on all land maps. c.1900 map excerpt of Nanaimo Surface Geology (green = igneous; yellow = sedimentary) 4. Stevenson Point: As you round this point, notice the interesting geological history of the Nanaimo region. Here are examples of two kinds of rocks: igneous (formed from fire by volcanic processes) and sedimentary (deposited in layers, then glued together by extreme pressures). This is the only place on this tour where you will see both kinds of rock together. The igneous rock is called basalt, from 210 million years ago in the Triassic period. When basalt comes out of a volcano as lava and cools slowly if can form six-sided columns like those on the Devil’s Tower in Wyoming or the Devil’s Causeway in Northern Ireland. In this region, liquid magma flowed out into seawater and cooled rapidly on the outside, while remaining liquid inside for much longer. This formed “pillow” basalt, so look for rounded, well-defined lumps. The three sedimentary rocks from 90 million years ago in the Cretaceous period are sandstone, conglomerate, and limestone. These are layers of deposited sand, pebbles or coral, respectively that were squashed together under the weight of other layers and water. Look for sandpaper- like stone; this is obviously sandstone. Look for concrete composed of pebbles in cement; this is conglomerate. Look for white specks in creamy grey; this is limestone. The only layer missing is coal, formed from compressed carbon-based plants and animals; black coal is found in Nanaimo. Kayak paddling through sandstone caves on Jesse Island 5. Jesse Island: Stay between this island and the shoreline to view sea caves: explore only by small watercraft like a canoe or kayak. Exercise additional caution when near and inside the cave. Original building for the Pacific Biological Station, 1908 6. Brandon Island: Stay between two islands and shoreline to view the Pacific Biological Station, with two dozen structures, and the Canada Fisheries South Coast office behind it. One of nine federal research facilities, many scientists currently study marine life, fish productivity, ocean habitat, aquaculture, and genetic diversity. With over a century of continuous operations, its founding in 1908 was recently designated a Significant Event of National History. The original building had a library, photographic darkroom, and dining room, with living and working space for eight scientists and four visitors. A nearby caretaker’s cottage held the kitchen. Coal loading at Departure Bay with Brandon and Jesse Islands nearby 7. Departure Bay: Two to three thousand years ago, a Snuneymuxw winter village and burial site existed next to a convenience store located at the intersection of Bay Street and Departure Bay Road. Northward, past Departure Creek, are the water break remains from the wharf used for coal ship loading by the northern Wellington Colliery (coal works near Wellington). If you have a small watercraft that allows for landing, you may want to stretch your legs with a walk along the thin sandy beach and/or seawall promenade from the store southward to Kinsmen Park. The area was named Departure Harbour by the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1852 and a few years later, maps showed the name as Departure Bay. By 1861, the first European settlers had arrived here and coal began shipping out of this area shortly afterwards. The first route was by rail to the aforementioned wharf and British Columbia’s first phone line also ran from the mines to the wharf. A second pier, close to the present day ferry terminal (#8), was constructed by the Vancouver Coal company to transport coals from its mines near downtown Nanaimo. In order to manufacture and supply explosives to the mining companies, the Hamilton Powder Company built a factory here in 1892. In 1903, a dozen workers died in an explosion of black powder and dynamite that destroyed a pair of warehouses. Brochure advertizing the advantages of the Black Ball Line over CPR rail ferries 8. Ferry Terminal: Exercise extreme caution in this area due to departing and arriving ferries and seaplanes. As early as 1930, steamships were modified to carry cars as well as foot passengers from downtown Vancouver to Nanaimo Harbour. Here, by 1955, the Black Ball Line ran ferries between Departure Bay and Horseshoe Bay near Vancouver. At the end of 1961, BC Ferries acquired the Black Ball Line and took over their cross Georgia Strait service to the present day. The 57 kilometre ferry route became part of the Trans-Canada Highway #1, opening in 1962. The Brechin Mine operated on this spot from 1940 to 1950. It excavated a slope down on an angle under Newcastle Island to access two seams of coal mentioned at the next stop (#9). Brechin Boat Ramp is nearby (500 metres southeast of parking) and provides a good launching alternative for access to or egress from this route in mid-tour. Unless you are short-cutting via Newcastle Passage past Marina Row (#13), continue across to Shaft Point on Newcastle Island. Coal mining on Newcastle Island 9. Coal mining on Newcastle Island: In 1849, Chief Che-wech-i-kan (later nicknamed Coal Tyee) saw a blacksmith in Fort Camosack (now capital Victoria) heating his forge with coal from Fort Rupert (now Port Hardy). Chief Che-wech-i-kan shared his familiarity of “black stone” places and brought a canoe full of coal when he visited a year later. The Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) sent agent Joseph McKay to prospect coal mining at Colviletown (renamed Nanaimo) in 1852. The contribution of indigenous people to Nanaimo’s growth and prosperity was exceptional. Beyond selflessly sharing the location of this natural resource, the Snuneymuxw people labored in the mines, loaded coal on docked ships, and maintained an ongoing, friendly, and important relationship with the HBC and the coal industries that followed. Without their hard work, Nanaimo would not have been built on coal, nor become the success it is today. As early as 1852, the Newcastle Pit started to strip mine the surface here.