Chapter 8 LANTZVILLE 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. LANTZVILLE Walking Tour by Lynn Reeve, President, Lantzville Historical Society & Simon Priest, local resident/student of history Lantzville in the summer of 1965 In the early days of development on Vancouver Island a cart track ran from Nanaimo to the Comox Valley. Called the “Comox Trail” until the 1880s, it traced a route from downtown that now follows Comox Road, Bowen Road, the Old Island Highway (19A), past Long Lake and the Wellington coal mines, Lantzville Road, and beyond to Courtenay and Comox. Back then, this village in front of you was a collection of farms producing food for coal miners and settlers throughout the region. In 1916, the first coal mine in the midst of this farming community was started by Jack Grant and the village was named “Grant’s Mine.” It operated by the shoreline at the foot of Jacks Road with a small headframe (structure supporting the winch pulley suspending a cage from a cable) and large T-shaped wharf (for loading coal from the mine into docked ships bound for Vancouver and San Francisco). Shops and other services developed to support miners. A small Chinatown consisted of a dozen or so cabins. By 1920, the coal mine had been purchased by an American company and Grant’s Mine was renamed for Fraser Lantz, one of the company’s directors. Lantzville continued to grow on the back of coal extraction. Contrasted with Nanaimo and Wellington, Lantzville did not contain very much usable coal underground. In fact, it ran out within a decade and the mine closed in 1926. A few smaller operations followed sporadically until 1943, but not much coal was removed compared to nearby famous collieries. Prior to shutdown, stories are told of miners working under water below Nanoose Bay and noticing boulders in the roof of the mine that looked like those they saw collected on the beach at low tide. They concluded it was time to stop tunneling before the mine collapsed and flooded. After the mines closed, Lantzville survived as a summer cottages-by-the-sea recreation area. Today, it is a suburb of Nanaimo. START at the intersection of Dickenson Road and Lantzville Road, across from the Village Pub. Begin on the Dickinson side, opposite to the pub, and walk along Lantzville Road, going southeast, past the first Fire Hall (#1), now the District Offices, the Sow’s Ear (#2), and the first school site (#3) at Caillet Road. Lantzville’s first fire truck, built in Pierreville, Quebec, was driven across Canada in 1955 to Lantzville by Fire Chief Don Ruggles (photographer) and Herbie Heisterman (driver) 1. First Fire Hall: Lantzville’s first fire hall was built in 1956 on the site of what is now the District Municipal Offices. It began as a single story building, without a foundation, but a second floor and basement were added by 1968. The fire hall was needed, because a newly purchased fire truck, driven here from its manufacturing place in Quebec, had been sitting out in the open for nearly a year. The new fire station, built in 1986, is now located west of the village at Superior Road. Please read the additional historical information on the nearby interpretive sign, before continuing to the next stop. The Sow’s Ear, when it was a medical clinic, circa 1980. 2. The Sow’s Ear: A building supply store began on this location around 1948. By 1970, the business had relocated across the road and left the original building vacant and somewhat rundown. The new owners, who converted this old building into a series of small shops, knew that they would never be able to create a fine building from an initially dilapidated framework. They were reminded of the ancient Scottish proverb: “you can’t make a silk purse from a sow’s ear” and the latter name stuck. At one time, an antique shop operated in the Sow’s Ear and called itself the “Silk Purse” for a while. In the 1980’s, the town physicians constructed a new building on the south side of the old one and the latter was demolished to make room for their new parking lot. When their new medical clinic opened on this site, they kept the catchy and somewhat humorous name. Copies of the book Lantzville: The first one hundred years are available from the jewelry shop near here, during regular opening hours. The first school was converted to a home after 1921 and was replaced with a business building in 1980 3. The First School: Lantzville’s first school once stood on the corner of Caillet (Named for local citizen, see #16) and Lantzville Roads. It opened in 1917 with children in all eight grades housed together in a single room. The rapid population increase, due to the mining work force boom, meant that the one room schoolhouse was outgrown within four short years. Closed by 1921, the school became a house for several families, until around 1980, when it was replaced by the current business building. Turn left on Caillet Road and stop at the second left, Jacks Road. The Ball Field (#4) was once located straight ahead. Note how flat this area is. It was cleared and graded to make sports possible. The local softball team sponsored by the Lantzville Hotel 4. The Ball Field: Around 1917, just as the mining population was exploding, the land here was leveled to make a playing field for baseball and soccer. The miners and their families provided the labour, while the mining company supplied equipment and materials. The land was logged and stumps were blown up with dynamite (in abundance for a mine). The local teams were all sponsored by the Lantzville Hotel. Turn left on Jack Road and head downhill toward the water. Notice the steep grade at the edge of what was once the Ball Field area (#4). This is where an original mine house (#5) is located. Located on Lantzville Road, this typical miner’s house was also the Micheks’ first store in 1917 (see #15). 5. An original mine house: The house at 7023 Jacks Road, with a round river rock chimney, was moved to this location after 1948. This relocated house was purchased by the relative of a coal mine partner. Although this house has been modified over the last century, it was initially built around 1917 and housed a series of families who rented back their accommodations from the mining company. Please respect the privacy of the current residents, remain on the road, and do not trespass. Thank you. After Lantz’s company took over the mine, the company built many new houses for miners (see stop #9). The old houses (this was one of them) were individually relocated to become homes elsewhere in the village, mostly along Lantzville Road. Some were modified into businesses in the village centre. Others were moved to the beach and became summer cabins. A few were sold and moved to Nanaimo. Continue down Jacks Road, past McGill and the Rock Dump (#6), to its end by the water. Read the plaques on the boulder (#7), then return uphill to McGill and now turn right to Grant’s Mine Site (#8). The mine buildings showing typical tailing piles or the “rock dump.” 6. Rock Dump: Beyond the dead end of McGill Road, the rock tailings from the excavations of another mine (Shepherd) were simply dumped near the beach and eventually filled in a small bay. The coal tailings from Jack’s Mine were dumped uphill of this point between Jacks Road and Myron Road. The coal wharf at its largest by 1922 7. The Coal Wharf: Coal produced in the mine was loaded for transport onto ships via a 500’ (150 metres) long, t-shaped pier. Look out onto the water and you can see some of the pilings that remain. Bird houses have been added to some poles. The timbers for these pilings were imported from Australia. Eucalyptus or “Gum” trees contain a high quantity of natural oils and are resilient in saltwater. This explains why these have lasted so long over the past century. Grant’s Mine, circa 1920, showing frame head over a vertical shaft (background) and horse or mule entrance doors (foreground) giving access to a diagonal slope 8. Grant’s Mine Site: The mine started here in 1916 and for five years, it was owned by the Nanoose Collieries Company and operated by Jack Grant. Mines in those days were registered with the government and usually named for the miner, a loved one, or special event. This was forever known simply as Grant’s Mine or later Jack’s Mine by the locals, even thought others owned and operated it. From 1921 to 1926, the (American-based) Nanoose-Wellington Collieries Company took over ownership and Fraser Lantz was the director. Since Wellington was a name famous for coal (and a top quality standard at that), most coal companies found a way to incorporate this label into their titles. They called it the Lantzville Mine for its operating director and the name stuck with the village since then. By the end of 1926, the mine was sold to Canadian Collieries (Dunsmuir) Limited. The Dunsmuir family was famous for Wellington coal and eventually bought out most mines around Nanaimo. For one year (1927-1928), a pair of workers, whose names are lost to history, took over recovery of coal from the slag heap or tailing pile.