Although lifetime Cowichan Lake resident and historian extraordinaire Trevor Green died a few years ago he left a wealth of local history in the form of written personal journals.
Over the years he recorded his thoughts, what he saw, and how he saw it. Recorded were his observations, events, thoughts, places, memories, and musings, all pertaining to the history of the village including its geography and its people.
The historical value of the journals is quite remarkable in that the events were recorded daily, as they occurred. Through him, the interesting and valuable perspective of past happenings has been preserved.
I thank Trevor’s son Tony Green for granting me the privilege of reading the journals and printing some of the interesting facts and details found within their pages. Following are a few of Trevor’s journal entries:
December 7, 1972 entry: We watched on television the launching of Apollo 17 from Cape Kennedy, where a million people had foregathered for the event . . . it was miraculous to see the strange craft lift off from the ground and begin hurling course through space. Strange things happen in the world today.
April 2, 1979 entry:
Opened recently was The Logger Hut, a new café located on the premises of the former Lunch Tray (a perpetually boarded up building adjacent to the present day foot bridge) and there I had a cup of hot chocolate to the tune of 40 cents! The Loggers Hut appears to be clean and orderly. Valerie Pawlik seems to be the cook, or else the lady whom I glimpsed may be her double.
April 1979 entry:
A truly lovely evening, clear skies, starlight, and far away the illusion of frog music from the swampy swamps along the railway line. I suppose one muses the great spring chorus that we heard, week after week, and year after year in my childhood. Now, what we sometimes hear is only a faint echo and seems to last only a few days. Oh where have the frogs gone, and do they still sing? Or have their habits changed over the past few years?
May 24, 1979 entry:
My memory goes back to my earliest childhood. Mrs. Stelly lived at the Riverside then, in fact she and George were the owners. They were also the owners of the property across the river. Mrs. Stelly envisioned a fine garden there in the future. She spent her time planting ornamental trees and shrubs in her garden. Among her treasures was the Monkey Tree. (Note: The Monkey Tree is still on the property today, close to a hundred years later.)
July 15, 1979 entry:
We find ourselves wondering if there may not be a ‘firebug’ in our midst, for the (fire) siren has been sounding very frequently of late, twice last Saturday, twice during the week, and twice today. Arson is suspected for there have been attempts to set fires to one or another of the schools.
April 17, 1970 entry:
On the way to work (at Mesachie Lake) I picked up three lads apparently hitchhiking to Honeymoon Bay in search of jobs. They were a rather scruffy looking trio and judging from the faint reek of something indefinable — something I had never smelled before but which hinted of a musty dryness, like mildewed hay — I assume they had been smoking grass or pot or whatever it’s called, fairly recently. Their chance of finding any sort of job seemed to be very slim.