Dead Man's Cave? The Douglas Slope Mine

Authored by Gerry Thomasen 1 year ago

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Everyone in Nanaimo has some sense of the area's coal mining history. The stories and artifacts are so dark and interesting.

But an even richer experience is available when you seek out the old mine entrances and shafts. You can look at the spot and conjure laughing or screaming ghosts; you can imagine the Victorian era and the early twentieth century.

A bunch of people started talking about it in the forums (Old mining tunnels of Nanaimo). This page is about how I encountered the Douglas Slope entrance.

Looking for Dead Man's Cave

Amidst the discussion of old mine entrances and weird holes in the ground, the user CHUBer mentioned the following in 2007:

my brother tells me there is indeed a cave just below Connaught Ave. There used to be a trail…

Nanaimo's Archaeological Treasures: To Showcase Or Hide?

Authored by Gerry Thomasen 3 years ago

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On the Harewood Plains Petroglyphs

These carvings used to be kind of secret – relatively unknown petroglyphs out in the Harewood Plains section of Extension Ridge.

Until recently, when people asked about rock art in Nanaimo, they were usually told about the other local petroglyphs, on nearby Gabriola Island and at Petrogylph Park just south of downtown.

Those better-known ones have been vandalized over the years, though, which invites us to consider the future of the Harewood Plains glyphs as they are increasingly exposed to the elements and the public.

(Some basic info about the Harewood Plains Petroglyphs.)

The Controversy: Preservation vs. Enjoyment

Those of us keen on telling people about the petroglyphs, have been reminded by other…

Urban Parkland: Protecting Intangible Commodities

Authored by Gerry Thomasen 3 years ago

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Everyone knows that parks are important for a happy city, with many thriving cities distinguished according to the proportions of their greenspace.  Urban parks are therefore well protected, rarely compromised by any public or private development interests. Most citizens take the protection of parks for granted, seldom allowing for any other interest that might claim the parkland for another use.

But, a proposed development might have great promise for the community, even when it alters or destroys an established and beloved park. How can we quantify the benefits of the existing park, in order to intelligently approve or deny its development for the sake of some other good?

A reliable system may or may not exist for measuring a park's product. This…

Nanaimo Undermined

Authored by Gerry Thomasen 4 years ago

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When you walk in Nanaimo, you should be imagining that the ground beneath you might be honeycombed with passages.

There used to be thick layers of high-grade coal underneath Nanaimo, some of it buried more than a hundred meters below sea level. It was mostly removed, though, and now all those kilometers of shafts are flooded with seawater. There're probably some ghosts in the deeps, too, never to see light again.

There are mine entrances all over the place downtown and around the harbour, most of them totally sealed until someone needs to blast them open again. They're sealed off because old coal mines are highly dangerous, on account of lethal gases and the instability of sedimentary rock. There are stories of kids disappearing into the old mines…