Cool Underground Tunnel and Nanaimo's Old Mine Shafts

[GR74]

Did GR74 happen to find the undisclosed location in Chemainus (Mt. Sicker) where those 3 coal cars are being put together?

Unfortunately no. I didn't have the time to look around as I was there for work. I took some photos of the locomotive around 4:00pm on my way back to Nanaimo. A documentation of the construction of those coal cars would be cool.

There was some highway construction by the airport that I encountered on the way home. It had both directions traveling in a single lane. The southbound highway lanes were jammed with bumper-to-bumper traffic from Spruston Road to Morden Road but it was a smooth ride home for me.

[BigMac]

Enlarged your photo a bit to get a better look at Mr. Dunsmuir, hope you don't mind!!! Probably his wife on the far right, she looks a little uncomfortable!!



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[BigMac]

Just like to add a thanks to all who have contributed to this , it is amazing to see all these old photos etc. Thanks GR & everyone else who has spent time on this-keep it coming!!!

[Peter Roosen]

Here is Robert Dunsmuir's portrait you can compare with. It came from somewhere earlier in this forum.

[Peter Roosen]

Is this wheel still around? This photo was taken during the Harewood Mines tour a year ago. I stumbled onto the photo when reviewing the numerous forum postings carefully after GR74 outed me the other day. I have the other 3 wheels plus 2 axles and I think this is the exact one to complete the set. The car I am intending to make from the set once completed is a hand-pushed explosives trolley that was typical of those used in the 1800s to move explosives around from one place to another in the mines. The second photo (taken a few days ago by GR74) has a pair of these identical wheels mounted on an axle (middle set of the 5 axles shown there - the one with the smallest diameter wheels).

[GR74]

No problem BigMac. This stuff is so easy to do. I find it interesting and a lot of fun.

[GR74]

Peter I was wondering if you'd tell the story of the boarded up building in this photo.

[Peter Roosen]

Sure, if you could tell me how this site manages to have 140,000 visitors, with between 500 and a thousand a day coming along?

[BigMac]

He looks to have a rather large beard in the photo I enlarged?!

[Peter Roosen]

GR74, that is the Cariboo Hotel in Carcross, the oldest hotel in the Yukon. I went there in May 2008 to do an engineering work-up on the Duchess (or the Duke in disguise with switched builder's plates depending on who you listen to). Measurements, photos, etc. - enough information to do an assessment/estimate for getting her back in running shape. I drove up in a rented minivan from Fort Nelson, arriving there in the late afternoon expecting to stay at the hotel that I thought was still in operation. I saw it all boarded up, took a few photos and grumbled as I drove to the nearest hotel (Whitehorse - about an hour drive away). I came back to Carcross early the next morning arriving at about 06:00 when it was already bright and sunny since there is little nighttime there in May. I met someone who was up early walking his dog and asked about the boarded up hotel.

The fellow says to me "Oh, that got boarded up after two guys came in one night and shot the owner Bob dead." Not what I was expecting - I didn't believe him. I then asked "Well, what happened to the two men who shot him." His response was that they were in court and jail waiting for their sentencing. Being a bit cheeky, I suggested "It must have been a good night, getting rid of three bad buggers in one night like that." This guy walking his dog wasn't going to let me off easy. He said something along the lines of "You don't know this place at all if you think getting rid of only three bad buggers is going to make a difference." I left it at that, took a bunch more measurements then drove to Skagway, Alaska - an hour in the other direction with the border about half way along.

I was going to Skagway to meet Carl Mulvihill, unofficial historian for the White Pass & Yukon who had quite a good history published on the railway. Carl works as a US border guard at that crossing and at the cruise ship terminal in Skagway. I still didn't believe the earlier gentleman in Carcross so asked Carl why the Cariboo Hotel was all boarded up. His response "Two guys went in and beat up or shot the owner Bob Olson dead on Christmas eve three years ago over the price of drinks." He went on to say "I've worked this border for a long time and have seen all sorts of strange things over the years and can tell you that if you think you are going to be able to get out of town with the Duchess in tow, you have another thing coming. Much as she seems to be sitting there deteriorating and as nice as it would be to have her operating condition again on Vancouver Island, they'll hang you from the highest tree if they catch you trying to haul her off."