The remarkable steam launches of Captain Troup
While James W. Troup was renowned for building sternwheelers in the West Kootenay, Michael Cone recounts three steam launches he owned.
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Greg Nesteroff
- Dec 12, 2022
- 8 min
Mysteries of Comaplix
Wherein I try to figure out more about a woman depicted on a postcard — and reveal some puzzling findings about a murdered brothel keeper.
737 views1 comment
Greg Nesteroff
- Sep 20, 2021
- 3 min
5 doctored West Kootenay postcards
Long before Photoshop, postcard publishers were using airbrushes and other tools to alter images.
1,804 views6 comments
Greg Nesteroff
- May 13, 2021
- 3 min
Tales old envelopes tell
Several envelopes that sold at auction have intriguing connections to West Kootenay Japanese-Canadian, Chinese Canadian, and mining history.
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Greg Nesteroff
- Apr 7, 2019
- 7 min
Wandering printing presses of West Kootenay
During West Kootenay’s mining boom of the 1890s, newspapers popped up like Starbucks franchises. But lugging a printing press into a...
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Greg Nesteroff
- Dec 16, 2018
- 8 min
Pioneer women of West Kootenay: Ralphia Weir Stitt McLean Borrow
I’m not sure who the first woman to work for a West Kootenay/Boundary newspaper was, but it may have been Harriet Haire Smith, a daughter...
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Greg Nesteroff
- Nov 19, 2018
- 7 min
Kootenaians on the Lusitania’s last voyage
Six West Kootenay/Boundary residents and one former resident were among the 1,200 passengers and crew who perished when a German U-boat...
1,325 views0 comments
Greg Nesteroff
- Jul 3, 2018
- 7 min
Ici repose: The Hamel family of Comaplix
One of most poignant epitaphs I’ve ever seen appears on twin gravemarkers in West Kootenay’s most remote cemetery. The Hamel siblings,...
1,384 views1 comment
Greg Nesteroff
- Apr 23, 2018
- 1 min
Wandering manhole covers
Is Trail missing a manhole cover? If so, public works might want to call their counterparts in Nelson, because there’s one in Railtown...
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Greg Nesteroff
- Apr 12, 2018
- 13 min
Overwaitea in West Kootenay/Boundary
One of the most venerable and unique made-in-BC business names ceased to exist on March 22, 2018 after 103 years. The last Overwaitea...
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Greg Nesteroff
- Mar 25, 2018
- 8 min
Mattie Gunterman and the Williams sisters
The photo below is probably the second most-reproduced image ever taken in West Kootenay (next to R.H. Trueman’s vertigo-inducing shot of...
1,063 views1 comment
Greg Nesteroff
- Mar 13, 2018
- 4 min
A girl named Columbia
On Oct. 26, 1892, the sternwheeler Columbia was on the Arrow Lakes, en route from Little Dalles, Wash. to Revelstoke, when a passenger...
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