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Greg Nesteroff
Jul 21, 20182 min read
Thomas Edison in Nelson
Inventor Thomas Edison (seen below in a Wikipedia photo) passed through Nelson 110 years ago. While his visit was fleeting, he told a...
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Greg Nesteroff
Jul 13, 201810 min read
Holy Grails of Kootenay history
Many’s the time I’ve come across something historically interesting in a newspaper only to: a) Fail to fully appreciate its significance...
877 views0 comments

Greg Nesteroff
Jul 9, 20188 min read
The Farron monument
I previously wrote about some strange circumstances surrounding the death of Doukhobor leader Peter V. Verigin in a train explosion near...
1,650 views0 comments


Greg Nesteroff
Jul 6, 20185 min read
Julia Henshaw in West Kootenay
Michael Kluckner’s new graphic novel, Julia, is a biography of Vancouver’s Julia Henshaw (1869-1937). She was, among other things, a...
277 views0 comments


Greg Nesteroff
Jul 3, 20187 min read
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,...
1,409 views1 comment


Greg Nesteroff
Jun 28, 20185 min read
An aeroplane in Kootenay Lake, 1919
The postcard below is part of a sequence showing Lieut. George Knopp Trim’s flight around Nelson during the fall fair of 1919 — and crash...
1,243 views2 comments


Greg Nesteroff
Jun 26, 20182 min read
Robert T. Lowery’s last newspaper folds
The first newspaper Robert Thornton Lowery was involved in — and the last still in business — is folding after 139 years. This cartoon,...
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Greg Nesteroff
Jun 26, 20184 min read
Consolidated Mining and Smelting meets Krag the Kootenay Ram
There are two curious things about the stock certificate seen below, issued by the Consolidated Mining and Smelting Co. of British...
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Greg Nesteroff
Jun 25, 20184 min read
Letter from Kaslo, 1901: The dear old Queen’s death
Below I’ve transcribed a six-page letter in my collection mailed by a woman visiting Kaslo with her mother shortly after the death of...
296 views0 comments


Greg Nesteroff
Jun 21, 20184 min read
Buildings that weren’t: Kootenay Lake Hospital, 1910
Nelson has had three Kootenay Lake Hospitals. The first, built in 1893 near 40 High Street, had a dozen beds. According to Dr. Lorris E....
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Greg Nesteroff
Jun 17, 201813 min read
15 curious things about Peter (Lordly) Verigin’s death
The death of Doukhobor leader Peter (Lordly) Verigin in a train explosion between Castlegar and Grand Forks on Oct. 29, 1924 is the West...
4,088 views0 comments


Greg Nesteroff
Jun 15, 20186 min read
New findings about Ainsworth’s oldest grave
In 2008, I wrote a story for Route 3 magazine about the Thomas (or Tomas) Higstrim grave at Ainsworth Hot Springs, which dates to 1891...
1,234 views1 comment


Greg Nesteroff
Jun 13, 20187 min read
William Randolph Hearst in West Kootenay
Did William Randolph Hearst (pictured below in a photo from Wikipedia), the larger-than-life American newspaper publisher who invented...
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Greg Nesteroff
Jun 11, 201816 min read
Chinese-Canadian and Indigenous births at Rock Creek
Between 1872 and 1923, at least 12 Chinese Canadian births occurred at Rock Creek. This was noteworthy for a few reasons. First, there...
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Greg Nesteroff
Jun 10, 20188 min read
The first Fruitvale Hotel
You’d think if fire destroyed a town’s business district, the date would be well documented. Not in Fruitvale’s case. Much of the town...
2,157 views0 comments

Greg Nesteroff
Jun 6, 20189 min read
18 West Kootenay/Boundary schools named after people
There was a time (primarily in the 1950s) where it was common practice to honour individuals (usually trustees and other politicians) by...
1,535 views2 comments


Greg Nesteroff
May 29, 20182 min read
Phantom signs: Baker’s Grocery
Go for a walk on Beatty Avenue in Nelson, down by the waterfront next to the RCMP station, and you will come across this curious...
1,163 views0 comments


Greg Nesteroff
May 29, 20182 min read
Rossland needs women!
John Gibb Devlin (1865-1925), alias the Gunner from Galway, was a well-known early Kootenay character. One funny story about him is how...
543 views0 comments


Greg Nesteroff
May 24, 20181 min read
Slocan dance card, 1897
This amazing little item is in the midst of being transferred from the Touchstones Nelson archives to the Slocan Valley Historical...
318 views1 comment


Greg Nesteroff
May 22, 20185 min read
Playmates on the border
The remarkable postcard seen below shows two friends, Anna Norris of Boundary, Wash., and Velma Shields, of Waneta, who didn’t let a...
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