Bill Miner’s Nelson double
Notorious train robber Bill Miner had a lookalike in Nelson. This story appeared in the Nelson Daily News on Nov. 16, 1911 and was...
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Greg Nesteroff
Mar 14, 20183 min read
Bing Crosby in the Kootenay
Did crooner Bing Crosby (pictured below in a Wikpedia photo) hang out in the West Kootenay before stardom? There are several suggestions...
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Greg Nesteroff
Mar 13, 20184 min read
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...
779 views1 comment
Greg Nesteroff
Mar 12, 20182 min read
The Rossland Mystery Booster
In 1992, a classified ad appeared in The Mystery Review, a now-defunct quarterly magazine, that read as follows: Put Rossland, British...
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Greg Nesteroff
Mar 12, 20181 min read
Lost buildings: Last call at Trail’s Union Hotel
The City of Trail bought the Union Hotel (pictured below) and a neighbouring building last year with plans to tear them down and sell the...
2,226 views0 comments
Greg Nesteroff
Mar 9, 20182 min read
Baker Streets of the Kootenays
When he wasn’t out sleuthing, Sherlock Holmes lived at 221B Baker Street in London. According to Wikipedia, at the time Sir Arthur Conan...
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Greg Nesteroff
Mar 9, 20188 min read
Now let me scold you a little: the Westfall letters
Recently I posted the transcript of a letter from a little girl in Rossland in 1898 writing to her father to tell him what she received...
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Greg Nesteroff
Mar 8, 20182 min read
The burial of Sam McGee
Sam McGee wasn’t cremated in the Yukon — he was buried in Kaslo. Here’s his grave marker to prove it, as it appeared in 2008: I say this...
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Greg Nesteroff
Mar 8, 20183 min read
Jack London in the Kootenay
Did novelist Jack London once work in a tie camp at Lardeau? Jack London (Wikipedia/Little Pilgrimages, p. 235) The author is best known...
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Greg Nesteroff
Mar 5, 20184 min read
An assassin on Kootenay Lake
Former Idaho Governor Frank Steunenberg was assassinated on Dec. 30, 1905 when a bomb exploded at his house in Caldwell. The sole person...
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Greg Nesteroff
Mar 4, 20185 min read
Malone Manor
My wife recently surprised me with the gift of a 1978 Robert Inwood print of Malone Manor. For 88 years, it was one of Nelson’s most...
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Greg Nesteroff
Mar 3, 20184 min read
Chinese Canadian pioneers of West Kootenay: Mar Sam
The photo below, taken in 1950, shows the evocative Mar Sam laundry at the corner of Front, Lake, and Ward streets in Nelson. You’ll...
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Greg Nesteroff
Mar 1, 20182 min read
A child’s Christmas in Rossland, 1898
Three lots sold on eBay today featuring letterheads, letters, and envelopes from the Old Gold Quartz and Placer Mining Co. and Standard...
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Greg Nesteroff
Feb 28, 20186 min read
The Mirror Lake post office
Was the Mirror Lake post office once listed by Guinness as the world’s smallest? I first encountered this claim on p. 199 of Kaslo: The...
746 views2 comments
Greg Nesteroff
Feb 23, 20186 min read
Pioneer women of West Kootenay: Amy Carey
In Silverton’s early days, Amy Carey was among the community’s leading entrepreneurs. She owned hotels, a grocery store, livery stable,...
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Greg Nesteroff
Feb 22, 20188 min read
The secret life of Eli Carpenter
West Kootenay prospector Eli Carpenter (?-1917) was chiefly famous for two things: co-locating the Payne mine, which started the Silvery...
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Greg Nesteroff
Feb 19, 20189 min read
3 little-known Nelson heritage buildings
Nelson boasts about 350 heritage buildings — commercial, residential, and institutional — based on those listed in 1981 in Nelson: A...
2,776 views2 comments
Greg Nesteroff
Feb 18, 20181 min read
Sandon Paystreak envelope sells for $241
A neat item sold this afternoon on eBay for $192 US (which is $241 Cdn): an envelope from the Sandon Paystreak newspaper. It was...
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Greg Nesteroff
Feb 14, 20185 min read
Mystery and murder surround Kaslo madams
A few years ago, I wrote about Koto Kennedy, the only Japanese Canadian living in Kaslo immediately before the start of the internment in...
828 views2 comments
Greg Nesteroff
Feb 13, 20185 min read
Hills Community Hall
This little building in Hills, on the east side of Highway 6, began life in October 1934 as the Hunter Siding school. An earlier Hunter...
1,257 views5 comments
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