Although lifetime Cowichan Lake resident and historian extraordinaire Trevor Green, died a few years ago he left a wealth of local history in the form of written personal journals.
Over the years he recorded his thoughts, what he saw, and how he saw it. Recorded were his observations, events, places, memories, and musings, all pertaining to the history of the village, including its geography and its people.
The historical value of the journals is quite remarkable in that the events were recorded daily, as they occurred.
Through him, the interesting and valuable perspective of past happenings has been preserved.
I thank Trevor’s son Tony Green for granting me the privilege of reading the journals and printing some of the interesting facts and details found within their pages. Following are a few of Trevor’s journal entries:
March 15, 1967 entry: (Someone) phoned to tell us that a UFO could be seen against Skidder Hill. We all raced out to view the strange phenomena and there it was, a yellowish star-like light, low in the Southern sky, traveling east in a strange jerking fashion. I refuse to believe it was a contraption made of wax candles and a plastic sack but it was not, definitely not, a star. There are strange things happening in the world today.
June 7, 1967 entry: Before supper I had a pleasant chat with Eric Lundberg who had purchased an ancient and enormously heavy riverboat from Ronnie Saysell. (Eric) had managed to haul it this far upstream. I persuaded him to leave the boat here (at Greendale) and drive him back to the Saysell’s to retrieve his car. (Presumably Eric eventually hauled the ancient boat upriver to its destination.)
September 25, 1967 entry: No one can say which is lovelier: the warm sunny days or the moonlight star-spangled nights. Be that as it may, the glorious, memorable autumn continues week after week, it’s perfection unabated.
June 14,1968 entry: Lake Days — a mobile kitchen had been set up in the fire hall for the Lake Days Saturday morning free pancake breakfast (prepared) by Cousin Gordon Loutet, Charlie Monti, Jim Morrow, Elmer Tenney, Ernie Ardley and many others. The hotcakes and coffee were excellent and an air of efficiency prevailed.
July 7, 1968 entry: I don’t like supermarkets since I was nurtured long ago on the old fashioned country store tradition. (Trevor worked for many years at the old fashioned Gordon’s General Store in Lake Cowichan.)
September 17, 1971 entry: Drove up to the new Pacific Coast Satellite Communications Earth Station Centre which is in the process of construction a mile or two up the Meade Creek Valley (near present day Meade Creek CVRD recycling and refuse depot). There isn’t much to see yet other than a splendid wide access road and power line along and low construction of steel girders and numerous trailers where the workmen are staying. What a contrast to the Life and Times of Robert Aubrey Meade, who about 70 years ago cleared the few acres at the North Arm to build his log cabin and left his name to the creek and steep nearby mountain. Quite incredible!
