On my daily search of the Vancouver Public Library and City of Vancouver Archives I come across the work of local photographers from the last century (and beyond). While a photo from the archives makes us reflect, compare, and contemplate “early Vancouver”, it’s always important to note who took that photo, which is my aim with the Vancouver Photographer series. This week’s feature is Harry Torkington Devine — “H.T. Devine“.
Born in Manchester England in 1865, H.T. Devine came to Vancouver in 1886 by way of Brandon, Manitoba where he worked for a few years as a photographer. In Vancouver he set up shop with a partner, J.A. Brock, but by 1889 he had stopped working as a photographer. He returned to photography for a short period between 1895 and 1897. [Source: Vancouver Public Library]
The most iconic “Vancouver Real Estate” office photo that ever was:
1886: J.W. Horne’s real estate office in hollow log at approximately Georgia and Granville (today). Archives# LGN 454.
He moved to Vancouver in 1886. After the Great Fire of June 13, he photographed the first city council and first police department in front of a tent. His partnership with Brock ended in 1887. He worked again as a photographer from 1895 to 1897, then went into other work. [Source: Vancouver History]
Celebrating local food and agriculture around the beautiful province of British Columbia, the brand new We (Heart) Local Awards is a new popular choice awards program. The We Heart Local Awards will recognize key players throughout the industry through a nomination process followed by a public vote.
How it Works
Nominations will be open July 1st to July 15th, 2013. Anyone living in BC can nominate one or more favourites in the categories listed below.
Voting will be open July 16th to August 5th, 2013. Anyone living in BC can vote for their favourite nominees in the categories listed below by visiting the Facebook campaign page.
All voters and nominators are automatically included into a prize draw, for a chance to win 1 of 20 $100 gift cards to their local Farmers Market, as well as the deluxe prize: a weekend wine getaway in the Okanagan.
Categories
We Heart Local Award Categories:
Favourite Store to Buy Local
Favourite BC Farmers Market
Favourite Local Meat or Poultry Supplier
Favourite Local Seafood Supplier
Favourite Local Cheese Maker
Favourite Local Sweet Treat
Favourite Local Advocate
Favourite Local Winery
Favourite Local Brewery
Favourite Local Food Truck
Favourite Local U-Pick Farm
Favourite Local Orchard/Fruit Supplier
Favourite Local Restaurant or Café
Favourite Local Chef
Favourite Local Florist or Greenhouse
The celebration of local BC farming communities and the ‘Buy Local. Eat Natural.’ movement are actively supported by formal organizations such as the British Columbia Dairy Association (BCDA), British Columbia Agriculture Council (BCAC) and British Columbia Ministry of Agriculture. Partners for the We Heart Local Awards are BC Association of Farmers’ Markets, Vancouver Farmers Markets, Georgia Straight and Loco.
Nominations open up next week and to raise awareness about the awards, I have a $250 Vancouver Farmers Market gift certificate to offer up to one lucky reader. Here’s how you can enter to win:
Leave a comment here naming your favourite farmers market products (1 entry)
Post the following on Twitter (1 entry)
RT to enter to win $250 for @VanMarkets from @EatLocalNatural + @Miss604 #WeHeartLocal http://bit.ly/HeartLocal
I will draw one winner at random from all entries at 12:00pm on Wednesday, July 3, 2013. Get your nominations in next Monday and be sure to vote for your favourites. Follow ‘Buy Local. Eat Natural.’ on Facebook and Twitter for more information about the awards and their other initiatives across BC.
Tonight the Vancouver theatre industry will gather at the Commodore Ballroom to celebrate the 31st Annual Jessie Richardson Theatre Awards (the “Jessie Awards” or “Jessies”). Nominees were announced in May and awards will be handed out in over 30 categories.
Tickets for the Jessies are still available for $29.75 (plus service charges) through Ticketmaster online or by phone 1-855-985-5000. Doors open at 5:30pm on Monday, June 24th with the ceremony beginning at 6:45pm. Even if you aren’t a member of the industry, it’s a thoroughly entertaining evening and one of my favourite theatre-related events of the year thanks to the Vancouver TheatreSports League who puts on the show.
Stay tuned for coverage from the 31st Annual Jessie Awards. I will be joining them in progress due to a prior commitment but John will be on site to take photos that will accompany my roundup. I’ll be posting tweets and updates from attendees in the meantime by searching the tag #Jessies13. Continue reading this post ⟩⟩
Southern Alberta has been devastated by floods and rising river waters over the last week leaving the City of Calgary, and many surrounding areas, in a state of emergency.
Most significant is a large amount of rainfall — up to 200 millimetres in some places. Add in ground that is already saturated because of some more modest precipitation — about 40 millimetres — preceding the deluge. Combine that with areas that were still frozen not far below the surface and a local geography that encourages water to run down hill quickly, and there’s a recipe for this week’s devastation… On June 20, Calgary experienced record one-day rainfall with 45 millimetres coming down. The previous record was 35.1 millimetres, set in 1964… [Source: CBC]
Slowly looking on as the river rises and the city shuts down, watching the murky water fill the streets, and then waiting and waiting for it to retreat — all while power is cut and supplies run low. This has been an incredible situation for hundreds of thousands of people affected in Alberta (including Banff, Canmore, Red Deer, and more) with highways and bridges washed out, disconnecting communities.
The Canadian Red Cross has teams from across the country have been working around the clock to help those in Alberta. As a member of their Social Team, they have kept me (and the others who are all across Canada) in the loop when it comes to spreading the word about the work they are doing and what might help the most.
Here’s the latest from the Canadian Red Cross:
The Red Cross is responding in Alberta, helping in shelters by providing support from our volunteers, as well as cots, blankets, hygiene kits and other items that will help those evacuated feel safe and comfortable.
In disasters like this, a lot of times families get separated from one another, or can not contact each other, so the Red Cross sets up a registry for anyone in shelters. We also have a family reunification line where people can call if they need help locating loved ones.
At reception centres in Alberta, Red Cross volunteers are working to give people affected by the flooding information they might need – ie, where can they get other supports, how do they contact insurance companies, etc.
The Red Cross is also working to support various First Nations communities that have also been affected.
Across Canada, our teams have mobilized and volunteers from begun deploying. It’s an all-hands-on-deck kind of situation. Our volunteers are highly trained and ready to work in these situations.
We get a lot of questions from people wanting to donate clothes, food or other items. The Red Cross does not have the capacity to accept these kinds of gifts, but we can refer you to other agencies that can.
The best way to support the Red Cross is through a financial donation by calling 1-800-418-1111 or by texting REDCROSS or ROUGE to 30333, texting ABHELP to 4664 for Rogers customers. You can also donate online.
The Red Cross strongly encourages Albertans impacted by flooding to heed the warnings of officials. Updated information on evacuations is listed on the Alberta Emergency Alert website as well as the City of Calgary website. Follow the Canadian Red Cross on Twitter and Facebook for more information about their work and how you can help.
It’s one of those moments in the life of a Pacific Northwest resident that everyone remembers — where they were, what they heard, what they thought it was. I was only a few months old when Mount St. Helens erupted on May 18, 1980 but from 500km away, people (like my mother) recall hearing the blast and even dusting ash off of their cars. I have seen documentaries over the years and have even blogged about the anniversary of the eruption several times, however I had never been to Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument until just this month when John and I stopped in on our way from Vancouver to Vancouver.
Getting to Mount St. Helens
We stayed overnight in Seattle and set out in the morning, plotting our course to Vancouver, Washington with a scenic detour just before Castle Rock so that we could get to Mount St. Helens.
Heading straight down the I-5 for about 2 hours, we turned at Exit 49 and took Highway 504 (Spirit Lake Hwy) all the way to the end of the line.
When you first exit the interstate you wind through what resembles cottage country. Lush green properties, RV Parks, rushing rivers and tree-lined twists and turns in the road. You gradually ascend as the road gets wider and the views change from marshy lakes and meadows to sweeping panoramic vistas, getting up to 3,000ft.
Patches of perfectly symmetrical Noble Firs stand tall along sloping mountain ridges and then the snow-covered dome of the volcano appears and disappears, playing Peek-A-Boo as the road winds up and up.
Information signs point out lookouts and visitor centres including the viewpoint at Castle Lake which would be great for a photo op.
Facts About Mount St. Helens
The Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument is within the Gifford Pinchot National Forest and managed by the USDA Forest Service. The Monument was established in 1982 to designate 445 km2 (110,000 acres) around Mount St. Helens for research, recreation, and education.
Traditionally known as “Louwala-Clough” or “smoking mountain” to local First Nations, here are a few more facts about the volcano that have been compiled by Carolyn Driedger, Liz Westby, Lisa Faust, Peter Frenzen, Jeanne Bennett, and Michael Clynne for the USGS:
During the past 4,000 years, Mount St. Helens has erupted more frequently than any other volcano in the Cascade Range.
1792: Captain George Vancouver named the volcano for Britain’s ambassador to Spain, Alleyne Fitzherbert, also known as Baron St. Helens.
March 20, 1980: A magnitude 4.2 earthquake signaled the reawakening of the volcano after 123 years.
Spring 1980: Rising magma pushed the volcano’s north flank outward 5 feet per day.
Morning of May 18, 1980: The largest terrestrial landslide in recorded history reduced the summit by 1,300 feet and triggered a lateral blast.
Within 3 minutes, the lateral blast, traveling at more than 300 miles per hour, blew down and scorched 230 square miles of forest.
The volcanic ash cloud drifted east across the United States in 3 days and encircled Earth in 15 days.
The May 18, 1980 eruption was the most economically destructive volcanic event in U.S. history.
Small plants and trees beneath winter snow, and roots protected by soil, survived the May 18, 1980 eruption and now thrive.
During the 1980 to 1986 and the 2004 to 2008 eruptions—Lava oozed onto the crater floor, building domes taller than the Empire State Building and restoring 7 percent of the volume lost in 1980.
Where to Stop
There are several marked viewpoints along the highway where you can stop and take photos. For a closer look and more information about the monument, you can stop into one of these visitor centres which feature scheduled talks, interpretive walks, and more:
Mount St. Helens Visitor Center at Silver Lake (3029 Spirit Lake Hwy)
Science and Learning Center at Coldwater (North Side) 1900 Spirit Lake Hwy
Forest Learning Centre (Highway 504 Milepost 33) Pine Creek Information Center (South Side) 15311 Forest Road 90 Johnston Ridge Observatory (West Side) 24000 Spirit Lake Highway
The two top recommended visitor centres are Johnston Ridge Observatory ($8 per person, well worth it) and the Mount St. Helens Forest Learning Center (free admission). We decided to go all the way out to Johnston Ridge, at the very end of the road.
Johnston Ridge Observatory
The parking lot was fairly busy, spotted with trucks, cars, and a food truck with some road trip snack essentials but when we exited our vehicle the haunting wind was the only sound we heard. Signs along the gravel path that connected the lot with the observatory noted that we should have a National Parks Pass for this location and that it could be purchased inside the highly reinforced, bunker-like building.
We made a bee-line for the cashier inside the building and paid $8 each for a wristband that gave us admission to the observatory (including exhibits, talks, and movies) and access to the hiking trails. Feeling like I was on a school field trip, I couldn’t wait to soak up the information that was presented within the observatory — I love feeding my brain and learning about Pacific Northwest history.
There was a large interactive relief map in the center of the main exhibition hall that told the story of the eruption and lit up the path of the landslides, lateral blast, and lava flow chronologically. Kids played with interactive quizzes and informational boards that had flaps and panels to shift and lift.
A large tree trunk in the middle of another room bent at a 90 degree angle, demonstrating the power of the eruption’s lateral blast and photography on the walls told the story of those who were in the area on May 18th. Some shared their personal accounts, and others shared the tragic tale of friends who went out in the forest that day and never returned.
Before and After
March 28, 1980: Before the eruption. Photo: DNR by Washington State Department of Natural Resources.
March 28, 1980: Before the eruption. Photo: DNR by Washington State Department of Natural Resources.
John’s Photo from June 2013
Views and Trails
Once you have browsed the inside of the Johnston Ridge Observatory, you can head outside for guided tours, talks, and demonstrations. You can bring your hiking shoes for some of the longer trails otherwise the main pathways around the observatory are paved or have packed gravel, and there are some shorter loops that bring you right back down to the parking lot.
We walked up to a higher path that looked back down at the observatory, and winded around to find a dedication to the 57 people who lost their lives in the eruption. They were loggers, campers, reporters and scientists, and some were never found.
The experience all-in-all is pretty overwhelming. At first you feel in awe of the natural beauty, panning around to absorb the splendour of this spectacular mountainous area with a lake and river in the distance. Then, as silence sinks in and the wind howls you get a chill. You look over at thousands of trees on a ridge that are completely horizontal, as though they were blown down like dominoes that never connected. They have sat there for 30 years, lifeless, grey, and still.
I snapped back quickly as a squirrel came bounding over a log and I realized there’s so much life emerging from this devastation. Orange and purple flowers sprout near the path, trees are growing again, and gradient green grasses and plant-life are creeping closer and closer to the crater.
Resources
When planning your trip, the official Mount St. Helens National Volanic Monument website has all you need. It does take about 60-90 minutes (depending if you stop at lookouts) to get to the Johnston Ridge Observatory from I-5 so it’s better suited for a full day excursion. We did it in a quick trip between Seattle and Vancouver (Washington) and stayed about 2 hours but we would have spent much more time there to do a hike if we could.
From home, you can check out the live Volcano Cam, and follow Mount St. Helens updates on Twitter.
![[PIC] Took a detour driving to #Vancouver today... Vancouver USA! #Van2Van](https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8270/9002355546_c45323688c_z.jpg)
