Vancouver Island was one of the early spots in British Columbia’s history, and political events focused the spotlight on Victoria, the first settlement, on the tip of the Island. The Hudson’s Bay Company had to leave Astoria, on the Columbia River, and establish a new settlement, due to the heavy influx of settlers to that […]
B.C. Post Offices: North Saanich Read More »
Fairly often over the years we leave Victoria and go on trips through the Fraser Valley as far as Harrison Hot Springs and Hope. I am always interested in the background of the earlier post offices. One of these trips took me into Agassiz, where the Taylors were residing at that time. They are stamp
B.C. Post Offices: Ferney Coombe and Agassiz Read More »
For over forty years the Union Steamship Company vessels plied the coastal waters of southwestern British Columbia. In so many cases they were the only contact with the outside world for the all villages, lumber camps, and canneries. This fleet with its red stacks is now a thing of the past. Aircraft and modern highways
B.C. Post Offices: Tall Timbers and Fjords Read More »
Eight miles south of Nanaimo is a very small community called Cassidy: a hotel, a grocery store, and a garage. A small number of homes lie in the vicinity. This is a far cry from the original Cassidy in the early 1920s, also called Granby. It was here just after crossing the Haslam River bridge
B.C. Post Offices: Old Cassidy Read More »
Burrard Inlet B.C. is the name of a post office in the province of B.C. Very few people can locate this post office on a map. Some realize it is the beautiful salt-water inlet that starts under the Lion’s Gate Bridge and stretches past the city of Vancouver for thirty miles inland, through fjord-like scenery
B.C. Post Offices: Burrard Inlet Read More »
Off the west coast of British Columbia lie thousands of islands, some snuggled up to the mainland and others a day’s travel by boat, Most of these are small. Two are very large. Vancouver Island lies off the south coast – well populated and easily reached by numerous methods, and it is the playground of
B.C. Post Offices: Queen Charlotte Islands (Haida Gwaii) Read More »
In an isolated area approximately sixty miles from Campbell River on the Eastern side of Vancouver Island, lies Sayward Valley. For years it was cut off with no road connection. In this area were three post offices: Port Kusam, Sayward and Kelsey Bay. Port Kusam was a small spot under snow-capped Mt. Kusam, snuggling in
B.C. Post Offices: Sayward Valley Read More »
In the early hand cancels of Victoria, B.C., A.M. and P.M. were used to show dispatches up to twelve noon and P.M. after that period. I have a number of early entires and cancels on piece. Among these I found the time element NT. Victoria has had many types of hand cancels since the first
Early Hand Cancels of Victoria Read More »
Once upon a time, many years ago, when it was quite unthinkable to take anything that didn’t belong to you, there existed in Victoria a mail delivery system probably unique at that time. In Victoria’s Chinatown in those days lived many elderly gentlemen, retired from long years toiling in the Island’s coal mines, along the
Victoria’s Window-Sill Post Office Read More »
On Dec 7, 2023, the Royal Philatelic Society London (RPSL) announced the list of members who had been approved as Fellows of the Society this year. Our own Jannie Hofmeyr was on the list. Two other Canadians, Ed Kroft and David McLaughlin, were also admitted. A Fellowship is awarded by the RPSL to those members
Jan Hofmeyr, FRPSL Read More »
