Fonds consists of sixty prints and slides dating from 1951 to 1971. It includes scenes of of Cortes Island school students, logging, and the Union Steamship. Most photographs are from the Whaletown area. There are 16 slides of a logging camp at the Quatam River in Ramsey Arm, BC.
The Maclean family (parents Don and Doris, and children Janice, Heather and Ian) lived in Whaletown from 1961 to 1973.
Don Maclean's parents, John and Edna Maclean, lived for many years in Edmonton, Alberta. When their son came home from the war they bought property near Coulter Bay and moved to Cortes Island. Don Maclean became a fisherman, eventually living on his fishing boat.
Doris Lancaster Maclean was born and raised in Victoria, B.C. In the late 1940s she answered a call from the Anglican Church to come and do Vacation Bible School with the Columbia Coast Mission on Cortes and nearby islands.
Doris and Don married in 1954. They moved to Cortes Island in 1961 when Don was hired to operate the Columbia Coast Mission boat, the "Alan Greene". They lived in the Mission house in Whaletown, next to the church. Don Maclean acted as a Lay Reader for the Columbia Coast Mission in the 1960s when no clergymen were available, holding services in the three Anglican churches on the island.
In 1967 the Diocese sold the "Alan Greene" and the Macleans were required to move out of the mission house. Maclean built a house on the beach of what used to be called Jardine’s property, although by this time it was owned by a cousin of Doris Maclean. He was hired as the Industrial First Aid man on site for the building of the Whaletown Ferry dock and after that worked as a clam digger.
The Maclean family left Cortes in 1973 and moved to Regina, SK. The house that Don built was rented for a couple of years and then sold and moved to a new location; it burned down a few years later.
Custodial History
Twenty-seven photographs and 15 slides were mailed to CIMAS by Janice Maclean Kerr in 2019; two more photos were mailed in Apr. 2021; 16 slides were mailed in Sept. 2021
Scope and Content
Fonds consists of sixty prints and slides dating from 1951 to 1971. It includes scenes of of Cortes Island school students, logging, and the Union Steamship. Most photographs are from the Whaletown area. There are 16 slides of a logging camp at the Quatam River in Ramsey Arm, BC.
Photograph of Whaletown Bay taken from the water, showing the navigation marker at the entrance, and the houses to the left of the future site of the ferry landing.
Photograph of Whaletown Bay taken from the water, showing the navigation marker at the entrance, and the houses to the left of the future site of the ferry landing.
Photograph shows an old car parked beside the freight shed on the Whaletown wharf. Beside it a man is pushing the freight cart; a freight boat is alongside the wharf at back.
Photograph shows an old car parked beside the freight shed on the Whaletown wharf. Beside it a man is pushing the freight cart; a freight boat is alongside the wharf at back.
Photograph is an overview of Whaletown and Whaletown Bay, showing the dock and freight shed and the houses across the bay near the current site of the ferry dock.
Photograph is an overview of Whaletown and Whaletown Bay, showing the dock and freight shed and the houses across the bay near the current site of the ferry dock.
Slide shows a float plane taxiing out of Whaletown Bay. The photo was taken from behind the house beside the ferry landing; the Whaletown wharf and store buildings are across the bay.
Slide shows a float plane taxiing out of Whaletown Bay. The photo was taken from behind the house beside the ferry landing; the Whaletown wharf and store buildings are across the bay.
A description of the event may be found in “Whistle Up the Inlet,” by G.A. Rushton (J.J. Douglas Ltd., Vancouver BC,1974; p 50):
"Good teamwork in the handling of the ships by the Union Company’s marine department was evidenced when, on September 19, 1907, at 4:30 a.m., the Comox, running in a heavy fog, went aground on Cortez Island reef. All passengers were landed safely in small boats, then picked up by the Cassiar and taken to Heriot Bay for transfer to their destination aboard the Coquitlam. The Comox was pulled from her rocky perch at high water the following day and beached at Mansons, where a three-foot hole between the boiler and starboard bunker were patched. The vessel was towed back to Vancouver on September 22 by the tug Tartar.”
A description of the event may be found in “Whistle Up the Inlet,” by G.A. Rushton (J.J. Douglas Ltd., Vancouver BC,1974; p 50):
"Good teamwork in the handling of the ships by the Union Company’s marine department was evidenced when, on September 19, 1907, at 4:30 a.m., the Comox, running in a heavy fog, went aground on Cortez Island reef. All passengers were landed safely in small boats, then picked up by the Cassiar and taken to Heriot Bay for transfer to their destination aboard the Coquitlam. The Comox was pulled from her rocky perch at high water the following day and beached at Mansons, where a three-foot hole between the boiler and starboard bunker were patched. The vessel was towed back to Vancouver on September 22 by the tug Tartar.”
