Photograph of Allan (last name?), Pete (Margaret Middleton), Chickie (real name?) and Henry (last name?) seated on a rock beside the dock in Whaletown. A Union Steamship is behind them and the wharf and freight shed are to the right.
Photograph of Allan (last name?), Pete (Margaret Middleton), Chickie (real name?) and Henry (last name?) seated on a rock beside the dock in Whaletown. A Union Steamship is behind them and the wharf and freight shed are to the right.
Fonds consists of photographs of the Gorge Harbour Lodge and Lodge activities, the Corneille and Ballantyne families, and Gladys Ballantyne's house, Gypsy Hill.
Bobby (Elizabeth) Corneille Ballantyne (1914-2009) was born in Vancouver and moved to Cortes Island as a young child. She was 4 years old when her father died suddenly on Marina Island in 1919; she remembers that they had to wait 3 days for a Union Steamship to get the body. Her mother Tena (Sarah Christena) Corneille (1877-1949) bought a tourist lodge at the east end of Gorge Harbour in 1929, and ran it until 1936 with the help of her two teen-age daughters. Gorge Harbour Lodge offered accommodations in the main building or in tents, tennis and badminton courts, and excellent boating, bathing and fishing. Vacationers came up from Vancouver on the Union Steamships for a round-trip ticket price of $6.65. The annual Regatta was the main social event of the season, with people arriving by boat from Cortes and the surrounding islands. It featured boat and swimming races, and a dance in the evening.
Gladys Georgeson Ballantyne (1882-1964), first came to Cortes in about 1910. In about 1920 she bought a property in Whaletown (now 640 Whaletown Rd.) that she called "Gypsy Hill". She was one of the original members of the Whaletown Friendly Circle, later the Whaletown Women's Institute. Gladys, her son Bill, daughter Valerie and her fiance were all on Cortes building a summer cottage when the Depression suddenly hit. Their off-island jobs fell through, and they remained at "Gypsy Hill" for the duration.
Bill Ballantyne (1908-1993) was in the Merchant Marine from 1924-1929. When he was unable to find work on ships during the Depression, he took whatever jobs he could find hand-logging and fishing. Bill and Bobby Corneille were married in 1937. They and other young Whaletown residents formed the Gorge Harbour Dramatic Society to help raise funds to build a community hall, and Bill was the work boss of the building crew for the Gorge Hall. In 1941 they moved to Victoria, and after the war settled in Courtenay with their two sons Peter and Ross. In the late 1950s they returned to Whaletown on Cortes Island where they fished for many years on the gulf troller “Viking”. During that time many young “deckhands” spent time aboard during summer vacations. On retirement, Campbell River became their home.
Custodial History
Electronic records were downloaded in 2012 from an internet address provided by Peter Ballantyne. One photograph was scanned from a photograph temporarily loaned by John and De Clarke.
Scope and Content
Fonds consists of photographs of the Gorge Harbour Lodge and Lodge activities, the Corneille and Ballantyne families, and Gladys Ballantyne's house, Gypsy Hill.
Fonds consists of ten photographs (nine black and white; 1 coloured) depicting members of the extended Byers/ Manson families, logging at Seaford and Von Donop Inlet, and the Union Steamship Chelohsin.
Henry and Ruth Byers, Ervin and Florence (Manson) McKay, Clarence and Etta (McKay) Byers, Ken and Hazel (McKay) Hansen, Scotty and Amy (Byers) McKenzie moved to Von Donop Inlet in 1939, where they ran a logging operation.
Custodial History
Found in Information Files folder (Byers family), August 1, 2020 and transferred to Archives.
Scope and Content
Fonds consists of ten photographs (nine black and white; 1 coloured) depicting members of the extended Byers/ Manson families, logging at Seaford and Von Donop Inlet, and the Union Steamship Chelohsin.
File contains material relating to the formation of the Cortes Island Shellfish Growers Cooperative; agendas and minutes of meetings; newsletters produced by the association; and correspondence.
File contains material relating to the formation of the Cortes Island Shellfish Growers Cooperative; agendas and minutes of meetings; newsletters produced by the association; and correspondence.
Photograph of a crowd of people on the government dock at Manson's Landing, likely waiting for the arrival of a Union Steamship. They are standing in front of a building sided with vertical shake boards, with "Cortes Island" and "Telegraph Office" signs on its side. View is looking along the Spit.
Photograph of a crowd of people on the government dock at Manson's Landing, likely waiting for the arrival of a Union Steamship. They are standing in front of a building sided with vertical shake boards, with "Cortes Island" and "Telegraph Office" signs on its side. View is looking along the Spit.
File contains records relating to the Whiting's egg business: feed orders and price lists, bills, receipts for eggs sold and Union Steamship bills of lading.
File contains records relating to the Whiting's egg business: feed orders and price lists, bills, receipts for eggs sold and Union Steamship bills of lading.
Sous-fonds consists of materials generated or gathered by George Sirk during his term as Regional Director. It includes correspondence; minutes and reports of the Cortes Island Advisory Planning Commission (APC); Official Community Plan and Zoning Bylaw revision materials; records of foreshore leases and licenses; correspondence on various island issues, and material relating to parks, aquaculture, forestry, treaty negotiations and other island concerns. Sous-fonds is arranged into six series: Advisory Planning Commission; Community Plans and Bylaws; Regional District of Comox-Strathcona: Regional Board; Regional District of Comox-Strathcona: Committees; Rezoning and Development Proposals; Subject Files: Cortes Affairs; Aquaculture; and Treaty Negotiations.
George Sirk was elected Regional Director of Electoral Area I (Cortes Island) in the Regional District of Comox-Strathcona in 1996. He served three terms as Director, from 1996 to 2005.
Custodial History
Material was donated to CIMAS by George Sirk in 2004, prior to his move from Cortes Island to Victoria, BC.
Scope and Content
Sous-fonds consists of materials generated or gathered by George Sirk during his term as Regional Director. It includes correspondence; minutes and reports of the Cortes Island Advisory Planning Commission (APC); Official Community Plan and Zoning Bylaw revision materials; records of foreshore leases and licenses; correspondence on various island issues, and material relating to parks, aquaculture, forestry, treaty negotiations and other island concerns. Sous-fonds is arranged into six series: Advisory Planning Commission; Community Plans and Bylaws; Regional District of Comox-Strathcona: Regional Board; Regional District of Comox-Strathcona: Committees; Rezoning and Development Proposals; Subject Files: Cortes Affairs; Aquaculture; and Treaty Negotiations.
Sous-fonds consists of records created or collected by Jeannette (Jenny) Hiebert during her term as Regional Director. It includes minutes of APC meetings, correspondence, records of public hearings, records related to bylaw and zoning changes, parks, aquaculture, and forestry issues, and material about the impending division of the Regional District of Comox-Strathcona into two separate districts.
Jeanette (Jenny) Hiebert served as Regional Director for Area I, Regional District of Comox-Strathcona, for one term, from 2005-2008
Custodial History
Donated to CIMAS by Jenny Hiebert in 2019.
Scope and Content
Sous-fonds consists of records created or collected by Jeannette (Jenny) Hiebert during her term as Regional Director. It includes minutes of APC meetings, correspondence, records of public hearings, records related to bylaw and zoning changes, parks, aquaculture, and forestry issues, and material about the impending division of the Regional District of Comox-Strathcona into two separate districts.
Fonds contains material relating to the Cortes Island Shellfish Growers Coop and the Bee Islets Growers Corp, of which Jordan was a member, and other documents relating to aquaculture.
Joseph (Joe) John Jordan (May 21, 1936 – January 6, 2019) was raised in the Tsawwassen/Point Roberts area. He attended technical college in California, and worked for Monroe Lytton Industries repairing machines and early computers. After returning to BC he became a commercial fisherman, and after moving to Cortes Island in 1976, an oyster grower as well. (See Information files for an obituary).
Custodial History
Records were kept by Joe Jordan and donated to the Museum in 2019 by his wife (and CIMAS president) Lynne Jordan.
Scope and Content
Fonds contains material relating to the Cortes Island Shellfish Growers Coop and the Bee Islets Growers Corp, of which Jordan was a member, and other documents relating to aquaculture.
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.
