The hotels of Pilot Bay
This week, a rare envelope from the Hotel Pilot Bay, postmarked 1897, sold on eBay for $115 US. Making it all the more appealing, it was...
top of page
Search
Greg Nesteroff
Mar 17, 201916 min read
10 West Kootenay Boundary drive-in theatres
Is anything more nostalgic (at least to certain generations) than a drive-in theatre? From 1947 to 2003, at least 10 of them operated in...
6,656 views6 comments
Greg Nesteroff
Mar 14, 20197 min read
Murder at Salmo, 1893
Salmo first came to prominence as the result of a bar room murder in 1893. The town — then little more than a cluster of shacks — was...
1,315 views1 comment
Greg Nesteroff
Mar 13, 20195 min read
George Borchers in Kaslo
Pictured here is what is probably the most valuable and coveted baseball card with a West Kootenay connection. In 1897, Kaslo, Rossland,...
744 views0 comments
Greg Nesteroff
Mar 8, 20192 min read
Then & Now: Burns Block
The rare postcard below, which sold recently on eBay, shows the Burns Block at 560 Baker Street (formerly 514 Baker) in Nelson — although...
893 views1 comment
Greg Nesteroff
Mar 7, 20193 min read
Black pioneers of West Kootenay: Wesley Ziegler
I was thrilled to find a postcard for sale on eBay recently of Nelson/Rossland pioneer Wesley Ziegler. It was taken by Campbell Art...
803 views0 comments
Greg Nesteroff
Mar 7, 20192 min read
International lacrosse, 1911
A few outstanding postcards and photos sold recently on eBay showing Nelson sports teams, one of which was an action shot of a lacrosse...
255 views0 comments
Greg Nesteroff
Mar 4, 20193 min read
Then & Now: Corner Brick
A terrific postcard popped up on eBay recently, showing the A. MacDonald & Co. warehouse at 623-25 Front Street in Nelson, ca. 1910 —...
863 views3 comments
Greg Nesteroff
Mar 1, 20196 min read
His lot in life: The hard luck of Lot Willey
Lot Willey had a lot of bad luck. And bad timing. He was a sort of anti-Forrest Gump, with an uncanny knack for arriving in a town just...
931 views3 comments
Greg Nesteroff
Feb 28, 20198 min read
A Japanese-Canadian soldier’s grave
The most unusual military grave in the Nelson cemetery is the one seen below, which belongs to Usaku Shibuta, who died at the Balfour...
1,095 views2 comments
Greg Nesteroff
Feb 28, 20191 min read
Phantom signs: Grand Forks Furniture & Hardware
One of the more venerable Boundary commercial institutions was Grand Forks Furniture & Hardware at 358 Market Ave. The business has been...
229 views0 comments
Greg Nesteroff
Feb 22, 20192 min read
Crystal Hall
It sounds like something out of Game of Thrones, but the evocatively-named Crystal Hall at Willow Point on Kootenay Lake was made of...
426 views1 comment
Greg Nesteroff
Feb 17, 20196 min read
The Nelson Independent
A copy of a short-lived and long-lost Nelson newspaper has surfaced: it’s the Sept. 20, 1913 edition of The Independent, whose existence...
623 views0 comments
Greg Nesteroff
Feb 8, 20191 min read
First Nations faces in Procter
I bought the photo below about eight years ago. It shows a group on the lawn of the Outlet Hotel in Procter, long a popular spot for...
539 views0 comments
Greg Nesteroff
Feb 7, 20197 min read
The final fate of Nelson’s first fire chief
Nelson’s first fire chief following the city’s incorporation in 1897 was also the youngest chief ever — and the shortest serving. But for...
822 views0 comments
Greg Nesteroff
Feb 3, 201914 min read
Chinese-Canadian pioneers of West Kootenay: Charlie Bing
After writing about Chinese-indigenous births at Rock Creek, I received a message from Nelson’s Mona Smith, who noted that her mother,...
2,591 views8 comments
Greg Nesteroff
Feb 2, 20199 min read
4 questions answered and 4 still outstanding
Here’s a list of local historical questions I wish I could answer and some others I have recently been able to find answers to. 1) What...
1,801 views2 comments
Greg Nesteroff
Feb 1, 20194 min read
Empress of Ireland’s lost footage found
In 2019, I wrote here about some long-lost footage showing survivors of the Empress of Ireland disaster of May 29, 1914 that claimed more...
2,429 views5 comments
Greg Nesteroff
Jan 25, 201919 min read
Gun play at Grand Forks
Grand Forks police chief Harry Sheads was involved in shootouts in 1899 and 1900. What happened before and after was incredibly weird.
854 views6 comments
Greg Nesteroff
Jan 22, 201912 min read
New Denver’s cemetery story
Despite being such an historic and picturesque site, little has been written about the history of New Denver’s cemetery — until now. This...
1,364 views5 comments
bottom of page