Tag Archives: Squirrel Cove General Store

Health

Anti-vax graffiti in Cortes Island newspapers

Someone has been defacing pro-COVID vaccine adds inside copies of the Campbell River Mirror distributed on Cortes Island. 

When Tom Bohart picked up a copy of the February 1st edition at Mansons Landing, he saw the endorsement on page A 26, where Dr Titus Wong said ‘There are people who are vulnerable. Help protect them from serious illness by getting a booster.’ Someone had taken a felt pen and wrote ‘Lies + propaganda! They cause harm + death’ across the add. Returning out of curiosity the next day, Bohart found a similar defacement in the first paper he checked.  

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Business

Wit’s End: Design and Fabrication on Cortes Island 

 Wits End: Design and Fabrication is setting up shop on Cortes Island.  Arne Olafson was looking for a space to use his equipment, when he walked into the Squirrel Cove General Store last December.  

“Curt’s a really friendly guy and he’s super helpful. I was asking who had room for such a big machine, and Curt said that I could move into the shop here. I moved in. There was just some sweeping up, and then I had to build a table for my machine because I couldn’t move my whole table from Hornby Island. I did  move the top part of the machine, which fits in my van,” he said. 

Olafson has been living on Hornby Island for the past 7 years, but is well known to many Cortes Island residents. 

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Communications, History

How telephones came to Cortes Island 

According to Lynne Jordan,  former president of the Cortes Island Museum, there have been telephones on Cortes Island for more than 110 years. They arrived in 1910, along with telegraphs, but only in the stores.

“Telegrams were really cheap. They were so much for 10 words and so much for 100 words.  People got really good at confining their messages to 10 words. Telegraphs that came in for people were just put in an envelope and then pinned on the bulletin board at the store.  Then they either had to check themselves or a friend would tell them that there was a message there for them,” she said.

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History

How Gorge Harbour Road changed Cortes Island

Squirrel Cove was much more important during the first part of the 20th century. Union Steamships tied up at the long wharf twice a week. There is still a Squirrel Cove General Store and post office, but there were once log boom, a sawmill, boatyard, machine shop, community hall, church and a school. Much of this infrastructure disappeared during the years that steamships were supplanted by motor boats and floatplanes. However Lynne Jordan, former President of the Cortes Island Museum, has another explanation for Squirrel Cove’s decline.

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Rivers & Oceans, Transportation

Boat catches fire close to Refuge Cove

At 9:08 AM on the morning of February 9th, 2022, a Squirrel Cove resident phoned the Coast Guard about a fire just north of Refuge Cove, on West Redonda Island. What she thought might be a house engulfed by fire turned out to be a 34 foot wood and fiberglass boat close to the shore.

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