Roots Ainsworth, Slocan, New Denver

Day 4 Crawford Bay to New Denver

OK so Google says it would take me an hour and a half to get from Crawford Bay to New Denver. Try 8 hours instead.  It started when I made it to the ferry just to watch it pull away. Turned out to be the best thing that could have happened as it gave me an hour and a half to walk (more like lay) on the beach and enjoy the first warm sunshine of the trip.  The ride across was full of motorcyclists of all different types. Entertaining

The view from the beach

Two crows did their best to chase the osprey away from his perch.  No luck

At 35 minutes it is the longest free ferry ride in North America

I stopped at Ainsworth Hot Springs where we took the kids when they were little. Disappointing as they made it all modern and took away the charm.  Onto Kaslo where my Grand Dad met up with his brother after walking and riding the rails from New Orleans. They worked the silver mines together.  The lady in the Kaslo Info centre had lived in Slocan and wrote a book about the history. We had a long chat about her life and his then bought the book. 

The drive from Ainsworth to Slocan was beautiful. The road was mountainous and windy felt like driving in NZ except on wider roads but still no shoulders.  Fewer cars but cyclist and motorcycles love it. 

When I got about half way up the road to Slocan I almost turned back.   It had rained a lot and Strider was noisily complaining about the washboard and potholes.  However we persevered.  Slocan was a  big surprise, not for what it is, which is nothing much, but for the museum that was full of pictures of what it was.  I had no idea there had been 6,000 and the town looked rich and fancy.  The museum guy spent a lot of time telling me stories about the pictures and I got a totally different sense of why my Grand Dad went back year after year.  The work would have been brutal but the money good. At the mines they lived rough but if they wanted to go into town for the high life they had a lot to choose from in town.  The trains coming daily from Vancouver brought in the best in foods and everything else for living well.  I thought he had been living in a typical gold/silver rush town but this was a class above. The town burned down in 1907 was rebuilt on a smaller scale but when the easy silver ore ran out so did the people. 

In the picture bellow everyone was told to dress in their Sunday best and pose for the camer. The owner in the bottom left was opening his new luxury hotel and wanted this as an advertising shot. The road was also cleaned and raked. 

There are only a few buildings left and many of those are in serious disrepair. The best things to shoot are rusty

There was also an old trailer that had a beautiful mural painted on it

This is as good as I could get Sandon to look.  The creek has regularly changed course and washed away sections of the town.

The last time Sandon had a boost in population was when it was made an internment camp

I went on to New Denver to see the Japanese Internment Museum and Gardens.  I’ve read several books about that time but it was still very sad, especially for the old, sick and poor who stayd on in the Orchard camp in destitute conditions until they died. When the reparations settlements were made in 1988 many Japanese donated theirs to the development of this museum. It was the only internment camp that wasn't bulldozed down after the war. An attempt to erase what had been done.  

In the evening some quiet time to reflect on the day and my friends 

who have had their own losses

There are bear signs all over New Denver and tonight when I went for a shower I came out and there was a bear moseying along in between me and my van.  Luckily he just took a look at me and kept on going down the beach I had just left.  Good thing I'm not nervous.