New History and Heritage pages

Whonnock's history and heritage information--photographs and written text--has found a new home on the Web. To view the new pages click here or click on "History and Heritage" on the main page of the Whonnock & Ruskin Web site.

Card from John Williamson

From Mrs. Williams, a great-great-granddaughter of the diarist John Williamson I received scans of a Christmas card mailed in 1910 by Williamson to his granddaughter in Ladner.

Click on pictures for enlargement.

Late Pleistocene Occupation--More than 10,000 years ago

"The stylistic qualities of surface scattered artifacts collected from 68 sites in the inundation zones of Stave and Hayward Reservoir suggest that the area has been continuously occupied since late Pleistocene times." (Duncan McLaren)

Duncan McLaren currently operates Cordillera Archaeology which specializes in providing archaeological consulting services. He is also an adjunct professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Victoria.

Whoh-nuck - "where they hung the heads".

J.S. Matthews and August Jack made special trips up and down Howe Sound by steamer, for the purpose of recording sites and traditional names of villages and landmarks, during 1934-35. On the west (Downtown Squamish) side of today’s Mamquam Blind Channel (formerly East Branch of the Squamish River), only one traditional place-name was recorded as part of this project: Whoh-nuck - "where they hung the heads".
(Tim Woodland)

Whonnock P.O. Safe Carried Bodily Away, Saturday

Yeggs who broke into the post office at Whonnock, B.C. took the heavy safe from the building and moved it away in a wheelbarrow. The safe weighed 200 pounds and contained $18 in cash, $132 in postal notes abd $74 in stamps.
The postmaster, Mr. Whiting, did not discover the loss until arriving at the postoffice on Sunday afternoon when he immediately notified the police.
Later the safe was found carefully covered up with old pieces of carpet on the adjoining lot, where Mr. W.L. Baines resides. The postal notes and the stamps were still in the safe when found. The door of the safe had been pried off with a chisel.
Weekly Gazette 13 March 1936