Work Today

[mbarrick]

Rather than city hall, work today involved an hour-long boat trip up this fjord (Indian Arm).

Along the way we passed the derelict hulk of the once proud and mighty McBarge (I haven't had time to photograph the blue-prints for eBay yet).

We also passed some three hundred year old graffiti petroglyphs. I'm still trying to figure out what exactly makes painting on a rock with fish-oil and berry crud to mark territory three hundred years ago different from tagging. Will people be pointing out spray-painted rocks three hundred years from now and marvelling at how they were done with such primitive things as CFC-propelled petroleum-based pigments? The myth of the noble savage lives on ...

The final destination was this <sarcasm>God-awful, butt-ugly part of the world</sarcasm>. The building across the water is an artifact I was much more impressed with, and is worthy of note.

The building across the way was designed by Francis Rattenbury, the architect of the provincial legislature and Empress Hotel in Victoria and built in 1914. See those big pipes going up the side of the mountain and the openings below the lower concourse of windows? This is a hydroelectric plant. There is another plant around the point built in 1903 and originally powered solely with water coming from Buntzen Lake on the other side of the mountain and later augmented with water from Coquitlam Lake via a 5 Km tunnel through another intervening mountain (completed in 1905). This plant was added in 1914. Both plants are still in use. The photo below gives it a bit more of a locational context:

I adore the combination of hubris and elegance of Victorian/Edwardian engineering.

Comments

[seymour-glass.livejournal.com]

i'd love to head up indian arm...there was a magnificent hotel up at the end for much of the century...i had heard they were going to build something up there in it's place...it's supposed to be a beautiful area...

[mbarrick.livejournal.com]

This was my first trip up that way and it was pretty stunning. The power plant is only about half way up the arm. The hotel you're talking about is right at the head. I don't know much about it. As far as I know the building is still there.

[seymour-glass.livejournal.com]

i'll have to reference my book on burrard inlet...it was called the wigwam inn...built in 1912 or so...in the '50s it was bought by a salt lake city company that wanted to turn belcarra park into a miniature disneyland and the wigwam into a millionaires yacht club...in '62 it was raided by the rcmp because it was an illegal gambling operation...in the '80s they renovated it and tried to run it as a turn of the century hotel...that failed and the royal vancouver yacht club bought it as an outstation for its members...so apparently it still does stand...the park there is supposed to be amazing and there is an incredible river and waterfall near there...

[seymour-glass.livejournal.com]

there's some good pics of it here

[sovietnimrod.livejournal.com]

Francis Rattenbury, the architect of the provincial legislature and Empress Hotel in Victoria

I wonder if he designed the dams at Stave and Hayward Lakes up near Mission? Very, very similar style. That's amazing it was built back in 1903 - considering how undeveloped much of Greater Vancouver was at that time it must have been a huge expense to get all the building supplies over there.

[seymour-glass.livejournal.com]

there's two of them up there from the same era...

[mbarrick.livejournal.com]

They are both parts of the same plant. I did a bit more reading on it and corrected my caption. The part I'm showing here was built in 1914. The 1903 building is around the other side of the point.

[princeoigan.livejournal.com]

Thats gotta be the coolest looking power plant I have ever seen. Excellent shots, thanks for sharing :o)

[scuttle.livejournal.com]

I went on a tour of the Legislature last July. It was soured by a pushy Rattenbury impersonator. I just do not understand historical reenactment.

Growing up in Port Alberni, I always wondered why people in this part of the word have such an aversion to the word fjord. Fjord. It is so fun to say. To be honest I spent more time wondering what I was doing in Port Alberni, hating it, and all those things high school students do.

The German for fjord is apparently the same, but some people here in Kiel spell it fiörd.

cool ...

[thomasrymour.livejournal.com]

got a closeup of that petraglyph? would love to see ....

sorry I didn't get a chance to give you two a ring and meet up; the weekend with the wedding and hiking left little time to meet up with friends, had hoped to see you at Skank ... next time ....

miss ya ...

Re: cool ...

[mbarrick.livejournal.com]

Here's the petroglyph at 100% resolution from the photo:



I regret only taking my compact digital on the trip. I should have brought by DSLR and zoom lens.