Kinsol Trestle Talk, Cowichan Valley Museum, Aug. 2, 2006

I should tell you that I feel "fated" to be here tonight. But before I do that, I would like to ask how many of you have seen the Kinsol Trestle? >From the north end? From the south? From both ends? Those of you have looked at our exhibit will have seen that the CNR time-line in the Cowichan Valley actually goes all the way back to 1902, at least in principle, although actual construction of what was then the Canadian Northern Pacific Railway did not begin until February 1911.

And this is where Fate comes in: To explain I must digress and go all the way back to when I was a teen and trying hard to be a published writer. Back then, I really wasn't fond of 'Tom' (I was too young to appreciate that it honours both my grandfathers); I didn't think it had the 'cachet' of an author. I needed something more dignified, more mature. So I chose T.W. Paterson, as in Thomas William, and please note the one 't' in Paterson.

At that time I worked at the Colonist, then in the same building as the Times, and one day was asked by Bessie Forbes of the afternoon paper if I were a descendant of the former lieutenant-governor, T.W. (Thomas Wilson) Paterson (also with one 't'). I'd never heard of him. But when, years later, I got around to researching him, I was intrigued. A successful businessman, he was instrumental in the building of the Victoria & Sidney Railway known as the 'Cordwood Ltd.,' and he became lieutenant-governor in the years before the First World War. He also ran for elected office-and was charged with stuffing the ballot boxes in the Gulf Islands!

As much as I would like to have such an old scoundrel as an ancestor, we've no connection so far as I know. At least not in bloodline. It does seem that we have a tenuous connection when it comes to the abandoned CNR line in the Cowichan Valley and the Kinsol Trestle, however. For it was Lt.-Gov. T.W. Paterson who, on Feb. 18, 1911, "turned the first sod on the Vancouver Island section of the Canadian Northern Pacific Railway)."

And now, 95 years later, I, T.W. Paterson II(!), find myself carrying the torch, so to speak, by labouring and lobbying in an attempt to save the Kinsol Trestle, the crown jewel of that railway, which was later extended to run from Sidney to just beyond Lake Cowichan, from being demolished by the provincial government.

Why should any of us here tonight care if the Ministry of Transport demolishes the Kinsol Trestle? Because it's 85 years old? Because it's 615 feet long and 145 feet high? Because, once it was the fourth largest such structure in the British Commonwealth, but now it's the largest because the others have been lost? Because it's an architectural jewel? Because it's a monument to our industrial heritage?

Let's first discuss its local historic significance and its national value, if any. When this stretch of the CNR line-and it's important that I remind you that CNR stands for Canadian National Railways-was completed in the early 1920s, construction having been interrupted by the war and its completion to the Albernis later cancelled by the Great Depression, it sparked a logging boom from Shawnigan to Cowichan Lake and beyond. A dozen communities sprang up alongside its tracks-Gleneagles, National Mills, Bennallack, Chanlog, Scottish-Palmer, and others. As many as three trains loaded with logs, freight and passengers operated daily between the lakehead and Victoria. Until then the Cowichan Valley had been primarily agricultural. These were major developments in our evolution.

(I've come to know something about some of these nameless people along the CNR, by the way. For years, friends and I have scratched about these abandoned camps, unearthing bottles and various bits 'n' bites. I know from their dumps that families and single men lived in these camps. I've learned that the ladies liked cold cream, they bottle-fed their babies, they medicated their families with Phillips Milk of Magnesia, castor oil, Lydia E. Pinkham and, God help them, Nujol. The men smoked mostly tailor-made Millbank cigarettes or rolled their own with Repeater brand makins', and they had their own medications: Silverspring and B.C. Brewery beers, whiskeys and wines... Oh, and for the bachelors in the bunkhouses, catsup and fruit sauce seem to have been necessary to enhance camp cooking.)

But to get back to our dilemma of today: What readily identifiable icons do we have in the Valley besides the Kinsol Trestle? The Chemainus' murals? Duncan's totems? The world's largest hockey stick? Whatever their individual or collective merits, these are not truly representative of our history nor are they historic in themselves. The murals go back only as far as the '80s, our local natives weren't carvers, and the hockey stick could be representative of almost any B.C. community's sporting background.

That leaves the Butter or Old Stone Church which is owned by the Cowichan Tribes who, for reasons of their own, choose not do what is necessary to save it from eventual destruction.

The Kinsol Trestle is unique-visible from Google Earth!-and it represents a chapter of our railway and logging history, both of which, today, appear to be in decline. It stands for the nameless men who built it more than three-quarters of a century ago with their skills and strength, and with horse and steam power. Viewed in context of the tools available to them, it's an architectural marvel. It has been estimated that it consists of between 15-20,000 timbers!

Supporting the actual trestleworks is the famous-or infamous, depending upon your source-structure known as a Howe Truss bridge. An American historian once claimed that this type of bridge killed more railroaders than any other bridge in history. But he then went on to qualify this statement by adding that the Howe Truss was subject to failure when it was poorly built, burned, flooded or struck by a runaway train! He didn't mention that some Howe Truss bridges remain in service as railway and highway crossings more than 160 years after they were built! Why have these survived? Because they have been maintained.

Which brings us to the present deplorable state of the Kinsol Trestle. The last train crossed over it in 1979. Obviously, the CNR repaired it until then. Entire sections had been rebuilt over the years, particularly after the 1930-odd flood that took out the first Howe Truss span. Since 1986, when this stretch of grade was acquired by the province for a transportation/ park corridor, no provincial government has put so much as a dime into maintaining the trestle. It has twice been attacked by arsonists, it has been bombed by a Martin Mars water bomber. Both ends anchoring it to the banks of the Koksilah River have been removed to keep people off. Yet it stands. Our information, as of this morning from the chief bridge engineer of the CNR's western division, is that it will stand for at least another 10-odd years even if left untouched.

Some-myself included, in the beginning-have argued that the Kinsol Trestle should be left to rot in peace. Just build another crossing upstream for recreationists, thus completing this missing link in the Trans Canada Trail. Well, I will no longer settle for that. The Kinsol must and can be saved. Published statements to the effect that several government-commissioned engineering studies have shown that the trestle is beyond salvation and, worse, is an immediate threat to life and limb and the environment have to be viewed with scepticism. In 2004, a consultant recommended that the original trestle be restored. Now we are to believe this same consultant, just two years later, that the Howe Truss has suffered catastrophic failure and must, absolutely must, come down. This report, it should be noted, has not been made public to date. I would also point out that it was commissioned by the B.C. Ministry of Transportation who have no interest in heritage and no interest in parks. They are willing to spend as much as $1.5 million to demolish this historical icon but not one dime to save it.

We were told, also by the same CNR engineer, that it would be more cost-effective to rebuild the trestle on its original concrete footings and mud sills than to build a replacement structure to a lighter scale as has been proposed by the CVRD.

From the beginning the CVRD proposed-and I will support them on this point-a second crossing just upstream from the Kinsol trestle for hikers, cyclists and equestrians. Because their planners recognized that the real value of the Kinsol Trestle is in the spectacular views it offers from below and from the side. A new structure built in its place to allow for recreational traffic will serve only for that-as a traffic bridge. There will be no historical character, no great view- you can only see several hundred feet up and down the river. There will be only signboards to tell visitors that they have come too late to see, let alone to cross, this magnificent structure.

Anyone visiting the trestle today will be disappointed, even shocked, by its apparent state of decline. They should be. Just as they should be shocked by the short-sightedness of the politicians and bureaucrats they trust to guard our heritage but who have, consciously and deliberately in the name of 'fiscal responsibility,' abrogated their roles as stewards of our history and thus of our cultural identity.

Tonight we are in the Cowichan Valley Museum, surrounded by thousands of irreplaceable artifacts. What if we took the same approach to an artifact if it was in need of repair? Would we declare it a hazard and destroy it?

The Roman Coliseum is a mess. Ditto the pyramids. And the Leaning Tower of Pisa, can you imagine a greater insurance liability than that?

Those nations recognize and value their pasts. They try to preserve them. They promote them. They make them pay for themselves, if not in the direct sense, in the overall scheme of things. They call it tourism.

The revitalized E&N Railway is planning eco-cyclist tours. They've said they're interested in stopping the train at Shawnigan station to allow cyclists to make their own way to the Kinsol Trestle once it has been restored. They've said they won't be interested in doing this for a virtual bridge because tourists, particularly Europeans, will not settle for less than the real thing.

Finally: What would I wish you to carry away with you tonight? It is this: I would wish you to share our vision that the Kinsol Trestle is worthy of saving as both a heritage artifact and as a wonderful tourist draw. For years and years Nanaimo has promoted its coal mining past with its iconic Bastion. It's a marketer's dream. We have the equivalent in the Kinsol Trestle. But not if we tear it down. Not if we replace it with a pale imitation and signboards that, at best, can only mourn what has been lost.

The Kinsol Trestle is not beyond saving. What we're really talking is cost. The CVRD has estimated that it will cost $2.7 million (above the expenditure of $1.5 million for demolition) for its designer trestle for a total projected cost of $4.2 million. They have also estimated that it would take just another $1.5 million to restore the original trestle and thus double its drawing power as both an historical and a recreational attraction. Wouldn't this be the ultimate win-win solution?

As for closing that missing link over the Koksilah by providing a second, utility crossing for recreationists, our research has shown that this can be done quickly, easily and at almost nominal cost-in the area of a quarter of a million dollars. A local bridge building firm told us, in fact, that they could have it operational by summer's end.

But Victoria has demonstrated for five years now that it has no interest in our heritage or our history. We should not be willing to accept this. The Kinsol Trestle and the Trans Canada Trail belong to all Canadians and everyone of them has a stake in its future. That is why we are endeavouring to make Canadians aware of what they are about to lose and to urge them to voice their disapproval to the provincial and regional governments.

I'm sure you've all heard the expression, 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it.' Well, the Kinsol Trestle is broke. Let's fix it. Not just for ourselves but for future generations. Because that's what heritage is about. It's meant to be passed on-not destroyed in the name of short-term gain or from lack of vision. Don't leave it to the politicians to make this decision. They've shown that they're not up to the task. Write them, email them, phone them. Sign our petitions. Make them understand that we all owe it to posterity to maintain and preserve our heritage.

Thank you.