By Maryanna Gabriel
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| Historic Russian Doukabour Buildings Slowly Decaying |
If you
are on my post list for some reason the introductory email prior to the last one was not
sent out even although it was published, but it is on the website. To continue my journey with you then across lower British Columbia, I stop in sunny Grand Forks at a market and buy some raspberry jam from a
white-haired, extremely bent, elderly woman with a thick Russian accent. She
called me a young woman which was quite gratifying. As I near the Slocan Valley
I see remnants of historic settlement by the Russian Doukabours. I have heard
these old building that are slowly decaying were schools. Every time I see them
I feel a little sad as I can see they are beyond restoration. I rest for the
night in Nelson with all its beautiful Victorian architecture as I
leave the Slocan and head into the Creston Valley
admiring the hillsides dotted
with wild yellow flowers. The sweeping valleys give way to Alberta and the stunning
mountain formations of Pincher Creek which are so unusually arranged in the engulfing prairie vastness. There is no green at all on the trees
yet the temperatures are so high I have to put on the air
conditioner. I see the Frank Slide and stop. I read about a train coming
through at the time, it was 1903, and one man’s successful heroism at trying to stop its
advance into the disaster and of a baby found alive and intact on a rock
where all around it 900 people were killed. In 100 seconds, three square
kilometers were buried under 30 meters of rock.
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| Sweeping Creston Valley |
“I awake to the sound of a rumbling road transcending description. A terrific weight came down on us and I could not move. I tried to speak to my sister, but wet dust trickled into my mouth... I was vaguely aware that some dreadful tragedy had happened and I prayed for help.” Jessie Leitch