time + place temps + lieu - CSLA :: AAPC

UPFRONT
GRAHAM GIDDEN
along the black track
The ruggedly beautiful wilderness
of Vancouver Island is truly its defining
characteristic. Perhaps just as remarkable,
however, is its cultural heritage. A First
Nation’s colleague put the island’s history
in perspective. When he looks into the
landscape, he said, everything he sees is
connected to his people, dating back before
Rome was built. Every square kilometre is the
traditional territory of the First Peoples.
As in many places world-wide, original
aboriginal land use has eroded. The island
today is a mosaic of infrastructure-driven land
use that has fractured the landscape, making
preservation of connected heritage landscapes
difficult. Nonetheless, within the aboriginal
heritage island district, scatterings of early
industrial historic places and urban areas add
fascinating architectural character-defining
elements to the landscape. These places where
heritages intersect create uniquely complex
and sensitive opportunities for design.
WHERE CULTURES INTERSECT
The coastal wilderness, which is the
foundational heritage of this place, is where
the intersections of cultural heritage began
– the ancient indigenous First Nations and
the post-colonial industrial. For my final
Masters’ thesis, I have proposed a project
for a regional scale park that involves both
ends of the continuum. An abandoned spur
rail line runs 26 km from the mountains to
the ocean. The line once linked coal mines to
ships waiting on the coast. The rail line runs
though the lower reaches of the Nanaimo
River Valley at the heart of the Snuneymuxw
First Nation’s traditional territory.
THE BLACK TRACK
The old rail line transects coastal Douglas fir
forests, traverses the Nanaimo River, crosses
over scrubby arbutus bluffs, through Garry
oak meadows, beside wonderful wetlands and
to the sandstone beaches on the east side
of Vancouver Island. It once connected three
historical communities that were part of the
coal mining economy. The rail bed is known
as the black track. In places where the bed
is clear of vegetation, the black coal slag is
clearly visible. Relics of the coal mines remain
in the landscape around the black track and
the mines below still exist, in theory at least,
though most of their openings and shafts
have been closed.
During the mining boom at the turn of
the 20 th century, the mines were extremely
dangerous with explosions taking hundreds of
lives. The dangerous conditions were one of
the reasons mining fell out of favour. Today,
interest in that mining history has increased.
The tragedies at the mines and the villages
that supported them are long in the past, and
Islanders are now embracing the importance
of those histories and landscape.
On the west side of the Nanaimo River, the
proposed design pulls in artifacts along the
coal slag trail with focus on the Morden Mine
Site. A pedestrian river crossing uses a large
island as a midpoint. Here, mining ceased in
the 1930s. The island is an axis where cultures
come together, as the Nanaimo River is one
of the most significant cultural landscapes
for the Snuneymuxw people. Here, the First
Nation culture is the focus of the design –
its artifacts, stories and the Hul’qumi’num
language. Presently there are no
developments in view from the island so the
natural river landscape can be experienced.
As the trail continues east from the river,
the design incorporates elements of both post
colonial heritage and First Nation’s culture.
At Boat Harbour, the terminus, the cultures
and natural heritage will combine to shape a
celebratory gathering place on the multiple
black coal slag beaches.
FRIENDS AND FUNDS
Currently, the local communities are
enthusiastic about the concept. The Friends
of Morden Mine are fundraising to preserve
the old mine site which now stands in a
small 4-ha provincial park. Local landscape
architect Jessica Gamella has developed
concept plans. Extension, South Wellington
and Cedar want to make the trail and
pedestrian river crossing a reality.
ggidden@cvrd.bc.ca
18 LANDSCAPES PAYSAGES