If you were to drive up Anderson Road, almost at the border between Otter Point and Shirley, you would pass the turnoff for Malahat Farm, first settled by W.H. Anderson and family in 1895. Then you might spot remnants of history as you continue up the now-lonely road. Soon you’d reach the site where the 1940s saw a busy sawmill slicing up lumber in the midst of the west coast rainforest.
The road today is a far cry from the years when Elder Logging was one of the foremost employers of the region, and the logging camp community included not only bunkhouses but family cottages where loggers’ wives could raise the youngsters and welcome home dad with a hot meal after a hard day’s work in the woods.
MORE HISTORY: Roy, Frank and the giant spruce log
Working with the Ministry of Education, the Elders built a one-room schoolhouse, a class picture shown in 1948, in partnership with the Ministry’s agreement to supply a teacher. Families that lived nearby could send their children as well.
In the back row are Mickey Walker, Johnny Wimsett, George Pedneault, Howard Monk, and Eric Walker. Centre row, standing: Pat George, Leonard George, Bob Hodges, Lorraine Cawsey, Kay Hodges, Pat Pedneault, Christina Matson, Bob George. Front row: Roberta Adcock, Janet Halderson, Nana-Lisa Matson, Jeannie Cawsey, Linda Walker, Evelyn Dodds, Bernice Adcock, Margaret Buxton, Laura Halderson. The teacher for the 22-pupil, mixed-grade class was Amy Kennedy.
Readers may recognize some names; the tall boy standing at the back is George Pedneault. Not surprisingly, he’s been pretty much an outdoorsman all his life, both in work and leisure hours, and currently lives in the Whiffin Spit area. Pat Pedneault, the cousin to George and Bill Pedneault, married Merv Brooks and is well known for her volunteer work. The Adcock girls, Roberta and Bernice, were daughters of Len Adcock, boom man at Elders, and his wife Sylvia.
Three George boys, Pat, Len and Bob, are pictured, all sons of Eddy George, who was also a boom man. Some may recall Bob George as a realtor and elected chief of the T’Sou-ke Nation. You might see Linda Walker around town – she’s married to Bob Anderson. a former manager at the Sooke Forest Products/Lamford Forest Products mill on Goodridge Peninsula. Daughter of high-rigger Ron Walker, Linda became an artist and has run her own gallery.
It was a tight-knit school community, and the youngsters never forgot the kids they went to school with.
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Elida Peers is the historian of the Sooke Region Museum. Email historian@sookeregionmuseum.com.
editor@sookenewsmirror.com
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