Only part way through it (I am a front to back kind of reader) but it seems John D’Arcangelo’s compilation of local memories, “A Trail to Remember,” is going to be a worthwhile read. Full disclosure - two bits of my memory/research efforts are included, but there will be no material benefit for me no matter how many printings take place.
I haven’t even gotten to a sports item yet, which shows as well as anything that this area is a lot more than its storied athletic past. I had no hand in the production, but I hope enough copies were run so that every school and library in the area can have a couple of copies on hand. Were it up to me, much more would be made at every level of education of the intricate and unusual, as well as the mundane, history of what is now called, “The Home of Champions.”
So far it seems to be “living,” memories, in that the recollections involved are from the minds of people still resident in the area, but the earlier history, with a little more work, can be accessed through the Trail Historical society. Kind of too bad such a project wasn’t begun half a century ago, when most of the, “originals,” - first generations of long term community builders - were around to contribute. Nonetheless, I believe it will be $20 well spent for anyone who becomes an owner/reader of all that is included.
John and the historical society may be inclined to print more, what with the original press run already sold out, if the demand is there.
Probably too late, given most of their originals are long past, to reproduce such an effort for the smaller sub communities in the region, like Warfield, Rossland, Rivervale and Oasis, but I guarantee all of those places also have amazing back stories about which few know.
• This is an old complaint of mine, but the problem persists. In spite of the fact that the internet has been around awhile and most people here - remember that because of the, “Hill,” this has always been a state of the art technology kind of place - are more or less heavy adopters of modernity in communication, it can be really hard to find information about some activities in the area.
Notably in the list of those activities are some local minor sports schedules. Most of the participants in those activities are fully functional in the use of all that is new in digital technology, but some of the web sites pertaining to those activities seem to be run by people with little time for updating. The Legion ball link I have seems not to have been updated in two years, and no link has been provided to a new site, or even the league in which the two local teams are involved.
The KIJHL site seems finally to have fixed the problem of, “No Games Scheduled,” and now acknowledges there are actually games being played in season, but that took a while.
Despite the fact, however, that I use my media platform to support all levels of baseball when I can, It is way too difficult to access information about some leagues without myriad phone calls and help from the Times’ staff.
I hate to believe that all the digitally literate young people who participate in minor sports simply refuse to use their skills to keep their on line information up to date on today’s most important data sharing location. But I don’t want to think, either, that those in charge simply do not believe in the power of the technology involved.
Be nice to be more in the loop without burning gas and burning up telephone lines.