Historical perspectives valuable

RD: Thanks for the editorial about Charlie Angus’ new book about mining in Cobalt, Ont. I’m looking forward to reading it. Mining Watch Canada keeps track of the impacts of Canadian mining companies in other countries, and it’s quite shameful what they get away with. They should be obliged to follow the same rules about environmental protection as they do in Canada (if they do!), but unfortunately no Canadian government has had the courage to force the issue.

Another book of his that is really informative is Children of the Broken Treaty, about the Indigenous-Crown relationship and the facts about Attawapiskat, a community that was much in the news 10 or 15 years ago. We hear this and that about Indigenous communities in the news, but he gives a lot of in-depth background and history about the reasons for some of the problems these communities face.

I know you have faced some pushback about editorializing “outside your mandate,” but I appreciate your engagement in all these issues.

Stephanie Coburn

Head of Millstream, N.B.

Relevance to everyday life

RD: For years I have subscribed to your magazine, and each month I have been amazed by the resourcefulness and industry of Maritime dwellers and farmers. But in the June 2022 edition of your magazine, I found myself reading every article.

“Lessons from a former boom town,” the leading editorial, illustrates once more what derives from mining. The rape of the earth for its contents is a good example of two things: Dolly Parton’s song “9 to 5” has a line, “It’s all taking and no giving,” that describes the behaviour of those who own the mines, not the miners; and the Biblical lesson Radix malorum est cupiditas – the root of evils is greed – shows Death Valley as a parable in itself, and one of the only public rewards of the Klondike gold rush is the poetry of Robert W. Service.

But article after article had me glued to the magazine. “They used to call it something else” (by Gerard Tremere, page 16), proves the shortness of memory. How long will the Veterans Highway mean anything to anybody? And so on – a relevance to everyday life with each article. I myself wrote a short story called “Dennis, the Duck Who Looked Like a Boy” based on an expression I had heard: “What do you expect from a duck but a quack.” In your article about the Muscovy, I learned that the saying does not apply universally.

I’ll close with a personal observation. I have never liked my postal code because the B and the S are so close together. I would remark in passing that DvL Publishing might offend some churches, especially fundamentalists.

Thank you again for an interesting magazine, and particularly this June issue.

John Mogan, MA, MD

Halifax, N.S.

Margaretsville mystery

RD: In the June 2022 issue of Rural Delivery, “A Chilling Tale” (page 18), by Gerard Tremere, tells the story of a ship that ran aground near Margaretsville in 1797 or so. I own a woodlot in the area he writes about, a little bit east of Margaretsville. It goes from the Kings-Annapolis county line to Bishop’s Creek. The eastern boundary of my woodlot is on Bishop’s Cove, where Bishop Mountain Road ends at the sea. If you know where to look, there is a rock that has been engraved with “1795” and a cross. The rock is a bit hard to find. The engraving is shallow, and you must get a raking sunlight to see it well.

Now, how to get there. You take Bishop Mountain Road and keep on going until you reach the Bay of Fundy. (The woodlot road does not go there, and if it did there would be an 80-degree slope.) Unfortunately, the last bit of Bishop Mountain Road is no longer maintained, and it is starting to wash out when you get close to the sea. Really, I would not go there without a four-by-four. Be warned, seriously. There is a turnaround at the top of the road. I would hope that this rock would help resolve the mystery of the ship that went aground. There may be a backstory which Gerard Tremere can suss out.

Chris Palmer

Dartmouth, N.S.