Remember the Cana-dian National Railway bridge that went over South Shore Road?

The rail line continued on to Youbou and the mill. Well, that bridge was removed 20 years ago. Doesn’t seem that long ago, does it?

The Kaatza Station Museum has had a busy summer and is looking forward to an active winter season. Most of our visitors have come from Vancouver Island, although we have had some European visitors. Our display on the Hillcrest Mill at Mesachie Lake and another, about the community of Youbou, were very popular and brought back many memories for people.

Our summer student, Andrea Hammond, put together a display about the Chinese and the role they played in our community. All displays will remain in place until early 2009, so there is still time to see them.

We are beginning work on a display for next spring concerning the East Indian community at Cowichan Lake. We are at the research stage, so any stories, photographs or artifacts that you have would be most useful.

We have several exciting projects on the go. We are updating several displays and creating a new one on the history of the three large mills in the area. We are also building a display shed at the back of the museum that will safely house several large artifacts that we have in our possession.

Although we do our best to keep costs to a minimum, we still appreciate either a monetary donation or your time as a volunteer. We are always looking for volunteers to help with various projects, but if you don’t want to be that involved, but would like to be a part of the Kaatza Historical Society, you can become a member.

Our next general meeting is October 21 at the bridge school (behind the museum) at 7 p.m. Our guest speaker will be Bill Gibson, who will talk about his recent hike on the West Coast Trail.

The museum is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays.

Barb Simkins is curator at the Kaatza Station Museum