Black Creek, British Columbia
Encyclopedia
Vancouver Island
Vancouver Island is a large island in British Columbia, Canada. It is one of several North American locations named after George Vancouver, the British Royal Navy officer who explored the Pacific Northwest coast of North America between 1791 and 1794...
, British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
. It is approximately 16km north of Courtenay
Courtenay, British Columbia
Courtenay is a city on the east coast of Vancouver Island, in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is the largest city in the area commonly known as the Comox Valley, and it is the seat of the Comox Valley Regional District which replaced the Comox-Strathcona Regional District...
. It is primarily an agricultural hamlet and bedroom community to Courtenay and Campbell River
Campbell River, British Columbia
Campbell River is a coastal city in British Columbia on the east coast of Vancouver Island at the south end of Discovery Passage, which lies along the important coastal Inside Passage shipping route...
- approximately 20 km to the north.
History
Black Creek was the host to several logging camps in the early years of the 20th century such as the Comox Logging & Railway Camp #3 which was on what is now Endall Road. Endall Road public easement joins the dead end road with Hamm Road. Part of the camp bunkhouse is now adjoined to a local estate home. The area was made available to German speaking MennoniteMennonite
The Mennonites are a group of Christian Anabaptist denominations named after the Frisian Menno Simons , who, through his writings, articulated and thereby formalized the teachings of earlier Swiss founders...
settlers primarily from the USSR via Mexico or the Canadian Prairie provinces in the 1930s. They left a legacy of hard work, wresting dairy and fruit growing farms from stony ground that had once boasted some of the largest Douglas firs in the world. It is still evident today in the many small but beautiful gardens and farms that line the Old Island Highway. The Mennonite tradition still lingers in the peaceful valley producing a population with enduring values.
In the 1950s many Austrian and German immigrants were sponsored by Black Creek Mennonites, and much of the life of the community was conducted in a mixture of German and English well into the 1960s. The conservative and church-oriented community contributed significantly to the musical and academic life of the Comox Valley, especially the high schools.
Today, Black Creek still retains two Mennonite
Mennonite
The Mennonites are a group of Christian Anabaptist denominations named after the Frisian Menno Simons , who, through his writings, articulated and thereby formalized the teachings of earlier Swiss founders...
churches (United Mennonite and Mennonite Brethren), though only a few of the original families still live in the area.
Oyster River
The Oyster RiverOyster River (British Columbia)
The Oyster River is located on the east side of Vancouver Island between Courtenay and Campbell River, British Columbia, in Canada. The Oyster River runs from Pearl Lake to Saratoga Beach. Spawning channels located on the river are visited yearly by many salmon...
and Black Creek watersheds abound with fish
Fish
Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
and wildlife
Wildlife
Wildlife includes all non-domesticated plants, animals and other organisms. Domesticating wild plant and animal species for human benefit has occurred many times all over the planet, and has a major impact on the environment, both positive and negative....
populations, co-existing successfully with a small rural population of local residents. The Oyster River watershed
Drainage basin
A drainage basin is an extent or an area of land where surface water from rain and melting snow or ice converges to a single point, usually the exit of the basin, where the waters join another waterbody, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea, or ocean...
stretches inland into Strathcona Provincial Park
Strathcona Provincial Park
Strathcona Provincial Park is the oldest provincial park in British Columbia, Canada, and the largest on Vancouver Island. Founded in 1911, the park was named for Donald Alexander Smith, 1st Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal, a wealthy philanthropist and railroad pioneer. It lies within the...
on the eastern slopes of the Vancouver Island
Vancouver Island
Vancouver Island is a large island in British Columbia, Canada. It is one of several North American locations named after George Vancouver, the British Royal Navy officer who explored the Pacific Northwest coast of North America between 1791 and 1794...
Mountains, and the Black Creek watershed winds through the lower elevation lands immediately south of the Oyster River.