January 6th, 2016
ABC Wednesday
The letter is Z and gadZooks, Z stands for Zebellos
and here we are at the end of the alphabet......

Zeballos is a deep sea port located at the end of Zeballos Inlet on the wild west coast of Vancouver Island. about a two hour drive north of Campbell River.  It was named for Lt. Ciriaco Ceballos, a crew member aboard an early ship of Spanish explorer Alessandro Malaspina's expedition (1789-1794)  (Malaspina is also a familiar name on the Island).  The inlet remained somewhat obscure until gold was discovered in the 1920's, and this resulted in the usual influx of miners and adventurers.

The historic buildings in the village are a living reminder of these frontier days.

I recently purchased a book of paintings by Michael Kluckner 

(Vanishing British Columbia)

Here is his rendition of the hotel in Zeballos

and here as it stands today

Zeballos thrived in the Gold Rush days, but when World War 11 began

many of the miners and much of the workforce joined

the Canadian Forces, and the mines eventually closed..

Post war efforts were made to revitalize the industry

but the low price of gold made it uneconomical for the mines to continue

operating, and within twenty years they had all closed.

In the 1950s logging emerged as a promising new industry for the village 

and today the majority of the town's residents, along with the population

of the two neighbouring First Nations reserves

(the Oculcje and Ehatis)

are employed in the timber industry.

The village is becoming a favourite destination for kayakers, sportsfishers and those who want to experience the wild nature of this west coast.

There are fishing Lodges

and a museum

and for the more adventurous Rugged Mountain and the Slab in the Nomash

River Valley are well known to rock climbing enthusiasts.

Some of the best cold water diving on Vancouver Island can be found

just a short boat ride away from Zeballos,

The water are especially clear in the winter, and

colourful anemones sway in the currents while Puget Sound king crab scuttle below.  

There are purple hinged scallops, soft corals and abalone.

There are bears and elk and sea otters and whales

and beautiful towering forest-clad mountains.

You must come!!

How to get there....

Many more Zs at ABC Wednesday.

Click here and visit with Roger, Denise and

those who so kindly help and visit on behalf of the meme