Qualla: Union Bay: Coal Wharves, the Flying Dutchman, and a Heritage Row on the Highway https://qualla.com/union-bay-british-columbia en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:12 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/c/0/z/4/union-bay-british-columbia-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Union Bay: Coal Wharves, the Flying Dutchman, and a Heritage Row on the Highway https://qualla.com/union-bay-british-columbia Union Bay: Coal Wharves, the Flying Dutchman, and a Heritage Row on the Highway: Introduction https://qualla.com/union-bay-british-columbia/ Photo credit Darren Kirby from Penticton, Canada, CC BY-SA 2.0. One night in March 1913, Henry Wagner - known along the coast as the 'Flying Dutchman' for his habit of robbing shoreline communities and escaping by motorboat - broke into the Fraser and Bishop general store in Union Bay. Two constables, Westaway and Ross, confronted him. In the gunfight that followed, Westaway was killed. Ross tackled Wagner in a bloody struggle and held him until help arrived. Wagner hanged that August. The story captures something essential about Union Bay: a community small enough that two local officers would confront an armed pirate in the dark, yet connected to forces - coal, capital, empire - far larger than itself.

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Image: Darren Kirby from Penticton, Canada | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Sat, 21 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/c/0/z/4/union-bay-british-columbia-wp/c0z4-union-bay-coal-wharves-the-flying-dutchman-and-a-h-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Union Bay: Coal Wharves, the Flying Dutchman, and a Heritage Row on the Highway: Before the Coal Ships Came https://qualla.com/union-bay-british-columbia/ Photo credit Darren Kirby from Penticton, Canada, CC BY-SA 2.0. Before European settlement reshaped the bay, at least 3,000 Pentlatch people lived in more than 90 villages and settlements throughout the area. The smallpox epidemic of the 1780s devastated their population, and the Lekwiltok people from the north - unaffected by that particular...

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Image: Darren Kirby from Penticton, Canada | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Sat, 21 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/c/0/z/4/union-bay-british-columbia-wp/c0z4-union-bay-coal-wharves-the-flying-dutchman-and-a-h-before-the-coal-ships-came.mp3 0:06 2 full Union Bay: Coal Wharves, the Flying Dutchman, and a Heritage Row on the Highway: The Dunsmuir Wharves https://qualla.com/union-bay-british-columbia/ Photo credit Public domain. When Robert Dunsmuir acquired the coal operation in 1887, his surveyors redirected the planned railway nine kilometres down the coast from Royston to Union Bay, where the deep water could accommodate ocean-going vessels. The 11-mile standard-gauge line from Cumberland was complet...

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Image: Public domain

]]> Sat, 21 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/c/0/z/4/union-bay-british-columbia-wp/c0z4-union-bay-coal-wharves-the-flying-dutchman-and-a-h-the-dunsmuir-wharves.mp3 0:06 3 full Union Bay: Coal Wharves, the Flying Dutchman, and a Heritage Row on the Highway: One Hundred Beehive Ovens https://qualla.com/union-bay-british-columbia/ Photo credit Paul Gierszewski, CC BY-SA 3.0. In 1896, the colliery erected a Luhrig coal washer and built 100 beehive coke ovens from imported fire bricks. The washed coal was fired in the ovens to produce high-quality coke, while the coal gas byproduct powered boilers throughout the locality, including a brickyard. It was ...

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Image: Paul Gierszewski | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Sat, 21 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/c/0/z/4/union-bay-british-columbia-wp/c0z4-union-bay-coal-wharves-the-flying-dutchman-and-a-h-one-hundred-beehive-ovens.mp3 0:06 4 full Union Bay: Coal Wharves, the Flying Dutchman, and a Heritage Row on the Highway: Heritage Row and the Wooden Post Office https://qualla.com/union-bay-british-columbia/ Photo credit Sidney Museum, CC BY-SA 3.0. Along the highway through Union Bay stands a sequence of buildings that locals call Heritage Row: an elementary school from 1915, a church from 1906, a post office from 1913, and a gaolhouse from 1901. The Union Bay Historical Society, formed in 1989, bought and restored the post...

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Image: Sidney Museum | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Sat, 21 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/c/0/z/4/union-bay-british-columbia-wp/c0z4-union-bay-coal-wharves-the-flying-dutchman-and-a-h-heritage-row-and-the-wooden-post-office.mp3 0:06 5 full