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Logging truck at Mt. Cain

Gordon Henschel reflects on a painting pulled from his archives
14262porthardyLoggingTruck-MtCain-24x36AcryliconHardboard-1979-copy
Gordon Henschel painting of a logging truck at Mt. Cain

This an acrylic painting, pulled from my archives, done on hardboard in 1979 when they were still logging Mt. Cain and the road was as busy as Highway 19.

Painted in summer, I originally called it ‘Dust unto Dust’  I still have it along with all the memories of those times when logging was King.

I was totally fascinated by this period, when a young fellow with little experience could show up at the company office on a Monday morning and be reasonably sure he would be hired on as a choker man; big bucks for a young man!

Standing up on Mt. Cain, watching the logging trucks seemingly coming from every direction, it would have been ridiculous to mention to anyone that this area would be a good location to design some ski runs. Most folks wouldn’t have thought about it and, if they did, wouldn’t dare express that silly notion; everyone, except one, who decided that it was possible.

Jules Kapitani, who had been an avid skier, worked for the logging company out of Woss Lake. Jules loved this mountain.

When he saw some paintings I did of the lower part of the ski surroundings, which locals call ‘The Bowl’ he told me, “You know, Gordon, this is my cathedral.” For a number of years he did everything in his influence to make it slowly happen, along with much help from Canadian Forest Products. Today this same logging road is a skier’s road, because of the vision of one man with a dream! Now we need a dream: SNOW!