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On this quiet isle, where no undertow or tidal rip agitated the surrounding waters, whose gentle tides lapped ever so peacefully higher and higher upon the shingly shore where "such a tide as moving seems asleep", typified the calm sleep of the dead, an eternal quietude pervaded forest and sea. Where now the bright lights of a busy city, red, green and yellow shine amid the darkness throughout the night, and the noisy street-car and the honking of a thousand horns break the silence of the summer night, the pretty little island was shrouded in darkness, keeping silent vigil over its dead, a beauty spot of green, set in a sea of sapphire.
George Green, History of Burnaby Lake and Vicinity, Shoemaker, McLean & Veitch Ltd., Vancouver, 1947, p. 50.
PLACE: Burnaby, B.C.
TIME: 1860's
During the winters, if snow was on the ground, (a condition more frequent than in later years), many trips were made behind a lively team of horses to the merry ringing of the bells, long strings of which encircled each horse... perhaps a lone wolf serenading the moon within the depths of the forest, the lively horses keeping step to the music of the bells.
(memories of Miss Martha Morey of the 1870's)
History of Burnaby Lake and Vicinity, George Green, Shoemaker, McLean & Veitch Ltd., Vancouver, 1947, p. 87.
PLACE: Burnaby, B.C.
TIME: 1870's
Giant monarchs of the wood threw their towering heads 300 feet high to catch the sunlight, or bent their branches before the gale. The words of Longfellow describe it:
This is the forest primeval.
The murmuring firs and the hemlocks
Bearded with moss and in garments green,
indistinct in the twilight.
Stand like druids of eld, with voices sad and prophetic:
Loud from its rocky caverns, the deep-voiced neighboring ocean
Speaks, and in accents disconsolate answers the wail of the forest.
George Green, History of Burnaby Lake and Vicinity, Shoemaker, McLean & Veitch Ltd., Vancouver, 1947, p. 109.
PLACE: British Columbia coast
TIME: 1720
...when man first knew it, it was simply a pretty lake whose quiet waters lay peacefully at rest within a deep forest, and timid deer saw their reflected images in its limpid waters, and quietly grazed upon the luxuriant grasses and mosses which surrounded it. Myriads of waterfowl floated on its surface, and sought a cover of safety among the reeds. No whitecapped waves swept its bosom, but deep within the silence of the wood it lay, a shimmering jewel in a setting of emerald green.
George Green, History of Burnaby Lake and Vicinity, Shoemaker, McLean & Veitch Ltd., Vancouver, 1947, p. 144.
PLACE: Burnaby Lake
TIME: 1859
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