My article “Are there ghosts on Sugar Mountain?” appeared in the Kootenay Miner, a brief resurrection of the pioneer-era Rossland Miner, on Thursday, April 5, 1973, almost 50 years ago.
The piece offers some reflections as a young boy and a young man tour Zuckerberg’s Island (now known as Zuckerberg Island) in Castlegar. It also provides some thoughts on an obscure corner of Kootenay history. It is a personal history; I grew up in the Trail-Castlegar area and spent time as a boy roaming the island. I met Alexander Zuckerberg once but was too young to truly appreciate him. In some way, the piece served as my recognition of this special person as I grew older and somewhat wiser. I returned to the island as a caretaker in 1973 and tried my hand at poetry. I was struggling in that role when an opportunity came along to start a local alternative newspaper. The Arrow began life on the island and survived for a few years.
Today, Zuckerberg Island is a municipal park enjoyed by local residents and visitors alike.
The other four boys had left the island. It was a place much like the one they had envisioned in the writings of Robert
