Don McIver, 89, shows off an original 12-foot lapstrake rowboat built by Campbell River boatbuilder Ed Painter in 1952.
The annual Passage on the Passage human-powered vessel crossing of Discovery Passage will be held on Saturday, Aug. 13 and McIver is being honoured by Passage on the Passage organizers. During the 1950’s, McIver rowed in much of Discovery Passage and the Gulf of Georgia usually in pursuit of salmon. Recently, he sold the boat to one of his previous Passage On The Passage rowing partners, Bridget Pomeroy. As this year’s event approached, however, McIver’s passion for rowing returned and he borrowed the boat for the annual event. With McIver will be his longtime friend Stan Goodrich also of Campbell River. McIver and Goodrich served on the Campbell River Environmental Council for many years and in 1993 unearthed the documents in Victoria that proved that the present day Beaver Lodge Lands were put in a trust by the provincial Government in 1931 to be used exclusively as an experimental forest.