Maxwelton-S.

 The village of Maxwelton lies at the exit of Maxwelton Creek- the only known waterway which is available for migration of salmon into the island. A fish cannery existed in the 19^th century, for processing the salmon which spawned in this stream. Subsequently, a barrier was placed on the stream mouth to prevent the occasional storms from entering the swampland surrounding stream, and this inhibited the entry of salmon. The fry could exit the stream, with intermediate tide, but the tide gates would be closed to the incoming tide and the spawning age salmon would not be able to enter. If they waited until the gates were opened with the low tide, the water was insufficient for the milling around the fish required to adapt to the fresh water. Over the years, the number of fish declined, and eventually no more were spotted. The tide gate is still in place, and the farmland is secure from storms, but attempts to re-introduce salmon into the stream have not been successful.

 The exit of the Maxwelton Creek occurs where a small fault cuts NW across the island, and a NW-erly flowing lower creek follows this fault- pointing toward Double Bluff and backwards toward a hook in Cultus
Bay. When looking at LIDAR maps, the island can be seen to have been cut by this NW-SE fault- later rearranged by the uplift of Scatchet Head which has pushed the fault trace northward in the center of the island.

 This fault was first spotted on a plot of the water wells in the area, since the well near the present exit point at the tide gate has unusual fluoride in the water. This was noticed before using LIDAR, and then the laser technology confirmed the presence of the small fault.

 The cliffs south of Maxwelton are fairly regular, showing no faulting until Maple Point, where there are several features interesting to the dynamics of the island.

1. There is a set of arcuate fractures (concave upward) just north of Maple Point, and a small spring exits there. The water is normal in conductivity, but the F and K were not measured.

2. There are several exposures of peat in the cliff walls north of Maple and the level of the thickest (2 meters), which is continuous, gradually increases in elevation going southward. Further, a resistant silt or clay bed in the tidal zone has a similar tilting upward to the south, confirming that Maple Point has been uplifted relative to the village of Maxwelton- some 3 km north. This tilting is fairly constant in slope, indicating that that the stress is regional.

3. After Maple Pint, the Cultus Bay area reverses the trend showing a down dropping with some small local grabens, which orient NE-SW (perpendicular to other trends on the island).

4. The iron sands, similar to Esperance occur locally just below the Vashon tills, and this helps delineate the stratigraphy- these peats are not the same as those in the tidal zone at Double Bluff, but probably are the same ones seen in the low tide at Cultus Bay mouth (these are wide in extent and tilt downward to the NE).

5. There is extensive slumping in the whole cliff area south of Maxwelton, proceeding all along the south coast all the way to Clinton town. Care must be used to separate the few cliffs which have not been slumped for geological observations.

6. At low tide, there is no occurrence of peats in the tidal zone north of Maple, but on the other side of Scatchet Head at Cultus

bay, the peats are extensive in the surf. June 3, 2004

 

 

                            The Sound

 

My psyche, being tightly wound

  Rose so sharply, without bound

When I transported it to new ground,

  To Nirvana- dubbed “The Sound”.

 

How is this, Old Reprobate-

  Have you found the long lost gate?

Did your spirit soon deflate,

  In the desert- just of late?

 

Aren’t you most the individual- same-

  Who just into the blue horizon came?

Were you afflicted, blue, or lame

  Giving all the desert blame?

 

Now you are in the soul of it,

  Not in peat beds or the pit,

But at the apex of your wit-

  Ignoring “The Moving Finger having writ”.

 

Perchance you hear a different “Sound”

  From the laughter, lately clowned,

Of the Verbalizer, who was downed

  By his listeners- those who frowned.

 

Or perhaps the sound is music spilled

  On Whales or Salmon, lately gilled;

Or with Pileated ‘peckers never stilled,

  And with Ebby’s Prairie, rarely tilled.

 

Some say the sounds are phantom made,

  As with neurotic psyches played-

Some from Taos, perhaps the “Blade”

  Inserted into bovine flesh (by spade?).

 

It “sounds like” it is my spirit dear

  Which came to life since I was here,

Which wove a spell upon my fear

  And cast it out, in instants mere.

 

But no! It is the depth by sound,

  Which was made, when fear most sound,

Made the boats proceed just cautious round

  The shoreline, else the boats’d run aground.

 

To me, the Sound is water clear

  With skies of blue in seasons near,

And currents swift and ships with gear-

  That keep the Skipper’s wits so dear.

 

It is the place where eagles soar,

  Where kayaks compete with tidal bore,

Where I can see the rocky “door”

  Into the earth’s interior Floor-

 

Where massive movements cast their spell

  On mere mans movements most pell-mell,

Where his Spirits likely gel

  On Truth, and Wit- which lately fell;

 

But which brings a smile into my heart,

  And pricks my center with a dart-

So penetrating that it makes me smart-

   By hearing, seeing, smelling The Sound- Her Art.

 

                                    Harold L. Overton