The Romance of the Early Days 29

he emphasized that which had impressed him,
namely, the many tide-water logging camps for
which nothing was being done by the Church. Mr.
Maynard, Mr. Johnston, and others, notably among
the women, urged him to bring it before Presbytery.
He required no urging. He presented the subject
before the Church courts without delay and with
such good effect that Synod decided to appoint a
missionary to take up that work the next summer.
Mr. W. J. Kidd was chosen and in 1903 he entered
the field. The year before Mr. Kidd had been the
student-missionary in charge of Hornby and Den-
man islands, and Union Bay. He therefore knew a
good deal about up-coast conditions, the special
needs and peculiar difficulties he would meet. Such
knowledge, combined with the enthusiasm, courage
and natural ability of this talented young man,
guaranteed that the mission would be a success
from the start.

In the spring of 1903 Mr. Kidd arrived in Van-
couver from Queen’s College, Kingston. He was in
poor physical condition after a serious illness from
typhoid fever, but was eager to tackle his new job.
Accordingly he set out from Vancouver for Rock
Bay on the east coast of Vancouver Island about 150
miles away, above Seymour Narrows. The Hastings
Mill Company had a logging camp at Rock Bay,
one of the biggest on the coast, and it seemed a good
place for the missionary to commence his work.
We will let him now tell his story in his own words:

“T went north from Vancouver on the S.S.