Bowness Parks - Parks 100 Traditional Cache
Cache Effect: I have received no response from the cache owner, so I must regretfully archive this. If it turns up or is replaced in the future, email me and I will review it for unarchival.
Thanks!
Cache Effect
Volunteer Reviewer
Bowness Parks - Parks 100
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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Calgary Parks 100 Project - Bowness Park
Calgary Area Cachers teaming up with The City of Calgary Parks
Celebrating Calgary Parks 100th Anniversary
The Calgary Parks 100 Project is a partnership between the City of Calgary Parks, and the Calgary Area Cachers to celebrate Calgary Parks 100th anniversary. Calgary Parks has supplied cache containers and swag for 100 caches, and the we have placed these 100 caches in 100 parks around Calgary. These caches have some cool swag and trackables when placed, so make sure to find them as soon as they are published.
Between 1908 and 1911 entrepreneur John Hextall set aside Bowness Park and gave it to Calgary to promote his interests in developing the land surrounding it as a luxurious residential suburb near the town of Bowness, west of the city. The park was to be a wilderness retreat not only as an amenity for the intended residents but also for people from Calgary who reached the park in the early days by an extended streetcar line.
The first improvements to the park land, a forested island on the Bow River, were a bridge, trails, and picnic and camp sites along with clearings for casual play. The most significant change to the natural area came with impoundment of the back channel to create a swimming and boating lagoon. Development of the park evolved and at its height, from about 1919 to 1930, recreational attractions included a tea house and a dance pavilion with a dining room, picnic shelters and playgrounds, midway style concessions and rides including a carousel, rental cabins on the river edge and full facilities for the swimming pool as well as an “Orthophonic” music player and a fountain in the lagoon.
The character of Bowness Park changed again, beginning with the closure and filling in of the swimming pool portion of the lagoon in the early 1960s, followed by the removal of most of the midway features. The patterns of roads, trails, building locations and maintained open spaces are as they were and the park remains increasingly popular for general family recreation in a natural, river side setting.
The Cache
The cache site on the bank was originally a dike that separated the filled swimming pool area from the lagoon. The old Willow tree, as with the Balsam poplars around it, are surviving elements of the original natural forest of Bowness Park.
Additional Hints
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Treasures
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