Playing games with words can be a fun and interesting activity, so I offer the following for your consideration:
Salmon salmon salmon salmon salmon salmon salmon salmon.
Despite its unusual appearance, this phrase is a grammatically correct sentence in the English language, and it aptly demonstrates the use of homonyms. But what does it mean?
- I’m hungry and I would like some salmon.
- This is what I see at my job at the fish hatchery as I count the fish that swim past, all day long.
- I have lost my little dog. Have you seen him? His name is Salmon.
- Some fish that coerce other fish to spawn also coerce other fish to spawn.
Of course, #4 is the correct answer. Still confused? Let me explain: there are three different meanings for the word “salmon” at work here.
- Noun - here on the West Coast, we are very aware of salmon, the fish.
- Adjective - those with a flair for decorating will be familiar with an orange-tinted shade of pink known as salmon, named after the flesh of this famous fish.
- Verb – some of you might be familiar with the use of the word “salmon” as a verb, or action. To “salmon” is to cause to move against the flow. I’m sure most of us have seen a Sockeye or Coho as they “salmon” themselves upstream to spawn.
Everybody still with me? Good! So the answer #4 from above can be viewed like this: “Pink fish that coerce other pink fish to go against the flow also coerce other pink fish to go against the flow”.
Got it? No?? Well, don’t worry - understanding the sentence isn’t required for you to find the cache.
About the hiding spot: As the settlement known as Gastown evolved and grew into the city of Vancouver, many of its residents would head for a summer vacation to the wilderness just across the inlet, coming to West Vancouver by canoe and later by ferry, to camp beside the ocean at Ambleside, Hollyburn, or Dundarave. As the years progressed, more and more of these vacationers chose to remain, becoming settlers and pioneers.
Logging quickly established itself as the growing community’s greatest industry, as it had in adjacent Moodyville (now North Vancouver), but West Van’s rugged geography stifled other traditional industrial development. It was the bounty of the sea that offered the only other viable significant growth opportunity - a fish cannery.
The largest canning operation on the North Shore was the Great Northern Cannery which was established across the road from the cache site in 1891. It was later owned and operated by members of the Millerd family, from 1922 until operations were shut down in 1967.
In the 1970s, Environment Canada established Pacific Research Laboratories on the site. The complex is now known as The Centre for Aquaculture and Environmental Research (CAER), a specialized facility for the study of ocean ecology and resources, co-founded by Fisheries and Oceans Canada and the University of British Columbia.
You are looking for an unusual container hidden in an unusual way in an unusual place. There is absolutely no need to go beyond any fence or gate.