Blackloam? Traditional Cache

This is a medium sized ammo container. You can park either at the indicated parking spot on Coldwater Drive or on Scott Road. Remember that vehicles actually use Scott Road on occasion, so pull off to the side somewhere if you're going to park, preferably near the intersection with Rose Hill Road.

If you happen to browse online maps through this area you will see just SouthWest of this cache an area called "Blackloam".  There is scant information otherwise online regarding this name. Some limited information can be found in historic books at the local library.

Blackloam "is a deliberate misnomer, given about 1910 by land developers to part of the Rose Hill area in the attempt to induce settlers to populate the dry belt.  Neither the name nor the arable farmers persisted; the land reverted to cattle."  The government of Canada still lists it as an unincorperated site though the name is not frequently used by locals who more often refer to the majority of the area as Rose Hill.  Old almanacs also list a post office at this location. This was founded on a 1912 petition for rural mail delivery. The location and ultimate disposition of this structure is a bit of a mystery though.

Why they would name it Blackloam is another part of the story. Loam is a rich soil containing a 40-40-20 mixture of sand, silt and clay which is an ideal soil for gardening and agriculture.  However if you look at the soil beneath your feet it is clearly drier than one would typically find in any garden. While there is an alfalfa field in the area the majority of the land here has been retained as cattle grazing territory.