Historic Hamilton will be a series of caches that serve to bring cachers to historic places in and around the City of Hamilton. These caches can be placed by anyone, and are not limited to one CO. If you know of a historic place that you would like to bring people to, feel free to add it to the series!
Welcome to the former site of Ben Veldhuis Ltd. This area was characterized by many greenhouses, which Veldhuis used to grow cacti, succulents and tropical plants. As he met with financial success around the world, he expanded his business to the point where Dundas became globally recognized as the cactus capital of Canada. Dundas’ annual Cactus Festival was named after the successful business.
Veldhuis sold the business in 1988. Both Ben and his wife died in 1994. The property sat abandoned and vacant for several years and was then purchased by the Hamilton Conservation Authority (HCA) in 2008. The HCA's goal is to naturalize the area, re-open access to Desjardins Canal and create a new conservation site linking the environmentally sensitive areas in Cootes Paradise.
All that remains today of the Veldhuis property is the chimney which can be seen at the posted coordinates. To find the final, find out how tall the cacti grew here. Take this number, divide by 1000 and add to the following coords: N 43° 16.306 W 079° 56.382
Congratulations to RunCraigRun on the FTF!