This location once held a statue of the founding father of Vancouver -
John "Gassy Jack" Deighton.
Note: This is a tricky cache to sign stealthily. I suggest you bring a few people along while you "Tie your shoe"
John Deighton (November 1830 – May 23, 1875) was known as "Gassy Jack" because of his talkative nature and his penchant for storytelling. The name stuck and the area around his former bar is now known as Gastown. Gassy Jack is considered by many the founding father of Vancouver.
Deighton began his career as a sailer and then bar owner. Deighton eventually worked a gold claim in California, and ran a bar called the Globe Saloon in New Westminster, British Columbia.
In 1867, Deighton opened a bar on the south side of Burrard Inlet at the behest of his old friend, Captain Edward Stamp, the owner of the Hastings Mill. The bar was built by idle sawmill workers in exchange for all the whiskey they could drink in one sitting (the nearest drinking hole was 25 miles away). His patrons were mainly sailors and workers from the nearby sawmill.
Recently the history of John Dieghton has come under fire - when his first wife, an indigenous women from the Squamish Nation, died (Name unknown), he married her niece - Quahail-ya. When the niece died on Aug. 10, 1948, Newspaper stories on her death noted she "claimed to be between 102 and 110 years of age" which would have made her at least 24 at the time of the marriage. Her death certificate says she was 90, which would have made her 12 in 1870 although its unclear how the year of birth was determined.
A petition had been started to request the removal of the statue as a symbol of oppression against Indigenous people. The Squamish Nation had asked to "be involved in any decisions about the telling of our people’s history or actions taken in our people’s name." Unfortunately a group of protestors decided to dishonour the Squamish Nation's request by toppling the statue illegally during a protest. The statue was destroyed by the toppling and was removed entirely by the city.
However we are still left with Gassy Jack's great legacy - Vancouver and the area known as Gastown.
John "Gassy Jack" Deighton