This cache is placed at one of a couple signs that welcome you into Shawnigan Lake, this one happens to border Mill Bay, so hence the cache title. Speaking of which I guess I should put a bit of history from each town, (scroll down to the end of the description for more of the cache info if you don't care about the history stuff).
Mill Bay:
The first white men to visit Mill Bay were two French Canadians, brothers Francois Xavier and Jean Baptiste Voutray, born in Quebec, and who in the 1830s explored the shores of Mill Bay in their canoe looking for fur bearing animals. Both brothers joined the Hudson Bay Co. in 1834 and were stationed at Fort Vancouver and Fort Victoria where they both married First Nations women.
After the brothers left the HBC they returned to Mill Bay, working for a time in the mill and pre-empting farm land. The south side of Xavier’s 100 acres went approximately along what is Kilamalu Road, across from St. Francis Xavier Church and the Island Highway now cuts across the west side of the property. Jean Baptiste pre-empted a 100 acres next door to the southwest.
Xavier’s eldest surviving daughter Amelie married Samuel Handy whose property was adjacent to what is now Handy Road. Amelie spoke only French and Samuel spoke French at home as well so their 6 children learned English at school. Amelie taught at least one of her grandchildren French swear words that got her in trouble after they repeated these words at home.
After confederation in 1867 Canada wanted immigrants to settle its vast expanse of land and advertised for settlers in glowing terms. So it was that in 1892 Jean Baptiste Deloume left the ‘civilized’ life of Bordeaux France for pioneer life on Vancouver Island. He made the journey with his aged mother, his wife, 3 sons and 2 daughters, plus many musical instruments, household goods, and personal treasures.
What prompted a frail cultured man of 49, an accountant, music teacher and antique dealer to uproot his large family and make the arduous trip to an unknown land? The climate, Jean Baptiste wanted a vineyard and bought land in Saanich.
Well as you can imagine farming life was no picnic and knowledge came with difficulty. Son Lucien found a dead horse, studied the horseshoes, wrenched them off and renailed them rather badly on the family horse. This did not work out as horse shoes are made to fit and you can’t put nails in the tender part of a hoof.
Eventually the farm in Saanich failed and in 1901 the Deloume Family, which now included 8 children, preempted 200 acres of land in Mill Bay (now Mill Springs subdivision). Dad and sons came first and built a little temporary shelter. They felled trees and milled and hand cut them to make careful corners requiring no nails, which were a luxury in those days. Gutter and pipes to channel water from a nearby spring were hand made from wood also. The water ran continuously and was the only plumbing they ever had. In a remarkably short time not only was a two story house ready to welcome the whole family but they built Deloume Road which ran from the waterfront all the way to the farm.
They called their farm The Good Hope Farm and raised seeds for sale, planted varied vegetables, fruit trees, and another vineyard which did produce good wine. Their success prompted others to settle in the area.
Shawnigan Lake:
In 1883 construction of a railway line between Esquimalt and Nanaimo began. Prior to that, Shawnigan Lake was largely wilderness and the only supplies were delivered by a weekly steamship to Cowichan Bay. In 1886 John A. Macdonald traveled to Shawnigan to personally hammer in the last spike at Cliffside. (Check out GC7FAMG for more about that.) With the new influx of supplies and visitors Shawnigan Lake quickly grew. A mill was started in 1890 by a former E and N railway employee.
By 1900 the other main industry was tourism, with two hotels being built in Shawnigan for the visitors who would take the train up from Victoria. Shawnigan Lake's forestry industry closed in the mid twentieth century due to both the loss of the mill, which was destroyed by fire (for the third time) and the economy. Portions of the mill can still be seen in Shawnigan's Old Mill Park. The main railway, no longer active as of 2011, served the community twice daily (once northbound, and once southbound) a passenger only train service operated by Via Rail Canada.
Here's more info about the cache. There is easy parking nearby, a bus stop next to the sign, and lots of muggles, so be stealthy. You may need a tall friend ton find this one, or to take a step up. PLEASE place the cache back EXACTLY as found, thank you. Enjoy the hide and Happy Caching!
1 of 4 hides in the TWO series. The TWO series is a group of 4 fairly simple caches off of Deloume road in Mill Bay, that all have TWO in the title, and hint. These caches and the series were placed for the HAG XX event. If you would like to learn more, check out https://hagcaching.cachemania.ca/.
References: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shawnigan_Lake and https://millbaymalahathistory.com