Emily Carr was an artist whose depictions of Vancouver Island’s dense forests and First Nations villages introduced a new style of painting to the West Coast of Canada. When failing health prevented her from traveling into the forests and remote coastal villages, she turned to writing, and her autobiographical works are still widely read.
Stage One: Carr House
“When [Father] came from England he bought ten acres of fine land adjoining Beacon Hill Park, which was owned by the City of Victoria. It took Father a lot of money to clear his land. He left every fine tree he could, because he loved trees, but he cleared away the scrub to make meadows for the cows, and a beautiful garden. Then he built what was considered in 1863 a big fine house.”
Emily Carr, The Book of Small
The above coordinates should take you close to Carr House. Here Emily was born, and here she lived till she left home in 1890 to study art in San Francisco. If you want to visit the gardens and the house itself you’ll have to pay. But your clue is on a commemorative plaque between the sidewalk and the fence, so no admission charge is necessary. Note down the year in which Emily received an award. Call this number “A”.
Stage Two: The House of All Sorts
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5362252
“On the generous slope of the attic roof I painted two Indian eagles. They were painted right on the under side of the roof shingles. Their great spread wings covered the entire ceiling of the attic. The heads of the eagles tilted upwards in bold, unafraid enquiry. […] When, after twenty years, people bought my house and turned it into a fine modern block, they did not require the attic, so they took away the little stair leading from the studio, they removed the door and windows, but they could not remove my eagles without tearing the roof off the house. The eagles belonged to the house for all time.”
Emily Carr, The House of All Sorts
You should be standing close to the House of All Sorts. Emily lived here during a difficult period of her life, when she was forced to run a boarding house in order to scrape a living. She sometimes overheard her tenants making fun of her paintings. The name Emily gave to her house reflected the menagerie she kept there: she raised English bobtail sheepdogs, and kept various pets, including a monkey, cats and a white rat.
This house is private property, despite the small sign that says “Emily Carr’s House of All Sorts,” so please respect the privacy of those who now live here. Your clue is on a utility pole in front of the house. It has a small rectangular metal plaque containing two alphanumeric sequences. Note down the first four digits of the first line. Call this number “B”.
Stage Three: Back to Mother Earth
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5362521
These coordinates should take you to a bench. Have a seat and look directly in front of you. This inn was a priory in 1945, and it was here that Emily Carr died, cared for by the sisters.
There are two flights of stairs leading to the lobby entrance, one on either side of the door. Go to the side on your left as you face the inn, the flight closer to the pub and farther away from the parking lot. Count the number of carpeted stairs leading to the lobby entrance, not including the landing. Call this number “C”.
Stage Four: The Cache
Subtract A from B. Add the resulting number plus 241 to the Easting of Stage One to obtain the Easting for the cache.
Take the square of C (i.e. multiply C by itself). Add 58 to your answer, then subtract the number you get from the Northing of Stage One to get the Northing for the cache. Coordinates were averaged with 7 metres accuracy.
This is the second container we have hidden, since the first was plundered. This one is a small round camo-painted Lock&Lock, so only tiny trade items will fit. The cache is in a high-traffic area, so please be discreet and replace the cache carefully, so that it is completely invisible to passersby.
If you would like to see some of Emily Carr’s paintings after completing the cache, go to 0474286 5363298. Emily’s modest grave can be found at 0474758 5362123.
Carr House
