My Boyhood Home on the Humber
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Along the Humber River in Toronto. It should be a pretty easy hunt, even though I used an average of all the different readings I got, since it was so hard to get a satellite signal.
Back in the early 1960's, this land along the Humber that you are standing on was owned by our family. From the road to the river, and a little on the other side was our "Eden". This was still the village of Islington (you can still put that as your post office for this area) in the Township of Etobicoke. The entire street was a "rural route" and there were still a few farms along the east side of Edenbridge between North Drive and Scarlett Road. When our house was built (the white house up there, if you're interested. My bedroom was on the extreme right on the second floor), the crane digging the foundation sank in the muck, and a bulldozer had to pull it out. The newer homes across from James Gardens were all built on 100-foot wooden piles pounded into the muddy soil to prevent them from sinking. I remember that summer of pile-drivers endlessly bang-bang-banging all day long. West of the cache, where there is a little grassy park now, there used to be wild pheasants nesting in the scrub. We accidentally disturbed a few when we got too close to a nest, and they scared us when they flew out of their cover. One time a pheasant even flew right between a friend's legs as it escaped. We had a good laugh over how he was frightened even more than the pheasant. We were pretty startled too, but never admitted it. The Humber used to flood every spring in those days, and it came halfway up the hill right behind the houses. I always used to wonder if it would ever rise right up to our house. Summers were spent exploring the thick forest, and going rafting on the river like Tom Sawyer, circling all the islands and the various bays with trees hanging over the water. My parents never found out about the rafting! We also caught crayfish along the river, and turtles and frogs. Sadly, you won't find them any more. Or pheasants, either. When you're at the cache, see how dense the remaining bit of forest is, and imagine it extending all the way to the river, and north to Scarlett Road, and south to James Gardens. There was a lot of interesting stuff in the forest for a young boy to discover. Quite a bit was left over from Hurricane Hazel in October 1954: pieces of furniture, household goods, bits of old clothing and even boards from houses. Some people drowned and many houses were destroyed farther up river because of Hazel. There's a plaque commemorating the victims near the bicycle bridge over the Humber in Raymore Park, just south of Lawrence Ave. The river was about five feet deep back then, and we even went swimming in it once. Yes, it was pretty dirty and disgusting, but we were hot, and there were no swimming pools around to cool off in. Along the entire street, the land from the current property lines (see the fence?) to the river was expropriated around 1965 by the city, and it was off limits to everyone for about three years. Most of the trees were cut down, and huge earth-moving machines straightened out the river. Wire mesh cages filled with rocks were laid along the banks to prevent flooding. The whole Humber River looked artificial and extremely ugly for about 15 years. It was only one step better than a concrete spillway. But slowly, some trees started growing back, and the river deposited dirt along the cages, and bushes appeared, hiding the "improvements". If you dig down into the riverbank, the wire cages are still there, but thankfully they can't be seen except here where one pokes through. Around 1975, the city put in the bicycle path and the area has been pretty much the same ever since. The only changes otherwise are that this became the Borough, and then the City of Etobicoke (part of Metro Toronto), and then in 1997 was swallowed up to be just another part of Toronto. (Thanks, Mike Harris. I'll always be an Etobian, though). One other thing -- that house that cost $30,000 in 1962 is worth quite a bit more now, I hear. Anyone got a million dollars handy? Cache is a lock-lid plastic box, size: 8" x 5" x 3" Original Contents: Snap-animal Frog Snap-animal Lizard "Quivering" green dinosaur Hackey-sack ball Light-up airplane key-ring Light-up truck key-ring Lucky penny key-ring Log Book, psychedelic pen, and two retractable pencils "Atlantic Canada" Travel Bug First-to-find prize: Dinner on me! ($10.00 Swiss Chalet gift card). UPDATE as of July 15, 2017: Replacement cache has been placed. It only contains a logbook and a pen and pencil. I've added co-ordinates for a trailhead to make it a bit easier to get through the rough. But I noticed tall plants (over 6' tall) with yellow flowers are growing in the area. I think it's Wild Parsnip which can cause a nasty chemical burn if you come in contact with the sap. Be careful!!
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Qba'g trg uvg ol yvtugavat!
Gjb zrgref fbhgu-jrfg bs gur "yvtugavat gerr" ng gur onfr bs n yrnavat gerr.
Haqre puhaxf bs byq jbbq.