Paldi Remembered Traditional Cache
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(regular)
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To travel down the road to Paldi gives no indication to the history of this quaint little settlement. Many of the locals remember the bustling little mill town that has fallen by the wayside, and have given me some information of how it was.
The founder, Mayo Singh, arrived by ship in San Francisco from India, in 1906. After working with the CPR and various sawmills in B.C., he came to the Island to start up a mill in the area now known as Paldi. The new Mayo Lumber Company built extensive rail lines up onto the mountain, and purchased locomotives which were used in the logging operations. It wasn't until after the war that trucks were used.
In no time, Paldi became a mixed-ethnic community, where East Indians, Whites, Chinese and Japanese worked together in running the mill and railroad, and constucting the town.
Operations ran from 1917 to 1945 creating many fond memories for the many hundreds of people who lived and worked there. Some memories were not so fond, including the many fires the mill would succumb to, and the unfortunate logging accidents that took the lives of many residents.
After the mill shut down, the town continued on for another 25 years or so. A gravity fed water system was installed in the town, and the Paldi School expanded. But with the need to travel farther to find work, the population dwindled in size, and the Paldi School closed it's doors in 1969. Through the 70's, transients moved into the abandoned homes, and with time the old houses became nothing but an eyesore. In 2005, a bulldozer came and levelled the town. All that remains is the old family house and the Sikh Temple. The Temple still holds weekly functions, and many families still come to attend.
If you drive a little farther down the road past the cache, you can see the Temple, the old family home and the water tower off to your right.
The cache is in a white plastic container hidden in the confluence of a multi trunked tree. The trail off the road is marked with a small piece of flagging tape. Please be sensitive to the area, and hide the cache well when you're done.
Additional Hints
(No hints available.)