Follow the stories and tales of Shawnigan Lake from its beginnings in the 1860s to the present day.;xNLx;Information is organized into six main categories:;xNLx;Business & Industry (green);xNLx;Community (blue);xNLx;Education (yellow);xNLx;Hotels (purple);xNLx;People (teal);xNLx;Transportation (orange);xNLx;;xNLx;Click on the date dots below or on the stories in the timeline. Within each you will find photos, text, audio and video about our community’s past and present.
Shawnigan Lake lies wholly within the unceded territory of the Coast Salish people who have been living here since time immemorial. Shawnigan Lake lies within the E & N railway corridor where land was pre-empted* from First Nations in the late 1800’s. The governments of Canada and BC gave more than 800,000 hectares of land to the E&N Railway Company to help finance it. About one-third—almost 270,000 hectares—was Hul’qumi’num land, a vast section of southeastern Vancouver Island. For the Hul’qumi’num peoples, the deal marked the beginning of a gradual, unremitting decline in their economic, cultural and social well-being, in which they witnessed the loss of most of their land and resources—almost 85 percent. he Cowichan Nation, part of the larger Coast Salish peoples, has a deep-rooted history in the Shawnigan Lake area on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. For thousands of years, the Cowichan people lived sustainably on these lands, relying on the rich natural resources for fishing, hunting, and gathering. The region's forests, rivers, and lakes, including Shawnigan Lake, provided abundant salmon, shellfish, deer, and plant life, central to their economy and cultural practices. Seasonal movements allowed them to harvest resources efficiently, and they developed intricate knowledge of the environment, reflected in their oral histories and traditions. European contact in the late 18th and early 19th centuries brought significant disruption. The fur trade, resource extraction, and eventual colonial settlement led to the displacement of Indigenous communities and the loss of traditional lands. By the mid-19th century, colonial policies and treaties further restricted the Cowichan people’s access to their ancestral territories, impacting their cultural practices and self-sufficiency. Despite these challenges, the Cowichan Nation has maintained its cultural identity through language preservation, ceremonies, and art, particularly renowned for its distinctive wool weaving. Today, the Cowichan Nation continues to assert its rights and stewardship over traditional lands, including areas around Shawnigan Lake. Efforts toward land reclamation, environmental protection, and cultural revitalization reflect their enduring connection to the land and their resilience in the face of historical adversity. The Cowichan Nation remains a vital part of the region’s social and cultural fabric, contributing to environmental conservation and regional development.
The Cowichan Expedition Settlers head to Shawnigan (from the British Colonist, August 22, 1862) H.M. Hecate, having on board His Excellency the Governor, returned to Esquimalt yesterday morning from Cowichan District, whither she departed on Monday last with 100 intending farmers. The expedition reached Cowichan at 4 o'clock, p.m. on Monday, and the settlers, divided into three parties, under the guidance of the Surveyor General and his assistant, and the Attorney General, were landed at the localities in which it is intended they shall inspect and select lands for farming purposes. The Governor also disembarked and encamped, and the party were regaled with fresh butter, milk, eggs, and other home raised luxuries by one of the Cowichan farmers. The few natives at present in the district (the major portion of the tribes being absent fishing) agreed without hesitation to the surrender of their lands to the Government, with the exception of their village sites and potatoe-patches (sic), being informed that when the absent members of the tribes had returned to their homes in the autumn, compensation for the lands taken up by the settlers would be made at the same rate as that previously established - amounting in the aggregate to the value of a pair of blankets to each Indian - the chiefs, of course, coming in for the lion's share of the potlatch. The Indians, one and all, expressed themselves as perfectly content with the proposed arrangement, and even appeared anxious that settlers should come among them. One party of the settlers was dispatched to Shawnigan District, another to Somenos District, and the third to Quamichan. The settlers were all in good health and spirits, and appeared greatly pleased with the appearance of the country. The weather was fine, and from the expressions of satisfaction which fell from the lips of every member of the expedition, it is believed that many of the settlers will make the Valley of the Cowichan their permanent home. They were given to understand by His Excellency that actual residence on the land would alone entitle them to hold it.
In 1862, the Government slashed out the Goldstream Trail from Victoria to Nanaimo. Eight feet wide, it was barely adequate for wagon travel and in 1864 it was widened. The Trail came over the hills from Goldstream, following roughly the existing Sooke Lake Road and the Old Victoria Road through Shawnigan to Cobble Hill. It became the Victoria Road and remained so until the building of the Malahat in 1910. No doubt wayfarers on the Trail viewed Shawnigan Lake through the trees and camped gratefully on its shores. (from the British Colonist, November 17, 1862) The trail from Victoria to Cowichan River, which was commenced by Mr. Thompson, the contractor, last fall, is now completed. Persons who may wish to visit the settlements at Cowichan or Chemainus can now ride there all the way on horseback. A gentleman who rode over the route lately supplies us with some information on the subject. The distance from Victoria to Cowichan is put down at 37.5 miles; from there to the Chemainus (sic) it is 11 miles. The trail is a very good horse or cattle trail. It is rather hilly - some two or three hills rather difficult to pass. There are some small stubs or stumps still on the trail - some six or seven bridges, on 150 feet long. After leavings Langford's, with th exception of four or five miles near Cowichan River, there is very little farming land - nearly all a very rough country. But neaqr the river is some very fair land indeed. A part of the trail passes round the beach of Cowichan Bay; and when the tide is up, it is somewhat difficult. A party who drove some oxen through lately when the water was high, had to lay planks on two canoes, and thus carry his oxen along. The distance round the bay is about three miles. A person on horseback can make the journey all the way through from Victoriato Chemainus in a day. Nicholls, the contractor for the trail from Cowichan to Nanaimo, has opened it as far as the sixty-second milepost...There are a good many bridges on the route....The bridges are built about twelve feet wide, so as to suit for a wagon road. story info here
George S. Gibson: Shawnigan Lake’s forgotten carver By Emery Sanderson, Summer Student, Shawnigan Lake Museum One of Vancouver Island’s most prolific woodcarvers remains largely a mystery to the majority of the population, still to this day. George S. Gibson (b. 1867-1942) was an immigrant from Edinburgh Scotland who, over the course of his life, became a renowned woodcarver creating work for some of the Island’s most respected names, and even the British Royal family. In 1910, Gibson took his talents to the shores of Shawnigan Lake. Gibson was responsible for decorating much of Victoria’s interiors and exteriors, as well as Shawnigan Lake itself. Gibson’s work can be seen throughout Shawnigan and Victoria to this day: the well-known concrete lion on the lake; carvings in Hatley Castle; various churches, including Christ Church Cathedral; the Parliament buildings and the CPR Building in Victoria. It is safe to say that Gibson is widely responsible for Victoria’s High Victorian-esque aesthetic. To understand Gibson’s motives and inspirations, we must first dive into his backstory. Born in Edinburgh, in 1867, to a family of carvers and craftsmen, Gibson attended formal schooling until the age of 14, where then he was taken under the wing of his father and eldest brother in his own woodcarving apprenticeship. The Gibson family name already carried a heavy weight in the carving world, with his father, James Gibson, being a carver for the Duke of Northumberland. Seemingly from the moment Gibson stepped into the world his path was already laid out for him. Before making the eventual move to Shawnigan Lake, Gibson had a string of other ventures around the rest of the Western World. Prior to the 1890’s it would seem the Gibson’s enjoyed a relatively comfortable life in Edinburgh. The two brothers would learn vital skills working primarily on churches and cathedrals. This lasted until a large part of Europe entered an economic depression. Unable to remain in Scotland, Gibson decided it best to leave in search of greener fields. His first stop was New York, where he continued his trade in a renowned woodcarver’s association. After this stint in America, he returned to Edinburgh briefly, married, had two children, and promptly set off again. It can only be assumed that throughout this time Gibson was still living off his trade, but he decided he needed a change. In a large wave of immigration to the exciting ‘new’ frontier of British Columbia, Gibson tried to make it as a fruit farmer. However, this did not last long. After one year of farming in Nelson, Gibson made the move to Vancouver, trying his hand in real estate while carving simultaneously. Though his farming endeavour did not last long, it should be noted that gardening remained a prominent aspect of his life until his death in 1942. After moving in and around Vancouver, Gibson eventually found himself on Vancouver Island, visiting destinations popular for tourists. While in Shawnigan Lake, a tourist’s paradise, Gibson fell in love with the land, quickly deciding then and there this is where he should raise his family. Within a couple months, Gibson threw together a house and a workshop and his family followed soon after. It should be mentioned that they immigrated at the perfect time for a woodcarver. Shawnigan Lake and nearby Victoria were wealthy communities rapidly expanding and in need of carvings. It was during this time Gibson made all of his best-known work, largely in conjunction with noted architect Samuel Maclure. They designed and decorated Hatley Park Castle, the Parliament Buildings, Aberthau House, and Tulk (or Rosemary) House, alongside many other projects. Some of Gibson’s other notable works include the Shawnigan Lion (an anti-political symbol), various pieces at the Christ Church Cathedral (incl. the stone Robin), many interior details of the Parliament Buildings (sidings, the speaker chair, etc.) and two oak chairs that British Royalty, still used to this day whenever they visit Victoria. On March 9th,1942 Gibson died, after contracting pneumonia a few months after his wife’s death. Gibson is buried next to his wife in Mill Bay. The vast majority of his work was never signed. He simply saw the art of carving as just a job. Due to this, the drastic impact Gibson has had on Vancouver Island’s aesthetic, as a whole, has, sadly, been forgotten.
The Daily Standard: At the recent political meeting at Cowichan, the question of the Victoria-Nanaimo road was discussed, and if we are correctly informed, a very large sum of money was mentioned as the probable cost of the road. Now, we have always regarded the road in question as an absolute necessity,—anti that; without it that district of county will never make such rapid progress as it ought. But we are not prepared to say that the country can afford to expend a hundred thousand dollars or upward in any one year in its construction. Neither do we believe that any such sum of money is required at present. The total length of the road from Victoria to Nanaimo, even if it followed the present trail, would be seventy-nine miles. But several sections are now travelable for waggons; and after widening portions of the present trail from Sayward's Saw-mill into Cowichan, there would only be the section from Goldstream to Mill Creek, and from the Chemainus to within a few miles of Nanaimo, to complete. Now, the class of road that would be within the means of the colony to make at first would be, say twelve lots wide, levelled, bridged, and where required corduroyed. Such a road, after it is once opened to traffic, could be improved year after year, till it last it could be made into a first-class waggon road, connecting all the settlements between the two principal towns on the Island. Now, the total cost of such a road as we have mentioned need not be over $25,000. The estimate made by Surveyor General Pearse in 1865 (and whose experience hi road-making is as great if not greater than any one on the Island), for the Victoria-Nanaimo road, only amounted to $23,270 Of this sum he estimated $9,100 for opening the road -from Goldstream to Sayward's Saw-mill; and $13,570 for the remainder of the road, but without including one or two bridges. It will thus be seen that $25,000 would throw open the whole route from Victoria to Nanaimo. That amount might be very properly appropriated for such a road at the next session, and then by the middle of next summer we might have a triweekly mail to and from Nanaimo. But if a hundred thousand dollars be asked to commence on, it is not likely to be had, for the good and sufficient reason that the finances of the colony will not allow it to be done.
Koenig Hotel, Shawnigan Lake, built as Morton House in 1885 by Charlie Morton and sold to Mr. and Mrs. Koenig in 1891.
Last Spike Hammered Home © Copyright The Victoria Times Colonist By Jim Hume December 7, 2008 Canada's Father of Confederation performed task to loud cheers. So, whose got the "silver" hammer or the more important ceremonial spike Sir. John A. Macdonald tapped into an E&N railway tie with the silver hammer at Cliffside near Shawnigan Lake on Aug. 13, 1886? Lori Treloar, curator of the Shawnigan Lake Museum would love to know. So would her husband Grant, once the principal at Sangster Elementary School, now conscripted guide, visual display operator, custodian and janitor of the small but growing artifacts collection housed at the old fire hall in the heart of Shawnigan Lake village. The husband and wife team are just two of a dedicated group of local historians, members of the Shawnigan Lake Historical Society, determined to remember the earliest days of settlement -- and before. The museum leans heavily on its railway connection and the driving of that last spike, hammered into ceremonial place on a bright summer day by an aging and far from well Sir. John A. That auspicious ceremony, witnessed by dignitaries travelling on Robert Dunsmuir's private coach and settlers from remote farms and forest operations crowding into a small forest clearing at "Milepost 25," took place just before lunch on what became a long, hot and thirsty day. For Sir John and Lady Macdonald the day had started at 7 a.m. after an early breakfast at the Driard Hotel in Victoria. Picked up by carriage, they trotted through early- morning streets on a dusty four-mile ride to Esquimalt where they boarded Dunsmuir's private coach, renamed "Maude" after he bought it as "Eva" from Canadian Pacific, but known by railway workers as "the palace." The carriage to Esquimalt was needed because that was the southern railhead. To borrow a 21st-century phrase, Victoria didn't get online until 1888. The train was short in length. As it left Esquimalt at 8:25 a.m. there was a locomotive, Dunsmuir's "palace" and a flatcar. The flatcar was to accommodate excess luggage and Lady Macdonald, who had expressed a preference for the open air over a "palace" parlour car full of smoke and male gossip. She sat on a hastily constructed "plank seat" and by all accounts enjoyed the ride. The Colonist reported the train arrived at Cliffside "shortly before nine o'clock." The same story also reported the train had left Esquimalt at 8:25 and took a leisurely 54 minutes to travel the first 20 miles plus a "few minutes" more to reach the last spike ceremony site. It might be safe to assume it was shortly before 10 o'clock when Sir John was "provided with a golden spike and silver hammer" and "drove the spike home with a few well delivered blows." That was the description in a "special -- exclusive to the Colonist" dispatch published Saturday, Aug. 14. In Sunday's morning Colonist more details were available, and I suspect editor-reporter D.W. Higgin of glorious prose fame wrote or rewrote the Sunday dispatch. The Colonist reported the Sir John A. special had "sped swiftly along with its human freight ... thundered over high trestles and dashed through the only tunnel on the line ... crossed Arbutus Canyon its (train whistle) echo seven times repeated ... (then) the train descended and came to standstill where were gathered about 100 persons ... The party disembarked and as the last rail was placed, Sir John, armed with a silver mallet, advanced and struck the ceremonial spike home. As the last blow was delivered the echoes were disturbed for the first time since creation with hearty cheers for Sir John and Lady Macdonald, Mr. Dunsmuir and the Island railway." And with that brief ceremony out of the way the dignitaries climbed back on board for the run to Nanaimo with a whistle stop at Duncan's Crossing where early settlers W.C. Duncan, W.P. Jaynes and W.H. Lomas "had gathered others to greet the prime minister." It is said that the numbers gathered at Duncan's Crossing surprised even Dunsmuir and led to a permanent timetable stop at what was first named a new townsite of Alderlea but was never known as anything but "Duncan's" until 1912 when the "s" got lost and Duncan became permanent. In Nanaimo there were more receptions, more speeches, more "three cheers" for Sir John and the railway, more banquets and a trip down a Dunsmuir mine with differing versions of the same tale. The Colonist reported the visitors, including "Lady Macdonald and several of her suite descended a shaft 600 feet deep" after which "they proceeded to the Royal Hotel for lunch with Mr. Dunsmuir." In his book Coalmine to Castle: The Story of the Duns-muirs, James Audain suggests that after the silver hammer and the golden spike ceremony both Dunsmuir and Macdonald had felt desperate need for a celebratory libation. Their wives, however, sticklers for circumspection while on public parade, made it impossible for either to get even a sniff of a cork. At Nanaimo, Dunsmuir asked Sir John if he'd like to see a mine at work and politely invited the ladies. But, he warned, they would have to discard dresses in favour of workman's overalls and would need to make arrangements for a bath and clean clothes after the tour. The day being bright and sunny, both ladies declined. Audain says they retired to await their partners' return --and Dunsmuir and the PM dropped six hundred feet to where Dunsmuir "had had the foresight to cache" a case of Scotch. Thus was the E&N duly blessed. And I'm left wondering if that's where they lost the silver hammer and the ceremonial spike.
HISTORY OF THE ESQUIMALT AND NANAIMQ (E&N) RAILWAY The story of the Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway began back in the days before Confederation. The concept of this railway stemmed from a plan to unite Canada's provinces by the construction of a railway to extend the breadth of Canadian soil from the Atlantic to the Pacific. In 1866, Vancouver Island had united with the mainland to form one colony called British Columbia. The population at that time roughly totaled 36,000. Over fifty percent of this population lived on Vancouver Island. The movement towards Confederation began for British Columbia in 1867, but it was not until 1870 that B.C. put forward its terms for participation. The most important condition called for the construction of a railway to connect the se'!-board of British Columbia with the railway system of Canada. The phrase "seaboard of British Columbia", as contained in the Confederation document, was interpreted by most Vancouver Islanders as meaning Esquimalt. The facts that the Island had a larger population than the mainland, a thriving coal and lumber industry, and a Royal Navy base at Esquimalt - were prime factors in this interpretation. KEY DATES AND EVENTS: 1871 British Columbia joins Confederation on July 21. This established a unified Canada from coast to coast. 1873 Alexander Mackenzie defeats Sir John A. MacDonald's government. 1874 B.C. threatens to withdraw from Confederation because of non-fulfillment of the terms of union with respect to the building of the railway. The province draws up a lengthy memorial or appeal to the Queen. 1875 Dominion Government makes a definite statement that Esquimalt is to be the terminus of the railway. The B.C. Legislature passes an act known as the Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway Act which authorizes the grant of public land to the Dominion government, not to exceed 20 miles in width on either side of the rail line between Esquimalt and Nanaimo Harbour. Despite the promise by Canada, through the Governor General, and although the bill passes Parliament by a slim majority, the Senate turns down the proposal to build the Island Railway. This is regarded by British Columbia as a deliberate breach of trust and they prepare to take action to withdraw from Confederation. 1876 Governor General, Lord Dufferin, comes to Victoria September 14 and makes a· speech which is credited with checking the dangerous agitation for secession on Vancouver Island. 1878 Lord Dufferin's efforts are of no avail and a second secession memorial is dispatched to the Queen. Sir John A. MacDonald defeats the Mackenzie government and is elected as member for Victoria in a by-election. 1881 Once again British Columbia turns to the Imperial Government for assistance. 1882 The E&N Railway Act of 1875 is repealed. 1884 Sir John A. MacDonald manages to persuade Island coal baron Robert Dunsmuir to build the Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway. On April 28, the E&N is born at a meeting in the new company's office at the comer of Broughton and Government Streets in Victoria. Robert Dunsmuir is elected President. On April 30, Robert Dunsmuir gives the order to commence the building of the railway. The charter given, known as the Dunsmuir Agreement, included a grant of $750,000 cash, 2.1 million acres of land (excluding settlements, Indian Reserves, and military bases) and all the mining rights ofall minerals and substances in, on, or under such lands, including the foreshore and sea opposite any such land. The grant also included 3.5 million acres ofland in the Peace River District. 1886 August 13, shortly after 9:00 a .m. at Cliffside, on the east side of Shawnigan Lake, Prime Minister Sir John A. MacDonald, provided with a golden spike and a silver hammer, drives home the last spike. September 24, Esquimalt -Russell extension completed. 1887 June 1, Nanaimo-Wellington extension completed. 1888 March 29, Russell-Victoria extension completed. 1905 June 8, James Dunsmuir, son of Robert, sells the E&N Railway, including all its assets and the steamship service, to the CPR. June 30, a Second Land Grant of 86,000 acres is given to the Dominion government. October 4, that same 86,000 acres is transferred to the E&N Railway. 1910 A Third Land Grant of20,000 acres is given to the E&N Railway. 1925 A Fourth Land Grant of the foreshore part of and the coal underlying in the Nanaimo District containing 10,000 acres. It has been estimated that the government of British Columbia, in order to have a 75-mile railway built from Esquimalt to Nanaimo, gave away 4, 700,000 acres of land. Based on an average value of $10 per acre of land at the time, the cost of the railway to the B.C. government was $626,660 per mile. 1906-1915 The E&N is extended to Lake Cowichan, Port Alberni, Parksville, Qualicum Beach and finally Courtenay. The E&N Railway, at its peak had 45 stations on its Main Line, 8 stations on its Port Alberni Line, and 36 stations on its Cowichan Line. 1953 Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) abandons Port Alberni passenger service. 1962 CPR applies to the Canadian Transport Commission (CTC) to discontinue Island passenger service. Request denied . 1968 CPR applies to CTC again. Request de~ed. Told to upgrade service. 1970 CPR applies to CTC again. Request denied . 1974 . CPR applies again and this time is granted permission to end passenger service in 1978 . 1977 VIA Rail is formed to take over CPR and the Canadian National Railway (CNR) passenger rail service. VIA assumes responsibility for the E&N in 1979. 1978 Review Board repeals 1977 CTC decision. The first Vancouver Island E&N Railway Steering Committee is formed to fight to preserve and upgrade the service. 1989 Federal government announces it intends to shut down the E&N . It commences abandonment proceedings with CTC . In response B.C. government launches suit in BC Supreme Court alleging the closure contravenes Constitutional legal obligations . 1991 B.C . Court ofAppeal rules the Federal Government has a Constitutional obligation to keep rail service on Vancouver Island. Federal government launches an appeal to the Supreme Court. 1993 Supreme Court of Canada hears appeal on December 2. 1994 May 5, the Supreme Court of Canada rules the Federal Government does not have a constitutional responsibility to maintain service into perpetuity.
October 19, 1886 British Colonist From the article: “The Island Railway Scenery” “Shawnigan Lake is seen hemmed in on all sides by thickly wooded mountains. For several miles the road passes along this lake which resembles much in contour and diversity of beach, the famous Adirondack lakes, noted throughout the world for their inimitable attractions. It is evident that Shawnigan Lake is destined to become a popular resort for sportsmen and pleasure seekers. Indeed, if some enterprising Victorian would erect a hotel here and provided a few boats, a more enjoyable spot could not be found in British Columbia. As a health resort it would be unsurpassed, the air is rare and purity itself, the waters are delicious, especially from the innumerable springs that abound. The lake is fairly alive with splendid trout easily caught, while in the adjacent forest there are plenty of deer, bear, occasionally a panther, many grouse and a variety of small game. Accommodations for pleasure seekers should be erected at once at Shawnigan Lake, as already a large crowd of people visit the place, especially on the Sunday excursions, and they would be glad to extend their stay, but are obliged to return the same day for lack of shelter. It is safe to say that Shawnigan Lake will be the one Great Resort of Victoria.” NOTE: In fact, at the time of the writing of this article, Charlie Morton was building a hotel (named after him) right at the Shawnigan Village site (currently the Government Wharf Park).
William Rivers was born in 1860 in Oswestry, Shropshire, England. He came out to Vancouver Island when he was about fifteen, in the company of his older brother Henry. William and Amelia homesteaded near Shawnigan Lake, a few miles west from Xavier's pre-empted land. Their property included the land which is today William Rivers Community Park. They had eight children, the eldest being Mary Amelia Rivers (called "Mim" or "Mimmie") who was my maternal grandmother. Their other children were Gertrude, Elizabeth (Helen), William, Ethel, Mabel, Charles and Albert.
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William Losse (first owner of the Shawnigan Lake Lumber Company Mill) & family pictured with two fallers on springboards.
William Losee by Lori Treloar Have you ever wondered about the street names in our community? Losee Road is a short road that runs south off Baldy Mountain Road. Other than the occasional traveler along the Goldstream Trail there were few visitors in the “uninhabited wilderness” at Shawnigan Lake until the mid 1880s. The first permanent development at Shawnigan Lake was the hotel, Morton House, built in 1885. The E & N railway, completed in 1886, made further development in the area a reality. William Losee arrived in BC with the credentials to earn him the position of Master Mechanic with the E & N. In his job, he travelled regularly up and down Vancouver Island. Losee recognized the value of the timber around Shawnigan Lake, and taking a risk, he approached James Dunsmuir for a lease on the timber in the area. Losee was granted the rights to all of the timber within one mile from the lakeshore all the way around the lake. In exchange he agreed to pay the E & N 50 cents per 1000 ft of sawn lumber. With a timber agreement in hand he bought Lot 13, for $105, on June 3, 1890. The 4 ¼ acre site was nestled between the lake and the railway and Losee wasted no time building his mill. Losee’s decision to place his mill next to the railway was deliberate. Most mills of the day were located near to their market or at an ocean port facility. Instead, Losee, thinking outside the box, decided to transport his product by rail. He knew that it was cheaper to transport lumber than to ship logs. The railway connection gave him access to several markets close by including Victoria, Nanaimo and Cowichan. In addition, he was central to four ocean-going ports on the island. Losee probably realized that he needed an experienced sawmill man to help and took on Ewan Morrison, a foreman at the sawmill in Chemainus, as a partner. By the fall of 1890 the mill was in business under the name Losee and Morrison. It wasn’t too long before they realized that they would need more machinery and more power. Losee traveled to Ontario to acquire the equipment and left Morrison to oversee operations. When Losee returned in March 1891, he found that Morrison had neglected the mill and it was in such bad shape that it had to be shut down. Morrison had also spent the money in the bank and left the crew half paid. It was a critical situation and Losee was forced to sell his mill. Losee then moved to Victoria and established a shingle mill…it didn’t last long either. Obviously, a man of vision but lacking in business acumen. Mr. Losee’s contribution to the development of Shawnigan Lake was short lived but significant. Although Losee couldn’t make his mill work, the mill was an economic mainstay in the community for over 50 years. It is somewhat surprising that his name wasn’t used on a more prominent road.
The First Dwelling on the Lake Richard Beauchamp Halhed, like many of his contemporaries, came to Canada seeking a lifestyle that was less restrictive than life in England. In those days, most wives had very little say in major decisions, so Mrs. Halhed was left to pack up the household, including the three children and a maid, and then follow her husband to Vancouver Island. Halhed travelled ahead of the family to find a house and be settled before they arrived. When Mrs. Halhed found out that she was pregnant, her trip was made sooner than later. Although she was told that the family would live in Victoria she was shocked to find that, instead, her husband had bought property in the middle of nowhere – Shawnigan Lake. As the new house wasn’t ready when she arrived, they rented in Victoria until it was finished. Her fourth child was born there.
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1892 - The First Settler Family to Live on the Lake edge. “My father, Richard Beauchamp Halhed, had lived for some years in New Zealand, where my two brothers and I were born. He then returned to England, but I suppose found life too restricted and suddenly announced to my mother that he was going to Canada. As in those days wives meekly followed their husbands, my poor mother had no say in the matter, and so it was arranged that he would go first and find a home for his family, my mother to follow with my brothers aged three and five years and I, a baby of one year, and a maid. Not long after Father left, Mother found she was pregnant and would have to leave as soon as possible. A girl from the village was taken into my grandmother's home and trained in cooking and housework, and Mother commenced making arrangements for the journey to Vancouver Island. My Father had led her to believe that they would live in the little town of Victoria, but when she arrived she found that he had bought land miles from anywhere, at Shawnigan Lake — the attraction being “the shooting and fishing”. Some time in November, 1892 we moved to the Lake, and I remember years later my mother telling me that as she stood beside the railway tracks with her baby in her arms, I clinging to her coat and the two little boys holding Emily's hands, and surrounded by mountains of luggage, and learned that her home, dimly seen through snowflakes, and perched up on a rocky point with trees everywhere, could only be reached by row boat, with no road, no neighbours, no shops, she felt life had ended for her and burst into tears. My Mother was a brilliant woman, a magnificent pianist, having studied in Leipzig, and was used to a busy social and musical world.”
David Laverock Sr. purchased the 95 acres known as Lot 40 of the Malahat District from the E & N Railway Company in 1893. The family did not live in Shawnigan long before moving back to Vancouver as they felt the city better suited their lifestyle. Upon the death of their mother, Mary, the two Laverock children, Lily and David became co-owners of the property as per the will of their mother. While Lily had little interest in the property as she had a bustling life in Vancouver, the younger David fell in love with the area. David Laverock moved to Lot 40 during the inter-war period, settling down for good upon finishing his service in the Second World War. David Laverock would live out the rest of his days in Shawnigan, even serving as Area B director for six of his later years.
The first school, where the Catholic Church near the Black Swan Pub stood, was built in 1893. Its very name, Malahat School, (until 1914), is indicative of the large district it served. Children from around and down the lake and from as far as the end of Sylvester Road, walked, rode or rowed to this school. The building was added on to around 1916 and the name was changed to Shawnigan Lake Elementary School. The location changed to the current location of the Shawnigan Daycare in Elsie Miles Park, and shut down as a school in 2014.
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The Strathcona Hotel was built at what was then known as Gilesville (after an early settler). For the following enlightening information concerning the hotel, we are greatly indebted to the Provincial Archivist, Mr. Willard Ireland, who did a painstaking job of research. Contrary to popular belief, the hotel did not start as a C.P.R. Hotel. In 1900 the Shawnigan Lake Hotel Company Limited was incorporated with head office in Victoria. The directors were a group of well-known Victoria business men: George L. Courtney, traffic manager of the E. & N. Railway; Edgar Crow Baker, retired navigating lieutenant, R.N.; Otto H. Weller, furniture manufacturer; Harry McAdoo Grahame, real estate, insurance and finance; and Frederick B. Pemberton, financial and insurance agent. Courtney served as president, and J. S. Floyd, auditor of the E. & N. Railway, was secretary-treasurer. In the list of shareholders in 1901 there appear such names as James Dunsmuir, railway director, Charles E. Pooley, and the Shawnigan Lake Lumber Company. A ninety-nine year lease of the site of Strathcona Lodge was obtained from the E. & N. and the hotel was built for an approximate sum of $15,000. On May 13, 1900, the Daily Colonist reported that it would be opened “in a few days” under the management of W. E. Green, of Nanaimo, and that it had been most appropriately christened the “Strathcona.” It seems likely that this reference, while of course perpetuating the name of Lord Strathcona, is more specifically to Strathcona’s Horse, the force of mounted rifles recruited in the west by Lord Strathcona for service in the South African war, and which a number of Victorians, including Capt. T. F. Pooley, son of Charles Pooley, had joined. But on May 15, 1900, the Colonist reported that “the hotel had burned at its birth.” The work of reconstruction began immediately with the same contractor and the same plans and on September 19, 1900, the Strathcona Hotel was formally opened to the public. In 1903 the Strathcona Hotel was sold to Mrs. Josephine E. Work of the Burdette House in Victoria. Mrs. Work ran the Strathcona Hotel for six years until 1909, when she is reported to have sold it to Vancouver people. (Mrs. Work later established the celebrated Klitsa Lodge at Sproat Lake). The “Vancouver people” mentioned in reports may be identified as Miss Jean Mollison who formed a company along with Helen Mary Patterson and Jessie Cancellor, known as “Mollison Sisters Limited” for the purpose of taking over Strathcona Lodge. Nothing more was heard of the old Shawnigan Lake Hotel Company Limited and it was dissolved in 1912. The 1913 directory carries an illustrated advertisement of the Lodge, “Proprietor, the Mollison Sisters Ltd., Herbert Cancellor, Mgr.," but by 1917, according to the directory of Victoria, he was managing the Brentwood Hotel. According to information gained locally, Mr. C. W. Lonsdale was a manager of Strathcona Lodge just prior to his founding of the Shawnigan Lake School in 1916. Presumably, therefore, it was in 1916-17 that the Lodge was taken over by the C.P.R., for the 1918 directory lists it as “Strathcona Lodge, C.P.R. Hotel System.” Nothing more was heard of the Mollison Sisters until 1919, when they informed the Registrar of Companies that the Company was no longer in existence. According to the 1920 directory, Strathcona Lodge was taken over at that time by M. A. Wylde, who operated the hotel until 1927, when he sold it to Miss M. Gildea, who established a girls’ school on the premises.
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The Koenigs immediately replaced their popular hotel with the more modern and attractive Shawnigan Lake Hotel. Although her husband was drowned in the lake in 1902, Mrs. Koenig and her two sons continued to operate the hotel, including within it a store and post office, until 1912, when it was sold to Mr. James Finlay. He ran it until 1916, when it was burned down, not to be replaced.
The Shawnigan-Mill Bay Road was a prelude to the Malahat.
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Now the current site of the Easter Seal Camp Shawnigan. Gordon Hunter, born in 1863, practiced law in Victoria and eventually became the Chief Justice of British Columbia. Hunter lived in Victoria but he also owned four acres of waterfront on the east side of Shawnigan Lake (now the Easter Seal Camp). Rockvale, built in 1908, included a main house and guest houses. Beautiful gardens with ponds and statues were kept in shape by a group of Japanese gardeners.
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Shawnigan’s Premier Teacher Like many small schools around the province, Elsie Miles Elementary School, in the Shawnigan Lake Village, closed permanently at the end of June 2006. Elsie Miles School, originally known as Shawnigan Lake Elementary School, began as a one room public school named Malahat School, built in 1893, on the Shawnigan Lake Road just north of the outlet. The name of the school was changed in 1914 from Malahat to Shawnigan Lake Elementary. In 1938, trustees for the local area bought a four acre parcel of land in the village for a future school site and, in 1951, the new three-room Shawnigan Lake Elementary School was built. The old school was sold to the Catholic parish and the original buildings were renovated and have housed "Our Lady, Queen of the World” ever since.
The Koksilah River bridge, more commonly known as the Kinsol Trestle, is one of several trestles along the abandoned Canadian National Railway (CN) line on Vancouver Island. The name Kinsol derives from the King Solomon copper mine that operated briefly in the area. Canada's railway building boom at the turn of the 20th century inspired Richard McBride, who ran for premier on the promise to bring a third transcontinental railway into British Columbia. In fact, that promise won him the premier's seat in 1910. Fortuitously, the owners of the Canadian Northern Pacific Railway (CNPR) Sir William Mackenzie and Sir Donald Mann, who had been racing across Canada building their transcontinental rail line to the west coast, decided to build an extension on Vancouver Island. As a major shareholder in the Canadian Western Lumber Company, the CNPR intended to exploit their timber reserves on the island. Surveying began for the island's Cowichan Subdivision in 1910. The CNPR's intention was to bypass the major cities on the island and favour the smaller communities of Sooke, Shawnigan Lake, Kinsol, Deerholme, Lake Cowichan, Youbou, Kissenger (now Nitinat) and Port Alberni. The Daily Colonist newspaper in Victoria reported that the line would "...run from Victoria at the southern tip of the Island, west and north through extensive stands of Douglas fir, cedar and hemlock to Port Alberni at the head of a west coast inlet." The company chose the route primarily for its lumber potential but also for the chance to compete in the lucrative silk market that the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) enjoyed. Lieutenant-Governor T.W. Paterson turned the sod at a dedication ceremony for the Vancouver Island line on February 18, 1911, and work began. However, the CNPR's urgency to beat the Grand Trunk Railway across Canada to the west coast left the company burdened with debt. In addition, worldwide concern about an impending war had cut off funds from Britain for railway expansion and at the same time, immigration into Canada had slowed, resulting in a lack of manpower. Progress on the island extension was slow. By 1914 only nine bents (the transverse frames that support the horizontal load of the bridge) of the Kinsol Trestle were in place on the south end. During World War I the construction of all-wood combat fighter airplanes (the de Havilland Mosquito) increased the demand for Sitka spruce, which was harvested on the island. This added more incentive to complete the line and resulted in a spell of rapid progress in 1916. Already, 137 miles of the track sub-grade (a compacted blanket mixture of gravel and sand) had been prepared, taking the line to within four miles of Port Alberni. However, the line never reached that far. When the spruce market collapsed at the end of the war, work on the rail line slowed once again. In 1918, the federal government forcibly took over the debt-laden CNPR (and its island extension) and incorporated the CNPR and the other transcontinental railways into the new Canadian National Railway (CN). To celebrate the event, and to renew faith in the island project, BC Premier John Oliver struck a "first spike" for the Cowichan Subdivision during a rededication ceremony at Luxton (Mile 9.8). Work resumed.
Towards the end of the first decade of the century, the budding community began to feel the need of a place to meet for social functions and organization meetings. Out of this desire grew the Shawnigan Lake Athletic Association which built the first S.L.A.A. Hall in 1910.
The Malahat Drive was built in response to pressure from the increasing number of automobile owners who demanded that the Government provide a decent, direct route to access up-island communities. In fact, Cowichan Valley residents began petitioning in the late 1800’s for a new road.
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Shawnigan-Mill Bay Road, about a quarter of a mile east of the village. Miss Cole moved her school shortly, over to two buildings owned by her friends, the Ravenhills. With the coming of the first world war and the consequent difficulty in getting money out from England, Miss Cole’s fortunes suffered a regression and her school
In 1912, Mrs. Kingsley sold the hotel and most of her property to Mr. James Finlay. Then in 1913 she built a handsome store building directly opposite the Hall. In the basement part was a butcher shop; on the main floor was the Kingsley store and the post office; and on the top floor were comfortable living quarters. Although most oldtimers recall no one but Mrs. Kingsley giving out mail at that time, post office records mention a Mr. Thomas F. Cullum as being postmaster during at least part of this early time. At any rate, it is known that when the Kingsleys sold the store to the Carters in 1923, Mr. J. C. Rathbone succeeded as postmaster.
Shawnigan’s World Famous Painter E.J. Hughes was born February 17, 1913 in North Vancouver but spent the first nine years of his childhood in Nanaimo. For over 70 years he painted the landscapes of Coastal British Columbia. He died January 5,2007, at the age of 93. As a talented young man he was the first recipient of the Emily Carr Scholarship which allowed him to study in Vancouver under the stewardship of at least one of the Group of Seven artists, Frederick Varley. Over the years he accumulated other prestigious awards including the Order of Canada, the Order of British Columbia and Honourary Doctorate from the University of Victoria. For six years during WWII Mr. Hughes worked as an official war artist and produced over 1000 drawings, 30 full paintings as well as other pieces. Many of these hang in the Canadian War Museum. In 1951, Hughes was discovered by Montreal art dealer Max Stern who arranged to buy all of his paintings. This arrangement enabled Hughes to have the financial freedom to paint - which is all he wanted to do. This arrangement enabled Hughes to have the financial freedom to paint - which is all he wanted to do. E.J. Hughes lived at Shawnigan Lake for over twenty years until he found it too busy and noisy (circa 1970) and moved to Cobble Hill. Hughes’s last studio, in a modest house in Duncan, was a spare bedroom, with a table and easel set close to a single north window. He painted there, in the afternoon, six days a week. Sunday was his day off. The vision of British Columbia, and particularly Vancouver Island, painted by E.J. Hughes is full of charm and vitality. Although he is often mentioned in the same category as Emily Carr, it is the opinion of this writer that his pieces appeal to a greater audience and his work holds its own among the best of Canadian art. In 2004, his painting Fishboats Rivers Inlet (click to see)(1942) sold for $920 000 and yet people who knew Mr. Hughes hasten to describe him as the most modest of artists and a real gentleman. We take delight that such a man is woven into the history of Shawnigan Lake.
Shawnigan Lake Hotel The Shawnigan Lake Hotel, built in 1902 (that replaced the burned down original Morton House), fell again to fire in 1916. It was familiarly known as Koenig’s Hotel, and was to a great extent self-supporting. The hotel is featured on the first inner page of “Green Branches and Fallen Leaves”, Shawnigan’s history book. It was situated on the E&N Railway, where the current volleyball court at Government Wharf Park is located. For those who don’t know Shawnigan before the 1930s, the hotel’s presence on that site can be better understood when it is stated that Heald Road was not then in existence. Behind the hotel, and spreading over all the flat ground now occupied by Heald and Gibson Roads and several houses, the Koenigs had a large stable, cows to supply milk and butter, a large vegetable garden, and a number of fruit trees. Shawnigan Lake Waterfront The building in the background/right was the Shawnigan Lake Athletic Association Hall (SLAA), built in 1911 through local support by public purchase of shares. This building housed many community events through to 1930 when it burned down. The smaller, but less lavish Community Hall replacement continued being the centre of community activities until 1994 when the new Shawnigan Lake Community Centre opened. Notice the boardwalk to the right — this proceeded from in front of the Shawnigan Lake Hotel (just out of the photo on the right) all the way down past the E&N Railway Station to the SLAA Hall.
The Cowichan Valley's most famous scientist, Frances Oldham Kelsey, was appointed as a Member of the Order of Canada by Governor General David Johnston on July 1. Kelsey's international renown arose because she blew the whistle on the drug thalidomide, but it's not the only reason she's received the Canadian recognition. According to the Order of Canada listing, her award comes "for her efforts to protect public health, notably by helping to end the use of thalidomide, and for her contributions to clinical drug trial regulations." Kelsey, who now lives in London, Ontario, is 100 years old. While the scientist has been honoured in the Valley by having a high school named after her, wider Canadian recognition has been slow in coming and businessman Kelly Black is one of those who wanted to see it happen during her lifetime. With the help of Nanaimo-Cowichan MP Jean Crowder, he organized a petition earlier this year for that exact purpose and said Thursday that he was thrilled to see her made a Member of the Order of Canada. "I was absolutely delighted. It was phenomenal." Black said he thought his petition could have played a part in her choice for the honour. "Raising the profile of Dr. Kelsey on a level outside of the Cowichan Valley certainly helped. And seeing her appointment to the Order of Canada, I couldn't be happier. I think the increased awareness of Dr. Kelsey's work in the Cowichan Valley and at a national level because of the compensation provided to thalidomide victims certainly helped." He agreed that Kelsey shone a light where it needed to be shone. "Her recognition on a national level is about 60 years overdue but it's better late than never. I guess I would add that I hope the Order of Canada is only the first of many other awards and nominations that are due to Dr. Kelsey in Canada." Black began his campaign after the Department of Canadian Heritage released a survey last spring that included the question: Which Canadians have inspired you the most over the last 150 years? From the answers, a list of Canada's top 10 heroes was put together. "The list was entirely male; there wasn't a single female on that list," said Black. "I felt that was a bit ridiculous." When he considered women of significance in Canadian history, as a student of Frances Kelsey Secondary School in Mill Bay from 1998 to 2002, the school's namesake was the first person that came to mind. Kelsey was born in Cobble Hill in 1914. She received a BSc and an MSc in pharmacology in Canada, then went to the U.S. where she got her PhD and M.D. degrees. She began work with the American Food and Drug Administration in 1960. Kelsey's main claim to fame comes from her actions in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration where she refused to approve the use of thalidomide, which was being used in Europe and in Canada to help pregnant women with morning sickness. Tragically, the drug caused the birth of a number of children with deformities such as short, flipper-like arms, but families in the United States were spared this horror because Kelsey stood firm against significant outside pressure. Crowder was also delighted to see Kelsey named to the Order of Canada. "It is good news. I did write a letter in support of the nomination. I'm really pleased to see she's been recognized while she's still alive, "she said. She's 100 years old now, so the window of opportunity could be closing. "Kelly Black had done a tremendous lot of work on getting Frances Kelsey recognized. She's been recognized in the States for a number of years for her good work. It's about time Canada recognized her as well." Crowder agreed with Black that Kelsey had really slipped under the radar in her native land. "The naming of Frances Kelsey Secondary School was a way of recognizing the work she had done. She was born in Cobble Hill. But that recognition wasn't nearly enough. She saved thousands of children from being affected by thalidomide by the work she did," she said.
Shawnigan Lake School was founded in 1916 by Christopher Windley Lonsdale in a then-secluded west coast rainforest on Vancouver Island.
Another Shawnigan hotel, remembered only by a few old-timers, was Savira Lodge, built early in the century to accommodate hunters and fishermen. It was situated on the west side of the lake opposite Ten Acre or Long Island. As there was no road on that side of the lake, all guests were picked up at the village wharf and taken there in the launch “Savira”. The lodge was meant to attract hunters and fishermen but stories indicate that it was the excellent cuisine that became the attraction. The building having been bought in 1928, for a summer home, by Major Piddington of Victoria burned down in the early 1980s. The beginning of this hostel cannot be traced earlier than 1916, when the following information was established in the obituary of Henry Herman Molony dated February 1920: Mr. Molony come to Victoria 25 years ago from Pennsylvania, and was connected with the hotel business during most of the years he resided in the city. In 1912 he took over the Brown Jug in partnership with the late George Meldrum, and remodeled the establishment as a hotel. He was proprietor of the Brown Jug Hotel until about four years ago, when he went to Shawnigan and opened the Savira Lodge Summer Resort. In the 1919 directory, the name of the lodge appears as “Savina Lodge H. H. Molony prop.” It would appear that the lodge was originally called Savina, not Savira. It appears thus in the 1920 directory, but in 1921, after Molony’s death, the name is given as “Savira Lodge J. Pauline prop.” There is no listing for Savira Lodge in the 1922-26 directories but it appears again in 1927 and 1928 with C. Gostling as proprietor. Mr. Gostling was a strong advocate of a road on the west side of the lake, and in a letter published January 10, 1928, he cited the case of a neighbor “taken with a paralytic stroke,” who had to be conveyed in a boat to an ambulance waiting on the east side of the lake. His friends had to break through ice three inches thick to get the boat through. From 1928 to 1930 there is a listing for “Sovora (sic) Lodge (Major Piddington) hotel.” The Piddingtons still believe that Savira was a euphonious combination of Sarah and Virginia, supposedly names of ladies connected with the original ownership. During its heyday as a resort, an attractive motor launch named the Savira would tie up at the village every day, taking on supplies and mail. Early facilities at Savira Lodge were of the most primitive, there being no electricity, no water laid on, and no thoroughfare except the lake. However, the cuisine was of such high standard that hunting and fishing came second as pastimes to eating, to the inmates of the lodge.
Owners: Hayward (store and tea room) 1917 A. Aitken (store) 1934 Aitken & Fraser (store) 1935 Minhinnick (store) (1938) Cudlip (store) (1940) torn down 1948 Pen- Y-Wern tearoom and small store built about 1917 and operated by Mr. and Mrs. W. Hayward, its north west corner touching the spot on the corner of the Old Victoria Road and the Mill Bay Road
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Passenger service was established on the CNR line between Victoria and Cowichan Lake in 1922. The Victoria Times, October 12, 1922, carried a picture of a gasoline-powered car “about to inaugurate service.” Local old-timers recall travelling on the gas car (alias “Galloping Goose”) to Victoria in the late twenties and early thirties, getting on at Gleneagles (north of the Renfrew Road crossing) or at Shawnigan Beach, a stop near the old log dump listed as a station as late as 1938.
The present Shawnigan Garage was opened in 1925 by Mr. Norman Alexander and was known as Alexander’s Garage. In 1929, Mr. Ray Dougan came to work for Mr. Alexander. In 1940, he and Mr. Ed Erickson bought out Mr. Alexander, and the operation became known as the Shawnigan Garage. Then in 1944 or 1945, Mr. Dougan took over the garage by himself. When Mr. Dougan and Mr. Erickson bought the business, the garage operated a small water system serving the garage and house and the two stores across the road (Aitken & Fraser and Pen-Y-Wern).
Strathcona Lodge, noted holiday resort at Shawnigan Lake on the E. and N. Railway, reclaims its liquor license after having it revoked when Prohibition of Alcohol became provincial law in 1917. Although the purchase of alcohol became legal in B.C. in 1921, Public drinking remained illegal until 1925 when "beer by the glass" legislation permitted beer parlours to open in hotels.
Around the turn of the 20th century, there was an influx of retired British Army Colonels at Shawnigan Lake. These twenty (or so) men had served in China and India and it is likely that they did not want to return to the restrictive lifestyle of upper class Britain. Instead, they built large estate houses at Shawnigan Lake and set up their lives as if they were at home in Britain. The properties had croquet lawns, tennis courts and other amenities necessary for an upper class lifestyle. Frequent social gatherings for the Colonels and their families filled the calendar. In 1926, Frederick Mason Hurley, recently retired from the British Civil Service in China, bought a house from one of the Colonels. This house, on Renfrew Road, became the family home. Hurley also bought an adjacent property, owned by Neville Armstrong, to secure access to the lake. Friends of the Hurleys often visited from China and camped on their beach. It became a popular destination and soon the guests were staying in the old Armstrong house instead of camping. A four room summer hotel, The Forest Inn, grew out of this arrangement. Mrs. Bloomquist, the sister of Mrs. Kingsley (former owner of the Shawnigan Lake Hotel), became the manageress of The Forest Inn. Sam, the Chinese cook, was in charge of the kitchen. The Forest Inn proved to be tremendously popular and in 1938-39 extensive improvements and additions were made. At this time, the name changed to The Shawnigan Beach Hotel. In 1945, Dennis Mason Hurley took over management from his father and further developed the hotel as a family destination. Eventually the hotel could accommodate 150 guests. Residents and visitors to Shawnigan still extol the virtues of the old hotel and its beautiful dining room. To many families, from far and wide, the hotel was their regular summer vacation. Here, children could enjoy a tow on a board behind the hotel launch, play a multitude of games or have an adventure in the hotel’s Sherwood Forest. The Forest Nymph (aka The Shawnigan Queen) was always available for informative tours of the lake with Dennis at the helm. In 1966, Hurley sold the hotel and property and it became known as the Shawnigan Inn. For a while, the Inn and the Shawnigan Beach Estates had a cooperative use arrangement and the hotel operated as the Shawnigan Lake Country Club (for members only). This arrangement was disbanded by 1981. For a very short time in the 1980s the hotel became Western Canada College. After that, it reverted to a hotel for a short time. Sadly, the original house and hotel buildings were torn down in the 1990s to make way for the Shawnigan Lake Beach Resort which still occupies the property.
In 1927 an indomitable Englishwoman, Miss Minna Gildea, opened a girls’ school on Shawnigan Lake, in the old C.P.R. Hotel on the E. & N. Railway, Strathcona Lodge. The first student enrolled was the writer of this memoir. There were about twenty-five of us, ranging from Grade 8 students to Grade 12. We revelled in the grand old Edwardian surroundings of the lodge; great bevelled mirrors on the walls, in¬cluding one which was dismantled from the old hotel bar, and mounted on wheels for use in gymnastics; fantastic chandeliers; five open fire places; acres of dark brown fir V-joint walls, and ceilings fourteen feet high; numerous trophy heads of deer, elk, moose, and mountain sheep; Landseer prints of animals, such as ‘The Stag at Bay’; brass beds with springs of dubious an¬cestry. A classroom block had been built adjacent to the lodge; our other buildings were the famous pavilion down by the lake, scene of many entertainments in years gone by, and another building on the lakeshore, original purpose undetermined, which served on the ground floor as a gym and upstairs as a dormitory for a few seniors. One of my most vivid memories of the early days of the school was the fire which com¬pletely destroyed this building, driving the occu¬pants in their nightclothes out into two feet of snow. The school grew rapidly in numbers, as for¬tunes were made on the stock market, and in the oil fields of Alberta. Then came the stock market crash, and the long years of depression. From a total of about a hundred and ten students, the school shrank to about eighty. The school’s reputation became international: girls came from Hawaii, China, Japan, South America and the United States as well as from the prairie provinces and B.C. During the war years, Strath¬cona, like many other boarding schools, was the guardian of numerous children whose parents were lost or detained in the several theatres of the war. For these girls, the school was the only home they had, and Miss Gildea their only parent. The school in those days consisted of the lodge, classroom block, gymnasium, boarding annex, laboratory building, and the pavilion. A floating bridge (on piles when the lodge was a hotel) across Strathcona Bay provided access to our playing fields on the Point, where the school had twenty acres. Miss Gildea died at the age of 74 in 1950. Her school survived her by one year, and then closed. The school property was broken up and sold. The Point was subdivided and sold for summer homes; the playing field became the property of Mountain View Resort. The Lodge and the Annex struggled along (as a hotel) for nine years under various ownerships; the old pavilion was partially destroyed by fire; the floating bridge was dismantled. In 1959, the owners of the lodge, Mr. and Mrs. G. P. M. Payne, offered their property to a group who would re-open a school at Strathcona, on generous financial terms. To Mr. E. P. Larsen, headmaster of Shawnigan Lake School, must go the credit of finding a Board of Gov¬ernors, and a headmistress, Mrs. C. C. Guthrie, to re-establish Strathcona Lodge School. In Sep¬tember of the same year, eighteen students arrived, and the school entered upon its second career. During the seven years which have elapsed, the school has flourished, and many changes have taken place. Acreage for a playing field was bought from Mr. A. T. Layton; the A. H. Cox property was acquired, the cottage used as a staff house, the big boat house converted to an art studio; a new dormitory-library building was erected in 1964; a small piece of E. & N. property directly north of the school was acquired for future development as a building site; and the old pavilion was finally torn down, as it had become unsafe. One hundred and twenty girls are in residence at the school, and during term time contribute their share of noise and activity to this peaceful corner of Shawnigan Lake. One relic of past days which seems to have gone beyond recall is the old train bell which used to hang from the lodge verandah, and tolled the passing hours for all who lived at Strathcona Bay. It fell from its lofty site during the war, was broken and never replaced. Nowadays it is almost impossible to acquire a train bell from any source—although the school is still hopeful that another will be found, to preserve the school’s link with the past and remind us of the early days of the railway, and the steam engines which contributed so much to the development of Shawnigan Lake. I.V.G.
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As often happens in a small community, events are locally chronicled as being “before” or “after” some momentous or disastrous happening. “It” happened at Shawnigan shortly after noon on April 2nd, 1930, when fire completely destroyed the whole of the commercial village. As there was no fire department in those days, it is rather a phenomenon that the house now owned by Mrs. O. Genereux, and then only a matter of yards away from the store, was saved. The fire started on the roof of the Hall during a high wind and the fact that there were clearing fires on the railway right of way below was apparently evidence enough for the insur¬ance companies to win out in a legal argument with the E. & N. “Musical Chairs” with Community Buildings After the first paralyzing blow, business picked itself up, found temporary lodgings, and eventually new permanent homes. But not, for the most part, back in the same location. The S.L.A.A. Hall rebuilt with its insurance money on the same site and it is still there. The store also was rebuilt down below but eventually followed the trend of the times and was torn down by Mr. H. Joyce, heir to the Finlay estate. It was rebuilt at the top of the hill and sold in 1938 to Aitken and Fraser, under whose names it has been operating until now, first under joint auspices and then by Mr. and Mrs. Aitken until sold to Mr. and Mrs. G. Odegaard this year 1966. Following the Kingsley ownership and straddling the fire, the proprietors of the store included Carter Brothers, Colonel Whittaker, a Mr. Ball and Mr. C. Cooper, with Colonel Whit-taker being the unlucky occupant at the time of the fire. Getting into the game of “musical chairs” played by the public buildings and their personnel after the fire, Mr. Fraser, who had been manager of the Mill Store when it burned in 1935, moved into Pen-Y-Wern store as partner of Mr. Aitken, and the firm so formed settled in 1938 into their present store, which had been moved up from its post-fire resurrection at the bottom of the hill. The Pen-Y-Wern property, with the old Dundas house, was bought by Mr. P. G. Cudlip and his son W. A. Cudlip and operated until 1948 when it was torn down to make way for the new Cudlip and Cann block built by the family. The local Post Office, also forced into the game of musical chairs by the fire, has had seven locations at least, and perhaps eight, if facts could be found to verify the reference by Mrs. B. Cryer to “a man named Miller who had a small cottage and post office where the train stopped.” Following the two known locations already mentioned, the Hotel and the Kingsley store, the fire of 1930 forced Post Master Rathbone to look for other quarters. Almost imme¬diately, and with no loss of mail service, he found temporary lodging in the little brown house on the south west corner of Dundas and Wilmot (across from Mr. and Mrs. W. B. Broocke’s home). In a very short time, Mr. Rathbone bought the property known as the Chinese laundry (empty at this time) along with con¬siderable road frontage, and established the Post Office in the old laundry building. Shortly after that, he built a new house (Broocke’s) and located the post office in quarters especially built for it at the front of the house. In 1944 Mr. Broocke succeeded Mr. Rathbone as Post¬master and bought the house. On Mr. Broocke’s retirement, Mrs. Broocke succeeded him as Postmistress and, in 1953, the office was moved from their house into the Cudlip and Cann block. Its final move, to date, was made in 1960 into the new post office building on the Old Victoria Road. The local library was also drawn into this game of out-of-one-location-and-into-another by the fire of 1930. Housed in the old S.L.A.A. Hall the library lost all its books, but opened one week later in the same temporary quarters as the post office with its shelves filled with donated books. In the fall of the same year, the library moved to a little building erected for the pur¬pose and rented to the library committee by Mr. J. Ford. This building was subsequently used as a butcher shop by Mr. M. Robertson and was burned down in July 1939. In the spring of 1932, the library association used its insurance money, bought the present site from Mrs. S. R. Gibbs and had the present library erected by Mr. R. P. Weber, at an approximate cost of $750 for site and building. The interesting history of the Library Association will be further dealt with later on in this history under the discussion of organizations.
When the SLAA Hall, along with much of the village at the time burned down on April 2nd 1930 however, the world no longer had a need for such a building. The loss of the building and its contents, including the entire library collection that was housed there at the time, amounted to a total of nearly $12,000 which, adjusted for inflation, would be around $160,000 today.
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