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Gyro Park History
Click here for an article about Gyro Park History from the Times Colonist in 2006 when Saanich was celebrating its 60th birthday.
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Mystic Spring in Cadboro Bay
We all enjoy the lovely series of ponds trickling down from deep within Mystic Vale beside UVic to make their way into the ocean. How many people know of the mysterious stories of this magical place? Follow the link below to enjoy learning more about this fascinating area in our own backyard.
Practical hint: As the dark colours may be hard to read, select the story and copy it into Notepad or other text processing program. Then increase the font size. It loses some of its magical qualities but sure is easier on the eyes.
Website: http://www.vanisleparanormal.ca/?page_id=13
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From the Times Colonist History Edition: Nov. 20, 1948: Cadboro Bay Resort sells for $80,000;
A section of the Cadboro Bay 'mystic spring' property near the northern gates of the Uplands, which Ernest L. Tait, Victoria barrister, developed into a picturesque tourist resort, has been sold for $80,000.
Mr. Tait reported the sale to a former Edmonton man, Gavin McKenzie McNeill.
The property has been under development for several years by Mr. Tait, who will retain 10 acres adjacent to the resort which are dotted with small lakes fed by waters from the old Indian 'mystic springs.'
There were over 15 acres in all when the Victoria lawyer took over from the Franco-Canadian Dominion Company, which developed the Uplands subdivision. The tourist resort takes up 4.2 acres off Cadboro Bay Beach north from Hibbens Close, a short road running off Cadboro Bay Road just outside the Uplands gates. In the court are 13 units for tourist accommodation.
Prior to the summer of 1947, the court was occupied by year-round residents.
A strip of the 15 acres on Cadboro Bay Road north from Hibbens Close has been divided into residential building sites, most of which have rock-rimmed spring-fed pools built by Mr. Tait.
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Frank Hobbs History
Those of us who live in the Cadboro Bay area know the names Hobbs very well. To enjoy a great story about Frank Hobbs, check out the link below on the Frank Hobss Elementary School website.
Website: http://www.sd61.bc.ca/school/frankhobbs/parentHistory.htm
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Gardens and Woodlands of Goward House
The link below gives you details on the Gardens and Woodland surrounding historic Goward House. Be sure to also click on the 'footpath system' link near the bottom of the description to see more about the property. As you wander around the property, try to figure out what trees and shrubs were planted when the house was first built. Hint - the giant Sequoiadendron was probably one of the first trees.
Website: http://www.gowardhouse.com/Grounds.html
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Quick History Guide to Victoria
See History and First Nations under Tourism Victoria's About Victoria
Website: http://www.tourismvictoria.com/content.aspx?f=Content/Visitors/Plan_Your_Trip&p=About_Victoria.html
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Saanich History Page
Check out the Saanich Municipality History Information on their web site. The sections include:
Archives
Coat of Arms
Heritage
Significant Structures
Website: http://www.saanich.ca/discover/artsheritagearc/index.html
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Cadboro: A Ship, A Bay, A Sea-Monster by Ursula Jupp
This book written by local resident Ursula Jupp fills in a lot of Cadboro Bay's history. She tells the story of Cadborosarus, the sea-serpent that roams the depths of Cadboro Bay, as well as the complete history including that of the First Nations people and many early families. A must read if you live here. It's for sale at the Cadboro Bay Pharmacy.
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From Cordwood to Campus in Gordon Head by Ursula Jupp
Written by former Cadboro Bay resident Ursula Jupp, this book primarily describes the history of neighbouring area Gordon Head. However it contains the details on the UVic campus history which are of special interest to Cadboro Bay residents.
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Songhees Pictorial:
New book by Dr. Grant Keddie of the Royal BC Museum.
Find it at your favourite book store or borrow it from the library.
Since 1790, when Spanish explorers first arrived, visitors to the southern tip of Vancouver Island and the colonists who settled here have illustrated, written about and photographed the indigenous Songhees people. In the mid 1800s, the establishment of the old Songhees Reserve on Victoria Harbour created a gathering place for First Nations throughout the region seeking trade with Europeans. This new commerce brought prosperity, conflict, disease and cultural upheaval to the Songhees and other First Nations.
Grant Keddie presents these rapidly changing times through the eyes of outsiders, as depicted in photographs and artist’s renderings, as expressed in newspaper reports and private journals. Professional and amateur photographers created a rich visual history of the old Songhees Reserve and the rapidly growing city of Victoria, from simple post cards to stunning panoramas.
This delightful compendium will appeal to anyone interested in the history of Victoria and British Columbia, First Nations, or photography.
Website: http://www.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/Shop/history.aspx?id=862
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Cadborosarus Tale courtesy of Thomas Winterhoff, Saanich News
Caddy spiced up the Dirty 30's
Ken Wills escaped the Depression years by taking to the sea in search of local sea creature.
When the News printed an article last month about a crew from the TV show Mystery Hunters filming a segment on the elusive Cadborosaurus, it sure brought back a lot of memories for Oak Bay resident Ken Wills.
As a young lad in the 1930s, Wills accompanied his father Archie as he and a number of colleagues took to the sea in a small boat in search of the legendary sea monster rumoured to make its home in the waters off Greater Victoria.
Archie Wills was the managing editor of the Victoria Daily Times newspaper in those days.
The expedition of curious adventurers was undertaken in response to a tremendous level of public interest shown by Times' readers, who were intrigued by a story that ran on Oct. 5, 1933. In the article, Major W.H. Langley and Fred Kemp described seeing a 30-foot (nine-metre) sea serpent in the vicinity of Cadboro Bay.
Over the next few weeks, the newspaper received dozens of reports of past sightings from area residents. Subsequent articles mention people lining the shore with their cameras, in an effort to capture the beast on film and prove its existence once and for all.
Although First Nations people have told sea serpent legends for generations, the 1933 sighting captured the imagination of a much broader segment of the population. That initial sighting and the subsequent incidents were even reported in the venerable New York Times.
Recognizing that he had a bona fide pop culture phenomenon on his hands, the elder Wills came to the conclusion that the mysterious creature needed a name. 'My father was the person who named Caddy-' says Ken Wills. 'My dad decided that it was time to name that beast, which he did.'
It was the height of the Depression and the editorial staff at the Times welcomed any story that took readers' minds off their troubles.
'Times were awfully tough in those days and it was important to try to stimulate the interest of the people and give them something that was more positive,' explains Ken. 'So he just took it and decided to roll with it.'
Advertisers jumped on the bandwagon as well. Ads featured cartoon-like illustrations of Cadborosaurus touting everything from clothing to car tires.
Archie began collecting newspaper clippings and a variety of other Cadborosaurus-related material that eventually filled an entire scrapbook. It became a hobby for him and he continued to conduct research into the Caddy phenomenon, chronicling its exploits as reported by his readers.
Today, Ken remains skeptical about whether the creature actually exists. But as a young boy, he jumped at the opportunity to go to sea in search of it.
The expedition included two members of the local First Nations community (since the ocean around Discovery and Chatham islands was part of their traditional territory), as well as a staff photographer from the Times.
Although few people could afford to maintain a private boat in those dark economic times, an Oak Bay resident who lived near Beach Drive and Bowker Avenue had a yacht and Archie arranged to have the captain take out his impromptu search party.
'We went and spent a day out there, wandering around and supposedly looking for this damn thing. ' Ken recalls with a smile, noting that they never managed to turn up any conclusive evidence.
But that didn't stop the story from gaining momentum in the press. In his position as managing editor, Archie kept the story alive by regularly printing accounts of new sightings and articles that speculated about the origins of sea serpents in general and of Cadborosaurus in particular. Through its coverage, the paper kept the entertaining notion of 'Caddy' in the public eye - and in the news.
Ken notes that the way the newspaper business operated back in the 1930s was a far cry from how it works today.
In the absence of sophisticated technology to gather and distribute news from and far-flung locations around the world, papers like the Times relied heavily on local events for stories.
'They had an old wire that came in and a teletype, and that was it. So you didn't have the worldwide stuff staring you in the face,' Ken says. 'Newspapers were primarily local and they had to build a lot of their news around those sort of things to fill up the paper.'
For Archie, who reported from the trenches of Europe in the First World War and ended up spending 47 years at the Times, Caddy provided a welcome diversion from a seemingly continuous series of 'bad news' stories during the Great Depression.
As for Ken, he hasn't yet made up his mind about whether Cadborosaurus exists or not. 'I don't know. I guess it could, but goodness only knows,' he says.
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The history of your neighbourhood is its identity!
