IMPROVEMENT OF SHAWNIGAN.Deepening of the Outlet Would Reclaim Much Valuable Land.

July 4, 1905

Daily Colonist

The growing popularity of Shawnigan Lake these last few years has brought home to those interested in the place, and also to those visiting it, the necessity for some scheme of improvement by which not only the greatest amount of pleasure may be obtained from it, but also a greater amount of profit in one sense.

While the number of houses going up has greatly improved the lake as a resort and has considerably added to its attractiveness, yet a good deal more remains to be done. One of the most pressing and immediate necessities is the improvement of the outlet. The southwest winds blow directly on the stream leading from the lake, and during a long course of years there has accumulated at the mouth of the lake, and in the first few hundred feet of the stream a large gravel bank.

This has become so noticeable during the past year that this summer the water in the lake is unusually high, the cause being the choked outlet. If this impediment were cleared away the effect would be the reclamation of a great many acres of valuable land all around the lake, the improvement of several of the present holdings, and rendering available a number of most desirable building sites, for it is the numerous sheltered bays which are most sought after for suburban homes. The land in most of these bays is very rich, and could be easily brought under cultivation if the easy task of improving the outlet of the lake were undertaken.

In addition to the blocked outlet backing up the water and rendering valueless a quantity of splendid land, it is stated that this is one of the causes of the falling off in the fishing during the past two years. To some extent this is doubtless true, as there has not been the same renewal of the water by natural flow through the stream as there was some years ago. Some of those interested are talking of approaching the Canadian Pacific officials and explaining matters to them with a view of having them put a couple of section gangs at work to deepen the channel for the required distance.

This would take only a few days, a week at most, for once the top of the bank was loosened the water would effect the rest. If this were undertaken just now it could be more cheaply and easily done than at any other time of the year. As an investment it is asserted that the amount of land reclaimed around the lake by such an operation would bring in a big return to the company within a year, as building lots are now being picked out almost daily, and those persons already having locations there are receiving all sorts of offers to purchase.