July 24, 1906
Daily Colonist
SHAWNIGAN LAKE
With the exception of some three waterfront lots, all the surveyed two and a half acres suburban plots at Shawnigan Lake, have now been disposed of by the company, on both sides of the lake.
When it is remembered that only three or four years ago those persons who bought residential property and built houses there were looked upon as people going into the wilderness looking for solitude, this is a remarkable showing of the attractiveness of the place.
The development commenced with a few—not more than half a dozen—ardent fisherman who were content to rough it in a little cedar shake but; then a rough lumber shack went up, to be followed by neat cottages, which in turn have given place to many pretentious houses, until today those who were laughed at for going into the woods and selecting a summer location are praised for their foresight.
Indeed, if anyone had said five years ago that there would be two pretentious hotels at Shawnigan Lake and that it would be possible for a minister spending his vacation at that resort to have a congregation of about 150 persons at a service held at one of the hotels, that person would have been considered a romancer. Yet that was what occurred on Sunday last at the Strathcona Hotel.
The complaint of church people that weekend outings tend to empty the churches on Sundays is not well-founded in the case, because the congregation would doubtless have been much larger had the event been more widely known.
The experiment of running a daily suburban, or businessman’s train in the summer months has largely brought this about. This year the train has greatly increased in popular favor, it being necessary some evenings to increase the coach accommodation.
The timetable is an eminently convenient one, as well, enabling a person to spend every possible profitable moment in town, and yet reach his family in comfortable time for dinner. And as to the rates charged, it cannot possibly be said that the company which carries a person twenty-seven miles for twenty-five cents is grinding the last dollar from a long-suffering and uncomplaining public.
The sudden almost doubling in the price of lumber this year has greatly retarded building operations at Shawnigan, many buildings that were contemplated being abandoned until more reasonable prices prevail, and prices curtailed in size, but if any of the lumber people even at this late period in the summer would break loose from the combine they would drive a big trade at this pleasure resort as well as at other points.
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