Adam
Horne was the first person to visit Horne Lake in 1855. The lake
was known at that time as Enoksasant Lake. It was renamed Horne
Lake four years later by Captain Richards of the hydrographic
ship H.M.S. Plumper. In the early 1900's the E & N Railway
gave Robert Dunsmuir the lands around Horne Lake. Dunsmuir originally
had plans to make the lake and surrounding country a private game
reserve.
By
the 1920's Horne Lake's great understands of timber were discovered
and several logging companies began to work the area. The largest
of the logging companies was Thompson and Clarke, based out of
Seattle. Access to the lake was poor and not suitable for trucks.
Thompson and Clarke applied to the provincial government for financial
assistance to improve a wagon trail from Dunsmuir to the lake.
The government completed the work and under budget for a cost
of $992.15 and charged Thompson and Clarke for a portion of the
costs. |
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| Thompson
and Clarke also requested permission to build a railway along the north
shore of the lake to haul the timber to Deep Bay through the Big Horne
Valley along Rosewall Creek. After receiving permission Thompson and Clarke
built over 17 miles of rail. Seven logging companies built logging camps
surrounding Horne Lake. The largest camp was located at Camp 5 at the
west end of the lake. At its peak the camp was comprised of a cookhouse
which fed 450 men, 50 bunk houses, 10 family houses, a school, a store,
a sawmill, and a machine shop equipped to build a locomotive. The location
of Camp 5 is the present campground. Camp 7 was a Japanese camp. The Japanese
were also the section crew which built all the railtracks around the lake.
It was during this era that people started to discover Horne Lake for
its recreation opportunities. The logging opened access to the lake and
the families and friends of the loggers started to build cabins along
the shores of the lake. |
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| Road
access during this period terminated at the Bay. For the price of $2 a
ride could be purchased from the Horne Lake garage to Horne Lake in a
model T and another $2 purchased a ride on a tugboat named Jiggs to places
further along the lake. Another option was by speeder along the rails
from Deep Bay but was not popular due to the fact that it was a 'very
cold ride'. The first resident of Horne Lake was McCormick who recieved
permission from the logging company at the time to locate a residential
cabin on its shores. McCormick dragged a small loggers cabin down the
shore and floated it across the water. Almost seventy years later with
a few renovations the cabin still sits on the beach where it landed. During
the 1930s more people followed McCormicks example and began squatting
on the gov't owned land, setting up their cabins on the quiet lake. Over
the years more people became aware the spectacular scenery and crystal
waters of Horne Lake and increased numbers built cabins on the Horne Lake
banks. |
| Recent
research into the history of Horne Lake has discovered that the first
resident of the area may have been a sasquatch. The first reported sasquatch
sighting occurred in the year 1904. The Victoria Colonist reported on
December 14, 1904 that four hunters saw a 'hairy wild man with long matted
hair and a beard' racing at 'tremendous speed' through 'unimpentrable
undergrowth'. A number of other sightings took place over the next few
years but there have not been any reported sightings over the past number
of decades. |
| The
lands surrounding Horne Lake have had many owners. For a time, the
lands were owned by B.C. Cement, who according to the locals, had
planned to mine the limestone cliffs of Mt. Mark. They eventually
abandoned the idea and concentrated their efforts on Texada Island.
The land was purchased by Montague Drake in 1962 and subsequently
purchased by Prince Johannes von Thurn und Taxis. Taxis, who at
the age of 64, was said to be Germany's second richest man, with
world wide assets exceeding 2.5 billion U.S. |
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| After
unsuccessfully trying to move the cabin owners in 1962, the Prince Taxis
agreed to lease the land to the cabin owners on five year renewable terms.
The first leases went for $250 per year. When he died in 1990, his wife,
Princess Gloria, inherited the land, and managed her Horne Lake holdings
through her B.C. company called Texada Logging. The princess continued
his father's agreement of licensing lakefront lots to cabin owners on
Horne Lake, with Texada logging handling the arrangements. |
| In
November of 1999 the German princess sold Horne Lake lands to MacDonald
Development Corporation. The princess' family fortune, crippled by estate
taxes and poor investments, had dwindled to about five hundred million
US, so she decided to sell off her world wide assets. MacDonald's company
purchased 4, 816 hectares on Saltspring Island and Horne Lake. |
| The
Horne Lake License Holders Association (HLLHA) negotiated with MacDonald
Corporation to purchase the lands surrounding Horne Lake. The HLLHA's
goals were to provide future security to its members and to preserve
the natural beauty of the area. HLLHA, in seeking to purchase the
lands, have sought appropriate zoning from the Nanaimo Regional
District and various government agencies, which included The Ministry
of the Environment, The Ministry of Lands and Forests, and the Ministry
of Fisheries. The process involved opportunities for community input
from a wide range of groups and individuals. Horne Lake Park was
transferred by the membership to the Nanaimo Regional District for
community and public use. |
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| The
Horne Lake Voluntary Board of Directors and Project Manager Murray Hamilton
provided leadership and dedicated service to the membership in successfully
completing the purchase and approval process. |
| On
January 23, 2002, the historic agreement was signed by the Board which
created a new era for Horne Lake. |
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| Horne
Lake presently involves individual lakefront cottage ownership of each
recreational lot in a strata concept. EAch individual cottage owner also
has an undivided interest in over 3200 acres of land surrounding Horne
Lake. The vast majority of this land is a managed forest. |
| In
2002, the Horne Lake Licesnse Holders Association was dissolved, completing
its mandate and its goals on behalf of the membership. The Horne Lake
Community Association was formed to continue to provide elected voluntary
leadership and service to the members in the new era of cottage ownership.
A strata corporation (VIS-5160) was also created to facilitate the strata
process at Horne Lake. A small levy provides services such as road maintenance
and fire protection. The Horne Lake Strata Corporation is also made up
of volunteers who are elected by the membership to their positions. The
Horne Lake Community Association and the Horne Lake Strata Corporation
utilize the services of Horne Lake Recreation Management to manage operations
at Horne Lake on a daily basis. Horne Lake owners both a collective and
individual interest in preserving the natural beauty of Horne Lake and
its surrounding lands. |
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| Adam
Horne discovered Horne Lake in 1855, and yet Horne Lake continues to be
rediscovered each and every day as a pristine and scenic recreational
paradise where dreams are realized and lasting memories are created. |
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