a quaint cottage

Near this house are the foundations of the second Hillcrest sawmill in an area known as Sathlam. Along this road are a number of older homes. Several of these still have a 45 gallon oil drum on a stand outside of the house. These houses must have an oil stove. I like driving on this short road because the place reminds me of Duncan in the 1950's when we lived in a long narrow house, oil tank outside and oil stove inside.

Chinese laborers also worked at the Hillcrest sawmill. Close to this house is an neglected Chinese cemetery.

"Carlton Stone was born in 1877 in England, immigrating to Canada in 1908 and moving to Vancouver Island in 1910. He built a small steam powered mill near Fairbridge. In 1917 he moved the operation to Sahtlam, which gave him access to railway transportation (E&N) and a world wide market. In 1942, Carlton Stone, of the Hillcrest Lumber Company, was in need of a new mill site. The Sahtlam-based operation had run out of timber and, after some searching, Carlton Stone decided on a tract of land adjacent to Mesachie Lake." (Cowichan Lake District Chamber of Commerce)

The front of our present house is a logger's bunk house, long and narrow.