The bronzed statue of Walter Draycott has been a much-loved feature of Pioneer Park since its dedication in November, 1986. Source: Early Days in Lynn Valley by Walter Draycott, reissued by District of North Vancouver in 2000 Still, although it was against the rules, young men sometimes saved themselves a trek by riding the flume downstream in areas where the grade was steep enough. Since Shaketown residents depended on water from the log flume for their water supply, they were allowed to draw water from it during certain hours in the evening.Īccidents stemming from the community’s log flumes were not uncommon one small child fell into the flume and was fortunately rescued further downstream, and dogs and cats having a drink occasionally lost their footing and were swept away. Built in 1903, the mill ran day and night, according to manager Julius Fromme.Ī mill pond (still remembered today by people who grew up nearby) was formed by damming Thames Creek and widening its banks. Mill Street was – not surprisingly – the site of “Shaketown’s” first lumber mill, owned by James and Robert McNair of the Hastings Shingle Manufacturing Company. Clement’s Church website ( ca ) and Early Days in Lynn Valley by Walter Draycott Clement, bishop of Rome in the first century A.D. The anchor in front of the church was recovered from Burrard Inlet in 1977 by the Dillingham Corporation and donated to the church. (A move that allowed them to re-orient the church from a north-south direction to the more traditional east-west orientation.) In May, 1927, the church was rolled a short distance to its current position on Institute Road. The official opening of the resulting Anglican Church – on the newly dubbed Church Road – took place on Easter Day, 1909. John the Evangelist Church at 13th and Chesterfield, the other side of Lonsdale Avenue. Until then, those people wishing to take part in Sunday morning worship had to walk some miles on rough skid road all the way to St. In October, 1908, adherents to the Church of England gathered to discuss the possibility of building the first church in Lynn Valley. They are just some of the local landmarks that help today’s residents remember the pioneering spirit shown by our neighbours of long ago. North Vancouver District also offers a historical tour of Lynn Valley here.īelow you’ll get a peek into Lynn Valley’s history with our “postcards from the past”. Those interested in learning more about our past – or contributing their own memories – should pop into the Community History Centre, located in one of the original Lynn Valley Elementary Schools on Institute Road, and operated by North Vancouver Museum and Archives. Traces of the log flume – a wooden chute that used rushing water to transport shinglebolts down the mountainside – can still be seen from trails around Rice Lake an old stone water trough sits near the junction of Mountain Highway and Lynn Valley Road in the heart of Lynn Valley. Lynn Valley residents live side-by-side with their history. While the rest of North Vancouver has vastly expanded and now abuts Lynn Valley’s very doorstep, our community is still nestled against second-growth mountain forests nearly as wild as those encountered by early pioneers.

Once the only direct route from Lynn Valley into North Vancouver, “Pipeline Road” is now Lynn Valley Road, and the name “Shaketown” was eventually dropped in favour of “Lynn Valley” – a misspelling of the pioneering Linn family who homesteaded at the mouth of Lynn Creek. The heavily treed landscape was bisected by Tote Road, a rugged skid road built in order that oxen might haul felled logs down to the Moodyville waterfront, “Centre Road” (now Mountain Highway), and Pipeline Road, a plank road along which a pipeline was installed to carry drinking water from Rice Lake into North Vancouver. Lynn Valley was initially known as “Shaketown.” Some claim that was due to the shake-sided shacks that sprung up to house the first lumberjacks, cooks, blacksmiths and millwrights who settled around the lumber operations at the turn of the century others say it was because of the cedar shakes and shinglebolts produced by the mill. Just a hundred years ago, though, those forests were the industrial lifeblood of the settlers who came to earn their living at the lumber mills that formed the nucleus of the new community. Today, Lynn Valley residents are surrounded by temperate rainforests enjoyed for their natural beauty and many hiking, biking, and walking trails.

Saw mill log flume accident