Minnekhada Regional Park

About

Minnekhada Regional Park is a natural park situated in northeast Coquitlam, British Columbia, alongside Pitt-Addington Marsh and the Pitt River. It is over 200 hectares in size and features trails, rock knolls, abundant trees, birds, and other wildlife. At the centre of the park is the main marsh area, divided into upper and lower sections, divided by a dike and a small footbridge.

There are two main entrances to the park with parking facilities. The Quarry Road entrance serves as the primary trail access point for hikers and bird watchers. The Oliver Road entrance provides access to Minnekhada Lodge, as well as access to some of the trails. There is a secondary entrance in the northwest corner of the park, further north of the Quarry Road entrance, but there is no parking at this location.

Three primary trails through the park follow an eastern trajectory toward the Pitt-Addington Marsh boundary:

- Lodge/Fern Trails Minnekhada Regional Park is a designated Wildlife Watch site. There are five lookout points in the park. Of these, Low Knoll with its full view of the lower marsh, and High Knoll with its 600 ft (180 m) elevation and view of the Pitt River and Pitt Meadows beyond, are among the most popular. A full perimeter trail hike through Quarry Trail, Fern Trail, and Lodge Trail covers a distance of 5.2 km (3.2 mi) (excluding excursions to lookout points such as High Knoll and Low Knoll).

Beyond the trails, lookouts, forests, and marshes, Minnekhada Regional Park has a long history as private property until the late 1970s. It includes over 200 hectares of farmhouses, stables, fields, marshes, and forests that cover the grounds, built by many of the owners. The extensive history of the park includes buildings and cabins; Minnekhada farm and hunting lodge are among the few that are still standing. These two buildings were the earliest buildings built on the lands of the park.

Minnekhada Lodge was built as a country retreat for hunting in 1934 by Lieutenant Governor Eric Hamber. Hamber hosted hunting retreats for his friends throughout the year and needed a place for his guests to sleep during their stays and as a retreat to get away.

The lodge cost approximately $50,000 to build. Once it was built, Minnekhada Lodge was a place for entertainment instead of just farmland. High-profile guests would come to unwind and dine at the lodge. Cedar and Oliver Drive were paved so that roads were better suited to accommodate upper-class visitors. It was rumoured that Queen Elizabeth and George VI visited the lodge in 1939.

It was donated to the Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD) by the provincial government in 1984. The rooms and grounds of the lodge are open to the public on many Sundays throughout the year. Today, the hunting lodge is open to the public on the first Sunday of most months, from the hours of 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

In the 20th century, Minnekhada Farm cycled through several different agricultural products such as beef cattle, sheep, and dairy as well as vegetables. It was then sold to many other buyers; the 415-hectare property was chartered to the Provincial Agricultural Land Commission, by the Ministry of Lands, Parks, and Housing. [ clarification needed ] In this charter, 290 hectares were given to farmers for a 20-year period, under an agricultural lease. Nowadays, 46 of the total 200 hectares of Minnekhada Regional Park are the farm itself.

Minnekhada Farm was added to the park in 1995. The GVRD is currently restoring its fields and buildings as a heritage estate farm and equestrian centre. There is currently no access to Minnekhada Farm.

was built as a country retreat for hunting in 1934 by Lieutenant Governor Eric Hamber. Hamber hosted hunting retreats for his friends throughout the year and needed a place for his guests to sleep during their stays and as a retreat to get away.

The lodge cost approximately $50,000 to build. Once it was built, Minnekhada Lodge was a place for entertainment instead of just farmland. High-profile guests would come to unwind and dine at the lodge. Cedar and Oliver Drive were paved so that roads were better suited to accommodate upper-class visitors. It was rumoured that Queen Elizabeth and George VI visited the lodge in 1939.

It was donated to the Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD) by the provincial government in 1984. The rooms and grounds of the lodge are open to the public on many Sundays throughout the year. Today, the hunting lodge is open to the public on the first Sunday of most months, from the hours of 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

In the 20th century, Minnekhada Farm cycled through several different agricultural products such as beef cattle, sheep, and dairy as well as vegetables. It was then sold to many other buyers; the 415-hectare property was chartered to the Provincial Agricultural Land Commission, by the Ministry of Lands, Parks, and Housing. [ clarification needed ] In this charter, 290 hectares were given to farmers for a 20-year period, under an agricultural lease. Nowadays, 46 of the total 200 hectares of Minnekhada Regional Park are the farm itself.

Minnekhada Farm was added to the park in 1995. The GVRD is currently restoring its fields and buildings as a heritage estate farm and equestrian centre. There is currently no access to Minnekhada Farm.

The Kwikwetlem and Katzie First Nations respectively occupied the lands in and around Coquitlam Lake and Pitt River watersheds for thousands of years. Both nations relocated from high to low points to follow the plant and animal cycles through the seasons. Materials for tools, shelters, clothing, food, and medicine were all obtained from the natural world. Significant archaeological sites such as those at Coquitlam Lake are among the oldest in the lower mainland and point explicitly to the rich history of these nations’ occupation of these lands.

In 1912, the farm was purchased by Harry Leroy Jenkins, a wealthy lumberman from Minnesota who then put the farm's ownership in the title of Anna S. Jenkins Estate Incorporated Limited. The company that Jenkins established included the Minnekhada dairy farm. The name 'Minnekhada' comes from the Sioux language which means 'rattling water' ( mini meaning water and kahda meaning to rattle).

The first person to put the land to mass use was Eric Hamber. Hamber's plan for Minnekhada Farm was to continue the horse breeding operation, as well as hay and oats, but to his surprise, his wife, Aldyen, convinced him to turn the farm into a real and functioning farm, completed with livestock and vegetables to grow. This change caused a new growth in buildings, with new stables and barns being built. In terms of hunting, Minnekhada was utilized for its land, in hunting and horse riding ways by Hamber and his acquaintances. The marsh was the main target for hunting, as the mass abundance of buckwheat was suitable for luring ducks to the area.

When Hamber became unable to care for the land and animals as well as hunt, he sold the property to his friend, Colonel Clarence Wallace. Eric Hamber and Clarence Wallace both had an impact on British Columbia's development, as they both owned large companies in timber and shipping as well as the position of Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia. Wallace was the owner of Burrard DryDocks, and Hamber was the president of BC Mills, Timber and Trading Company.

Wallace continued to use the lodge for hunting and as a weekend getaway. In the late 1970s, some of the forest by the lodge was logged. The logging occurred as a way to administer vegetation and wildlife studies prior to the park's development. At the time of the logging, the park's forests were considered to be a climax forest. Afterwards, the regeneration happened naturally with trees like the Red Alder taking their place. It was not known how much or what kind of trees were logged.