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Friday, October 23, 2015

Ross Bay Cemetery - John Dean

John Dean was a pioneer businessman active in many areas of life in 19th and early 20th century Victoria. He had a house in Esquimalt but in later years he bought a hundred acres in Saanich and built himself a cabin there on Mount Newton. Later he donated much of the land to the province (its first donated parkland) and it became the basis for John Dean Provincial Park. It is home to the last surviving old growth timber on the Saanich Peninsula. John Dean was a colorful character and had his tombstone made to order before his death. Here are the words he had inscribed there:

"It is a rotten world, artful politicians are it's bane. It's saving grace is the artlessness of the young and the wonders of the sky."

John Dean Provincial Park is a splendid wild park and we are very indebted to John Dean and other early Saanich settlers who also donated lands for this park. I did not get a chance to visit the park this year but here is post about it from a few years ago.

2 comments:

William Kendall said...

He must have been quite a character!

JoJo said...

I like that quote.