Cougar Annie's garden on offer for $1.5 million

During her long life on B.C.'s West Coast, Ada Annie Arthur -- known as Cougar Annie -- carried a reputation as an ingenious frontier woman whose prowess in the garden was rivalled only by the deftness with which she slung a rifle, writes Cassidy Oliver in the Vancouver Province.

While the exact number isn't known, it's believed that Arthur shot hundreds of cougars and bears for bounty in and around her 117-acre property in Boat Basin, roughly 50 kilometres northwest of Tofino, over a 70-year span.

Her reputation was further spiced by her habit of taking out newspaper ads soliciting suitable partners.

But it was her five-acre garden, not her marksmanship or love life, to which Arthur, who died in 1985, gave her full heart.

So it was with great difficulty that the Boat Basin Foundation, a non-profit organization responsible for Arthur's massive property since 2000, announced this week that "Cougar Annie's Garden" had been posted for sale.

Hit hard by the recession, Daniel Arbour, chair of the Boat Basin Foundation board, said sale of the historic site -- asking price $2.2 million -- was the only solution to balancing a ledger book marked by debt.

"Basically, we've faced some pretty significant financial challenges the last few years," said Arbour, adding one of the foundation's main backers had recently passed away.

Arbour said the foundation is hopeful the buyer will share the vision of its founder, Peter Buckland, who wanted the site to remain an educational centre for those interested in the area's rich history and ecology.

It was Buckland, a retired Vancouver stockbroker, who undertook the arduous task of restoring the overgrown property following Arthur's death at the age of 97.

It was a labour of love that took him 15 years to complete.

The Temperate Rainforest Field Study Centre, a collection of cedar buildings and cabins on the property built for university students and interest groups, has partly fulfilled the foundation's mandate of forwarding education.

Buckland also expanded Arthur's garden, which is full of unusual and exotic plant species, by adding roughly two kilometres' worth of meandering trails. Arthur's collapsing house still sits on the garden's fringes.

"It's really a jewel. It's a pretty amazing place," said Arbour. "We are hopeful the right group will approach us and make a purchase."

Buckland handed over full ownership of the property to the foundation in 2007, the year that Ecotrust Canada and the Hesquiaht First Nation became stewardship partners in the project. He continues to volunteer his time at Cougar Annie's garden.

Born Ada Annie Jordan in Sacramento, Calif., Arthur moved to Boat Basin in 1914 with Willie Rae-Arthur, the first of her four husbands, and immediately set about clearing the land where she'd eventually raise 11 kids.

In addition to collecting the bounty on cougars, Arthur made money by shipping the rare plants and bulbs she grew in her garden. She also opened a small general store and, later, a post office.

The property, which is only accessible by boat or float plane from Tofino or Gold River, also sits adjacent to a swimming lake with a wharf.

Rich Osborne, of LandQuest Reality, said there's already been significant interest in the property. Some of the interest has come from friends and supporters of the Boat Basin Foundation, he said.

"I don't get to use the word unique very often when describing a property, but this is one of them," he said. "What she did there was just amazing. It's a real special spot."

 


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