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UER Forum > Canada: Alberta / BC > Under the Garden City: Victoria B.C. secret tunnels. (Viewed 1883350 times)
A. Lien 


Location: Fantasy Island B.C.
Gender: Male
Total Likes: 17 likes


Abductees Anonymous all welcome

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Re: Under the Garden City: Victoria B.C. secret tunnels.
< Reply # 820 on 4/6/2006 9:07 AM >
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"I don't want closure in this respect....EVER."

Great minds think alike. By 'closure' in this case I just mean I want to confirm the freakin rumors and get into some of these tunnels. There is likely so much out there, and I too crave the hunt. The Victoria tunnel search is just a part of UE on Vancouver Island, -the most intrieging though I admit.

How about this angle: A couple of substantial tunnels get 'discovered', made public, and there is some media excitement and stuff for a while.

The one between the Union Club and Strathcona is quite well documented, as is the Empress parking lot to the old laundry. I suspect and hope there is enough others that if anyone is using those spaces they could move to another. And in exchange, the issue dies down and they are left alone.

Meanwhile, us UE'rs are taking it to the next level, (depth) and finding side passages and connections to different shops. Throw the public a bone,
let the TC reporters get onto some nice summery fluff stories, and the tunnel issue will fade in the public eye -for a while. However, I suspect today's story indicates we are likely headed for some kind of climax, wheee!, so may as well roll with it.

Out of caution and concern, I've posted and talked to others of only a few of the sites and info I know. No doubt most experienced UE'rs hold back info as well. It's an essential strategy. There will always be explorers who just have to do it, and then the ones who discovered this 'hobby', and want to try it out. Then maybe they will move on to something else in a month. I think we know, those with the true spirit and craving HAVE to explore.

BTW, from what I read; the old Crystal Garden pool started sinking when they filled it with water for the first time, so they actually re-engineered the pool as a massive 'tray' that 'floats' on whatever sloppy sludge is down there. Apparently it wasn't built on pilings like the Empress. Could make for some damp tunnels if there are any in the area, and please double check this info if yer writing a thesis.

J.P., my back yard is so full of whoalz I'm thinking of opening a theme park and calling it Marmot World. Have had major thoughts of digging a shaft in the basement. That skim coat of 'crete busts up easy, just stay away from support beams, and drop in a sump pump if required. Congratulations on your efforts, and plese use some siding as you get deeper, cavein's are a downer.

My fantasy is to dig a tunnel from my basement to the mall, then pop up in the bank, make a substantial withdrawal, then pop up in the cooler room of the Liquor Store, and a final stop for steaks at the Food Mart.

No Digidity, no doubt...

Well, you all got me scribbling tonite, now I'll just go back to my needle point and hope some others feel inspired to give yer keyboard a good workout.

Cheerz all who crave Urbin Explorin.

















My sister is Charlotte Light and Dark. Who am I?

Farewell and thank you... "I was doing something that I thought could have some impact someday. In many ways, it's really these photographs that kept me going creatively." Dennis Hopper
surekill 


Location: Victoria, BC.
Gender: Male
Total Likes: 0 likes


I like tacos

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Re: Under the Garden City: Victoria B.C. secret tunnels.
< Reply # 821 on 4/6/2006 10:37 AM >
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Kubla, after they emerged from under a ramp did you go look at where they came from? Was there a door or anything? Any sign of where they came from?




KublaKhan 


Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
Total Likes: 207 likes


With Satan, it's always gimmie, gimmie.

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Re: Under the Garden City: Victoria B.C. secret tunnels.
< Reply # 822 on 4/6/2006 7:25 PM >
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Posted by surekill
Kubla, after they emerged from under a ramp did you go look at where they came from? Was there a door or anything? Any sign of where they came from?


I've poked around a few times. There's something under there, but it seems to be blocked by either a grate, some kind of metal pointy thing and very prickly bushes.

Not a big deal...if I really wanted in, I would have made the effort. I didn't. Instead, I relied on the stories and illustration of two homeless guys who probably took me for an idiot tourist with a bit of extra cash.

Whatever. These guys are Source One in my books, and I depend on their versions to provide at least the sliver of possibility.




"The truth is knowable. But probably not, ever, incontrovertible."
--Don DeLillo
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KublaKhan 


Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
Total Likes: 207 likes


With Satan, it's always gimmie, gimmie.

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Re: Under the Garden City: Victoria B.C. secret tunnels.
< Reply # 823 on 4/7/2006 2:58 AM >
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Posted by Mr. A. Lien

"I'd like to see low income housing for Victoria born homeless people, and in exchange the tunnels opened up and exposed. Out of town homeless people should get help from the cities they were born in. (Obliviously) our warmer climate brings them here. Tricky stuff, but if an effort was made, things could be improved".



Trouble is, Victoria is exactly the kind of place that attracts people from everywhere. I wasn't born here. I don't know too many people who were.

Opening up the tunnels (should they be proved real) and developing affordable housing (or 'low income' to borrow your phrase)* are seperate issues. They are mutually exclusive. They do not belong in the same sentence.

Providing affordable houseing SHOULD be a priority for any city. Developing another tourist trap is likely THE priority in this town. Sadly, the trap will appear long before anything close to affordable housing is even considered.



I don't think the people giving architectural and ghost tours are Greedheads or millionaires. A healthy job, that carries a certain amount of pride and interest in the city and it's heritage and mysteries. The Ghost tours are founded by a strong heritage advocate, who has done much benefical work to preserve and protect Victoria's unique heritage. (We are lucky to have John Adams, as Vancouver is lucky to have John Aitkin)



I wasn't suggesting that the likes of John Adams is a greedhead. He's a great guy, and is one of the people responsible for saving many of the oldest structures in downtown Victoria. In my view, this city (and its dominant economy) owe John Adams heaps of gratitude.

John Adams knows his history, and he markets himself as an historian with an intimate knowledge of the city's history.

Selling admission tickets into previously unknown/unacknowledged spaces that had been used/employed by the city's indigent community would necessarily force these people back onto the streets. If these stories are true, then they are, in my view, places reserved for those who require shelter. If the city has thus far been unwilling to acknowledge their existence, the city is out of the fucking loop. It lost whatever claim it had on Tunnels™ ages ago.



If the tunnels are opened up at some point, I don't think you need to worry about the possibility of a Starbucks being opened up down there. Maybe just a little stand where someone's selling old bones for souveniers...



Will. Never. Happen.

Doing so would be tantamount to admitting to an enormous lie. It would also expose the City as being generally indifferent to the suffering of a few disposable people.

Imagine the headlines:

Underground tunnel network discovered in Victoria; occupied by dozens of city's homeless.

Not good copy as we head into another tourist season.

As for the quote you lifted from the first post on this thread, I said that I would LOVE to learn more...and I have learned more. I haven't learned enough. What I have learned is that these things, true or not, are not part of the general public domain, are generally off limits to unbelievers, and are, likely more than anything else, a fantastic metaphor for the economic disconnect that exists in a city where people live in squalor and suffer the indignities of not having an address/change of clothes/lack of food, resources, medical attention, etc; simultaneously a city where over 3 Billion Dollars is left behind by tourists annually.

Something is decidedly wrong with this picture.



Did you really think that your quest for knowledge of the tunnels would not have a strong possibility of their discovery and exposure; isn't that what you were seeking? (The discovery part would be hard not to tie in with exposure) I respect your concerns. There is room for more than one approach. I believe a major interest is building on this subject. People like and want closure at some point. Or in this case 'opening' of the doors, some mysteries revealed.



It's an old story. It won't go away. It is part of folklore, imagined history. It is a story sold to tourists.

Or it's a real thing and some people know how to manouver through them.

Whichever. I really don't give a rat's ass if I get inside. I wouldn't turn the opportunity down, mind you. I'd be there totally.



With a respectful approach to the homeless, and more shelters like the one on Store Street, well I think they would rather sleep in that place than the tunnels. Why don't you ask some of them...



Great idea. Oh wait...been there/done that. If nothing else, this thread has educated a few readers on a serious social problem in one of Canada's most successful tourist centers.

*[EDIT: Also, there's a BIG difference between 'affordable' and 'low income' housing]



[last edit 4/7/2006 5:34 AM by KublaKhan - edited 2 times]

"The truth is knowable. But probably not, ever, incontrovertible."
--Don DeLillo
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J Peterman 


Location: Victoria B.C.
Total Likes: 17 likes


I'm going hunting for mysteries, cover me.

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Re: Under the Garden City: Victoria B.C. secret tunnels.
< Reply # 824 on 4/7/2006 6:14 AM >
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They could be so old and dangerous that its not worth it to build any sort of tourist business around it. And lets get real here...The city knows about these "spaces". And by The City I mean the people with the highest most placed government officials who live here. As well as probably some people higher up in the engineering department. The Mayor....Lets get serious..

They all sit around and a room and frequently go over topics like this...making up falsified reasons why buildings arent built in certain places or land applications arent passed which could potentially expose tunnel access. Am I being sarcastic?? O0ooo

We can't (not that we are) sit around and claim that nobody knows about these underground passageways. Only 2 kinds of people do...People who worked on them/City officials and the resident-less

.....and me..JP



[last edit 4/7/2006 6:16 AM by J Peterman - edited 1 times]

I'm going hunting for mysteries, cover me.
mavrix 

This member has been banned. See the banlist for more information.


Total Likes: 0 likes


Satanic Evidence Above

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Re: Under the Garden City: Victoria B.C. secret tunnels.
< Reply # 825 on 4/8/2006 3:13 AM >
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Posted by J Peterman
They could be so old and dangerous that its not worth it to build any sort of tourist business around it. And lets get real here...The city knows about these "spaces". And by The City I mean the people with the highest most placed government officials who live here. As well as probably some people higher up in the engineering department. The Mayor....Lets get serious..

They all sit around and a room and frequently go over topics like this...making up falsified reasons why buildings arent built in certain places or land applications arent passed which could potentially expose tunnel access. Am I being sarcastic?? O0ooo

We can't (not that we are) sit around and claim that nobody knows about these underground passageways. Only 2 kinds of people do...People who worked on them/City officials and the resident-less

.....and me..JP


That is just hearsay. It is more likely these are old tunnels that are avoided for safety reasons and abandoned. The reasons for not admitting them is obvious, to keep less people from going in them for safety reasons, causing trouble and vandalism etc.

The homeless mans ability to access a tunnel in some running building, signifies they are less known, not used and practically forgotten.





Picture Evidence of Satanism Above
A. Lien 


Location: Fantasy Island B.C.
Gender: Male
Total Likes: 17 likes


Abductees Anonymous all welcome

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Re: Under the Garden City: Victoria B.C. secret tunnels.
< Reply # 826 on 4/8/2006 4:10 AM >
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I'm more concerned about dem chubby ratz than cave ins, but there a close 2nd. Either way, we gotta keep lookin. Welcome back Mavrix.




My sister is Charlotte Light and Dark. Who am I?

Farewell and thank you... "I was doing something that I thought could have some impact someday. In many ways, it's really these photographs that kept me going creatively." Dennis Hopper
KublaKhan 


Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
Total Likes: 207 likes


With Satan, it's always gimmie, gimmie.

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Re: Under the Garden City: Victoria B.C. secret tunnels.
< Reply # 827 on 4/8/2006 4:23 AM >
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Posted by Mr. A. Lien. Welcome back Mavrix.


Ditto.




"The truth is knowable. But probably not, ever, incontrovertible."
--Don DeLillo
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KublaKhan 


Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
Total Likes: 207 likes


With Satan, it's always gimmie, gimmie.

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Re: Under the Garden City: Victoria B.C. secret tunnels.
< Reply # 828 on 4/11/2006 1:41 AM >
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About those purple tile thingies...?

http://islandnet.c.../report/prisms.htm





"The truth is knowable. But probably not, ever, incontrovertible."
--Don DeLillo
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Mowgli-dog 


Location: Vancouver, B.C.
Gender: Male
Total Likes: 31 likes




 |  |  | Just UE
Re: Under the Garden City: Victoria B.C. secret tunnels.
< Reply # 829 on 4/11/2006 4:12 AM >
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Wow, that guy sure know's his sidewalk prisms....




"We sleep safely in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm." -George Orwell

Rest in peace, my pal Mowgli - the best dog there ever was.
meggaman 


Location: victoria
Gender: Male
Total Likes: 2 likes


Hmmm,,what does this button do,,

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Re: Under the Garden City: Victoria B.C. secret tunnels.
< Reply # 830 on 4/12/2006 5:12 AM >
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new picks from victoria ,,

POINT HOPE
MARITIME
look for the thread ,,
58297.jpg (87 kb, 634x475)
click to view





KublaKhan 


Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
Total Likes: 207 likes


With Satan, it's always gimmie, gimmie.

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Re: Under the Garden City: Victoria B.C. secret tunnels.
< Reply # 831 on 4/12/2006 3:59 PM >
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Posted by Mowgli-dog
Wow, that guy sure know's his sidewalk prisms....


I think the point here is that the 'tunnels' of lore have been exposed as nothing more than beautifully lit spaces beneath the sidewalks of downtown Victoria.

The city's daily newspaper (Times Colonist) has published two stories on these things within the last month. Tourist season is ramping up to its usual fever, and people outside UER have been googling 'tunnels in Victoria' and have ended up here, reading this thread.

The 'official story,' as written in the TC, paints a pretty clean picture of what these spaces are. Nowhere in any of the printed stories is any mention of the various homeless types who have occupied these spaces for years. In the photographs that accompany the TC stories, we see clean, well-lit spaces free of litter or human habitation. This is the official story...clean and well-lit. The official media have co-opted the truth of these spaces and has presented them to a local audience as nothing more than interesting factoids, now in need of official restoration.

Peterman brought this to my attention. We agreed that this is generally a sign that someone somewhere is attempting to create the official narrative, thereby cutting out the impression (truth) that dozens of homeless people use these spaces for shelter.





"The truth is knowable. But probably not, ever, incontrovertible."
--Don DeLillo
PICS
A. Lien 


Location: Fantasy Island B.C.
Gender: Male
Total Likes: 17 likes


Abductees Anonymous all welcome

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Re: Under the Garden City: Victoria B.C. secret tunnels.
< Reply # 832 on 4/23/2006 6:55 PM >
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new picks from victoria ,,

POINT HOPE
MARITIME
look for the thread ,,

Hey M.M., I could just see the one pic, care to post some more, or start a thread?




My sister is Charlotte Light and Dark. Who am I?

Farewell and thank you... "I was doing something that I thought could have some impact someday. In many ways, it's really these photographs that kept me going creatively." Dennis Hopper
meggaman 


Location: victoria
Gender: Male
Total Likes: 2 likes


Hmmm,,what does this button do,,

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Re: Under the Garden City: Victoria B.C. secret tunnels.
< Reply # 833 on 4/26/2006 4:04 AM >
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im sorry A ,lien,,
only full members can see the photos ,,
i think in time you will be able to view my thread ,,and picks,,

thanx and keep checkin back ,,




meggaman 


Location: victoria
Gender: Male
Total Likes: 2 likes


Hmmm,,what does this button do,,

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Re: Under the Garden City: Victoria B.C. secret tunnels.
< Reply # 834 on 4/26/2006 4:29 AM >
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so i was out pokeing around the city and i happened to find some really old bottles sticking up out of the ground ,,they may have been thrown aside ,ages ago by the masons ,building some of the old buildings in down town victoria,,

anywase i picked them up,, and washed them up at home, and to my surprise one has writing on it "PROPERTY OF SILVER SPRING BREWERY LTD VICTORIA BC" ,,
any one know anything about bottles??
i would love to know more about these ,,
mabe they are the start of a trail leading to the tunnels ,,

59513.jpg (49 kb, 450x338)
click to view


59514.jpg (49 kb, 563x423)
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59515.jpg (97 kb, 563x423)
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59516.jpg (68 kb, 450x338)
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59517.jpg (83 kb, 563x423)
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meggaman 


Location: victoria
Gender: Male
Total Likes: 2 likes


Hmmm,,what does this button do,,

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Re: Under the Garden City: Victoria B.C. secret tunnels.
< Reply # 835 on 4/26/2006 4:44 AM >
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ok i found a little info on one bottle,,

Circa pre prohibition era.
Silver Springs Brewery Ltd. was located in Esquimalt - Victoria British Columbia
59519.jpg (97 kb, 420x420)
click to view





A. Lien 


Location: Fantasy Island B.C.
Gender: Male
Total Likes: 17 likes


Abductees Anonymous all welcome

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Re: Under the Garden City: Victoria B.C. secret tunnels.
< Reply # 836 on 4/26/2006 7:36 AM >
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"thanx and keep checkin back"

Thanks M.M.

Yah, I'm still in steerage, will try for membership soon when I get my two month star. Would be great to see your pics. Nice work with the bottles, a great find. They have a strong historic value, and may be worth a lot to collectors. I would keep 'em if in your boots. And that Silver Spring Napoleon fellow in the sign is hilarious. He's takes his beer seriously, and repeatedly I suspect. Guess they didn't have TUMS back then, : ) lol

This *guy is supposed to give bottle advice, I haven't heard back from when I sent him pics months ago of a weird bottle I found. Still, do some checking you've got some rare ones there I think. BTW, your avatar rules.

*Google Digger Odell

A.

P.S. About the tunnels; IMHO, the spaces under the purple sidewalk blocks are not tunnels, but may link to them. A while back, I was told by a reliable source of a tunnel that led up almost to the Odeon Theatre on Yates. It was apparently sealed in the early 70's. I found an historic photo of Victoria's Wharf street that shows a black hole that looks very much like an entrance. Not a big deal of course, and certainly not 'proof' but a solid lead. Is there any reason to believe this tunnel does not, or did not exist?




My sister is Charlotte Light and Dark. Who am I?

Farewell and thank you... "I was doing something that I thought could have some impact someday. In many ways, it's really these photographs that kept me going creatively." Dennis Hopper
J Peterman 


Location: Victoria B.C.
Total Likes: 17 likes


I'm going hunting for mysteries, cover me.

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Re: Under the Garden City: Victoria B.C. secret tunnels.
< Reply # 837 on 4/26/2006 5:12 PM >
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Somebody better shout me a hollar soon. I'm itching to get out for another excursion. I've been out of the game for a couple months.....school....girlfriend....

What do people think about a general UE-Victoria meet.




I'm going hunting for mysteries, cover me.
KublaKhan 


Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
Total Likes: 207 likes


With Satan, it's always gimmie, gimmie.

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Re: Under the Garden City: Victoria B.C. secret tunnels.
< Reply # 838 on 4/26/2006 9:17 PM >
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Just got a tip from a guy who worked in the Birks/Post Office building back in the late 70's early 80's.

This guy has lived in The city his entire life (50 years) and can remember the opening (sealed) at the foot of Bastion Square (old HBC warehouse). This apparently connected to another building across the street (spaces under the old courthouse, anyone?).

The space we know about near the Boom Boom Room is part of that old system.

The Oddfellows building has been there since the late 1870's (so he sez) and, in fact, most of the buildings around that block are from the same general period.

He told me that if there are ANY real tunnels in Victoria, this is where to start.

There's a long basement space under Douglas that connects to Johnson, and that the space we checked out in the vacant lot is a fire escape for a underground causeway that connected a bunch of buildings/hotels Back In The Day.

Is this the tunnel that indigent people occupy?

He also confirmed (vaguely) the tunnel story that runs from Customs House all the way up to Douglas.




"The truth is knowable. But probably not, ever, incontrovertible."
--Don DeLillo
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ShadowCaster 


Location: Victoria, BC (Home of the tunnels)
Gender: Male
Total Likes: 0 likes




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Re: Under the Garden City: Victoria B.C. secret tunnels.
< Reply # 839 on 4/27/2006 3:43 AM >
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I saw a post a page or two ago that mentioned tunnels in the Union Club. I'm wondering if this is the Union Hall on Esquimalt Road, just down the street from the Bingo Hall and A&W. I live just down Dominion Street from there, and have been into the Union Hall a few times because I know someone who works there. If I had a little more info on the tunnel, I could probably validate whether or not this tunnel exists, indefinitely.




UER Forum > Canada: Alberta / BC > Under the Garden City: Victoria B.C. secret tunnels. (Viewed 1883350 times)
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