— WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER

reales | TH | ee

Fears euser aus pe?

BOOMMEN sorting out dumped logs in pond. Large building across the pond is the
company’s loading shed which has space under its roof for twenty railway cars.

\ IWA

IWA

One of the largest sawmills
in British Columbia is the
Chemainus Sawmill of Mac-
Millan-Bloedel on Vancouver
Island.. ‘This mill employs be-
tween 600 and 700 workers
who are members of Local

1-80 IWA.

The Chemainus district,
situated between Duncan and
Laaysmith, is one of the old-
est s#wmilling centres in the
Province. ‘The first log was
sawn over one hundred years
ago and few areas on this
continent can claim as con-
sistent a record of operation
in one district-and almost on

one site.

CAMERA

In the 1860’s, Chemainus
was one of the Big 'Three in
British Columbia sawmilling
— Chemainus, the Anderson
‘Mil! at Port Alberni and the
Hastings Mill in Vancouver.

The original Chemainus
mill was built on Horseshoe
Bay by Thomas Askew in
1862 — and since that time
the base of the district’s prog-
ress and prosperity has been
its sawmills. The original
Askew mill was waterpower-
ed and produced around 2,000
feet of lumber daily. Tlte
Askew mill was operated
until 1885, when Mrs. Askew,
who had carried on the busi-

ness after her husband’s
death in 1880, sold out to the
firm of Croft and Severne.

The new firm, which short-
ly pecame Croft & Angus,
ushered in the first major
change by converting the saw-
mill from waterpower to
steam, using a threshing ma-
chine engine as their first
power unit. In 1887, the
Esquimalt and Nanaimo Rail-
way operated their first trains
through the district, but this
new method of transportation
did not benefit the mill im-
mediately — most of the
lumber moved by sailing ship
to export markets.

VISITS
CHEMAINUS SAWMILL DIVISION

LOG DUMP MACHINE OPERATOR. Some of the trucks
coming into the dump carry as much as 30,000 board feet of
lumber and it takes skill and experience to lift loads of this

size into the water.

MacMILLAN - BLOEDEL'S

In 1889 the mill was taken
over by The Victoria Lumber
and Manufacturing Company
Ltd., with J. A. Humbird, Sr.,
as one of the principal own-
ers.

At the time of purchase the
mill was capable of producing
60,000 board feet per shift,
which was a large production
for that period; however the
Company decided to build a
new mill which was com-
menced in 1890. But shortly
after there was a serious busi-
ness depression and the new
mill was not completed until
1896.

When the mill opened it
soon brought production up

to 107,000 board feet per
shift, and for the first time
the night shift operated under
electric lights in place of lan-
terns,

There was little change in
the operations until Novem-
ber 1923, when the mill burn-
ed to the ground — a major
disaster for the whole com-
munity. But plans were soon
made to build a new and
larger mill which was com-
pleted in 1925. The commun-
ity began to expand, and, ex-
cept for a lull following the
1929 depression, the expan-
sion has continued to this day.

In 1946, H. R. MacMillan
Export Company Limited

ONE OF THE NUMEROUS AREAS in the mill where the lumber is sorted to grade,
sips. and fenaths, The pasroilt Js so large that it took 100 carloads of lumber to bulla
i © opera e machinery there are 600 individual drives, and 233 r of
electric wiring. The floor area is 115,628 sq. ft. moter eee bi Be

an more production so the saw filer is a
We ee ny sawmill. Chemainus produces

tely 800,000 board feet although
ut as much a one million board feet.

ARP SA n
ae important man !n a

mage tne “a

tel

xm

” «A