Before discussing the railways, it is important to understand the political dates important to the Pacific Coast of Canada. Prior to 1846 the ownership of the territory was in dispute between the United Kingdom, the United States, Spain and Russia. By 1825 the disputes had been resolved except for the dispute between the United States and the United Kingdom, becoming known as the Oregon Boundary Dispute. In 1846 the Treaty of Washington defined the border between the British North American territories and the American territories. The Royal Navy first stationed a vessel at Esquimalt in 1848. The Crown Colony of Vancouver Island was established in 1849 with the settlement of Victoria becoming both the capital and the new headquarters of the Hudson’s Bay Company on the Pacific Coast. In 1853 the Crown Colony of the Queen Charlotte Islands was created. In 1857 the Crown Colony of British Columbia was created from the remainder of the H.B.C.’s New Caledonia Territory and the Hudson’s Bay monopoly was ended. The Roayl Navy officially began moving the headquarters of the Pacific Station to Esquimalt in 1859. In 1862 the Stickeen Territory was created out of the un-allocated Northwest Territories. The Colony of the Queen Charlotte Islands and the Stickeen Territory were merged with British Columbia in 1863 and Vancouver Island was merged in 1866, shortly after the Pacific Station was formally established in Esquimalt in 1865. In 1871 the Colony of British Columbia joined the Canadian Confederation.
The use of railways on the Pacific Coast of North America came relatively late in the 19th century. The first locomotive to arrive in San Francisco was unloaded in 1851, with the first tramway constructed in British Columbia in 1861 (a portage tramway known as “Dozier’s Way”, located at what is now called Seton Portage), with the first railway constructed in 1863. This railway was the Vancouver Coal Mining & Land Company of Nanaimo. By 1885 this company had been joined by the Dunsmuir & Diggle Coal Mines (1875), the Baynes Sound Coal Mines (1876) and the East Wellington Collieries (1883). Finally, the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway occurred between 1881 and 1885.
All of these enterprises, plus the various gold rushes and construction of cities up and down the Pacific Coast required timber, and British Columbia seemed to have no end of that resource. The first water-powered sawmill in B.C. was set up in the 1848 in Victoria and by the 1870’s the first major sawmill and timber companies were set up. The first major timber corporation in British Columbia was the Hastings Saw Mill Company, set up in Burrard Inlet in 1865, starting operations in 1867. At first the company operated like all other companies logging in B.C. at the time, using oxen teams to haul logs on skid roads. This technology was generally limited to hauls of less than ten miles on level ground and less on steeper terrain, so by 1871 the manager of Hastings Saw Mill Company’s logging operations, Jeremiah Rogers, was looking for an alternative.
In 1871 F.S. Barnard of the B.C. Express stagecoach company imported six Thomson Road Steamers to operate on the Cariboo Road. Within a few weeks of starting operations, however, these steamers had broken down repeatedly on the rocky surfaces of the road. Four of the machines were returned, unused, to Scotland; two were purchased by Jeremiah Rogers, apparently one operational unit and the broken unit for spares. This unit replaced the oxen on the long haul to the log dump, but was not much more reliable on skid roads versus rocky roads. Sometime in the mid 1870’s to early 1880’s Jeremiah Rogers decided to improve once again. He purchased a locomotive in the U.S.A. along with several sets of disconnected logging trucks and set up a logging railway from Jericho Beach (then known as Jerry’s Cove) running east along what is now Point Grey Road, turning southeast to follow the line of Valley Drive and ending near the end of Valley Drive near Quilcena Park.
The locomotive and cars used at this site are something of a mystery. Two photos of the locomotive are known to exist. Both show a locomotive that shows many similarities to the products of the Globe Iron Works of San Francisco, as well as some characteristics of some manufacturers from the United Kingdom. It appears to have originally have had a street railway style enclosure around the superstructure, had a small water tank over the boiler and canted inside cylinders driving either the rear axle or a secondary axle driving via spur gears. The front wheels were driven via side rods. This locomotive could have come from the Globe Iron Works after 1881, when they started building locomotives, or possibly from a shipment of railway equipment which had been en route from England in 1872 when the company it was being shipped to in the Queen Charlotte Islands went bankrupt.
The locomotive can be seen in the following two photographs:
Locomotive shown along the waterfront near Jericho Beach
Locomotive roof visible behind foreground
The disconnected logging trucks are equally interesting. They appear to be very early versions of the Russel Car & Wheel Company Pattern #45 cars. They possess a single large timber spanning between two arch bar sideframes with sprung journals. The bunk is a large timber pierced by multiple holes with timber chocks that are locked in place in these holes, adjustable to the size of the log. There are no longitudinal timbers, however; the cars have link and pin coupler pockets mounted directly to the center beam with timber roosters joining the cars in a semi-permanent manner. The cars appear to originally have been equipped with upright brake wheels and outside-hung brakes, but the photos show these missing on many cars and in one related photo the cars are prevented from rolling by wood jammed between the wheel and the railhead.
Records exist of the Jericho Beach logging railway through the 1890’s. In 1889 the Hastings Saw Mill Company was merged with the Royal City Planing and Saw Mill Company to form the British Columbia Mills, Timber & Trading Company. That company opened their logging operations to Rock Bay on Vancouver Island at the end of 1894, so it is likely the Jericho Beach railway was abandoned at this time.
Photographs attributed to the Jericho Beach/Kitsilano operation include:
Logging skid road and rollway for loading the railway cars, circa 1890
Single-log load on a log car at the rollway
Oxen team at the skid road junction
Oxen team at the log dump
Oxen team at a rollway
Oxen team arriving at the rollway – note disconnected log trucks visible behind the two stumps in the middle of the photograph
Locomotive with a logging train, purportedly at South Granville ca. 1895 – note hemispherical domed donkey mentioned later
Hemispherical domed donkey
Kitsilano logging camp – note the foreground buildings roughly built from hand split cedar planks (probably stables) which all buildings have hand-split cedar shake roofs
Skid road construction
Horse team near Point Grey Road
The Royal City Planing & Saw Mill Company was the second company to operate a logging railway in British Columbia. In 1885 they purchased a used locomotive from the contractor building the Pacific Contract of the Canadian Pacific Railway, Andrew Onderdonk. The locomotive, #2, was officially known as “Emory” but was known as “Old Curly” to her crews. Andrew Onderdonk had purchased the locomotive new from Marshutz & Cantrell in 1879 for his three-year contract building the San Francisco Seawall and Wharves. Once that contract was finished he brought the locomotive north to his new contract for the C.P.R. along with several used locomotives from the Virginia & Truckee Railroad in California. All of these locomotives were well worn and needed rebuilding before they could operate regularly; several of the ex-V&T locomotives arrived without tenders and were outfitted with converted flatcars. While the ex-V&T locomotives and some Baldwin locomotives purchased new a few years later operated on the main construction routes, the Emory hauled short trains of flatcars that were used to harvest timber along the line near Yale and Port Moody. The logs were parbuckled up onto the flatcars and taken to the C.P.R. sawmill near Yale.
Purchased by the Royal City Planing & Saw Mill Company, Old Curly was moved by barge to Mud Bay and then up the Nikomekl River and the Nikomekl Logging Canal where it was installed on a logging railway that trended east from the Nikomekl Logging Canal toward Hazelmere. From 1885 to 1890 the locomotive operated on this isolated railway, hauling logs to the canal, with the company becoming B.C. Mills, Timber & Trading in 1889. In 1890 it was replaced by a newly built Canadian Locomotive Company 0-4-0ST and sent for rebuilding into an 0-4-4RT configuration. In 1890-1891 it was leased to construct the New Westminster & Southern Railway by the Great Northern Railway. They continued to use this locomotive as their mainline engine until the railway was connected to their transcontinental system and regular engines could be procured. Returned to the B.C.M.T.&T. Company in November 1891, Old Curly returned to the Hazelmere to Mud Bay railway, now connected to the N.W.& S. Railway at Hazelmere. Now that the line was connected to a railway with public access, more photographs were taken of the line; almost all the photographs of Old Curly date from the 1891-1894 time period. She was replaced in service on this line by an ex-G.N.R. Mason 4-4-0 locomotive, distinctive with its slope-back tender.
It should be noted that B.C.M.T.&T. was also a pioneer in the use of steam donkeys in the woods. Two machines are evident in the photographs – a two-drum roader-style unit with a hemispherical smokebox dome and a dual narrow-drum unit with a steeply taper conical smokebox capped with a spark catcher but without a stack.
Many photographs of the operation exist from the 1890’s, especially after the railway was connected to the New Westminster & Southern Railway. These include:
Old Curly (known officially as Emory) in use by the C.P.R. ca. 1885 – note the original pilot beam with flag holders, crude headlight, enclosed cab and tender. The tender wall construction is identical to the fuel store bin shown in the next photo after conversion to an 0-4-4RT
Another view of Old Curly (Emory) during the C.P.R. construction days
Old Curly at the Port Kells log dump, 1891, shortly after rebuilding (note the polished boiler jacket)
Old Curly ca. 1891 – note the added sand domes, replacement of the original wooden fuel storage with a metal rear tank, dual headlights, new pilot beam and front cowcatcher
Old Curly – a different angle
Old Curly at a later time – note the loss of the headlights and cowcatcher, taper dome donkey in the background
CLC #3 ca. 1895
CLC #3 ca. 1895
Mason 4-4-0 #4 ca. 1899
Mason 4-4-0 #4 hauling logs with their hemispherical smookebox steam donkey ca. 1898
Tapered smokebox donkey with a horse team
Tapered smokebox donkey with a horse team
In 1894 B.C.M.T.&T. moved much of their railway operations to Johnstone Strait, north of present day Campbell River. They had been logging at Thurlow island with oxen teams since the 1880’s. The locomotives at these operations included:
- #1 – Baldwin 0-6-0ST – Built 6/1898, Purchased New
- #2 (later #3) – Marshutz & Cantrell 0-4-4RT, Built 1879, Transferred from Hazelmere
- #3 – CLC 0-4-0ST – Built 6/1890, Purchased New, Transferred from Hazelmere
- #4 (later #2) – Mason 4-4-0 – Built 5/1868, Purchased used ca. 1898 from G.N.R.
- #5 – Porter 0-4-2ST – Built 5/1894, Purchased New 1895
- #6 – MLW 0-6-0ST – Built 6/1904, Purchased New
- #7 – MLW 0-6-0ST – Built 1907, Purchased New
These locomotives were used on several operations in the Johnstone Strait region. The primary operation was at Rock Bay, where the Rock Bay & Salmon River Railroad was incorporated to run from Rock Bay south to Upper Campbell Lake. The Mason 4-4-0 #4 was used extensively on the construction of this railroad, which was later dominated by #6 and #7. Old Curly was used from 1907 on Thurlow Island at Camp O and was later leased to the Granite Bay Development Company, a mining company on Quadra Island. It and the Porter #5 were later used to log along that railway when the mining company went bankrupt. B.C.M.T.&T. also operated camps at Hemming Bay on Thurlow Island (an A-frame and flume operation) and at Salmon River. The Rock Bay operation was sold to Merrill-Ring-Wilson and was operated throughout the 1930’s by them. Many of these operations functioned by hauling logs from the lakes of the region to the shoreline, rather than running directly into the woods. B.C.M.T.&T. specialized in extra long logs which were hauled out as single complete trees by ground-hauling versus skylines and made extensive use of log chutes and similar methodologies.
Photographs from the Rock Bay, Salmon River, Thurlow Island and Granite Bay operations include:
Old Curly at the Salmon River (Bear River) railway ca. 1896
Old Curly at the Salmon River (Bear River) railway ca. 1896
Mason 4-4-0 #4 on the Rock Bay & Salmon River Railroad (Rock Bay operations) – note the characteristic A-frame mainline “locomotive shed”, of which B.C.M.T.&T. had several at this camp
Log train of disconnects hauling long timbers at Rock Bay
Unloading long timbers at Rock Bay ca. 1901
Mason 4-4-0 #4 unloading long timbers at Rock Bay ca. 1901
Grading camp on the Rock Bay & Salmon River Railroad, ca. 1901
Mason 4-4-0 #4 loading logs at a rollway on the Rock Bay & Salmon River Railroad ca. 1901
A bridge in camp at Rock Bay, ca. 1901, railway just visible in the foreground
A rollway on the Rock Bay and Salmon River Railroad
Porter 0-4-2ST #5 at Granite Bay
Porter 0-4-2ST #5 at Granite Bay ca. 1911
Porter 0-4-2ST #5 at Granite Bay log dump ca. 1911
Granite Bay log dump
Old Curly operating for the Granite Bay Development Company ca. 1911 – note the flatcar made from two disconnect logging trucks
Granite Bay Development Company tracks
Porter 0-4-2ST #5 at Thurlow Island log dump
CLC 0-6-0ST #1 at Rock Bay CLC 0-6-0ST #6 at a rollway/log dump in Rock Bay
MLW 0-6-0ST #6 with logging train at Rock Bay – note how old disconnects have been re-equipped with ca. 1902/1903 Seattle Car Manufacturing log bunks
MLW 0-6-0ST #6 at the Rock Bay log dump
MLW 0-6-0ST #6 near Black Water Lake, Rock Bay
MLW 0-6-0ST #6, Rock Bay
MLW 0-6-0ST #6 at the lake, Rock Bay
The Rock Bay log dump ca. 1928
The Rock Bay log dump Rock Bay company store, hotel and hospital with railroad wharf in the foreground, log dump out of view to the left, ca. 1911
MLW 0-6-0ST #7 hauling logs at Rock Bay in the snow
MLW 0-6-0ST #7 picking up supplies at the Rock Bay store, carried on the brake car
MLW 0-6-0ST #7 at Rock Bay
Railroad at Rock Bay ca. 1921
MLW 0-6-0ST #7 at Rock Bay ca. 1919 Railroad at Bear (McCreight) Lake
Rock Bay log dump
Rock Bay log dump
Rock Bay
MLW 0-6-0ST #6 or #7 at the Rock Bay log dump
McCreight Lake track on the Salmon River line
Two locomotives (#6 and #7) at the Rock Bay camp
Two locomotives (#6 and #7) at the Rock Bay camp
An especially interesting photo below shows the camp at Rock Bay. Two locomotive sheds are visible, both of A-frame construction. Two car workshops are visible. The left-most car shop has a home-made boxcar or partially visible behind the structure. The car shop in the center has a train of disconnected trucks entering it; note the closest two trucks are permanently coupled with a structure between them for a brakeman to operate two brake wheels in the center of the car. All of the cars have been re-equipped with Seattle Car Manufacturing early pattern wooden log bunks with Knight chocks. These consist of a large timber with an I-beam section set into the top on its side; the upper channel thus formed restrains the triangular Knight chocks. On the right the rear end of the cab of locomotive #7 is visible.
It should be noted that when most B.C.M.T.&T. Company operations ceased in 1926/1927, Old Curly was recovered from Granite Bay and shipped to Vancouver for restoration and display. She still exists today at the Burnaby Village Museum.
Photographs from this time period include:
Front View
Side View #1
3/4 View
Old Curly during restoration
Old Curly after restoration by the C.P.R. shops
B.C.M.T.&T. was the only significant user of logging railways on the B.C. Coast until 1900, although two other logging railways on the coast did exist: the Victoria Lumber Company (later Victoria Lumber & Manufacturing) started logging railway operations in 1899 in Chemainus. This line was just being constructed as 1900 arrived. At Maple Grove (later Clayburn) near Abbotsford the Maple Grove Lumber Company operated a narrow gauge wooden-railed tramway from the mill to the C.P.R. siding operated with a converted steam engine on a homebuilt frame starting in 1891. In 1906 this line was extended to the Clayburn brick factory and in 1909 it was replaced by a standard gauge railway using an unknown Climax locomotive (possibly Abbotsford Timber & Trading’s first Climax locomotive).
In the B.C. Interior, logging railways started soon after the Canadian Pacific Railway was built. The smaller timber meant smaller and more economic equipment in the woods and in the sawmills and the mining boom and the railway building boom in the southern interior guaranteed high market demand.
The Golden Lumber Company opened their logging railway in 1892 in Donald and Golden, primarily supplying the C.P.R. construction crews at first, who were building snowsheds in the Rocky Mountains, and later the C.P.R. Prairie settlement programs. Operations started with two small saddle-tank locomotives, a narrow gauge 0-4-2ST from the sawmill at Mitford, Alberta and an 0-4-0ST of unknown provenance. In 1897 a 4-4-0 locomotive purchased used from the C.P.R. Known as “Old Betsy” to be used as the sawmill boiler. This locomotive would later be preserved as the “Countess of Dufferin”. In 1901 the company became the Columbia River Lumber Company. Another 4-4-0 was added in 1904. In 1908-1912 all of these locomotives would be replaced by four Heisler locomotives, for which the company would become best known for operating. The company continued to operate in Golden and Donald until 1929 when the equipment was transferred through their parent company, Canadian Western Lumber, to another subsidiary, Comox Logging & Railway.
Finally, in 1899 the Ymir Sawmill Company was operating a small pole road running two miles from their logging site to their mill site using a single horse-drawn car of 3000 board foot capacity.
In 1892 the McLaren-Ross lumber company had a route surveyed for a logging railway from Cultus Lake to the C.P.R. at the Fraser River, but never started construction.
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