‘Pen Pictures’ of Cowichan a Morale Booster for Local Men Serving Overseas
April 1918. No one knew it but the First World War, the worst yet in history, had six more months to go. This was a matter of great interest to Cowichan Valley residents because Duncan had the highest enlistment per capita in all of Canada.
That’s when the Duncan Board of Trade (the Chamber of Commerce of its day) chose to publish a small pamphlet on Valley industries and enterprises. Not for investors or tourists as would normally be the case, but for the edification of local men who were serving in the trenches.
Originally written by Cowichan Leader editor Hugh Savage and published as two articles in the Vancouver Daily Province, the Duncan Board of Trade, W.A. McAdam, secretary, had them reprinted in pamphlet form for free distribution. The pamphlet, sized to fit an ordinary business envelope, was intended primarily for relatives “to send to any men they have or may know at the front or to anyone overseas”.
The BoT’s intention in going to the expense of distributing such a brochure appears to have been intended as a morale booster by offering its men in uniform the hope of jobs and opportunities upon their returning home.
With no end of the First World War in sight, Mail Call was one of the most important of rituals for Canadians fighting overseas. We have to wonder what Cowichan servicemen thought of the brochure mailed to them by the Duncan Board of Trade that summarized the state of the local economy and post-war job prospects for returning veterans.
Whether or not it succeeded, it provides us with an insightful look at the state of affairs prevailing in the Cowichan Valley in April 1918, and the perceived prospects for the immediate post-war future.
Under the heading UNSURPASSED TIMBER, Savage explained, “The description ‘Cowichan’ employed here does not mean the small land district adjoining Cowichan Bay, Vancouver Island, but indicates the territory between Malahat Mountain on the south, Chemainus on the north, and westwards takes in the Cowichan Lake district and the Nitinat region on the west coast of Vancouver Island. In order of value Cowichan industries are lumber, agriculture and mining.
“Until recent years Australian lumber importers knew Chemainus as a British Columbia port far better than they did Victoria and equally as well as Burrard Inlet. Just as the Hastings Mill proclaimed Vancouver so did the Victoria Lumber & Manufacturing Co.’s Mill advertise Chemainus. It is one of the province’s oldest mills and one of its largest contributors to the export lumber trade.
“At Horse Shoe Bay, Chemainus is one of the two points in Cowichan where ships and steel meet. The other is seven miles south of it at Crofton. There long train loads of scarred logs are delivered by a branch line of the E.& N. Railway, dumped in the sea, boomed and towed down Sansum Narrows into Cowichan Bay, where the other large tidewater mill of the district lies hidden away under the face of Mount Tzouhalem. This is the Genoa Bay Lumber Co.’s mill, so named after the beautiful indentation of Cowichan Bay proper.
“Four years ago Admiralty charts marked this point as a “ruin.” Yard capacity of 8,000,000 feet now tells a different story. The mill has a capacity of 100,000 feet per day, employs 145 hands, has a monthly payroll of $10,000, and this year will have exported overseas some twenty per cent. of its cut. The Chemainus mill has a capacity of 200,000 feet per day, employs 320 hands at the mill, has a monthly payroll of $20,000, and including contract workers in the woods and on the railway, gives employment to some 500 men, among whom some $35,000 is distributed monthly.
The wartime demand for lumber kept the Genoa sawmill busy and held out a promise of jobs for returning servicemen. Almost inevitably, the war was followed by a recession.
“Its hungry maw is fed from extensive timber limits in its immediate vicinity as well as from Cowichan Lake, reached by a branch line of the E. & N. Railway from Duncan. All the grist for Genoa comes from ‘the lake’.
“The largest ‘inland’ mill is that of the Shawnigan Lake Lumber Co. at Shawnigan Lake. Its capacity is 60,000 feet per day and some 150 men are on the payroll. It has seven and a half miles of railway connecting its limits westward of the lake. There are a number of smaller mills, the Sicker Siding Mill near Westholme, Eldorado Lumber Co.’s mill at Tyee siding, Hillcrest Lumber Co.’s mill near Duncan. All are booming along. A small mill is about to be operated by R. McLay at Cobble Hill and “Hindu” interests are erecting another not far from Sahtlam on the lake branch line. [He’s referring to Mayo Singh and the future community of Paldi.—Ed.]
“Granted efficient management the small mill, capable of being moved from one section to another, should be an important factor in the schemes of an informed Land Settlement Board. It is possible to liquidate the cost of land clearing by the sale of lumber derived from trees removed.
“Some four hundred men are employed at ‘the lake’ logging camps which include the Empire Lumber Co. and Hemmingsen Bros.’ outfit. The Cowichan River may not now be used for lumbering. Thus logs are hoisted to the cars at the foot of the lake. Klein Bros. have a logging gang getting out piles at Cowichan Bay, and the Sylvania Lumber Co. are operating east of Shawnigan Lake. Both camps are of recent development.
“It is no exaggeration to say that around Cowichan Lake and westward to the Nitinat is probably the best–certainly one of the best–untouched stands of timber in the world. Present demand for logs is supplied from operations around the edge of the lake. All this timber is owned by Eastern Canadian and local interests. It includes Douglas fir, cedar, and some spruce.
“The forest products of Cowichan are not without their romance. Toronto harbour works, the mines of the Witwatersrand and Australia are as familiar with Douglas fir as are the prairie farmers.
“Many a lean submarine chaser was evolved from the ‘big sticks’ of the Cowichan hills. No small part of the material used in the British Columbia lumber motor schooners shared the birthplace of practically all the shipknees used in their construction. This shipknee industry still flourishes, present operations being at Somenos, near Duncan. Trees are felled, the roots exposed, and the knees fashioned from stump and root. They fill the office of giant “elbows” binding the ship structure together. No joined timber has sufficient strength.
“In 1915 two-fifths of the cargo shipments of lumber from this province went from Cowichan tidewater mills. Twenty-three ships, five sail, the remainder steam, carried this 20,845,365 feet. Owing to American competition the stream of vessels, stately wind-jammers, sliding down Juan de Fuca Strait, rusty-sided steamers rolling past Cape Flattery, had dwindled to a mere trickle…
“Other phases of lumber exploitation demand notice. One is perhaps most evident at Cobble Hill whence numberless cars of cordwood are shipped to Victoria. Railroad ties make for additional industry. Many thousands of them are rotting on the C.N.R. right-of-way.
COPPER MINING
The Tyee Mine, Mount Sicker, in its heyday as a phenomenally rich copper producer. Long shut down by 1918, attempts were being made to re-open it. But it would take another 20 years and another world war before it resumed production, this time for its lead and zinc not copper.
“Up to a year ago mining in Cowichan was largely a matter of history. The first seven years of this century saw that history made in the discovery and exploitation of copper properties. Chief among these was the Mount Sicker group. From the Tyee mine alone some $2,500,000 gross of ore was shipped to the company’s smelter at Ladysmith. The English interests concerned disposed of this smelter a few months back, and American capital, represented by the Ladysmith Smelting Corporation, is now operating the plant. A feature of the Tyee mine was the overhead cable by which ore was brought down the mountain to the railway at Tyee siding. It was one of the first erected in the province. The closing down of the Tyee mine was due probably, as much to the death of its manager, Mr. Clermont Livingstone [sic], as to the lower copper market.
“The Lenora-Mount Sicker was also a big shipper. The late Mr. Henry Croft, Victoria, was closely associated with this mine, the ore from which was treated at the company’s own smelter at Crofton, being taken thither by a light railway. The interests of this North Western Smelting & Refining Company subsequently became merged in those of the Britannia Smelter Company. The Crofton smelter was dismantled following the drop in copper about 1907. [Savage was way off the mark on this point, the smelter having been acquired by the Britannia copper mining interests and used sporadically over several years. At the time he wrote this the smelter was sitting idle; as late as 1928, the late Jack Fleetwood told me, he and his brother Doug had explored the abandoned buildings.—Ed.]
“There were hundreds of claims and prospects on Mount Sicker, but the only other producer was the Richard III, which shipped for some six months to Crofton and Ladysmith. The revival of copper mining has thus far left Mount Sicker undisturbed, but there are indications that such may not long be the case. [Attempts to revive the Tyee and Lenora mines in the early ‘20s failed; not until the late ‘30s and the Second World War did they have a second go-round, this time for their lead and zinc ores.—Ed.]
“A few cars of ore were shipped some ten or twelve years ago from the King Solomon and Blue Bell properties in the Koksilah group. Within the past year interest in this section has been revived by two shipments made to the Anyox smelter from the Finlay mine. Operations there are temporarily suspended. [Neither of these mines became producers.—Ed.]
“Even in these prosaic days romance clings to mining. One of the stories tells how an old prospector on his deathbed in Seattle revealed to a friend the location of gold he had found in the Gordon River district some thirty-five years ago. Rising near Cowichan Lake this stream flows into San Juan Harbour. However the story may be, the discovery of the Blue Grouse copper mine is due to prospectors whose aim was placer gold. One of them shot a blue grouse and noticed the mineral outcrop where the bird fell. This property is six miles up Cowichan Lake, and one and a half miles back in the hills. From the claims, now optioned by the Gordon Bay Mines, Limited, approximately 1,000 tons of ore have been shipped this year. It is high grade, carrying copper and silver, and averages $30 a ton. Adjoining claims have been bonded to interests represented by Mr. J.D. Grayson, Victoria, and development work is proceeding.
“On Mount Richards, near Westholme, many claims were staked some seventeen years ago and eventually abandoned. Most prominent of these were the Yreka and Lord Roberts. Attention has been directed to this region by workings in recent months.
“After the Cariboo gold rush miners searched out the territory nearer home. Thus from the Leach [sic] River region, thirty miles northwest of Victoria, a considerable amount of gold was taken. The western section of Cowichan is known only to the few, while northwards from Cowichan Lake is a little prospected belt lying within the E. & N. land grant.
“Lime in immense quantities exists at Cobble Hill near the Frondeg farm, which has been given for five years to the provincial government to utilize for training returned soldiers. This was the gift of one Victoria newspaper proprietor. Another has a large ranch also at Cobble Hill. At the foot of Malahat Mountain, on Saanich Inlet, are the large works (now shut down) of the Associated Cement Company of Canada, Limited, Bamberton. [Bamberton would resume full-scale operation and operate into the 1960s.—Ed.]
AGRICULTURAL CONDITIONS
“There are all kinds of land and all kinds of people ‘operating’ it in Cowichan. Results vary with the personal factor. Just now the myriad agricultural problems which were unapproached by farmers or government in the days of pernicious prosperity, are augmented by acute dearth of labour and, in the unorganized section, by a bitterly resented supertax on improved land.
“The backbone of agriculture here is dairy farming. Some of the finest herds of Holsteins, Jerseys, Guernseys and Ayrshires are to be found here. Cowichan occupies a high place in poultry production. Fruit growing is successfully carried on by a few. Berries grow prolifically and are of excellent quality. Some greenhouses assist in supplying the needs of Vancouver and Victoria, whither practically all the export is directed. The Vancouver Island Flockmasters’ Association (founded 1893) has headquarters at Duncan, and for the last two years has marketed co-operatively in Vancouver clips averaging some 15,000 pounds of wool.
“Rich bottom land is limited in area. Few of the holdings run over a hundred acres. High-priced feed, disadvantageous seasons, limited improved acreage, and labour shortage have adversely affected agriculture generally.
“In spite of this co-operative effort by the farmers and appreciation of their condition by the government, would go far towards increasing production and enlarging existing markets.
“In Cowichan there are farmers’ organizations ‘to burn,’ but, like every other agricultural section of the province, there is lacking that organization which can result only from intelligent application by farmers to business principles and co-operative effort and from a radical change in the government policy towards the industry.
“The Cowichan Creamery at Duncan enjoys a reputation for successful co-operative effort. Last fall there was launched a farmers’ union movement which was formally organized in Victoria last March as the United Farmers of British Columbia. With aims similar to those of prairie farmers the union cause is making slow progress, despite the favourable whip of the supertax rousing the farmers to action. Its future rests with the farmers of the province.
“Including grants from Ottawa there is a round quarter million dollars set apart to be spent on agricultural administration in British Columbia this year. Opinion is general in Cowichan that an adoption of the county agent or district representative system, in vogue in the U.S.A. and in Ontario, would render invaluable assistance to everyone on the land at far less cost than by the methods which at present give the farmer little or no help.
“Cowichan agricultural conditions are complicated.
“No inconsiderable section of the land is held by residents who have private means and who came primarily because Cowichan is a splendid rural residential district. Thus it is extremely hard to quote present farm values. Assessments have kept pace with the residential factor, plus the influence of general boom times. The cry now is for reduction to a basis of productive value. In North Cowichan, the second oldest municipality in the province, taxation is comparatively low. [Those were the days!—Ed.]
“The completion of the island line of the C.N.R. will go far towards opening up the resources of this district. The completed grade skirts the northern shore of Cowichan Lake, dips near to Nitinat Lake and strikes northwards to Alberni Canal. It is sprouting second growth, but the roadbed has settled for good. It still waits steel and bridges. Enquiry will reveal definite sources of water power. At the mouth of Nitinat Inlet the Lummi Bay Packing Company (Vancouver and Bellingham), have this year erected a cannery and sawmill. These interests have acquired purse seine licenses around the island, including one adjacent to the preserved area of Cowichan Bay. This latter is opposed by Cowichan people on the ground of spoiliation [sic] rather than legitimate exploitation of the sources of rich food. There is a Dominion government hatchery at Cowichan Lake. An oyster company operated until recently at Chemainus and the sea abounds with clams and crabs....”
A century later, Savage’s candid appraisal of the Cowichan Valley’s leading industries and business prospects in that final year of the First World War seems to be a curious document to mail to local men who were in the thick of battle.
Wartime services deemed to be essential and thus worthy of government subsides would obviously be subject to drastic curtailment upon the return of peacetime. There would be jobs in the woods and on farms, yes, but other than the newly-discovered Blue Grouse Mine, and the nascent cement works at Bamberton, large-scale mining operations in the Cowichan Valley had come and gone with the short-lived copper boom on Mount Sicker.
And the hoped-for extension to Port Alberni and beyond by the Canadian Northern Pacific Railway (already bankrupt and absorbed within the Canadian National Railways by the federal government), never made it past the head of Cowichan Lake. So there would be no jobs there.
But no one knew these things, of course, or that the ‘Great War’ would be followed by a recession, then a few—too few—years of the ‘Roaring ‘20s’ before the decade-long Great Depression and the Second World War. Did the Duncan Board of Trade hope that Hugh Savage’s treatise on the state of industry in the Cowichan Valley in the spring of 1918 would kindle the hope of jobs and opportunities in the minds of local men serving in European battlefields?
With no end of the war yet in sight (November’s Armistice would come totally unexpectedly), were they in fact encouraged by the offered prospect of coming home to jobs and prosperity in peacetime?
The answer is another minor mystery of the past, I’m afraid.
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