Along Johnstone Strait between Alert Bay and Telegraph cove there is a huge Wet Log Sorting Facility.
This is an example of British Columbia's declining soft wood industry partly due to illegal tariffs placed on wood products by the Bush Administration coming into the U. S. There was no activity and the facility appeared to be closed.
Canadian Forest Products bought the property and in the early 1950s began construction on the railway that connects the Nimpkish Lake area with the coast. Crown Zellerbach, which had bought Beaver Cove from Canadian Forest Products in 1946, moved the settlement up the hill to Kokish and cleared the waterfront at the end of the rail line to create the flat log-sorting area visible today to anyone coming in by road.
The Nimpkish line is significant due to Locomotive 112, a 135-ton monster that hauled logs as late as 1971, making it probably the last working logging locomotive in North America.
1 comment:
My name is Mike Boileau and I am now a 58 year old, disabled man living in Maple Ridge, BC. Today was the 42 year anniversary of my time at Kokish, BC. As a young man of 16 I was dispatched to Kokish by the Logger's Agency on Carrel Street in Vancouver. From there I boarded a bus that seemed to take forever to get to this far away place in the woods. Was I ever out of my element but with the Cook, Louis Gianni and the Baker, Paul Turnbull, I was made to feel at home. It was the year we all gathered around Louis' TV to watch the Moon Landing on his set. Problem was we mostly saw "Snow" because the reception was not so good. Today I was feeling sorry for myself and as I was reminissing about those days I felt a sense of nostalgia. Louis Gianni has since passed away to leave our friend Paul Turnbull to live out his life alone, which I find rather sad. You see, back in 1969 I knew nothing of the "Man to Man relationships" that could occur but when I think about Louis and Paul, I can only think of them with fondness because they were so generous and welcoming.
Kokish is long gone also. All of that sumer of 1969 just memories now. Life goes on I suppose.
Post a Comment