RECORDED: [location unknown], 1973-08-15 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Billy Thomas recalls growing up in the Chemainus area around the 1870's. His father came into the Cowichan district about 1862. Mr. Thomas describes early Chemainus; the mill; schooling; rail;way; water transportation; roads; clearing land; and cattle farming. [TRACK 2: blank.]

Two Provincial Police Court record books showing name of prosecutor, name of defendant, nature of the charge, costs, name of arresting office, name of gaol or lockup, order or conviction, amount of fine, name of presiding magistrate or justice and "remarks", 1912-1927 and 1938-1944.

Fonds pertains mainly to construction and operation of the Chemainus sawmill under the management of Victoria Lumber and Manufacturing Company until 1946, Victoria Lumber Company, 1946 to1950, and subsequently by MacMillan Bloedel Limited, Chemainus Division. It includes a small quantity of records pertaining to other MacMillan Bloedel operations on Vancouver Island. The fonds documents the rebuilding of the Chemainus sawmill in 1924-1925, particularly the interactions between suppliers and the mill builders, equipment design and placement and site and townsite planning. Further, the fonds documents Chemainus sawmill history before 1924 and the technical, mill site and town changes that occurred after reconstruction. The fonds consists of four series: Sawmill reconstruction and operation: administrative, construction and operational records of the Victoria Lumber and Manufacturing Company, Victoria Lumber Company Limited and MacMillan Bloedel Limited, Chemainus Division pertaining to the Chemainus sawmill reconstruction and operation, 1920 to 1989; Legal agreements and insurance policies, 1879-1947: legal agreements generated through the establishment and management of the Chemainus sawmill between 1879 and 1947; Financial records, 1913-1973: dated files of transactions in the form of invoices, credit vouchers and journal records, as well as ledgers, generated by the companies in possession of the Chemainus sawmill between 1906 and 1973; and Plans and drawings, 1920-198-: approximately 6000 technical drawings and cartographic material.

The Cowichan, Saltspring and Chemainus Agricultural Society was established in 1868. By 1910, the Society was known as the Cowichan Agricultural Society. It became the Cowichan Agricultural Society and Farmers' Institute before it disbanded in 1956.

Records include: minutes, 1868-1875, 1909-1960; account books; correspondence,1927-1959; and papers relating to property and exhibitions.

CALL NUMBER: T1885:0001 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): George R. Copley : a Vancouver Island logger (part 1) PERIOD COVERED: 1901-1960 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1961 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Copley born in Nanaimo in 1881. Began logging at Chemainus in 1901 for Victoria Lumber and Manufacturing Company. Matt Hemmingson as Superintendent. Logging and loading equipment, ca. 1901. Supervising Chinese workers. Logging camp conditions. Meals. Hauling methods. TRACK 2: Logging railway methods. Details on hauling equipment. Anecdote about explosives. Quit logging in 1907. River driving on the Cowichan River. Work in a small 'haywire' outfit. Problems with fleas and bedbugs. Anecdote about bear hunting. Identification of various photographs.

CALL NUMBER: T1885:0002 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): George R. Copley : a Vancouver Island logger (part 2) PERIOD COVERED: 1901-1960 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1961 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Continuation of the identification of photographs. The importance of the blacksmith in a logging camp. The mill at Chemainus, ca. 1902. Hand falling described. Copley describes his farm wood lot. (End of interview)

Thirty-five letters inward from Charles Edward Searle (tutor, Pembroke College, Cambridge University, England) to Thomas George Askew; nine letter books, 1884-1928, of Henry and John Hulbert, Sardis; 14 ledgers of Hulbert family farm, Sardis. (John Hulbert was the grandson of T.G. Askew, who built the first lumber mill at Chemainus.)

Presented from the estate of John Hulbert, Koksilah by David R. Williams, Duncan, 1975.

Finding aid: file list.

This series consists of correspondence, petitions, accounts, statements of population, and reports relating to land of Indigenous peoples in British Columbia from the Department of the Provincial Secretary.

The file consists of fire insurance plan sheets, including index and key map, for Chemainus, September 1957.

The item is a release print of an industrial film from 1956-1957. It shows the construction of the Georgia Gas Turbine Generating Station on Bare Point at Chemainus. Footage includes press conference with BC Power Commission general manager Lee Briggs, construction of power plant, cantilever tanker dock and fuel tank farm by Sandwell and Company Ltd., design of turbines in New York and transport operation, arrival of tanker "Oregon Standard" with first load of fuel. There is also a sequence on Vancouver Island communities and industries regarding their demand for electricity.

The series consists of four volumes of journals (4 vols.) describing Daniel Mainguy's activities.
Volume 1: voyage from England around Cape Horn to Vancouver Island from January to April 1863. Life at Chemainus and a visit to Victoria, January 1-14, 1869; departure from Victoria and return to England via San Francisco and New York and the first part of a lengthy visit in England, November 1876 to June 1877.
Volumes 2-3: activities in England, July 1877 to August 1878, including visits to the Channel Islands and France, return to Vancouver Island via Halifax and the U.S. from August to November 1878.
Volume 3: work on the CPR in the Fraser Canyon July 1882 to October 1883 and work as a constable at Chemainus from October to November 1884.
Volume 4: contains humorous accounts by others of a visit by Mainguy to Leamington in 1878, a stay in Halifax in 1878, and a trip from Drynoch to Spences Bridge at Christmas 1882.