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Copies of letters (July 28, 1952; March 1, 1954) and attachments from Squamish Towing and Contracting Co. to Robert E. Sommers, Minister of Lands and Forests, concerning the application of Empire Mills Ltd. for a private management licence in the Squamish district.

The series consists of appraisal reports of reverted lands from the New Westminster land district, 1931 to 1932. These reports are in two volumes and are divided into arbitrary land areas labeled "F", "E", "G", and "H". Reports are arranged numerically by report number. Information may include assessment district, land registry office, legal description, date of forfeiture, plan number, acreage, suitability, improvements, soil, water supply, irrigation or diking, accessibility, nearest settlement or Post Office, nearest school, topography, and assessed and appraised value. The report usually includes a coloured sketch map of the property. The information is indexed by District Lot number to report number.

This series consists of resource management records created from 1976-2000 by the Squamish Forest District, a division of the Vancouver Forest Region. These records relate to the use and management of natural resources in the area, as well as recreation resources in Provincial forests. This includes trails and historical sites with value for tourism or other recreational uses. The records document the location, management, promotion and use of such sites.

The series includes the following types of records: range management plans, recreation management plans, silviculture program evaluations, district program evaluations, and recreation resource inventories.

The ministries responsible for creating these records, and the years that they were responsible, are:
Ministry of Forests (1976-1986)
Ministry of Forests and Lands (1986-1988)
Ministry of Forests (1988-2005)

The records were classified as 12380-25,12380-30, and 16350-20 in the Forest Operational Records Classification System (ORCS).

This series consists of silviculture experiment files created from 1910-2005 by the Squamish Forest District, a division of the Vancouver Forest Region. The ministry defines silviculture as “the art and science of controlling the establishment, growth, composition, health, and quality of forests and woodlands to meet the diverse needs and values of landowners and society on a sustainable basis.” These files document the historical silviculture treatment work that has been undertaken on specific areas of land that are referred to as openings.

The majority of the records are silviculture opening files. These files were created from the 1970s on, but may include earlier records. Openings document the historical silviculture treatment work that has been undertaken on specific areas of land that are referred to as openings. These files regard changes in the forest cover, changes in prescriptions, cut boundaries and records involving impacts on silvicultural treatments. Files may contain a wide variety of record formats including textual records, maps and photos. The textual records include computer printouts, photocopies, cards, field notes, reports and correspondence.

All opening files include maps or site plans, a forest attribute cover form and other documents related to the opening. Additional documents commonly found in files include: various survey or assessment forms; computer printouts titled the History of Crop Establishment and Tending which provides a history of use and information regarding prescriptions, site preparations, reforestation and stand tending; prescription documents, which provide the management plan for the area; stand tending cards and reports, which show completed forest treatments; and various reports.

Other types of records relate to audits and assessments for major licensees, a 5 year silviculture plan for the district, and
silviculture trials.

The ministries responsible for creating these records, and the years that they were responsible, are:
Ministry of Forests (1976-1986)
Ministry of Forests and Lands (1986-1988)
Ministry of Forests (1988-2005)

The records were classified as 12380-30, 18765-20, 18750-20 and 18990-20 in the Forest Operational Records Classification System (ORCS).

This series consists of a variety of records related to timber tenures created from 1976-1999 by the Squamish Forest District, a division of the Vancouver Forest Region.

The series includes the following types of timber tenures: replaceable forest licences, licences to cut, special use permits, timber licences, replaceable timber sale licences and non replaceable timber sale licences. The majority of files relate to cutting permits. Licensees were required to apply for a forest licence or similar tenure and cutting permits in order to harvest timber. Records regard the issuance, evaluation, administration, monitoring, planning, replacement, cancellation, deletion and extension of these timber tenures.

The records include legal documents, operations information, development plans, correspondence, forms, reports, maps, licences, charts, annual reports, development plans, permits, permit amendment or renewal documentation, applications, logging plans, reports, silviculture prescriptions, major licensee silviculture audits, stumpage adjustment, salvage information, and financial records.

There is also one order in council (OIC) export of timber products exemption approval file. This relates to the application for and granting of permission to export timber and timber products from the Province of British Columbia pursuant to S. 145 of the Forest Act, including inspection records.

The ministries responsible for creating these records, and the years that they were responsible, are:
Ministry of Forests (1976-1986)
Ministry of Forests and Lands (1986-1988)
Ministry of Forests (1988-2005)

The records were classified as 19500-45, 19500-55, 19540-25, 19570-25, 19580-55, 19600-30, 19600-45, 19600-55, 19600-60, 19620-25 and 20740-04 in the Forest Operational Records Classification System (ORCS).

The fonds consists of the records of Western Pulp Ltd. Partnership, mainly pertaining to the company’s Woodfibre pulp mill near Squamish, B.C. A very small number are records (mainly photographs) which pertain to the company’s pulp mill at Port Alice on northern Vancouver Island.

Most of the records date from after 1983, the year Western Pulp Ltd. Partnership was formed. However the fonds also consists of pre-1983 records which were inherited from the previous owners of the Woodfibre and Port Alice operations. Of the pre-1983 records, the majority date from the 1960s and were created by Rayonier Canada Limited.

A mill had been in operation at Woodfibre since 1912, when the British Columbia Sulphite Fibre Company Ltd. began pulp production at Mill Creek (the community was renamed Woodfibre in 1921). In 1917 ownership of the mill passed to Whalen Pulp and Paper Mills Ltd., who, in the same year, began operations at Port Alice. In 1925, these assets were purchased by the British Columbia Pulp and Paper Company Ltd., who operated the mills until 1951. At that time, the Alaska Pine Company Ltd. (owned by the Koerner family of Vancouver) joined Toronto-based Abitibi Power and Paper Company Ltd. to purchase the British Columbia Pulp and Paper Company Ltd. When the purchase was completed the combined properties of Alaska Pine Company Ltd. and the British Columbia Pulp and Paper Company Ltd. were merged. On April 25, 1951 the British Columbia Pulp and Paper Company Ltd. became Alaska Pine and Cellulose Ltd., with ownership split between the Koerner interests and Abitibi. This company now owned the pulp mills at Woodfibre and Port Alice, and employed 4,950.

In 1954 the Koerners sold their controlling interest in Alaska Pine and Cellulose Ltd. to Rayonier Inc. of New York. Alaska Pine and Cellulose Ltd. continued, now controlled by Rayonier. By 1959 Rayonier had purchased the balance of the stock, and on September 16, 1959 the Alaska Pine and Cellulose Ltd. name was changed to Rayonier Canada Limited. A second company, Rayonier B.C. Limited, was also incorporated, and in 1961 the name of that company was changed to Rayonier Canada (B.C.) Limited., who owned and operated the pulp mills until 1980.

Under Rayonier, in the 1960s, the houses in the Woodfibre townsite were demolished and families moved to Squamish and other Howe Sound communities.

It is not possible to state with certainty the function and activities which generated the records. However, a very large proportion of the records are photographs of construction projects in the mid-1980s; it appears the company intended to document the major mill modernization program of that period at Woodfibre.

In the pre-1983, inherited records, there is a particular emphasis on water-related subject matter. This includes: water supply, water licenses, water power, storage and water system infrastructure, dams, and water and precipitation data recording. Other significant subject matter of the pre-1983 records includes the mill’s appraised value and viability, property and land surveys, and historical writing about Woodfibre.

The archivist did not discover any original classification system. The archivist established artificial series based on: (1) whether the records were created by the company after 1983, or whether they were created by predecessor companies before 1983; and (2) the type of physical form and the creator’s rough organization. For example, the creator assembled most of the photographs generally in chronological order, mounted in photo albums.

The fonds consists of the following series:
MS-3129 - Photographs -- 1981-[2000?]; predominant 1984-1986
MS-3130 - Predecessor companies, office files -- 1910-2001; predominant ca. 1935-1983
MS-3131 - Office files -- 1988-2006
MS-3136 - Rayonier Canada Limited photographs -- [ca. 1963-1966]

Photographs are the predominant documentary form, including prints, negatives and 35mm slides. To a lesser degree, the fonds includes textual material, maps, plans, diagrams, and technical drawings. In the textual records, reports and studies (for example, by engineers and appraisers) are prominent. There are also company annual reports, year-end reviews, company newsletters and collected publications. There is a relatively small amount of correspondence and memoranda.

Note that by 2004, the term “Partnership” no longer appears in the company title, and the term “Woodfibre” was not officially used; therefore, records may refer to “Western Pulp Limited -- Squamish Operation” (or “Squamish Division”).