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Vancouver Island (B.C.) Sawmills--British Columbia--Vancouver Island
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Kenneth McKenzie family personal and business papers

The McKenzie Family collection consists of the business and personal papers of Kenneth McKenzie (1811-1874), his ancestors and descendants, including correspondence, notebooks, diaries, and other papers. It documents over one hundred and fifty years of family history. The collection is divided into those records relating to Vancouver Island (Boxes 1-19) and those relating to Scotland (Boxes 20-25). The Vancouver Island papers contain correspondence and documents pertaining to Lakehill Farm, the settlement of estates, official appointments, and other family matters. They also chronicle the organization and operation of Craigflower Farm and, to a lesser extent, the other farms operated by the Puget's Sound Agricultural Company on Vancouver Island. The Scottish papers document family events, relationships and property from 1779 to 1852. Included is an extensive record of the protracted settlement of the estate of William Blair (Boxes 22-23). William Blair was the father of Janet McKenzie (Blair).

Born in Edinburgh October 5, 1811, the son of Dr. Kenneth McKenzie (1786-1844) and Janet Blair (1784-1820), Kenneth McKenzie was raised and educated in the same city. Later he moved to his father's estate of Rentonhall, Haddingtonshire, East Lothian where he managed the operations. The estate was sold in 1851 and McKenzie, his wife Agnes Russell (1823-1897) and their six children emigrated to Vancouver Island in 1853. McKenzie had been hired by the Puget's Sound Agricultural Company to oversee the establishment and operation of Craigflower Farm near Victoria. In 1866 the family, now with eight children, moved to Lakehill Farm just north of Victoria. Kenneth McKenzie died there April 10, 1874. A comprehensive biography of Kenneth McKenzie by William R. Sampson is in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography, X, pp.477-479. A rough genealogy of the McKenzie Family is provided in the hardcopy version of the finding aid.

Numbers appearing at the upper left corner of documents are references to the old catalogue system and should not be used for citation.

Boxes 1-4: Kenneth McKenzie (1811-1874) and family: correspondence inward
Box 5: McKenzie, Kenneth (1846-1906): correspondence inward
Box 6: Kenneth McKenzie (1811-1874) and Kenneth McKenzie (1846-1906): correspondence outward
Box 7: Kenneth McKenzie (1811-1874): notebooks and personal papers
Box 8: McKenzie Family: notebooks, diaries, correspondence and personal papers
Box 9: McKenzie Family: material relating to Lakehill property
Boxes 10-18: Craigflower Farm
Box 19: Puget's Sound Agricultural Company
Boxes 20-25: McKenzie family: material relating to Scotland. N.B. See also box 25 for further material relating to the estate of William Blair, d.1800

Correspondence

  • GR-1169
  • Series
  • 1860-1865

This series contains letters inward and outward of J.D. Pemberton and B.W. Pearse, Colonial Surveyors. It also includes copies of correspondence with Edward Stamp and Gilbert Malcolm Sproat pertaining to purchases of lands and various agreements on lands at Alberni and Barclay Sound in regard to the establishment and operation of a sawmill and a copper mining company. Includes a map of company land holdings in the Alberni valley.

Vancouver Island (Colony). Office of the Surveyor General

Macmillan Bloedel Limited. Alberni Pacific Division.

Schedule showing wages paid to apprentices, equipment operators, laborers, tradesmen, etc. at the Alberni operations of Macmillan Bloedel and its predecessors, 1930-1979. Includes wage scale surveys and nominal lists of Chinese, East Indians and Japanese employed at Great Central Sawmill, 1934-1941.

Loaned for microfilming by Harvey Dion, Macmillan Bloedel, Alberni Pacific Division, 1981.

MacMillan Bloedel. Alberni Pacific Division

[Bloedel, Stewart & Welch Ltd. : Port Alberni and Great Central]

Industrial film. Edited and inter-titled film showing Bloedel, Stewart and Welch facilities on Vancouver Island. Film highlights construction of Port Alberni sawmill, 1934-1935, from an empty site to an operating plant, and arrival in spring 1935 of the "Rio Dorado", the first ship to load at the company dock. Also includes footage of boat trip to Great Central and scenes in and around the Great Central townsite; the steamship "Princess Maquinna" is shown en route. B.S.&W. personnel shown and named in the film include E.P. Demens, J.H. Bloedel ["J.H.B."], and J.W. Stewart.

[Logging in B.C.]

Amateur film. Franklin River logging camp near Port Alberni. Felling and bucking trees. Close-up of power saw. Two men cutting down a tree with the power saw. Transporting logs. Loading rail cars (slack line unit). Mess hall. Sky line with lead moving logs. Logs dumped into the sea for sorting. "A modern mill": bull saw, splitters, graders, filing, drying, labelling, shipping. More sawmill footage.

McKay Lake

The item is a video copy of an amateur film, originally made ca. 1947. Shows Mayo Lumber Company operations near Nanaimo, including sawmill, railway and log booming operations.

Wood meets the challenge

The item is an industrial film. A young man who is skeptical about the future of the forest industry is taken to see various plants and operations. Illustrates the processes used and the diversity of wood products. Most of the film depicts MacMillan & Bloedel's Harmac plant and logging operations on Vancouver Island. There are also brief sequences aboard a ferry from Vancouver to the island.

Wood meets the challenge : [out-takes]

Out-takes. A young man who is skeptical about the future of the forest industry is taken to see various plants and operations. Illustrates the processes used and the diversity of wood products. Most of the film depicts MacMillan & Bloedel's Harmac plant and logging operations on Vancouver Island. There are also brief sequences aboard a ferry from Vancouver to the island.

Edward Cox interview

RECORDED: [location unknown], 1965-08-08 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Cox recounts his family coming to Alberni; his grandfather worked at the Cape Beale Lighthouse in 1879; his father was the first Provincial Policeman in Alberni; his mother's father [Kirkpatrick] was the first blacksmith and came to Alberni in 1886. He describes Indian ceremonial dances he witnessed performed at Alberni in the longhouses; he discusses Indian culture and language. He recalls Alberni mills and logging the town; and schooling. TRACK 2: Mr. Cox continues his recollections about Alberni; transportation; the stage; railway; water transportation; doctors; miners; policing; automobiles; roads; Port Alberni; early settlers; and farming. He recalls his work on the CPR ships that went from Alberni to Victoria, stopping at Port Renfrew and Clo-oose. He talks about the telegraph trail and station at Bamfield; the wreck of the "Carelmapu"; stopping at Ucluelet and Clayoquot; the whaling stations.

Jack Hills interview

RECORDED: [location unknown], 1965-08-10 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Hills recounts his family's coming to and settling in Alberni in 1885. He describes the town site; making a living; the mills; clearing the land; transportation; roads; the stage in 1890; railway; early characters; schooling; the creamery; farming in the valley; settlements; Port Alberni; World War I; and lumber mills. TRACK 2: Mr. Hills continues with his discussion about Anderson; Mill, the stamp mill, located in Port Alberni; the naming of Alberni; mining; logging; the railway; the cable line; and social life in Alberni. He recalls Indian settlements in Alberni; their ceremonial dances; fishing; hunting techniques; dugout canoes; and their relationship with early settlers. He talks about Adam Horne; Malcolm Sproat; his father and mother; his childhood; his first work as a shepherd; cougars; and bears.

Stanley Grant interview

RECORDED: [location unknown], 1965-08-08 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Grant talks about Qualicum Tom; his father, Robert Grant, establishing the mill in Cumberland for Dunsmuir; mine explosions at Cumberland; his father, Robert Grant; the Cumberland mill. ; Mr. Grant moved to Clayoquot, Stubbs Island in 1927 and operated a store. He describes life in the area; the telegraph line; sea lions; transportation; W.T. Dawley's general stores; fur trading; Dawley's Hotel and George Nicholson. TRACK 2: Mr. Grant describes the changes in Clayoquot from 1930 to 1960; Betty Farmer; the Gibson family from Ahousat-Matilda Creek; local characters; Zeballos; prospectors; a local murder; 24th of May celebrations; Grant and pelt trading incidents.

Alma Sloman interview

RECORDED: [location unknown], 1966-09-02 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mrs. Sloman recounts her father, Jacob Arnet, coming to Clayoquot, circa 1893, from Norway; early fishing and processing of fish; pre-emptions; boat building; Indians; seasonal migration of Indians; Indian sealers; early Clayoquot; transportation; sawmill; family life; Methodist missionaries and Tofino in 1911. TRACK 2: Mrs. Sloman continues with her description of early Tofino; naming; of the community; life at Ucluelet; schooling; George Fraser; her family's return to Tofino; family life; their floating summer house; canneries; children from the Indian reserve; shipwreck; Long Beach; mail delivery; CPR passenger ships; Clayoquot; Walter Dawley; early tourism and fishing.

Billy Thomas interview

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.]

H.G. "Harvey" Hanson interview

SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Head filer, Youbou; Superintendent, Vancouver Mill Division, BCFP PERIOD COVERED: 1923-1967 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1974 SUMMARY: Born in Minnesota, 1902. Came to Canada with parents. Father was mill manager in Vancouver. Worked in various mills as a filer in the 1920s. To Youbou, 1923, as head filer. Description of Youbou and the mill, etc. Superintendent, Vancouver mill, 1952-1960. Spruce milling. Mill fire of 1960. Superintendent at Youbou, 1961-1967. Retired, 1967.

Fred Wastell interview : [Reimer, 1974]

CALL NUMBER: T0547:0001 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Life in Alert Bay, 1909-29, and Telegraph Cove, 1929-74 PERIOD COVERED: 1909-1974 RECORDED: Telegraph Cove (B.C.), 1974-08-01 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Fred Wastell describes: early life in Alert Bay; description of Alert Bay, ca. 1910; prominent families in Alert Bay, 1910-20; sawmill and Indian village at Alert Bay; potlatches at Alert Bay; visitors' accommodation at Alert Bay, 1920s; cannery and fish hatchery in Alert Bay and Nimpkish area. Description of Alert Bay, 1910-20: settlers around Nimpkish Valley, 1912; Tracey & Garland Logging Co; Hand logging Operations, 1920s; sawmill operation and Beaver Cove, 1918. TRACK 2: Fred Wastell discusses: labour problems at Alert Bay; problems with sawmill organization at Alert Bay, ca. 1920; Wood and English mill at Englewood, 1924-25; description of Mr. Wood and Mr. English; Telegraph Cove sawmill operation, 1929-74; saltery operation and problems at Telegraph Cove, 1929-37 Japanese business practices, 1930s; cannery influence on government policy, 1920-40; labour supply at Telegraph Cove mill, 1920-74.

CALL NUMBER: T0547:0002 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Life in Telegraph Cove, 1929-74 PERIOD COVERED: 1899-1974 RECORDED: Telegraph Cove (B.C.), 1974-08-01 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Life in Telegraph Cove. Personnel and Jobs. Building of the road to Telegraph Cove. Advantages of a large mill operation over a small mill. Sointula Finnish commune settlement. Social conditions in Telegraph Cove. The naming of Telegraph Cove. [TRACK 2: blank; end of interview.]

West coast logging, Vancouver Island 1939

Documentary. "The scenes include a few brief views of Duncan on Vancouver Island in the early days, falling giant Douglas Fir with new chainsaws, bucking them into portable lengths, and the transportation of the logs by truck and railway. Good scenes at the base of the spar tree where the logs are being yarded out of the bush, tongs thrown about them with great skill, and the massive trunks lifted onto the rail cars by a steam donkey. Logs are loaded onto trucks by a gasoline donkey. There are scenes around the mill showing the arrival of the logs, the endless chain up onto the deck, the carriage which carries the logs through the circular saw, the edger, and all mill operations, including sorting in the lumber yard. A steam crane is shown working in the yard lifting and piling huge loads of lumber. A truck drives under the sawdust hopper and is loaded with sawdust which will be delivered to houses for stove fuel. And trucks leave the mill loaded with cut lumber. Also shown is an excellent tree-topping sequence with a high-rigger." (Colin Browne)

West coast logging, Vancouver Island 1939

Documentary. "The scenes include a few brief views of Duncan on Vancouver Island in the early days, falling giant Douglas Fir with new chainsaws, bucking them into portable lengths, and the transportation of the logs by truck and railway. Good scenes at the base of the spar tree where the logs are being yarded out of the bush, tongs thrown about them with great skill, and the massive trunks lifted onto the rail cars by a steam donkey. Logs are loaded onto trucks by a gasoline donkey. There are scenes around the mill showing the arrival of the logs, the endless chain up onto the deck, the carriage which carries the logs through the circular saw, the edger, and all mill operations, including sorting in the lumber yard. A steam crane is shown working in the yard lifting and piling huge loads of lumber. A truck drives under the sawdust hopper and is loaded with sawdust which will be delivered to houses for stove fuel. And trucks leave the mill loaded with cut lumber. Also shown is an excellent tree-topping sequence with a high-rigger." (Colin Browne)

[Industry -- miscellaneous]

Television stock shots. Includes footage of: B.C. Forest Products (lumber mill construction & pulp mill construction); Utah Mines; B.C. Forest Products (aerial views); Ocean Cement, Bamberton ; MacDonald's Bakery, Victoria; McDonald's Hamburgers exteriors.

[Logging look]

News item. Footage shows logged-off areas beyond Sooke (?), logging truck being loaded by hydraulic loader; loaded truck on way to the mill; shots of sawmill (B.C. Forest Products, Sooke?); faller bringing down a tree.