On Sept 27th as part of the CIF Annual Meeting program in Nanaimo, FHO Board members Terry Schwan and Jim Farrell were treated to an excellent field tour that included visits to beautiful Cowichan Lake, a very successful pole plant in Ladysmith and monstrous trees in Chemainus, but the highlight was certainly the time we were hosted at the BC Forest Discovery Centre in Duncan, BC.
Its origins go back to well before the opening of the then named BC Forestry Museum in 1965 to the 1930’s when a visionary entrepreneur (Gerry Wellburn) started a logging company called Wellburn Timbers Ltd that pioneered many of the new forestry equipment that became available at the time, including being the first to use Caterpillar trucks and tractors in the bush. Gary subsequently sold his company to his friend H.R. MacMillan of MacMillan and Bloedel fame, but continued his passion of collecting forestry artifacts, from huge locomotives to handheld logging tools. This provided the starting point for the incredible collection on display today.
The Centre covers 100 acres and can be viewed from the comfort of their own train which winds 2.5 kms through the property and boasts its own trestle over adjacent Somenos Lake. The tour train is hauled by both gas and diesel/electric locomotives and on special occasions they pull out the big steam engine, ‘Samson’. Their very energetic and creative General Manager, Chris Gale, is supported by a great network of enthusiastic volunteers who log in over 10,000 hours, year in and year out.
It was an excellent 2 hour visit and one could easily spend an entire day there and not see everything. Its definitely worth a visit, including going out of your way to take it in.
Pic #1 The tour train and you can see the gas locomotive in the background ‘The Green Hornet’
Pic #2 The train station (North Cowichan Stn) and commissary (getting all decked out for Halloween)
Pic #3 The high energy General Manager, Chris Gale
Pic #4 Lake Cowichan BIG Douglas Fir…. Not at the Discovery Centre, but everyone loves a big tree
Pic #5 Story of the electric chainsaw..and I thought it was a recent invention!
Pic #6 Fascinating history of the chainsaw (not the greatest pic, but hope you can read most of it).
Pic #7 Some of the volunteers have been there a while (the one of the left)!
Pic #8 The huge Letourneau 25 Stacker (they have a Model 20 as well) that can unload a truck full of logs in one lift!
Pic #9 Two of the old locomotives that hauled logs from the bush to the mills, before the development of comprehensive road networks and large trucks.
Pic #10 Terry Schwan, Board members, in one of the many period buildings jam packed full of fascinating histories of BC forestry.
