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BLAST FROM THE PAST Ghost Rails
BY JOËLLE SÉVIGNY
Since I’ve moved to Powell River, the sound of a train whistle is but a forgotten memory. Yet, I remember that trains do in fact exist whenever I go to Vancouver Island since one of the first things you pass on your way into Comox is just that; a train crossing!
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Today, one of the only remaining railways in our part of the coast is the one used at the paper mill and the miniature one in Paradise Valley! However, if you look back 100 years ago, Powell River had a number of railroads. They were visible just walking in town.
You can see this in the 1911 photograph demonstrating the Michigan and Puget Sound Railway crossing the Powell River Company Railway line on the intersection of 2nd Street (now Ash) and Oceanview (now Marine Avenue).
FOR LOGGING & MINING, NOT TRAVEL:in 1911, the Michigan and Puget Sound Railway crossed what’s now Ash and Marine.
Overall, there were about 16 railways operated by different companies in this upper part of the Sunshine Coast. Most of the railroads were predominantly used to transport timber, however two of them served as transportation for mining and quarrying activities.
Thus, for logging purposes, the railway lines often ventured from settlements out far into the backcountry. The Eagle River and Northern Railway which began at Stillwater (then known as Scow Bay) went all the way up to Spring Lake.
FOR LOGGING & MINING, NOT TRAVEL: the same railway crosses the Powell River, about where the Wildwood Bridge is now.
In later years, with logging going further and further back into the mountains, using railways became impractical and so they were eventually replaced by logging trucks.
When you’re hiking in the area, you can often see old wharf pillars in lakes; if you look carefully you can also see old rail lines in the forest; and if you’re looking harder, you may even find old railway equipment half buried in the earth.
Blast from the Past is a monthly historical column written by the Townsite Heritage Society’s board member Joëlle Sévigny.
