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2nd Issue
June, 1965

THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER 5

LOGGING MUSEUM

IWA
IN THE COWICHAN VALLEY

A unique project, the Cowichan Valley Forest Museum
at Duncan, Vancouver Island, is both a monument and

tribute to those early loggers whose sweat and blood

over the past 100 years have given prosperity and life
to the Cowichan Valley and surrounding communities.

The museum, situated on twenty-five acres of beau-
tiful wooded land, owes its existance to the vision and
generosity of one of its directors, Mr. Gerald E. Wellburn.

Determined to keep alive the traditions of an in-
dustry in which he has been associated with for forty
years, Mr. Wellburn has devoted the past fifteen years
and spent thousands of dollars to gather a fine col-
lection of logging relics which he exhibited previously at
his home in Deerholme.

His collection included nearly everything from a
Shay locomotive to the old steam pot donkey and model
T Ford crummy. As the years went by the fame of his
collection grew to the point where it became impossible
for him to accommodate the vast number of visitors.

The B.C. Government became aware of his prob-
lem and offered him a substantial sum of money for the
collection, with the view of displaying it in Victoria.
Mr. Wellburn, anxious to see his collection remain in the
Cowichan district, proposed to the City of Duncan that
if it would set up a museum, he would turn down the
Government's bid and give the City the collection for a

’ fraction of the price already offered.

His proposal met with wide approval and after a
series of meetings a plan was drafted to make the
museum a joint project of the City of Duncan, the Muni-
cipality of North Cowichan and the Village of Lake
Cowichan.

A number of private citizens plus some companies
in the forest industry made financial contributions. Others
in the community including a large number of Local
1-80 IWA members volunteered their labour.

One of the big problems faced by museum officials
was to find suitable land in a central location. Finally,
after months of searching, a fine tract of land bordering
beautiful Somenos Lake was obtained for $35,000.

The next job was to transport the collection from
Mr. Wellburn’s home and set it up for display on the
new site. New roads were bulldozed and a mile-
long railway was constructed with overhead bridges
and underpasses, plus a 300-foot trestle jutting out over
Somenos Lake. -

A visit to the museum is a must for those interested
in the history of logging. All the machinery is still op-
erative and for anyone going there with children, the
price of admission includes two rides on the train pulled
by one of the three steam locomotives,

MUSEUM DIRECTOR. Gerald
Wellburn left, and Local 1-80 3rd
Vice-President Del Pratt examine
1926 Plymouth gasoline switch
engine.

FIR LOG over 1000 years old on
one of the first wooden railway
cars used to haul logs out of the
bush.

1920 SHAY ENGINE used by
Hillcrest Logging Company. The
smaller engine was built at the
Vulcan Iron Works in 1894. All
the locomotives, with the excep-
tion of the Plymouth, are. used to
pull the passenger cars on the
railway.

SEE ALSO PAGES 6 &7

SS

COWICHAN VALLEY!
RAILWAY

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