hi fellow travelers graham here today we're at the mclean mill national historic site
unfortunately the visitors center and gift shop
british columbia's forest industry it's a steam-powered sawmill typical of many
of the operations that existed in the province between the 1880s and 1940s
the mill site is located on 12 and a half hectares of land and contains 35 buildings and structures
including the operational steam-powered mill
the land the mill sits on was purchased by robert bartlett mclean who moved there with
his wife cora and his three sons arnold philip and walter the mill was completed in 1927 and ran as
a family operated business eventually taken over by arnold who then passed the business
on to his son howard mclean who continued running the mill until it closed in 1965.
one of the main reasons that the aging mill finally closed was because of competition
from larger lumber companies in the area the mill was acquired by the city of port alberni in 1988
through donations from the mclean family and macmillan blowdell and with the assistance
of parks canada and forestry renewal bc the sawmill was restored to a fully working condition
the other structures on site include a variety of wooden garages storage structures and outbuildings
as well as a cluster of residences and administrative buildings and a rail line
the mill pond dam and equipment have been reconstructed and some of the residences and
service buildings have also been preserved much of the original machinery and the mill
buildings have survived making it a rare example of early logging operations in british columbia
for this reason the mclean mill was designated a national historic site in 1989
and on july 1st 2000 the mill was officially open to visitors heading along the main road
to the mill you can see a group of buildings used by the people who lived on this site
all of these structures are original except for the rb mclean house which
was rebuilt into a modern facility for washrooms
constructed around 1927 this cookhouse was one of the first structures to be built on site
the original building included a dining room kitchen and bedroom
as well as the pantry on the north side of the building
the first cook on site would have been mclean's
wife cora who was well known for her donuts a favorite of her husbands
the cookhouse would have been the center of camp life
and all of the workers on site would have stopped by for meals or a cup of coffee
this building is a house that bill morissette built for his bride in 1929
throughout the years many different workers and their families would have lived in this structure
across the other side of the pond is where the majority of logging would have been done
unfortunately that area has been blocked for some work that's being done to restore the dam
but when it's open you can see the log a-frame that was used like a crane
to load logs from the trucks into the pond as well as the original mclean steam donkey engine
the harvested logs would have been brought from the pond
and up to the steam mill along this conveyor
under the mill you can see some of the steam-powered
machinery that ran the equipment above
the main steam engine was built by wyland machine works in 1890
that engine powered the headsaws as well as the belts and drives that ran the other machinery
within the mill was all the equipment that would complete the three steps required to manufacture
lumber first the raw logs would be cut into slabs these slabs were then trimmed and cut into boards
before finally the boards would be cut to standard lengths the mill manager decided what type of
lumber needed to be cut to fill a particular order but each step of the process would be
directed by an employee whose job it was to decide how to get the most value from each piece of wood
on the west side of the mill lumber would get dipped in a chemical bath to prevent mold
and discoloration of the wood then it would be stacked to dry before getting shipped to market
some of the shipping was done by truck but the mclean mill was also connected by rail
rail cars are pulled out to the main line by a small locomotive
that was built by westminster ironworks in 1928
was nicknamed the buddha because it was run by a small gas engine made by buda manufacturing
right now the mclean mill is only open for self-guided tours but here's hoping that it
can open again soon and restore some of the services that were available in recent years
including demonstrations of the mill in action tours on the alberni pacific railway
a gift shop canteen and celebration space as well as running other educational programs
of course keeping up with the maintenance of
the mill in the many historic buildings is a monumental task
and it would be great to see this historic site get the attention and
funding it deserves to continue its restoration
and remember if you enjoyed this video we'll be headed off on another adventure soon
check out our interactive map so you can see other historic sites that we've been to