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| Middle Basin, Westview Harbour at Powell River |
We departed Okeover Inlet on September 9
th retracing our steps
back through Malaspina Inlet then rounded Sarah Point and headed southeast
along Malaspina Strait formed by several islands in the Strait of Georgia.
Rather than stopping at Lund, we decided to continue
further south and stop at the Town of Powell River.
Having passed by this city in previous years,
we decided it was time to take a look.
The Harbour at Powell River can be a little confusing for visiting boaters. Called Westview Harbour, moorage is divided into three sections: the South Harbour, the middle harbor referred to as Westview, and the North Harbour. The North Harbour
is for permanent moorage with locked gates, while Westview (docks 1-6) and the South Harbour (docks 7-11) are used for fishing boats and transient boats. If directed to the South Harbour, you will want to finder well. A Harbourmaster's Office and showers are located at both the South and Westview Harbours.
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| Views of Georgia Strait from Powell River |
We had always assumed that it would be
difficult to find space at Powell River but the Harbormaster was very
helpful in directing us to available space at Westview and he waited at our assigned slip to help with lines.
We also assumed that
the city would not be very pleasant or interesting being that it is a Mill
Town, boy were we wrong!
The city of
over 20,000 residents is actually made up of three different areas:
Westview located above the harbour; Cranberry
Lake to the north; and Townsite to the northwest.
We were pleasantly surprised to discover a
variety of excellent restaurants, gift shops, coffee shops, and organic food
stores.
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| Willingdon Beach, start of Willingdon Beach Trail |
We enjoyed several meals out,
including Thai, Greek, and India cuisine.
Most of the restaurants are along the main street which is within easy
walking distance from the harbour and the expansive views from town overlooking
the Strait of Georgia are breath-taking.
For the energetic, visitors can hike the steep streets up the hill to Safeway
and other big box stores.
Backed by
several large lakes, Powell River offers all sorts of recreational activities
including a kayak/canoe route with developed portages, camping, hiking, and
fishing.
We also learned that Powell
River is the starting point for the 180 km (108 miles) Sunshine Coast Trail, the longest
hut-to-hut hiking experience in Canada.
There are 13 shelters along the trail with incredible views of the
lakes, ocean, and mountain peaks - currently no reservations or payment required!
Powell River seems to have it all for both
the young and the old.
We found Powell
River’s Westview to be very friendly, pleasant, and attractive.
In fact a neighboring local boater befriended
us and three ladies joined us for coffee extending a friendly chat.
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| Beautiful Willingdon Park Trail |
An interesting find at Powell River was yet
to come; we rode our bicycles along the Willingdon Beach Trail, which passes by
a lovely sandy beach and follows the shoreline through the forest to
“Townsite,” the location of the original settlement of Powell River.
Townsite sits above the Mill and reminded us
of Ocean Falls except that people still live in these beautiful historic homes,
and the buildings that once made up the company town are still being used by
businesses today.
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| Nice Views along the Trail |
The Townsite was
designated a National Historic District in 1995 and is quite unique.
Many of the buildings have been preserved
while others are in the process of being refurbished – 400 original buildings
contained within the original borders of the town plan at intact.
The pulp and paper mill was built on the
waterfront between 1910 and 1912.
Water
from Powell Lake was used to generate power for the mill which became known as
the Powell River Paper Company.
By 1930,
the Mill employed more than 2,000 workers.
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| A Portion of the War Ships Breakwater |
The Catalyst Paper Mill is the current operator and the employees of
today help support the Townsite community.
After WWII, dismantled warships and cargo ships were used as a floating
breakwater in front of the Mill, now considered the longest floating breakwater
found to-date.
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| The 1913 Patricia Theatre |
We stopped by many of the
historic buildings in Townsite, including the Patricia Theatre which opened in
1913 and still serves as a theatre to view films.
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| 1927 Dwight Hall |
The Dwight
Hall, built in 1927, served as a community hall for performances and dances and
included a public library.
Special
events are still held today in Dwight Hall.
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| 1939 Provincial Building (now the Old Courthouse Inn) |
The former provincial building built in 1939 currently serves as the
“Old Courthouse Inn.”
This building
originally housed the provincial court, jail, police headquarters and other
government offices for Powell River.
Other buildings we visited included apartment buildings that are being
refurbished and old churches that now stand silent still in need of
repair.
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| 1939 Federal Building (now Townsite Brewing) |
The name “Townsite Brewing”
caught our eye and we stopped for some in-house brews before heading back to
Westview.
The brewery is in a brick
building that previously served as the Federal Building that opened in 1939
housing the Post Office, Customs & Excise, and the Canadian Telegraph
Operations.
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| The Manager's House |
Continuing up the hill, we
rode our bikes along a tree-lined lane fronted by the exclusive homes of the
day such as the Director’s Home and the Manager’s Home among others – a
beautiful setting with lovely views despite the Mill below.
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| Exclusive Townsite Homes |
We found Townsite to be a fascinating place
and well worth the visit, especially for those who appreciate unique, historic
sites.
Dark clouds were beginning to
roll in, time to start back along the forested trail which in itself is not to
be missed.
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| Flanged Wheeled Log Cart |
The trail is flat and easy to
walk or bike and bypasses the busy highway.
Large beautiful cedar trees line the pathway with surprises around every
bend – old logging equipment placed among the trees serve as a type of natural
museum, interpretive signage provides information about the type of machinery
used and the various logging techniques – Powell River first began as a logging
camp in the 1880’s and became a regular stop for the Union Steamship Company
boats.
There are numerous pieces of
interesting equipment along the Willingdon Beach Trail including a cart with
large steel flanged wheels to carry the yellow cedar logs.
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| The Donkey |
An incline was created to lower the loaded
cart down the hill, instead of using steel railway tracks, wooden poles were
used and the flanged wheels rode along the poles.
The cart was attached to a steam winch called
a donkey.
On Chippewa Bay on Powell
Lake, the “cut line” for the incline is still visible.
The donkey was used to both load logs as well
as to pull the donkey sled into a central landing; a donkey was also used to
lower the flanged wheeled cart.
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| A Boomboat |
At the lake or along the seashore, a Boomboat sorted the logs into a raft that was later towed by a tug to the sawmills. The Boomboat seen along the Willingdon Beach Trail was donated by the Weyerhaeuser Co. We
enjoyed our ride back to the boat along this beautiful waterfront trail and
marveled at what we had discovered in Powell River, a nice community unfortunately missed by
many pleasure boaters.
