Union Bay

Beautifully serene - this is Union Bay on the east cost of Vancouver Island in

British Columbia, Canada

 

Union Wharf, founded in 1888 by the Union Coal Co was one of the busiest ports on the Pacific coast. In its hey day Union Bay bustled with activity: coastal ferries, tugs with barges, sailing ships, steamships and freighters from all corners of the world called for cargo and bunker coal.

Huge locomotives brought long trains of coal cars, from the mines near Cumberland, to the shipping wharf. A 600-ton capacity washer screened and separated the coal. Large bunkers at the north end of town stored coal. 200 bee-hive coke ovens burned continuously and produced coke for copper smelters along the coast.

Around the clock smaller steam engines shunted coal cars between washer, bunkers and dock, loading the ships from the 60 foot-high wharf which stretched 560 feet out into the bay. The port closed in 1961 and the wharf was dismantled.

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