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.
