Fraser Mills Interactive Map
Colour Legend:
Departments
Transport
Storage
Admin & Residential
Fraser Mills Station CA CCOQ C6-141
Train station that acted as the central communications hub for the area, and brought many workers from the east coast into Fraser Mills.
Beehive Burner CA CCOQ C4-S1-SS3-F02-MH.2011.3.184
A beehive burner is a structure designed to burn off waste wood from the milling process. Due to modernization, few of these structures remain.
Boarding House CA CCOQ C6-S01-C6.1019
A boarding house is a building for workers to stay in for extended periods of time. They would live with their co-workers here, nearby to the Fraser Mills plant.
Log Slide VPL Public Domain
Logs would be dragged up into the mill here from the river. Boom men would be in charge of making sure the logs get into the mill.
Beehive Burner CA CCOQ C4-S1-SS3-F02-MH.2011.3.219
A beehive burner is a structure designed to burn off waste from the milling process. Due to modernization, few of these structures remain.
Cutting Veneer VPL Public Domain
A veneer is a thin sheet of wood. They may be laminated on top of one another to make plywood, or they may be glued or fasted to a solid frame to create many things.
Sorting Table NW IHP9145
Timber is graded on many different attributes, different grades being important for different things. Here finished lumber is being sorted before being sold.
Mackin House
Mackin house was the home of the general manager of Fraser Mills, Henry Mackin’s family was the first to reside in it.
Company General Store and Meat Market MH.2011.3.36A
Companies during this time often offered stores for their employees living and working on site. Fraser Mills workers would have been able to purchase their daily goods from here.
Wood Piles MH.2011.3.39A
Finished wood is stacked in storage awaiting shipping or sale.
Dressed Lumber Shed MH.2011.3.40A
Dressed lumber is lumber that has been finished on more than one side. This is a higher quality of material, and is kept in a special shed.
Fraser Mills Lumber Yard MH.2011.3.52
The yard at Fraser Mills. Machinery, tools, and workers are visible as they go about the day’s business in the yard of the sawmill.
Shingle Mill MH.2011.3.109
Shingles are pieces of wood destined for roofing. They are nailed overlapping one another in order to prevent water from entering a building.
Inside Shingle Mill CA CCOQ C4-S1-SS3-F01-MH.2011.3.56
Visible inside the shingle mill is the central conveyer which moves logs to different areas in order to be processed into shingles, some workstations are also visible.
Chinese Townsite MH.2011.3.148
The homes of some of the many Chinese workers once employed by Fraser Mills. They lived in a segregated area called Oriental Village and were eventually displaced by the Francophone population brought in by the company.
Time Office CA CCOQ C4-S1-SS3-F02-MH.2011.3.164
A time office is where workers would have gone at the start and end of their shifts to punch in and punch out, so the company knew the number of hours that everyone had worked.
Planing Mill Interior MH.2011.3.200
Planing is the process where thing layers of wood are taken off of planks to make their thickness uniform. This photo shows the many planing machines doing this job.
Trimmer Saws MH.2011.3.205
Trimmer saws are machines made to trim planks to the desired size. They take the uneven ends off of boards and planks.
Conveyor Chain MH.2011.3.206
Visible inside the shingle mill is the central conveyer which moves logs to different areas in order to be processed into shingles, some workstations are also visible.
Machine Shop CA CCOQ C4-S1-SS3-F02-MH.2011.3.207
A machine shop contains many different machines in order to do specific tasks. Note the overhead belt drive that powers all the machines off of a single large engine.
Ryan House
Ryan House was originally lived in by the Ryan family. This was a house built by Fraser Mills to house its management staff.
Canadian Western Lumber Company Office Interior VPL Public Domain
This is where much of the paperwork that went along with the running of sawmills was done. Note the old hanging light fixtures, as well as the typewriters for creating documents. This was one of the few places where women could find work typing.
Sikh Men at Funeral Pyre in Lumber Camp INDOCC_1522
Sikh lumbermen mourning the loss of a fellow worker at a funeral pyre. A large population of the early employees were Sikh men and they even built their own temple at the mill site.
Water Side View of Canadian Western Lumber Company VPL Public Domain
Logs sit on the water outside of Fraser Mills. Sawmills were placed on or near the water in order to make it easy for logs to be transported to the mill, being gathered in log booms and towed down the river.
Railway Loading Platform CA CCOQ C4-S1-SS3-F01-MH.2011.3.40b
Here supplies could be delivered to the mill, or finished products could be sent. Railways and trains were an extremely vital part of early 20th century infrastructure.
Roadway CA CCOQ C6-S01-C6.922
A worker standing on a roadway in front of Fraser Mills. Note the finished lumber awaiting transport, and the worker’s cart used to move it around the mill.
Log Processing CA CCOQ C4-S1-SS3-F02-MH.2011.3.110
Finished logs being processed. Note that the facility is built off the ground on stilts to avoid the soft ground. In the back, some planks are being stored, while others are awaiting the next step in the process.
Wharf CA CCOQ C4-S1-SS3-F02-MH.2011.3.220
Ships at the wharf. The river was a vital part of transport infrastructure, with logs arriving via the waterway. These ships may be delivering other supplies, or are being loaded with outgoing planks.
Lumber Yard CA CCOQ C4-S1-SS3-F01-MH.2011.3.39B
An outdoors area used for storing planks. In the background of the photo, a worker is visible moving planks around these stacks with a small cart.
Lumber Drying CA CCOQ C4-S1-SS3-F02-MH.2011.3.176
Lumber being dried outside. This was an essential part of the process in turning raw logs into finished planks. Wet wood rots, making it unsuitable for construction.
Transfer Chains CA CCOQ C4-S1-SS3-F02-MH.2011.3.102
Pulleys and chains used for transporting logs around the mill. Conveyer belts were the most common method used to move logs from one area to another.
Engine Room CA CCOQ C4-S1-SS3-F02-MH.2011.3.199
The engine room. Workers pose in front of some machinery. This machine powered all the other machines in the plant, its power transmitted by various belts, axels, and drives.
First Aid Building CA CCOQ C4-S1-SS3-F02-MH.2011.3.161
The first aid building. This building was very important, working in a sawmill was very dangerous work, with high powered saw, conveyer belts, and piles of heavy wood all around. Injuries were common.
Walkway Planks NW IHP1087
Some boardwalks being constructed along the waterway at the sawmill. This area is a dock or wharf, allowing ships to load and unload cargo.
Railway CA CCOQ C4-S1-SS3-F02-MH.2011.3.128
A railway built on an elevated platform made out of wood. Note that being higher up off the ground allowed it to avoid water.
Slash Door Factory CA CCOQ C6-S01-C6.1013
A section of the mill for making doors. These could be shipped out by boat or by train to areas where they were needed.
Fraser Mills Map
Welcome to our Fraser Mills Interactive map. This map allows you to explore the large area that the mill and its townsite occupied. Hover over the spots on the map to learn what part of Fraser Mills it was. Click on those spots to view a photo of that location.
