"There was also a big car shop, where all the coal cars were built, and a boilermaker, blacksmith shop, the foundry and a store.."

Janette is a researcher’s best friend. Between the book she wrote, A Friendly Port on the history of Union Bay, and the stories she told us about her growing up there, we gained a wealth of information. Like many of our interviewees, she was thrilled to talk to us.

Janette's Story

“Miners did not live in Union Bay but were connected to this community because coal was shipped from here. The first shipment of coal left Union Bay in July 1889 on the San Mateo. The coal was railed here and then loaded onto ships. The building of Union Wharf was started in 1888 and the first locomotive was Locomotive No. 1.

The locomotive was loaded onto the beach and pushed the rail cars ahead of it; the ties and rails were laid in front of it as it went. A contingent of Chinese workers came from Nanaimo to build the railroad. This may possibly have corresponded with the time when they were excluded from working in the mines in Nanaimo, but I do not really know if that is true. They still owed some of their head tax to Dunsmuir.

“There was a big Chinatown in Union Bay with about one hundred Chinese people living there. Chinatown was where the Community Hall is now. The Chinese worked as trimmers on the ships. When the Chinese walked to work they would come across the road and then down the field.