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(Eagle River and Northern Railway)
In 1908, Brooks and Scanlon bought a company in Stillwater
that included a railway, owned by John O’Brien, who remained a partner until his
death in 1917. The new company, Brooks, Scanlon & O’Brien was set up to log the
region south of Powell River, where O’Brien had been logging since 1900.
They named it ‘Stillwater’ after a mill site they
owned in Minneapolis. The base camp they constructed in Stillwater Bay was the
finest on the coast and included a combination hotel, general store, dance hall,
restaurant, pool hall and post office.
As you traveled up the railroad, you would cross a 100-foot
trestle spanning the Lois River, referred to as the Copenhagen Canyon.
Its name originated from the loggers’ habit of tossing empty Copenhagen-brand
snuff tins out the windows when the train passed over the trestle.
(click for bigger view) Copenhagen Canyon, Railway Trestle
#1 Baldwin Locomotive
(#30880, courtesy Powell River Museum)
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The Stillwater Eagle and Northern rail line proceeded north along Eagle River, past Copenhagen Canyon
and the first Gordon Pasha Lake, then up the Horseshoe Valley past Toni Lake and Nanton
Lake to Camp 4, the
Spring Lake camp.
Note the car on the track. B.S.&O used a 1923 Packard Runabout
with flanged wheels as a "speeder", or jitney.
On July 12, 1926, a disastrous fire started by a steam donkey
led to the demise of Brooks, Scanlon and O'Brien at Stillwater. They sold their
interests to the Powell River Company in 1929.
click for larger view
Logging Camp 4 at Spring Lake, ca. 1924
(#10237, courtesy Powell River Museum) |
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 The
first wood-crib dam of Lois Lake was built in 1930, so all but the first 4
miles of railway was abandoned because the track near the dam was flooded
permanently. Powell River Company leased the track to several outfits to
run their trains.
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Sometime after 1920, Stewart, Cameron & Co. brought in our
second-oldest local Climax:
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| Climax #878, Class B, 40
tons, built 1908
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 | Bought by Dominion Sawmills & Lumber Co. No. 1, Taft, BC |
| Three Valley & Mabel Lake Railroad No. 1, Taft, BC |
| Bernard Timber & Logging Co., Port Neville, BC |
| Homalko Logging Co. No. 2, Port Neville, BC |
| 1920 Stewart, Cameron & Co., Stillwater, BC |
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The last train of logs was hauled out of Stillwater on April
18, 1954. The Stillwater railroad had operated for over 45 years. |
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The old railway bed above the new Lois Lake dam that was flooded in 1930
when the original dam was built.
From
http://vanishinghistory.ca
 Photo
by Rudi Van Zwaaij Dec 14, 2011, showing part of the old railbed of the
Eagle River & Northern Railway. It shows a small through-cut located at
4.5 Km on Spring Lake Road on a spur off to the left. WFP has re-activated
this railbed as a road for logging.
larger photo size here |
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visit another railway sub-theme,
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