Franklin River Camp B

 camp, village, logging

Opened in 1936 by the Bloedel, Stewart & Welch logging company, to log its vast timber holdings in the Franklin River valley, Camp B ultimately became one of the largest logging camps in the world. The operation eventually had over 100 miles of logging railway lines, hauling logs from the woods to Camp A at the mouth of Franklin River on Alberni Inlet. Originally built at Corrigan Creek, Camp B was moved twice, first to Parsons Creek and then in the mid-1940s to this location along Coleman Creek, as the logging efforts moved back into the timber.

Camp B became headquarters for the whole logging division. Almost a small town, Camp B became the most modern logging camp on the coast. Housing 400 workers and 35 families, it had all sorts of recreation and entertainment facilities including a swimming pool and recreation hall, and a school. Franklin River was noted for introducing new technology into the BC forest industry, including the first successful use of powersaws in 1936 when they imported a Stihl model from Germany, and the early use of mobile steel yarding equipment. In 1938 Franklin was the site of the first reforestation efforts by a BC forest products company. Franklin started to switch over to logging trucks in 1946, and by 1957 trucks had supplanted the steam locies as the means of hauling logs out of the woods.

By the 1980s the camp accommodations had closed down as workers now commuted into the woods from Port Alberni.