About the author

Robin Tremblay is an amateur historian who has been driven for over thirty years to explore the vanishing history of his home town, Powell River, BC.

He has recently been curious about the information, and more and more, the misinformation about how this city got it’s name.

Purpose

Names weave into our lives so subtly that we often overlook their origins. Powell River exemplifies this—familiar, frequently mentioned, and assumed to be understood. However, my quest to uncover the actual namesake revealed a remarkable, forgotten past that predates the Powell River Company and its paper mill.

This journey did not lead me to neatly organized files or definitive entries in history books. Instead, it opened a gateway into a captivating mystery of local history—filled with books, maps, letters, and correspondence that have shaped Powell River’s narrative.

What I discovered in archives, logbooks, and colonial records was not a clear answer but a puzzle: a collection of contradictions built on assumptions, missing documents, and a long-held legend recounted without scrutiny. The established narrative began to waver, allowing the authentic history to surface.

The aim of this exploration is straightforward yet crucial: to unravel myth from fact, to illuminate documents that narrate the timeline, and to correct the historical record—all while illustrating why accuracy is vital for a community seeking to comprehend its past. By revisiting original sources, I encourage you to reconsider what you have come to believe about Powell River and recognize how the pursuit of truth can transform our understanding today.

So, let us embark on this journey—one inspired by the records of others, shaped by assumptions, and colored by time’s quiet capacity to erase. Together, we will retrace the origins of Powell River, following the clues embedded in old maps, ship logs, and official records to unearth a story long buried in history.

The Timeline

1874–76 Recognition of Sliammon First Nation