In 1902, plenty of dimes were spent on books and newspapers, and people were buying literature much like residents of British Columbia today. They sought updated information about events happening across the province, including the Pacific Coast Power Company’s plans to build a new hydroelectric dam at Powell Falls on Powell Lake, BC.

The year was 1899, and two companies, the Industrial Power Company of Nelson and the Pacific Coast Power Company of Victoria, were incorporated with the financial and power to secure water rights and lands around the mouth of Powell Lake Falls.

It had a large write-up in The Canadian Lumberman to profile its position, as the Company would establish the new age of dams and pulp mills, intended to entice investors into these endeavours. Published in Henderson’s Gazette in 1902 was a corporate statement claiming that the Pacific Coast Power Company Ltd incorporated on September 18, 1899, was now to erect a power plant on Powell River, with a capital stock of $50,000 in $1 shares under Mr. J.J. Shallcross, who was the manager.

The January 1, 1902, edition of the Canadian Contract Record publication advertised the importance of the Pacific Coast Power Company, noting that it had permission to build a dam across the Powell River at an estimated cost of $50,000. As well, in the Canadian Lumberman from 1900 to 1902, the area around the valleys of Gordon Pasha and Powell Lakes, all the way to the Theodosia River Valley, was being sold as an image of timberlands, streams, and rivers.

As the Indian Commission began to focus more on events on the reserves along the coast of Malaspina, letters were exchanged between the Indian Agent and Sliammon (Tla’amin). One such letter, sent by Mr. Frank Devlin, the Indian Agent, was addressed to Father Chirouse and Chief Charley in response to a postcard. In this letter, Mr. Devlin explained that he had sent carrot, onion, and turnip seeds to Captain Timothy in July. He also raised concerns about the treatment of Captain Timothy of the Sliammon Band (Tla’amin), acknowledging that certain injustices had occurred and that he might need to take responsibility for addressing them.

Towards the end of the letter, Mr. Devlin requests that the Sliammon Indians (Tla’amin) construct a house using the lumber he shipped, along with any additional materials they may need. He also mentions that Jampholeuir may require assistance, as he is very short.

Meanwhile, newspapers of the Province of British Columbia had Headline News, May 17, 1902, The Daily Colonist.

The Escape of Le Roy. Sheriff P. Zimmerman of Everett arrived in Vancouver to look into the disappointing affair of the escape of a French half-breed named Le Roy, who six years prior tried to murder a Seattle jewelry man named Phillips.

After searching the continent for Le Roy, reports came in that Le Roy was on Powell Lake, across from Texada Island. Officer Wylie from Vancouver and Mr. Lucas from Vancouver followed him into the bush, captured Le Roy, and brought him to the McIntyre logging camp on the old Moodyville mill site. They locked Le Roy in an old building on site, but come morning, the captive Le Roy was gone, now twice escaped from police custody.

In April 1902, a new logging company, the Merril Bros had arrived in the Malaspina Strait region. A representative of the Company, Mr. J.W. Richards, expressed a desire to lease land on the Sliammon Reserve ( Tla’amin). However, Mr. Richards did not provide the required sketches for submission with the application.

Mr. Devlin writes that, because the dispute remains unresolved, he cannot proceed with leasing lands outside the railway belt. He asserts that the reserve belongs to the Sliammon Indians (Tla’amin) and argues that gathering them to discuss a lease would serve no purpose until the commission resolves the Railway Belt issue.

In his June 23, 1902 letter, Mr. Devlin writes that the Company can negotiate a lease if it offers a favourable royalty for the timber near the water. He further notes that Mr. Richards has instructed Messrs. Merrill Bros. not to commit trespass while the lease question remains unresolved.

On July 28, 1902, reports stated that authorities had located the convict Leroy at Powell Lake on the British Columbia coast. Two prospectors told the story of Leroy pointing a gun at them and telling them not to come any further. He then defied the Provincial Police, voicing his opinion of them with many oaths; in other words, he was not speaking politely.

Chief Detective Wylie was on his way to Powell Lake on July 30, 1902, to apprehend Le Roy; however, at the same moment, he was dismissed from the service, and Mayor Neelands wanted him charged with gross impertinence.

After the Dominion Legislation convened in August, the Canada Gazette published information on August 9, 1902, on the results of Captain Walbran’s recent surveys. In the Gazette, it positioned the Roman Catholic Church at the Indian Mission of Sliammon on the Malaspina Strait for navigational purposes. It added this information to Chart 580 from the DGS Quadra.

The Sliammon Indian band (Tla’amin) noted by the Indian Agent in 1901 that all of the reserves contained 4,712 acres and a population of 102, with 2 births and 2 deaths, and no other changes in the population.

Logging dominated the Malaspina Strait coastline, and so many camps operated there that a worker could quit, walk for only a couple of hours, and find a job at the next camp. So mining on this coast, rather than logging, was an unusual activity. Yet on August 22, 1902, Mr. George Rawding applied for Mining License 63,072, 1st 63,072, for the Full Moon Fraction Mineral Claim. Situated at Hertado Point between Sliammon Village (Tla’amin) and the community of Lund, it was an out-of-the-way location.

From Mr. W.S. Gore, Deputy Commissioner of Lands and Works, allowing the applicants for land grants of Lot 76 for the “Vanderbilt” and Lot 79 for the “Lucky Jack” mineral claims on Texada Island on September 11, 1902, to the same person making the claims for District Lots 2045, 2046, 2047, in which were the Full, New Moon Mineral Claims, and held in a BC Trust Company Limited.

Even as loggers flooded the mainland side of Malaspina Strait, Texada Island remained the province’s most active center of mineral‑ore mining. November 29, 1902, Mr. Thomas Parr, P.L.S., the acting agent for Cap Sheaf Copper and Gold Company Limited, received the mining certificate No. 48,789 for the claims “Soverine”, “Maxie Fractional”, “X-Ray”, “Shamrock”, “Alladin”, “Hazel Ruth”, and the “E.M. Mineral claims. These multiple acquisitions were one of the largest takeovers of mineral claims to date.

In Oke Over Arm, Mr. W.H. Higgins applied for a cut-and-carry-away timber license on December 12, 1902, that ran along the District Lots 1309 and 1309. This District Lot was Mr. Webster and Mr. Edmonds’ timber lease from 1892, good for 30 years, ending in 1922.

As the popularity of the special cut-and-carry licenses grew, the area around Powell Lake became abundantly clear: major outfits like the MoodyVille Sawmill were leaving many downfalls and smaller timbers, taking only large prime timber. December 12, 1902, Mr. W.H. Higgens applied for the same type of license on Powell Lake. Mr. Fred Van Norman wanted the timber on the shore of Powell Lake, seven miles away from the outlet. This particular license authorized timber-cutting operations between a small lake lying between Haslam and Powell Lake.

This lake, for a moment in time, was known as Indian Lake on Provincial Maps, later renamed Loon Lake, and in 2026, is now known as Inland Lake and Provincial Campsite.

The 1902 edition of The BC Mining Record mentions that Powell Lake is the newest place for mineral finds, and that Texada Island is still the place to be. The Marble Bay mine was shipping gold from $5 to $20 per ton, and it was of fine quality.

On December 18, 1902, Mr. R. Preston requested a special license to cut and transport timber near Grief Point on Malaspina Strait. He sought permission to take timber from District Lot 1619, owned by Froeck and farmed by the Deighton family, to District Lot 671, which the Moodyville Sawmill Company held under lease from 1888 to 1913.

Up the coast of Malaspina, long past Grief Point, sits Theodosia Arm, where mining activity was mostly underway. Mr. W.H. Chase applied for the most popular timber license in 1902, a cut-and-carry-away timber license. This license sat along District Lot 525, on which Mr. Brockway received in 1884, and District Lot 782, belonging to Mr. James A. Laidlaw, Mr. R.P. Rithet, and assigned to Mr. William Coldwell between 1890 and 1892 for 21 years.

As the year 1902 closed, the Dominion of Canada published, in 1903, the 1902 Sessional Papers, Volume 11, of the Second Session of the Ninth Parliament. Within the pages were notations of an epidemic of measles that ran all the way across Canada, affecting the colonies and those on the Indian Reserves.

As in every year, the report states that improved dwellings and their stock increase during the summer and winter, and in 1901, they erected a beautiful church on their reserve for the Roman Catholic religion. There were no changes to any of the reserve lands allotted by Commissioner O’Rielly on August 6, 1888, and confirmed on April 28, 1891.

In 1902, a significant transformation occurred in the Powell River and Powell Lake region, documented in newspapers, corporate filings, government reports, and survey publications. The Pacific Coast Power Company received considerable attention due to its incorporation in 1899 and its plans for a hydroelectric dam at Powell Falls. Several publications, The Canadian Lumberman, Henderson’s Gazette, and the Canadian Contract Record, all featured this period of rapid development.

Contemporary accounts portrayed the region’s timberlands, valleys, and waterways as the raw materials of a rising industrial frontier, underscoring their importance to the ambitions unfolding around Powell Lake and the Strait. At the same time, news of fugitives, police pursuits, and survey updates, such as Captain Walbran’s charting Texada, and the addition of the Sliammon (Tla’amin) Church, was being circulated across British Columbia.

At the same time, the Sliammon Band’s (Tla’amin) population, health conditions, and reserve status were being recorded by federal agents, with the measles epidemic and its resulting deaths as noted in the 1902 Sessional Papers.

The steady influx of timber-cutting licenses, mineral claims, and land-grant applications noted logging and mining activities across Malaspina Strait and Texada Island. Camps along the coast were so numerous that workers could walk from one to the next in search of employment. At the same time, Texada Island was gaining recognition as the province’s most active mining center, highlighted by significant claim consolidations, such as those by the Cap Sheaf Copper and Gold Company, granted in late 1902.

The Minister of Lands and Mines issued timber licenses at Okeover Arm, Powell Lake, and Theodosia Arm to applicants seeking access to long‑held leases, and the shifting identity of what is now known as Inland Lake began being written on maps, moving from the name just a lake to a name, “Indian Lake,” to its later designations.

By year’s end, the federal government’s publications ensured that the epidemics, industrial expansions, land dealings, and demographic shifts of 1902 formally entered the Dominion’s administrative record.