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Nanaimo River

Mid Vancouver IslandNanaimoRivers of British ColumbiaRivers of Vancouver IslandUse Canadian English from August 2023
Nanaimo River (9594024593)
Nanaimo River (9594024593)

Nanaimo River is a river on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, located near the city of Nanaimo on the island's east coast. Its headwaters are in the Vancouver Island Ranges of central Vancouver Island and its mouth, the Nanaimo River estuary, is at the south end of Nanaimo Harbour in the Strait of Georgia. The estuary is part of the Pacific Estuary Conservation Program. The river and its drainage basin contain a wide range of industrial and recreational activities. Logging and coal mining were a couple of the earliest industrial operations. While coal mining ceased in the first half of the 20th century, logging continues to be important. Morden Colliery Historic Provincial Park is one of the few places left near the river that links to the region's coal mining history. Due to the lack of arable land, agriculture never became an important industry. In 1931, South Fork Dam was built upstream on the South Nanaimo River to supply water to the city of Nanaimo. In 1974, an additional dam and reservoir were built farther upstream on a tributary of the South Nanaimo River to increase the water supply for the city. In 2000, the South Fork Dam was upgraded to produce Hydroelectricity. Two major highways cross the river. The Trans-Canada Highway crosses the river just north of Cassidy and farther downstream Highway 19 crosses on the north side of Cedar. At the point where the Trans-Canada Highway crosses the river, the Esquimalt & Nanaimo Railway also crosses it. On the east side of Cassidy, just of the south bank of a major tributary of the river, Haslam Creek, is the Nanaimo AirportAll along the river, and throughout its watershed, there are plenty of lakes and recreational opportunities, including boating, camping, hiking, bungee jumping, and rock climbing. There are still pockets of old growth forest left within easy access to the public, such as at the Nanaimo River Regional Park.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Nanaimo River (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Nanaimo River
Raines Road, Area A (Cassidy/Cedar)

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Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 49.1383 ° E -123.8956 °
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Raines Road
V9R 6N7 Area A (Cassidy/Cedar)
British Columbia, Canada
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Nanaimo River (9594024593)
Nanaimo River (9594024593)
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1887 Nanaimo mine explosion
1887 Nanaimo mine explosion

The Nanaimo mine explosion occurred on May 3, 1887, in Nanaimo, British Columbia killing 150 miners. Only seven miners survived and the mine burned for one full day. The explosion started deep underground in the Number One Coal Mine after explosives were laid improperly. Although many miners died instantly, others were trapped by the explosion and the fires that followed. Most miners did not die from the primary explosions or the fires, but many actually died from choking on poisonous gas hours after the initial explosions. These men wrote farewell messages in the dust of their shovels. Nearly 150 children lost their fathers and 46 women became widows. Most of the men were settlers from Cornwall, Wales and Yorkshire. A plaque at the foot of Milton Street commemorates the event. Although past documents put the death toll at 148, researchers have since revised the number to 150, including 53 Chinese workers. Chinese workers were listed in the government inquest and annual report of the Minister of Mines as "Chinamen, names unknown", followed by a tag number. B.C. employers did not have to report the deaths of Chinese employees until 1897. Some accounts suggest that 48 of the 53 miners had the surname of Mah — records may have been destroyed when Nanaimo's Chinatown burned to the ground in 1960. The monument on Milton Street lists the names of white miners, but only the tally number for Chinese miners, who were blamed by many white Nanaimoites for the disaster, claiming they could not read signs or instructions.Operated by the Vancouver Coal Company, the Number One mine opened in 1884 at the foot of Milton Street in Nanaimo. Its shafts and tunnels extended under the Nanaimo Harbour to Protection Island, Newcastle Island, and the Nanaimo River. After the explosion, the mine re-opened and produced 18 million tons of coal before permanently closing in 1938.