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Flumes, Booms and Sawdust: Logging in the Shuswap
Chase and District Museum and Archives Society
Chase , British Columbia

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   In 1908 the Adams River
Lumber Company established
the third largest sawmill in
the Interior of British
Columbia. Men were housed in
logging camps in the Adams
Lake area. Flumes, dams and
spillways transported the
logs to Shuswap Lake to be
towed to the mill at Chase,

British Columbia. The boom
town of Chase grew almost
overnight as people flocked
to the area seeking
employment and other
opportunities. An economic
downturn in 1925 prompted the
Company to close its doors
forever. Nevertheless, the
new community struggled on.

   The demise of the Company
created different
opportunities for residents
who chose to remain in the
area. The local timber was
suitable for the production
of telephone and hydro poles
as well as rail ties and
fence posts, allowing small
independent portable mills

employing handfuls of men to
spring up. These small
operations aided in the
survival of the local
communities during the
Depression and other lean
years. Finally, in 1945 the
Holding Lumber Company was
established at Adams Lake
which increased the

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