Bamberton

Cities of Vancouver Island
This article is about the town. For the provincial park also called Bamberton, see Bamberton Provincial Park.

Bamberton is located on the Saanich Inlet, just south of Mill Bay, 45 kilometers north of Victoria on Vancouver Island.

Bamberton is named for H.K.G. Bamber, a cement manufacturer from Gravesend, England, who was original owner of the land upon which Bamberton is located and was the managing director of British Portland Cement Manufacturers Ltd..[1]

The cement works had their origin across the Saanich Inlet at Tod Inlet in 1904 when the Vancouver Portland Cement Company established operations on the site now occupied by the Butchart Gardens. The demand for cement in the building boom of the times outstripped the capacity of the Tod Inlet operation and lead the company to construct a further plant at Bamberton, which opened in 1912 under the name Associated Cement Company. Both companies were operated by B.C. Cement Company Ltd. of Victoria. The outbreak of World War I ended the real estate boom leaving both plants idle for seven years. The plant at Bamberton resumed operations in 1921. By 1927 the Bamberton plant was producing 3,000 barrels per day and used 40,000 tons of Vancouver Island coal each year. It was an isolated, self-contained community owned by the company that operated the mill. At its peak, it employed 180 men all of whom resided on company property. The community was well equipped and included a recreation hall with a dance floor as large as that at that of the Empress Hotel. The construction of the Island Highway brought road access to the site but over the last 20 years of operations production declined, costs increased and a protracted strike occurred. Operations came to an end 1980. In October 1982 the owner, then Genstar Cement Company, put the property up for sale.[2]

The site shares its name with the nearby Bamberton Provincial Park.

References

  1. ↑ "Bamberton". BC Geographical Names.
  2. ↑ Paterson, TW (1989), Ghost Towns and Mining Camps of Vancouver Island, Langley, BC: Sunfire Publications, pp. 11–16, ISBN 0-919531-29-6

External links

Coordinates: 48°35′09″N 123°31′20″W / 48.58583°N 123.52222°W / 48.58583; -123.52222

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