Workers posing with fir log at the Orion Bowman mill
Date: circa 1912-1920
Credit: Chilliwack Museum and Archives, PP502117
The provincial government of British Columbia prohibited Chinese persons from holding logging licenses. Combined with efforts to give higher paying positions in the industry to Euro-Canadians, Chinese were in effect, barred from the forestry industry in British Columbia.
More generalized labour positions were the exception. The sawmill operated by Orion Bowman (1874-1957) regularly hired Asian employees. In the photo, a group of unidentified mill workers pose with a fir log at the sawmill by the base of Promontory.