Jerry Rogers' Ditch

Heritage Value: Jeremiah "Jerry" Rogers (b. 1818, St. Andrews, NB; d 24 Oct 1879, English Bay) began logging at a camp near Jericho Beach in 1865 (the name Jericho may be a corruption of “Jerry’s Cove.”) His operation, which cleared much of what is now Kitsilano, provided spars for sailing ships and logs for Edward Stamp's mill on Burrard Inlet. In the 1870s, he became one of the first logging operators in Burnaby, establishing a camp in South Burnaby in about 1870 at Woolard Creek (Byrne Creek), where he cut timber for ship masts. Rogers constructed a ditch to facilitate the movement of the large trees. It is likely a series of locks were installed in the ditch to trap the waters of the Fraser River when the tides were high, and to trap water flowing from Woolard Creek. When the locks were released, the logs could more easily make their way to the Fraser River. A similar system of locks was used west of Jerry Rogers' Ditch, at Byrne's logging ditch constructed by Peter Byrne in 1893.

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