In 1905 the Nichols Chemical Company, acid manufacturers based in Montreal, established their plant on a large point of land just east of the North Pacific Lumber Company. This company was later amalgamated and acquired by General Chemical and remains in operation on the original waterfront site.
Located on the shore of Burrard Inlet, these poured concrete piers of the smokestack burner and the former boiler and plant of the North Pacific Lumber Company are among the only remains of the once-thriving industrial site located on the waterfront on the south shore of Burrard Inlet. The sawmill and the Village of Barnet were initiated by David MacLaren, a wealthy lumberman from Buckingham, Quebec, who had previously established the Fraser Mills in Coquitlam in 1889. McLaren gambled that a sawmill on the main line of the C.P.R near Vancouver would serve the Canadian domestic market and be a profitable venture. The North Pacific Lumber Company established itself on this peninsula on Burrard Inlet and was fully operational in 1900. In 1909, the mill was completely burned out by a fire starting in the boiler room. Immediately the plant was rebuilt, modern in every respect and absolutely fireproof, as the entire power plant and boiler room was built of reinforced concrete and steel, of which these ruins are the last remains. The plant closed during the First World War and reopened as the Barnet Lumber Company in 1925 only to close forever in 1931 after a strike during the Great Depression.
Photograph of the front garden and exterior of the North Pacific Lumber Co. (NPLC) Manager's house at Barnet. The caption on the card reads: "A Pretty Dwelling, Barnet B.C."
Photograph of the front garden and exterior of the North Pacific Lumber Co. (NPLC) Manager's house at Barnet. The caption on the card reads: "A Pretty Dwelling, Barnet B.C."
Photographic postcard of a Canadian Pacific Railway train pulling into the train station at Barnet. The caption on the bottom of the card reads: "The Depot. Barnet B.C."
Photographic postcard of a Canadian Pacific Railway train pulling into the train station at Barnet. The caption on the bottom of the card reads: "The Depot. Barnet B.C."
This portion of the interview pertains to John Mallory's early life and his first years in Burnaby dealing with delinquency of mortgage payments on his home. He also begins to discuss his political involvement with the labour movement.
This portion of the interview pertains to John Mallory's early life and his first years in Burnaby dealing with delinquency of mortgage payments on his home. He also begins to discuss his political involvement with the labour movement.
Recording is of an interview with John Mallory by Simon Fraser University (SFU) masters student Bettina Bradbury June 24, 1975. Major themes discussed are: the Depression and the Unemployment movement. To view "Narrow By" terms for each track expand this description and see "Notes".
Biographical Notes
John Audrey Mallory was born in Carman, Manitoba on January 10, 1903 to John and Bertha Nina (Rodgers) Mallory. The Mallory family moved to Deep Creek, British Columbia for a time before arriving in New Westminster.
John Audrey Mallory married Janet Ellis Morice on November 15, 1924.
John Mallory helped to build a mill at Powell River where he played baseball before he moved to Burnaby in the late 1920s. He built a house at 11th Avenue and 13th Street. He later moved to 1851 4th Street, working a few months out of the year as a construction foreman. He also worked renovating various mills. Towards the end of the thirties, he had established his own heating and plumbing business.
John Mallory was very active in the labour movement, beginning with the Independent Labour Party which was renamed the Independent Labour Party Socialists, then the Socialist Party of Canada. He joined the Workers' Unity League (WUL) and their affiliates the Unemployed Workers Association at this time as well. Together with fellow organizers, John fixed up the Edmonds Hall and held fundraising parties for the Unemployment movement. Seen by others as an agitator, John organized countless strike movements, protests and demonstrations in his capacity as an organizer for the Workers' Unity League.
John left the Socialist Party of Canada due to what he saw as their intolerance with other parts of the working class movement to join the Communist Party of Canada. He was later expelled from the Communist Party for "Trotskist leanings."
Bertha Nina (Rodgers) Mallory died May 20, 1964 at the age of eighty-two. Her husband John Mallory died April 1, 1966 at the age of ninety-four.
John Audrey Mallory died July 7, 1981 at the age of seventy-eight.
Bettina Bradbury teaches history and women's studies at York University. She is the author of Wife to Widow. Lives, Laws and Politics in Nineteenth-century Montreal. (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, June 2011), 520p; Working Families. Age, Gender and Daily Survival in Industrializing Montreal. (Toronto: Canadian Social History Series, McClelland and Stewart, 1993); (Republished Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1996) (3rd edition, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2007). These interviews were undertaken after she completed her MA at Simon Fraser University in 1975 with the support of an LIP grant.
Interview was digitized in 2010 allowing it to be accessible on Heritage Burnaby. The digitization project was initiated by the Community Heritage Commission with support from City of Burnaby Council and the BC History Digitization Program of the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, University of British Columbia. It was recognized by the Heritage Society of BC with an award in 2012.