Warning Signs From Capilano

Already, we have had some direct results of the timber cutting in Capilano. Soon after the operations commenced we had destructive freshets in the Spring which affected the people of the North Shore more than it did Vancouver City. I refer to Capilano Bridge which was damaged and closed for a long time until it was ascertained who should repair it. The Government which leased the Capilano area was primarily responsible and the logging company was an accessory; therefore, the Government should have rebuilt the bridge, and charged the cost to the logging company. This would have been equitable to all concerned, and it would make logging companies careful in future to lease only those areas where there was little likelihood of doing damage to adjacent communities.

Another warning directly affecting Vancouver occurred recently when similar flooding of the Capilano damaged the road to the intake and jeopardized our water supply by breaking some of the main water pipes, necessitating expensive repair work which I presume was paid for by taxing Vancouver citizens. But, here again, the end is not yet. Even if logging operations on Capilano ceased tomorrow, we shall continue for many years to be affected by the denudation which has already taken place in the valley, and once can safely prophesy more serious damage within the next few years. Providence has dealt kindly so far in giving us gentle warnings, but when we get a heavy snowfall such as we had in the Spring of 1912, a prolonged cold Spring, followed by a sudden warm Summer, we shall gain some real experience of the results of deforestation. Looking in to the future I can see snow-slides and floods bringing trees and stumps into the river causing log jams, and damming the river, the dam breaking and the rushing torrent tearing up more soil, boulders, roots and all kinds of debris. I hope that our Capilano water works will survive the onslaught. Another jam farther down the river will carry off the Capilano bridges, road and railway; for a short time we will have a solution of this part of the P. G. E. We had a similar illustration at Coquitlam a few years ago, but comparatively few people connected that catastrophe with the logging operations farther inland.

We know that so many of the forests of the United States have been ruthlessly devastated by greedy, grasping lumbermen – one United States Forestry publication calls them “Thievish lumbermen” – and that much of the despoilation in this Province is done with American Capital, it looks as if they had done all the plundering they could on the other side of the line, and crossed over here to continue their operations, relying on the ignorance and lack of experience of the Canadian people.

Some may think that “greedy, grasping, thievish, and plundering” are extravagant words to apply to the logging firms; but, when we consider that the present generation is permitting a comparatively few individuals – mostly outsiders – to steal the heritage of future generations, the language is really very moderate, and when one has seen the reckless way some firms complete the devastation of the country, such language is far from adequate.