Three founding British Columbia companies — the Powell River Company, Bloedel Stewart and Welch, and the H.R. MacMillan Export Company — were each built by visionary men who foresaw the need to provide quality paper and wood products to millions of people around the world.

In 1908 American entrepreneurs, Dr. Dwight Brooks and Michael Scanlon, saw that Powell River, north of Vancouver, was the perfect location for a newsprint mill. The Powell River Company turned out the first roll of newsprint manufactured in B.C. in 1912. It soon became one of the world’s largest newsprint plants and today is credited with introducing the first self-dumping log barge to B.C.

Another visionary, Julius Bloedel, a Seattle lawyer, realized the enormous potential of B.C.’s softwood forests. In 1911 he and two partners, John Stewart and Patrick Welch, began acquiring large blocks of Vancouver Island forests. Their Franklin River camp soon became one of the world’s largest logging operations. Here, in the 1930s, the Canadian industry saw its first steel spar and chainsaw. In 1938, Bloedel Stewart and Welch became the first logging company in the province to plant seedlings in a logged-over area.

The H.R. MacMillan Company was created by one of Canada’s great pioneers, Harvey — better known as H.R. — MacMillan, B.C.’s first Chief Forester who had gained considerable experience in world lumbering circles during World War I. With his good friend Whitford Van Dusen, another forester, he incorporated a company in 1919 to sell B.C. lumber products to foreign markets. In 1924 they established a shipping company that would become one of the world’s biggest charter companies. Their acquisition of extensive forest lands laid the foundation for today’s program of intensive forest management.
 

1. Parallam Parallel strand lumber is one of several composite wood products developed by Macmillon Bloedel researchers making the company a leader in this field. 2. Macmillan Bloedel has had its own tree improvement centre since 1970 to ensure superior seedlings and strong healthy forests

Each company experienced continued expansion until mergers in 1951 and 1959 brought them together to create one of world’s most fully integrated forest products companies. Initially MacMillan Bloedel operations were concentrated in coastal B.C. Starting in the 1960s, the company expanded across North America as well as to Europe and the United Kingdom. Acquisitions and construction activities over the years have given MB worldwide assets of more than $4 billion. Today, the company’s marketing and distribution activities ensure wood and paper products reach people worldwide.

Emloyees today pride themselves in being leaders. MB research people have developed a range of new, environmentally-friendly products and processes aimed at getting the highest possible return from the forest resource. In the area of scientific forest renewal, employees are dedicated to forestry practices based on achieving the best total use of the forest for everyone and ensuring that harvested trees are replaced for future generations.

Building on a rich tradition of always planning for the future, MB employees are ready to take the company into the next century.