Series consists of records created by the Victoria Plywood and Sawmill division and consists of technical drawings and architectural designs detailing components, mechanical systems, buildings and facilities associated with the company's Cowichan sawmill at Youbou on Cowichan Lake, Vancouver Island. The documents were authored by British Columbia Forest Products and external contractors.

The Cowichan Division of British Columbia Forest Products operated a veneer plant and sawmill at Youbou. These operations were closely affiliated with the Victoria plywood and sawmill divisions. Undated and untitled technical drawings from the Youbou veneer plant may be included in this series.

SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Head filer, Youbou; Superintendent, Vancouver Mill Division, BCFP PERIOD COVERED: 1923-1967 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1974 SUMMARY: Born in Minnesota, 1902. Came to Canada with parents. Father was mill manager in Vancouver. Worked in various mills as a filer in the 1920s. To Youbou, 1923, as head filer. Description of Youbou and the mill, etc. Superintendent, Vancouver mill, 1952-1960. Spruce milling. Mill fire of 1960. Superintendent at Youbou, 1961-1967. Retired, 1967.

SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Retired as Superintendent, Victoria Saw Mill, 1973 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1974-06-04 SUMMARY: Started in a bank as a teller; because of health, went to Barnet Lumber Company's mill in 1926, until it closed during the Depression; conditions during the Depression; no job for two years; obtained job at Industrial Timber Mills in Youbou grading lumber; then the Pacific Lumber Inspection Bureau; assistant to the superintendent in Youbou; superintendent at Victoria in 1950.

CALL NUMBER: T0273:0001 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): The career of a logging engineer, 1929-1970 RECORDED: Vancouver (B.C.), 1974-04-05 SUMMARY: Born Vancouver, 1905. Graduated UBC in engineering, 1929. Worked in various Vancouver Island logging camps in the 1930s. Camp conditions and union organizers. Logging methods at Caycuse in the 1930s. Logging equipment. Moved to Youbou, 1944. Changes after the BCFP takeover, 1946. Other companies bought in 1946 by BCFP. Construction in the San Juan Valley. Anecdote about logger "Jesse James".

CALL NUMBER: T0273:0002 RECORDED: Vancouver (B.C.), 1974-04-30 SUMMARY: This tape contains description and discussion of a 1928 photo showing track of logging railway, cold deck, steam donkey, etc.

CALL NUMBER: T0275:0001 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Superintendent, Youbou Sawmill, Lake Cowichan, Retired 1959 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1974-05-21 SUMMARY: Born at New Westminster in 1896; worked at Barnet Lumber Company; Rat Portage Lumber Company; Capilano Timber Company; came to Industrial Timber Mills in Youbou, in 1932 as superintendent; description of changes in the industry; Youbou as a community; sawmill operations taken over by BC Forest Products; expansion, etc.; retired in 1959.

CALL NUMBER: T0275:0002 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Superintendent, Youbou Sawmill, Lake Cowichan, Retired 1959 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1974-05-21 SUMMARY: [No content summary available for this tape.]

SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Accountant at Youbou, B.C. 1946-1954 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1974-05-30 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Born in England in 1910; moved to Burma as an accountant, 1937; moved to Youbou in 1946; ethnic groups in Youbou; life in Youbou circa 1946 to 1954; community life in Youbou; accounting practices and management changes; worked for BC Forest Products at Youbou from 1946 to 1954; Victoria, 1954 to 1961; and Vancouver, 1961 to 1973. [TRACK 2: blank.]

SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Union organizer at BCFP RECORDED: Mackenzie (B.C.), 1974-12-09 SUMMARY: Started at Youbou sawmill for Industrial Timber Mills in February 1946; union organising for IWA; strike of 1946 and the results; Woodworkers Industrial Union of Canada breaks away from IWA in 1948; re-building the IWA; strike of 1952; the drive for better working conditions during the 1950s; serving as business agent and president of Local 1-80, 1962/63; back at Youbou; in 1974 was senior "C" mill foreman, Mackenzie.

SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Ray Elford : Shawnigan Lake Lumber Company, 1897-1920 PERIOD COVERED: 1897-1922 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1960-09-09 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Born 1880. Began to work for his family's lumber company near Shawnigan Lake about 1897. Costs of land and timber from the E&N Railway. Oxen versus horses for logging. Wages. Shawnigan Lake Lumber Company. Marketing lumber in Victoria and elsewhere. Supplied flag poles for Parliament Buildings and Beacon Hill. The mill at Youbou described, 1920. Anecdotes about working in coastal mills. TRACK 2: Establishing a small mill near Princeton. Milling in the Princeton area. Camp conditions at Shawnigan Lake, 1900. Efforts to unionize labour at Shawnigan Lumber Company, 1914. The introduction of locomotives. (End of interview)