Cumberland, British Columbia
Encyclopedia
Cumberland is a town
Town
A town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. The size a settlement must be in order to be called a "town" varies considerably in different parts of the world, so that, for example, many American "small towns" seem to British people to be no more than villages, while...
in the Comox Valley
Comox Valley
The Comox Valley is a region on the east coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada that includes the city of Courtenay, the town of Comox, the village of Cumberland, and the unincorporated settlements of Royston, Union Bay, Fanny Bay, Black Creek and Merville. The communities of Denman...
on Vancouver Island
Vancouver Island
Vancouver Island is a large island in British Columbia, Canada. It is one of several North American locations named after George Vancouver, the British Royal Navy officer who explored the Pacific Northwest coast of North America between 1791 and 1794...
in British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
, Canada.
History
The village was originally named Union, British Columbia after the Union Coal Company, which was in turn named in honour of the 1871 union of British Columbia with Canada. The town was renamed after CumberlandCumberland
Cumberland is a historic county of North West England, on the border with Scotland, from the 12th century until 1974. It formed an administrative county from 1889 to 1974 and now forms part of Cumbria....
in Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
by James Dunsmuir
James Dunsmuir
James Dunsmuir was a British Columbian industrialist and politician. Son of Robert Dunsmuir, he was heir to his family's coal fortune. The Dunsmuir family dominated the province's economy in the late nineteenth century and were a leading force in opposing organized labour...
in 1891. Robert Dunsmuir
Robert Dunsmuir
Robert Dunsmuir was a Scottish-Canadian coal miner, railway developer, industrialist and politician. -Origins in Scotland:...
had the town built in 1888. The Union Coal Company was begun in 1871 to exploit a coal discovery made the previous year on Coal Creek which flows in to Comox Lake. By 1874 the company had built a tramway and a road to Comox Harbour at what is now Royston
Royston, British Columbia
Royston is a small hamlet which is part of the greater Comox Valley region, 100 km northwest of Nanaimo on Vancouver Island, in British Columbia, Canada. It is situated across the harbour from Comox and just southeast of the municipal boundary of Courtenay...
but after this initial work, the high cost of opening a mine proved too high for the original partners and work stopped. In 1884, the same year he received the land grant related to the Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway, Robert Dunsmuir bought the Union Coal Company. He bought the nearby Perseverance Mine at what is now Union Bay in 1888 and the Baynes Sound Mine in 1881. Two slopes were open at the Union Mine by 1893. By 1897 the mine was producing 700 to 1000 tons per day, employed 600 men and supported a town of 3000. In 1946, a magnitude 7.3 earthquake
1946 Vancouver Island earthquake
The 1946 Vancouver Island earthquake was a 7.3 magnitude earthquake that struck Vancouver Island, on the Coast of British Columbia, Canada, at 10:15 a.m. on Sunday, June 23, 1946. The main shock epicenter occurred in the Forbidden Plateau area northwest of Courtenay...
demolished chimneys of houses in Cumberland.
There are many old company houses and structures still intact in Cumberland, and at one point it boasted the second largest Chinatown
Chinatown
A Chinatown is an ethnic enclave of overseas Chinese people, although it is often generalized to include various Southeast Asian people. Chinatowns exist throughout the world, including East Asia, Southeast Asia, the Americas, Australasia, and Europe. Binondo's Chinatown located in Manila,...
on the west coast of North America.
Demographics
Cumberland had a population of 2,762 people in 2006, which was an increase of 4.9% from the 2001 census count. The median household income in 2005 for Cumberland was $43,464, which is below the British Columbia provincial average of $52,709.Notable residents
- Scott BrownScott Brown (bassist)Scott Brown is a Canadian bassist best known for being a member of the Canadian rock band Trooper. He has also done work with vocalist Paul Laine, both as a solo artist and with Danger Danger....
, bassist for the rock band TrooperTrooper (band)Trooper is a Juno Award winning Canadian rock band that developed from a group formed by vocalist Ramon McGuire and guitarist Brian Smith in 1975...
.