MacMillan Bloedel Limited
Encyclopedia
MacMillan Bloedel Limited, sometimes referred to as "MacBlo", was a Canadian forestry
company headquartered in Vancouver
, British Columbia
. It was formed through the merger of three smaller forestry companies in 1951 and 1959. Those were the Powell River Company, the Bloedel Stewart Welch Company, and the H.R. MacMillan Company. It was bought by Weyerhaeuser
of Federal Way, Washington
in 1999.
entrepreneurs, Dr. Dwight Brooks and Michael Scanlon, created a newsprint
mill at Powell River
, northwest of Vancouver. 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.
, a Seattle lawyer, along with his 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 Lidgerwood
steel spar yarder and chainsaw
. In 1938, Bloedel, Stewart and Welch became the first logging company in the province to plant seedling
s in a logged-over area. BSW opened a large timber mill in Port Alberni. The company had large camps near Menzies Bay, British Columbia
, Comox
and Myrtle Point, just south of Powell River
. The company was headquartered in Vancouver. Stewart and Welch were also partners in Foley, Welch and Stewart
, who were prominent in railway-building operations in the same period.
. With his colleague Whitford Van Dusen
, another forester, MacMillan 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. With the creation of Seaboard Lumber by the other mill owners in BC, there was a major threat to MacMillan as Seaboard was to export all the lumber from the companies that founded it leaving MacMillan without the lumber needed to fulfill their orders. HR responded by beginning to purchase mills and creating the first truly integrated forestry company in BC.
During World War II
, MacMillan acquired numerous small mills and timber tenures on the south coast of BC
.
as well as to Europe
and the United Kingdom
. At its peak, acquisitions and construction activities gave MB worldwide assets of more than $4 billion CAD
.
in downtown Vancouver was a highlight of the early architectural career of Arthur Erickson
, who advocated the use of concrete as "the new marble" and employed it in the building's stark design, which is often compared locally to a concrete waffle
.
around Clayoquot Sound
on the west coast of Vancouver Island
, in spite of opposition from several organizations. Environmentalist
s, together with private land owners and native tribes
, launched a blockade
after discovering that MacMillan Bloedel was logging in one of the most pristine areas around Clayoquot Sound - a clear violation of the recommendations made by top government-chosen scientists. The Science Panel for Sustainable Forest Practices in Clayoquot Sound was formed after 850 people were arrested for blockading MB's logging in Clayoquot in the summer of 1993 - the largest act of civil disobedience
in Canadian history. The Science Panel made stringent recommendations which MacMillan Bloedel promised to abide by, a commitment MB used to assure their international newsprint and phone directory paper customers that they should keep buying from the Canadian logging giant. MacMillan Bloedel made a commitment to phase out clearcutting and embrace the variable retention method of harvesting timber, but it has occasionally fallen short of the commitment.
announced its intention to buy MacMillan Bloedel Ltd. of Canada for stock valued at about $2.45 billion USD. The merger once it completed, made Weyerhaeuser, which at that time was already the world's largest producer of softwood
lumber and market pulp
, a leader in packaging as well.
Forestry
Forestry is the interdisciplinary profession embracing the science, art, and craft of creating, managing, using, and conserving forests and associated resources in a sustainable manner to meet desired goals, needs, and values for human benefit. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands...
company headquartered in Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
, 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...
. It was formed through the merger of three smaller forestry companies in 1951 and 1959. Those were the Powell River Company, the Bloedel Stewart Welch Company, and the H.R. MacMillan Company. It was bought by Weyerhaeuser
Weyerhaeuser
Weyerhaeuser is one of the largest pulp and paper companies in the world. It is the world's largest private sector owner of softwood timberland; and the second largest owner of United States timberland, behind Plum Creek Timber...
of Federal Way, Washington
Federal Way, Washington
Federal Way is a city in King County, Washington, United States. Federal Way is located between Seattle and Tacoma. Its western boundary is Puget Sound. It is bordered by Des Moines on the north, Kent, unincorporated King County, and Milton on the east and Tacoma and Fife on the south...
in 1999.
Powell River Company
In 1908 two AmericanUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
entrepreneurs, Dr. Dwight Brooks and Michael Scanlon, created a newsprint
Newsprint
Newsprint is a low-cost, non-archival paper most commonly used to print newspapers, and other publications and advertising material. It usually has an off-white cast and distinctive feel. It is designed for use in printing presses that employ a long web of paper rather than individual sheets of...
mill at Powell River
Powell River, British Columbia
Powell River is a city on the northern Sunshine Coast of southwestern British Columbia, Canada. Most of its population lives near the eastern shores of Malaspina Strait, that part of the larger Georgia Strait between Texada Island and the Mainland...
, northwest of Vancouver. 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
Barge
A barge is a flat-bottomed boat, built mainly for river and canal transport of heavy goods. Some barges are not self-propelled and need to be towed by tugboats or pushed by towboats...
to B.C.
Bloedel, Stewart and Welch
In 1911 Julius BloedelJulius Bloedel
Julius Harold Bloedel moved from Wisconsin to Fairhaven, Washington in 1890, where he became president of Fairhaven National Bank. He engaged in several frontier business ventures, including the Samish Lake Lumber and Mill Company, Blue Canyon Coal Mines, and, as mentioned, the Fairhaven National...
, a Seattle lawyer, along with his two partners, John Stewart
John Stewart (financier)
John Stewart was a Canadian financier and railway builder.He was born in Nedd, Assynt, Sutherland, Scotland on 4 Dec 1860; died 24 Sep 1938 Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada....
and Patrick Welch, began acquiring large blocks of 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...
forests. Their Franklin River
Franklin River (Vancouver Island)
Franklin River in Vancouver Island, British Columbia, is located between Alberni Inlet and Barkley Sound, was named as part of the Vancouver Island Exploration Expedition of 1864. The river was named for Selim Franklin, Esquire, who was Chairman of the Exploration Committee.The Franklin River flows...
camp soon became one of the world’s largest logging
Logging
Logging is the cutting, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks.In forestry, the term logging is sometimes used in a narrow sense concerning the logistics of moving wood from the stump to somewhere outside the forest, usually a sawmill or a lumber yard...
operations. Here, in the 1930s, the Canadian industry saw its first Lidgerwood
Lidgerwood
Lidgerwood was a historic American engineering company famous for its winches, scrapers and cranes, particularly ones that helped build the Panama Canal. They later built logging yarders and aerial tramways, cable cars or ropeways....
steel spar yarder and chainsaw
Chainsaw
A chainsaw is a portable mechanical saw, powered by electricity, compressed air, hydraulic power, or most commonly a two-stroke engine...
. In 1938, Bloedel, Stewart and Welch became the first logging company in the province to plant seedling
Seedling
thumb|Monocot and dicot seedlingsA seedling is a young plant sporophyte developing out of a plant embryo from a seed. Seedling development starts with germination of the seed. A typical young seedling consists of three main parts: the radicle , the hypocotyl , and the cotyledons...
s in a logged-over area. BSW opened a large timber mill in Port Alberni. The company had large camps near Menzies Bay, British Columbia
Menzies Bay, British Columbia
Menzies Bay is a large bay adjoining Seymour Narrows and Quadra Island north of Campbell River on Vancouver Island.It was once considered in 1872 as a crossing point to Vancouver Island for the Canadian Pacific Railway from...
, Comox
Comox
Comox is a name from the Kwak'wala language, meaning "plenty" and "riches". The Kwakwaka'wakw people of British Columbia, Canada applied it as a metonym to the Salish people living in the area of the present-day town of the same name...
and Myrtle Point, just south of Powell River
Powell River, British Columbia
Powell River is a city on the northern Sunshine Coast of southwestern British Columbia, Canada. Most of its population lives near the eastern shores of Malaspina Strait, that part of the larger Georgia Strait between Texada Island and the Mainland...
. The company was headquartered in Vancouver. Stewart and Welch were also partners in Foley, Welch and Stewart
Foley, Welch and Stewart
Foley, Welch and Stewart was an early 20th century American-Canadian railroad contracting company.They built miles of track for the Great Northern Railway, Northern Pacific Railroad, Canadian Pacific Railway, Canadian Northern Railway, Grand Trunk Pacific Railway and Pacific Great Eastern Railway...
, who were prominent in railway-building operations in the same period.
HR MacMillan Export Company
The last of the three pre-merger companies was the H.R. MacMillan Export Company, which was created in 1919 by Harvey, or H.R. MacMillan, British Columbia’s first Chief Forester. MacMillan reportedly gained considerable experience in world lumbering during World War IWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. With his colleague Whitford Van Dusen
VanDusen Botanical Garden
VanDusen Botanical Garden is situated in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Named for local lumberman and philanthropist Whitford Julian VanDusen, it has been a public garden since its opening on August 30, 1975 and is managed by the Vancouver Park Board and run by a large staff of volunteers...
, another forester, MacMillan 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. With the creation of Seaboard Lumber by the other mill owners in BC, there was a major threat to MacMillan as Seaboard was to export all the lumber from the companies that founded it leaving MacMillan without the lumber needed to fulfill their orders. HR responded by beginning to purchase mills and creating the first truly integrated forestry company in BC.
During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, MacMillan acquired numerous small mills and timber tenures on the south coast of BC
British Columbia Coast
The British Columbia Coast or BC Coast is Canada's western continental coastline on the Pacific Ocean. The usage is synonymous with the term West Coast of Canada....
.
Merger of 1951
In 1951 Bloedel, Stewart and Welch merged with HR MacMillan to form MacMillan Bloedel. The B.S.W and MacMillan had many timber holdings side by side and there was a natural synergy from this merger. B.S.W. held a lot timber resources and MacMillan was the first truly integrated forestry company in BC. The merger in 1951 created a company that would be able to compete on the global scene.Global Expansion
Beginning in the 1960s, MacMillan Bloedel expanded across North AmericaNorth America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
as well as to Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. At its peak, acquisitions and construction activities gave MB worldwide assets of more than $4 billion CAD
Canadian dollar
The Canadian dollar is the currency of Canada. As of 2007, the Canadian dollar is the 7th most traded currency in the world. It is abbreviated with the dollar sign $, or C$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies...
.
The MacBlo Building
The Brutalist MacMillan Bloedel Building located at Thurlow and Georgia StreetGeorgia Street
Georgia Street is an east-west street in the cities of Vancouver and Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. Its section in Downtown Vancouver, designated West Georgia Street, serves as one of the primary streets for the financial and central business districts, and is the major transportation corridor...
in downtown Vancouver was a highlight of the early architectural career of Arthur Erickson
Arthur Erickson
Arthur Charles Erickson, was a Canadian architect and urban planner. He studied Asian languages at the University of British Columbia, and later earned a degree in architecture from McGill University.-Biography:...
, who advocated the use of concrete as "the new marble" and employed it in the building's stark design, which is often compared locally to a concrete waffle
Waffle
A waffle is a batter- or dough-based cake cooked in a waffle iron patterned to give a distinctive and characteristic shape. There are many variations based on the type and shape of the iron and the recipe used....
.
Blockade of 1993
In 1993, the MacMillan Bloedel company composed an agenda of expanding its logging into new areas and refused to abandon its plans to clearcut a significant portion of the temperate rain forestTemperate rain forest
Temperate rainforests are coniferous or broadleaf forests that occur in the temperate zone and receive high rainfall.-Definition:For temperate rain forests of North America, Alaback's definition is widely recognized:-Global distribution:...
around Clayoquot Sound
Clayoquot Sound
Clayoquot Sound is located on the west coast of Vancouver Island in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is bordered by the Esowista Peninsula to the south, and the Hesquiaht Peninsula to the North. It is a body of water with many inlets and islands. Major inlets include Sydney Inlet,...
on the west coast of 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 spite of opposition from several organizations. Environmentalist
Environmentalist
An environmentalist broadly supports the goals of the environmental movement, "a political and ethical movement that seeks to improve and protect the quality of the natural environment through changes to environmentally harmful human activities"...
s, together with private land owners and native tribes
First Nations in British Columbia
First Nations in British Columbia constitute a large number of First Nations governments and peoples in the province of British Columbia. Many of these Canadian aboriginal peoples are affiliated in tribal councils...
, launched a blockade
Blockade
A blockade is an effort to cut off food, supplies, war material or communications from a particular area by force, either in part or totally. A blockade should not be confused with an embargo or sanctions, which are legal barriers to trade, and is distinct from a siege in that a blockade is usually...
after discovering that MacMillan Bloedel was logging in one of the most pristine areas around Clayoquot Sound - a clear violation of the recommendations made by top government-chosen scientists. The Science Panel for Sustainable Forest Practices in Clayoquot Sound was formed after 850 people were arrested for blockading MB's logging in Clayoquot in the summer of 1993 - the largest act of civil disobedience
Civil disobedience
Civil disobedience is the active, professed refusal to obey certain laws, demands, and commands of a government, or of an occupying international power. Civil disobedience is commonly, though not always, defined as being nonviolent resistance. It is one form of civil resistance...
in Canadian history. The Science Panel made stringent recommendations which MacMillan Bloedel promised to abide by, a commitment MB used to assure their international newsprint and phone directory paper customers that they should keep buying from the Canadian logging giant. MacMillan Bloedel made a commitment to phase out clearcutting and embrace the variable retention method of harvesting timber, but it has occasionally fallen short of the commitment.
Weyerhaeuser
In June 1999, WeyerhaeuserWeyerhaeuser
Weyerhaeuser is one of the largest pulp and paper companies in the world. It is the world's largest private sector owner of softwood timberland; and the second largest owner of United States timberland, behind Plum Creek Timber...
announced its intention to buy MacMillan Bloedel Ltd. of Canada for stock valued at about $2.45 billion USD. The merger once it completed, made Weyerhaeuser, which at that time was already the world's largest producer of softwood
Softwood
The term softwood is used to describe wood from trees that are known as gymnosperms.Conifers are an example. It may also be used to describe trees, which tend to be evergreen, notable exceptions being bald cypress and the larches....
lumber and market pulp
Wood pulp
Pulp is a lignocellulosic fibrous material prepared by chemically or mechanically separating cellulose fibres from wood, fibre crops or waste paper. Wood pulp is the most common raw material in papermaking.-History:...
, a leader in packaging as well.