Bowen Island

      The first white settlement on the Island began around the 1870’s, when people were drawn to the island to work at logging camps. For the next 30 years, a variety of industries thrived on Bowen including brickyards, a dynamite plant, and some coastal mines. Similar to the pattern of history on the mainland of West Vancouver, many early residents of Bowen were workers who eventually settled the island, clearing the land and building homes.

     At the turn of the century, it was Captain John A. Cates who steered Bowen’s future away from industry and put it on another path. In 1900, the entrepreneurial Captain developed a resort on Bowen, then established ferry service with his Terminal Steamship Company in 1902. By 1920, Cates ferry service was sold to Union Steamships, which ran a "cruise ship" style of ferry service that offered dancing and midnight cruises.

  (Click on the thumbnail to see enlarged version.)

  Year Description Source
10brickyard.gif (11039 bytes) circa 1899 S.S. Rothesay at Mannion's Brickyard, Deep Cove, Bowen Island. VCA
16snugcove.gif (15125 bytes) circa 1910 Snug Cove, Bowen Island. Terminal Steamship Co. first big wharf. VCA
1910steamship.gif (12972 bytes) N/A The SS Lady Cynthia Union Steamship. Bowen Island/Howe Sound service 1925-1957. WVML