Copenhagen Canyon.
(Eagle River and Northern Railway)

In 1908, Brooks and Scanlon bought a company in Stillwater that included a railway, owned by John O’Brien, who remained a partner until his death in 1917. The new company, Brooks, Scanlon & O’Brien was set up to log the region south of Powell River, where O’Brien had been logging since 1900.

They named it ‘Stillwater’ after a mill site they owned in Minneapolis. The base camp they constructed in Stillwater Bay was the finest on the coast and included a combination hotel, general store, dance hall, restaurant, pool hall and post office.

As you traveled up the railroad, you would cross a 100-foot trestle spanning the Lois River, referred to as the Copenhagen Canyon. Its name originated from the loggers’ habit of tossing empty Copenhagen-brand snuff tins out the windows when the train passed over the trestle.

The railway continued north up the Horseshoe Valley to the Spring Lake camp.

The last train of logs was hauled out of Stillwater on April 18, 1954. The Stillwater railroad had operated for over 45 years.

visit another railway sub-theme,