Crofton, British Columbia

Early history

In the 19th century, the area was cleared and settled by several homesteaders.^[2] They farmed the land and cut lumber, as provided by the government. In 1873, what would become Crofton was incorporated as the District of North Cowichan.

Founding of the town

Crofton was founded in 1902 by Henry Croft, who owned the nearby copper mine in Mt. Sicker. He built a smelter on the coast and exported the refined copper. The residue left over from the smelter blackened the local beaches, and the small glass particles often stuck to people's feet and hands. In 1906 Henry Croft sold the smelter to Britannia Mine. The smelter closed in January 1908, and soon after, rumours began that a large sawmill would be built. Nothing came of the rumours, and when Henry Croft died in 1917, his namesake was struggling to survive.^[3]

Henry Croft, founder of Crofton

After the smelter

In the late 1920s and early 1930s a railway was brought in from the Esquimalt & Nanaimo Railway Line to Crofton, and the Osbourne Bay Wharf was built. Logging trains brought raw logs out of the bush to be barked in the water and loaded on ships for export. Lumber was also shipped out of there by Industrial Timbers Ltd (later to become British Columbia Forest Products Ltd), Western Forest Industries & MacMillan Bloedel Lumber Co.

In the mid-1950s, British Columbia Forest Products Ltd. saw the potential of the area with its deep sea wharf, stable workforce and abundance of lumber, and began construction of a pulp and paper mill in 1956, Crofton Mill. The mill opened in December 1957, and continues to operate today. BCFP sold out to Fletcher Challenge in the late 1980s, who owned it until 2001. The mill was purchased by Norwegian company Norske Skog and subsequently by Catalyst Paper in 2006, who still own the plant today.

In 2001 a layer of ash fell upon the town, staining nearly every house. The ash was determined to be a result of improper burning at the mill. Due to its fault in the incident, the mill owners paid the expenses for the extensive cleanup of Crofton and improved the burning process.

In 1955 the smelter wharf was converted to a ferry dock & service to Saltspring Island began. BC Ferries now operates the route daily.

Seawalk

Early in the 1990s the Crofton Community Centre Society decided to create a scenic walkway along the Crofton shoreline. In 2002, Crofton's 100th anniversary, phase one of the seawalk was completed. As of 2014 all three phases are completed. The seawalk stretches from the wharf and ferry terminal to Crofton Beach, a distance of over one kilometre.

Crofton Mill

The elementary school

The first Crofton school was a one-room school house built in 1905 on two full lots donated by Henry Croft himself. The original school continued to serve the town until 1950, when it became an annex classroom to the newly built elementary school adjacent.

The elementary school was expanded with a gymnasium and an open area classroom in the early 1970s, and in 1985 the then derelict original school house was moved four blocks down the hill near the shoreline, where it was restored and is now used as a museum. The school served students from kindergarten to grade 7, after which they went to Chemainus Secondary School in nearby Chemainus for grades 8–12.

On September 11, 2006, the District of North Cowichan decided that a new school would be built in Crofton. The new school held its first day of classes on Tuesday, March 3, 2009, and is located in a different area from the original school grounds.