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History

The vision of Victoria as a major industrial centre and cargo terminal began early in the twentieth century. The Panama Canal was then under construction, and the city anticipated a massive increase in sea trade from deep-sea vessels using the new waterway.

1843: The point is named for Peter Skene Ogden, an official with the Hudson’s Bay Company.

1916: A 500-foot granite and concrete breakwater with a lighthouse is completed, in anticipation of increased shipping activity.

1918: Two piers, a cargo warehouse and railway tracks with a rail barge ramp arecompleted. Construction includes 53 concrete caissons and over 1 million cubic yards of dredged fill.

1925: Panama Pacific Grain Terminal Elevator Co. Ltd. and the city of Victoria agree to build a terminal to load Prairie grain into ships heading to ports around the world. A railway services the new $500,000 grain terminal, which stands 93 feet high and has 22 storage bins.

1928: Ottawa hands over administration of Ogden Point docks to the Canadian National Railway (CNR) under a 50-year entrustment. B.C. Packers build a fish processing and cold storage plant.

1969: CNR dredges Ogden Point shipping berths and increases storage space for the busy facility. Millions of board feet of lumber and millions of bushels of grain pass through the port.

1970: The government of Canada spends $1 million on a facelift of Ogden Point.

1977: On August 8, a large fire rips through CNR’s 140,000 square foot warehouse. The blaze causes more than $3 million in losses, destroying the 1911 building along with newsprint rolls and 6,800 tons of baled pulp. Residents of Port Angeles thought the city of Victoria itself was on fire.Thousands of local people turn out to watch the spectacular inferno. All firefighting equipment from Victoria, Saanich, Oak Bay and the Dockyard fire departments is put into service.Seaspan tugs battle the blaze from the water.

1978: CNR hands control of Ogden Point back to Transport Canada. Westcan Terminals leases the site. Pier A is raised and a 100,000-square-foot concrete warehouse isconstructed. The CNR discontinues all rail service to Ogden Point.

1978: The grain elevator situated on Pier North B is dismantled.

1984: The last major lumber shipper to Ogden Point Terminal, Sooke Forest Products, is forced into bankruptcy.

1985: Island Jetfoil operates a passenger-only ferry service to Seattle and Vancouver, from the head of Pier North B.

1985-1986: Island Ferries operates a passenger-only service to Vancouver from the head of Pier A South.

1987: CNR removes all remaining rail tracks.

1987-2000: BC Steamships, then Stena Line, operates a car-carrying ferry service to Seattle from Pier B South.

1987: Helijet begins helicopter service to Vancouver.

1990: Fewer fish are being landed in Victoria. BC Packers shuts down their 65-year-old, five-storey concrete cold storage fish plant, putting 75 people out of work.

1990: A federal study says Ogden Point should continue to be used for passenger ships, marine cargo and Helijet Airways.

1992-2006: Fibre Optic Cable maintenance vessels arehomeported at Pier A South.

1993: The BC Packers cold storage and fish packing plant is dismantled.

1993: A fibre optic cable depot is installed in the warehouse.

1994: The rail barge ramp is removed.

1996: The Tally Ho horse drawntrolley service begins operations at Ogden Point.

1996: The Ogden Point Cafe and Dive Shop opens.

2001: The Norwegian Skyis the first weekly scheduled cruise vessel from Seattle embarkation port.

2002: Greater Victoria Harbour Authority (GVHA) is established. Ogden Point, with land stretching from the breakwater to the north of the James Bay Anglers site, is among properties owned by the GVHA. Transport Canada provides several million dollars in start-up funding and to carry out improvements at the sites.

2003: GVHA raises Pier B South and provides Customs facilities at a cost of $3 million.

2009: Royal Caribbean’s Mariner of the Seas makes its maiden voyage. At 1,020 ft. long and 138,000 gross tonnes, it is the largest vessel ever to berth at Ogden Point docks.