Haslam Lake is the main source of drinking water for Powell River. Over a century ago, however, the watershed was one of the area’s busiest logging spots. Those cylindrical wooden poles? They’re old piles that supported a train trestle bridge that spanned this area of Haslam Lake. Rather than connecting two populous areas — the function I generally conceive of for railways — this one, and many others like it, connected the forest to a log dump at tidewater. Records from the time show that licences around Haslam Lake provided for the logging of fir and cedar — Douglas fir, balsam fir and western red cedar. …In 1906, there were 26 logging railways operating in B.C. By 1924, that number had climbed to 76. …These glimpses of logging railways offer a chance to reflect on the area’s past — and its future.