About BC Explorers Resource Database

The Resource Database is an index of documents located on the BC Explorers website, as well as outside web content on other History websites in the Pacific Northwest

As this site evolves and grows we hope it will become a wonderful research tool for visitors from around the world.

Read more about BC Explorers and our mission....

I decided to create BC Explorers in September 2007 to allow individuals to share information about some of the historic and interesting sites in the Pacific Northwest.

After a work related injury in July of 2007 I was on disability for some time, never being one to sit around I decided to get involved in local history.

I discovered Concrete Wa after some friends in the UE, or Urban Exploration community talked about some of the odd buildings in the town. Many hours, numerous google searches, a Facebook search, and a Wikipedia article later I realized there wasn’t much online about this Titan of the Concrete world in the Pacific Northwest.

When I left the comfort of my lazy boy I decided that this wasn’t right. The most interesting town in the Pacific Northwest, a town with its own Wiki Article, stories of Industrial Revolution, a Castle School and aliens deserved to have its story told in this “digital” world. Concrete is tied together with rebar and limestone, its history is hidden behind a hill and a highway.

I decided someone needed to tell the story of this most unique town, if not in words, then perhaps in photographs, and the history and knowledge that 70 years of news stories brings.

So began my journey of discovery, every time I’ve come to concrete I’ve found something new to explore and photograph, it all started with the Concrete Silos and the “Castle School”, a poke, a prod and some hints later I discovered the Quarry.

While on a trip down to Concrete in late November I stopped by the Nooksack River Powerhouse, and was lucky to meet Leo Ford, again I was given a hint about a powerhouse to check out and figured I’d walk through 2ft of December snow to see if this jewel really existed, again I was rewarded with a memory card of photos, and a dead battery.

Concrete isn’t the only town on BC Explorers, my own home town has some unique sites, Riverview, the largest Psychiatric Hospital in BC is in my community, the site is about to change, development thrust upon it with market housing in the near future.

I’ve also collected photographs, documents and histories of the BC Electric Co, what is now our only electric supplier in BC, Publicly Owned, BC Hydro has a history going back over 100 years.

I hope to see BC Explorers evolve into a repository of information on the many odd and interesting places that grace the landscape of the Pacific Northwest.

As a self described UE, and Research Hobbyist, BC Explorers allows me to share with the world all that I have learned about the fascinating places that surround my humble abode.

Through my past experiences in the Heating trades I’ve come to love big old industrial sites. There is nothing more exciting then standing next to boilers 3 stories tall or seeing steam pipes larger then your hands.

Share the knowledge of the world, and you give a gift no one can deny.

Douglas Dunn