It was decided to build a great new hydro-electric development at the mouth of the Jordan River, thirty-seven miles away from Victoria along the Strait of Juan de Fuca. And once the decision was made, the B.C Electric promptly incorporated a subsidiary, the Vancouver Island Power Company Limited, for the principal purpose of acquiring and developing other water power sites on Vancouver Island. To fulfil the Jordan River plan, however, a great deal of thought had to precede a great deal of energy. It was a formidable barrier of rock and forest that confronted the first party of engineers on their arrival by tug from Victoria, in the summer of 1908. Near the mouth of the river the rugged band of men established their camp. It was to be a focal point for three years of ceaseless activity in the movement of men, supplies, and machinery for the building and fitting of a power house close to the mouth of the river. It was the opening of a project that was to lead to the development of 41,750 horse power (h.p.) and an expenditure of $5,000,000 in this part of the Island.

The beginning of 1911 found work on Vancouver Island's big hydro-electric scheme at Jordan River progressing smoothly and visibly. Men, machines, and supplies were still making the difficult 7 1/2 mile journey up across the rock and through the forest from the Beach. Fast as it was, however, the pace was not fast enough! Increase in the use of power throughout the Victoria area was outstripping the entire Jordan River scheme. By 1911, the Company made a decision to install a second unit at the site, thereby doubling the capacity called for in the original plans.

In 1912, the big power house at Jordan River on Vancouver Island, with its two generating units of 5,500 h.p. each was completed. And for 45 miles along the coast, through virgin forest (which entailed a prodigious effort in both locating and clearing the right of way) the high tension transmission line to Victoria had been completed. Before the end of the year the first electric power from the Jordan River plant was transmitted to the Capital. Yet despite the success of this first completed st;*ge of the big Jordan River undertaking, power, and plenty of it, was now so vital to the Company that no risks of breakdown or stoppage could be taken. In case, therefore, of trouble on the long transmission line between Jordan River and the substation in Victoria, it was thought wise to make definite provision for auxiliary power. Beside the tranquil inlet of Brentwood Bay on the Saanich Peninsula, near to the new Vancouver Island Interurban line to Deep Bay, the BC Electric now erected a steam stand-by plant as an auxiliary. Th e site was chosen because of its frontage along tidewater, permitting the direct delivery of vital oil by sea, and giving the plant plenty of water for condensing purposes. With that eye to the future which all the Company's planners and builders were now acquiring, space was provided in the 1912 power house for two additional complete units should they be required in later years. This new plant was to be brought into operation only when power from Jordan River was for any reason not available.

Owing to the difference, however, between the high water periods (the latter sometimes lasting over a period of many months) the storage capacity of the Jordan River dams was unable to rise to the demands made upon it. This meant a vital need for the conservation of the stored water throughout the Summer months, a need met by "balancing" Brentwood Bay with the Jordan River plant, often for months at a time. The new Brentwood Bay plant, therefore, which was started and completed in the same year, lost its identity almost immediately as a stand-by plant, and became an integral part of the whole scheme of power development on Vancouver Island.

Over on Vancouver Island, the Jordan River power house, completed only two years earlier, was rushed into enlargement to accommodate, first two extra generating units, then three. It was also in this significant year that those left of the men working seven miles up above the mouth of the river, finished their work on the huge storage and diversion dam. The dam could then divert the waters of the river and store it during flood periods in order to equalize the flow of water during the low water periods of the river. The men and women of Vancouver Island could, from now on, and for some of the critical years to come, be assured of the light and power that now more than ever they were needing.

Up at Jordan River, a third generation of children was now growing up who had never known their neighbourhood without its familiar flume and its busy camps, its friendly faces and its occasional, exciting visits to far-away Victoria.

Elsewhere on Vancouver Island, however, Company developments moved steadily forward. For eight months, during the spring and summer of 1924 (and despite the threat of quite a dangerous bush fire which surged across the area in the driest part of the summer) the Company's engineers had been building a new high tension line between Jordan River along the twenty-five-mile length to Humpback Bridge, where it was tied in with a further four-mile section of high tension line which had been constructed twelve years previously to Brentwood Bay. Strenuous work on the high tension line, however, did not prevent the Company's Jordan River family from enjoying itself. Albert Sjoberg set up a 9 piece orchestra. He brought them to first class concert pitch during the year, and the whole organization of this little musical enterprise, which meant an investment of $2,000 without the piano, was completed without any call for financial aid to the Company!

From Ottawa, in April of 1928, came Their Excellencies the Governor-General and Viscountess Willingdon. Among their other engagements, Their Excellencies identified themselves with all forward-looking men of the province by making a visit to the Company's plant at Jordan River.

Of the Company's expansion plans on Vancouver Island, the first major evidence of future possibilities was the completion of the Bay Street substation in Victoria in March, 1930. This big station served as the heart and centre of the southern part of the Island's electrical system. Through its transformers was to pass the power from Jordan River, Brentwood, and (later on in this same year) Goldstream. The building itself was an impressive one and a worthy addition to the larger buildings of the Capital City. Victoria itself was by this time assuming a much bigger share in BC Electric development and a steady increase of staff followed the carrying of electric light into the new districts along the Coast.

In 1930 another smaller power unit built by the Company came into operation, an 18,000 h.p. generating unit, known as the "fourth unit" which had been in the process of installation at Jordan River during the past year. The ceremony this time was a simple one, witnessed by Vice-President, A.T. Goward, but actually performed by one of the erecting engineers, W. Simpson. The bringing into service of the new unit climaxed a programme that had been forging steadily ahead at Jordan River since the early part of 1925.

In 1935 a mud slide carried away part of the Jordan River flume, and cut off the entire water supply to Fore Bay Reservoir. A wall of flood water, 8 feet high and 306 feet long, roared over the spillway of the diversion dam into the river bed below. At Bridge River the temperature sank 34 degrees below zero and all roads (including the railroad) were completely blocked by snow. Patrolmen went out on skiis, sleighs, horses, and on foot. Wednesday saw conditions improving, however, and by Friday the overworked engineers had succeeded in sending power out over the lines again.

The trappings of war were noticeably missing. There was little flag wagging, and little drum beating, and it was a silent bugle call which the men of Jordan River answered, as they moved into their khaki or their blue.