A strange name for a business, but the Rat Portage sawmill on False Creek was one of the largest operations in the city and took its name from the prairie town of Rat Portage. The False Creek mill opened in 1902 under the supervision of William Lamont Tait, probably better known for his impressive Shaughnessy home, Glen Brae. The rat in the name refers to muskrats.
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Hello! William Lamont Tait is my Great Great Great Uncle. I am documenting family history and was wondering if you know where I could locate any more photographs or information on W.L. Tait or Rat Portage? I have inherited the original copies of Glen Brae taken when it was first constructed.
Rat Portage was the former name of Kenora, Ontario. This little lumber town was established in the early 1880s, but by the turn of the century many of the pioneering lumbermen had moved west to settle in and around Vancouver. I’m guessing your best bet for tracking down info on your uncle’s connections to Rat Portage could be found by contacting the Lake of the Woods Museum in Kenora. Good luck!
I always thought Rat Portage was the area at the foot of Fir St., now occupied by the Pennyfarthing building and the waterline where the Canadian Fisheries has a facility. There was a another sawmill located there — the name may have been changed by the 1930-1940s. The sawmill in that location looked smaller than the one illustrated with this comment. It was said that the location was a Rat Portage because at low tide, rats would scurry across the then tidal flats to and from Granville Island. During the 1960s and into the 1970s there was intermittent dredging taking place in False Creek that would formalize the present outline of Granville Island and the present waterfront of False Creek. Tidal Flats, Shoals and Sandbanks dissappeared.
My business was near First and Main. I was not aware that the Tait Mill had a association with the town of Rat Portage, the former name of Kenora.
Tait’s Mill at the foot of Fir was bought out by the Rat Portage Company in the early 1900s. The company expanded westward picking up mills along the coast including Harrison Mills and Tait’s concern making it one of the biggest lumber firms in the country. The name has nothing to do with the rats that are still a presence on the shoreline.
Granville island was constructed in 1913 using a coffer dam and sand pumped in from English Bay.