Meet William McGillivray Munsie, a true Nova Scotian entrepreneur! Born in Pictou in 1849, he started his career as a pattern-maker. In 1874, he set his sights on California, where he honed his skills. Buhis entrepreneurial spirit led him to Victoria in 1878, where he joined Albion Iron Works and helped establish their stove manufacturing branch. He worked there for six years, proving himself to be a natural businessman.
Munsie’s success didn’t stop there. Between 1884 and 1893, he and his partner ran a thriving
grocery and produce business in Victoria. But it was his involvement in the seal trade that really made him famous. In 1890, he and his partner jumped into the lucrative seal trade, operating out of Victoria in the Bering Sea. They were making bank, but unfortunately, international territorial issues and a decline in pelts led to the downfall of the sealing industry by 1907.
But Munsie was no quitter. He had diversified his investments and was able to weather the storm. In 1896, he opened a store for sealers and natives in Klayoquot Sound. He also invested in mining around the province and drilling for natural gas. And guess what? He even built the first commercial salmon traps in Victoria with another grocer, J.H. Todd. Talk about a busy man!
In 1894, Munsie became the biggest investor in Shawnigan Lake and the mill’s secretary. He and Theophilus Elford bought the mill from William Losee and renamed it the Shawnigan Lake Lumber Company. Even though there were seven original shareholders, Munsie and Elford, along with their sons, were the ones who made the company successful. Elford ran the mill day-to-day, while Munsie supervised sales and company matters from his office in Victoria. The Shawnigan Lake Lumber Company was probably the most profitable but also the most time-consuming of Munsie’s many interests.
When Munsie passed away in 1906, his son William Harris Munsie, Jr. took over his father’s responsibilities. He had learned the lumber business from scratch and was a respected
businessman. He was much more involved in the company than his father had been. In addition to building a house near the mill at Shawnigan Lake, Bill Munsie eventually bought almost all of the company’s shares. By 1930, he owned 636 out of a possible 720 shares and had complete control over the company by the time he sold it in 1939.
Munsie Road is a tribute to two generations of a family that made a huge impact on Shawnigan Lake’s economy.
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