
Filberg – King of Comox
A Benevolent Employer or a Hungry Capitalist?
A tale shrouded in contradictions and heartache, Robert Filberg’s life was nothing short of extraordinary.
A childhood characterized by squalor and poverty. By the time Robert Filberg passed away in 1977 at his holiday home in Hawai'i, Robert had donated eleven million dollars along with his nine-acre family estate in Comox to the Vancouver Foundation.
Born in the midsummer heat of Colorado in June 1892, Robert Filberg was the only son of two poor European immigrants who had met while chasing their American dream.
His mother, Elizabeth, an Irish seamstress hailing from New York, and his father, Adolph, a struggling tailor from Sweden, uprooted from Colorado when Robert was eight and moved west, settling in Seattle in 1900.
Desperate to escape poverty, Adolph joined thousands heading to Nome, Alaska, in search of gold during the 1897 gold rush. With a kiss and a hug to Elizabeth and Robert at the docks, he set off to the north, brimming with spirit and optimism.
News came of Adolph freezing to death in a blizzard only a few short months after his departure. Robert was only ten. With no bread winner and no social security, Elizabeth and Robert were destitute. Elizabeth had developed crippling arthritis and struggled to work as a seamstress.

It fell upon Robert’s shoulders to provide for the pair of them.
At twelve years old Robert found opportunities in the logging industry. Hustling for just a dollar a day, he would carry water to the loggers on the railway lines in Seattle. Throughout his adolescence, he traveled around Seattle, finding odd jobs here and there in different logging camps.
He had no time for recreation. Although a passionate and promising featherweight boxer, Robert stopped following coaching advice from the Seattle Chief of Police, NAME. He couldn’t risk injury and endanger his and his mothers’ future.
All his wages, each dollar he sweated and toiled for, was handed over to his mother, who managed the family finances.
In 1906, Robert got a hauling job at Port Orford, Puget Sound, driving a line horse to transport timber. His impressive work ethic earned him a position as a surveyor’s assistant.
Robert's ambition began to pay off, marking the start of his rise in the logging industry. By 1909, he moved to Vancouver Island, working as a timber cruiser for various logging companies in the Comox Valley and with Columbia River Lumber in Golden, BC.
His name would soon become synonymous with logging in the Pacific Northwest.
While working for Comox Logging and Railway Company, Robert fell in love with Florence McCormack, the boss's daughter, and was mentored by her father. Despite being a highly regarded manager, Robert left Florence to earn an engineering degree in the U.S., essential for advancing in the logging industry.
After graduating in 1914, Robert returned to CLRC to lay railway tracks and resumed courting Florence. By 1916, they were married.

Rising the Ranks: The 1919 Strike
Labour discontent was rife in Canada after World War One. The economy was slumping, work conditions in major industries such as forestry and coal mining were poor, and the political landscape was shifting.

On the 1st of May, 1919, three hundred Comox Logging and Railway Company loggers briefly went on strike. It was just a taste of what was to come and part of a much larger work disruption across the country.
On September 1st, a full walkout occurred, with 429 men laying down their tools and walking out of the woods.
Poor working conditions, long work hours, low wages, high accident rates, and bad sanitation plagued the logging industry. Led by a burly group of Finnish fallers, the workers demanded change.
Attempts to hire strikebreakers were unfruitful. Negotiations with the current Comox Logging and Railway Company superintendent, Jim McGuigan, were met with apparent disgust.

In stepped Robert Filberg.
Confident he could defuse the situation, he persuaded father-in-law, James McCormack, vice-president of the Comox Logging and Railway Company, to let him attempt to resolve the issue. After all, these were his kind of people. He’d risen through the ranks and was a self-made man. He had a first-hand understanding of the issues and the dangers of their work. If there was anyone who could speak to them from a place of understanding, it was Robert.
On September 20th, 1919, the strike ended. In an agreement negotiated by Robert, wages were increased slightly, and improvements were made to sanitary conditions. More importantly, he’d impressed his father-in-law. Shortly afterward, when Jim McGuigan resigned, he was promoted to logging superintendent.

Under Robert Filberg's leadership, the Comox Logging and Railway Company experienced significant growth and record profits. He successfully navigated the company through the Great Depression of the 1930s and became vice-president of the Canadian Western Lumber Company in 1936. By the time Crown Zellerbach Company acquired Canadian Western Lumber in 1953, Filberg had transformed its small subsidiary into one of BC's largest timber producers.
Robert was a benevolent employer; a man who looked after his workers as if they were his own family.

"Safety work is also a hobby with Mr. Filberg." - The Timberman Magazine, 1935.
The safety reputation of the Comox Logging and Railway Company prior to 1920 was infamous.
The accident record was terrible, and the available medical care was pitiful. Most accidents occurred at the end of the working week when the men were exhausted. Those lucky enough to survive accidents received little to no medical care. When there was a death in the woods, the train would sound its sad whistle while passing through Courtenay.
In 1918 alone, CLRC saw seven deaths and numerous injuries. In response, Robert hired Dr. Tillman Briggs to live at Lake Camp. Briggs treated injured workers and established a safety education program, supported by Robert, who adopted the slogan 'Safety First.' Signs around camp read, "It’s Hell to be a cripple. Be Careful. Safety first."
While accidents and fatalities didn't disappear entirely, the situation improved. From 1929 to 1934, there were no fatalities, an unimaginable achievement a decade earlier.

Filberg's care for loggers extended beyond the forest. In response to 1930s strike actions, he instituted an employee benefit program, providing medical care (excluding ocular and dental) at St. Joseph's Hospital for a small monthly fee, $3 for married men and $2 for bachelors, with the company also financially contributing to the program.
For families of workers who lost their lives or were disabled, Filberg arranged firewood deliveries and offered personal support. He valued loyalty, hiring local men whenever possible instead of relying on transient workers from Vancouver.
His 'homeguard' policy ensured the same men held key positions year after year, fostering an experienced and tight-knit workforce that looked out for one another.

"Fellows spent practically their whole life working for Comox Logging. They treated their fellows real good."
Bus Griffith (1913-2006)
The 1930s showcased Filberg’s loyalty to his ‘homeguard’ workforce during widespread economic hardship and mass unemployment. Despite the forestry industry being hit hard and timber being sold at a loss from 1930 to 1937, Filberg kept his crews working, even if it meant cutting wages.
"The hungry 30s" saw Comox Logging employees receiving a 10 percent discount at the grocery store, as Comox Logging was the only local employer with a payroll.
Filberg also encouraged his crew to buy local land to support themselves during work slowdowns. For instance, Norman Janes bought farmland and supplemented his income by farming, allowing families to survive during tough times.
The Antagonizer
For all the kindness of Robert Filberg, he had a darker side.
Robert was fiercely against unions and anyone who was seen to challenge the company.
Following the 1919 strikes, logging companies, which included the Comox Logging and Railway Company, formed the BC Loggers’ Association, in turn, establishing the Loggers’ Employment Agency. The Agency allowed companies to track loggers who had taken part in the 1919 strikes. Companies could keep union activists out of logging camps and avoid worker unrest.
By 1922, approximately 1,500 Lumber Workers’ Industrial Union members had been blacklisted from the industry by the Loggers’ Employment Agency.
Filberg toed the company line when it came to dealing with union antagonists. If union sympathizers were caught reading The Lumber Worker, the Union magazine, at any of the Comox Logging and Railway Company job sites, they were fired!
I can remember in the mid-twenties when I started in the woods, if you mentioned union in a camp, the men - not the operators-would run you out of the camp. This condition went out for about twenty years."
Harper Baikie
A full-on strike erupted in 1934 at Comox Logging and Railway Company, Camp 3, over low wages, safety concerns, and union recognition. Filberg came down hard.
Not afraid of a fight, Filberg confronted the strike leader, a broad-strapping Swedish faller. They got into a ‘hell of an argument’, and Filberg’s rage boiled over. He went to have a swing at the leader, but his two managers held him back.
In sheer anger, Filberg shut down operations at Camp 3, not wanting the strike to continue and spreading the unrest into other Comox Logging and Railway Company camps in the Valley. When the BC government intervened and agreed to raise the minimum wage to $3.20 a day, it appeared the workers would return to work. They hoped to, that much is for sure. It was the 1930s after all and times were tough. However, Filberg was having none of it. Determined to have the final say, Filberg blacklisted all those that went on strike, making it nearly impossible for the fallers and buckers to find work across BC.

It would appear that if one were to tread on Filberg’s toes once, he wouldn’t forget it.
But this harsh treatment of his men some would say was against his own character.
In 1936, just months before he was promoted to Vice President of Canadian Western Lumber Company, Filberg was driving down a road outside of Cumberland when he picked up a hitch-hiker. He recognized the man as being ‘in that goddamned strike.’ They chatted away, and he told Filberg he had failed to find any work since the strike. Taking pity upon the young man, perhaps reminding himself of the days when he and his mother, Elizabeth, were destitute, poor and hungry, Filberg suggested he get down to the Comox Logging and Railway Company tomorrow and enquire about work.
The following day the man was hired.

When Filberg became vice-president of Canadian Western in 1936, his role at Comox Logging and Railway Company shifted from hands-on boss to corporate executive.
Safety standards slipped, and Cruickshank Camp saw frequent accidents, including three fatalities between 1940 and 1943.
"I was not at work when Bobby was killed. He was hit and so was the bunk-maker - you needed a [false] bunk if a stick was over 40 feet. They were killed near Cougar Lake. They were all sitting on a log with their back to the rigging. There were injuries too. They killed two and put one in hospital. It was dangerous work."
Bill Woods
The workforce makeup also changed. Without Filberg's management, many homeguard workers left, forcing the company to hire unskilled men from Vancouver. This increased danger and eroded the sense of community at Lake Camp.
Attitudes towards unionization also changed among the workers in Filberg’s absence.
In 1934 when the Lumber Workers’ Industrial Union called a strike, large logging camps throughout BC joined the cause. The workforce of the CLRC collectively chose not to take action, voting to continue to work. It was only Camp 3 where there was trouble. The rest of CLRC operations did not strike. Many workers felt that the company looked after them well.
As Filberg advanced from superintendent to vice-president, attitudes towards unionization in the CLRC changed. The employees had long been warned that Filberg would not always be there to look after them.
The CLRC became the last large logging company on the coast to be organized by the International Woodworkers of America in 1942.
In later years Filberg served on a number of conservation association boards. He became president of Aero Timber Products Ltd., during the Second World War, and provided Sitka spruce to the Royal Canadian Air Force to manufacture the Mosquito bomber. He refused to take a wage during the war, and became known as a ‘dollar a year man’ for the symbolic salary he accepted for the job.
Man & Myth
From a young, destitute boy roaming the Pacific Northwest in search of a dime, he rose to the ranks of the CLRC, taking his family from humble beginnings to a lavish lifestyle.
But his life didn’t have a fairytale ending.
Florence died in 1958 from undisclosed causes at just 63 years old. Robert's son, Robert Filberg Jr, known as ‘Buddy’ died in 1960, only 35 years old, and his daughter Mary Elizabeth passed away suddenly in 1967.
In the space of nine years, Robert had lost his entire family. A man who had everything suddenly found himself with everything but the thing he’d worked so hard for: his family.


In 1977 Robert passed away at his holiday home in Hawai'i. He left behind a legacy that still stands true in the Comox community today. Filberg lodge, his former family home, and the gardens surrounding it, are enjoyed by thousands of visitors each year.
From rags to riches, Robert Filberg lived a full life: hard work, heartache, and heart.