We have a long history of manufacturing and have helped build Vancouver and the province of British Columbia into what it is now. Around the turn of the century we began making bolts and rivets on the banks of False Creek, in what is now known today as Granville Island. Though the 1910s and 1920s we supplied products that helped build Vancouver from what was a few houses and sawmills into the city that it is today. In these early days it became apparent that for Pacific Bolt and Burrard Rivet to continue to manufacture and supply products, a steel mill would be needed, so Vancouver Rolling Mill came to life.
In the 1930s and 1940s the manufacturing industry on False Creek was in its heyday and held some of the largest ship building yards on the West Coast. This was a busy time for us (and our sister companies), supplying bolts and steel for both merchant and naval ships. Although times were good, the False Creek industrial area was often plagued with massive fires. These fires raced through the timber buildings which housed most of the manufacturing operations and once hit by fire, most did not rebuild.
One evening in 1955 we, like other companies on Granville Island, were struck by a fire which destroyed a major part of our factory. That fire marked the start of a new era for Pacific Bolt, and we began work on a new facility at Marine Drive on the south side of Vancouver.
During this time we became a division of Western Canada Steel which, along with the bolt division, also owned a scrap division and rolling mill on Mitchell Island in Vancouver. In the late 1980s, after some years of labour unrest, Western Canada Steel closed its doors, ending steel making in British Columbia.
In 1988 Pacific Bolt Ltd. was reborn with some of the same equipment and staff from the old Western Canada Steel operation; we began manufacturing again at our current location in New Westminster, B.C. At first times were hard, but with time we grew and have now become the largest Bolt Manufacturer in Western Canada.