Logging Jordan River was established as a logging camp in the 1880s. Timber harvesting intensified in 1907, with the construction of six-kilometres of railway tracks. Western Forest Products took over the tree farming operation in 1934 and 2 local firms in the area today. Hydroelectric Power Development of the Jordan River watershed and construction of the Vancouver Island Power Company’s hydroelectric plant began in 1911 and finished a few years later. During the construction of the hydroelectric plant, Jordan River was home to 1,000 workers. A 330-metre vertical penstock pipe carries water from the Diversion Reservoir, which is located further inland, to the hydropower generating station. The plant is now owned by BC Hydro. Mining In 1915, George Winkler identified significant mineral deposits deep within the Sooke Mountain, near the Jordan River. Over the next five decades, the mining operation constructed there would employ hundreds of people and extract significant volumes of copper, silver and gold. Learn more about the mining history. Community Until 1912, Jordan River was only accessible by sea. That year, the Old Otter Point Road was extended to the community of Jordan River, connecting the town by land to Sooke and Victoria. In 1953, this road became part of the newly created Highway 14. In 1975, Highway 14 was extended all the way west to the remote community of Port Renfrew. Paving was completed in the late 1980s.