The History of Youbou:

The community of  Youbou began in 1907 when Mr. N. Falconer and A. J. Coasts, two timber cruisers working for the American Finance Company, arrived here. This company, later to be called the Empire Lumber Company, assured that the Esquimalt & Nanaimo Railway was soon to build, secured large blocks of timber including the present mill area and town site. These land grants concluded in 1909.

After the E&N Railway arrived in 1912, the Empire Lumber Company began establishing camps. Modern equipment was brought in and logging was underway by 1913. A small mill was built at "Cottonwood", as Youbou was originally known. The logs were to be loaded out on the Empire Lumber Company's loading works at the foot of the lake and transported to tidewater by E&N Railway.

By 1914 Empire shared a sub-contract with the Cameron Lumber Co. of Victoria  to supply 24 million board feet of lumber for the Toronto Harbour Works (a Dominion Government project).  Due to the disruption caused by WW1, the abandoned proposal of the Canadian National Railway, and the decision not to build a mill at Crofton, the expansion of Empire was slowed.

In 1918 the Cottonwood mill, also known as the Medina Mill, began sawing again and shipped the first load of sawn lumber. Improvements to the mill were made and it's capacity increased. By 1922 the mill was able to cut 30,000 feet per day and employed 30 men.

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