came in 1931, but unionization in Vancouver Island mines was not restored until 1938. After 1931, Canadian Collieries leased out small unworked areas around abandoned mines to private contractors. Employing about 35 miners, the Beban mine was one of the larger operations. To the west, this mine operated 1935–1941, extracting . Most flooding came from breaching into the old Extension Mine where Beban also sourced its coal. In a 1937 flood, three drowned. Throughout the 1930s, while surviving the Great Depression, some residents entered up to into the Extension workings to extract coal by hand. Early community Dunsmuir was fearful of militant labour unrest spreading from nearby Nanaimo. Consequently, he wanted the mine workers to reside at Oyster Bay and commute daily by train. However, hundreds chose to build dwellings at Extension, and the settlement blossomed. In 1900, when the post office opened, the name changed to Extension. In the early 1900s, several stores and the Central, Extension, Overton, Pretoria, and Queen's hotels operated. Special trains carried passengers to Saturday night dances held at either Extension or Ladysmith. After the mine shuttered, the remaining two-storey 21-room hotel closed. Later community In 1948, the place was described as "warped, unpainted shanties, many of them with their walls angling crazily and their windows cracked, make Extension…a ghost town – except that people live in the tumbling huts….(or) crumbling old hotels…" Logging sustained the settlement throughout the 1940s and 1950s. Real estate developers soon promoted such locations, which were outside the Nanaimo city boundaries, and taxed at much lower rates. Today, this bedroom community for Nanaimo comprises a residential area of steadily diminishing vacant lots and modern houses, surrounded by small farms. The general store is gone, but a volunteer fire department remains. The barren towering slag heap lies hidden behind the trees. Footnotes References Designated places in British Columbia Mid Vancouver Island Mining communities in British Columbia Populated places in the Regional District of Nanaimo