One of the early pioneers on the Burrard Inlet’s North Shore, Arthur Diplock, is known for establishing in 1902 the Western Corporation, a multifaceted conglomerate involved in real estate, house building, road works and sales of coal and lumber. His legacy should be equally remembered for the construction in 1906 of what was arguably the first electric sawmill in the Pacific northwest. Glory times followed, but the Diplock story is not without its tragedy, as we will discover.