The Nanaimo Bastion, which marked its 150th anniversary in 2003, remains a prominent symbol of Nanaimo's heritage as an HBC fort, coal-mining centre and transportation hub, a vital link between other developing parts of Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland. Hub City, the second volume in Jan Peterson's trilogy on Nanaimo's vibrant history, tells of the development of this Vancouver Island community from the arrival of the E&N Railway in 1886 through to the end of the First World War and the Spanish enfluenza epidemic. Included in her story are such pivotal events as the mining disaster of 1887, the Big Strike of 1912-1914, the emergence of the labour movement, and the rise and fall of coal baron James Dunsmuir.
