The trail originated as a logging railway. Up to 1910, the Michigan-Puget Sound Logging Company railway dumped its logs at the site of the pulp and paper mill in the Townsite. When construction of the mill started in 1910, the railway grade was extended to a new dumpsite known as Michigan’s Landing. On July 1, 1928, Michigan’s Landing was officially renamed Willingdon Beach after Lord Willingdon, the Governor General of Canada. The railway grade became known as the Willingdon Beach Trail.

When logging ended in 1918, the rails remained for about eight years, then a fellow by the name of Bill Fishleigh persuaded the Powell River Company to remove the ties so that the trail could be made into a cycle path. For 15 years, he kept the trail in shape without any remuneration because he liked to do it! For many years before a road was built, this trail was the main access route to and from the mill for workers living in Westview. It is still used for this purpose today.