Move over forestry,  there's a new industry in town. One where the sand and gravel found under the forested hillsides are the new bedrock for hundreds of former forestry workers.

The Orca Quarry in the northern Vancouver Island community of Port McNeill is only 16 months old, but it could be sitting on top of one of Canada's largest sand and gravel deposits.

"Our sand, if you look at it under a microscope, it looks like a bunch of small ball bearings and is ideal for making finished concrete," said Jim Balmer of Orca Sand and Gravel.

Once the gravel from here gets through the crushers and screeners, more than two kilometres of conveyors take the aggregate across land and sea to a deep ocean port where barges are loaded for shipping.

Much of the gravel from here will be shipped to San Francisco's construction industry.

And as strange as it sounds, some of the sand will go to Hawaii -- which is becoming a local point of pride.

"My slogan for Port McNeil people is, why go to Hawaii and lay in the sand when you can lay in the same sand right here in Port McNeill," said Port McNeill Mayor Gerry Furney.

For a town that was once entirely dependent on B.C.'s slumping forestry industry, a burgeoning quarry is exciting news for workers.

About half of the 48 employees here are from the two local First Nations groups which have a stake in Orca's success.

"I feel cheesy to say it but I feel blessed," said Joana Recalma, who supports herself and her young son on what she earns doing maintenance work.

"I have a steady income that's a living income," she said.

For others, it's the stability that's better. Mark Monkton says he's not necessarily earning more than he would as a forestry worker, but he's sure he'll be working tomorrow.

"You know your job's there," he said. "You're not getting laid off the next day."

With a report by CTV British Columbia's Jim Beatty