History of the Wm. Chisholm Sawmill

Sheet Harbour

Some of the logging contractors who supplied the company were: Henry Hall and Abe Malay, who worked in the vicinity of Little 10-Mile Lake. Since it was not possible to stream drive saw logs from Little 10-Mile Lake, the nearest access for river driving was at Belmore Flowage on the 10-Mile Stream. Because the grade between the two was about 15%, it was impossible to move the logs by sled and horse; consequently a road was built by removing large rocks and earth by horse power, so that the logs could be sledded to the Belmore Flowage. In 1951 Wm. Lowe had an operation at the

William Chisholm Saw Mill, just above tide head of East River, Sheet Harbour, and the houses of the community and lumber yard at that time.

Little Ten-Mile Lake. He continued the use of this road which had been constructed by the Chisholm Lumber Company. In 1951 I scaled wood for the dam which was being renewed by the Halifax Power and Pulp Company. It was discovered that original materials, which had been underwater, of the Chisholm Dam were still sound and could be reused.

Another contractor for the Wm. Chisholm company was Jacob Barkhouse. His camp was located near a small brook on the Old Tote Road approximately half way between Big Como Dam and Lake Fraser Dam. The remains of this camp are still visible.

Beaswanger Brothers of Locharber Mines were other contractors. While I was cruising for the Halifax Power and Pulp Company in 1942, I came upon an iron pot and tea kettle at the foot of Abraham Lake. According to Charles MacDonald this had been the site of the Beaswanger Bros. Logging camp. He also told me how they transported their logs to the Chisholm Mill. Logs could not be stream driven out of Abraham Lake, since the brook below was mostly underground. On a dead water, know as Grassy Lake, a dam was built and their logs were sledded to this area. In the spring the logs were stream driven to the main 15-Mile Stream. The remains of the old dam are still visible. The hardship experienced by these contractors was hard to believe. They put up with extremes in weather, in bad terrain, and in almost impossible driving conditions. In spite of this, they succeeded in supplying the mill with logs.

In those days cutting was by axe only. I t is estimated that from 150 to 250,000 board feet of sawlogs was a fair.y good cut for each contractor.

Mr. Norman Stewart tells of the very difficult trips he made to the 10-Mile area to take supplies to the Henry Hall and Abe Malay logging camps. As well, he was the mail man on the route from Upper Musquodoboit to Sheet Harbour. He served also 24 residents along that route. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays he went to Sheet Harbour, returning on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. In his contract with the Postal Department there was a provision that he have sufficient horses to guarantee six miles per hour for delivery. He staggered the teams by having a fresh team at Frank Paul's. This was accomplished by originally leaving a second team at Mr. Paul's, thus providing the fresh team for continuing his trip. When he arrived at Upper Musquodoboit, he would take the third team and transport supplies for the Henry Hall and Abe Malay logging camps, staying at the camps overnight.

Mr. Stewart did not specify the number of trips he made to the camps , however I would believe that he would make two trips each week. Mr. Lawrence Henry of Upper Musquodoboit informed me that Mr. Stewart purchased oats from Prince Edward Island to supply these camps. I find it difficult to envision how these oats were delivered to Upper Musquodoboit as the first rail road was not in operation until October 1915 and this was in approximately 1870. I understand that Mr. Stewart and his sister owned a farm and a store at Upper Musquodoboit, and it is possible that some of the supplies originated here. In 1939 to 1938, if I had an errand from Pleasant Valley to Sheet Harbour, I traveled by the Royal Mail wagon or sleigh, in the fashion of a stage coach.

There was a "feud" between the loggers at the camp for the Wm. Chisholm Lumber Co. of Sheet Harbour and the loggers from St. Mary's River, Sherbrooke. The closeness in which the competing loggers worked, was created by the watersheds of the St. Mary's River and East River, Sheet Harbour. This close proximity made for an uncomfortable working arrangement, even though both company's men were working on their own limits. They managed to imped the work of their competition by minor harassment, since trees from one limit would fall into the limit of the other company. Big Bill Cameron was the contractor for the Sherbrooke Lumber Company, while Henry Hall or Abe Malay were the contractors for the Wm. Chisholm Lumber Company.

An amusing anecdote concerning Big Bill Cameron is told, when a potential worker came to see him at the camp. Big Bill asked him if he could handle an axe. The man replied: "Yes, Mr. Cameron, I can handle an axe." Big Bill gave him an axe him and handle. "Come back to my office when you have finished," he said. The man returned. He was asked if he could "hang" a grindstone. "Yes, Mr. Cameron," was his reply. Cameron reached under his bunk and produced a grindstone and the necessary hardware. These he gave to the man, instructing him to put two poles up against the hovel and hand the stone. The result was that the worker ruined two stones and Big Bill said, in effect: "You can do no more harm here. Get out of here the way you came in and don't ever let me see your face here again!"

After the failure of the Wm. Chisholm Lumber Company in the late 1800s, the banks with which the company had been doing business took over the lands and Angus MacDonald and his brother John, known as Big John, was the sawyer in the Wm. Chisholm sawmill for the 30 years of operation. Both were from Sheet Harbour and Angus had been the "walking boss" or woods foreman for the Company during its years of operation and was the contact with the banks after their takeover of the company. My grandfather, Patrick Coady, came from Margaree, Cape Breton, to work for the Wm. Chosholm Lumber Company in about 1875. He eventually became lumber yard foreman. After the company's failure, he went to work for the West River Lumber Company. It would be about 1919 when the Chisholm lands were purchased for the American Realty Company.

An individual purchased these lands previously from the banks. According to Mr. Perley R. Giverson's information, this individual made a considerable profit which was, in those days staggering. He is reported to have made a profit in the neighborhood of $800,000. Even by today's standards this is a considerable acreage of Crown lands was cut during the Chisholm years, and not from the actual Company limits.

After Mr. Angus MacDonald had retired as woods foreman of the Chisholm lands, Mr. Charles (Chuck) MacDonald succeeded him.

On the Chisholm lands north of the Little Ten-Mile Lake, there had been a forest fire a few years previous to their operation there. This fire burned from the south end of Bog Island Lake to a point near Governor Lake on the East River, Sheet Harbour. Thee was a considerable acreage of pine on this burn, the market for pine lumber was such that the company could salvage the logs, which were stream driven and sawed at their mill at Sheet Harbour.

Some of the men that came to East River, Sheet Harbour to work for the Chisholm Lumber Company were as follows: Angus MacDonald and his brother John came from the Antigonish, Patrick Coady Sr., and his brother James came from the Margaree Valley area of the province; I believe Andrew MacDonald also came to East River and was employed by the company as a scaler of saw logs. No doubt there were others which I cannot recall at this time.

Mr. Rex Freese came to supervise the lands in 1934 when the cutting was started. He remained in that position until the lands were sold to the Halifax Pulp and Paper Company in 1946.

In 1921 Chuck MacDonald was in charge of a work crew which was renewing boundary lines on company land and taking up Crown Land leases for the company. Mr. MacDonald tells of the experience of one of his workers, Mr. Wilfred Farnell. It appears that canoes and one birchbark canoe. These were owned by Mr. Folsom who had a hunting camp on an island in Governor's Lake. The row boat was used by Mr. F.A. Harrison's survey crew to get them from the camp to the site of the survey. Wilfred Farnell's father, William, was one of the work crew. He had warned his son not to take the failed to return to the camp. A search revealed the absence of the birchbark canoe and young Farnell's body was found between the island and the lakeshore. He had been drowned.

From a tombstone at St. Michael's Cemetery in Quoddy, Halifax County, I have copied the inscription from a stone which indicates that the Chisholm sawmill was still operation in 1887.

MICHAEL D. O'LEARY

by the Employed of Chisholm's Mill at Sheet Harbour, as a make of esteem. The deceased labored faithfully for many years in the said employ. Was accidentally killed March 3, 1887 in the 22^nd years of his age.

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