West River Saw Mill

However I received information from Mr. Anderson Behie, a resident of Sheet Harbour at the time when Haverlock Mc C. Hart bought the mill site in 1878, bringing the new mill gear, also building a new saw mill which was run by water power using a turbine water wheel. In taking up grants of land, also a few leases from the Crown, the company accumulated approximately 60,000 acres of land on the West River watershed.

The bell which is being used at the Primary School came with the saw mill equipment to West River and was used at the mill to signal when to start and finish the day's work. IN 1922 the property and mill were sold to the Wheeler Brothers of New York, owners of the American Perforated Wrapping Paper Company, to make room for the ground wood pulp mill. The bell was erected on the roof of the carpenter shop, located in the mill yard. For a few years the bell was used to signal the beginning and end of shifts. I believe that this bell originally came from a steam locomotive and was donated to the school by Mr. D. Francis Daugherty of Bangor, Maine. Since that time the bell has had regular use, summoning pupils to class.

The Havelock McC. Hart saw mill and timber limits were sold in 1902, according to Lawyer Rutledge's book, to Rhodes and Currie of Amherst. Daniel Chisholm was Manager, and the company was known as the Sheet Harbour Lumber Company. From 1914 to 1918 the mill was closed. The company moved its operation to timber limits they owned near Rawdon, Hants County, river-driving their logs to their mill in Brooklyn. However, they returned to Sheet Harbour and re-opened the mill. Their last cut was in 1921. My father was the sawyer for the rotary carriage with Walter Behie on the gang saws. It was interesting to see the mill work, when I carried my father's lunch at noon. Mr. Scott Dean was millwright and he would show me the start-up of the waterwheel. This operation was well engineered. There was a large dam at the northeast end of the mill. The dam served two purposes. First, it held the head of water for the flume to the waterwheel; secondly, since the saw logs were sluiced down from the lake by a water shute to the mill pond, this dam gave approximately a 16 to 18 foot head of water for the waterwheel.

I heard a story about a contractor leaving a steel "yarding dog" in a log. When this log reached the mill and came to the rotary saw, the saw hit the "dog," causing considerable damage to the saw. My father told me that pieces of steel, ripped from the saw, actually hit the roof of the mill. Each contractor was assigned his own identification mark with which all logs were marked. In this way the company could identify that contractor responsible for the damage. I remember seeing a "rabbit track" design cut into logs when I was a boy. My father said that this was the Behie Brothers identification mark. This particular log was very old and had been left over from a river drive many years before.

Problems of design in the building of a log sluice at Fraser Lake, west of Grand Lake on the Little West River water. The contractor, Behie Brothers, landed their cut logs on the ice at Fraser Lake with the intention of river-driving them to Sheet Harbour in the Spring. Unfortunately the angle of the log sluice was such that it defeated its own purpose. Instead of delivering the logs toward Grand Lake, the water in the sluice ran away from the logs, stranding them in the sluice itself. The solution was to yard the logs with horses, eventually getting from Fraser Lake to Grand Lake, thence to Sheet Harbour.

"Battle Dam Flowage," on the Little West River waters, received its name because two contractors were in dispute over their allocated territory. Some of the contractors for the company were: William Tupper, Roland Grant, John McPherson, Martin Cruickshanks. Patrick Coady's operation on Sand Lake Brook also provided logs for river driving to the mill. Another of his camps was at Killegg River. The sled road from his logging operation to the river is still known as the Coady Road.

Jake's Lake, named after my grandfather, Jacob Barkhouse, was also known as Grassy Lake. Logs from this operation were hauled to Sam's Lake for stream driving on Rocky Brook to West River Sheet Harbour.

Charles (Chuck) MacDonald was quoted as the source concerning a story about the Abe Malay operation on Killeg Stream. In the early part of the 1900s, winter arrived without snow. The logs, already cut and browed (piled) for sledding had to be yarder by horses to the Killeg River. Logs which were cut after this were left in long lengths and were "junked" at the river.

The place called Belmore Landing is name for Mr. James Belmore, whose camp was located near Lake Dan on the Killeg River, approximately one half mile north of the Killeg Road river crossing.

On Lucifer Lake, near Otter Lake on the Tangier River, Samuel Currie, of Marinette, drove a supply team for his brother, Frank Currie, Sr. For two years he drove a two-horse team hauling supplies to the logging camp from Sheet Harbour. In order to reach the camp, he used a truck wagon to the entry into the bush. At that point he had to unload the wagon and transfer the supplies to a wood-shod sled. In the distance of three to four miles it would be necessary to replace the runners once or twice before reaching its destination. This replacement operation was interesting. It involved removing the old runners and replacing them with new wooden "shoes." The old "shoes" had been drilled with a 2" auger and were plugged with wooden pegs, driven into the main sled runners. Imagine having to unload each time this operation was carried out!

For many years my grandfather, Patrick Coady, was in charge of stevedoring operations on contract with the Sheet Harbour Lumber Company. This involved stowing the lumber aboard the ships which were used to transport it to market.

Another highlight of river driving was the innovative idea used to transport the saw logs from Otter Lake, on the Tangier River, to West River Sheet Harbour. Since it was not feasible to stream-drive these logs to Tangier, a dam was built - known as Cut-Away Dam. It was built on a deadwater of the Tangier River, near the Kidney Lakes of the West River, Sheet Harbour waters. Then a canal was dug between the Tangier River and the Kidney Lakes. This enabled the logs to be stream driver to the mill at Sheet Harbour.

The canal lay dormant for many years until the Halifax Power and Pulp Company of Sheet Harbour cleaned out the canal by using horses with an earth plow and scoop. This was done to allow the company to drive its pulp wood to Sheet Harbour. The Cut-Away Dam was also rebuilt to make this route once again possible.

At the time these operations were in full swing, money was extremely tight and in order to have useful camps for the workers, for storage and for the care of the animals, many make-shift and money-saving things were done. As an example, the hovels and camps were built by overlapping and notching the corner logs, since no nails or spikes hat to be used. The roof of these structures were covered with bark, hemlock or spruce. The roofs themselves were braced so that the bark would lie on the braces, somewhat after the idea of today's modern shingling technique. The bark was obtained during the peeling season in four-foot lengths, placed on the ground with weight on top of it to keep it flat. In the fall the new camp would be shingled or an old camp would be re-shingled with this bark.

During this period there was a strong interest in conservation. No tree would be cut unless it met the 22-foot, 8-inch criterion; that is 22 feet high with an 8" diameter at the top.

Patrick Coady, during his period of contacting at Sand Lake, had a worker very badly injured by an axe. The camp was about 12 miles from Musquodoboit by the Sheet Harbour - Musquodoboit Highway to Upper Musquodoboit. By a sled trail to Pleasant Valley, the distance was then half. Horse and sled were force-driven through the bush to the home of Wm. Farnell at Pleasant Valley. My Grandfather knocked on the door, intending to ask Mr. Farnell if he would load him his horse, since my grandfather's horse was exhausted. Called out from a family prayer meeting, Mr. Farnell agreed to switch horses so that journey could continue.

Rhodes and Currie Saw Mill at West River. Also included are some dwellings: (1) Pat Quillan's house; (2) company house; (3) Arch MacPhee's house; (4) Hollis Anderson's house; (5) saw mill; (6) company Mill Pond; (7) company store; (8) sawdust and slab burner; (9) Mrs. Conrod's hotel, later the MacDonald Hotel.

Mill crew at Rhodes and Currie's saw mill at West River, Sheet Harbour, 1919. Men in picture --- Scott Dean, Heck Behie, Big John Chisholm, Jack Knight, Charles Murphy, Mark Murphy, John Coady, J. Butler, Sam Behie, Ralph Purcell, Pat Coady (Jr.), Walter Hall, George Hartling, Henry Purcell, B. Fahie, B. Hartling, Guss Behie, B. Conroy, Hedley Conroy, Arch MacPhee, John MacDonald, Dr. Quillan, John MacPherson, Neil Corner, Sid Pye, Sid Behie, Ben MacDonald, J. Will Quillan, Warren Behie, Dan macPherson, Arth. Penney, Lawrence Walsh, Kirk Corner, Sandy Dean, Mike Nelligan, Bill Perry, Wall Behie, Alvin Henry, Tim Knight, Hawthorne Cleveland, E. Lindsey, Frank Purcell, Top. Butler, Wilbert MacInnis, John Fahie.

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