Chapter VII

J. Lewis & Sons Lumber Division

At the first the company set up a portable saw mill at East River to saw live-edged hardwood lumber for making box boards for the Moirs Box Factory at Bedford, Nova Scotia.

Mr. Frank Lewis was the President of the Moirs factory at the time. The company needed hardwood lumber to re-saw into box board for shipping their product.

Mr. Elbridge Lowe started contracting the cutting of saw logs for this mill on the company lands near Grant's River. This material was felled in the leaf, allowed to dry until fall, then yarded to the river for stream driving to the mill. I tallied the first of this lumber which was shipped to Bedford on the S.S. Marlis, owned and operated by Capt. Howard Verge of Sheet Harbour.

At the time the company was starting to build the large stationary mill, which was to be the first steam stationary mill in the area. As soon as spruce saw logs could be delivered to the portable mill, timbers were then sawn for the construction of the big mill.

Mr. Alexander (Bode) Barkhouse did a tremendous amount of the iron work for the construction of this mill. His helpers were: Mr. James Smith and Mr. Roland Scott.

In 1935 the company had hired a manager for the Sheet Harbour lumber operation. Mr. Perley R. Giberson of Chatham, New Brunswick, was that manager. He in turn had two millwrights who came down from New Brunswick. They were Mr. Allen Russell and his brother. These men assisted in the construction of the big mill.

The design of the mill was such that on one side was a rotary carriage and edger, and in the centre, gang saws which were eventually replaced by a horizontal re-saw. On the other said was a double-cut band saw, steam-fed by so-called "gunshot feed." This equipment, including a "nigger" and log loaders on the log bed, were all steam fed. Two men rode this carriage. On one end was a "dogger" and on the other end was a "setter." These men were Mr. Eric Johansen and Mr. Frank Taggart, with Mr. Jack Hughes as the band sawyer. The "dogger's" job was to attach the saw log to the carriage by means of large teeth which secured the log for passage through the bad saw. The "setter's" job was to translate the orders of the sawyer and "set" the thickness of the saw cut.

The lumber from the band saw and the gang saw was transferred to the 12-saw edger. This took care of the volume of lumber coming from these machines. The unfortunate by-product of this operation was that at times the off-cut would be directed back at the operator. The saw would throw back the shim toward the edger operator and he could be seriously injured. This saw was eventually removed to overcome this problem.

There were large slashing saw on the left-hand side of the mill. These saws were spaced to cut lath wood from the edgings. This wood went to two lath machines at the front section of the mill. The trimming table was also located at the front of the mill. The waste from the slashers went to a large steel burner which was a 90 foot high bottle-shaped burner. This burner was used to burn sawdust and all excess mill waste. Originally this burner had been located at the West River sawmill where is had been in use for quite a number of years. It

Company logs on the ice, at Indian Road Flowage, of Seven-Mile Stream, to be stream driven to the Sheet Harbour saw mill.

was dismantled by Lewis Lumber and was transported and reassembled at the new mill location at East River.

The double-cut bandsaw slabbed the logs for both the gang saws ans the re-saw. From here the logs were sawn into the appropriate sizes.

Much of the equipment was acquired from a defunct mill in Yarmouth County. The double-cut bandsaw came from the Moirs Box Factory at Bedford. The machinery was shipped from Yarmouth to Upper Musquodoboit by rail, then trucked to Sheet Harbour. An interesting sidelight of the process of getting the mill equipment to Sheet Harbour was that a boiler, weighting 30 tons, could not be shipped by truck. It was taken from the railroad car to salt water at Chezzetcook. Here the tubes were plugged with pine plugs, the object being to make it sufficiently watertight to float. Mr. Malcolm Barkhouse was the man responsible for this innovative idea. From here it was towed by the company's boat to Sheet Harbour. It was then hauled to the mill site by chain blocks. Eventually this boiler was taken to Truro to the Easter Hat and

Lombard tractor purchased by R.E. Dickie for Canadian Lumber Company in the 1920s at Stewiacke, N.S. This is the machine that Malcolm J. Barkhouse took out of moth balls, hauled a 30-ton boiler on a tractor sled from Sheet Harbour to the Eastern Hat and Cap Factory in Truro.

Cap Factory. Again Mr. Barkhouse's ideas were put into practice. He obtained, from storage, a Lombard tractor-type snow machine to which he attached a large tractor sled. The boiler was rolled onto the sled, securely fastened, and the snow machine pulled its load on the highway from Sheet Harbour to Truro. The snow machine had been used by the Canadian Lumber Company to transport sawn lumber to the railway stations in different parts of the province.

1937 was the last year in which the company depended entirely on stream-driving their saw logs. This came about because interest in portable mills became much greater. The Hedley Creelman, Warren Cruickshank, Edgar Cameron, Oliver Dauphinee, Noble Westhaver, Willard Christie, James Smith, Charles Eisan, Douglas Chittick and his brother Fred. These contractors were on the Seven and Ten-Mile Streams of the East River. There were three more contractors cutting saw logs in the Locharber Mines area. A Mr. Baker, Frank Taggart and John Angus MacPhee were located at McPhail Lake and the Twelve-Mile Stream.

In the spring of 1937 the temperature on March 4 reached 70 degrees F, and in four days all the snow and ice in the bush had melted. The weather then was favourable for river drivers. The main drive was going through the Union Dam on Twelve-Mile Stream on March 28. The change in weather happened so quickly that many of the men stayed on to work on the river drive.

The horses wee usually walked in the spring to the company's main barn at Stewiacke. Mr. Dan Henry was the stable man. He would come to Pleasant Valley to help drive the horses to Stewiacke. I have seen him walking 12 to 14 horses at one time. He would be leading the first two, the balance in

Cleartrack tractor, showing a portion of the dozer frame that was built by Mr. M.J. Barkhouse. Ira Fisher the operator, with Thomas Brown in background.

series. One horse's rope would be tied to the tail of the horse ahead.

In the summer of 1937 the company started to concentrate more on portable mills. To do this the woods roads would have to be upgraded so that the sawn lumber could be trucked to Sheet Harbour. The first bulldozer which the company had was a small Cleatrack tractor. It would be 22 to 25 horsepower. Malcolm Barkhouse made a channel-iron frame which fit around the tractor, hinged in the centre on each side of the tractor. At the driver's seat a water pump to operate the blade. The fluid, under pressure, would cause the angle iron to be depressed on the back of the tractor, causing the blade to rise. The operation was implemented by the driver, gradually opening or closing a check valve on the line to control the blade position and using the hand pump to increase the pressure.

This machine was operated by Mr. Ira Fisher in the preparation of the first company road to a portable mill in the Pleasant Valley area.

The lumber from this portable operation was trucked to Pleasant Valley, then on to Sheet Harbour in the summer.

J. Lewis & Sons portable saw mill, Seven-Mile, 1939.

Portable mills were established at Pug Lake on the Seven-Mile Stream, MacDonald Lake, Belmore Flowage, and the Ten-Mile Stream in 1938 and 1939.

The company bought two D4 Caterpillar tractors including angle / dozing blades in 1939. These machines were used for logging purposes and for snowplowing the company roads and the highway.

The Lewis Lumber operation had been buying stumpage from the American Realty Company lands. Two other companies were also affected. They were the D. A. Huston and A. T. Logan companies. The American Realty Company of Sheet Harbour. J. Lewis and Sons continued to operated portable mills in Moser River and New Chester Crown. Mr. Perley R. Giberson left the Lewis and Sons Lumber Company as manager of the Sheet Harbour operation. He went to Pictou County where he became a partner in the A. T. Logan Lumber Company. He remained active for many years, supplying lumber to the customers of his Lewis Lumber days. Douglas MacDonald was appointed manager of the Lewis Lumber Division at Sheet Harbour and remained manager until the company ceased operation in the 1950s. In late 1930 and in the 1940s, J. Lewis & Sons Lumber Division produced 10 to 12 million board feet of pine and spruce lumber each year, also 1 to 2 million board feet of hardwood lumber, of which about 30% was graded stock. In addition to this they produced mine props which were shipped to Chappel Bros. Of Sydney, Nova Scotia.

Their major market for hardwood lumber was the United States. Much spruce was shipped by sailing boats to John Moser Lumber Company of Boston, Mass.

In addition to these markets, one or two steamer loads of softwood lumber were shipped to the Irish market. These steamers were partly loaded at the company wharf near the lumber yard, but they had to be moved to the government wharf due to limited draft at the company wharf. Until the late 1930s this lumber was transported to boatside on dollie wagons. Many nights we worked until midnight so that there would be a supply of wood ahead for loading the ship in the morning.

Since the company was liable for a demurrage fee for each dat the ship was at dock beyond the alloted time, special roller-equipped truck bodies were mounted on the trucks so that the trucks could be loaded directly from the loaders in the lumber yard, then rolled off the trucks at boatside. This innovation speeded up the operation considerably.

Some private truckers began using the roller method of loading. One man I remember particularly was Richard Ross. He purchased a new 3 ½ ton maple Leaf truck and had it equipped with rollers. Mr. Ross was not an experienced truck man. When he backed the truck up to release the load, he braked the truck to allow the lumber to roll off the truck. Unfortunately, he neglected to keep his foot on the brake when the front end of the truck was raised four to five feet above the dock. Had he continued to brake, the front end would have gradually descended to the dock. Instead, the front end dropped to the dock with such force that the engine and transmission were thrown to the dock under the truck.

During the period 1936 to 1939 when supplies were obtained from the company warehouse, portaging of the supplies was accomplished by both ox team and horses. In the

Elwyn Casey, driving a company truck hauling logs to the mill near the Seven-Mile in 1938.

summertime large wagons were used. Mr. Oliver Dauphinee used an ox team for hauling his supplies with Mr. Reginald Hashman as teamster. Isaac Henley from Pleasant Valley hauled supplies to some of the company camps. Henry Henley hauled supplies to Hedley Creelman's camp. Aubrey Stevens from Musquodoboit Harbour also hauled for Creelman.

Eric Johansen went to Halifax and purchased a heavy team of draft horses from "Daddy" Adams of Adams Transport and Livery. This purchase also included a heavy truck wagon.

The condition of the "tote" roads was such that is was very hard on horses and equipment. Mr. Johansen's team was quickly worn out because of the condition of the road and overloading of his wagon. In a short time he moved to Moser River where he worked in the pulp wood operation for Mr. D.J. Turner, whom I believe bought Johansen's horses. In order to lighten the load, the pickling liquid was drained from the barrels of corned beef. Transportation cost was either 25

Three-master loading J. Lewis & Sons' lumber for Boston at East River Wharf in 1938.

cents or 35 cents per hundredweight, depending on the distance from the warehouse to the camps.

In the warehouse and adjoining buildings was stored 200 bags of oats and 100 tons of hay at one time. In the warehouse proper were stored potatoes, vegetables, boxes of raisins, prunes, dried apples, and canned goods. To prevent freezing of these supplies, part of my job was to ensure that sufficient wood was obtained for the barrel stove in the warehouse.

During the years 1937 and 1938, about 90 men were employed on three shifts. It was the responsibility of Albert Josey to see to it that food was prepared for each shift. This mill was the first of the company's portable mills and was located in Pleasant Valley.

In 1938 the company installed two or three pulp camps where pulpwood was cut and peeled for the American Realty Company. This pulp was stream driven to Sheet Harbour then shipped by boat to the International Paper Company's mill in New Brunswick. These camps were located near the Seven-Mile Stream of East River, Sheet Harbour.

A very interesting sidelight of the operation of the big mill at East River was that a lime, over which a horseshoe had been hung, had grown to a size where it was cut for a saw log. In the process, the double-cut bandsaw missed the shoe. It was located in the centre of a 2 x 10 plank. IN the board cutting operation the re-saw escaped injury. This incident could readily have resulted in either very serious injury or death to te operator. The horseshoe was kept on display in the company office at Sheet Harbour until the big forest fire of 1947. It was indeed a conversation piece!

(The company also shipped lumber to companies in Iceland to be re-sawn for fish boxes.)

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