 | The lumbering operations in the Trent-Severn Waterway region were highly dependent upon water supply and power. Water provided the industry with both the transportation to send trees from the forest to the mills and markets, as well as the power necessary to run the sawmills. A Trent-Severn Canal System could help provide water needs, and develop the local lumbering industry. Throughout the building of the canal, the lumbering companies applied pressure to have some of the lakes and rivers joined with canals and locks and to have more slides, booms and dams constructed. The development of the lumbering industry in the region had an important impact on the building of the Trent-Severn Canal.
During the first half of the 19th century, square timber dominated the Canadian forest products export market. Although the Ottawa Valley was the primary producer of square timber during the period, the Trent River Valley rapidly achieved second place in output.
In general, forest exploitation moved northwards from Lake Ontario into the back country. Slides, booms, and dams were built along the system to facilitate the movement of timber to Lake Ontario. By the 1840's, with the abandonment of lock construction, the government diverted its attention to the construction of slides and dams for the lumber industry. The square timber industry was characterized by widespread woods operations throughout the region during the winter, but little capital investment in materials and structures. As a result, it did not have the same economic impact as did the sawlog industry which required substantial investments in capital for the establishment of a milling complex. The impact on the economic and social development of the region was thus distinctly less than that of the sawlog operation.
By the 1860's, the total value of square timber production had decreased substantially. By the 1870's, square timber production fell to the point that it had declined to insignificant proportions as compared to the production of saw logs.
Sawlog production had a greater economic impact on the region than did square timber. Sawlog operations began at an early date concomitant with initial settlement of the area. Initially, production was geared to local demand for building products. By the 1820's and early 1830's, mills were established at Peterborough, Young's Point, Buckhorn, Bobcaygeon, Fenelon Falls, Campbellford and Frankford. These operations remained small and generally inconsequential until the 1850's, when favourable trade legislation (Reciprocity Treaty of 1854), a rapidly growing demand in the United States for building materials and improved transportation networks (railways and river improvements) provided the stimulus for rapid expansion of the sawmilling industry. Very large and efficient sawmills made their appearance along the waterway together with larger scale log drives through the system.
By the mid 1860's, large mills were located throughout the region. These included Shaw and Waite's Mill at Lakefield (6-7m. ft. / yr), three mills at Fenelon Falls with an output of 18m. ft. /yr. and Nassau Mill, on the Otonabee River, which had 130 saws and could produce 90,000 ft. of sawn lumber in 12 hours. The total output for Peterborough County alone, in 1866, amounted to 50 million feet of sawn lumber. By far the largest milling operation on the waterway was the Gilmour Company's Mill at Trenton, which had become the Bytown of the Trent River Valley. In 1872-73 its output was 22 million feet of sawn lumber.
The Trent River Valley remained in a prominent position in the production of sawn lumber throughout the 1860's and 1870's. By the 1880's and 1890's, as the loggers reached the top of the watershed, the decline of the lumber industry in the watershed was inevitable. Mills that were destroyed by fire were never rebuilt, while others shut down their operations forever. The Gilmour Company ceased operations in 1912 thus marking the end of an era. Sawmills remained in operation into the 20th century, but on a much reduced scale.
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