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Junction of the Cow Head main
road 1950 |
| First motor
vehicle in Cow Head 1951 |
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Marriage at Cow Head 1949 |
| Cow
Head Lighthouse 1929 |
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The Cow Head Co-Op 1957 |
| Young helpers
cutting wood 1955 |
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Located on the West Coast of the Great Northern Peninsula, Cow Head was first named Cap Pointe by Jacques Cartier on June 16, 1534. The Dorset Eskimos were the first primitive people to live in Cow Head. They have been gone from there and other parts of the Northern Peninsula for nearly 3,000 years.
Cow Head is divided into two parts: "the head" and "the main". These parts were both populated until the late 1960's. There were 113 people living in the head but these people had to relocate to the main because of the Fisheries Household Resettlement Program. The head still remained the center of fishing operations. People from Belldown's Point also had to move to Cow Head under the Gros Morne National Park Community Consolidation Program.
There were 55 people in Cow Head at the time of the first census in 1837. In 1866 it was reported that twelve families were living in Cow Head By 1873 there were 67 residents. The first families were Charles Benoit, Charles Payne, M. Huelin, Charles Vincent, William Hutchins, John Benoit, and John Payne. These first people were attracted to the fur-trapping industry, but later Cow Head became well noted for fishing.
Although the harbour was poor and the land rocky, it had excellent fishing grounds. Cow Head fisherman dealt with the Bird Company, but also with Nova Scotia traders when selling fish and fur. Herring, cod, caplin and salmon were the basis of the Cow Head fishery, later the lobster fishery began. By the early 1900's there was a lobster factory in Cow Head that employed 15 people and produced 2,000 cases of lobster annually. In 1921 there were 22 lobster factories in Cow Head. In 1939 a lobster pool was formed, a bait depot constructed and a number of co-operative and marketing organizations were formed.
From 1949 to 1965 three organizations were set up, including the Cow Head Co-Operative, the Royal Co-Operative, and the Producer. Nearly all fish marketing on the coast at this time was handled in Cow Head. In the 1970's there were two fish plants that were opened seasonally. In 1980, 91,000 to 225,000 kg (200,000 to 500,000 IBS) of fish were processed. Lobster was bought from local fisherman and sent to Nova Scotia.
In 1867 Newfoundland's first oil well was drilled at Parson's Pond near Cow Head. Between 1810 to 1908 drilling started and employed many men. In the 1920's the logging industry gave Cow Head its second industry next to fishing. There was between three to six sawmills operating in Cow Head from the 1920's to 1960. This was supported through the pulp and paper industry from the Bowater Company. The population doubled in 1921 from 231 to 448 in 1956. In the 1970's Cow Head became an enclave community of Gros Morne National Park and new sources of employment were expected.