MILTON'S SAWDUST BARONS.

 

The FALLS on what was then called the GREAT RIVER was one of the important features for a group of New England immigrants to gather together and form a new town site to be called LIVERPOOL.  It was located on NOVA SCOTIA'S south coast. The year was 1758. The Falls would become the location of a considerable lumber manufacturing industry; later nine sawmills were located there.

          The river opened into a protected harbor before discharging into the Atlantic Ocean, and was easily reached from New England. Fishermen from that area knew this coast well, and knew of its wealth in fish. The river had been known as one of the best salmon rivers on the East Coast of North America. It was also a source of the bait fish known locally as Kyacks by the Native Indians, known elsewhere as Alewives, or the French as Gaspereau. European fishermen had cured, salted and dried fish on “flakes".

 

Off-coast was the great Atlantic Ocean and not far away was the Grand Banks with great fishing possibilities, for cod, haddock, etc.  The new immigrants were well aware of the possibilities on that fishing ground.

 

The new immigrants also included ship-builders; the ships which brought the settlers here were of their own manufacture. It was not long before they used local materials and started to build new vessels. Local industrialists and artisans soon supported a sizable shipbuilding industry.

 

The greatest new wealth was created from the virgin forests, huge quantities of pine, spruce, and hemlock, as well as great hardwoods, growing beside the headwaters of this GREAT RIVER, now called the MERSEY RIVER. Logs could be felled and floated to where mills would be created to make shipping lumber for world markets.

 

It was at THE FALLS, just above tidewater, that existed a power source for a sawmill industry.  Some of the immigrants from New England came prepared to develop this industry. It was as early as 1760 that the first mill was built. It was located on the west side of the riverbank near a tumble of water flowed over ledge rock. A wing dam was used to cause some of the water flow to back up to provide a sufficient flow to turn a Waterwheel. Irons had been brought to complete a framework and track for the carriage which would support the log in its journey through the up and down gang saw. The lumber manufacturing family to do this was that of Elisha Freeman , a lumberman from Rochester Mass., who with a number of sons had been sawmill operators back home. This Freeman story is another segment of this write-up.

 

This first Sawmill became the victim of the enemy of the lumbering industry

all over the globe. It burned to the ground after a short operating time.

 

It was here that an enterprising merchant from N.E. stepped in and bought up the irons of the burned out wreck. He took on partners and rebuilt the mill and made it operational and profitable. His name was Simeon Perkins, and he continued to be a very important part of the life of this early community. His daily Diary exists, it is full of interesting information on the people who created this town, this county, and this province. The Simeon Perkins Museum provides much research material of this period.

 

Another segment of this paper will cover his development into one of Milton Sawdust Barons.  Including will be others who also became Lumber or Sawdust Barons.

 

ELISHA FREEMAN, AND HIS SONS.

 

SIMEON PERKINS.

 

THE HONORABLE FREEMAN TUPPER;

 

JAMES MORTON; SYLVANUS MORTON; JOHN G. MORTON; CHARLES MORTON.

 

ABNER HARLOW; CHARLES HARLOW; ALESTER HARLOW; JOHN HARLOW.

 

RICHARD KEMPTON; THOMAS KEMPTON; FRANCIS KEMPTON; JOHN W. KEMPTON; JACOB CURTIS KEMPTON; PHILSON KEMPTON; EDWARD KEMPTON; GILBERT KEMPTON.

 

ALLINE MINARD; ELDRED MINARD; W.S.MINARD; FREDERICK MINARD; NATHANIEL MINARD; LEVI MINARD; JOHN MINARD, ETC.

 

          JOHN MILLARD.                

(End of this story)     HHW