Canada’s First Sawmill

We went out to visit Alex, the sawyer at the old mill on Allain’s Creek yesterday. It is always interesting to visit. This time I even looked in the basement where the apparatus for the water powered mill is still in place. 

All the cogs still mesh and move. 

Then upstairs there’s all the wood drying before being cut. 

And some windows Chris has his eyes on. 

When Alex got talking, he told us that the grant for the land that the sawmill is on goes back to 1607. The first industrial grant in Canada the first factory if you will, the beginning of the Canadian approach to prosperity which is to extract resources and sell them. As far as he can tell, the site has been used as a sawmill since the beginning, although there is the possibility that it was used also to Mill Green. Apparently all up and down Allains Creek there were a variety of mills, taking advantage of the water power to produce goods. It’s enjoyable to be in a place that has such deep history in the same materials. There’s something quite pleasurable about talking to the man is milling the wood in a particular way for your project.