The Mills - 7th instalment - The early Scottish Settlers to Upper Canada and their influence here in Canada
7th instalment, The Mills – by Nancy Dupuis, Volunteer Writer
I myself having being raised as a child in Appleton, Ontario, I took great interest in researching what was available through the now social media of the day and old documents in newspapers of times long ago and our local library, as well as previous books mentioned in this series on the influence of our Scottish forefathers.
50 kms southwest of downtown Ottawa, this little village was bustling in the early 1800s, fueled by the entrepreneurship of three Teskey brothers, Joseph, Robert and Albert (the postmaster), who hailed from Ireland. Joseph, the eldest built a home on the east side of the river and a grist mill. Robert, also built a stone house in the village and a sawmill and later a larger mill providing wool processing services powered by the water of the falls. The mill was sold to Boyd, Caldwell & Co. in 1901. Ownership of the mill changed hands in 1940, being acquired at that time by Collie Woollen Mills. A fire in 1950 fueled by the lanolin saturated wooden floors ended the era of the mill, the last operational textile mill in what is now known as Mississippi Mills.
The river played a big part in the industrial growth of the township in the early days. With its calm stretches of water that tumbled abruptly into rapids, the Mississippi River provided excellent mill sites for the first mills needed in every community - at that time flour, grist and sawmills.
There were two textile mill complexes in Appleton; the old mill was situated on an island in the middle of the Mississippi River, with the second one, which was called the upper mill, built on an adjacent property producing synthetic fleece products.
In its final years of operation, the owners of the second mill faced financial, operational, legal and environmental difficulties.
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Mississippi Valley Textile Museum in Almonte
Just a few kilometres from Appleton, the town of Almonte became known as the Manchester of Canada by the late 1880s; a census taken for Upper Canada in 1861 revealed approximately 1162 sawmills, 501 flour and gristmills, 62 carding and fulling mills and 85 woollen factories. A number of these old buildings are now in use as museums, retail establishments, private residences and businesses.
Weaving the past into the future – located in the annex of one of Canada’s largest textile mills, now a National Historic Site, the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum in Almonte explores the history of textile industry in the Mississippi River Valley and celebrates today’s textile artists.
The stone and plaster walls of the former warehouse are a dramatic backdrop to the work of textile artists from across Canada and around the world that the Museum showcases in revolving exhibitions throughout the year.
Mississippi Valley Textile Museum in Almonte
Every September the Museum hosts a two-day extravaganza of the fibre arts, with vendors, demonstrations, and exhibits. From quilting and knitting to rug hooking, weaving and needlework – you’ll find it at Fibrefest.
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William Thorburn and the Thorburn Mill - Thorburn and his partner Samuel Sheard established the Thorburn Mill in 1880. The mill was known for producing high quality flannel before the mill went up in flames in1918. The mill was rebuilt and continued to operate until 1956 as a fabric mill. This building now repurposed as condominiums and office space in Almonte, has won a National heritage award.
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A well-written "origin" story found in my research about Almonte and of Rosamond Mills founder, James Rosamond summarized the following:
James Rosamond was a businessman in Carleton Place, but he became a dreamer in Almonte.
It was thirty years after the Scots and Irish had arrived in "the place with a falls on the Mississippi" and only a few months before the suggestion was made that the village might be called after a Mexican general who was then prominent in the news of the day (circa 1856).
Three hundred people were living in the village situated above the falls on the Mississippi River. Daniel Shipman had a sawmill below the falls, and a square timber-making yard above. The place was usually referred to as Shipman's Mills. The age-old roar of the river in flood as it went crashing through the gorge, this was the sound that sang in the ears of the inhabitants both by day and by night. Only when summer came in and the river subsided did the roaring cease, and in its place the sounds of settlement took over, the rasp and scrape of the saw, the snick snick of the broad axe, and the clank of chains holding the boom logs together as they lapped so slightly in the current of the river above the falls.
James Rosamond emigrated from Ireland in 1827, and, after getting established, he formed business interests in Carleton Place in 1832 which comprised a wood-working plant, a grinding mill, and a custom carding plant. In 1846 he expanded the woollen end of things by adding spinning machines, and in this way he was responsible for the start of the woollen manufacturing business in Carleton Place, (a small town approximately 12 kilometres from Almonte).
In 1851 he ventured capital to become a partner in another enterprise, the Ramsay Woolen Cloth Manufacturing Company. The company's principal share holders were local people around Shipman's Mill. Daniel Shipman, of course, was one of them, and James Rosamond now found himself partnered with a vigorous enterpriser, and the reputed founder of the place by the falls on the Mississippi. They acquired a mill site beside the cataract and then erected a frame mill and set to work. Demand for woollen products was very good amongst the people on the farms in Ramsay and Huntley, the mill was the first woollen mill in the place, and the future looked good. Their venture marked the beginning of what was to become the major industry of the place for the next hundred years.
Disaster, however, struck a scant two months after the mill had been put into operation. Fire broke out. The mill was totally destroyed, and the company was forced by circumstances to close down. Two years later, in 1853, James Rosamond bought the site and prepared to rebuild on the same spot. Mr. Rosamond, however was from Ireland, and this time he resolved to build in stone.
That winter of 1853 was eventful in many ways. Circumstances were just right to make an ordinary business minded person become a dreamer.
In the winter of 1853, they called a public meeting in Almonte. The need for something to be done about transportation, that was the idea that triggered the meeting. The people wanted to find out if it would be possible to build a macadamized road the Smiths Falls where goods and produce could be put aboard boats moving through the Rideau Canal. If they could get into the big markets of the United States by shipping through the canal, commerce would be stimulated and the village would go forward. James Rosamond was at the meeting, and was doing a lot of listening. James Rosamond knew the skills of the Irish. They could build in stone. They could build macadamized roads, and they could build stone woollen mills.
Then someone at the meeting dropped a bomb. Heavens, the man said, why waste time on a macadamized road to Smiths Falls? Why not build a railway? A railway? The very idea intrigued James Rosamond. To Brockville on the St. Lawrence? Now there was vision. The meeting broke up, but Mr. Rosamond, Daniel Shipman and a few others remained standing outside the meeting hall, looking at the river, the conversation continued about this new dimension in transportation.
James Rosamond found his focus after the meeting had changed greatly from what it had been before. The Railroad now intruded on his mind so powerfully. In the end the clump of men outside the meeting hall decided to break up their discussion, but not before they took one firm resolve: they would make a journey to Brockville to discuss the matter with friends there at greater length, and, if the signs appeared favourable, enlist support in sharing a grand design, a railway to link the St. Lawrence River with the Ottawa River, through Almonte.
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It was 1821 and 10-year-old John Gillies found himself aboard the David of London along with his parents, James and Helen. Their ship was making its way from Greenock, Scotland to Quebec, Canada. Three of the 364 Scottish passengers died during the trip, while another four were born. The passengers had paid their own way to Canada to become part of the Canadian government's immigration plan which offered immigrants 100 acres of land and free transportation to it from Quebec City. Forty days later, the Gillies had made it by boat, foot and cart, to New Lanark. There, John Gillies learned how to clear the land and build a home as his family began building their future in Canada.
By 1840, John Gillies had a plan. He obtained his own land plot near the Clyde River and 100 adjoining acres. It was here that he and his wife Mary built a home and sawmill. Some say that he travelled the 55 miles from Brockville to Lanark with the 90-pound saw on his back. Gillies dammed the water to allow for enough flow to power his saw. He would sell his lumber for anywhere from $6 to $12 per 1,000 feet. His site grew to include a grist and oat mills. On the other side of the river he built a carding mill to process sheep’s wool. Gillies bought a large circular saw and took contracts to cut lumber. One such contract was to supply 3 inch thick wood to be used in the construction of the Plank Road between Perth, Balderson and Lanark. He would later claim that he was not paid for this contract. In 1861 he built a large home for himself and his family which by now counted nine children.
It was about this time that John Gillies had to deal with an inevitable problem. He had cut most of the pine trees from the area and required a new supply for his mill. He had to bring in lumber from other forests. Gillies decided to buy the Gilmour Mill located in Carleton Place and in 1864, Gillies Mill went up for sale. Gillies eventually sold the mill in 1871 to brothers James and John Herron who purchased 104 acres of land and the mill. They established a company named the J & J Herron Company and the site soon became known as Herron's Mills. A stone bakehouse was added and used to bake unhulled oats or unshelled peas. From there they were bagged and then ground into grade to be used in oatmeal and pea brose (a Scottish dish). The mill grew to include barns and stables, homes for the workers and John Munroe's tannery. For the worker's children, a school was constructed. Teachers would be given board with local families as part of their payment. James Herron opened a post office in 1891 that was located in their home. It continued to operate until 1915.
At its peak, Herron's Mill was producing over 8,000 feet of lumber per day. In 1919 the brothers passed ownership of the mill down to James' son, Alexander. When Alexander died in 1946, his sister Mary continued to run the mill for five more years. By 1951 the mill sat in silence.
The Clyde Woolen Mill in nearby New Lanark (now known as the village of Lanark) was built by William Caldwell. From its construction until its closing in 1990 it was the main employer for the village and it caused other successful businesses to be created around it. An interested and concerned group of citizens has recently formed the "Lanark Heritage Preservation Society" to try to save this piece of heritage architecture.
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Next to the lumber trade, textile production was the most dominant and enduring industry also in the town of Arnprior, west of Almonte. It lasted almost 130 years from its inception in the 1870’s to its closure in 1996 with the demise of the Kenwood Mills factory. An hour west of Ottawa on the Trans-Canada Highway, well served by both the Canadian Pacific and Canadian National Railways, and located at the juncture of two major rivers, Arnprior was an ideal location to foster this major industry. It began with Philip Dontigny who opened a textile mill in Arnprior in 1874. After a series of partnerships and a long period of solo ownership by him and his son, the business closed in 1929.
By 1914, James Griffith saw further opportunity and opened the Arnprior Felt Company in an abandon factory on William Street and there started an 80 year-long legacy. The company changed hands between 1914 and 1918, and the Huycks, an established company from New York state, brought in a company that would affect Arnprior’s future in a lasting way.
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I have read with great interest books and clippings on the Mill of Kintail, the Mills of Almonte, the Mills at Carleton Place, the Spencerville Mill and Watsons Mill, as these are all areas quite familiar to me. Many books such as Ontario’s Historic Mills – George Fischer and Mark Harris tell the story of the mills in the Central Ontario region, the Eastern Ontario region, the Grand River region, the Greater Toronto region and the Western Ontario region – another example of just how far spread the early settlers became.
Please keep in mind, this instalment and ones to follow are my interpretation only of what I have read. I have always been interested in museums and the history of the past, myself deeply intent in preserving and further educating on the rich heritage we have inherited from years gone by – Nancy Dupuis