1920: Lumber Companies

Following on the heels of operations run by the great lumber kings of the 19th century, companies such as Golden Lake, McLachlin Brothers and Shoosplin continued to harvest and saw wood from the Bonnechere well into the 20th century. They provided hard but steady work for thousands in the Ottawa Valley.

"It took just three minutes to slice six logs and spew out 1000 feet of choice one-inch by twelve-inch stock. Stripped to the waist, the two 'tailers' . . . slung that soggy stock to rollers before the next avalanche swamped them. Then at the end of the production chain 'frame loaders' stacked them high on horse-drawn lorries to be trotted a quarter of a mile . . . to the big sorting table. A man who could say 'I tailed the gates,' or 'I loaded frames' needed no other recommendation. He had to be a good man."
-T.C. Mulvihill, millworker at McLachlin's No. 3 Mill, Arnprior, 1917-25

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