26 Trade and Commerce

by J .C. Underhay and later purchased by Murdock Gillis of Whycocomagh, Cape Breton. He operated it as a carding mill and dyeing mill. Over a century ago, farmers seeing the smoke rising from the mill used to say with a chuckle, “Well, Murdock Gillis is dyeing today!” And for many years after, gifilhliilllrising from the dam and creek there was referred to as the Dyeing

The mill served farmers from East Point to Morel]. Some wool came by boat to Souris from the Magdalena to be processed. Around the second decade of this century, c. 1927, a storm destroyed all the dams in the vicinity except the one at the head of Souris River. The Gillis dam was not rebuilt.

The musty pages of documents of this era illustrate that, even for a man of ability and integrity, a man with nine stalwart sons, pioneer life was difficult and frustrating. In 1857 a judgment was laid against Alexander Leslie’s seven sons by his former son-in-law, John Knight for 792 pounds.6

Alexander Leslie died at the age of 84. His obituary describes him as having “a large mind and vigorous intellect....served as Justice of the Peace for forty years and while able to act in this capacity was said to be a terror to evil-doers.”7

The Macgowan family were very much a part of early Island politics and social life in Charlottetown and especially in Souris West where they were well-to-do farmers. Peter Macgowan was the third son of the Reverend John Macgowan, a native of Edinburgh, Scotland. At age 19, his father joined the rebels and fought for the Pretender at Culloden. He was later a Calvinist minister at Devonshire Square Chapel, London. Peter studied law in Lon- don and, in early manhood, emigrated to New York. He was later persuaded by John Cambridge to come to Prince Edward Island. He arrived in 1792 and four years later was made Attorney General of the Province, an office he held with one brief interruption until his death in 1810.8

Two sons of Peter Macgowan, John and William, bought one hundred acres of land including a mill site at the head of Souris River at a tax sale about 1830. They soon became involved in local affairs. The Prince Edward Island Calendar of 1837 shows William Macgowan of Colville Bay: Sub- collector of Customs, Deputy Receiver of Land Tax and Justice of the Peace and his brother John of Souris: Road Commissioner of Lots 44, 45, 46, and 47, Commissioner for taking acknowledgement to deeds, and Commis- sioner for trial of small debts for Kings County.

In the fall of 1838, the Souris Mills operated and owned by the Brothers Macgowan commenced work. It was an ambitious project for that pioneer time, consisting of grist mill, sawmill, kiln and smith’s forge. Gowan Brae, as the Macgowan farm came to be called, was a busy place. Here the farmer brought his grain to be ground and his lumber to be sawed. The forge was a particularly bustling place where the smith was kept on the go forging items for both farmer and shipwright—among other things, horseshoes, nails and hinges. The stone kiln built into the side of a hill provided slaked lime which was beneficial for the land and essential for making plaster. All in all, the Macgowan operation was a great boon to the farmer and to agricul- ture, and it prospered.

Each year, an additional hundred acres was purchased and added to the Gowan Brae farms. In 1855 one thousand acres were offered for sale. John Macgowan left the district but William, who stayed, has left an interesting account of the difficulties and hardships of farming under the landlord- tenant system.