looked for their lumber in their Maritime Colonies in North America. Forests, mostly of soft wood, blanketed most of these colonies.

A brisk lumber trade sprang up bringing with it relative prosperity. Accompa- nying this came the building of ships, most of them small, and fitted for carrying lumber, fish and general cargo. In Prince County, Prince Edward Island, there rapidly grew several centers where ships were built. Summerside, Port Hill, Miminegash, Alberton and Campbellton were engaged in ship building activity, which in turn was encouraged by the timber which grew in abundance in the interior of the country. As a result, the ship building and lumber industries which had been established by the Napoleonic Wars, did not die, but continued to thrive through the years until between 1855 and 1860.

Campbellton or “The Cross” as it was called, reached its highest population at this time. The village is situated on a narrow bay, bordering the Northumberland Straits. The red sandstone cliffs are broken here and enable easy access to the sandy beach head, which is about a half mile long. The water is good and relatively deep close to shore, although sand bars sometimes build up to the north east.

The activities of the little village in the 1850’s might be described as brisk. Most activities centered around shipbuilding. Russell MacNeill estimated preceeding the decline of that industry, upwards of two hundred and fifty men engaged in that industry alone in Campbellton. These were the wood crews, the haulers, hewers and the men who actually did the shipbuilding.

In addition, there were the related industries, such as blacksmithing for the iron works for the ships. David Thomson, who did this work, had two blacksmith shops, and James MacKendrick had one. One criterion by which one can judge the village as it was in those days is by the number of blacksmith shops it contained. Most villages were lucky if they had one.

There was also in the village at that time, a shingle mill, a lime kiln, a carriage shop, a cheese factory, at least two general stores, two cooper shops and a pair of rather celebrated shoe makers. A large number of fishermen had settled along the beach heads as shown by the early maps. The flat lands on the red cliffs along the

shore line were where farms proved to be more productive than any time before or since. Many of them sent produce to New Brunswick and Nova Scotia in a pro-

fitable maritime coastal trade. Ships were loaded at Campbellton with hay, oats, potatoes and lumber.

There were perhaps two social levels, of which the staunch, thrifty, Scottish element was the most important. Some of those first families were the MacKays, the

Ramsays, MacNeills, MacKendricks, Sturgeons, MacDougalls and Thomsons. B.B. Maddocks had the cooper shop in Campbellton. They were the business men, the

ship builders and the more prosperous farmers. They were staunch Presbyterian stock, and the church, if not a joyous place, was certainly a busy one. Prayer meetings and Sunday School helped to fill the void in the social life of those people. Card playing was looked upon as the work of the Devil, and Sunday was strictly

observed.

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