mill belonging to a Mr. Hayden, also near Charlottetownss“, and the mill on the Vernon River mentioned by Lord Selkirk“? Among the sawmills no longer in operation in 1803 that Walsh may have been referring to are a sawmill at Cascumpec566, and another in Lot 59 on the south side of the Montague Rivers‘”. Sixteen years later in 1819 John Hill, as well as mentioning the sawmills at New London, Cascumpec and Murray Harbour, said that there was a sawmill at Rustico.568 He failed however to mention William Schurman’s mill on the Wilmot River at Bedeque, built shortly after 1808, when Schurman had acquired 6,500 acres of land theresss, as well as the 'mills’ belonging to Lord Selkirk on the Pinette River, built sometime between 1804 and 1808570. 57‘ Thereafter, the John Cambridge, It was presumably at Bird Island Creek (now Wrights Creek) near Charlottetown 56‘ On 8 May 1800 (not extracted), Chappell (1775-1818) recorded that ‘Mr. Haydon finds a place for his Mill', which, combined with another entry of 14 November 1805 (not extracted), that his son ‘Offe' [Theophilus] had got “his boards from Mr. Hayden's Mill” indicates that this was another sawmill within a short distance of Charlottetown. 565 Selkirk (1803) said there was a sawmill on the Vernon River “at the head of tide water". 566 Stewart (1806) mentions a sawmill being erected after the settlement at Cascumpec began in 1786, which supports the tradition cited by Robert Gordon before the Land Commission (1860) that an ‘expensive' sawmill was built by John Hill ‘about 80 years ago‘. However, James B. Palmer (1816) said that a sawmill had been “lately erected at Cascumpec Bay by Mr. Hill", and it is presumably this particular mill that is mentioned twice by [Hill] (1819) himself. So perhaps the earlier mill had gone out of commission, and was later reactivated or replaced. 567 See footnote 560. 563 [Hill] 1819: “[At] Murray Harbour Messrs. Lemuel and Artimas Cambridge have a sawmill and their principal business lays in the timber trade; [at] Cascumpec there is a sawmill for cutting plank and board”; “at Rustico, the principal proprietor Mr. Hodges has a sawmill"; “at New London there is a sawmill belonging to Mr. Cambridge’K 55" Schurman 1819, 1826. 57° Benjamin Chappell (1775-1818) records meeting “Silkirk & Haydon about a Saw Mill” on 17 August 1803 (not extracted); and on 6 Feb. 1804 he records meeting “Mr. Taylor with his plans for Saw mill, grist mill &c. Lord Silkirk &c.". Then six years later a letter of Lord Selkirk (1809) mentions “the lease of my mills on Pinette River” to “Spraggan May & Co. Lumber merchants“. 5" In the interval between 1803 and 1819 another sawmill had been built and burnt at Crapaud: Chappell (1775-1818) (not extracted) recorded his two sons working on the ‘mill’ at ‘Croppo’ in June and July 1808‘ Two years later on 12 August 1810 he recorded that “the Sawmill at Croppo Burnt", adding on 22 August: “Croppo Mill took fire and burnt to the water". 85 number of sawmills on the island must have risen quickly, presumably in line with the marked increase that the island’s population was undergoing at this time, for by 1828 John MacGregor could state that in the settled parts of the island sawmills were to be found ”almost every where in the neighbourhood [of the settlements]"5", and in the census of 1848 139 sawmills were counted over the whole island, with by 1861 this number increasing to 176, though thereafter it began to decrease.“’73 The building and operation of a sawmill — We are fortunate that Lord Selkirk recorded in his journal information on the costs of building a sawmill on the island in 1803, as well as on the profits to be made from a mill, information that he had gleaned from various persons with some experience on the subject.574 He was collecting this information with a specific purpose in mind, for shortly after he was to undertake the building of a sawmill on the Pinette River. Selkirk’s principal informers 5’72 MacGregor 1828. 5” These numbers, given by McAskill (1987) (p. 24), must ultimately derive from the island censuses of these particular years. The location of many of these mills, and of their successors, can be ascertained from the 1863 Lake map and the 1880 ‘Meacham‘s Atlas‘ (Allen 1880). 5" Selkirk 1803 (pp. 2425). Since I have not included in the extract Selkirk's comments on the costs of building and operating a sawmill, I present the whole of it here as follows (excluding his estimates for the grist mill): “Hayden, millwright near Charlottetown — gave me an estimate for Mills on [Lots] 58 or 57. A saw mill of 1 saw 150£ including framed houses (if with two saws on one wheel 60E additional) —— This independent of Irons, & Dam. Irons reckoned at 1/— per lb. 25£ for each Mill, —— Stoves are charged from 40 to 502 a pair by the merchants. The Mill dam, 100 yards long, 13 feet high, 30 feet at fan, & 8 or 10 at top may cost £100 — and employ 2 axemen & 8 labourers for 2 months. The dam is framed of large Hemlock logs, between which earth is filled in — the Mill is always set close to the Dam or actually forms a part of it, the reason for this is that the soil is so porous that 3 Mill Load cannot be made without great difficulty — it also enables the mill to work all winter. One Dam may be made to serve both Grist & Saw Mill — The Saw Mill could cut at least 1,000 board feet per day with one saw or 2,000 with two, & one man could attend. — The price of boards is 3£ per 1,000 ft 8 half produce is allowed for the Mill, when people bring the Logs — at this rate if constantly employed the Mill should turn out about £450 the single or £900 the double Saw — Constant employment could not be reckoned upon from the country, but if two men were employed to procure Logs, Haydon Junr says that 2 axemen could nearly keep it going, and would supply logs at 1/— each if within ‘/4 mile of Water Carriage, or 2/— if within 2 miles — 4 logs at average furnish 1,000 feet. Octr 1803 — Jas. Williams reckons 2,000 ft. pr. Day with one saw night & day —— 200 ft pr. log at average — cost 1/— pr. log on Pinette & total expenses for exportation 20/—— per 1,000 feet on board — cannot depend on more than 40/— or 50/- price for Exportation — Laird however thinks that 4 or 5 hands would be required to keep it going — & old Haydon say’d 6 —- & that a Mill cutting 2,000 ft required two men to attend.