Thus we realize the importance of lumbering along the St. Mary's River, and agree with the words of Joseph Howe: "the village [of Sherbrooke] is a creation of the Timber Trade."(38) Not only were both branches of the river bordered by fine stands of timber, but logs could be floated down it for at least thirty miles above the Forks.(39)
It was the policy of the British government to grant forest lands to settlers, although white pines were reserved to the Crown for the use of the British Navy. However, lumbering in Nova Scotia remained on a sawmill scale until the Napoleonic Wars when the French Emperor's continental system cut off wood exports from the Baltic to Great Britain. Without timber, the wooden ships of the British Navy would soon be helpless. Thus in 1809 Great Britain passed an act encouraging the importation of timber from the British Colonies in North America, and placing high duties on wood from the Baltic. These high duties were retained long after the war ended because much British capital had been invested in the North American timber trade and the high duties offset the expense of the long haul across the Atlantic Ocean. Although 565 loads of fir timber alone were exported from Nova Scotia to Great Britain in 1800, this had increased to 28,059 loads in 1818. The main centre for the timber trade in the province was Pictou, and on the Gulf Shore more than 100 vessels annually brought out British manufactures and loaded with timber for the British market.
The timber trade of St. Mary's River district prospered modestly as compared to Pictou County. David Archibald 3rd controlled about 7000 acres of timber land and the settlers were anxious to sell him the trees they cut in clearing their farms. He had a sawmill, operated by water power, at the mouth of the First Lake Brook, and this mill operated until 1842(40).
In 1819 the inhabitants of Saint Mary's River petitioned the Legislature to pass a law to allow the placing of booms in the river and to authorize the magistrates of the county to regulate and repair the booms. They said that the River Saint Mary's was "so large and rapid near the tide, that [timber, logs and lumber] cannot, with safety, be got to market without having a boom in what is called Stillwater, above the falls, to stop the said Articles until the river is at a suitable height to carry them over the falls - and also another boom at or near the village of Sherbrooke to prevent the said timber, logs and lumber from going adrift until taken away or otherwise secured."(41)
At the Court of General Sessions on 14th December 1819 regulations were made for booms at Stillwater and at the head of the tide. The proprietors of the booms were to hold an annual meeting and appoint three to five trustees and also to appoint boom keepers. It was forbidden to cast off the boom at Stillwater without the consent of at least two trustees. If anyone with any vessel, boat or raft of timber wished to go out to the principal boom he had to notify the boom keeper and obtain permission.
The owners of any timber, sawmill logs or other lumber brought down to the tide had to attend it and have it surveyed and secured in a place of safety. If they failed to do so, the boom keeper had to take action and charge for his services. Various prices where laid down as rates of boomage e.g.: sixpence on every ton of square timber, threepence on every sawmill log, fourpence for every cord of cordwood, sixpence on every thousand of long shingles or staves and on every cord of lath-wood.(42)
The rocks at the Big Falls of the river were a dangerous hazard because occasionally they broke up the rafts of logs being floated down or staved in boats coming down. In 1825 the Legislature of Nova Scotia granted 50 pounds for blowing and removing these rocks, but although another 50 pounds was subscribed locally no one would undertake the task, and the assemblymen were asked for another 50 pounds, which they granted on March 28th, 1826.(43)
Joseph Howe wrote in 1831 in his "Eastern Rambles" that the whole business of Sherbrooke was the completion of two or three small vessels on the stocks, and "the rafting, securing and sawing of timber. The Harbour of Sherbrooke seems admirably adapted to this purpose; two points of land approaching so near each other across its channel, that booms are easily extended from one to the other, which arrest the progress of any logs which may happen to break adrift. There is an excellent sawmill at the lower extremity of the village, which is supplied with water through a sort of canal, cut for a distance of a quarter of a mile, to the margin of a lake."(44)
Howe disliked the appearance of lumber towns, and was equally scathing in his description of Antigonish. Besides he was annoyed with the difficulty he had suffered in getting a smith to replace a loose shoe on his horse. "Sherbrooke is a rough and unsightly cluster of wooden houses, built along a street running parallel with the eastern bank of the River, at the head of Navigation... as the country above it becomes populous and improved, it must become an interpot for the supply of settlers, and an outlet for the produce of the country. Indeed, it must live by commerce or manufactures, for there is scarcely land enough around it for a garden.(45)
John McGregor wrote in British America that the timber business had formed the chief pursuit of the settlers on the St. Mary's because they had found it more convenient to cut down fir trees rather than farm. "For three or four years past, from twelve to fifteen large ships have loaded in this harbour with timber and deals for England. There are several sawmills on the river; but agriculture and rearing cattle must eventually be considered the sources which will cause these settlements to thrive and become populous."(46)
In 1842 William T. Archibald decided to expand his mill operation and dig a canal or "race" from the southern end of the lake to a cove on the St. Mary's River at the southern end of the village. To help in financing the project he took Henry Cumminger into partnership. Archibald set up his mill on the north side and Cumminger built a new mill on the south side. Two nephews of William T. Archibald, Alexander N., and David A. McDonald, took over the mill property and timber lands about 1856.(47)
The lumber trade experienced varying cycles of prosperity in the nineteenth century. In the 1850's there was prosperity caused by demands for shipping arising from the Crimean War, and with expanding markets in the United States during the Reciprocity Treaty of 1854 to 1866. Yet apparently the lumber trade of Sherbrooke remained oriented with Great Britain.
In 1855 lumber to the value of 7682 pounds and 1131 pounds of timber were exported from Sherbrooke to Great Britain, while 2815 pounds was imported from Great Britain, only 184 pounds from the United States and 697 pounds from other colonies in British North America, mostly for flour.(48) This trade was carried in five British vessels, one foreign vessel and two from BNA
In 1860, laths, pickets, staves, lumber (286,617 superficial feet) and timber (730 tons) valued at 5127 pounds passed through Sherbrooke for Great Britain while fish worth 2362 pounds was sold to other B. N. A. colonies. In return British goods (mostly cloth, china and glass, hardware, oakum and salt) worth 2242 pounds were brought to Sherbrooke, and 317 barrels of flour valued at 1487 pounds were imported from other B. N. A. colonies (this would be largely for consumption in lumber camps, and probably imported from what is now Quebec and Ontario.) This trade was carried in 3 British vessels, 1 foreign vessel and 1 from BNA(49) It is interesting that none is listed from the West Indies.
Later Provincial Trade Returns fail to list Sherbrooke separately, but in 1866 St. Mary's River imported 1611 barrels of flour worth $10,212; beef, pork, bread, coffee, flour, molasses, tea, tobacco, and oil totalling $220.57; and exported 37,325 feet of boards, plank and deal valued at $21,117 and 383 tons of timber worth $11,383.(50) However, these figures do not take account of local produce carried in schooners and fishing vessels to Guysborough or Halifax.
Apparently some lumbermen were in debt to Sherbrooke merchants. During the Confederation election campaign in the summer of 1867 "a Backwoodsman" from St. Mary's complained that the "family compact" by improper means "obtained the control of our business, and for twenty five years gave us only about two thirds or three fourth of the value for the product of our hard labour, thereby many of us have been ensnared in their ledgers, by which we are now threatened by the full rigger of the law, if we will not vote the Confederation ticket..."(51)