The Great sawmill of the Americans

On the plan above, take a look at the imposing building on the left, perpendicular to the river road: it is as steam-powered sawmill known as The Great sawmill of the Americans. This mill was in operation from the mid-1830s until around 1850.

The presence of a timber industry run by Americans can be explained by the intervention of Josias and Jonathan Würtele, owners of the neighboring seigneury of Rivière David, today Saint-David D'Yamaska.

Originally from Germany, the Würtele were merchants and then landowners associated with the English-speaking bourgeoisie.

The father and son expanded their domain by gradually acquiring neighboring territories and intervening there economically in order to benefit from the economic growth offered by their lands during the industrial start-up of Lower Canada. 

Moreover, the toponym Wurtel Burg which identifies the places on the map above tends to corroborate this explanation.

At this time of industrial start-up, the presence of a sawmill probably contributed to the development of a new village core located a few kilometers upstream from the place of origin of the seigneury.

Although the owner and most of the workers were Americans, this industry was able to attract people from the community by offering different job opportunities than those in the agricultural sector.

Moreover, the archives consulted about this sawmill reveal English-sounding names such as Sherman Converse, Samuel K. Whitmore and Edouard Armstrong, but we also find French-Canadian names there, such as a man named Jean-Baptiste Clairmont, who worked as a day laborer for the owner of the sawmill.

The American sawmill must have been located very close to the ferry wharf, as shown on the map, because it was built on the lowland near the shore.

This part of the village is quite recent. A glance at the houses lining Des Pins, Camiré, Gauthier and Côte du Gouvernement streets is enough to convince us of this.

The place that interests us is at the end of rue Camiré. You can see that the street seems to extend to the river. To understand what interests us in this place, we have to go back to the 19th century.

The first photo, taken around 1890, shows us the lowlands near the river. There was plowed land here, bounded by a few fences and very few trees, unlike today.

On the other hand, it is on the two-acre lot, exactly at the corner of Camiré and Gauthier streets, that an important chapter in the economic history of the village would have taken place. At this location, a steam-powered sawmill was in operation from the mid-1830s until around 1850. 

In this era of industrial start-up, the presence of a sawmill probably attracted workers from the surrounding area by offering different job opportunities than those in the agricultural sector. This may also have contributed to the development of a new village core a few kilometers upstream from the place of origin of the seigneury.

Although the photo was taken some forty years after the last known date that the sawmill was in operation, look closely in the center, near the shore: we see buildings that seem to still be in good condition. Did these buildings house the equipment of a stream sawmill? What remains at the scene today? The place has changed…

CENTRE D'ARCHIVES RÉGIONALES SÉMINAIRE DE NICOLET. Fonds Fabrique Saint-François-Xavier (Saint-François-du-Lac), F320.

CHARETTE, Dominic. «Le lieu-dit Wurtel Burg : nouvel éclairage sur l’histoire de Saint-François-du-Lac», Histoire Québec, vol.26, no.4 , 2021, pages 22-25

CHAURETTE, Mathieu. Les premières écoles autochtones au Québec : progression, opposition et luttes de pouvoir, 1792-1853, Mémoire de maîtrise, UQAM, 2011.

CÔTÉ, Jean-Luc. Pierreville retrouvé... en photos : avec un bref regard sur Saint-François-du-Lac, La Baie-du-Febvre, Odanak et Notre-Dame-de-Pierreville, Pierreville, La Société historique de la Région de Pierreville, 1987.

COURVILLE, Serge. Entre ville et campagne. L’essor du village dans les seigneuries du Bas-Canada, Québec, Les Presses de l’Université Laval, 1990.

S.N. «An Indian village in Canada», Montreal herald and daily commercial gazette, 17 janvier 1850, page 1.

The Quebec gazette published by authority = Gazette de Québec publiée par autorité, jeudi 12 août 1841, Québec, John Charlton Fisher & William Kemble, page 552, in BAnQ numérique. 

Photo Credits :

The shore in front of Odanak, circa 1890: Anonyme. Village, Saint-Thomas-de-Pierreville, QC, vers 1890, Halogénures d'argent sur papier monté sur carton, Procédé à l'albumine, 18,5 x 25,8 cm, Collection documentaire McCord, Don de Stanley G. Triggs, numéro d'accession: MP-0000.1136.3.

Figurative plan dated June 1844: Détail du plan figuratif de parties des seigneuries de Saint-François, Deguire ou Rivière David et de Pierreville, J.P. Bureau. 1844-06-00 E21, S555, SS3, SSS4, P22.1, Fonds Ministère des Terres et Forêts - BanQ Québec, in BAnQ numérique.