Stay Signed In
Do you want to access your site more quickly on this computer? Check this box, and your username and password will be remembered for two weeks. Click logout to turn this off.
Stay Safe
Do not check this box if you are using a public computer. You don't want anyone seeing your personal info or messing with your site.
The mill was transported from across the bay to it's permanent location on the beach in West Advocate and was opened for business in 1913.
Herman Reid was the first to operate the mill after which his two son's Burnell and Lorimer took over in 1960. Timbers used at the mill were harvested from the local area and consisted of maple, birch and spruce. The mill was responsible for the employment of serval men and the jobs list included the following:
-A haul up man
- A man on the skidway responsible for rolling the logs up to the carriage. (The carriage is the table platform that carries the logs through the mill).
-The canterman who put the logs on the carriage and turns the logs for the sawyer.
-The Doggerman who rides the carriage to ensure the logs stay in place.
-The Sawyer is responsible for cutting the timber.
-A split man who took the slabs off the carriage. after being cut the first time.
-The edgerman who squard the slabs into various widths.
-A tail edgerman responsible for taking the squared lumber from the edgerman.
- Two men operating planers-only one side of the board was planed.
-A surveyor who marked the boards for trimming.
-A trimmer man who squared the ends of the boards.
-A tallyman who counted the lumber in board feet.
-The deal piler who piled the lumber (3men).
-A laborer who pushed the slabwood to be cut for firewood.
-A slab sawyer who cut the slabs into firewood (some lath was made as well in the 1930s).
-A laborer who threw the firewood into piles.
-A laborer who hauled the sawdust out of the mill.
-An engineer who ran the engine and kept the steam engine going.
-The millwright wh o did the maintenance including filing saw blades and oiling the engines.
-A truck driver to transport the finished product.
-One driver hauling wood to Parrsboro.
The mill operated in the summer and fall and the remainder of the year the men spent in the woods cutting timber for use in the mill. The wages of the day were $1.00/Day for the men and $0.50/Day for boys. The millwright, sawyer, engineer and edgerman were the highest paid employees making as much as twice the other workers. All employees worked 10 hour days, 6 days a week.
Some of the winter cutting was contracted out to other people. All the timber was sledded to the beach near the mill by teams of horses in preparation for the next seasons sawing of logs.
In a good year 2,000,000 board feet would be cut at the mill.
In the early years a small amount of the lumber was used for shipbuilding and local trade but most was sent on a three hour journey to Parrsboro by scows, where it would be loaded onto sailing vessels destined for Ireland, England and the United States. The scows used for transporting the lumber to Parrsboro could carry between 100,000 and 160,000 board feet.
After Burnell and Lorimer took over the business in the early 1960s they continued the tradition of sawing logs for sale overseas and also began shipping piling to buyers in Boston and New York.
After 54 years of operation the business closed down in 1967. It's closure was due to the death of Lorimer Reid and also because of Scott Paper Ltd. who acquired a large amount of timberland around the Advocate/Cape Chignecto area. Another factor for it's closure was a new mill that was opened in Parrsboro. The Reid's Steam Powered Mill was the last of its kind to close and all that remains now is a pile of rotting sawdust where the mill was located on the beach at West Advocate.
Back To Home Page
