Glimpses of the Past Part 41

"There is no prospect of the business being in one place as we expected when Mr. Francklin was here; at present have given up trying at St. Anns, for the Pine proves so rotten that it would never pay the expense of cutting a road to where it grows." [Nov.

2d, 1781.]

"The men are very bad off for Bread, and people cannot work without good food, besides it takes much time in baking Indian cakes for them in the woods, one hand continually imploy'd. * * We are very badly off indeed for Chalk lines, having nothing of that kind to make use of but twine." [Jan. 21, 1782.]

"Davidson is almost done--his situation is this: no workmen, no rum, no provision, he's nearly possesst of Pandora's Box." [Feb.

5, 1782.]

"Men's wear is much wanted, such as thick clothes, a few blankets if you can procure them, as some men are obliged to sleep without blankets in the camp." [Feb. 9, 1782.]

"Pork, beef and corn is very scarce and dear, the two former not to be bought. Have engaged what wheat and Indian corn we could on the river." [March 23d, 1782.]

"Our common laborers value their hire very high, as there is so many mast cutting, running from place to place to get sticks for the highest bidder." [Dec. 25, 1782.]

"Some chocolate is wanted for our Masting Camp for at present we use Spruce Tea, which causes some murmuring." [Feb. 2, 1783.]

In order to fill the contract at the time fixed, Samuel Peabody found it necessary to cruise the woods over a wide area selecting trees that grew not far from the banks of the streams which might be "bowsed in"

by oxen with block and tackle. In consequence of the compet.i.tion with Mr. Davidson the hire of a yoke of oxen became as high as seven shillings and six pence a day and difficult to obtain at that. The exigencies of the situation were such that Hayes and Peabody ventured to press into their service a pair of fat oxen that had been sent down the river from St. Anns by Philip Weade for an entirely different purpose. This was displeasing to Hazen & White who wrote: "We are much surprised that you stopped the particular pair of oxen which we desired last Fall to be stall fed for the use of the officers of the garrison here and ourselves, which hath left them and us without a good slice of beef."

It is rather a curious circ.u.mstance that very soon after Francklin, Hazen and White embarked in the masting business they found themselves at logger heads with William Davidson, whose workmen they had for two years been endeavoring to protect from interference on the part of the "rebels" and Indians. In point of fact Mr. Davidson suffered greater annoyance at the hands of Samuel Peabody and his mast cutters than he ever experienced from the rebels or the Indians. Under the arrangements at first made with the government of Nova Scotia, a good deal of lat.i.tude was allowed the mast cutters. Mr. Davidson had a special order to cut masts, yards, etc., for his Majesty's service, wherever he could find them. Under this roving commission his workmen came into contact on several occasions with those of the other contractors and in a very short time there was bad blood between them.

Samuel Peabody, who had charge of the operations of Francklin, Hazen and White, was a man of resolute and somewhat aggressive spirit.

William Davidson on the other hand, possessed all the energy and determination for which the Scotch race is noted. The state of affairs on the River St. John in consequence of the rivalry created by the masting business was not at all harmonious. The sentiments of the people were divided. There were some who sided with Hazen, White and Peabody while others took the part of Wm. Davidson and Israel Perley--the latter being in Mr. Davidson's employ. A couple of letters of the period will serve to show how the rivals regarded one another.

Samuel Peabody writes as follows:

Maugerville, 2nd Nov'r, 1781.

"Messrs. Hazen & White, Merchants at Fort Howe,

"Gentlemen,--Since I wrote to you by John Hart, giving you account of the badness of the Pine Lumber back of St. Anns, I sent 3 hands up Nashwalk to try the timber in that place, and find the timber to be small near the waterside. Upon Davidson's understanding I was determined to try that place, he immediately sent a party of French up that River, commanded by Israel Perley, to cut all the Timber that fell in his way, among which was a large Tree that I suppose was marked by Mr. Hayes, as he tells people that it had several Broad Arrows on it. At the same time that Davidson dispatched this party he sent another party back of Thomas Langin's[119] upon the growth of Pine Mr. Hayes had pitched upon for us, and has his small party sallying out upon all quarters, and bids defiance to any Proprietors stopping him from such proceedings. Now if he is allowed to cut Timber upon the Society's Land[120] it will be impossible for me to furnish half the quant.i.ty of sticks I could if I had the privilege of all the above mentioned lands.

[119] Thomas Langan lived at this time about four miles above St.

Ann's Point. On his lot there was a log house and he had about 20 acres of land, cleared chiefly by the French. He lived there about six years but was disturbed by the Indians, who, about this time, killed his cattle and made his situation so precarious that he moved down the river with his family to Burton.

[120] The townships of the St. John's River Society are here referred to, more particularly Burton, Sunbury and New-town. Wm. Hazen, James Simonds and James White were proprietors of lands in these townships, and Peabody regarded Wm. Davidson as an intruder.

"Tomorrow morning I am a going with 8 or 10 hands to cut sum fine Trees up Oromocto, near whear Davidson is stearing his course, as he should be paid in his own coin. I have imployed sum men to cut Trees by the jobb up Oromocto, and by searching, they say, that there may be had some fine lengthy Trees, but not the greatest diameter.

"I hope one of you will come up soon and reside a few days, for, as I mentioned to you in my last letter it is very difficult for me to procure hands at suitable times, as I am in the woods the cheaf of the time, and at present there is no prospect of the business being in one place, as we expected when Col. Francklin left this place. At present I have given up trying at Saint Anns, for the Pine proves so rotten that it never will pay the expense of cutting a road in to where it groes

"There is sum that pertended to undertake to ingage to get us sum sticks, by what I can learn has ingaged them to Davidson, especially that scoudril John Tibbits, although he gave Mr.

Francklin good incurragement, as I thought, that we should have all the sticks that he could procure.

I am, with respect, Your Humble Serv't,

SAM'L PEABODY.

A year later William Davidson writes in quite as emphatic terms to Samuel Peabody:

Maugerville, 9th December, 1782.

"Sir--I'm not a little surprised at a piece of your conduct that has lately come to my knowledge; which is your triming my masts, etc., on the streame of Rus.h.a.ganes and its vicinaty. I cannot conjecture upon what principle you pretend to have acted. I had (& have) a speciall order from Government to cutt masts, yards, etc., for His Majesty's use wherever I could find them, when I cutt those sticks, which const.i.tute as good a right in them to me as any that could be given. If (by some kind of means) the people you're concerned with afterwards got a grant of the lands on which they were, it could not be supposed to extend to a prior right any other person had derived from as good authority. But in the mean time I shall not take the trouble to say any more on the subject than to desire you will from this time desist from meddling with any sticks that have been cut for me, and also relinquish what you have already medled with.

"I wish to live peaceably, but I have lately experienced so many instances of your most bare-faced and wanton oppression, to my prejudice, that there's no longer a doubt with me what course I must be under the disagreeable necessity to take, that I may obtain redress and do justice to myself and family. I shall expect your immediate answer for my future government, and am, sir,

"Your Humble Serv't

"WM. DAVIDSON."

The fact that William Davidson was the first in the field gave him some local advantages that were increased considerably by the predilection in his favor displayed by Constant Connor, the commander of the small garrison posted at the Oromocto blockhouse. This we know from one of the letters of the government purveyor, John Hayes, who was exceedingly friendly to Hazen & White. He wrote "I am sorry to say that Lieut. Connor is much atached to Davidson and Andrews,[121] his orders from Sir Richard Hughes specifying to give Davidson all the a.s.sistance in his power, and on that account Davidson carries much more sway than he otherwise would."

[121] The reference is to George Andrew, government purveyor, who surveyed the masts furnished by Mr. Davidson's workmen.

Sir Richard Hughes, it may be observed, was succeeded as Lieut.

Governor of Nova Scotia by Sir Andrew Snape Hamond in 1781. Both Hughes and Hamond held in turn the office of commissioner of the naval yard at Halifax. Colonel Francklin had himself been lieutenant governor of Nova Scotia from 1766 to 1776, and seems to have kept on excellent terms with his successors. Through his influence at headquarters the government patronage pa.s.sed largely to the firm of which he was the senior partner. Francklin was an adept in the art of diplomacy. During the Revolutionary war, as we have already seen, his tact and judgment prevented the Indians from becoming actively hostile to the English and restrained the New Englanders, settled in c.u.mberland and other parts of Nova Scotia, from taking up arms on the side of the rebellion. A specimen of his diplomacy in small matters is found in one of his letters to Hazen & White in which he writes: "However high Indian corn may be, I wish you would send twenty bushels to Sir Andrew for his poultry, in which Lady Hamond takes great delight, and pray don't omit getting her some wood ducks in the approaching season."

Some further light is thrown upon the state of affairs on the River St. John at this period, and the "modus operandi" of the mast cutters by the following letter, written by Hazen & White, to Colonel Francklin:--

"Fort Howe, 23rd March, 1782.

"Dear Sir,--Since our last we have been at Maugerville viewing the masts, etc, etc. Mr. Peabody has cut down and procured as many sticks as could be expected under the disadvantage of having the other contractor at his elbow. You will find enclosed Mr. Hayes account and certificates of the number and sizes of sticks on the banks, trimmed four square and fit for rafting. They have about 120 more cut, many of which cannot be got out this season. Mr.

Peabody set off on the 14th inst. to view a glade of Pines on the Grand Lake, about 40 miles from Mr. Simonds' house, where he has a number of men to work. * * The French people at Kanibikashes have about 100 sticks cut. They say they will be able to get out and bring here this Spring about 40 sticks, the others they can get out in Summer. Pork, beef and corn is very scarce and dear; the two former not to be bought. Have engaged what wheat and Indian corn we could on the River. * * Davidson expects to have 200 sticks out this season and near as many more cut in the woods; he gives the people larger prices for sticks (and takes them at Maugerville or elsewhere afloat) than we give Mr. Peabody delivered here. * * We must have two or three hundred pounds in cash here by the first conveyance.

"Yours etc., "Hazen & White."

The pines of our primeval forests were evidently of magnificent proportions. Samuel Peabody mentions cutting a yard 110 feet in length and 26 inches in diameter, and a mast 38 inches in diameter, and other timber of nearly equal size. Many of the largest pines grew on the banks of the Rus.h.a.gonish, a branch of the Oromocto. By the favor of Lieut. Governor Hamond and his council Messrs. Hazen, White and Peabody obtained possession of a tract of 8,000 acres of land in that quarter. The grant was made in the first instance to William Hazen, James White, Jacob Barker and Tamberlane Campbell, as officers serving in the provincial troops in the last French war.

Tamberlane Campbell immediately sold his share to Samuel Peabody for a small consideration.

The extent of William Davidson's masting operations must have been very considerable, for Hazen & White wrote to Colonel Francklin in March, 1782, "Davidson will have about 200 sticks out this season and near as many more fell in the woods, having employed almost half the Inhabitants in cutting. We should not be surprised to hear that he, with many of the Inhabitants, should memorialize the Navy Commissioner to have all his sticks received; if so, and he should succeed, another contract for us would be but of little advantage as he has raised the price of provision and men and Ox labour--oxen to 7s. 6d. pr. pair pr.

day and men in proportion."

The masting business seems to have been remunerative, and was the means of putting in circulation a considerable amount of specie, which was greatly appreciated by the settlers on the River St. John. On April 25, 1782, Col. Francklin wrote to his partners, Hazen & White, "There is no doubt of another contract, or of Sir Andrew's friendship to me, therefore go on and get out as many sticks as you can, and throw down as many as you are sure of getting out between this and Xma.s.s, at least, for be a.s.sured we shall have another contract, and I mean to apply for a standing one when I go to Halifax again, which I expect will be in ten days or a fortnight, or even sooner if the annual ships (from England) arrive." The letter from which this extract is taken is the last that has been preserved of Francklin's interesting correspondence with William Hazen and James White. He died at Halifax, Nov. 8, 1782. The masting business was, however, carried on by Hazen, White and Peabody for several years longer. William Davidson also continued to engage in the business. Although some improvement was gradually made in the way the masting business was conducted by the pioneer "lumbermen"--if we may so term them--the methods employed down to 1825 were very crude. In that year Peter Fisher writes. "In this country there is no article that can in any degree furnish export equal to the pine, which is manufactured in the simplest manner with but little trouble. So simple is the process that most settlers who have the use of the axe can manufacture it, the woods furnishing a sort of simple manufactory for the inhabitants, from which, after attending to their farms in the summer, they can draw returns during the winter for the supplies which are necessary for the comfort of their families." Mr. Fisher enters a strong protest against what was, even then a growing evil, namely, the wanton destruction of valuable young timber by persons who were merely speculators, and had little regard for the future.

The rapid increase in the lumber industry is seen from the fact that in 1824 there was shipped from the port of St. John alone 114,116 tons of Pine and Birch timber; 11,534,000 feet of Pine boards and planks; 1,923,000 staves; 491,000 Pine shingles; 1,918 masts and spars; 2,698 handspikes, oars and oar rafters; and 1,435 cords of lathwood; while in addition large quant.i.ties were shipped from Miramichi, St. Andrews, Richibucto and Bathurst. Up to 1825 there is scarcely any mention of Spruce lumber as an article of export. The first Spruce deals cut in New Brunswick were sawn in 1819, and the first cargo, which consisted of only 100,000 superficial feet, was shipped to England in 1822.

In 1782, Hazen, White and Peabody had a small saw mill in operation on the Oromocto stream, and about this time they erected another and larger one. The mills were not profitable at first, but they became more valuable after the close of the Revolutionary war, when the arrival of the Loyalists created a great demand for sawn lumber.

Before we turn from the consideration of the small beginnings of our great lumbering industry to other matters, a few words may be added concerning the Glasier family, so famous in the annals of the province for their enterprises on the River St. John. Colonel Beamsley Glasier's connection with the mills erected on the Nashwaak in 1788, by the St. John's River Society, has already been related. His brother Benjamin, who was a somewhat younger man, came to the St. John river from Ma.s.sachusetts in 1779 as a shipwright. The Revolutionary war, however, rendered it impracticable to carry on ship building, so he moved up the river to what was then called "Morrisania," about six miles below Fredericton, where in 1782 he purchased from Benjamin Bubier, for the sum of 200, a tract of 1,000 acres of land on which his desendants of the fourth generation still reside. Benjamin Glasier's commission as a lieutenant in the Ma.s.sachusetts infantry is yet preserved in the family. It bears the signature of Thomas Hutchinson, the last Royal Governor of Ma.s.sachusetts. Lieut. Glaiser served in the French and Indian wars and was taken prisoner at the siege of Fort William Henry.

Benjamin Glasier was the progenitor of the well known family, of which the late Senator John Glasier (familiarly known as "the main John Glasier") and his brothers Stephen, Duncan and Benjamin were members.

The operations of the Glasier family in lumbering and shipbuilding extended over very nearly a century. At one time they were undoubtedly the largest operators in New Brunswick, employing over six hundred men. For many years their production was princ.i.p.ally pine timber, which was shipped to Liverpool.

The late Senator Glasier began his lumbering operations on the Shogomoc, in York County, and afterwards in company with his brother Stephen, extended them to the waters of the upper St. John. He was the first lumberman to bring a drive over the Grand Falls, and is said to have been the first white man to explore the Squattook lakes. The phrase "the Main John Glasier" originated with an Irishman named Paddy McGarrigle, who was employed as a cook.[122] It was soon universally adopted by the lumbermen and, strange to say, has spread over the continent. In the western states today men employed in lumbering apply the term, "He is the main John Glasier" to the manager of any big lumbering concern. It is said that only a few of those who use the term know its origin. It was undoubtedly carried to the west by men who went there from the River St. John. Senator Glasier died at Ottawa in his 84th year, during the session of 1894, while engaged in the discharge of his parliamentary duties.

[122] My authority for this is Adam Beveridge, Esq., of Andover, than whom few, if any, living men are better posted on the history of lumbering on the St. John river.--W. O. R.

It is a curious circ.u.mstance that the present members for Sunbury County in the provincial legislature, Parker Glasier and J. Douglas Hazen, are great-grandsons respectively of Benjamin Glasier and John Hazen, old neighbors and worthy residents of Sunbury one hundred and twenty years ago. At that time Sunbury included nearly the whole of the province, now it is a very modest little const.i.tuency indeed.