Small Vs. Big
One of the
earliest mills was started by two brothers from Manitoba. Benjamin and David
McKenzie managed to transport all the necessary machinery for a small sawmill,
along with their settlers' goods, overland by wagon to what was then the wilds
of central Alberta. They established their little mill on the south side of the
Red Deer River and were sawing wood for settlers in the district by September
1883. A flood the following year prompted a change of location to the other side
of the river and further north. The McKenzie operation was so popular, being the
only sawmill in the area, that the brothers could not keep up with demand. In
1887, the mill went into 24-hour production. Competition, however, was not long
in coming.
In 1887 a
consortium of American interests began ambitious plans to create a large
lumbering interest in the Red Deer area under the name of the Alberta Lumber
Company. Investing some half-million dollars in the venture, they proposed a
huge mill to make use of the large timber berth they had obtained from the
Dominion Government. It might have seemed to some that to build a large mill in
the middle of nowhere was an expensive and foolish undertaking, especially since
the company's production would exceed local demand and the excess production was
without ready access to market. The method behind the madness was the proposed
Alberta and Athabasca Railway. This railway was supposed to build its line close
to the Alberta Lumber Company's mill, providing the transportation the mill
needed and an immediate local market. No wonder there were close ties between
the two companies from the very beginning.
The Alberta
Lumber Company tried to convince the Dominion government that it required a
monopoly on lumber production in central Alberta in order to be profitable. The
Department of the Interior did not concur, but it did alter its lumber
regulations to require that all future permits for logging would be issued
through competitive tender for specific berths. The result was to pressure the
McKenzie brothers' operation, which could not hope to compete with the huge
Alberta Lumber Company. Still it appeared that fate was on the side of the
little guys as the Alberta Lumber Company began to suffer a series of setbacks.
First, in 1888, its half-built mill was almost destroyed by a grass fire. This
set construction back and severely reduced the proposed output. The second and
more important setback was the collapse of the Alberta and Athabasca Railway in
1889. Lacking a market and transportation, the lumber company folded in 1892.
Meanwhile, the
McKenzie mill had managed to keep going. Ironically it was another small mill
that eventually caused the McKenzie brothers to move their business to another
area. In 1890, R. Leonard Gaetz started a small mill in Red Deer. It used a small
30 horsepower engine and produced 30,500 metres of lumber a year.
Kelly Buziak. Toiling in the Woods: Aspects of the Lumber Business in Alberta to 1930. n.p.: Friends of Reynolds-Alberta
Museum Society and Alberta Culture and Multiculturalism, Historic Sites and
Archives Service, 1992. With permission from
Friends
of Reynolds-Alberta Museum.
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