The only lumber mill known to be located at Chapleau prior to the 20th Century was built by Zotique Mageau and Aldye Leblanc in 1899 just south of Chapleau on the banks of the Nebskwashi River near the old power house.
An article about this venture says that in 1903 they and others bought the land for a mill site -- 82 acres for $82,000.
By 1905 the Mageau and Leblanc Lumber Company Limited had received a charter under the Ontario Companies Act. The principals were Zotique Mageau, J.E. Serre Joseph Prioux and A.O. Aubin.
Others involved were Oliver Laberge (lumberman), Saladine Mageau (married woman), Henry Anton West, Kenneth McRae (hotel keeper) and Joseph Debois. (I have no idea why the occupation or status of some was included and not others).
The stated purpose of the company was to "manufacture lumber and other wood products".
Its head office was located in Chapleau and the company had a share capital of $40,000 divided into 40 shares of $1,000 each. Mr. Mageau the president had 11 shares which was the single largest block.
Incorporation was "no doubt" related to the company's plan to build a power plant on its mill site, according to the article.
The power plant was needed to supply lighting for the mill while excess power would be sold to the village of Chapleau.
However, before very much happened, the whole site was sold including the mill was sold to James McNiece Austin in 1909.
Mr. Austin was a member of the family who established the first store in Chapleau after the arrival of the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1885. He had taken over store from his brother T.A. Austin.
Mr. Austin had entered into an agreement with the CPR to sell them ties.
In 1901, the year Chapleau became incorporated as a municipality Mr. Austin entered into a partnership with George Brecken Nicholson, the community's first reeve, to form Austin, Nicholson Lumber Company.
Their first mill was under construction on a point of land between Lake Windermere and the CPR, 22 CPR miles west of Chapleau, and the community of Nicholson developed at this site including boarding houses, cottages, warehouses and other structures necessary to support the logging operations of the company.
They became the largest supplier of railway ties in the British Empire with Mr. Nicholson as manager of operations.
By about 1908 the Chapleau Electric Light and Power Company was being formed, and the plant was under construction.
Chapleau's first lumber mill lasted about nine years but the area became important as a power generating location even as the saw mill was abandoned.
"The purchase of the Nebskwashi mill by Mr. Austin meant the end of lumbering in Chapleau. For the next three decades lumbering activities in the area were centred at Nicholson's Siding the heart of the Austin Nicholson Empire," the article noted.
Other small operations did start to appear in the area though, and more about them later!
As I was researching this column, Richard Lamoureux posted information about the "Alligator" boat one of which was used by Zotique and Mageau. Mr. Lamoureux is administrator of the very popular Historic Northern Ontario Facebook page. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in Northern Ontario history.
Here is part of his comments which he says was adapted from Wikipedia.
"The Alligator boat from the mill in Chapleau.
"Alligator boats were a type of amphibious vehicle used in the forestry industry throughout Northern Ontario. These boats were so named because of their ability to travel between lakes by pulling themselves with a winch across land.
"Alligators served as "warping tug". They towed log booms across lakes and then portaged themselves using a winch to the next body of water. The rugged, steam-powered tugs were one of the pioneers in the mechanization of the forest industry."
My email is mj.morris@live.ca