Sawmills

1912 Lumby Sawmill on Whitevale Road.  Pictured are: Bardoff, J. Bessette, C. Clancey, Frank Page, Nap Bessette, C. Warne, Pomeroy, C. LeBlanc, Stiller, Don Essery, Gray, C. Wheeler, J. Wheeler, Dubois, W. Gwynne, D. Hardy, Boyd and J. Durand.

Lumby was surrounded by large tracts of undeveloped timber.  Over the years, sawmills, including lumber mills, tie mills, slab mills, pole yards and a box factory provided a livelihood for Lumby residents.  Some mills were large, employing many people.  Some mills were operated by a single man.  Not all the mills were in town.  Camps were set up in the forest or on lakes where the men lived and worked.  Sawmills helped to open up the country as roads and bridges needed to be built to transport the sawn lumber.

In 1929, men worked a ten hour day, six days a week and the rate of pay was $.35 cents an hour.