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Daniel Conant and David Annis’ Lumber Mill

Colour painting of a lumber mill. There are logs on the left side and a small mill on the right side with a small waterwheel that leads into a stream.

Source: Oshawa Museum, Archival Collection
Artist: E.S. Shrapnel (1845-1920)
Publication Source: Upper Canada Sketches, Thomas Conant. 1898
Date: 1898

Overprint entitled, Conant’s Lumber Mill, created by Edward S. Shrapnel for Thomas Conant’s 1898 book, Upper Canada Sketches. One of a very small number of surviving colonial-era works of art depicting the Oshawa lakefront area.
One of the most noteworthy achievements of Daniel Conant and David Annis was the construction of a lumber mill, located on Oshawa Creek. The creek would have been much larger than it is today. A dam was built under the frame of the mill to provide power, and most of the white pine in the area was sawn at this mill. The lumber was floated down the Oshawa Creek. Conant and Annis were also involved in local ship building.