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CHAPTER 3The Milling Industry in Point Leamington.
In 1875, Joseph William Phillips (1840-1892) started operation of a water turbine sawmill near the South West Brook to harvest the large quantity of pine in the area. The point, on the south side of the harbour where the mill was located, now became called Point Limington by J.W. Phillips after his only son George Limington Phillips (1870-1902). By 1911 the community, originally known as the South West Arm of New Bay, had been renamed Point Leamington. There has been a change made in the spelling but we are unable to pinpoint when or why. The milling business was booming. The September 30 edition of The Twillingate Sun stated; ''over 2 million feet of good saleable lumber having been turned out over the past year''. By 1886, Mr. Phillips was known as the manager of the mill but now calls it ''The Point Limington Sawmill Works''. The river known as South West Brook also was renamed to Mill River because of the sawmill operation located there.
In the 1890's, Mugfords' Hotel was constructed near the mill to accommodate the employees from other communities who worked at the Phillips sawmill. In 1891 there were 78 residents in Point Leamington, most employed directly at the mill. Over the next decade the population jumped to 198 as a number of smaller mills started operating. Harry J. Crowe, who became an important force in bringing the newsprint industry to Newfoundland, acquired the Phillips mill in 1907. His company, the Newfoundland Pulp and Pine Company, operated the mill until 1911 when a forest fire in 1907 and another in 1911 destroyed a substantial portion of the pine reserve.
Woods work continued to be the lifeblood of the community, and after the opening of the Grand Falls paper mill (pulp and paper production in a town located in the central interior), many residents found work in cutting pulpwood. Many newer arrivals came from Pilley's Island and Tilt Cove (both small outport communities on the Island of Newfoundland) where mining operations were closing. Patey, Rice, Roberts, Thompson and Saunders families. The boom was halted near the end of World War I by a huge forest fire which damaged the pulpwood reserves in the area. In 1935, the population had risen 395. Added to the family names were Curlew, Earle, Feener, Goulding, Inder, Warford, Alcock, White, Woodworth and Paul who gives the community a tie to the native population. Others followed shortly after, Noseworthy, Budgell, Randell, Stuckey, Hillier, King, Rolfe, Brett, Strickland, Peddle, Martin and Jewer.
In the 1950's and 1960's a substantial number of new residents arrived from isolated communities in the surrounding area. Sheppard, Kinden, Marsh and Ward families. By 1971 the population had struck its peak at 940.
Throughout its history Point Leamington has been linked directly to the forest industry, and it comes as no surprise that many of the towns residents were and still are involved with the logging and sawmill operations. Many locals operated logging operations which supplied raw material needed to make newsprint at the AND Co. Paper Mill (now Abitibi Price Paper Mill) in Grand Falls. The Rowsell brothers, Jim, George and Joe, Joe's son Arthur, Les Rice, Amos Feener, Eli Stuckless, George White, Theophilus Stuckless and his son Lloyd, The Stuckless brothers, Eli, Obed and Mark, Howard Feener, Hallett Boone, David Goulding, Joseph Roberts, Wesley Parmiter, Harry Parmiter, Cedric Andrews, William Paul sr., Charlie Rice, John Cooper and his son Calvin, George Baggs, Alex Sheppard and his son Harold (the only sawmill still in operation today). Many of the locally operated sawmills in the area also employed some of the towns men and supplied lumber for local buildings, for shipbuilding and for export overseas.
Other family names are Rideout, Mercer, Loveless, Bishop, Edison, Haggett, Janes, Ralph, Loder, Elliott, Langdon, Stockley, Decker, Chippett, Spencer, Brent, Allan, Carter, Moyles, Ball, Butler, Kelly, Service and Doucette.
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J.W. Phillips (1840-1892)1880's
Point Leamington, Newfoundland, Canada
Credits:Gerald Phillips
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Eliza Emma Phillips, wife of J.W. Phillips1860's
Point Leamington, Newfoundland, Canada
Credits:Gerald Phillips
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Daughters of J.W. Phillps, Eliza, Emma, Jessie, Florence & Delsielate 1800's
Point Leamington, Newfoundland, Canada
Credits:Gerald Phillips
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Joseph William Phillips (1840-1892)1880
Point Leamington, Newfoundland, Canada
Credits:Gerald Phillips
The Point Leamington Heritage Center
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George Limington Phillips (1870-1902)1880
Point Leamington, Newfoundland, Canada
Credits:Gerald Phillips
The Point Leamington Heritage Center
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Joseph William Phillips Jr. son of George L. Phillips, grandson of J.W. Phillips
Credits:Gerald Phillips
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The Mill Riverearly 1900's
Mill River, Point Leamington, Newfoundland, Canada
Credits:George Noseworthy
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Loggers at Crowe's Sawmill1910-1920
Mill River, Point Leamington, Newfoundland, Canada
Credits:Heritage Center
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A barge at the wharf, (possibly at Phillips Sawmill)late 1800's
Mill River, Point Leamington, Newfoundland, Canada
Credits:Violet Frances
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A bill for lumber shipment from Phillips Mill6 September 1886
The Point Leamington Sawmill Works, Point Leamington, Nl, Canada
Credits:Peter Parsons
The Point Leamington Heritage Center
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A bill for sale of lumber from The Point Limington Saw Mills6 September 1886
The Point Leamington Sawmill Works, Point Leamington, Nl, Canada
Credits:Peter Parsons
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A bill for sale of lumber from The Point Limington Saw Mills21 September 1886
The Point Leamington Sawmill Works, Point Leamington, Nl, Canada
Credits:Peter Parsons
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Loggers at work, using horsesearly 1900's
Point Leamington, Newfoundland, Canada
Credits:Heritage Center
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