Title: Canadian forest industries July-December 1919
Identifier: canadianforjuldec1919donm (find matches)
Year: 1919 (1910s)
Authors:
Subjects: Lumbering; Forests and forestry; Forest products; Wood-pulp industry; Wood-using industries
Publisher: Don Mills, Ont. : Southam Business Publications
Contributing Library: Fisher - University of Toronto
Digitizing Sponsor: University of Toronto

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Hon. W. C. Edwards, head of W. C. Edwards & Co.; the widely known himber and woodworking firm of Ottawa and Rockland, Ont., was recently honored by the residents of the latter prosperous community on the occasion of the golden anniversary of the establishment of the Edwards mill in that town of which the veteran Senator is the father. The occasion was a significant ^^^^^^ ^^^^^^1 and memorable one from various ^^^^^ ^^^^^^^H standpoints and the tributes paid ^â f^^B ^dOkik-^^^^^^^^l to Mr. Edwards were warm and sincere. He was presented with a handsome oil portrait of himself accompanied by an appreciative address which said in part: "It is interesting to note that many old employee?, some of T.r ^ -r^j J ^ ^ whom came as mere lads when Hon. W. C. Edwards, Ottawa, Ont. business was first started, still remain in the service of the company, a silent tribute of their be- lief and faith in you, sir, and the other members of your firm. While we stand today among surroundings which are largely the outcome of your perseverance and ability, we recognize the fact that such results were not gained easily, but only after many reverses, which might have discouraged nx)st men, were overcome." The recipient was deeply touched by the evidences of affection and esteem in which he is held by the .four thousand residents of Rcckland and, in his reply, gave a graphic and interesting sketch of his early stYuggles and the remarkable expansion of the industry of which for over half a century he has been the guiding spirit. The Senator who is in his seventy-sixth year, has risen from the ranks in the lumber industry in which he has spent all his life. He recounted malny stirring and timely incidents in his career and referred to the cordial relations which had always existed between his employees and the firm. Mr. Edwards has courage, optimism, perseverance and energy. These were his great outstanding assets and how he over- came many barriers and won his way to the front is narrated in his story which follows: November 8, 1918, marked the fiftieth anniversary of the com- mencement of operations of the firm here, for it was on the 8th day of November, 1868, a cold, bleak morning, that I embarked on the old steamer Carolina of the Ottawa Forwarding Company at Thurso, where I had been forfrierly employed, and debarked at what is now the town of Rockland. You have today, I understand, a population of about 4,000 with well maintained streets, concrete sidewalks, three churches, three school houses, one of them a High School, numerous stores and shops and many comfortable homes, the greater number of which are the private properties of the employees of the firm. This is a result arising from the fact that several years ago the firm made a survey of a considerable portion of its property and building lots were sold to the employees at nominal prices, and lumber was sup- plied at a low cost and on easy payment to facilitate houses being built. The firm also built a very considerable number of houses, which have always been supph'cd to actual employees at a nominal rental. So that with the two sawmills of existing proportions and the num- ber of men employed not only here, but in Ottawa and other places, it must be admitted that great progress and development have been made, for the contrast is very considerable. On a Bleak November Morn To illustrate: I arrived at McCaul's Point, which is now Rock- land, that bleak November morning alone. Two families were the only occupants at the time, the James McCaiil and the Way families. These two small families composed the entire population of the im- mediate locality. The tools 1 carried with me on the steamer Caro- line were two pick axes and three spades. The first employees were William Way and Magloire Lariviere, and with my own hands and their assistance I dug and prepared the foundation for the first mill erected in Rockland. The erection of the frame of the mill was car- ried out by contract with James Erskine. The machinery was ob- tained in Montreal and Ottawa, and the mill went into operation in May, 1869. The total quantity of lumber cut that season was 3,000,- 000 feetâa very small quantity as compared with the production for many years past. The results of the operations of the company have placed it among the very liiuited few who have succeeded in the lumber business on the Ottawa, as compared with the very large number who have failed of success. The fact is that only from three to five per cent, of those who engaged in lumbering on the Ottawa have been successful. None of those who have succeeded began with what is popularly icnown as capital; namely, money. In every instance the successful
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