10/09/2026
Oct. 9, 2026 - Mills were an important part of the history of Pugwash and area. Sawmills were needed to prepare the timber from transport and grist mills to grind the grains of the pioneers. One of the first mills built in the area of Tide's Mill Bridge was a sawmill. A review of the land deed documents for Irish Town Road reveals several references to an old timber pond and boom used as reference points in the description of lots. A review of Pugwash properties as a whole, dating from 1784, shows this to be the only reference to a mill constructed or in ruins in the area. In the early 1800's, the government was handing out additional grants of up to 1000 acres to anyone who would build a sawmill.
As the sawmills multiplied their effect on the rivers became more disastrous. A government inspector was sent in 1881 to report on the fish population in the Shinimicas River at Northport. I visited this day the Shinimicas River with the warden Thomas R. Smith first inspecting the dam of Timothy Brownell’s mill at the tide way. The ladder which was formerly erected here has been carried away and never rebuilt. Rubbish from the upper portion of the river blocks up the pond and jams the stream all about the mill. Salmon are reported almost extinct, but gasperaux in small numbers still come as far as the mill and unable to proceed further are forced to spawn in the brackish waters. Ascending for 2 miles I reach a grist mill with a 10 foot dam belonging to Samuel Somers. Great quantities of shells of buckwheat are thrown in from this establishment and thicken the water everywhere . . . fish dread this material more than they do sawdust. Within 2 miles of this, Messrs. Smith Bros. and Messrs. Mathewson & Dickie have each built their sawmills with 12 or 13 feet dams and Smith and Doyle’s 3 miles above is about 10 feet in height. He goes on to mention the mills of George Gilroy, Robert Morris, John Beherrel, Findlay, and J. Smith. All of these are basically “doing much injury” and choking off any chance that the fish have of spawning.
Here is the Tuttle portable saw mill in 1901. It was on the Jim Simpson Farm. Persons are: Thomas Forshner, Nina Tuttle, Ada Tuttle, Rose Forshner, Will Tuttle, Allan Tate, Mansfield O'Brien, Len Woodbury, and Jim Langille. Rather than using running water to power their mill, they used steam or horse power.
