Canadian Historic Sites: Occasional Papers in Archaeology and History No. 4

Industrial and Agricultural Activities at Lower Fort Garry

by George Ingram

Other Industrial Activities

The Grist Mill

The Company first turned to private settlers to supply a mill to grind the wheat of the settlement farmers and its own extensive purchases. In 1850, it offered "every encouragement" for the erection of a mill at Sturgeon Creek and Andrew McDermot took advantage of the offer.¹ In exchange for the right to grind the Company's wheat for the next ten years he began operating a water mill.² Simpson worked out a similar agreement in 1853 with another settler.³ By 1857 a steam mill was also in operation in the settlement and after a few delays was producing flour much superior in quality.⁴ Several other water mills had been established by the 1860s.

The dependence on the private mills proved to be unsatisfactory however. It involved the Company in a great deal of expensive and time-consuming transportation, especially after the farm at the lower fort began production. Almost daily in the spring and fall, boats left the lower fort taking wheat above the upper fort to McDermot's steam mill or to Tait's and Hay's water mills located a few miles from the fort on small streams running into the Red River. Also the water mills were not always able to operate because of the fickle water supply.⁵

The expense of transportation and precarious timetable of the private mills probably persuaded the Company to establish its own steam mill at Lower Fort Garry in 1865. Men "working at the steam mill" in October, 1865, were probably engaged in its construction and in November, Samuel Taylor noted in his journal that a steam mill for the grinding of wheat commenced operating at the lower fort.⁶

The mill was used in grinding both the Company's wheat and that of the surrounding farms. It operated mainly in the fall but it was also brought into service whenever sufficient quantities of wheat were available. In preparation for grinding, the boiler was cleaned, the millstone picked and the boiler pumped up. Cordwood for the steam engine's fires was brought from across the river. "Mr. Abell [the company engineer] with fire man, miller & flour packer" were employed in its operation along with the men who hauled the wheat to the mill and the flour away to various storage buildings.⁷ Women made the bags and later sewed their tops after they had been filled with flour.

The Company had soon become very dependent upon the mill: when its boiler broke down in 1868, Mactavish stressed the need for its immediate replacement as "without the mill there will be no chance of providing the quantity of flour now required for the trade."⁸ The grist mill remained an important operation as long as the farm continued to produce large quantities of wheat and it received business from the surrounding settlement. In 1873, there was even talk of constructing a new mill,⁹ and machinery for an immense flouring mill was moved to the lower fort from the White Horse Plain. However, the machinery was moved again in the following year to Upper Fort Garry where the Company began milling on a grand scale. The small mill at the lower fort continued in limited production through the 1870s until 1879, when in the face of competition from smaller private mills in the area it was finally abandoned.

The Sawmill

The Company first depended on a pit saw for the work in conjunction with the construction of the buildings at the lower fort. Although private mills were probably used later, there are still references in the early 1860s to "pit saw files" in the accounts and in correspondence.¹⁰ Even after a sawmill was established at the lower fort, a pit saw was used for specialized jobs such as cutting roots for York boats.¹¹

When the sawmill was constructed at the lower fort is a matter of some confusion. It appears to have been associated with the grist mill and shortly after it was completed in November, 1865, John McLeod was paid for "9 days at sawing mill."¹² However, in July of the following year, Samuel Taylor noted "we began to make a new saw mill at the Stone Fort."¹³ Even later, in 1868, the journal notes that "Mr. Abell with six men and the engineer are constructing the saw mill."¹⁴ The earlier efforts may have been temporary measures to convert the grist mill to sawing.

The steam sawmill was definitely in operation in the late 1860s using the same source of power as the grist mill. In 1868, for example, the mill was converted from grinding to sawing in the space of one afternoon: "the steam mill grinding wheat for settlers until two o'clock p.m. after they commenced sawing some timber."¹⁵ And in 1869, Mr. Abell and three men were "preparing the steam mill for sawing."¹⁶ A reference to men repairing the "flooring etc., of sawing room"¹⁷ suggests that the sawing was carried on in a special section of the mill.

The mill probably sawed for the settlers as well as the Company, which usually had a stock of lumber on hand for building purposes. Logs were floated to the mill on the river and hauled up to be sawn.¹⁸ The sawn lumber was stored by the mill or taken inside the fort for protection.¹⁹ The sawmill probably continued in production as long as the grist mill was operating.

Lime Burning

Lime burning was a common activity in the Red River Settlement as in any pioneer community where there was construction in stone. At the lower fort, lime would have been needed for the construction of the very first building in 1830-31, and the need continued. With the development of the farm there was a heavy demand for the lime for use in fertilizer. By 1861, there was at least one kiln for burning lime and a shed near the byres for storing the finished product.²⁰ The facilities and proximity of quantities of limestone made Lower Fort Garry the supplier of lime for all of the Hudson's Bay Company posts in the Red Riven district. In 1863, for instance, Mactavish wanted ten bushels of lime from the lower fort for the upper fort and also twenty bushels for the post at the White Horse Plain. This was in addition to the amount required for the needs of the lower fort.²¹

In 1890, a private operator, Francis Philpott, made an agreement with the Company to burn the limestone in the old foundations of the buildings at the creek at the south of the fort. The arrangement in the end proved unsatisfactory, and in 1899 he was stopped from taking stone. His two kilns remained, however, and were described by his son.

His father came out from England in 1887 and ran the lime kilns at Lower Fort. He helped his father and described them to me. He said he is sure the lower courses of stone will still be there if they were dug out. There were two of them. They were built on a sloped piece of ground, and were about 20 feet deep. The walls were 10 to 12 inches of stone not cut to shape, but just built up and the spaces filled with clay. The grates were steel rails from the CPR when he worked in it. They would pile wood even green poplar logs about 4-1/2 feet high on top of the grates and then pile limestone on top and cover with rubble stone to hold the heat. They would keep it going for 7, 8, or 9 days, feeding logs in through the opening above the grates. It would get to a white hot heat. Farmers would come and buy the lime for 14¢ a bushel. They would use it for white wash or for making lime plaster.²²

The later Philpott kilns, located on the south side of the creek, may also mark the location of the Company's own earlier kiln.

The Blacksmith

There were probably a blacksmith and forge at Lower Fort Garry almost from the time it was established. The Company's own animals, the Sixth Regiment's mounts, the Company's horse-breeding establishment and later the oxen would all require attention.

By the 1860s, the blacksmith, Norman Morrison, not only did work for the lower fort but also for the upper fort. He was assisted by "Old Cox" who did various odd jobs about the fort. Morrison would often be sent up to Upper Fort Garry to work on the horses stationed there, especially to shoe Governor Dallas' mounts; or the animals would be sent down.²³

The smith was called upon to do a wide variety of chores. For the Company he made scythes, rat spears, bilge pumps, hauling pins for oxen, mouse traps, stove pipes, bedsteads and many other hardware items for buildings, boats and the mills. He repaired the wagons, wheels, machinery, and did some work also for settlers.²⁴ The work was carried out in the forge or blacksmith's shop located between the creek and the fort. The building was destroyed by an explosion and fire in 1877.²⁵ It is not known if another forge was constructed to take its place.

The Lathe Room

When the lower fort became the depot for the steamboats operating on Lake Winnipeg and the repair station for those on the Red River, the "machine shops" mentioned by Robinson were added to the facilities.²⁶ In 1869, a "turning lathe" was brought to the fort and a building constructed to accommodate it.²⁷ The lathe was driven by its own engine²⁸ and was probably used for turning out parts for the steamboat machinery. When the depot was moved to Colvile Landing the lathe was no longer used and with other machinery was eventually taken away.

The Cooper

In 1870-71, there was a cooper working at the lower fort. The need for a craftsman to make and repair the kegs for beer and other items points to one being there earlier. In 1870, he was "heading casks," and in 1871, was "cutting up oak for barrel heads" and "preparing beer casks."²⁹ He probably worked in the carpenter's shop or in part of one of the other buildings.

The Fishery

At most of the posts of the Hudson's Bay Company fishing was an important source of food. At Lower Fort Garry a fishery was probably started as soon as the fort was established; in 1852, when Bishop David Anderson visited the fort, he found the Indian fisherman busy in the river in front of the fort.

The fishing was going on vigorously. We watched Indians taking the goldeyes with a scoop, something like a shrimp net, with a long handle. With it they got a single fish, now and then three or four times in succession; at other times they brought up as many as two or three at once. These the Indian threw over his head and they were immediately killed by his wife, who sat higher up the bank. They had in this way caught 300 in one day. A few sturgeon had been taken in the small creek at the side of the Fort. The rapidity of the current almost made one giddy to look at it. It was running at the rate of eight or ten miles an hour.³⁰

The Indians traded the fish at the lower fort shop where the accounts frequently note the buying of one or two from Indian women who came to barter.

Gill nets instead of scoops were preferred by the Company employees. These were made at the lower fort by "Old Daniel" both for its own use and for the upper fort.³¹ As late as the 1860s, sturgeon were caught with nets in the vicinity of the fort;³² but it was more usual to fish in Lake Winnipeg. In 1869, for example, men were sent there with fishing equipment. They were unsuccessful in the lake and, caught by the ice, were forced to leave the boat at "the fishery at Black River."³³ As 1869 was a year of crop failure, the fishing expedition was probably an attempt to relieve the food shortage.

The fish traded in the shop and caught by the Company seem to have been used only for local consumption. There is no record in the journals (1868-74) of their being preserved and shipped out, while in the mess accounts there are frequent references to their consumption by the officers of the Company and occupying troops.

The Ice House

Each winter the ice house, located in the southeast bastion of the fort, was filled with ice for the following year. The operation took place early in the year when men from the fort cut ice in the river and hauled it up to the fort, where it was stored.³⁴ Sometimes fresh meat was kept in the ice house until consumed or preserved in another manner.

Biscuit Making

Each spring the oven in the bake house was prepared for the making of "biscuit for exportation,"³⁵ and from March through June the bakers were busy at their task. The biscuit was then packed up in casks for remote posts such as Norway House or in bags for Upper Fort Garry.³⁶

11 Although the fort was then in decline, most of the buildings remained in the late 1870s. The large Northern Department warehouse stood by the gate. At the extreme right, outside the fort, are the ox stable and the stableman's house. (Public Archives of Manitoba.)