Some further light is thrown upon the state of affairs on the River St. John at this period, and the “modus operandi” of the mast cutters by the following letter, written by Hazen & White, to Colonel Francklin:—
“Fort Howe, 23rd March, 1782.
“Dear Sir,—Since our last we have been at Maugerville viewing the masts, etc, etc. Mr. Peabody has cut down and procured as many sticks as could be expected under the disadvantage of having the other contractor at his elbow. You will find enclosed Mr. Hayes account and certificates of the number and sizes of sticks on the banks, trimmed four square and fit for rafting. They have about 120 more cut, many of which cannot be got out this season. Mr. Peabody set off on the 14th inst. to view a glade of Pines on the Grand Lake, about 40 miles from Mr. Simonds’ house, where he has a number of men to work. * * The French people at Kanibikashes have about 100 sticks cut. They say they will be able to get out and bring here this Spring about 40 sticks, the others they can get out in Summer. Pork, beef and corn is very scarce and dear; the two former not to be bought. Have engaged what wheat and Indian corn we could on the River. * * Davidson expects to have 200 sticks out this season and near as many more cut in the woods; he gives the people larger prices for sticks (and takes them at Maugerville or elsewhere afloat) than we give Mr. Peabody delivered here. * * We must have two or three hundred pounds in cash here by the first conveyance.
“Yours etc.,
“Hazen & White.”
The pines of our primeval forests were evidently of magnificent proportions. Samuel Peabody mentions cutting a yard 110 feet in length and 26 inches in diameter, and a mast 38 inches in diameter, and other timber of nearly equal size. Many of the largest pines grew on the banks of the Rushagonish, a branch of the Oromocto. By the favor of Lieut. Governor Hamond and his council Messrs. Hazen, White and Peabody obtained possession of a tract of 8,000 acres of land in that quarter. The grant was made in the first instance to William Hazen, James White, Jacob Barker and Tamberlane Campbell, as officers serving in the provincial troops in the last French war. Tamberlane Campbell immediately sold his share to Samuel Peabody for a small consideration.
The extent of William Davidson’s masting operations must have been very considerable, for Hazen & White wrote to Colonel Francklin in March, 1782, “Davidson will have about 200 sticks out this season and near as many more fell in the woods, having employed almost half the Inhabitants in cutting. We should not be surprised to hear that he, with many of the Inhabitants, should memorialize the Navy Commissioner to have all his sticks received; if so, and he should succeed, another contract for us would be but of little advantage as he has raised the price of provision and men and Ox labour—oxen to 7s. 6d. pr. pair pr. day and men in proportion.”
The masting business seems to have been remunerative, and was the means of putting in circulation a considerable amount of specie, which was greatly appreciated by the settlers on the River St. John. On April 25, 1782, Col. Francklin wrote to his partners, Hazen & White, “There is no doubt of another contract, or of Sir Andrew’s friendship to me, therefore go on and get out as many sticks as you can, and throw down as many as you are sure of getting out between this and Xmass, at 312 least, for be assured we shall have another contract, and I mean to apply for a standing one when I go to Halifax again, which I expect will be in ten days or a fortnight, or even sooner if the annual ships (from England) arrive.” The letter from which this extract is taken is the last that has been preserved of Francklin’s interesting correspondence with William Hazen and James White. He died at Halifax, Nov. 8, 1782. The masting business was, however, carried on by Hazen, White and Peabody for several years longer. William Davidson also continued to engage in the business. Although some improvement was gradually made in the way the masting business was conducted by the pioneer “lumbermen”—if we may so term them—the methods employed down to 1825 were very crude. In that year Peter Fisher writes. “In this country there is no article that can in any degree furnish export equal to the pine, which is manufactured in the simplest manner with but little trouble. So simple is the process that most settlers who have the use of the axe can manufacture it, the woods furnishing a sort of simple manufactory for the inhabitants, from which, after attending to their farms in the summer, they can draw returns during the winter for the supplies which are necessary for the comfort of their families.” Mr. Fisher enters a strong protest against what was, even then a growing evil, namely, the wanton destruction of valuable young timber by persons who were merely speculators, and had little regard for the future.
The rapid increase in the lumber industry is seen from the fact that in 1824 there was shipped from the port of St. John alone 114,116 tons of Pine and Birch timber; 11,534,000 feet of Pine boards and planks; 1,923,000 staves; 491,000 Pine shingles; 1,918 masts and spars; 2,698 handspikes, oars and oar rafters; and 1,435 cords of lathwood; while in addition large quantities were shipped from Miramichi, St. Andrews, Richibucto and Bathurst. Up to 1825 there is scarcely any mention of Spruce lumber as an article of export. The first Spruce deals cut in New Brunswick were sawn in 1819, and the first cargo, which consisted of only 100,000 superficial feet, was shipped to England in 1822.
In 1782, Hazen, White and Peabody had a small saw mill in operation on the Oromocto stream, and about this time they erected another and larger one. The mills were not profitable at first, but they became more valuable after the close of the Revolutionary war, when the arrival of the Loyalists created a great demand for sawn lumber.
Before we turn from the consideration of the small beginnings of our great lumbering industry to other matters, a few words may be added concerning the Glasier family, so famous in the annals of the province for their enterprises on the River St. John. Colonel Beamsley Glasier’s connection with the mills erected on the Nashwaak in 1788, by the St. John’s River Society, has already been related. His brother Benjamin, who was a somewhat younger man, came to the St. John river from Massachusetts in 1779 as a shipwright. The Revolutionary war, however, rendered it impracticable to carry on ship building, so he moved up the river to what was then called “Morrisania,” about six miles below Fredericton, where in 1782 he purchased from Benjamin Bubier, for the sum of £200, a tract of 1,000 acres of land on which his desendants of the fourth generation still reside. Benjamin Glasier’s commission as a lieutenant in the Massachusetts infantry is yet preserved 313 in the family. It bears the signature of Thomas Hutchinson, the last Royal Governor of Massachusetts. Lieut. Glaiser served in the French and Indian wars and was taken prisoner at the siege of Fort William Henry.
Benjamin Glasier was the progenitor of the well known family, of which the late Senator John Glasier (familiarly known as “the main John Glasier”) and his brothers Stephen, Duncan and Benjamin were members. The operations of the Glasier family in lumbering and shipbuilding extended over very nearly a century. At one time they were undoubtedly the largest operators in New Brunswick, employing over six hundred men. For many years their production was principally pine timber, which was shipped to Liverpool.