COLINET'S LOGGING INDUSTRY

Colinet, Newfoundland, was very much involved as part of the logging industry back in the early 1900s to the mid 1900s. Seven mills operated in Colinet at this time, all owned by different people. The two most prominent mills at the time were one that belonged to Hugh Simmons, originally from Whitbourne, and who had married a woman from Colinet named Angela Davis. The other mill belonged to Alex Foster, who was a native of Scotland and who had moved to St. John's.

In the very early 1900s, Simmons' was the largest sawmill in the Province. It was located near the mouth of the Colinet River and employed up to 40 people, mostly from the local and nearby communities. The mill was generated by steam, which was fueled by the waste material of logs (sawdust, rind and slabs). It supplied lumber to all parts of the Province and created such structures as the Cataracts Bridge in the Cataracts Provincial Park, located on the portion of Colinet road leading to Placentia.

Foster, who had other businesses in St. John's, started with a makeshift mill attached to a barn in Colinet in the late 1940s. A few years later he built a more modern mill that had two floor levels just across the road from the makeshift mill. This mill was located far enough away from Colinet River, so that trucks were needed to bring the logs for processing. This mill provided several jobs, led by a foreman named Patrick Tremblett – a resident of Colinet. Even the well-known Craig Dobbin began and advanced his career by purchasing lumber from this mill.

All the logs were cut back in what is referred to by local residents as the 'Colinet Country'; Big Pond, Red Island Pond, and Back River areas. The logs were driven down Colinet River in early spring, gathered and held together at the mouth of the river by a string of chains and booms.

This portion of the Province's logging industry was brought to an abrupt stop due to conflicts regarding water rights of the Colinet River in the early 1950s. The machinery from those two mills was sold to businesses outside Colinet, which left the buildings in demise, and a number of men unemployed who eventually had to search for work elsewhere.

Under research by: John Downey