Gilmour and Hughson : The Gilmour and Hughson families are historically two of the most prominent families of Ottawa-Hull. Their position in the lumber industry associated them with other "lumber baron" families like the Wrights, Booths, MacLarens, Bronsons, Eddys and Edwards. The history of the Gilmour and Hughson Company is tied to the roots of the timber and shipbuilding industry in colonial British North America.
Allan Gilmour (1775-1849) was a senior partner in the firm of Pollok, Gilmour & Co., a Glasgow concern from which numerous co-partnerships and offshoots evolved and which played a prominent part in the Scottish and Canadian lumber and shipbuilding businesses. Gilmour associated with other prominent Scottish businessmen in the Montreal area, and was a prime mover in the colonial timber trade in British North America. Allan Gilmour's brothers and nephews opened branches of what became known as the Gilmour Company in Canada, at Miramichi, Quebec, Montreal, Bytown (Ottawa) and elsewhere.
The Bytown operation of the Gilmour Company began with the opening of a Montreal partnership in 1828, which dealt in supplies for the square timber trade on the Ottawa River. In 1841 Allan Gilmour (1816-1895), a nephew of Allan Gilmour Sr., took over the Montreal branch with James Gilmour, gave it the name "Gilmour & Co." and opened a Bytown (Ottawa) branch to procure timber and sawn lumber for the Quebec market. Before long extensive woods operations were undertaken, including in the forests beyond Hull, Quebec. The company purchased the timber rights from the Wright family in 1847.
As one of the main employers in the region, the Gilmour family had a strong influence on the economic development of the region. Allan Gilmour was a personal friend of the Governor General and his wife, Lord and Lady Dufferin, and could also count Sandford Fleming as a close acquaintance. He and his family participated in the elite social circles of Bytown, which included winter sports like curling, and he was also a great collector of fine arts.
In the 1870s, the branches at Miramichi, Quebec and Montreal were closed, leaving the Ottawa lumber operation in the control of the sons of John Gilmour, formerly of the Quebec branch. Several new partnerships were formed thereafter until in 1891 "Gilmour & Hughson" was formed between John Gilmour, Jr. and Ward Hughson, an Albany lumberman. In 1895 the concern was incorporated (58-59Vic., Cap. 89). The principal Gilmour and Hughson Company mill, originally built in 1874, was at the confluence of the Ottawa River, Gatineau River and Brewer's Creek, in Hull (Gatineau). A secondary mill was located at Gilmour's Mills, near present-day Chelsea, Quebec. The building that was built to house the administrative headquarters is still extant, located today in Gatineau's Parc Jacques-Cartier. In the forestry industry, fire was a constant danger. The Hull mill burned in the 1875 and 1883 fires, but was rebuilt each time because the location was ideal for bringing lumber down the Ottawa and Gatineau rivers. From 1894, the Hull mill was known to be one of the most modern lumber mills in operation, with gas lights and steam-operated machinery. For the most part, the mill escaped damage in the Great Fire of 1900 that ravaged Ottawa and Hull.
Much correspondence between headquarters and the depots closer to the cutting sites was required to keep accounts, and long trips were made to verify the situation in each sector where the company operated. Photographs and textual documents in this collection attest to the value the company placed on its assets in the Ottawa and Gatineau river valleys. This archival material also speaks to the reliance of the company on skilled Algonquin guides. Photographs show Samson and Joe Commanda and Martin Odjick demonstrating the use of bear traps, birch-bark canoes, and dug-out bread ovens in remote locations.
The photographs document vital economic activity in Canada. Researchers will find basic information on the state of the virgin boreal forests of the Ottawa and Outaouais regions. They are rare and offer an unparalleled view of the development of the forestry industry. They afford detailed images of the construction of mills, their operations and the development of communities including Indian (First Nation) reserves and
or camps in the Maniwaki region. Many names of lakes, rivers and villages in this archival collection will be familiar to the inhabitants of the Outaouais region today, including Desert Lake, Ignace River, Maniwaki, and Chelsea Falls. Other names may have been forgotten, including Ironside, Petewagama, and Barrière Trading Post. Material in the fonds also deals with the confluence of the River Désert and the Gatineau river, and the surrounding area. The First Nations reserve of Kitigan Zibi (River Désert) was formerly known as Maniwaki 18. It is a First Nations reserve of the Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg First Nation, an Algonquin band.
In mid-1920 it was announced that Gilmour and Hughson Ltd. was being sold to the firm of Riordon & Co. However, the Riordon Company went into bankruptcy and the properties owned by Gilmour & Hughson and its operations were taken over by the Gatineau Company Limited, a subsidiary of the Canadian International Paper Co.
