The Amesdale Lath and Supply Company

W 1/2 of N 1/2, Lot 10, Con. 3 Rowell Twp.

In 1927 Samuel George Ames, J.B. Nelson, and J.W. Stouffer organised the Amesdale Lath and Supply Company. One hundred and five shares were sold within the community at fifty dollars per share and the company was incorporated May 17, 1927.

A lath and saw mill was then purchased in Winnipeg, and was set up on the north-east corner of Bert Ames’ homestead, N1/2 Lot 10 Concession 3, just east of the swift creek. Sam Ames, who had experience as a sawyer, was the sawyer on the mill. J.W. Stouffer did a lot of the paperwork for the mill since he had a good education. Bert, Sam Ames' second son learned the trade from his father and took over the mill.

The economic value of the mill was in the lath that was cut and shipped to Winnipeg. Lumber which was for local consumption, supplied by the mill for the building of every frame home in Amesdale. Bert built a home across the creek from the saw mill. In November 3, 1930, school opened in Amesdale in a new frame school building built of dimensional lumber from that mill. The Ames family used lumber from the saw mill to build the new store in 1931, and a large new home in 1932. From squared timbers, Albert Fradsham built a two-story home just west Bert’s place. The squared timbers were from balsam logs, which when wet are very heavy. However, once dried the porous nature of the wood becomes an excellent insulator.

Lath, the main product produced, and was cut and shipped to Winnipeg, however with the advent of plywood, the demand for lath fell and the lath mill was sold. Thereafter, the mill was only run for about three weeks a year to meet local needs. Only one railroad car load of lumber was ever shipped out of the community, but the car became lost in transport and the company was never paid for the lumber.

Besides providing lumber for the community, the community enjoyed a sense of pride as dwellings were converted from log cabins to modern frame construction. It was also a place of entertainment, watched by youth like Gordon Fradsham who “could stand and watch that steam engine work all day, and watch them sawing lumber. To a young boy it was awesome”. By the 1940’s the mill was inoperative. Nevertheless, Bert’s girls enjoyed playing on the old steam engine and mill, until they moved with their parents to Dryden in 1945.

Some years later the lath mill was forfeited and in 1946 the saw mill was sold to Norman McMillan. The mill was not the financial success it was hoped to be but it was however of enormous value in supplying the building materials essential to the development of the isolated community.

In about 1947 or 1948, Mike Premack set up another saw mill on a 5 acre lot behind the store. It was by the road leading down to the spring.

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(photos provided by Joanne Laforest Brown, Bert Ames' granddaughter)