It’s hard to believe that our field school is half over already! It was cold and damp this morning, but we tried to keep as warm as we could by moving some dirt. James ordered everyone pizza for lunch (hooray!!), and we had Dr Jennifer Moore, the Anthropology Department Chair drop by today to see how the excavations are progressing.
After lunch, we started backfilling the two completed units that have been excavated and recorded (elevations taken, planned, and profiled). Many hands make light work and it is always surprising to see how quickly a unit that was painstakingly excavated over days can be filled back up with dirt.
Jax, Xander, and Amelie finally got to the dark artifact rich layer in their midden unit today, and immediately had some interesting finds, including the find of the day, a timber stamp or brand.
The Timber Marking Act was passed in 1870, requiring all logging firms to register a unique identifying mark and stamp this on the cut logs. Over 2200 timber marks were registered between 1870 and 1990. Failure to mark logs resulted in a $50 fine, and wrongly applying a mark claiming someone else’s logs incurred a fine of up to $100.
In 1874, the Ministry of Agriculture published “The Lumberman’s Timber Mark Guide“, to help lumber companies overcome problems of identification. It included pictures of stamps for all registered lumber companies, and a complete index. The preface concluded that “without a correct book of reference, much trouble and loss must be sustained from ignorance of the Registered Marks by which the timber and lumber can be identified, besides incurring the risk of infringing on those already adopted and registered.”
I found three marks listed, all from 1872 and 1873 for Boyd, Smith, and Co. who purchased the Nassau Mills in September 1872. These are obviously not our mark, but they come from the first version of this company.
I did find another timber mark book, written by Diane Aldred, called Registered timber marks of Eastern Canada from 1870 to 1984. The Trent library has a copy, so I will have to check that out next week and see if we can find our mark reproduced there with its registry date. As I didn’t have immediate access to this book, I decided to poke through the Peterborough newspaper records I have and I found enough mentions that I think I can narrow down the date of this mark a bit.
So as I mentioned above, the sale of the Nassau Mills to Gardiner Boyd, Alexander Smith, and James M. Irwin took place in September 1872. Irwin seems to have been a bit of a silent partner at the outset, but he is listed in the parcel roll as one of the purchasers.
In May 1876 there was a notice published that Alexander Smith of Boyd, Smith & Co. was injured/ill, but expected to be able to attend to business in a few days. There was also an article talking about an insurance payout to Boyd, Smith & Co. for death of a valuable horse [was this the cause of the injury?]; and some ads announcing timber for sale at the Boyd, Smith & Co. lumber yard.
In August 1876 there are ads for lumber yard of Boyd, Smith & Co., and a mention that A. Smith, Esq. of the firm of Boyd, Smith & Co. has been to the Eastern Province and sea side for the benefit of his health, and was expected home the next week. He appears to have left the company some time around then, perhaps due to lingering health issues?
The first specific mention of Irwin & Boyd I could find in the newspapers is September 1879. There is an article detailing the proceedings of police court, where enlarged cases against mill owners for depositing sawdust and mill refuse in the river came up for further hearing. Irwin & Boyd are mentioned as being fined $20 and $2.50 costs for breach of Navigation Laws, and also fined $5.00 and $2.50 costs for depositing sawdust into the river. So at least in 1879, there is mention of Irwin & Boyd as operating the mills, which matches our I & B stamp!
The last mention of Irwin & Boyd I can find in the newspapers is January 1882, newspaper articles and ads only speak of “Irwin’s mill” or “Irwin lumber sale” after this date. Presumably at this point that stamp was retired and discarded as it was no longer current.
So we can narrow this stamp to approximately 1879 to 1882 based on the newspaper records. I am curious to see if the mark is in that timber mark book!
2 thoughts on “End of week two already, and Artifact of the Day — I & B timber stamp”
Aw sad I missed it but hopefully there’s still much to uncover.
Emma McDonald
It’s fascinating how one stamp can unravel a history of tax evasion and intrigue in the business of lumber. Starting with the symbol for Boyd Smith reminds me of the emblem on the Greek Island of Melos from Assassin’s Creed Odyssey mission- the Battle of One Hundred Hands, embodying the mythical creature “Hecatoncheries”. This is possibly a symbolic reference to the Gardiner Boyd, Alexander Smith, and James M. Irwin partnership because there were only three in Greek mythology, referring to their influence in the lumber trade. Many heads, eyes, and hands, which of course leads to their downfall to sell the mill similar to the fate of ending up in Tartus Hades. Not to get off track, the research done in finding these stamps is commendable, even explaining the social bond between the three partners to survive in the economic market. Avoiding the expenses if the lumber was misplaced or production down.
Bradley Navaranjan