Arnprior & McNab/Braeside Archives

Date

c1904

Format

photographic

Collection/Fonds

Daniel McLachlin (Texas) fonds

Description Level

Item

Physical Description

1 photograph : b&w ; 17 cm x 12 cm

Scope and Content

Caption reads " General View of No. 3 Mill Showing the conveyor carrying the lumber to the sorting table. The wing nearest the camera is the lath mill."

Accession No.

1999-0117

Less detail

Date

c1904

Format

photographic

Collection/Fonds

Daniel McLachlin (Texas) fonds

Description Level

Item

Physical Description

1 photograph : b&w ; 17 cm x 12 cm

Scope and Content

Caption reads "Another View of No. 3 Mill Looking down the lumber conveyor from sorting table. The seven cabins house the electric motors that drive the conveyor. Each drives twenty nine rolss. Lumber moving at the rate of three and a half feet a second takes nearly five minutes to reach the sorting table."

Accession No.

1999-0117

Less detail

City

Arnprior

Province

Ontario

County

Renfrew County

Description

Mill No. 4 was built in 1892, just 300 yards East of Mill No. 3 on the shore of the Ottawa River. Like Mill No. 3, it was steam-operated and equipped with the latest technology of its day. Mill No. 4 had a a 125-foot high "Iron Bottle" burner. It was the last mill built by the McLachlin Bros. Due to an economic downturn in the 1920s, only Mills 3 and 4 were still in operation by 1923. They ceased operation in 1929, and Mill No. 4 was finally demolished in 1936.

Builder

McLachlin Bros.

Time Period

1892-1936

Construction Date

1892

Physical Condition

destroyed

Function Category

Industry

Function Type

lumber mill

Location

View Current Location in Google Maps

Less detail

Date

1903

Format

photographic

Collection/Fonds

Charles Macnamara fonds

Description Level

Item

Series

10

Reference No.

C 120-3-0-0-1

Physical Description

glass plate negative and print

Physical Condition

broken plate

Acquisition Source

Archives of Ontario C 120-3

Scope and Content

M. McLachlin Bros. number 4 Mill on the Ottawa River at Arnprior taken in June 1903.

Accession No.

2002-0154

Less detail

Date

1903

Format

photographic

Collection/Fonds

Charles Macnamara fonds

Description Level

Item

Series

10

Reference No.

C 120-3-0-0-39

Physical Description

glass plate negative and print

Acquisition Source

Archives of Ontario C 120-3

Scope and Content

Front view of the McLachlin Bros. grist mill taken from the bridge over the Madawaska River.

Landmark

McLachlin Grist Mill

Accession No.

2002-0154

Less detail

Date

3 July 1930

Format

photographic

Collection/Fonds

Charles Macnamara fonds

Description Level

Item

Series

10

Reference No.

C 120-3-0-0-97

Physical Description

glass plate negative

Acquisition Source

Archives of Ontario C 120-3

Scope and Content

View of No. 4 Mill on the Ottawa River in the afternoon

Accession No.

2002-0154

Less detail

Date

3 July 1930

Format

photographic

Collection/Fonds

Charles Macnamara fonds

Description Level

Item

Series

10

Reference No.

C 120-3-0-0-98

Physical Description

glass plate negative and print

Acquisition Source

Archives of Ontario C 120-3

Scope and Content

View of No. 4 Mill on the Ottawa River in the afternoon

Accession No.

2002-0154

Less detail

Date

c1920

Format

photographic

Collection/Fonds

June Runtz fonds

Description Level

Item

Physical Description

1 photograph : b&w ; 30 cm x 25 cm

Scope and Content

Photo shows back view of McLachlin Bros. No. 1 freight engine with three employees on engine and various buildings in the background.

Accession No.

2001-0142

Less detail

Date

1903

Format

photographic

Collection/Fonds

Charles Macnamara fonds

Description Level

Item

Series

10

Reference No.

C 120-3-0-0-40

Physical Description

glass plate negative and print

Acquisition Source

Archives of Ontario C 120-3

Scope and Content

View taken from the west bank of the Madawaska River looking upriver to McLachlin Bros. grist mill.

Landmark

McLachlin Grist Mill

Accession No.

2002-0154

Less detail

Date

c1904

Format

photographic

Collection/Fonds

Daniel McLachlin (Texas) fonds

Description Level

Item

Physical Description

1 photograph : b&w ; 22 cm x 19.5 cm

Scope and Content

Photograph shows an aerial of McLachlin Bros. No. 3 and No. 4 steam saw mills on the Ottawa River.

Accession No.

1999-0117

Less detail

Date

1903

Format

photographic

Collection/Fonds

Charles Macnamara fonds

Description Level

Item

Series

10

Reference No.

C 120-3-0-0-2

Physical Description

glass plate negative and print

Acquisition Source

Archives of Ontario C 120-3

Scope and Content

McLachlin Bros. Number 3 Mill on the Ottawa River.

Accession No.

2002-0154

Less detail

City

Arnprior

Province

Ontario

County

Renfrew

Description

Constructed in 1867, Mill No. 2 was the second mill built by Daniel McLachlin on the Madawaska river at the bridge. Called "The Little Mill", it was smaller in size and output than Mill No.1, beside it. After the much larger Mills No. 3 and 4 were built along the shore of Chats Lake in the 1870s and 80s, Mills no. 1 and 2 slowly ceased production. All of the mills ceased operation in 1929 due to a decline in business over the 1920s. However, Mill No.2 operated again to saw logs for shipment to the J.R. Booth Company from 1936 to 1938. Its stone foundations were demolished in 1972 when Ontario Hydro constructed the weir.

Builder

Daniel McLachlin

Time Period

1867-1938

Construction Date

1867

Physical Condition

destroyed

Function Category

Industry

Function Type

lumber mill

Location

View Current Location in Google Maps

Less detail

City

Arnprior

Province

Ontario

County

Renfrew

Description

Mill no. 1, known as "the big water mill," was built in 1865 by Daniel McLachlin on the East bank of the Madawaska river. This was not McLachlin's very first mill, however. In the 1850s, McLachlin was operating a mill he refurbished from the remnants of a previous mill built by the Buchanan brothers in 1833. It was water-powered and had a single saw which turned out one board at a time. When the Brockville & Ottawa railway was built to Arnprior in 1865, the new mill was constructed on the same site to produce much more lumber for transport to new markets.

With the building of the newer steam-saw Mills 3 and 4 in subsequent decades, the equipment in Mill No.1 slowly became outdated. In 1892, with Mill No.4 having just been built, it was deemed expedient to discontinue the work in Mill No.1. By 1905, the insurance plan for the McLachlin Bros. Sawmills & Lumber Yards lists Mill No.1 as a "late mill" repurposed as a storehouse.

Builder

Daniel McLachlin

Time Period

1865-1938

Construction Date

1865

Physical Condition

destroyed

Function Category

Industry

Function Type

lumber mill

Location

View Current Location in Google Maps

Less detail

City

Arnprior

Province

Ontario

County

Renfrew

Description

The steam-powered No. 3 Mill was built in 1871 along the southern shore of the Ottawa river, east of the Madawaska. It burnt in 1875 and a new mill was built on the same site, opening for production in 1882. It was equipped with the newest machinery of the day, including a 190 foot "Iron Bullet Waste Burner." With the construction of Mills 3 and 4, output grew immensely and the McLachlin Bros. were producing 60,000,000 feet of lumber in a good year. A newspaper article from 1923 stated that there was a downturn in business and that only Mill 3 and 4 were in use for a few months per year. The mills ceased operation in 1929. Its demolition date is unknown.

Builder

McLachlin Bros.

Time Period

1871-

Construction Date

1871

Physical Condition

destroyed

Function Category

Industry

Function Type

lumber mill

Location

View Current Location in Google Maps

Less detail

Date

1959c

Format

photographic

Collection/Fonds

Gillies Family fonds

Description Level

Item

Reproduction Location

Binder 5C P0649

Scope and Content

Photograph includes water tower, stack and large storage area.

Accession No.

1995-0060

Less detail

Date

unknown

Format

photographic

Collection/Fonds

Peter Hessel collection

Description Level

Item

Reproduction Location

Binder 6B P0777

Scope and Content

Photograph of the original Mill buildings and logs.

Accession No.

1994-0021

Less detail

Date

unknown

Format

photographic

Collection/Fonds

Peter Hessel collection

Description Level

Item

Reproduction Location

Binder 6B P0778

Scope and Content

Photograph of the original mill.

Accession No.

1994-0021

Less detail

Date

unknown

Format

photographic

Collection/Fonds

Peter Hessel collection

Description Level

Item

Reproduction Location

Binder 6 P0779

Scope and Content

Photograph of the second mill from road.

Accession No.

1994-0021

Less detail

Date

c. 1924

Format

photographic

Collection/Fonds

Daniel McLachlin (Texas) fonds

Description Level

Item

Physical Description

1 photograph: b&w; 16.5 cm x 12 cm

Scope and Content

Caption reads "General view of lath and picket mill where eighty percent of the waste is made into merchantable lumber."

Accession No.

1999-0117

Less detail

Date

1909

Format

photographic

Collection/Fonds

Charles Macnamara fonds

Description Level

Item

Series

10

Reference No.

C 120-3-0-0-7

Physical Description

glass negative and print

Acquisition Source

Archives of Ontario C 120-3

Scope and Content

McLachlin Brothers Mill number 4 showing high water on the Ottawa River.

Accession No.

2002-0154

Less detail