The Mill House
The Mill House
(larger version)
The mill house is an old building that has a bit of history behind it. It belongs to Jim Andersen, Sr., but was built by his father. A wooden sign above the door says 1917-1975.
From interviews with Jim Andersen, November and December 2009...
"Mom always wanted a piano. She was musical. They was all musical. Dad promised her a piano. Sometime when he seen the means he would buy her one." He would usually take his furs to St. John's in the fall, on the second last boat run.
So this particular fall, after going to St. John's on the Meigle, Dad (John Andersen) went down to Charles Hutton's store on Water Street. Basil Hutton played the piano for him, the one he was wanting to buy. Now he was staying at the Crosby Hotel, and this is where he met up with Edmund Frampton and Harry Stone, schooner builders from Smith Sound, Trinity Bay, and popular captains of schooners that fished in Sally's Cove, near Makkovik. They were in town to buy their winter supplies. They said, "Oh no, don't buy a piano, buy a sawmill." So John Andersen bought a sawmill from Acadia Gas Company on Water Street. This was in the fall, and the purchase only arrived the following spring.
From interviews with Jim Andersen, November and December 2009...
"Mom always wanted a piano. She was musical. They was all musical. Dad promised her a piano. Sometime when he seen the means he would buy her one." He would usually take his furs to St. John's in the fall, on the second last boat run.
So this particular fall, after going to St. John's on the Meigle, Dad (John Andersen) went down to Charles Hutton's store on Water Street. Basil Hutton played the piano for him, the one he was wanting to buy. Now he was staying at the Crosby Hotel, and this is where he met up with Edmund Frampton and Harry Stone, schooner builders from Smith Sound, Trinity Bay, and popular captains of schooners that fished in Sally's Cove, near Makkovik. They were in town to buy their winter supplies. They said, "Oh no, don't buy a piano, buy a sawmill." So John Andersen bought a sawmill from Acadia Gas Company on Water Street. This was in the fall, and the purchase only arrived the following spring.
The engine
(larger version)
"The schooners was down. Lot of schooners in Sally's Cove. The Framptons and the Stones was there. So they put off the engine out to Dunn's Island (the summer fishing place) from the old Meigle. On the way in (to Makkovik), Dad called to Harry Stone's in Sally's Cove. Oh my gosh! Broke open the crate... tore open the crate. Took batteries out of the engine house. Started the stationary engine right there in the boat! They was always big schooner builders and sawed all their own lumber with sawmills. They brought him up, of course. Two or three boats come up from Sally's Cove and took the engine out of the boat. The engine which is over on the block now."
In the fall, when the fishing at Dunn's Island was finished, John Andersen returned to his home in Makkovik and erected the sawmill. He had lumber already for it, that had been sawn earlier with the pit saw. This was in 1917. " And the last time I used that sawmill was in 1975. Now then, I was always doing big blunders, very wrong things. When Dad build that sawmill he had two pieces of lumber about six by ten. Two heavy pieces of lumber, 35 foot long, what Mr. Jannasch give Dad after they finished building the church (1897). So that was what Dad had erected in the mill house, to erect the bench on, the bench what the logs goes on. And we had them all them years. In the end, I sold them. I sold the engine and the bench what was put together like something growed, and Daddy had never seen a sawmill bench put together before. That was a very, very wrong thing for me to do. Everything was solid when I took it down.....I bought the engine back for $300, and I put it on the block there, as a memory. Our sawmill was so useful. If someone wanted komatik runners, or something for a house, well, they would cut logs on the half. Dad would keep half, and they would have half. It was a wonderful system."
In the fall, when the fishing at Dunn's Island was finished, John Andersen returned to his home in Makkovik and erected the sawmill. He had lumber already for it, that had been sawn earlier with the pit saw. This was in 1917. " And the last time I used that sawmill was in 1975. Now then, I was always doing big blunders, very wrong things. When Dad build that sawmill he had two pieces of lumber about six by ten. Two heavy pieces of lumber, 35 foot long, what Mr. Jannasch give Dad after they finished building the church (1897). So that was what Dad had erected in the mill house, to erect the bench on, the bench what the logs goes on. And we had them all them years. In the end, I sold them. I sold the engine and the bench what was put together like something growed, and Daddy had never seen a sawmill bench put together before. That was a very, very wrong thing for me to do. Everything was solid when I took it down.....I bought the engine back for $300, and I put it on the block there, as a memory. Our sawmill was so useful. If someone wanted komatik runners, or something for a house, well, they would cut logs on the half. Dad would keep half, and they would have half. It was a wonderful system."