Meet John E. Lake, the man who put the mills in Milltown

John E. Lake of Fortune, who lived more than 100 years ago, can be described in many ways: entrepreneur, visionary and risk-taker — or simply, businessman extraordinaire. Without a doubt he was one of Newfoundland's most successful businessmen of the day.

The fishery was always the lifeblood of the area, with our fishermen being some of the first to venture farther out to sea in the late 1860s to seek cod and halibut on the offshore banks. Thus the schooner bank salt-fishery developed, and it wasn't long before the government began paying bounties to have vessels built in order to get more people involved.

From 1874 to 1884, a total of 32 vessels were built in Fortune, including six by Lake, from 1875-1877. They ranged in size from very small at 15 tons to a couple of larger ships of 78 and 96 tons.

It wasn't only Lake's involvement in shipbuilding or the fishery that made him successful; he erected a two-storey can-manufacturing business and started a boot and shoe factory. For a brief period he was a member of the Newfoundland House of Assembly for the Burin district.

The can-manufacturing building housed machines for cutting, rounding, edging and pressing tins for packing lobster and salmon — sold to factories around Fortune Bay and Hermitage Bay — and employed several hundred people until modern machinery was able to make the product at a much lower price.

In December 1908 a disastrous fire destroyed the three-storey building that housed the boot and shoe factory as well as Lake's shop.

Lake's most adventurous business venture was possibly the building and operation of a furniture factory in Fortune — believed to be the first factory in Newfoundland dedicated solely to manufacturing household furniture. One order it filled was to make 1,000 chairs for the old Nickel Theatre in St. John's, the first movie theatre in the province. It also supplied many other items across the island before closing its doors in 1917, for economic reasons.

The factory, a three-storey building measuring 180 feet by 80 feet, was built on the west side of the harbour. In 1911 the building was valued at $30,000 and employed 23 people with total wages of $4,404. It was equipped with 27 wood-working machines powered by a steam engine of 80 horsepower.

Lake is also credited as the founder of Milltown in Bay d'Espoir. In the 1890s, he was looking for a supply of suitable timber to be used in his furniture factory. The English firm of Newman and Company had a fish collecting and trading station at Gaultois in Hermitage Bay. The head of Bay d'Espoir is about 50 kilometres from Gaultois, and employees of Newman and Company regularly went into the area to cut bark and rind, which the fish exporting company used in the hold of their vessels to lay salt-bulk fish on.

After hearing about the supply of good timber in Bay d'Espoir, Lake decided to look the area over. He purchased more than 20,000 hectares of virgin timberland, at the exact spot where Milltown now stands, and spent the first winter with a small party woodcutting.

After the winter's cutting he set up a sawmill there. The operation progressed, and people moved into Milltown from Hermitage Bay. He then engaged a school teacher, Charlie King of Fortune, to come into the bay and start a school.

Prior to Lake's arrival, there were about 35 families already living in St. Alban's, providing for themselves and cutting rind, fence posts, rails and firewood for Gaultois.

The first sawmill operation proved to be such a success that the enterprising gentleman started another sawmill at the Mi'kmaq community of Conne River followed by a third mill at nearby Little River.

John E. Lake went bankrupt in 1917. His two sons, Bert and Freeman, took over the operation, naming it the Milltown Lumber Company.

Lake died in 1921 at the age of 75. The sawmill operations were carried on until the early 1940s, when Bowater bought Lake's Milltown business. They demolished the original sawmill and operated a pulpwood-cutting business there for several years, employing nearly all the woodsmen in the area. They built a woods road that was later upgraded and became part of the original highroad connecting to central Newfoundland.

Meanwhile, the pulpwood was being shipped by barges and tugs to Corner Brook. Eventually, the operation proved unfeasible, and Bowater closed down its Bay d'Espoir venture.

The growth and development of that area was, in large part, directly related to the emergence of the sawmill industry. The population of the Head of Bay d'Espoir and Milltown area prior to establishment of Lake's sawmill in 1894 grew less than three per cent annually, whereas after the sawmill was established the annual increase grew to 12 per cent.

Other notable businesses that sprang up in the area included the Roberts Brothers, Morgan and Wilson, at Head of Bay d'Espoir (1907-late 1950s). They had a large sawmill establishment and a shipyard where they built and launched some 50-plus schooners.

John W. Kendell and his two brothers of Morrisville erected a sawmill in 1912, and they were also shipbuilders.

The Strickland Brothers — Ches, Gordon and Jerry — started a sawmill operation some time before the Lakes pulled out. They also had a cooper store, where they produced staves and fish barrels. They owned and used their own oxen, and in the mid-1960s had a sub-contract with Bowater to cut pulpwood. In the beginning they used a water-mill to run their saw and later had an engine, which allowed them to saw larger lumber. During the war they expanded their mill and their general store and were in operation until 1967.

The population of Milltown-Head of Bay Despoir was 669 in the 2021 census.

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