The James Drake Lumber Company was established in early May 1903 and received its charter of incorporation via the Manitoba Joint Stock Companies Act on 5 June 1903. Its founding partnership was comprised of James Drake (lumber manufacturer) and Samuel James Drake (accountant) of Winnipeg, John Andrew Howell (master mariner), David Morrison (contractor), and John Morrison (engineer) of Selkirk, and lumbermen Thomas Blakely and John Jardine of Manitou. The company maintained an office at Winnipeg, a lumberyard at Selkirk, and a mill operation along with over 42 miles of timber limits at Bad Throat [Manigotagan, the Cree translation of bad throat] and elsewhere along Lake Winnipeg. The firm held an initial capital stock of $100,000 and commissioned the tug steamship Majestic along with a timber barge with 200,000 feet of lumber capacity. It remained in operation into 1905, by the autumn of which year it fell into bankruptcy, with its assets sold off by the accounting firm of Newton & Davidson.
See also:
Northern Prairie Steamboats: Majestic
“Government work in the growing west,” Manitoba Free Press, 26 January 1903, page 7.
“Gazette notices,” Manitoba Free Press, 6 July 1903, page 24.
“Attorney-General stopped the sale,” Manitoba Free Press, 6 September 1905, page 1.
“Tenders - Sale of valuable timber limits, saw mill, tugs, [...],” Manitoba Free Press, 6 October 1905, page 2.
Companies Office corporation documents (CCA 0059), 8J - James Drake Lumber Company Limited, GR6427, Archives of Manitoba.
This page was prepared by Nathan Kramer.
Page revised: 15 February 2020
