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It all Started in
Rivers – The North American Lumber Story
News of plans of the Grand Trunk Pacific to build a railway across the
Prairies was well reported across North America. By 1906 work was
underway and businessmen from far and wide saw opportunities. The
general route was known and there came a time when one could be pretty
sure that a new town would arise near the crossing of the Little
Saskatchewan River. Several Manitobans made plans to move and get in on
the ground floor so to speak.
Some came from Brandon and Rapid City. R.S. McKenzie came from all the
way from Portage.
Even farther away, in the northwestern corner of North Dakota, plans
were being made. Edward A. Konantz, owned the Citizen’s Lumber Company
of Bow Bells. In 1906 he enlisted the help of Charles Lee as a general
Manager and established the North American Lumber & Supply Company.
As the name might suggest, they had big plans.
So while it might seem odd that they picked the newly conceived town of
Rivers in Manitoba, to open their first Lumber Yard, it actually made a
lot of sense. The town was destined to be someplace. Spots on the new
rail line made it easy to get supplies and there would be a lot of
building going on.
That’s the way it worked out in Rivers. In 1907 it was barely a town at
all – but that meant that it had a lot of growing to do. By the fall of
1908, Rivers had dozens of new buildings, the new lumber yard was doing
a great business, and by the end of that year the partners had
established 16 more yards, with a total of 19 yards in place by the
spring of 1909.
The first yard at Rivers was located on First Avenue and opened in
1907, before Grand Trunk Railroad accepted shipments into Rivers.
Materials both for construction of buildings and for stock were hauled
from Wheatland. They started making sales at Rivers after mid-summer of
that year. Charles Lee remained as General Manger for many years.
This view of Rivers in 1908
shows the North American Lumber Co., near the centre, on Second Street.
North American Lumber suffered through the Great Depression along with
the rest of Canada, but by 1936, 56 yards had survived the worst part
of the depression.
Through the ‘40s and ‘50s, the company continued to grow and diversify,
establishing even more of a presence in rural Manitoba and Brandon.
The
original buildings were replaced in the early 1950’s, and when the
operation was taken over by Home Hardware in 2018 it was the oldest
established business in Rivers.
*Adapted from The North American Lumber Co. Website
http://www.mywestman.ca/community-news/6787-canada-s-1st-north-american-lumber-started-in-rivers
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