Lumbering
Boyd was a very industrious worker, clearing all of his own land upon arrival in Verulam Township. After a few years Boyd began to realize that creating a productive farm was not as profitable as he initially thought, and the demand for surplus crops was minimal. As Boyd was a bachelor, he was an excellent candidate to mind Thomas Need’s sawmill and store, on the site, which is now Bobcaygeon, while Need returned to England for business. This provided Boyd with some cash, and opportunity for future advancement. Need increasingly relied on Boyd to look after his property and mill as he made more and more frequent trips to England. On March 15, 1843 Need began leasing ‘part of lot 15 in Concession X, Verulam, the mill reserve, with “gristmill, sawmill and tenement thereon”, for a term of seven years,’ costing £40 per annum to Boyd. The same year as Boyd’s marriage to Caroline (1844) Need received his inheritance, which enabled him to permanently return to England. Boyd’s early introduction into the lumbering trade, and partnership with John Langton in 1849 allowed for much needed financial aid and advice. Langton writes about Boyd:
‘Boyd is an Irishman whose blood got an extra boiling by being born in India… Boyd is admirably adapted in many respects for the work he is at. When a raft is once started almost everything must yield to dispatch, and a restless being who can keep himself and everything that comes in contact with him in a state of excitement for two or three months at a time is just the man to drive a river.”
Unfortunately, owing to ill-health, Boyd and Langton’s partnership did not last, and upon his recovery in 1851, Langton made a smooth transition from lumbering to politics. On July 1, 1851, Need had a new lease contracted for 21 years with an annual rent of £15 a year for the first seven years, after five years Boyd would have the power to purchase for £500. By paying £100 a year Boyd was able to pay for the, roughly 8 acres (32,000 m2), and two mills by September 13, 1855.
Read more about this topic: Mossom Boyd
Famous quotes containing the word lumbering:
“Adrift dissolving, bound for death;
Though lumpish thou, a lumbering one—
A lumbering lubbard loitering slow,
Impingers rue thee and go down,
Sounding thy precipice below,
Nor stir the slimy slug that sprawls
Along thy dead indifference of walls.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)
“Those lumbering horses in the steady plough,
On the bare field—I wonder why, just now,
They seemed terrible, so wild and strange,
Like magic power on the stony grange.”
—Edwin Muir (1887–1959)
“I should have liked to come across a large community of pines, which had never been invaded by the lumbering army.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)