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Vintage Photos: Light Industry
“Light Industry” includes mills and factories that were established to meet a growing need for food, fuel and building materials. The Clendenning mill west of the Boyne settlement and later, the Carman Roller Mills, processed grain into flour and other grain products.
Brickyards and sawmills produced material for the many fine homes being built in the area. In the early years, the heavily-treed lands were harvested to provide sawmills with logs for lumber and for cordwood that was the main source of fuel for a rapidly expanding population.
For more information on these and other early mills in the area, see A Review of the Heritage Resources of Boyne Planning District, pp.55–64, 101–102.
1. The Clendenning Mill was built in 1879 on NW 24-6-5w, just west of the Boyne Settlement and operated until 1914. Powered first by water, then with more efficient steam, the mill processed grain into flour and other cereal products as well as operating a sawmill.
2. Carman Roller Mills. This second mill was built in 1897 beside the CPR tracks east of Villard Ave. (Main St. S) close to the Northern Elevator. Both the mill and elevator burned in 1903, however the mill reopened the following year and operated until 1917.
3. The first Carman Brickyard opened in 1895, northeast of the first Carman Hospital, operating three kilns & producing up to 1 million bricks annually. It closed around 1907, possibly in anticipation of opening of the second Carman brick and tile plant.
4. The Carman Brick and Tile plant was built on the northwest side of town. The plant began production in April, 1914 but closed shortly thereafter, possibly due to declining domestic demands during WWI or failure to access raw materials from sources west of Carman.
5. One of many local sawmills in the Dufferin area. Early communities had a number of small sawmills that met local needs for lumber long after the main supply of high quality building logs was depleted.
6. Harvesting cordwood was another major part of the local economy. Hundreds of cords of wood were shipped from farms and woodlots along the escarpment to sawmills and homes as far east as Sperling.