This photo taken from the south shore of the Mississippi River shows the foundry to the right, with the Findlay family’s boathouse at centre. Foundry buildings took up the whole property, right up to High Street.–Carleton Place and Beckwith Heritage Museum
In the old days according to the files of the Carleton Place and Beckwith Heritage Museum only the boys swam at the old Abner Nichols Mill. The girls swam at the old Findlay Boat house behind the foundry.
Boys being boys would skinny dip, and it didn’t matter if it was day or night. Heck, they just knew there wouldn’t be any girls around. Abner Nichols & Son had their sawmill at the riverside on Flora Street. Nichols always supplied a wide plank for a diving board and they would call him Old Bill when he was out of earshot.
William A. Nichols – 1870/1933-Photos from the Carleton Place and Beckwith Heritage Museum
Mayor of Carleton Place – 1902 – Planning & Sawmill Owner.
Bob Dowdall was the sawyer. He would roll the logs with a cane hook into the saw carriage, and it rolled back and forth on rollers. The planks were cut off by a man named Tom Hastings. He trimmed them and produced long pieces of slabs.
Memories from Ron MacFarlane
Historical Note
Detail of a log dog and log chain with the initials “A.N.” for Abner Nichols
Late 1800s Early 1900s- North Lanark Regional Museum via Carleton Place and Beckwith Heritage Museum
Photo from Carleton Place Canadian files-Carleton Place and Beckwith Heritage Museum
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