St. Alban's Co-opertive Society

In the 1920's, the town of St.Alban's was still a relatively young community. Like all young communities during this time it had it's share of hardships. The Government of Newfoundland tried to lessen these pressures felt by rural communities. One program the Government sponsored in 1921 was wood cutting, in particular, the cutting of pit props. However, this abruptly ended in 1922. This is when Father St. Coix step in and established Newfoundland's first Co-operative Society.

Father St. Croix, an outstanding figure in the region, founded the St.Alban's Co-operative Society in 1917 and established this society in 1922. In the early stages of existence, the society grew to be very successful.

The Co-operative became a sawmill industry. In the years 1822 to 1932, pulpwood was manufactured and shipped to Sorel, Newport News, and Portland. Pitprops, were also, shipped. During this time the society was growing steady. Dams were built for driving wood on brooks, motor boats were supplied and a small farm was cleared and planted.

Father St. Croix also had three horses, ponies and oxen to help haul the pulpwood to the industry or whatever it needed to be hauled. He also introduced forty hand looms and thirty knitting machines which provided work for many people. Unfortunately, this came to an end after a short while because the wool that was needed was too expensive.

In the early 1930's, the society began experiencing many hardships. The last sale of wood was in 1930 and with this money all wood was in 1930 and with this money all accounts were paid. In the spring of that same year, peeled pulpwood was renewed. However, the buyer failed to buy the wood. This left the society with 12000 cords of manufactured pulpwood, which had no market.

In 1932, St.Alban's residents experienced much depression when the operation of the society ceased. The wood that was left was than sold to the I.P.P. Company in Corner Brook. At least with this sale, the society got rid of the 12000 cords of wood which helped matters a bit.