| The
harbor at St John was first surveyed by a Scot, named Bruce, in 1761. Four years later William Davidson “Canada’s first
lumberman” came from Inverness to found the huge lumber industry along
the Miramichi. Among
the founders of St John were Capt. Archibald McLean, Charles McPherson
and Hugh McKay. The
main business street in St John in the 1790s was known as Scotch Row,
and the centre of commercial activity on the street was McPhail’s
Tavern. By
1790 fifteen Scottish mercantile firms dominated the trade of New
Brunswick. By
1798 there was a St Andrews Society. Pollock
& Gilmour, established in 1804 with Ł1500 captial, had, by 1832,
one hundred vessels employing 5000 sailors and 15,000 men cutting down
trees in the New Brunswick forest for shipment.
The business of this firm, only one of many such Scottish
enterprises, is remarkable for the scope of its operations. |
This page created on 4th June, 2001