Taming the Wilderness / Domestiquer la Nature

By the time Joel Stone took up residence in the area in 1792, a grist mill had been built adjacent to Stone’s land on the east bank of the Gananoque River and was operating by harnessing the power of the first of several rapids along the river. These rapids had been the main reason that Stone had wanted the land on the west bank of the river, knowing that the location was perfect for the construction of a saw mill. Once construction of his sawmill was underway, the land clearing continued and Stone focused on growing the mercantile business he had established a year earlier., When Stone’s mill began operating in 1795, its saws were capable of cutting up to 16 planks at a time. Lumber from Stone’s mill and raw timber from his lands supplied markets all along the St. Lawrence River upstream to Kingston and beyond and downstream all the way to Montreal. By this time, his new schooner, the “Leeds Trader” had been launched and put to profitable use as a charter vessel and transport., -----------------------------------. ,