Leo Kendall, Conservation
Officer with the Department of Natural Resources,
presents Tracey Perry, Executive Director of the Coast of Bays
Corporation,
with the documents.
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Leo Kendall, a Conservation Officer with the local
office of the Department of Natural Resources, came to the Coast of
Bays office to present the first documents to the archive at the Coast
of Bays Arts and Exploration Centre. The documents consist of a file
of reports compiled by Mr. Ronald Bearns, a Forest Inspector from
Springdale who was responsible for the Bay D’Espoir area from 1937
to 1939. These reports describe living conditions in the logging camps
on the Conne River, wages paid to loggers and peelers and details the
relationship issues between the merchants of the day and the forest
workers.
The file also includes blueprints of the camps on the Conne River and
an interesting handwritten note, dated June 16, 1938, from the 152
wood peelers at Barasway Cerf informing the Forestry Inspector that
they were on strike and wanted to meet with him as soon as possible.
The documents contain sketches of logging areas, telegrams,
typewritten reports, crew lists and copies of contracts. This is a
most valuable document chronicling the early logging industry in Bay D’Espoir.
The file was found during renovations to the
Forestry Office in Springdale and found its way back to the Bay D’Espoir
Office. Because of the historical value of this document, the original
will be stored at the climate-controlled document archive at the Coast
of Bays Arts and Exploration Centre. This archive is one of five
components of the Centre to preserve documents of historical
significance such as reports, minutes of meetings, photographs, taped
recordings, etc. This climate-controlled facility ensures that the
quality of our historical records will be preserved for future
generations.
Photocopies have been made of the complete file to
be available for research purposes. These documents are available for
review at the Milltown-Head Bay D’Espoir Community Museum located in
the Town Hall in Milltown and at the Arts and Exploration Center when
it reopens on May 18, 2006.
Anyone with similar documents of historical value
to the region wishing to have them safely stored at the archive should
contact Ms. Cynthia Benoit, manager of the Coast of Bays Arts and
Exploration Centre at 709-538-3552, ext. 5.
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