Wednesday, April 25, 2018

The Plane makers of Roxton Pond Part 2 Stanley Tools of Canada

In the first part, we looked at the pioneers plane makers who started the tradition in Roxton Pond.
Early in the 20th century, a fire and an unexpected auction outcome with a visionary clergyman possessing knowledge of tool making will combine into the creation of the...Stanley Tool Canada factory.


WILLIAMS S BULLOCK

William Stephen Bullock was born in Aug 1865 in Roxton Pond, son of William Henry Bullock, farmer, who was of Loyalist ancestry and Hanna Chartier (father Anglophone, mother Francophone).
He was the eldest child of 5 other siblings.

His Loyalist ancestor first established themselves in the township of Stanstead before moving to Abbotsford Qc around 1800.
But his grandfather, who lost a leg in a accident and was affected badly from asthma, happened to go to Roxton Pond on business and discovered that the ambient air was better for his asthma.
He sold his farm and moved the family to Roxton Pond. He would passed away 10 years later but his son (father of Stephen) would stay. 
It just so happened that they settled in a mostly francophone part of the town and between his mother side and the neighbourhood, Stephen becomes fluently bilingual at a young age. This will served him well during his political career.
The neighbourhood hamlets of Milton and Roxton Pond South were mostly Anglophones but that will gradually change with the arrivals of more Francophones starting in the middle 19th century.

Stephen Bullock at a young age

His father had a large undeveloped plot of 400 acres and was clearing the land (defricher) slowly in order to farm it (cultiver)
During Stephen early years, only about 10% of the lot was cleared. As a young man, Stephen would toil the land and tend to the livestocks.

In his youth some of his accomplishments foretell his future.
He performs solemn bird's burial rituals with his younger siblings (he would later become a Baptist minister)
He built a dam and a working miniature mill on a nearby creek and he also,
lays out about 1000 ft (300 M) of wooden tracks to run his miniature train. (He would become a toolmaker on a grand scale and dream of owning a railroad)
At 13, he start to show an interest in politics by following the 1878 electoral campaign. (He would be running in the 1912 election as a Liberal for the Township of Sheffield and be re-elected again and again)

At 15, on a whim, he decided he had enough of farm work and left unannounced to the States in order to seek work in a tool factory. The knowledge and experiences he gained would comes in handy later on.

At his father request, being old and unable to run the farm without him, Stephen comes back home.  He would be farming and clearing more land on his father farm until 1884, by then about three quarter (3/4) of the land had been cleared.

Stephen Bullock as a young man. Age unknown

At 19 he decided he wants to becomes a clergy minister.  He goes to Institut Feller and at 20 he is baptised.  After two (2) more years of study he volunteer in missionary works and his sent wherever he his most needed. 1887 we find him at McGill University in Montreal Qc studying to become a teacher.  Sickness will cut short his studies but he finds work as a minister in Quebec.
In his travel, working on fund raising to rebuilt a school,  he meet a group of business men in Toronto, who over a week, discussed with him matters of running a business and the problems of raising proper capitals.  He would later says this is how he learned how to run a business an deal with banks.

After some more studies at the Newton Theology Center, near Boston MA, he would marry in a Baptist church in Montreal Qc, Ellen-Evangeline Therrien (1869-1953) daughter of Pastor Alphonse de Liguori Therrien.
Back in Boston, their first child was born in Boston MA, he graduated with his diploma in 1891.
Following a post in Ottawa On and in Maskinonge Qc, he return to his natal Roxton Pond in 1897 as their Baptist Pastor. Upon his arrival, he would find the church, the presbytery, cemetary and the local school in disrepair.

He was paid $700 a year as the town Pastor (A lot of money in those days!) Having woodworking skills and smart business senses, he proceeded to fix up the buildings and to fenced in the church property.

The pastor Bullock with his family in 1906.
His new fence is showing
Fonds Valere Audy; Photo Granby Leader Mail, SHHY

Then, relying on past experiences on his father's farm, he set up maple syrup production using the 300 maples trees on the church grounds and built a sugar shack.
He wanted to expand production by buying the lot next door for sale at $500, but he did not had the funds. He got the funds from the Parish. He then cleared some of the land (12 acres) on this lot for resale to a member of the community in order to raise the funds to finance his enterprise.
The remaining trees on that lot gave him 12,000 more maple trees to greatly expand his maple syrup production.
While remaining their Pastor, he continued to prosper his growing ministry by the profits generated from the maple syrup production. He build what was for a time, the largest sugar shack in Quebec's maple syrup country, a 10 X 15 Meters shack.
In 1903 he bought a farm with 90 acres, of which 40 acres had 3000 mature sugar maples trees on it.
He now had a sugar maple field (erabliere) in the East and at the West of the village.
Combining both, he started marketing his sugar maple products outside the region, there is only a limited market locally, being lots of local producers.
He concocted a scheme to send 8 train cars full of his maple products to Winnipeg Mb. The Bank of Granby lend him $10,000 (about $200,000 today) and he made $2,100 profit on this enterprise.
This independent business would carry on for about 20 years before being merged (sold) to the United Maple Producers Association of Quebec in nearby Granby in 1921. At the time this association was handling over 12 millions gallons of maple syrup a year.  The Pastor was a good business man.

The stage is now set with the main actor...

Picture of Stephen Bullock, the Provincial elected representative
(depute du comte de Sheffield) 



THE ROXTON POND TOOL & MILL COMPANY




In the early 1900 the hydraulic power from the lake (Roxton Pond) was providing electrical power to the town (street light), the Sem Dalpe's factory, which had been passed on to A Monty and the SF Willard factory which was now closed. The Flour mill (of Louis Bachand) on Joseph Bousquet lot, which was powering the lights was damaged or burn down in 1904 and the property of Joseph Bousquet was sold at auction.
Bullock was attending the auction, and wanting to help the land owner get a better price, overbid by $200 the last bidder, hoping to raise more money for him. It backfired on him and he won the auction for $7,200.

This sale included:
Numerous land lots, including those bordering the lake, right of ways, mill and other constructions and dwellings.  Also included were the electrical dynamo that was permanently attached to the flour mill, and all the machineries. All the utility poles and wiring in the village to bring light to the house and business. Joseph Bousquet was the one who carried out the electrification of the village from 1902-04.
A grain hangar located on property of the Canadian National Railway in Roxton Pond south was also included.

He was not intended on winning the auction, nor did he had the money to buy it.
It was thanks to a $7,300 loan from the Baptism Mission de la grande ligne that he made good on his auction win.

Now what to do with it??
After a month travelling in Canada, looking for a project for his new property, he concluded that what was needed was a modern woodworking tool factory which could also handle working metal parts and not just wood, in order to manufacture the new metal planes (Bailey). He had the water power, the electric lights, a large qualified manpower in town, all he needed was more money.

What's in a name??
The Roxton Pond Tool & Mill Company reflect the purpose of the company, to make tool, here in Roxton Pond and also to keep the mill running which provides electrical light to the whole village.

With backing from bank and friends who believed in him, he started by building a 16 ft dam to regularise the water flow and increase the power for his new factory to be built.


The two (2) story factory, built of wood was started in 1904 at an estimated cost of $40,000
The Granby branch of the Eastern Township Bank and private investors, raised the $40,000 required.
Once built, he went to Toronto and Montreal to buy the machine tools and equipment that would be needed. Thanks to additional help from HC Miner of Granby (A well known and rich local businessman) who lend him another $40,000 and after going around the province to get more private investments from friends, he managed to raise another $40,000. By now he had enough money to meet his banks obligations and start to get the factory running.


The Roxton Pond Tool & Mill Co around 1904

About 1905, the first planes are made and the training of the work force, which numbered 40, has started. In 1906 a metal foundry is added, they can now cast their own metallic tools and parts.
Their first metallic plane look a lot like the Siegley SSS planes (made by Stanley) and their wooden planes transitional planes resembled the Bailey models (also made by Stanley)

The 42 in Diameter wooden penstock built by
the workers of the Roxton Pond Tool & Mill Co.
This new penstock in combination with the newly built dam,
would provide more constant
flow and increased power over the natural river.

The known imprints of the Roxton Pond Tool & Mill Co.
The No 35 shown above would had been a transitional No 35 (same as Bailey No 35)
I do not know (yet) how the metallic plane were identified.
Pic from my copy of Guide to Canadian Plane Makers & Hardware Dealers


His new company would be incorporated. HC Miner is the president, Bullock is the Secretary-Treasurer. Importance oblige, he becomes a member of the municipal council, position he will keep until Jan 1914. He ran in the 1912 provincial election as a Liberal and was elected for the township of Sheffield.  He would be re-elected again in 1916, 1919, 1923, 1927.
He has the distinction of being the first non Catholic candidate elected by a majority of Roman Catholic Francophone population in Quebec. His fluency in both official language, and personal knowledge of both cultures will served him well.
Then from 1931 until his death in 1936 he would serve in the Provincial cabinet in Quebec

Between his new business and his political duties, he tried to relinquish his pastoral duties earlier, but the parishioners did not want him to go. In Oct 1907 they finally accepted his demission as their pastor, but he never forgot about his parishioners.

THE STANLEY TOOL COMPANY OF CANADA

In a bid to get better access to the Canadian market which was in full expansion, Stanley decided to open a factory in Quebec. Why Quebec? It is not far in a straight line from New Britain Connecticut!
In prevision, they incorporated in Canada on the 7th Feb 1907 under the name Stanley Tool Company of Canada Limited.

In the Spring of 1907, Bullock heard rumours of the Stanley Rule & Level looking at setting up shop in Lachine Qc (Montreal). Instead of competing with Stanley, both HC Miner and Bullock, would rather invited them to set up shop here in Roxton Pond in their new factory.
At their invitation, the president of Stanley and two (2) other executives of the company came to Roxton Pond in June 1907 and a deal was struck.

Some of the considering factors for Stanley was the reputation of Roxton Pond as plane makers, a workforce that were currently making clones of their planes, hence familiar with their products and easy access to the market.

Stanley would buy the industrial installations of Bullock for $59,924, of this $5,000 goes to Bullock and $39,000 goes to the Eastern Township bank to repay the original loan. The remainders distributed to various creditors.
HC Miner and Bullock would be running the new business, the Canadian branch of Stanley, and Stanley would also buy back for a "very advantageous" price, the private investor's share in Bullock enterprise.

Instead of making use of the newly built wooden factory, Stanley opted to built a new stone masonry building to meet its industrial standard... and no doubt be easier to insure!
Starting in Jul 1907 the building No 1 would be built and railroads cars loads would then came from New Britain Connecticut with Stanley's machinery, equipment, molds, parts personnel etc.

 
The newly built Stanley plant in a 1908 view.
Building No 1 (main building 1907) to the Right, No 2 (woodworking shop 1908) to the Left
Note the utility poles and wiring for the electric lights in town,
now being furnished by the Stanley plant


The 50 or so first employees of Stanley Tool Canada.
in 1910.  Note the number of young boy up front.

and their salaries in 1911


The two factories: Roxton Pond Tool & Mill Co and the new Stanley plant, will continued to operate together until the early 1920s.  Stanley will continue producing tools made at the old plant. They would first used up the existing inventory at time of purchase, which means for a time they were selling both the metallic plane of Roxton Pond (clones of Stanley's Bailey planes) and the Stanley models.

In this collection of tools made in Roxton Pond, the rabbet plane (roughly in the middle)
has what look like a Stanley sticker or decals on it. I do not know if this is original, but if so, it would had been made at the Roxton Pond Tool & Mill Co. The others tools shown are from Dalpe, Monty and Willard 


About one year and a half ago I came across this piece of paper inside an early  Stanley Canada tool from the Stanley plant explaining who made what
Story of this find here


Pics from my collection

The label on the box still has the American address, but there is a small sticker glued on top saying Made in Canada. The enclosed sheet of paper reads;

PLEASE NOTE
This tool was made at the Canadian branch of the Stanley Rule & Level Company at the Roxton Pond Tool & Mill Company limited, Roxton Pond, Quebec, under the superintendence, ownership and trademarks of the said STANLEY COMPANY, and is fully warranted.

Later boxes will of course had the Roxton Pond address printed

Pic from my collection


This means that for a time, the A Monty, the Roxton Pond Tool & Mill Co and the new Stanley plant will co -existed in close quarters.  The Roxton Pond Tool & Mill Co would probably be demolished in the early 20s to make room for the 1924 expansion which saw Bldg No 14 addition to Bldg No 1.

In this 1946 view you can see the original Dalpe, now Monty (closed) factory
To the bottom left of the Stanley plant, at the base of the triangular roads, by the water.
It's the rectangular building. As usual click the pic to make them full size.



I half jokingly said earlier that Stanley decided to build a stone building over setting up inside the existing new wood structure in place, in order to find cheaper insurance :-)
But as you can see the original wooden factory build by Bullock did not go to waste.

Back in the days, and probably still so today, big business had to carry fire insurance. In order to be approved such coverage,  they drew detailed plans of the existing installations and made notes of the surrounding, detail of some of the water arrangements, pressure, quantity available, GPM, for sprinkler and etc.
Also the general disposition of the various sections involved in the manufacturing of the products (in this case, Stanley tools).

All that to say, thanks to such records, preserved in the archive of the Town of Roxton Pond, we can gain a detailed picture of the installations. Said records would be updated thru the years after every addition, removal of structures, etc.
The one shown here is the 1930 records.  From this date the facility would remain pretty well the same until the new building built besides it in 1966

The general views of the 1930 Fire Insurance plan.
Details below

The main road running parallel to the building, Milton road, would later be renamed to,
and is still to this day, Stanley Road. The "drive", from the water penstock is clearly shown:
A 1000 US Gal McDougall centrifugal pump providing a 100 pounds of pressure at 1140 RPMs.
The water turbine drive has a 10-27 ft of head and a surge tank at the entrance to the Bldg No 9 house. You can see water lines from this pumping station to the buildings, that's for the sprinkler system. This building No 9 Wheel house, also contain the electrical generator, there is a 3.5KVA transformer on poles besides it. The original electrical generator would had been located on the flour mill which was to the right of the plant


This is the original plan of where it all started with Sem Dalpe and SW Willard.
In red the Stanley plan location, in blue the approximate locations of Dalpe and Willard factory.
They both used the water power from the river.
The flour mill of Louis Bachand is showing bottom right
That water source from the lake, is the only reason, they all established themselves in the same area.
On the fire plan it does mention the location of a saw mill 300ft to the left (of red square)
That would be the saw mill associated with the old A Monty factory, which remains until 1965)

These perspectives and elevations views shows the usage of the buildings
and main elevation differences of the installation.
The pile in the middle of the yard, is the coal used by the forge for their castings and to feed a steam engine which seems to be used for the drying kiln besides

The original wooden water tower was replaced in 1930 by a metal one,
hence the 1930 revised plans.
Bldg No 14 addition to the Bldg No 1, has the forge at the bottom of it, with machine shops, and a lacquer dipping place. Yes, saws handles, planes totes and front knob, were lacquer dipped

This 1912 view shows the original wooden water tower


The 1930 metal water tower was removed in 1985, one year after the factory closure.



By 1921, the Stanley Tool of Canada was producing about 84% of the complete Stanley USA offerings, including the infamous Nos 45 and 55 plane contraptions (combination planes)

In 1924 Bldg No 14 was added to Bldg No 1 

The building in 1924, with the new addition.
Notice also the wooden covered passage way to Building No 2 on the ground floor.
There always was an upper covered passageway between the second floors 

In this 1980 picture, view from Stanley Road, the fire wall between both
No 1 and No 14 Bldgs is clearly seen. Roughly halfway between two utility poles

There are very few views of the inside of the building but thanks to a study done in 2013 on the state of the building by an engineering firm, Patri-Arch, we can get a glimpse of the structure inside.




One of the rare view inside the Stanley Tool Canada plant in 1950
The ducting is removing the swarf generated by the grinders/polishers.
We know from the fire plan, that grinding and polishing was done inside Bldg No 1
in the basement (the partial bottom 3rd floor), near the expansion of Bldg No 14
The 1911 list of workers, shows 4 polishers and one grinders. There are 6 work stations on this pic


The open spaces between the supports wooden columns
Page extracted from the Patri-Arch study
Notice the metal H beams supporting the new addition (Bldg No 14) in 1924

That initial workforce of 50 would remains fairly constant at 45-50, until 1930.
In 1942, during WWII, the workforce would increased to 103, which included: nine (9) women and a dozen (12) sales or representatives persons. The workforce itself is about eighty (80)



In 1953 the workforce would unionize under International Machinists Association, local 909, they will go on strike twice (2) first in Aug  1971, last in June 1974


In 1960 the repatriation of sales activity in Montreal to Roxton Pond, would increase the number of personnel, but not in the workforce, which remains around 50. The increase is due to the number of female emloyees which would number 30 in 1965.


By the 1960s the 50 plus years old installations are becoming badly obsolete and a new plant would be build in 1966. This would be the final expansion before the plant closed for good  in 1984. There would be an enclosed walkway between the old and the new building.


In this recent overhead shot from Google Maps, the new structure is the gray roof square building besides the old No 1 and 14 building with a green roof. The fire wall between both is also visible.
This new building is still in use by someone



During the strike of 1974, we learn that there are now 300 personnel employed, of which 258 are union. This represent the largest number of personnel recorded, by the time the factory would close in 1984, the workers would be back down to 50 or so.

After continuous operations since 1907, Stanley will invoke unfair competition from the Far east and close its door in 1984. By that time most of their hand tools operation had been switched over to England. The Bailey types planes are no longer manufactured in the US or Canada.

What is going to happen to the installations of the Stanley Tool of Canada?

Although stripped clean of all its machinery and equipment shortly after its closure,  except for a very brief period with Ranger Equipment (manufacturing safety helmets),  the plant has remained empty and in good condition all considered.

The Society Historique du Haut Yamaska (SHHY) has been trying for years to re-used the building and put in a tool museum telling the history of the Roxton Pond planemakers.
a few years back, in 2013, there was an assessment of the structures carried out by Patri-Arch on their behalf.


Shortly after, students of industrial architectures in Montreal were invited to come see and proposed different possible usage for the structure.


Nothing more seems to be happening since, I would suppose for a lack of funds.
It would be a shame to loose this important industrial complex from our recent past.



Credits

Except for the four (4) pictures identified as mine, all other came from the Societe d'Histoire de la Haute Yamaska (SHHY)  archives accessed on line.
The link to the building assessment and the students proposal for the building are copyrighted by their respective authors.



Assembled from various sources, but the vast majority of the information came from the work of SHHY members


Bob, the tool historian

Friday, April 20, 2018

The plane makers of Roxton Pond Quebec, Canada

There was of course Planes and tool makers established in the big urban centers, Montreal (Dawson, Wallace) and Quebec city (VA Emond) but in late19th century, part of Canada's hand tools production was centered in a rural area around the little town of Roxton Pond, Qc in the Monteregie region.

Plaque celebrating more than a 100 years of plane making in Roxton Pond erected in 1974
pic from Jacques Heroux



Even during the zenith of Stanley Canada operations in Roxton Pond, the town was and remains a small municipality in southern Quebec, not far from the US border.
And since we had no wall in place (gentle Canadian political humour :-), Stanley came to town in 1907, with railroad cars loads, but we are getting ahead of ourselves...

In the beginning...

The area is known as the Eastern Townships (Cantons de l'est) it was first settled in the late 1700s early 1800s by Loyalist, including many Americans who fled after the independence of the States from England. Starting mostly in mids 1800s numerous French Canadians families will start to settled in the area in search of agricultural lands. Starting with an economic crisis, numerous French Canadians family from the Eastern Townships, immigrated south to the USA between 1840 and 1930 in search of jobs. Mostly factory's job during the Industrialisation of America.
Incidentally, that is how most of the Demers in the States came from...

Roxton Pond, circled in red.
The lake itself (not a pond) is in the middle.
Closest industrial centers are Granby (closest) and 
about two hours electric tramway ride from Granby to Montreal in 1916

This rotating immigration from and to the States and the mixtures of French and English culture in this mostly rural area, will generate many "bilingual" business men and entrepeneurs which would comes in handy during the industrialization period which was about to unfold in the late 19th century.

Why, of all places, Roxton Pond?

We have discussed briefly the flow of immigration to and from the US border nearby, but another contributing human factor may had been the fact that in a predominantly Roman Catholics Quebec, there was a small enclave of Baptist and Methodists, in this little community of Roxton Pond which may have attracted kind spirits. Part of this ebb and flow immigration would bring in trained tool makers.

Another factor to consider was that, unlike in England were industries could be setting up anywhere thanks to the newly invented coal fired steam engine, creating the industrialisation on a large scale, due to the fact that the only other source of power for years had been water power from their relatively small rivers which was in short supply.
Here in North America (US New England States, Ontario, Quebec, and the Maritimes)
we have an abundance of streams and rivers with high rain fall and Spring snow melt, accordingly,
early industries were established around the use of available water power.  These water powered facilities would later powered the large machinery invented by the English and Americans during the industrial revolution age, to be later converted to electricity, often still derived from harnessing water power.
Roxton pond has a small lake, with a stream flowing from it that was already powering a saw mill and a grain mill, with more potential to be tapped.
And while rural electrification in the Eastern Township took a long time to come, some places not until the 40s and 50s, Roxton Pond enjoyed electrification of its small village, powered by an electrical generator attached to the Grain mill. It powered primarily the lights in the village, but this was installed between 1902 and 1904!!

Wherever you set up shop, you need a way to get your goods to market.  There are two nearby economic center, Granby and Waterloo, which means railroad tracks passing nearby.
The Stanstead, Shefford and Chambly Railroads will reach Granby in Nov 1859 and Waterloo in Aug 1861. An electric tramway service was inaugurated in 1916 between Granby and Montreal, a 2 hours ride.
There was a growing railroads business between both the States and Canada, meaning easy direct access to and from the States. The important economic corridor between Quebec City Qc, Montreal Qc, Toronto On and Windsor On was of course well deserved by the railroads, and all the way westward to Vancouver Bc as the railroads moved West

Early Planemakers of Roxton Pond

One of the first documented plane maker in Roxton Pond was Sem (Samuel) Dalpe (1828-1894),
Born in St-Marc sur Richelieu Qc, his father Joseph, was a carpenter (menuisier).
Sem would learn his trade in plane making in Troy, New York with a Carter plane maker, thanks to a failed revolution in Quebec  in 1837.

The battle of St-Charles November 1837


His father Joseph participated in this rebellion, so the family fled to New York state to escape "troubles" (age 9). Around 1844 (age 16) he is a plane maker's apprentice in Troy, NY (near the capital Albany).  Sem was first listed in 1850 as a plane maker (age 24) in Worthington, MA, a year later we find him listed as a plane maker living at 11 Ferry St, Troy, NY. The same address as E.& C. Carter, the American plane makers.

E&C Carter was a partnership between brothers Edward Carter, Charles Carter and possibly Richard Carter that made plane at 11 Ferry St, then 171 River St, in Troy NY from 1849-53.
Later from 1862-64, there was partnership with Step brother Cyrus replacing Charles and possibly again later, at a different address.

There is a family lore that the Dalpe family had members working in French steel making industries and had therefore some knowledge's of possible trades secrets. French steel making was different than German, English or American steel making.

Around 1852 he married, in Troy NY,  Edesse Nicolle (Nicol), who is believed to have been born in the Richelieu valley Qc, were Sem is from. (Township of Vercheres, and me too :-)
They would have 11 children, the first one being born in Troy NY in Aug 1853
The next children was born in Dec 1855 in St-Georges de Noyan Qc, where his father came back earlier. The remainders children are all born in Qc.
In 1858, he is in the neighbour town of St-Milton Qc
In Jul 1858, at the baptism of his twin daughters, he is listed as : Ouvrier, faiseur de varlopes (general worker, plane maker)
In 1861, he is listed as farmer only with a 50 acres plot of cultivated land

In 1865, in the small town of Roxton Pond, for the sum of $1,300.00 he bought the furniture maker business of Louis Payan Sr's from Louis Jr and Paul Payan, who were liquidating some of their father estate, and it is these same Payan that would go on to start Waterloo Steam Carriage Co.


The 8 acres plot in question, No 9, came with dwelling, woodworking shop 
a water powered saw mill,  a forge shop, some cultivated land and a large tree lot
Drawing by Johanne Rochon SSHY 


S. DALPE
ROXTON POND P Q
PQ stands for Province de Quebec

Sem Dalphe would be manufacturing planes there from 1865 until his death in 1895.
During this period (30 years), his planes have bear the following two stamps.

Top one is Embossed (Zb) for Zig Zag border, bottom one is Incluse (Inc)
Both stamps are shown enhanced with talcum powder.
Pic from Jacques Heroux


A peculiarity of his planes is that all the wood used to make them (Hetre/Beech) was harvested on his land (plot No 9). He was truly a busy person, farmer (vegetables and maple syrups), harvesting his land for raw materials, business man, making and selling his tools

In the 1871 census he has 4 workers making annually $2520 worth of planes, sold around $1 each...
Each workers produced an average of 630 planes a year for which they are paid $195 a year
He is quickly becoming prosperous in his enterprise's
He now owned hundred's of acres of land, three (3) houses, six (6) barns and stables and a dozen cows.

In Feb 1873 with his brother in law Phillipe Nicol, they founded Roxton Pond Tool Co, They part way three (3) years later in Feb 1876, but the Roxton Pond Tool Co continued on.
Philippe Nicol would then associated with Nectaire Gravel to: Faire le commerce et fabriquer les outils de menuiserie a Roxton Pond (to market and sell woodworking tools in Roxton Pond)

This, and the following similar pages
From A guide to Canadian plane makers & hardware dealers

Some of his production was sold to the Troy Tool Co, owned by his former master(s) where he apprentices and some of  his tool are found with the Troy Tool Co over stamped twice above his two lines S Dalpe stamp.
Similarly following joint ventures, some of his tools are "over stamped" with ROXTON POND TOOL COMPANY.

Troy tool Co was a tool distributor in Troy NY State


He is known to have published catalogs, and a copy of his 1899 catalog has been reproduced

My copy, published by the MacLachlan Woodworking Museum in Kingston On



The range of planes types offered is quite complete

In addition to vast assortment of planes, he sold: Prepared and blank blades.
Unable yet to figured out who or what Jowitt's Best Cast Steel is??


By the end of the 1880s, there was now three (3) major producers of woodworking planes
Sem Dalpe
Stephen Willard
Phillipe Nicol (also partner in Roxton Pond Tool Co)

S.F. Willard was a recently (?) immigrated American
plane maker to Roxton Pond
Willard will cease operations before Sem Dalpe death in 1894 

1881- Philippe Nicol, tool maker Roxton Pond, PQ
1888 P Nicol patented a transitional wooden plane.
(iron held in place with a wooden wedge in iron frame mounted on a wood base). 

By 1866, the hydraulic power that was harnessed from the lake (Roxton Pond), was powering
two (2) saw mills, the flour mill of  Louis Bachand, a small wool mill and the two (2) large plane makers factory in town; S Dalpe and S Willard

Of the three (3) plane makers, the two major ones were Dalpe and Willard
in 1888-1889
Dalpe employed 7 (later on 8)
- Sem Dalpe
- Alfred Bernier
- Adolphe Germain
- Nectaire Gravel
- Elzear Lacasse
- Alfred Marquette
- Johnny Mailly

Willard employed 4
- Stephen Willard
- Philippe Nicol
- Louis Plante
- Hector Pouliot

Near the end of the 19th century, Roxton Plane makers were outputting together an estimated 10, 000 planes a year.
Until 1880, their productions were shipped out by the railroads from Granby (8 Kms away), then after that, from Roxton Pond South (5 Kms away).

A year after his death, in 1895 Sem's widow, Edesse Nichol, sold the Lot No 9 in the village St-Prudentienne (today part of Roxton pond), including the saw mill, plane factory, house and barn for the sum of $4,000 to Arthur Monty. That would be basically the same lot that Sem bought, and by then he had moved his family to a different house, not far from there.

In the beginning Arthur used up the left over stock of Dalphe tools, some still stamped S Dalpe, then he started to developed his own style of wedge and his 3 stars A Monty marks shows up

 A. MONTY
XXX
ROXTON POND P.Q.
Imprint on the nose of my A Monty jointer

A Monty also had catalogs and mostly continued
with the models that Dalpe was producing.


Four (4) years later, in 1899 Arthur Monty sold this property to his brother Adelard Monty for the sum of $4,500. At the time of purchase, Adelard was previously injured in a farm accident, and was walking with difficulties. He then hired a Mr Adolphe Germain from Quebec city, to come and run the manufactory. Mr Germain was reputed to be some expert on tool making

The A Monty plane making factory.
Adelard is the one standing with the cane on the left
Pic from Societe d'Histore de la Haute Yamaska (SHHY)


Bearing the same first initial (Arthur and Adelard), the same stamp was used on the planes now attributed to Adelard.

Workers at the Adelard Monty Tool Factory in 1901
Notice the guy he hired to run the factory, Adolphe Germain is the highest paid


During his life, Adelard was twice the mayor of his small municipality. From Jan 1908 to Jan 1913 and again from Jan 1917 to Jan 1919. He manufactured planes until his death in 1927.
The business continued to operate until 1935 when it was then loaned to Ovila Lacasse but he never operated the plane factory, using mostly the saw mill.

The Roxton Pond Tool & Mill Co

The one that almost never was... and which became Stanley Tool Works of Canada

To be continued in Part two

Bob, the tool historian

With credit given to the pioneer work of Jacques Heroux into the plane makers of Roxton Pond
and the wealth of information to be found with the Societe d'Histoire de la Haute Yamaska (SHHY)
and the Societe d'Histoire du Protestanism Franco-Quebecois (SHPFQ
Other source of info used are
Guide to Canadian Plane Makers & Hardware Dealers, 3rd edition
A guide to the makers of American wooden planes., Emil & Marty Pollack 4th edition