An Exploration of Newfoundland's Pre-Confederation Logging Industry: 1850-1949

Summary

This is a poster submission presented at the 2023 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

The sites associated with Newfoundland and Labrador’s logging history include logging camps, roads, and sawmills, and remain in varying states of visibility upon the landscape of the island of Newfoundland. These significant interactions between people and the environment permanently shaped Newfoundland’s socio-economic topography, and physical landscape during its most active decades of operation. Hundreds of logging camps and sawmills were active in the interior of the island during the late 19th century through the first half of the 20th century and while a selection of these sites have been analyzed, the overall total amounts to only 56 documented sites. This project, adopting an interdisciplinary approach utilizing an archaeological, historical, and a biogeographical lens, will undertake a logging-specific ground survey to identify the impact and the heritage that Newfoundland’s historic logging industry left behind in the dense forests, rivers, and lakes on the island in the decades between 1850 and 1950.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2023   •
• 2023 SHA Poster Submissions

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow