Ross Sprackett closed down the last lumber operation in the hamlet of Gilmour in Tudor township in late 1985.
Located on the Central Ontario Railway, Gilmour and the Rickett Hotel were notorious for the wild antics of loggers streaming in from bush camps all over North Hastings. In the 1880’s the Gilmour Lumber Company out of Trenton set up their office on the same property that Don Sprackett occupied for years. Ross and Don operated the mill after their father James (Jim) passed as his father had done before him.
George Sprackett left England as a boy and arrived in the Gilmour area in the 1870’s. He established the first mill in town.
Ross and Don Sprackett were third generation logging family.
The lumber business started to pick up after the Second World War when a lot of material was required for the new air force base in Trenton and Bata Shoe factory. Ross and Don operated their mill on that same location.
Pictures:
- Ross Sprackett feeding the last board through the last planning mill in Gilmour
- Don and Ross Sprackett with the original Gilmour Lumber office – 19th century relic from the Gilmour Lumber company
(Information & pictures from newspaper articles 1985)
