Reflections Of Mossom Boyd’s Bobcaygeon Mills

KAWARTHA LAKES-Bobcaygeon’s original grist and saw mills were founded by Thomas Need, in operation by 1834. Need, like many of his genteel peers, had diverse interests, and soon moved on from actively managing the site. One of his employees, Mossom Boyd, was the orphaned son of a Captain who had died serving in the British military in India. Boyd was an extremely industrious and hard-driving man, who for many years worked alongside his men, as he rose to become the lumber king of the Trent Valley, and one of the wealthiest men in Canada. As steamship travel and milling were both growing industries, having a sawmill right beside the lock had its downsides, as mill waste inevitably found its way into the watercourse. To make matters worse, Boyd sought to establish that the public wharf was for his own use, and piled so much lumber on it that no one else could use it. By then Boyd had become a timber baron, and defied the government to do anything about it. The Crown tried to resolve the situation by encouraging him to move his mill. Eventually a compromise was worked out where Boyd surrendered the right to have a sawmill (retaining the right to operate the grist mill) in exchange for the right to operate on Little Bob Channel instead.