Mersey Paper Company welcomed during Depression
"Believe it or not! - The Mersey Paper Company was not expected to survive the Depression, and some employees feared for their jobs," said Austin Parker, whose 35-year tenure at the mill began in 1928.
Mr. Parker, former secretary-treasurer of the company, said despite a large outstanding loan with the Royal Bank of Canada to mill owner Izaak Walton Killam, the company
had a lot going for it.
"The mill is located on the best possible site, there was cheap water power at its back door, an excellent harbour and labour was fairly cheap, because most of the employees were happy just to have a job at that time." said Mr. Parker about the Depression.
In his book the Mersey Story, Dr. Thomas H. Raddall wrote: "Alone he, (I.W. Killam) had created the Mersey industry and he had backed it with his own credit and resources all through the depression, until it could stand on its own feet as a vigorous and prosperous concern."
Mr. Parker retired in 1963, seven years after the British Bowater Corporation bought the company and most of his reflections are from the Mersey era.
Construction of Mersey River dams and the mill structure began in 1928, and that increased the labour force in Queens County by 2,000 to 3,000.
"The company put in roads, between the Main Highway between Brooklyn and Liverpool and the Mersey river road, and built houses that were rented to employees," Mr. Parker said.
Mr. Parker recalls there was no opposition by Queens County residents to the development along the river and at the mill site.
"There were lots of people without jobs and that was the bottom line," he said.
