Trout Brook
and The Gulch are both extremely deep ravines and was a major obstacle to
transportation on land during the early 1900's. When IP&P wished to
log the Aides Lakes / White River area they constructed a tramway from the
Humber River to Aides Lake. This railway line began just west of Trout
Brook and continued inland through the interior of what is now Cormack and
on to Aides Lake. The paper company's Tug boat would steam from
Humbermouth, Corner Brook, up the Lower Humber past Shelbird island,
Marble Mountain and Little Rapids to Deer Lake. After travelling the
entire lake it would enter the mouth of the Upper Humber near Nicholsville
and continue to steam on past Rocky Brook until it reached the Tramway.
There it would unload goods, and sometimes loggers that would then travel
to their respective camps for work. Some people settled in camps along the
Tramway as they found work with the pulp and paper company. The stretch of
land between the two ravines, Trout Brook and The Gulch, later named Reidville, was not settled
until 1933.
William Oxford and his wife
Lenora (nee Jenkins) , living in Deer Lake in 1935, was one of the loggers that lived for a short time at Tramway.
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Preparation for Train Track at Tramway
Courtesy CBP&P Ltd
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Preparation for Train Track at Tramway
Courtesy CBP&P Ltd
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Laying Train Track at Tramway
Courtesy CBP&P Ltd
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Tramway train going over trestle.
Courtesy CBP&P Ltd
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Tramway train at the Cormack Crossing
Courtesy CBP&P Ltd
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Tramway train at Aides Lake
Courtesy CBP&P Ltd
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His son, Gordon Oxford, remembers when he was four years old Herbert Reid invited William Oxford to move his family to Reidville where his children could attend school. In 1938, Herbert gave William Oxford title to a one-hundred (100') foot strip of land that ran from the river bank to the end of Herbert's boundary and lay between him and his brother Douglas Reid's property. William and his family built their home at the base of the large hill just west of Herbert's home that overlooked the river. William Oxford continued to work for the logging company but raised his family in Reidville.
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Loggers Camp along the Tramway like
William Oxford would have used.
Courtesy CBP&P Ltd
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Oxford Family at Tramway
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Oxford Family at Reidville years later.
Front: Louise.
Back: Gordon, Wilfred, William, Lenora, Margaret, Mary
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