The East Bolton Bobbins Mills

The impetus to start bobbins mills came from the fact that the Bolton area was near Magog where bobbins were needed by Dominion Textile Mills, who had been operating there since the 1880's. These bobbins were used on the looms, in the weaving operation. Then the Magog textiles got their bobbins in the years previous to the First World War from across the New England.

Around 1920 or even earlier Dominion Textiles of Magog set up a plant to make spools, bobbins and other textile equipment. It was there that Mr. Carlton (Calt) Randall learned the technique of making bobbin blanks including the finishing which was a separate operation. There was a great demand for these bobbins in the textile work because they wore out so fast lasting only somewhere between six months to a year. With a ready market for the product at hand and with a plentiful supply of rock maple on the wooded slopes of the Bolton hills and mountains, the idea of setting up local bobbin blank making plants soon became a reality.

Mr. Randall set up his first bobbin mill in South Bolton in 1928. He started small, buying an old gasoline engine, a boiler, and made a splitter. His wood at first came from a small sawmill and a timber lot he had received from his father. Magog was his only market for a few years where the bobbins were finished. Later he got in touch with a bobbin finishing plant in Newport, Vt. which would buy from him. Being the first one to export bobbins to the U.S., he found that the US Customs had never heard of a bobbin, but they established a duty of 5% anyway. He soon got more markets in the States and his business grew larger.

In the late 1930's he became Chief supplier to the Canada Spool and Bobbin Company in Walkerton, Ont. and shipped by train to them for several years. As the business grew he needed more space so he tore down the building and rebuilt one which was burned out twice. The last large one he built of cement blocks. He said that he made between two or three million bobbin blanks a year. He said he never used anything but steam power. He employed about ten men needing a sawyer, man to operate the splitting machine, another turn the blanks on a lathe, a sorter, shipper, etc. He said that he had a lumbering operation going at the same time where he employed about 30 men. He always bought his timber standing and hired local teamsters under contract for the logging operation.

As long as the Orford Mountain Railroad was in operation they could send their bobbins by train from South Bolton Station, but by 1935 the railroad was closed down and they had to truck them to Knowlton, Eastman or Highwater to get to the train on to the New-Hampshire and Vermont. He also shipped to England but the Second World War put an end to that. He sold the rejects and unused pieces of wood as stove wood to people in Knowlton. The mill was closed and sold around 1962. Mr Randall didn't leave the business completely at the time as bobbin mill were in his blow and just as a pastime he converted an old school bus into a portable bobbin mill using the engine and building it wider to accommodate the splitter and lathe. After a while, he sold it to Philias (Chick) Hamelin (deceased in 1982) who used it for the same purposes but with a steel covering over it. This mill is no more in use.

Actually Dan Taylor who started making bobbins in 1926 was the first to manufacture bobbins in Bolton. He started his mill on East River Road on his farm. He started making them for Magog textiles, using a broad axe to split the log bolts, later buying a splitter from Vermont. When he got a business worked up he moved to South Bolton near the old station and shipped by train.

In 1954 Charles Labranche also started manufacturing bobbins at South Bolton. This mill site had previously been owned by the late George Burnham, a long time resident and sawmill operator in the Bolton Area.

Mr. Labranche continued making bobbins here until 1962, when the mill was completely destroyed by fire. Undaunted by this catastrophe, Mr. Labranche built another mill on a site between South Bolton and Bolton Centre that same year. This mill was larger and much more efficient, producing 22,000 bobbins per day. Sadly, this new mill was also destroyed by fire in October 1966, resulting in an estimated loss of over $100,000. With great determination and faith in the future, Mr. Labranche once again cleared away the ashes and rebuilt another mill which started producing bobbins on January 3rd, 1967. This mill which was the largest producing rough bobbin mill in North America was closed in 1994. It is now for sale.