History of Embrun/Under a new name/Life in Embrun in 1883

< Back to the Corporate Lumber Industry

Under a new name: Life in Embrun in 1883
3 schoolhouses existed in Embrun in 1883. The town's population was 3,300 in 1883.

The new industry
Now, flour and bread production was Embrun's main industry. A few hundred people in Embrun moved north or south to the areas that were formerly forests cut down by the Lumber companies. There, they started huge farms of wheat as far as the eye could see. These people, however, were still considered part of Embrun and were still counted as part of Embrun's population. These people that moved out of the main built-up area were nicknamed 'bulk growers' in the sense that they had large fields of wheat.

Some people in Embrun bought huge grants of land to the north or south, but still lived in their homes in the village itself. These people travelled every so often to their fields to tend their wheat plants. These people were nicknamed, 'bulk travelers' because they grew lots of wheat but still lived in the village.

However, the majority of Embrun's population lived in the village and grew crops in their yards. Each household in Embrun had a fairly large backyard. These people were named 'house growers' in the sense that they grew their crops in their backyards.

These three wheat growing methods and their nicknames were fully developed by 1883.

The 1883 harvest was very successful. Originally, people in Embrun would export their wheat as a raw product, but the harvest was so huge in 1883 that three flour mills were hastily built on the shores of the Castor River. The water was used to power the mills. The grain was turned into flour. A few residents of Embrun who didn't like farming formed an extra large bakery. They turned the flour into bread there that year. Then, the bread was exported to make money.

Getting To and From Embrun in 1883
The main way of getting to and from Embrun in 1883 was by road. Despite the prosperity of the town, no railroad (yet) traveled into Embrun. In the fall of 1883, huge cart after huge cart left the town by road, bound for the cities to sell the grain.

Continue to Into a new century &rsaquo;