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The Pas Lumber Company (later known as Winton Global Lumber) was a
forestry company Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidder, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or trunk (botany), logs onto logging truck, trucks or flatcar#Skeleton car, ...
that owned and operated several sawmills and logging operations in
Manitoba Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...
,
Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...
, and
British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
.


United States origins

Charles Joel Winton was born in
Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
in 1862. His family later moved to Addison, NY, and he went to
Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...
, before moving to Wasau, Wisconsin in 1884. Once in Wasau, he invested money into various sectors such as land, rail, and oil, and in 1889, he began investing in
forestry Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests, woodlands, and associated resources for human and environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands. Th ...
. In 1897, he and his wife Helen Smith Winton gave birth to David Judson Winton, and in 1899, they gave birth to Charles Joel Winton, Jr. The family moved to
Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...
in 1909. After graduation, David Judson Winton also studied at
Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...
. His studies were interrupted by World War I, and before entering his final year of studies, he spent two years in the
US Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
with the American Field Service Ambulance Corps. He was deployed to France, where he was injured, and received the
Distinguished Service Cross The Distinguished Service Cross (D.S.C.) is a military decoration for courage. Different versions exist for different countries. *Distinguished Service Cross (Australia) *Distinguished Service Cross (United Kingdom) *Distinguished Service Cross (U ...
and the
Purple Heart The Purple Heart (PH) is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the President to those wounded or killed while serving, on or after 5 April 1917, with the U.S. military. With its forerunner, the Badge of Military Merit, w ...
. After graduating from Princeton in 1920 he worked in logging camps before eventually moving back to Minneapolis. Once there he worked with his father Charles and his brother Charles Jr. at the Winton Companies, and eventually took over as the head of the Winton Companies. By the 1910s, forests in
Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...
and
Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...
were running out of wood, and many of the lumbermen began moving to Canada to find new forests to harvest. In 1919, the
Finger Lumber Company Herman Finger was a lumberman who owned and operated various lumber companies that operated in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Ontario, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan. He also served as the first mayor of The Pas after its establishment in 1912. Origins in ...
in
The Pas, Manitoba The Pas ( ; french: Le Pas) is a town in Manitoba, Canada, located at the confluence of the Pasquia River and the Saskatchewan River and surrounded by the unorganized Northern Region of the province. It is approximately northwest of the provinc ...
suffered a barn fire at their sawmill, and David Judson Winton used this event as an opportunity to buy-out the company and shift his lumber operations to Canada.


Canadian operations

The assets acquired from the Finger Lumber Company included the mill facilities in The Pas, one
tugboat A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, su ...
, two steam barges, and of timber berths along the
Carrot The carrot ('' Daucus carota'' subsp. ''sativus'') is a root vegetable, typically orange in color, though purple, black, red, white, and yellow cultivars exist, all of which are domesticated forms of the wild carrot, ''Daucus carota'', nat ...
and
Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...
Rivers. The Wintons had also recently purchased a sawmill in
Prince Albert, Saskatchewan Prince Albert is the third-largest city in Saskatchewan, Canada, after Saskatoon and Regina. It is situated near the centre of the province on the banks of the North Saskatchewan River. The city is known as the "Gateway to the North" because ...
, and decided to move the machinery from it to their larger operation in The Pas, which was renamed to The Pas Lumber Company. Throughout the 1920s, the company continued upgrading their facilities in The Pas and acquiring new timber berths. Within their first ten years of operating, they doubled their shipping capacity to four steamboats. So much wood was cut along the Carrot River that the river became impassable for ships in the springtime, and the company had to build roads along the river as an alternative mode of travel. In 1926, The Pas Lumber Company purchased the
Red Deer Lumber Company The Red Deer Lumber Company was a forestry company that had approximately 10 logging operations along the Red Deer River, and owned and operated a sawmill on the south shore of Red Deer Lake. The Red Deer Lake sawmill was one of Manitoba's three ...
, and began operating their sawmill on Red Deer Lake in 1928. Around this time, the
Canadian Northern Railway The Canadian Northern Railway (CNoR) was a historic Canadian transcontinental railway. At its 1923 merger into the Canadian National Railway , the CNoR owned a main line between Quebec City and Vancouver via Ottawa, Winnipeg, and Edmonton. Mani ...
(CNoR) began building another rail line south from
Hudson Bay Junction Hudson Bay is a town in east-central Saskatchewan, Canada, west of the Manitoba border. The town is surrounded by the Rural Municipality of Hudson Bay No. 394. History In 1757, a Hudson Bay Company fur trading post was established in the H ...
. Since much of the wood for their Red Deer Lake Sawmill had been cut upstream along the Etomami River, the company decided to build a new sawmill and a dam on the Etomami River at the base of the
Porcupine Hills The Porcupine Hills refer to various groups of hills and uplands located in the prairie provinces of Canada, specifically the Provinces and territories of Canada, provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba. They are part of the Manitoba Escarpment ...
within the Porcupine Forest Reserve near to the new rail line. CNoR eventually built another rail line to this area from
Crooked River, Saskatchewan Crooked River is a special service area in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. Demographics In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; french: Statistique Canada), formed in 1971, is the ...
. Therefore, the community that grew around the new mill was called
Reserve Junction Reserve or reserves may refer to: Places * Reserve, Kansas, a US city * Reserve, Louisiana, a census-designated place in St. John the Baptist Parish * Reserve, Montana, a census-designated place in Sheridan County * Reserve, New Mexico, a US vi ...
, because it was the only railway junction within the Porcupine Forest Reserve. An alternative source for the word junction in the name of the community is that the mill also sat at the junction of the Etomami and Pewei Rivers. Once the new mill at Reserve Junction was operational, the company shut down its mill at Red Deer Lake. The Pas Lumber Company continued to operate its mill at Reserve Junction until 1954, when the company opened a new mill in
Prince George, BC Prince George is the largest city in northern British Columbia, Canada, with a population of 74,004 in the metropolitan area. It is often called the province's "northern capital" or sometimes the "spruce capital" because it is the hub city for ...
. By 1958, its mill in The Pas had also closed so the company could focus its efforts in BC. Even though the company no longer had operations in The Pas, they continued to call themselves The Pas Lumber Company for several decades after the closure, but eventually renamed the company to Winton Global Lumber. Winton Global Lumber's BC operations were later sold to
Sinclar Group Christophe Le Friant (; born 10 May 1969), better known by his stage name Bob Sinclar (), is a French record producer, DJ and remixer. He is the owner of the record label Yellow Productions. Musical career A native of Paris, Le Friant began DJ ...
(2/3 ownership) and
Canfor Canfor Corporation is an integrated forest products company based in Vancouver, British Columbia. History The company traces its roots to the late 1930s when brothers-in-law John G. Prentice and L.L.G. "Poldi" Bentley (surname changed from Bloch ...
(1/3 ownership). These companies continued to operate Winton Global Lumber until June 2008 when the
US housing bubble The 2000s United States housing bubble was a real-estate bubble affecting over half of the U.S. states. It was the impetus for the subprime mortgage crisis. Housing prices peaked in early 2006, started to decline in 2006 and 2007, and reac ...
popped during the
Financial Crisis of 2007-08 Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of fin ...
and new home construction in the US ground to a halt.


Legacy

Sinclar Group Forest Products
Engineered Wood Engineered wood, also called mass timber, composite wood, man-made wood, or manufactured board, includes a range of derivative wood products which are manufactured by binding or fixing the strands, particles, fibres, or veneers or boards of woo ...
and
Prefabricated Home Prefabricated homes, often referred to as prefab homes or simply prefabs, are specialist dwelling types of prefabricated building, which are manufactured off-site in advance, usually in standard sections that can be easily shipped and assembled. ...
Divisions still use the Winton name.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pas Lumber Company Defunct companies of Manitoba Defunct companies of Saskatchewan Defunct companies of British Columbia Forest products companies of Canada Prince George, British Columbia The Pas