After Christmas (1894) and New Year the brothers traveled at last to New France.

“Towards the close of a perfect winter day, full of sunshine, after a five hour trip from Southville Corner, the team broke into a clearing at the bottom of which they saw blue smoke rising from the stovepipe of a cabin. It was a typical lumbermens’ camp, snuggled in the heavily snow laden big pine trees. The roof was covered with snow and it had a verandah on the front and a lean-to on one side which was used to store firewood. The only protection from the cold and the wet was a covering of tar paper, held down by batterns.

The men working at the mill had finished their day’s work and came out of the cabin when they heard the sleigh bells and the barking. They welcomed the newcomers with loud hurrahs and strong handshakes.”

There were to be three turbines and by January 1985 one had been installed. It had been built at Salmon River, at least thirty miles away towards Yarmouth, and had been hauled by two yokes of oxen. It took the teamsters four days to make the trip. The other two smaller turbines were being built on the spot.”

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“These turbines were intricately constructed. The iron  paddles were fixed around the wooden drum with iron hoops that could be tightened if necessary with wooden wedges. The turbine rested and turned on a pivot  holding in the hardwood shaft. Various belts connected the turbines to the machines. The size of the pulleys determined the correct power to be delivered to each one.”

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The whole factory was engineered, designed and built by men who could neither read nor write. Every part, except belts, and some iron wheels was made of wood or fashioned of iron at the forge. Standing underneath, where the heart of the mill was, amongst wheels of varying sizes, connected by belts, these Europeans wondered and marveled. How did these men make the intricate calculations required to deliver the right amount of power to each machine? How did they put together this maze of belts and pulleys into a perfectly functioning whole? The Mill Boss somehow figured all these things in his head and drawn working diagrams on pieces of wood. By way of tools, all he had was a rule and the basic tools of a carpenter.”

“Boss Blinn was nearly venerated by his men. He was their uncontested leader in everything. He was a fine man, with a frank and pleasing countenance, couched in is well kept grey beard and blue eyes always dancing with mirth. he was respected as a master craftsman meticulously precise in the work he bossed. He was a guiding spirit of all the construction work”

One should not gather that this first winter was all work and no play. On the contrary, the pleasures were learning about the sports of fishing and hunting. They had shotguns and rifles and fishing gear. All they needed was to learn how to use them, and there was lots of game to practice on, moose, rabbits and birds, and trout under the ice. They had good teachers and they learned quickly.”

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“During January and February they could not travel too far afield because it was too cold to camp outside. With March and the warmer weather, they went away for days, living outside quite comfortably. They carried a piece of canvas about five feet by eight feet, blankets and provisions. They would erect a shelter by setting the sheet of canvas on a ridge pole, between two trees, tying the sides down and filling the open ends with small spruce trees and branches. They soon learnt to make camp facing the rising sun. They learned to make comfortable beds on the ground with tender young fir boughs.”

“With the going of the snow and the frost, in March, the Stehelins began building the first house. It was to be Jean and Katie’s home. It would have a large living room and a kitchen downstairs and three bedrooms upstairs. There would be no indoor plumbing and, of course, it would be heated by wood burning stoves and a fireplace”