Subseries 2003.8.4.01 - Northwood Mills

Title and statement of responsibility area

Title proper

Northwood Mills

General material designation

  • Textual record

Parallel title

Other title information

Title statements of responsibility

Title notes

Level of description

Subseries

Reference code

2003.8.4.01

Edition area

Edition statement

Edition statement of responsibility

Class of material specific details area

Statement of scale (cartographic)

Statement of projection (cartographic)

Statement of coordinates (cartographic)

Statement of scale (architectural)

Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)

Dates of creation area

Date(s)

  • 1960-1987 (Creation)
    Creator
    Northwood Mills Ltd.

Physical description area

Physical description

1 m of textual records

Publisher's series area

Title proper of publisher's series

Parallel titles of publisher's series

Other title information of publisher's series

Statement of responsibility relating to publisher's series

Numbering within publisher's series

Note on publisher's series

Archival description area

Name of creator

(1961-1985)

Administrative history

Northwood Mills was Noranda's first foray into the forestry industry. Northwood Mills was resurrected from National Forest Products when it was purchased by Noranda in April 1961 (Zimmerman p. 33). National Forest Products was in receivership and had 6 sawmills in the Okanagan Valley (Summerland Box Company, Tulameen Forest Products, and the Osoyoos and Oliver mills) and in Prince George (Upper Fraser Mills and Sinclair Spruce Mills) (Zimmerman p. 31). The Prince George mills were larger and more successful, making Prince George the centre of Noranda's forest investment. Included in the purchase of National Forest Products was the harvesting quota for the sawmills and a 3 million acre pulp-harvesting area (pre-approved for a pulp mill) that had been created by the provincial forestry minister, Ray Williston (Zimmerman p. 31). Dick Porritt was named the first president and CEO of Northwood Mills (Zimmerman p. 34).

An agreement between Noranda Mines and the Mead Corporation dated April 24, 1964 provided for the formation of a new company called Northwood Pulp. The capital stock of this new company was divided evenly between Northwood Mills Ltd. and Canamead Inc. (later named Forest Kraft Company). Northwood Pulp purchased from Northwood Mills all the outstanding stock of two of Northwood Mills' wholly-owned subsidiaries: Upper Fraser and Sinclair Spruce Mills. Northwood Mills would provide knowledge and experience with respect to sawmills. Mead would provide knowledge and experience with respect to the engineering and design of pulpmills. Northwood Mills was Northwood Pulp's exclusive agent for soliciting and servicing sales of logs, lumber and other sawmill products globally.

At 1976, Northwood Mills continued to operate four sawmills in the Okanagan region of British Columbia with the capacity to produce approximately 200 million board feet of lumber per year, principally western white spruce. It had a building materials division which operated a lumber brokerage and wholesale building materials business through warehouses across Canada. Early in 1975, it acquired Airscrew-Weyroc, which was then renamed Northwood Panelboard Ltd., with a 145,000 tons per year particle board plant in Chatham, New Brunswick.

Between 1964 and 1985, Northwood Mills purchased holdings in other subsidiaries, including Fraser Inc., W.H. Miller Co Ltd., James Maclaren Industries, Lynn Stevedoring Co. Ltd., MacMillan Bloedel Ltd., McBride Lumber & Building Supplies Ltd., Northwood Properties, and Northwood Panelboard Ltd (Stats Can).

Northwood Mills' Sales Division marketed its own production as well as that for Northwood Pulp and Timber and other non-affiliated producers. Over 80% of the sales were to North America.

Sources:
Zimmerman, Adam. Who’s in Charge Here, Anyway?: Reflections from a Life in Business, (Don Mills, Ontario: Stoddart; Distributed in Canada by General Distribution Services), 1997.

Royal Commission on Corporate Concentration, Noranda Mines Limited: A Corporate Background Report. 1976. p. 64.

Statistics Canada. Inter-corporate Ownership Directory, 1975, 1982, 1985, 1987.

Scope and content

Subseries consists of records concerning Northwood Mills that were created or accumulated by Adam Zimmerman during his tenures as the company's President, Director, and Chairman. Includes administrative records, sales and marketing material, market research, competitor analysis, and records regarding sawmill operations and its building materials division.

Notes area

Arrangement

Arranged by the archivist. Original order can be cross-referenced in inventory.

Language of material

  • English

Script of material

    Location of originals

    Availability of other formats

    Restrictions on access

    Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication

    Personal or academic use of materials is welcomed under the standard fair dealing and educational use clauses of Canadian Copyright Law. Commercial use is, however, forbidden without the express permission of the copyright holder. For information on obtaining written permission from the copyright holder, please contact the Northern B.C. Archives and Special Collections.

    Finding aids

    Uploaded finding aid

    Associated materials

    Part of the Adam Zimmerman fonds

    Related materials

    Accruals

    Alternative identifier(s)

    Standard number

    Standard number

    Access points

    Subject access points

    Place access points

    Name access points

    Genre access points

    Control area

    Sources

    Accession area