84 F. C. WURTELE ON 
scale, and have cost $11,325, for which they produced iron bars of different sizes to the 
weight of 285,400 lbs , besides 180 iron stoves. The ore, which has been run and worked, 
was already brought to the foot of the furnace. All the machinery, tools and buildings, 
that had been for some years past condemned by the French, as unfit for use or service, 
are now in a most ruinous condition, and cannot absolutely go on much longer without a 
thorough repair. But, however, the natural advantages still remain, viz., the mine itself, 
to which may be added another yet untouched, behind Cape Madelaine, lying about three 
miles from the forges on the other side of the River St. Maurice, the woods above the 
establishment, some clear lands to grow oats, lowlands .that may easily be turned into 
meadows for hay, not granted yet, a quarry of limestone, absolutely necessary for the 
melting of ore, rebuilding or repairing the furnace, etc., eight miles up the River St. 
Maurice, navigable with a small batteau. and lastly the rivulet upon which two more 
forges and a furnace may be built without any incumbrance to each other. All these, if 
thought proper, may certainly be greatly improved to the advantage of the crown by 
supplying his Majesty’s navy with proper iron for shipbuilding. 
“ At Trois Rivières, in Canada, the 31st day of May, 1763. 
“R. BuRTON.” 
The forges were also utilized for converting unserviceable ordnance into bar iron. 
The returns in 1762 showed a profit of $3,314, and the works were always carried on to 
advantage, but it was a troublesome undertaking, and not congenial to military men. 
General Gage was of opinion that it would be best for the Crown to lease them to 
intelligent, responsible parties, who would soon make a fortune. 
The civil government of Canada was established August 12th, 1764, and General 
Gage wrote from New York on September 17th, following, to Colonel Haldimand, to 
settle the forge accounts and transfer them to the civil governor, Cramahé. 
Under date of June 21st, 1765, Colonel Burton wrote from Montreal to Colonel 
Haldimand, as follows :— 
“JT have received a letter from General Gage, dated June 5th, acquainting me that, as 
the forges are now in the hands of the civil government, a regular account should be 
stated from the time they began to be under my care until they were delivered up to the 
civil governor, that, whatever balance there may be, it must be paid into the hands of 
the deputy paymaster-general, to be credited by them to the Crown.” 
The civil government did nothing with the forges, and they remained idle till 1767, 
when an enterprising Quebec merchant, named Christophe Pellissier, formed a company to 
resuscitate the works. A petition was, therefore, addressed, through his Excellency Guy 
Carleton, governor-in-chief of the colony, to George III, asking for a lease of the St. 
Maurice Forges to the company at a moderate rental. The petition was acceded to, and 
on June 9th, 1767, a proclamation was issued by the governor, granting the tract of land 
and works known as “Les Forges de St. Maurice,” to Messrs. Christophe Pellissier, 
Alexandre Dumas, Thomas Dunn, Benjamin Price, Colin Drummond, Dumas St. Martin, 
George Allsop, James Johnston, and Brooke Watson, for the term of sixteen years, 
commencing on June 9th, 1767, and ending on the same day in the year 1783. The rent 
was fixed by this proclamation at the annual sum of £25, lawful money of the province 
of Quebec. 
