The Oakville Basket Company: by Deborah Lerech

In light of these changes, Oakville was forced to diversify its industry. The census records for each of the decades in the middle of the nineteenth century show the trends in manufacturing quite clearly. The following chart shows the numbers for Halton, with special reference to specific Trafalgar Township numbers:
 

1851-52	1861-62	1871-72
16 gristmills*	6 gristmills	11 gristmills
60 sawmills†	36 sawmills‡	45 sawmills**
6 woollen mills (1 in Trafalgar)	2 woollen mills	none
1 distillery (in Trafalgar)	2 breweries	2 breweries
8 tanneries (2 in Trafalgar)	8 tanneries	4 tanneries
5 foundries (3 in Trafalgar)	2 foundries	3 foundries
12 other factories	18 other factories	33 other factories

* Trafalgar Twp.: 4 total, 1 steam power, 3 water power †Trafalgar Twp.: 17 total, 2 steam power, 15 water power ‡ Halton County: 16 steam power, 20 water power **No figures for steam or water power are recorded in the 1871 Census ¹²

As can be seen, the decline in gristmills especially is indicative of the change in agriculture at the time. As tanneries and foundries also decreased, the number of 'other' factories almost tripled in the time between 1850 and 1871.

One change in agriculture that appears in the Historical Atlas of 1877: "of late years" the author notes, "a great many people have embarked in the culture of fruit, particularly strawberries...Oakville is now the greatest strawberry growing district in the Dominion". ⁴ The success of fruit growing, which was gaining importance in and around Oakville, is an example of the importance of environmental changes. Strawberries were among the small fruits (berries and stone fruits) that were native crops to the land surrounding Lake Ontario. In 1851 it was said that strawberries "grow luxuriantly, but they are not so much cultivated as their valuable properties deserve". ⁵ By the 1870s this had changed. John Cross was the first to recognise the possibilities of growing strawberries commercially in Oakville. ⁶ However, by 1869 the cultivators of strawberries included: J. Hagaman, Capt. John A Chisholm, W.H. Jones, Capt. W.B. Chisholm, E. Skelly, J.T. Howell, A. Mathews. Runners for planting cost $4 a thousand. Wooden and tin pails were unsuitable for the easily damaged and perishable fruit. Cross "secured samples of quart baskets from the US" and set to work to improve upon it." Made from "two pieces of wood veneer fastened by two strips of tin punched on a machine, [they] cost less than half a cent [each] to make." He established a factory east of the 7th Line where baskets were made during the winter. ⁷

The others were to follow suit. John A. Chisholm set up shop in a shed on his farm near Division Street. He used a paring device that shaved the wood thin enough to make into baskets, developed by his son Charles and turned out 300,000 baskets each year during the four-month winter session that the plant was in operation. After John A.'s death in 1874 Charles and his brother William, bought the Victoria Brewery and converted it into another basket factory. This was only the beginning. They later encorporated the drying and packaging of fruits and vegetables to be carried on Royal Navy ships as provisions. They also invented machinery to shell peas, among other inventions. ⁸

By 1877 almost 750,000 baskets were manufactured in Oakville each year. By the 1880s baskets, fruit growing and the tannery were the principal industries. The basket factory was moved, taken over first by Pharis Doty and Son and then the Oakville Basket Company, in 1892. Although a fire the next year destroyed the building, it was quickly rebuilt. ⁹ In addition to the basketry, Wilbur T. Marlatt and Julian Sale's tannery at Navy and Colbourne took over the general store, renovated the four-storey building and began producing travelling bags, purses, gloves as well as card cases, collar and cuff boxes and other finished products including cricket and footballs. ¹⁰ The Oakville foundry, run by Robertson and Dayer, gave employment to about twenty-five employees. The principal lines of manufacture were sinks, as well as cistern, well and force pumps. In 1877 they turned out about twenty-five pumps a day, along with the manufacture of a number of small hardware lines such as jack and bent screws, clothes reels, and barn door rollers. ¹¹

Diversification of businesses included a wool market and a continuing grain market. ¹² There was also a developing furniture manufacture led by R.B. Tait, W.H. Young, and C. Ziller. Tait used steam power which led the way for later factories. In addition a man named R.O. Woods manufactured sashes, doors, blinds and frames as well as maintaining one of the sawmills. ¹³ Other businesses listed in 1877 included: wagons and carriage, blacksmiths, livery stables, shipbuilding by John Potter, stove dealers and tinsmiths, harness shops, jewellery and watchmaking, boots and shoes. ¹⁴

All in all Oakville had managed to survive the difficulties that arose from environmental and industrial changes in the mid-nineteenth century. Within the new industrialisation of Canada West, Oakville carved out a small niche perfectly suited for its local needs and demands. It was the creative and entrepreneurial spirit of Oakville's businessmen that enabled the town to make the transition from agriculture to industry.

Bibliography
Canada Census, 1870-71, Ottawa: I.B. Taylor, 1876
Census of the Canadas for 1851-52, Quebec City: John Lovell, 1854
Craig, Gerald M., Upper Canada, the Formative Years, 1784-1841, Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1963
Mathews, Hazel C., Oakville and the Sixteen: The History of an Ontario Port, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1953
Pope, J. H., Illustrated historical atlas of the county of Halton, Ont., compiled and drawn from official plans and special surveys

Footnotes

1. Gerald M. Craig, Upper Canada, the Formative Years, 1784-1841, p. 149
2. Canada Census, 1870-71, (Ottawa: I.B. Taylor, 1876, Vols. 3 & 4), Vol. 4. pp. 198, 271; Vol. 3 pp. 225-226
3. Census of the Canadas for 1851-52, (Quebec City: John Lovell, 1854) pp. 194-199; Canada Census, 1870-71, (Ottawa: I.B. Taylor, 1876, Vols. 3 & 4), Vol. 4. pp. 198, 271; Vol. 3 pp. 320-321, 330-331, 340-341, 360-361, 400-401
4. J. H. Pope, Illustrated historical atlas of the county of Halton, Ont., compiled and drawn from official plans and special surveys,
5. Hazel C. Mathews, Oakville and the Sixteen: The History of an Ontario Port, p. 385
6. Hazel C. Mathews, Oakville and the Sixteen: The History of an Ontario Port, pp. 385-387
7. Ibid., pp. 385-387
8. Ibid., pp. 388-389, 395
9. Ibid., pp. 390-391
10. Hazel C. Mathews, Oakville and the Sixteen: The History of an Ontario Port, pp. 391-392
11. J. H. Pope, Illustrated historical atlas of the county of Halton, Ont., compiled and drawn from official plans and special surveys, pp. 29-30>
12. Ibid.
13. Ibid.
14. Ibid.