The Lumber used for Ada K. Damon was white oak and pine. By 1875, when shipwright Ebenezer Burnham, built the schooner in Essex Massachusetts, these woods were scarce in the area due to them being harvested over the past centuries. The lumber that was used to build the boats in Essex, was brought from New Hampshire and Maine. NH provided the white oak and pine trees, and Maine provided the pine trees.
In the lumber industry, logs would be floated down the Merrimack River chained together creating a raft out of the lumber. There would then be a small movable cabin, that would be placed upon the raft of lumber so someone could sleep on the raft and ride it down the river.
The journey of logs down the river would take between 3-4 days and would arrive in Newburyport. Once the lumber arrived in Newburyport, the “Lumber King,” a man who according to folklore would then divvy up the lumber, and allocate it to the places that needed it.
The Essex shipwrights saw that all the lumber was ending up in Newburyport and that if they had a direct route for the lumber schooners to travel, they would save an exponential amount of money, by cutting out the high tolls that were currently in place on the route through which they received their lumber.
The Fox Creek Canal
With this knowledge the shipwrights banded together and dug a canal from the Essex River to Fox Creek in Ipswich.
The shipwrights started work on it in 1819 and finished the following year, opening up the direct route. The Fox Creek Canal was 13 ft. wide, and about a mile long.
This canal helped bring the shipwrights of Essex to the forefront of the industry.
With this knowledge the shipwrights banded together and dug a canal from the Essex River to Fox Creek in Ipswich.
The shipwrights started work on it in 1819 and finished the following year, opening up the direct route. The Fox Creek Canal was 13 ft. wide, and about a mile long.
This canal helped bring the shipwrights of Essex to the forefront of the industry.
- information from Jim Withum, curator at Essex Ship Building Museum