Forestry Saint Quentin was originally carved out of virgin forest.  Since1878, forestry companies have been felling our trees for export.  The booming forest industry attracted lumberjacks to the newly accessible lands.  In 1913, His Lordship Melanson wrote: “The primary industry of Restigouche country at this time is lumber.  Our forests (…) contain the most valuable and faultless wood on both local and foreign markets. (…)” It was not long before several mills opened in Anderson, employing approximately thirty men.   In the early days of colonisation, the income from cutting timber proved indispensable in allowing the colonists to develop their properties.  The forest industry has always had two sides – harvesting (forestry companies and colonists) and manufacturing (mills, lumber, airplane propellers, shipbuilding, etc.).   1909 - forestery workers Pat Jean's sawmill at Jardine Brook 1923   Between 1910 and 1971, approximately 64 sawmills were opened in the Saint Quentin-Kedgwick region (23 between 1921 and 1930).  Most of these mills cut more than a million square feet of wood each year. Forestry activities continue in the region today, but the product is now value-added thanks to the establishment of large-scale sawmills.  Forestry operations and the sawmills together employ the majority of the region’s workers.  While Saint Quentin continues to be held up as a model of agricultural success, agriculture has always gone hand-in-hand with the lumber industry, and has been greatly overtaken by it.  Groupe Savoie Inc. and North American Forest Products Ltd. are currently the two principal forestry companies in the region.  Both have a turnover of over $40 million and employ almost 500 people each. North American Forest Products Ltd. Groupe Savoie Inc.