George Laird , in Historic Bedeque , suggests that William Schurman built the mill for the proprietor and was the first man to operate it. This is probably true, for in 1811, William Schurman moved from Bedeque to Lot 25 on the Wilmot River and built a saw mill there. He would have needed some experience, and such would have been provided by the operation at Bedeque . The first hard evidence of mills at the site is provided by a map of Prince Edward Island published in London on March 1, 1798. It illustrates both a corn mill and a saw mill on the mouth of the Dunk. The map itself is not very exact, but the position of the mills at the mouth of the River is a definite reference to the mills of Bedeque , located upstream. William Taylor , a native of Newfoundland , arrived in Bedeque in 1807 and took over the milling operations for the Gordon Brothers , the co-proprietors of the north half of Lot 26. William Taylor stayed in the area for the rest of his life. He bought three hundred acres of land from the Gordons in September 1815. The land did not contain the mills but bordered on the north side of the , a few hundred yards away. Apparently Taylor looked after the Gordon's mills as well as his own farm. J.C. Pope probably bought the land from the Gordons around 1830. A record has not been found of any such transaction, but J.C. Pope did buy a substaintial amount of Lot 26 at that time. After 1830, he is listed as the owner of the 168 acre mill property. The census of 1841 also lists J.C. Pope as the owner of a number of mills in Lot 26. This list probably includes the Taylor site. It is doubtful that Pope ever worked the mills himself and probably hired William Taylor or one of his sons to do the actual work. It is unlikely the mills were still standing by the 1860s. Lake's 1863 map does not mention them. Meacham 's 1881 Atlas does not mention the mills and none of the elderly people in the vicinity remember the actual building. In all probability it went down sometime in the 1850s. CLARK'S MILLS The saw mill in Wilmot Valley is one of the earliest on When William Schurman died on 15 September 1819 this saw mill was a going concern. His will stated, that the sum of 100 pounds be raised from the rents and profits of the mill and paid to his son William, that 200 pounds be paid to his grandson, and that two pair of good oxen be set aside for the saw mill use. The mill changed hands in 1824. Advertisements in the P.E.I. Register for the spring of that year read in part: To be sold by auction on the premises at Bedeque (now known as Wilmot Valley ) on Saturday the 10th of April next at 12 o'clock, all that valuable saw mill with the appurtenances (sic). Also about three thousand acres of land situated on the same river with the Mill together with fine groves of pine and other timber. This appeared in the name of Schurman's executors, Peter, Issac and William Schurman . It is believed that William Clark was one of those who rented the mill between 1819 and 1824. He was willing to make the necessary repairs to continue operation and also to build a grist mill nearby. He bought the Schurman home in Wilmot Valley and arranged to purchase the sawmill and land as well. The deed was drawn up in 1826 but about three months later most of the land was bought back by the Schurman family. Many people from the Freetown vicinity patronized these mills. In those days it was no distance to travel in the winter to Clark's Mills as a winter road from Lower Freetown went through the "Klondike", as the wooded area south of Clarks Mills was then called. It should also be noted that Freetowners travelling to Summerside by horse and sleigh would travel this way before taking the ice at Condon's Blacksmith shop. Condon's shop was located near the intersection of Route 1A and the . 64