![]() ![]() For much of its early history, like the mining communities, it was a "company town." Families lived in houses provided by the company and people were not able to live in the town unless they worked in the mill or had permission from the company. The paper-mill town of Grand Falls, established in 1906, provides another example of the character of industrial towns. The townsite was amalgamated with the company-owned town in 1979, not long before the mine, the community's largest employer, closed. Later, families established a privately-owned "townsite" to escape the control of the company. They named their renegade settlement "Pigeon Inlet" after a fictional outport on a popular Newfoundland radio program. When a road out of Buchans was completed in 1956, about 60 families rebelled against the company's domination of their lives and built their own homes on land that the company did not own across the river. ![]() In other towns people resisted the company and fought to gain control over their towns. Sometimes people in industrial towns were satisfied with the company dominating their lives as long as they continued to enjoy a higher standard of living than families in the outports. Privately-built homes were not allowed, and employees had to live in poor-quality company-owned houses or bunk houses. The company-owned railroad provided the only way in and out of Buchans during its first few decades. Yet mining towns in the interior could be even more oppressive than those on the coast. Several of the mining towns that were established during the 20th century, such as Wabana (Bell Island), Buchans, Wabush, and Labrador City, had higher standards of living and were more like urban centres elsewhere. In Betts Cove, a mining community consisting of 2000 residents, with poor quality housing and few amenities, the miners were paid an hourly wage, but in company "scrip" which could only be spent in the company-owned store. Such mining towns were usually remote from other communities, which made it easy for the company to dominate the lives of its employees and their families. ![]() Although the mineral potential of Newfoundland and Labrador had been noted by the first explorers, and attempts to open mines had been made, no mining communities existed until the 19th century. The first industrial towns were mining communities, such as Tilt Cove, Notre Dame Bay, which started in 1864 and reached 768 residents five years later. It is important to understand that these communities were "company towns", in which the company had a significant control over the lives of families. Average incomes in these industries were also higher than in the fishery, and conditions in the mines and mills led to working-class solidarity and the growth of trade unions. They were paid an hourly wage and did not operate on the credit system. ![]() Industrial workers and their families came not only from Newfoundland and Labrador, but from many countries. They differed from outports in that their population was larger, and the origins of their residents more diverse. In most respects, these industrial towns are like their counterparts elsewhere in North America.
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