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The Brick Burner
at the former Buckley Mill Site at Nordin, near Newcastle, has become a landmark in the vicinity. It was built for the
Buckley Lumber firm in 1917 and was adjacent to the large Buckley sawmill, which for many years gave employment to hundreds
of residents of Nordin, Douglastown and Newcastle.
The Brick Burner was built by Mooney Bros. of Saint John,
NB at a cost of $ 10,000.00. It was over 100 ft. high. Some local labour was used but the Mooney firm brought
their own expert bricklayers to do most of the brick work as they found the local men too slow in laying the bricks to round
the structure. The bricks came from a Miramichi brickyard, Flett's plant at Nelson. The firebrick was brought
from Saint John. It took two months to build.
The Buckley Lumber Yard was destroyed by fire in 1921.
This was on the opposite side of the road from the mill and sparks from the burner, which was not looked after properly, were
said to have caused the fire. It was rumoured locally that the huge stocks of timber in the mill yard had been set fire
deliberately. The next year, 1922, the Sawmill burned down. Heroic efforts b workmen, the Newcastle Fire Department
and people of the neighbourhood saved the nearby dwellings.
Mr. David Buckley died November 1921 at the
age of 56 years. The business continued for a few years but the general decline of the lumber business in the early
1920's spelled the end of the Buckley enterprise. David Buckley and his brother John had been lumbermen all their
lives, as had their father before them. They were natives of Chatham and moved to Rogersville around 1880 when their
father moved to that community and carried on a lumber business there. David Buckley moved to Newcastle in 1911 and
built a house on Jane St, which was named Woodland Lodge. His ony son Leander W. Buckley (Lee) was associated with the
business for many years. John Buckley lived in a home on the lot of Pleasant St. where the Bank of Montreal now stands.
The Brick Burner at Nordin is unused but may be seen for some miles and has become a familiar sight in Miramichi.
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