CONCLUSION

For many years from 1773-1933, the only development in the area was at a subsistence level based on fishing, trapping and hunting. Any timber cut from dense coniferous woods in the area was limited to building log shacks, trestles, furniture, komatiks and firewood. From 1934-1940 saw six years of great economic activity as thousands upon thousands of cords of pit props were produced, loaded and shipped out for the coal mines of Wales as Britain prepared for the Second World War. Further economic development took place from 1962-1968 as more trees were felled, this time for Bowaters pulp and paper production in their mills at Corner Brook, Newfoundland and in Kent, England. The latest stage of Port Hope Simpson's development has witnessed the arrival of the great engineering feat of the Trans-Labrador Highway and the building of the town's regional airport.
A crucible of political, economic and social factors has been influential in the development of the town. Different characters, government officials and policies, the availability of work and how well its people have adapted to changing economic circumstances have combined together to explain the nature of its growth. When the Labrador Development Company left Port Hope Simpson in 1948 after founding the first permanent settlement on the site, paid work in the woods left with it until Bowaters arrived 14 years later. The people at the site of the logging operation had been mugged by the Williams Smash and Grab, Boom or Bust gang that hit the town leaving confusion, bitterness and a hoary, Wild West reputation in its wake. With the benefit of hindsight, it is difficult to extend any sympathy whatsoever to J O Williams the businessperson because he told so many falsehoods. He had dishonoured his own colonial loan application because at most he only ever built 26 out of 200 company houses. Of those 26, many were of poor quality and others were used as staff houses. Williams had misrepresented his own personal wealth to the government and the wages he paid his loggers had been much less than he had claimed. His actions had a bad effect on the health of the people as the loggers were forced to work excessive hours for starvation level wages and deteriorating food from the company's store. It is unknown exactly to what extent ill-health spread amongst the people but it seems reasonable to assume that some people found it much harder than others to break the cycle of poverty, little money for food, ill-health and inability to work hard in jobs which they had unwittingly found themselves trapped through no fault of their own, other than that of believing what had been promised by the company. Williams was also very economical with the truth about what development was really like at Port Hope Simpson. He had borrowed money at a time when the commission of government was working to cut the Newfoundland debt and when his own country was preparing for war. This was money that he was not in a rush to repay and which he used unscrupulously for other purposes. He even managed to deceive Supreme Court Judge Brian Dunfield at the public enquiry that the Labrador Development Company necessarily operated on a shoestring implying that allowances should be made accordingly. The government had wanted work and new permanent homes for the people whereas Williams had only wanted to make as much money as quickly as possible and to keep others from the truth of his true financial situation. To hide his high level of earnings from government eyes, the Labrador Development Company pit props were purchased by J O Williams and Company. The employees of the former company could never tell whether or not they were getting the full value for their products in their wage packets.
The clinching evidence about the true character of Williams was the trouble he took to cover his tracks. Even in matters of death he was still prepared to conceal the truth. The age of his illegitimate grand-daughter was false on her tombstone and he had also made sure that a false place of residence had been inscribed for himself and his wife when Eric had died. Likewise, he went to the trouble of entering an incorrect place of residence for his eldest son in the records of his Jayo Shipping Company. Eric had followed in his father's footsteps when he had entered a false place of birth for Erica, on her birth certificate as well as a false place of residence for himself.
From 1962 to 1968 was a period of regular paid employment in the community although it is not known if the Bowaters Company helped guide Port Hope Simpson towards a more sustainable future during this time. However, since joining the Confederation the town and its area have benefited greatly from government policy and practice in that direction.If Port Hope Simpson had not started developing itself towards a more sustainable future then in the words of Ron Notley, the great grandson of Job, the area’s first permanent settler, although debate is still on – going about that point of view,

“It’s all too much.”