Cyrus Sullivan Clark

Cyrus Sullivan Clark (December 8, 1809–July 28, 1880), together with George Benson Hall Jr. and the British American Land Company, were the largest participants in the lumber industry in the Eastern Townships of Quebec in the 19th century.

Biography Personal life Born in Minot, Maine, he attended Waterville College and graduated in 1828, becoming a grocer in Portland, Maine. Clark built a sawmill at Brompton Falls in 1854 that, at , was the largest in North America.

Because of cash flow problems in 1855, Clark, together with his partners W.H. McCrillis and Thomas Howe, transferred all their Canadian properties and licences to City Bank and the Bank of Montreal in trust. When the Panic of 1857 resulted in an oversupply in the US timber market, the banks auctioned off their debt, which John Henry Pope bought for $30,000. Clark would later buy back the properties and licences from Pope in 1869, and Pope remained as the chief spokesman for the company afterwards.

In 1872, the British American Land Company sold to Clark, who purchased a further from the company in the following year. These holdings were approximately half the size of the Crown timber limits that he already possessed. During the Long Depression of the 1870s, Clark would lose these lands as a consequence of a default on the mortgage on his properties, but would be able to repurchase from the Eastern Townships Bank by 1879–80. He would formally enter into partnership with Pope to form the Brompton Mills Lumber Company.