For the week of August 24, 2026.
On August 30, 1867, William Price was born in Talcahuano, Chili, to a family of British descent. He went on to become a successful businessman and leader within the Quebec pulp and paper industry, which was a major force in Canada’s economic and industrial development in the early 20th century.
William Price’s paternal grandfather was a British immigrant and successful Quebec lumber merchant who founded the firm Price Brothers and Company in 1817. Educated in Quebec and England, in 1885 Price began his career at the family firm, then run by his uncle Evan John. Price settled in Québec City, where he met Amelia Blanche Smith. They married in 1894 and had four sons and two daughters.
When Price took control of the company in 1899, it had amassed about 7,000 square miles of timber limits across Quebec, at least 12 sawmills, several logging camps, and supply stores. Even so, Price Brothers and Company had been struggling since the 1880s, as shipbuilding declined and exports from the port of Quebec decreased. Price responded by founding or buying three pulp and paper enterprises in 1901–1902. They amalgamated in 1904 under the newly incorporated Price Brothers and Company Limited (Price Brothers Limited after 1910).
Between 1910 and 1912, Price Brothers Limited built the Kénogami paper mill, which ranked for several years as one of Canada’s leading newsprint producers. The company also built the town of Kénogami (now Jonquière) around the mill to house employees and their families. By 1913, Canada was the largest global exporter of newsprint largely due to Quebec’s pulp and paper industry, which had significant environmental impacts, particularly through pollution.
Price quickly rose to prominence, as a leading figure within the economic and political life of Quebec. In 1903 he was elected president of the Quebec Chamber of Commerce. During the 1904 federal election, he ran as the Conservative candidate for the riding of Rimouski but lost. He tried again four years later and won, representing Quebec West as an independent until 1911. When the First World War began in 1914, Price served as the lieutenant-colonel responsible for organizing Camp Valcartier near Québec City. More than 35,000 men from across Canada travelled there to train and prepare for overseas service with the First Canadian Contingent in 1914. Price was knighted for his efforts in 1915. He went on to serve in France in 1917 as a captain in the 4th Battalion, Canadian Railway Troops and then as a supply officer with the 4th Division of the 87th Infantry Battalion (Canadian Grenadier Guards).
Price Brothers Limited was thriving upon his return to Canada in the autumn of 1917. Its plants were producing hundreds of tons of pulp and paper a day, and its sawmills 30 million feet of lumber a year. The firm entered a period of expansion which saw the construction from 1922 to 1925 of the Riverbend mill and the adjacent town (now Alma) and hydroelectric station. Price would not live to see the project’s completion. On October 2, 1924, he died in a landslide near the Kénogami mill. Two of his sons ran the company until it shut down during the Great Depression of the 1930s.
Sir William Price was designated a national historic person in 2003 and the Pulp and Paper Industry in Quebec was designated a national historic event in 2005. The Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada advises the Government of Canada on the commemoration of national historic persons—individuals who have made unique and enduring contributions to the history of Canada—and national historic events, which evoke significant moments, episodes, movements, or experiences in the history of Canada.
The National Program of Historical Commemoration relies on the participation of Canadians in the identification of places, events and persons of national historic significance. Any member of the public can nominate a topic for consideration by the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada. Get information on how to participate in this process