the timber trade did not only bring immigrants to british north america, it also played a very important role in keeping them there as well. while many of those disembarking from the timber ships would head south to the united states, many others would stay in british north america. in large part, this was because of the employment that could be found in the timber trade. at the peak of the trade in the 1840s, 15,000 irish loggers were employed in the gatineau region alone. this when it had been only a few years before that the population of montreal was only ten thousand. similar situations could be found in the other centres of the timber trade.