(Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada), who was killed in the Netherlands in 1945 and is buried in the Groesbeek Canadian War Cemetery, and Flying Officer James Smith (Royal Canadian Air Force), who was killed in 1944 and is buried in the Harrogate (Stonefall) Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery, Harrogate, Yorkshire, England. With its strong base as a railway town, Nairn developed a significant logging industry which employed many people, and the population grew quickly. Multiple logging companies had operations in the town, with warehouses next to the town's CPR siding, where companies would distribute supplies to logging camps throughout the area; the logs themselves were moved using the Spanish and Vermilion rivers. The town's growth, however, began to slow during the 1920s, as by 1923 most of the pine in the area had been logged out. Logging operations shifted elsewhere, putting up to 1000 men out of work, and causing the town's population to steeply decline. During the Great Depression, a relief office was opened, and many residents survived on government relief payments. Several public works projects were undertaken to create temporary employment, such as replacement of the town's original wooden sidewalks with cement, as well as road improvements. This road work improved access to the town, and was eventually followed by the construction of the current Highway 17 around 1947. The town's fortunes changed by the late 1940s, as lumber industrialist Benjamin F. Merwin under his Pineland Timber Company moved into the area, building a modern sawmill and landing lucrative contracts for mining timbers with companies such as Inco. The mill was quickly upgraded and expanded throughout the late 1940s and early 1950s, and Merwin appointed his son, Bud, as superintendent of Nairn operations. In 1962, the Pineland company was sold to KVP and Inco. Another raft of changes occurred in the 1960s under KVP management. Previously, the mill had been operated seasonally in the summer, but transitioned to year-round operations. The mill's waste operations, which involved simply burning mill waste at a dump site near the town, caused significant air pollution and environmental degradation to the area, and to alleviate these issues, a modern burner was installed north of the mill. In 1962, the mill's workforce was unionized under Lumber and Sawmill Worker's Union (LSWU) Local 2537, and standardized pay grades were established. All of these changes created a stronger sense of permanence for the mill, and