In the winter of 1604-05, seventy-nine French men spent the season on Saint Croix Island in Acadie, including noblemen, artisans, labourers, Catholic and Protestant clerics, surgeons, and soldiers. After finding no place more suitable than the island, Sieur de Monts allowed the settlement plan to be drawn up there. The group brought weapons, grains, utensils, tools, trade goods, and a few prefabricated frame buildings they considered essential. They also built an oven and used a hand-mill to grind wheat, a task remembered as difficult and laborious.