In the Témiscouata region, railway construction brought a workers' camp to St-Éleuthère, where many of the laborers were Italians and Poles. Two of them settled in the area: the blaster Amédée Sozio and Magloire Ouellet, a doctor who treated workers injured during the project and became the first resident physician. Estcourt's closeness to the U.S. border gave it an important role during the bootlegging period, when trains carried large quantities of liquor and, at night, alcohol containers were hidden in cars loaded with wood from sawmills, including D'Auteuil Lumber. At Sully, the small stations had a distinctive atmosphere of crackling telegraphs, dim oil-lamp light, a coal stove tended as needed, crates of fruits and vegetables crowding the space, and a stationmaster occupied with deciphering telegrams, while travelers bought tickets and asked whether the train was on time, especially in winters when it rarely was. The Témiscouata Railway and the National Transcontinental Railway crisscrossed the region.