Chatham achieved peak prosperity during the years immediately prior to World War I, but even then its main export was people. During the war, many young men from Chatham joined the 132nd Battalion of the North Shore Regiment. Many were killed or wounded at Vimy Ridge and on the Somme. The postwar depression of 1919 hit the town, resulting in a major employer, the Snowball sawmill, closing permanently. Young men and women moved to New England to seek work where many had relatives.