The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1903-06-07
LUMBER MILLS AND CAMPS
OF THE FIVE CAMP BROTHERS
Have Made Fortunes in Log
ging and Lumber Business.
REMARKABLE QUlNTETTE
Employ Hundreds of Men in Three
States and Run One ofthe Largest
Plants Of the Kind in the
World.
Especial to III. 1lme,.Dispatch.,

=
Especial TO The Timer -Dispatch.J
s FRANKLIN, SOUTHAMPTON q Co.
VA. June 6.-"rhe Camps and the rest
OF mankind" That's the way the people
of this end OF Virginia and North Cares
Tina speak OF the family of Ave brothers
who operate q number of lumber mills IN
this section. The family has grown In
Importance In the last twenty years BY
reason OF the extension OF operations In
the pine woods OF Virginia and Carolina,
until the name Is household word. and
the Camp Manufacturing Company Is as
we'll known as the names OF counties,
towns and rivers.
j went to Franklin to see the great
parent plant OF the Camps. to witness the
gigantic operations In lumber which are
furnishing employment to so many men
In mills. on steamboats,. on railroads
IN lumber camps.tsI had not thoughts 10
study the camps. but more interesting to
me even than the great enterprises which
these men direct were the men them
selves.
The story OF the Camps reads like ro-
nance. Almost within sigh. of the big
ONCE building from which they direct
the affairs or their great company, the
Camps were born. There were nine bro
Tiers Four OF them are dead Four OF
them bore arms for the Confcderacy. and
when tho war ended those who were
alive came home to find the family with
out money. without property, and almost
without food. There were at home then
four little brothers. the eldest, Paul only
sixteen years Of age. They all went TO
work. People OF Franklin remember FREE
auently seeing PAU driving a yoke of
cHen. hauling logs TO the little saw mill.
on the site OF which Is now the great
raw and planning mills OF the company
lrF ,,,1I he To- hn Z ocly.
to-day II he ever had then dreams OF
owning the mill and making II great
one.
THEY PRosPERED.
II was trying to save what made
was the significant and characteristic
reply, as he held in the beautiful bays
behind which We were driving about the
pretty town.
After working few years at Franklin
mir Camp and his brothers went to North
Carolina In 1876. He engaged in the mill
ing business there. and In 1850 his brother.
MIR ]. l.. Camp, was admitted TO the firm.
The brothers were prospecting. They
were saving now about 100000 feet a
year. small fraction OF tho amount
sawed and dressed by the great concern
to-day. Their minds turned back to
franklin. 1t was not Inconsistencies, but
they had natural desire to locate a
home and upbuld their native community
md enjoy prosperity close to the spot
where they were born
"a So the bIothcts bought the saw mill ut
Franklin from Il. j. and w. Nicely In
slss6. This mill was only n small one
But II was not long before such improve
&ments had been made that the mill was
producing 100000 feet year. In No
rember. 1887. the Camp Manufacturing
Company was organized. II was strictly
n family affair, Paul Camp became It's
president. Robert the secretary and treas.
urer. ard the three other brothers were
made either officers or directors. The
next year tho Franklin plant was changed
10 band saw mill. and nearly every
week since some Improvement or addi-
ton has been made, until the present
enormous plant. fitted with machinery
Of the latest patent.
The Franklin mills alone give employ
ment to 3S7 men: ten or twelve more are
employed on the tugboats used to bring
the logs up the Blackwater to the mill,
md there is a large Office force neces-
sary to keep the great business OF the
company going. Night and day the saws
are kept going, and 175,o00 feet OF lum-
her Is turned out every twentysfour
hours. The enormous storage shed Is
capable of housing 100000 feet under
roof Sixteen dry klns are necessary
for the drying OF the stock. Eleven COM
piete sets Of machinery are used In the
planning mill for the reduction OF the
rough lumber to flooring. ceiling and the
dressed material OF every kind.
The plant covers many acres II Is on
the bank of tho Blackwater. on the Isle
OF Wight SIDE AS stood on the little
bridge that carries the road over the
river to the mills and gazed at the wilder
ness of stocks and clouds of steam that
rise from the great enclosure. and list
oned to the snarling OF saws and planes
that Is deafening. l wondered at the
executive ability displayed In carrying
on such a great enterprise. Later ! was
to learn of the compaEy's mills at Ar
rlngdale. on the Southern road, twenty
one miles west of Franklin, and which
has a capacity Of 5000 feet q day; of the
plant at Dewitt, In Dinwiddle, county,
eighteen miles south OF Petersburgis with
II capacity of $1,000 feet daily. and the
Sandy Point mill. at Berkeley which, cuts
5000 et of lumber day. ISIS
Col further still, learned of6the
grea sls of the company at White
Epril$sS. in northern Florida, which are
supplied with logs from the company's
own forests, extending over many thou
sands Of acres In that State and Georgia;
the phosphate beds owned and worked by
the brothers at Albion, Fla; and then
the numberless lumber camps. where the
logs are being cut in Virginia and North
Carolina. There are over fifty miles of
railroad owned and operated by the
company in the woods of the two States.
The logs are hauled from the forestssto
the Chowan or Blackwater Riversseand
then RATED up by means OF tugboats 70
Fhe mill. Thousands of acres or timber
are owned by the brothers In southamp-
ton, Nansemond, Greenesville, and Erllns-
wick counties In Virginia. and In Gates,
Perquimans. Hertscra, BERTHE, Northamp-
ton and Halifax counties, North Caro-
lima.
SUPPLIES THD MILL.
To Mr.. Paul Camp the President of the
&c mar ,{tt cd M m
ing all the mills supplied with logs, It Is
great undertaking. and the very thought
that upon him rests the responsibility of
Keeping those mills going would seem
to be overwhelmingly. But he stands up
under 1t and seems to enjoy the work.
Indeed. In addition To being on the CON
slant lookout for tmrar land for sale.
and busted with the work of rafting or
railroading the logs to the mills, he finds
time to enjoy himself, and also looks
after other matters. lie Is great big
six-footer, CHEEKY and genial, loves
d inko or gno6 story fond pr hjs nrattv