The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1906-01-25
The industry in This State Has
Already Practically Passed
Away.
FORTUNES WE'RE BUILT UP


inc EDIJlt Slse competent lA1 @tth9pil -
cuL, tie other day, IN all probability The
last log from lIla piutgias OF The north
Was converted into lumber i'll clinton,
unCc TepuEuu TO be the greatest lumber
notwithstanding city in the world. II
is true thar no definite announcement
has been made that this, the last Of
ClintOu's mills, viii not be operated in
1906. Inquiries elicit Tine answer that
the matter is predetermined at this
time. and that tine solution OF the prob
lem as to whether or not the mia Will
u Will be found i'll Industrial con-
dItionS in the spring, the demand for
timber prevailing, and the abundance
or scarcity Of the log supply. However,
the conviction Il Impressed itself On
Clinton people that the days Of saw
milling are over, SO far as the once So
called lumber city of Iowa is on
csrnad, and the once great industry
is a matter Of history alone.
Monuments to the memory or the
painly days OF the lumber industry in
Clinton, Il forest Of sIuokeless smoke
stacks rear their heights on the river
bank from the upper confines Of the
old town 0f.LyOnS, now q portion Of
greater Clinton, to the lower limit Of
the old time village of Riverside, at
present the Fifth ward of Clinton, and
the abandoned structures in which
millions of feet of white and yellow
pine were annually manufactured,
fringe the bank of the Mississippi. Elk.
cept at the Joyce mill, where piles of
lumber from last seasons cut remain,
every stick has disappeared from the
once vast lumber yards Of Clinton; the
steam gang and rip avs, the mighty
engines and huge machines, which
once hummed necessarily during the
long summer time, have been hauled
away; the run ways, miles after miles
or raised platforms, over which the
lumber was wheeled through the yards,
have long since been converted into
ffrewood; and the great fleet of rafters
which piled the waters of the Missis-
sippi, towing huge pine RATS from the
bnoms of the north Clinton mills. have
disappeared from the upper river. Ncv-
er was so complete a Transformation
wrought in a decade as that which ms
occurred on the river bank Of the CITY
on C-tmwelPs bend since the lumber
mills commenced to fall into abandon
ment and decay.
Eleven Mills Once Operated.
Eleven lumber mills were simultane-
ously operated in Clinton and LYONS
during the height of the lumber man
ufacturing period, giving employment
to upwards of 1000 men in the sum
mer months. Two of these in the up
per part Of Lyons We're the property
of Gardiner, Batchelder e Wellcs, and
were fancifully named the Daisy and
the Crocodile by the millmen. Below
these was the old mill of the Lyons
Lumber company. Then came the
Joyce mill, the last of the lumber plants
to be operated. The Clinton Lumber
company maintained a mill where the
handsome River Front park now at
tracts the attention of river travellers
on Clinton's water front. w. J. Young
y Co. operated two mills below the
Northwestern railroad bridge, one of
vi WIZ IL -. ~ l.. -
Der mill in the world; and four mills
were operated by CLANCY Lamb & Sons,
mills A, b, c and D, scattered along the
bank of the river from the bridges to
Riverside.
Clinton without the lumber industry
would be like a bird without wings"
wrote an early Clinton historian at u
time when the city was described as
being the heaviest lumber manufacture
ing center in the country. The in
dustry proved to be a reservoir OF
wealth for the city. Here were the
greatest mills, the finest machinery,
and the best facilities for manufacture
ing lumber, to be found in the entire
valley of the Mississippi, or indeed.
along any of the great water courses
Town which logs We're RATED. And
here from humble beginnings sprung
many of Iowa's wealthiest lumbermen.
The great industry brought about the
rapid growth of h city, and now, aft
erxit has passed away, its influence is
still felt, and will endure after the last
smQlkestack is gone n the last crum-
bling mill building is remove from
the river bank.
Beginning Of the industry.
In the spring of the year 1856, Charles
A. Lombard, from the state Of Maine,
built q small sawmill near the North
western railroad bridge. This was the
first of the Clinton mills, and it had a
capacity of 5000 feet of lumber per day.
After he had operated the mill a year.
Mi. Lombard sold it to Messrs. GRAY
int Lunt, who. under the direction of
CLANCY Lamb, a Skilled millwright from
New York state, had it remodelled and
enlarged. Subsequently, Mt. Lamb pur-
chased the mill. which was DESTROYED
by fire in the fall of 1859. A new mill
was erected by Mr.. Lamb, and was OPP
Grated in the ear 1850. In 1858 he built
another mill having a capacity Of TO-
100000 feet of lumber per season, and
took his sons into partnership, under
the firm name of G. Lamb & Sons. In
1876 II of the mills was again burned,
and the following; year a great milling
plant was erected With a daily capacity
of 125,000 feet. The Lambs sustained a
third loss by fire in 1879, but the mill
was rebuilt, and in the succeeding
NeeS4N' Doli Gin
over 1000 men We're employed by the
firm.
The Clinton Lumber company first
erected a mill in Lyons in 1857, and op-
Grated it there one year. In 1859 they
mOyed it to Clinton and set it up at the
fottt of Third avenue. In 1866 the COM
pany purchased Horsford & Miller,s
mill property and adde1 steam and
gang saws, and the following season
increased its capital stock to 100000.
The mill then employed about $50
hands. 1t was operated for many years.
having bee abandoned about a decade
ago. The two towering stacks, which
remained standing on the bank of the
river for years after the machinery of
i mill was moved away and the
structure itself demolished. We're de-
stroyed by dynamite four years ago.
w. j. Young first opened a lumber
yard in Clinton in the summer of 1858,
to handieslumber manufactured by the
Ohio Mill company, of Lacrosse. The
business increased rapidly, owing to the
great demand for lumber at the time,
n the mill vas move from Lacrosse
to Clinton shortly afterwards. In the
year 1856 work was commenced on the
large mill south of the bridges, where
b0,0o0.00G feet of u,nbe We're manufac-
tiired anpnplly5 for NAM ,ynor &c ava con