Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1906-01-26
IOWA LUMBER MILLS
ARE CLOSING DOORS
The industry in This State Has
Already Practically Passed
Away
FORTUNES WE'RE BUILT UP
Md az the Same Time a String Of
Lively Cities on the Mississippi
Were Brought into Ex-
i~stence.

clinton, la, special; when the big
mill OF the Joyce Lumber company on
the north side completed its seasons
cut the other day, in all probability the
last log from the pineries OF the north
was converted into lumber in Clinton,
once reputed TO be the greatest lumber
manufacturing city in the world. II
Is true that 40 definite announcement
has been made that this, the last of
ClintOn's mills, viii not be operated in
1905. Inquiries elicit the answer that
the matter is predetermined at this
time, and that the solution Of the prob
lem as to whether pr not the mill VIII
run viii be found I'm industrial con
ditions in the spring, the demand for
lumber prevailing, n the abundance
or scarcity Of the log supply. However,
the conviction has impressed itself on
Clinton people that the days Of saw
milling are over. so far as tne 0nce So
called lumber city or Iowa is con-
cern2d, and the once great industry
is a matter Of history alone.
Monuments to the memory % the
palmy days or the lumber industry in
Clinton, a forest of smokeless smoke
stacks rear their heights or the river
bank from the upper confines of the
old town of Lyons, now a 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 We're 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 saws, the mighty
engines n huge machines, which
n c hummed necessarily during the
j long summer Tina bu va hnap ha,tIa1
away; the run ways, miles after miles
OF raised platforms, oye which the
lumber was wheeled through the yards,
have long since been converted into
ftrewood; and the great fleet of rafters
which piled the waters of the MiSsis-
sippi, towing huge pine RATS from the
bpolns OF the north Clinton mills. have
disappeared from the upper river. New
er was so complete q TRANSFORMATIONS
wrought in a decade as that which has
occurred on the river bank of the city
on C"tmwelrs 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-
- 80 - 0AA0 HAAL Tx III oIAAt y
of Gardiner, B%atchelder & WelIes, and
We're 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
IL co. operated two mills below the
Northwestern railroad bridge, one of
which was said to be the largest lum-
Der mill in the world; and four mills
were operated by CLANCY Lamb & Sons,
mills A, b, G and ID, 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 a
time when the city was described as
being the heaviest lumber manufactur-
Ing center In the country. The in
dustry proved to be a reservoir of
wealth for the city. Here We're the
greatest mills. the finest machinery.
and the best facilities for manufactur-
ing lumber, to be found in the entire
valley OF the Mississippi, or indeed,
along any of the great water courses
down which logs were RATED. And
here from humble beginnings sprung
many OF Iowa's wealthiest fumbermen.
The great industry brought about the
rapid growth Of the city, and now, aft
er Ii has passed away, it's influence is
still felt, and will endure after the last
smokestack is gone and the last crum-
bling mill building is removed from
the river bank.
Beginning of the Industry.
In the spring of the year 1856. Charles
A. Lombard, from the state OF Maine.
built a small sawmill near the North
western railroad bridge. This was the
first OF the Clinton mills, and 1t had q
capacity Of 5000 feet OF lumber per day.
After he had operated the mill a year,
Mr.. Lombard sold 1t to Messrs. Gray
and Lunt, who. under. the direction of
CLANCY Lamb. a skilled millwright from
New York state, had 1t remodelled and
enlarged. Subsequently, MI. Lamb pur-
chased the mill. which was destroyed
was erected by Mr.. Lamb. and was OPP
Grated In the year 1860. In 1868 he built
another mill having a Capacity OF TO-
900, 900 feet of lumber per season, and
took his sons into partnership. under
the firm name OF G. Lamb a. Sons. In
1876 m of the mills was again burned,
and the following year a great milling
plant was erected with a daily capacity
OF 125. 900 feet. The Lambs sustained a
third loss by fire in 1879, but the mill
was rebuilt. and In the succeeding
decade two more mills were built, and
over 1000 men We're employed by the
flrf.s.
The clinton Lumber company fist
erected a mill in Lyons In 1857. and OPP
Grated il there one year. In 1859 they
moved II 70 Clinton and set II up at the
foot OF Third avenue In 1866 the com
pany purchased Horsford & Miller's
min property and addea steam and
gang saws, and the following season
increased IT'S capital stock to 500. 900.
The mill then employed about 300
hands. III was operated for many years.
having been abandoned about a decade
ago. The two towering stacks. which
remained standing on The bank Of the
river for years after the machinery OF
the mill Mas moved away and the
structure itself demolished. were de-
stroyed by dynamite four years ago.
w. J.. Young first opened a lumber
yard III Clinton III the summer Of 1858,
to handle lumber manufactured by the
OhiD Mil company. OF Lacrosse. The
business Increased rapidly. owing TO the
great demand for lumber AZ the time,
and the mill was moved from LACROSSE
to CLINTON shortly afterwards. In the
year 1866 work waa commenced ON the
large mill south OF the bridges. where
k0.0QQ. 900 feet OF lumber were manufac-
turod annually for many years. and 30
man sworo ouonlovn6, 1Nha o36 rn11I a.