The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1906-01-26
IOWA LUMBER MILLS
ARE CLOSING DOORS
The Industry in This State Ha.
Already Practically Passed
Away.
FORTUNES WE'RE BUILT UP

And at the Same Time a String Of
Lively Cities on She Mississippi
Were Brought Into Ex-
~istence.
Clinton. Ia, special: When the big
mill of the Joyce Lumber company on
the north side completed it's 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. 1t
Is true That no definite "ounceme
has been made hat this. the last of
Cllnton's mills, will not be operated in
1906. Inquiries elicit the answer that
the matter is predetermined at this
time, and that h solution Of the prob
lem as to whether or not the mill will
run will be found in industrial con-
ditions In the spring, the demand for
lumber prevailing, and 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 the once So
called lumber city of Iowa is con-
ecerned. and the once great industry
Is a matter OF history alone.
Monuments to the memory OF the
palmy days OF the lumber industry in
Clinton. a forest Of smokeless smoke
stacks rear their heights on the river
bank from the upper confines of the
Old town OF Lyons, now a portion OF
the DID 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.
cant af tho L1nv0o vp{11 rv,l4~oT -SN1- "a
lumber from last seasons cut remain,
every stick a disappeared from the
once vast lumber yards Of Clinton; the
steam gang n rip saws, the mighty
engines and huge machines, which
once hummed ~incessantly during the
away: the run ways. miles after miles
OF raised platforms, over which the
lumber was wheeled through the yards,
have long since been converted into
hreWood; and the great feet of rafters
which piled the waters of the Missis-
sippi. towing huge pine rats from the
bpoms OF the north Clinton mills, have
disappeared from the upper river. New
er was so complete a transformation
wrought In a decade as that which has
occurred ON the river bank of the city
on CstmwelIs bend since the lumber
mills commenced to fall into abandon
ment and decay.
Eleven Mills Once Operated.
Eleven lumber mills We're simultane-
ously operated in Clinton and Lyons
during the height Of the lumber man
uiacturing period, giving employment
mer months. Two of these in the up
per part OF Lyons We're the property
OF Gardiner. Batchelder &. Welles, and
We're fancifully named the Daisy and
h Crocodile by the millrnen. Below
these was the old mill of the Lyons
IIumhor N0rnonv Than A..
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 Glinton's water front, w; J: Young
Northwestern railroad bridge. one of
which was said to be the largest lum-
her mill In the world; and four mills
were operated by CLANCY Lamb & Sons,
mills Alb, G 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 a
time when h city was described as
being h heaviest lumber manufacture
ing center IN n country. The in
wealth for the city. Here were the
greatest mills. h 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
down which logs were RATED. And
here from humble beginnings sprung
many of Iowa's wealthiest lumbermen.
The great industry brought about the
rapid growth of the city, and now, aft
ersit has passed away, its influence is
still felt, and will endure after the last
Snnkoatonlr DO oono >op1 4ho syo.< o.,-. =
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 a
capacity Of 5000 feet of lumber per day.
After he had operated the mill a
Mr.. Lombard sold it to Messrs. Gray
and Lunt, who. under the direction of
CLANCY Lamb, a skilled millwright from
New York state, had it remodelled and
enlarged sYbsSaueE}.y, Ny. Lamb pur,
by fire in the fall of 1859. A new mill
was erected by MI. Lamb, and was OPP
Grated in the year 1860. In 1868 he built
another mill having a capacity of TO-
10000 feet of lumber per season, and
took his sons into partnership, under
the Arm name of c. Lamb g. Sons. II
1876 one Of the mills was again burned,
II Ii following year a great milling
plant was erected with a daily capacity
Of 1926, 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 We're built, and
over 1000 men were employed by the
firm.
The Clinton Lumber company first
erected a mill in Lyons in 1857. and OPP