Here is another segment about the lumbering businesses in Eau Claire Co. Another successful mill enterprise was that inaugurated by the late Daniel Shaw at what was named after him, Shawtown. He located his plant at the outlet of Half Moon Lake in 1856. He was born in 1813 at Industry, Franklin county, Maine, and chose lumbering as a vocation and engaged in business in Allegany county, N. Y. He was successful in the selection he had made, but, desiring to enlarge his sphere of operations, he came to Wisconsin in 1855 and traveled through the Chippewa valley pine district. Satisfied with the outlook, he, in association with Mr. Clark, the father of Dewitt C. Clark, purchased a large quantity of pine lands and removed to Eau Claire with his family the following year. Another element that induced him to take this course was that he had been successful in associating himself with Ingram & Kennedy, Smith & Ball and Adin Randall, and obtaining a charter from the legislature authorizing them to excavate a race or canal from the river to Half Moon lake and establish a sheer boom at a suitable point, and so stock the mills at Shawtown. The whole work was pressed forward with commendable dispatch, but the terrible collapse in the commercial centers of the West and the almost total prostration of the lumber trade in the next succeeding years placed an effectual check on these operations and presented obstacles to running the mill with satisfactory results that few men could surmount; but he battled with them all and came out the victor by associating himself with Mr. C. A. Bullen. The firm finally succeeded in establishing the business on a solid basis when the mill was destroyed by fire in August, 1867. Nothing daunted, the firm rebuilt the mill in the same year on a more extensive scale and with improved machinery, augmenting their resources by taking into partnership with them Newell & Ferguson. The institution was incorporated in 1874 as the Daniel Shaw Lumber Company, with a capital of $500,000. The first officers were: Daniel Shaw, president; C. A. Bullen, vice-president; C. S. Newell, treasurer, and G. B. Shaw, secretary. Additions were made to the plant which occupied many acres of land with twelve buildings. The Empire Lumber Company also had its works at Shawtown. A mill was erected there by Ingram, Dole & Kennedy in 1856. Mr. Dole retired soon afterward and the firm became known as Ingram & Kennedy. They were previously operating in Canada. The hard times of 1857 taxed their resources to the utmost, and to add to the impediments in the way to establishing a successful business the mill was, about two years later on, consumed by fire. This loss was, however, overcome, and after struggling through the depression that existed during the war period, business gradually improved under the able management of the senior partner. At about the same time, and adjacent to the site of the Ingram & Kennedy mill, another mill was constructed by John P. Pinkum and operated by him, having a capacity of about 30,000 feet per day. In 1869 they purchased of Arthur M. and John S. Sherman what is known as the "Eddy" mill, which was located northeast of Mount Simon on the Chippewa River. The members of the firm ultimately associated themselves with the Charles Horton Lumber Company, of Winona, Minn., and Dulany & McVeign, of Hannibal, Mo., and organized the Empire Lumber Company on March 26, 1881, with a capital of $800,000, Mr. Kennedy retiring. The sawmill erected by Adin Randall in 1856 on what later on became Menomonie street, "Randall's Land" passed shortly after into the hands of Smith & Ball. George A. Buffington, who came to Eau Claire in 1856 from Cattaraugus county, New York, and ran a livery and kept a hotel purchased the interest of the junior member of the firm in the mill property in 1859. The institution was thenceforth and until March 5, 1872, operated by Smith & Buffington, when it was incorporated with a capital of $250,000. The first officers were George A. Buffington, president; C. M. Smith, vice-president, and C. M. Buffington, secretary. The old mill was removed in 1874 and one of the largest steam mills in the valley erected on its site, William Carson having purchased the interest of Smith, and with this addition the company became financially strong, and owning to the integrity and good business judgment of both Mr. Carson and Mr. Buffington, the entire transaction was a grand success. The capacity of the plant was 25,000,000 feet of lumber, 20,000,000 shingles and about 15,000,000 laths and pickets a year. The number of men employed was 200, including the mill hands and those engaged in the lumber camps. +++++++++++ We have one more segment of this story, which I'll be sending out tomorrow. It's a pretty good history, huh? -- Nance mailto:nsampson@spacestar.net