The men who ran Clinton's Sawmills

     While it is easy to be swept away by the lumber barons, one cannot forget the hundreds and thousands of men who operated the mills. Below are found sketches of the workers, mainly foremans and upper management, who ran the sawmills.

B.C. Brown: A native of NY, he came to Clinton in 1865. In 1872, he became the foreman of Young's lower mill. Brown supposedly patented a splat and shingle mill used in all of Clinton's mill.

Judson Hyde: A native of NY, he was a saw-filer in Young's upper mill. Judson served as the Secretary for the Odd-Fellows lodge. The lodge was on a Harding block in 1874 when Judson was the Secretary. He was also involved with a civic organization called Clinton Encampment, another? Odd Fellows congregation.

George T. McClure: George was the foreman for Lamb's Riverside mill.

John D.C. McClure: Sources differ, but John started as a saw filer in 1869 or 1870 for C. Lamb & Sons. He worked for them until 1883. During that time, he saw the first band saw installed in the Lamb mill. The mill consisted of, or John oversaw, two bands and two gang saws. When John started, "the science of saw filing was in its infancy" either in reference to band saws or all types of saws (B, 67). In 1883, John left for the Lyons Lumber Company where he worked for four years. In 1887, John left for the Southern mills where he became a foreman and a filer at the Woodworth Lumber Company in Bivins, Texas. He later went to Monroe, La to file. John in the late 1890s went to work for the Gates Lumber Company in Wilmar, Arkansas.  Through his life, John supposedly filed saws for 55 years. He was called the South's best filer.
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~arbradle/letters/pontius_postcards.html

David W. Switzer: Born in NY in 1833, he came to Clinton in 1857 and started working in the Lamb mills. He eventually became the foreman of the C. Lamb & Son's Stone Mill. According to other notes, Switzer's daughter, Hazel Harriet Gertrude Switzer married William Mowbray Browning in 1902. Hazel was apparently known as Effie?

John Taylor: John worked for the William J. Young & Co as their machinist foreman. Born in NY, John learned his trade in Worcester, MA.

W.M. Taylor: The foreman of W. Young's upper mil.  During the Civil War he fought for Co. H, 6th Ind. V.L.  and the 2nd Ind. Bat. After sixteen battles, he came to Clinton. He started as an engineer for Young.


Martin White: As an employee of the Young Company, this native Irishman was the foreman of the loading cars. Martin was a city councilman. A Catholic, he was president of the Roman Catholic Total Abstinence Society.







Sources:
http://books.google.com/books?id=iFE0AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA684&dq=chancy+lamb+clinton+iowa+council&hl=en&sa=X&ei=yD0AUqTwKpe14AO53oDYCg&ved=0CD0Q6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=lamb&f=false
http://books.google.com/books?id=lf8eAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA67&lpg=PA67&dq=McClure+Lamb+Clinton&source=bl&ots=rv5v2-0knw&sig=aySJrVduVcvC2yJanR_m6HKU9Ro&hl=en&sa=X&ei=MPoCUvOqEJKByQGNxIHQBg&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=McClure%20Lamb%20Clinton&f=false