i6 



THE HARDWOOD RECORD. 



and was just piepiiiing to ask "Sir. J. H. 

 Lewis, the pleasant anrt peaceful-looking 

 proprietor, what discount, if any, he made 

 for members of the press, when I was sur- 

 prised to see W. S. Johnson of Milwaukee, 

 better known to the lumlier trade and the 

 police as "Calico" .Tohnson, emerge from 

 the dining-room with a part.v of friends. 

 Tlien I knew I was all right and would 

 be well treated, liecause .Tohnson is a good 

 friend of mine iuul won't let people im- 

 pose on me. 



* * * 



W. S. .Tohnson is. as ever.vone knows, 

 the main spoke in the .Soutli Arm lyumber 

 Company, and he had In-ouglit a party of 

 friends from Milwaukee for a conple of 

 days' outing in the beautiful and interest- 

 ing city of Marquette, and to view the in- 

 vestments of the Soutii Arm Lumber Com- 

 pany in and about Jfarquette. 



For it is a pleasing peculiarity of Mr. 

 .Tohnson that his pleasure in all good 

 things is doubled and tripled by having 

 his friends enjoy them with him. And 

 Marquette is a good thing. ;nid tlic invest- 

 ment.s of the Sonth Arm Lumber Com- 

 pany are a good thing, so he had brought 

 a party of friends to enjoy them with him. 

 And I fortunately fell in with them and 

 for two days enjoyed ilaniuette. tlie in- 

 vestments and holdings of the South Arm 

 Lumber Conipan.v, and tlie company of 

 Johnson's friends, who were also a gooi 

 thing. 



And that i.s the lijt of luck I had refer- 

 ence to. 



* * :S 



First tiling I'll take u|i with you is 

 .Tohnson's friends, for that's the important 

 part. I could take a party of the right 

 kind of people and have a good time in 

 the Sahara deseit, or I could take a 

 party of the wrong kind of people and be 

 miserable even in JIarquette. Shakes- 

 peare said: "The play's the thing." but 

 Shakespeare made a mistake. Tlie com- 

 pany in which a man sees the play is the 

 thing. 



First among tlie company I will name 

 air. Theodore Plathner of Jfilwaukee, 

 whose photogi-aph appears herewith as 

 president of the South Arm Lumber Com- 

 pan.v. Mr. Plathner is a capitalist, but 

 he is all right. As a rule, I don't ap- 

 prove of capitalists, but I make an excep- 

 tion in favor of Mr. Plathner. He is a 

 quiet man, which is a good thing to have 

 in any party. He says but little, but 

 1 have it in my mind that he is a man 

 who keeps up "a divil of a thinking." In 

 spite of the fact that he is the president 

 of the South Arm Lumber Company this 

 was his first trip to Marquette, and I be- 

 lieve he enjoyed the occasion as much as 

 anyone. He didn't say much, but that is 

 probably becau.se he didn't have much of 

 an opportunity. 



And there was Mr. James A. Bryden, a 

 gi'ain dealer of Milwaukee, who had been 

 three times president of the Chamber of 



('onimerce and twice alilerman of his 

 adopted city. li'or Air. Itryden is a Scotch- 

 man, and is by no means ashamed of that 

 fact. Somehow I couldn't remember his 

 last name and as .Air. Johnson calletl him 

 ■■riuTc Jim." I got in the way of it. 



In liis day Uncle Jim was a fanmus 

 .itlilete. and excelled at all games of 

 strength and skill. 1 know he did. lie- 

 causc he told me so himself. I don't want 

 you to infer from anything in the forego- 

 ing that his day is passed. He is captain 

 of the Milwaukee Curling Club, a famous 

 organization of curlers. I really didn't 

 know what he meant by "curling" and 

 was ashamed to acknowled.ge m.v ignor- 

 ance until we were on our wa.v home. I 

 know I lowered myself in his estimation 

 by asking, but my curiosity .got the Ijetter 

 of me at last. Then I learned that "curl- 

 ing" is something like a game of quoits, 

 only it is idayed on ice. I)y Scotchmen, and 

 that in ])lace of quoits the players use 

 large flat stones with liamlles to them. 



Such thin,gs are. however, and, of course, 

 merely incidents to a very honorable and 

 successful career, such as a Scotchman 

 makes in any part of the world to which 

 the Lord sends him. I haven't room t^i 

 say anything further aliout Uncle Jim, Imt 

 if you haven't gathered from the foregoing 

 tliat he is a mighty line .gentleman and 

 pleasant, heart.v, wholesome company. I 

 have written to little purpose. 



And then there was Mr. ,\dani Currie, 

 of Currie Bros., seedsmen and florists, also 

 of Milwaukee. I was especially glad to 

 meet Mr. Currie. for my wife has been get- 

 ting his firm's seed catalogue for the past 

 dozen years and planing how she would 

 grow flowers if she was only out in the 

 countr.v or suburl)s or somewhere whei'e 

 she could have room. Mr. Currie's con- 

 cern is a very large and very well-kno\\n 

 institution, and I was surprised to find 

 that Mr. Currie is a very .voung looking 

 man. He doesn't look any older than I 

 do, and I doubt if he will admit tliat lie 

 looks as old. He is also Scotch and Uncle 

 Jim says his seeds won't gi'ow. 



Mr. Currie is a pleasant gentleman of 

 iiuick wit. and a fine, kindly, wholesome 

 humor, and he did as much as anyone to 

 make the trip pleasant. 



Then there was Harold ,Tohnson, son of 

 W. S., a promising young man of 10 pleas- 

 ant summers. Harold is a good boy. who 

 knows how to handle himself. He is lo- 

 cated at Marquette, as bookkeeper, and 

 if one may judge by sm-face indications, 

 stands well with the young ladies of that 

 city. I ))elieve if he and Uncle Jim had 

 been there by themselves they M'ould have 

 had a fine time. 



The city of Maniuette is as flourishing a 

 city for its size as I ever saw. It has 

 a substantial foundation for continued and 

 substantial growth and prosperity. An 

 enormous iron iilant is being erected, 

 which is intended to rival the biggest 



lilants ill the countr.v, and where iron 

 can be produced cheaply other industries 

 must follow. And the Marquette people 

 t.ike their prospects calmly. The city has 

 .1 jiopnlation of fully 10,000 and even the 

 mayor onl.v claims l.'.OOO. 



It is one of the most liandsomely built 

 cities of its sine in the country. They 

 ii:ive stone to spare, of a handsome, red- 

 (lisli liiiiwu i-olor. easil.v worked, and 

 ne.-irl.v ever.vtliing in town is built of it. 

 The people of AIar(iuette are wealthy and 

 live in fine houses. Some made their 

 iiione.v in iron, some in lumber and some 

 this way and some that, and the mayor 

 .■issured ns that .vou can scarcely throw a 

 stone into any chance crowd in the street 

 without hitting a millionaire. 



And they've got the best streets I ever 

 saw. The city owns ,1 stone crusher or 

 t^^•o. and the.v can just set a crusher do^\n 

 most anywhere and go to grinding, there 

 bein.g any quantit.v of soft, friable stone 

 ;iv.i liable, and this crushed stone has been 

 sprea<l upon the streets so scientificall.v 

 .ind extensivel.v that the streets of Jlar- 

 ipiette and vicinitj- are ver.v fine. 



.Vnd cement walks! Say. they've .got 

 I hem all over to^Ti. and for two or thi'ee 

 miles out in the country. In driving out 

 to the suliurbs. we passed what looked like 

 a primeval forest and there was a cement 

 sidewalk lunning straight out into it. 



Tlierc is .-I splendid high school being 

 built and a courthouse, and altogether. 

 -\laii|uette is certainly a well-built town. 

 I don't know who pays the taxes, but they 

 are certainl.v exiiended with judgment. 

 . * * * 



Immediatel.v after breakfast, we boarded 

 a street car iind went out to the plant of 

 the South Arm Lumber Company. .\nd 

 Ibis is what the comjian.v owns in Mar- 

 c|uette and vicinity. 



.\ double liand mill, running full blast. 



Fift.v-six acres of land in the city limits. 



Twent.v-two well-lmilt. good-looking, l'_. 

 stor.v houses. 



.V long stretch of water front, the only 

 private water front in the harbor, with 

 sul>stantial. well-built 'docks. 



Thirt.v thoustind acres of land adjacent 

 to the city. 



Five miles of good. standard gauge 

 railroad, well graded and heavily ironed, 

 with full e(|ulpnieiit of engines and log- 

 .gin,g cars. 



And AV. A. A\"liitiii:iii. 

 * * * 



Such, in brief, is the holdings of the 

 South Arm Lundier Company in and abmit 

 Alarquette. but I must go a little more into 

 detail. 



The first essential to a successful mill 

 plant, next, of course, to the mill ifself. is 

 to have plenty of power, and we could hear 

 the steam blowing off all the time we 

 were aljout the mill during our two days' 

 stay. The boiler is different from any I 

 ever saw. and I have seen a great many. 

 It is an immense, upright boiler, sur- 



