HARDWOOD RECORD 



21 



Merrill *: Phillips Railroad. Besides its 

 purely lumber activities, the, company oper- 

 ates a daily schedule of passenger trains 

 which pass through one of the wildest and 

 most beautiful routes in the northern woods. 

 Mason-Donaldson Lumber Company. 

 The ci'iteiiou of every man 's ahi]it\' is 

 tlie (pialily nt work hp does. A f:illnw field 



GEOUGE W. .MASON, PKES. MASON DONALD 



SON LUMBER COMPANY. ItlllNE- 



LANDER, WIS. 



ni;iy contain the possibilities Of a rich liar- 

 vcst. but unless the labor is expended to 

 render it productive, it will remain barren 

 to the rnd. So with men. There may, per- 

 haps, be characters of great ability hidden 

 ill obscure positions, but, as a general rule, 

 it will lie found that the reason of their 

 failure tu rise is because of the .lack of 

 some distinguishing characteristic of initia- 

 tive or readiness to grasp an occasion that 

 in a country so pregnant with opportunities 

 as ours almost invariably marks the suc- 

 ii'ssful man. 



The reward that comes from thorough pre 

 paredness and hard work is illustrated in 

 the career of the Mason-Donaldson Lumber 

 f'ompany of Ehinelander, Wis. A little 

 more than three years old, it has achieved 

 a positioti of conimandiiig imjiortaiu'e in the 



Iniiiliei' trade of the state. In 1905 the 

 cnmpany handled over 35,000,000 feet, and 

 in 1P06 will probably handle 60,000,000 feet. 

 It also manufactures lumber, and last year 

 anpiircd the liigh capacity mill of the Wil- 

 l.iir Lumber Company, at State Line, Wis., 

 where it owns 9,000 acres of hemlock and 

 hardwooil timber. Connected with the oper- 

 ation is a narrow gauge railroad, fuUj- 

 equipped for logging purposes, by which the 

 logs are hauled to the mill. Besides the 

 holdings mentioned, the company has an ad- 

 ditional stumpage in the same locality, 

 which brings the total acreage up to i;i),000, 

 and is expected to furnish work for the mill 

 for the next twenty years. 



Hoth (ieo. W. Mason, president of the 

 ■ •om|iany, and Carl H. Donaldson, secretary 

 and treasuier, know the business from the 

 uniund up. Their dominant characteristic 

 is energy. Ceo. W. Mason entered the em- 

 ploy of Brown Brothers when he was six- 

 teen years old and remained with them for 

 seventeen years, working both in the office 

 auil on the road, and in both .positions ac- 

 (|uiriiii; knnwled.ge that afterward became 

 inxaluahic to him. Carl H. Donaldson also 

 worki-d fur Brown Brothers, beginning in 

 the yards and working through all the de 

 tails of the business upi to the position of 

 sales manager. It is characteristic of both 

 men that in the highest as well as in the 

 more subordinate positions they showed 

 cpialities of foresight and resourcefulness. 

 Besides tlie general offices of the company 

 at Rhinelander, a branch office is maintained 

 in Chicago, in charge of A. C. Q\uxley. 

 The E. Connor Company. 

 No statement of buuber operations in 

 VViscousiii is complete without mentioning 

 the li. Connor Company, which is at once 

 one of the oldest and largest concerns in 

 the state. The firm owes its origin to Rob- 

 ert Connor, father of W. D. Connor and 

 Robert Connor, Jr., the men who are now 

 the active spirits in charge of the enter- 

 |.rise. The father was born in Scotland, but 

 earlv in life came to America and settled 

 ill I he Wisconsin woods, at that time only 

 thinly settled liy white men, where he 

 adcijiti'il the profession of farming. In those 

 early days there was practically no market 



for the valuable hardwoods of the country 

 and the majority of the settlers burned tim- 

 ber to secure farming lands. Robert Con- 

 nor, however, with rare foresight, invested 

 in tract after tract and ultimately when the 

 needs of the market warranted it, erected 

 a sawmill at Auburndale, ten miles east of 

 Marshfiidd. Wis. His work was not unre- 



C. IL DON.\LDSON. SEC.-TREAS. MASON- 

 DONALDSON LUMBER COMPANY, 

 RHINELANDER, WIS. 



warded, for the business grew to propor- 

 tions unheard of in those days, and when 

 the sons, W. D. and Robert, Jr., were grow- 

 ing to manhood they received an education 

 as lumbermen that included every detail of 

 the business. 



Tlie company successfully weathered the 

 panic of 1S93 and when the recurrent years 

 of prosperity swept over the country, was 

 in position, from its extensive holdings in 

 hardwoods, to supply the most exacting 

 needs of the trade. From that time the his- 

 tory of the firm has been one of continual 

 progress. During 1894 and 1895 the ac- 

 tivities of the R. Connor Company included, 

 ill ailditioii to the plants at Auburndale and 

 Stratford, two mills in Clark county and 

 seven other mills, with a total yearly out- 

 put apjiroximating 50, (HID, 0(10 feet. The hold- 



LUMIJKK KKADV FOR SHIPMENT, NORTH SHORE LUMBER 

 COMPANY, THOJIPSON, MICH. 



IdADIXG \ESSEL AT DOCKS OF NORTH SHORE LUMRER 

 COMPANY, THOMPSON, MICH. 



