24 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



'Builders of Lumber History 



(See portrait supplement.) 

 For some months past, Hardwood Eecoed 

 has been running a series of articles illus- 

 trating the woods operations of the most 

 notable yellow poplar manufacturing house 

 in the United States, the Yellow Poplar 

 Lumber Company of Coal Grove, 0. In 

 these stories little has been said about the 

 presiding genius of this noteworthy logging 

 and lumber enterprise. Those who have 

 perused these articles cannot fail to have 

 been impressed with the monumental engi- 

 neering difficulties that have been success- 

 fully overcome in the accomplishment of 

 delivering from remote mountain fastnesses 

 to the company 's sawmilling headquarters at 

 Goal Grove, O., a crop of forty million feet 

 of timber of one variety cut from forest 

 areas of mixed growth. 



The region from which the company ob- 

 tained this timber is remote from railroad 

 transportation, and between floating water in 

 the Big Sandy River and the timber prop- 

 erty itself was a five-mile, rock-strewn, 

 gorge of the river which had proven disas- 

 trous for log-running purposes in all pre- 

 vious lumber history. 



The man who is definitely responsible for 

 mastering the great work of getting timber 

 out of this region is Leon Isaacsen, vice- 

 president and active woods manager of the 

 Yellow Poplar Lumber Company. Mr. Isaac- 

 sen 's work, as has been described in these 

 columns, marks him as foremost in this line 

 of endeavor, and therefore it is with a good 

 deal of satisfaction that the Record repro- 

 duces his counterfeit presentment as its sup- 

 plement for this issue. 



The company of which Mr. Isaacsen is the 

 head is a specialist in yellow poplar. While 

 owning many thousands of acres of moun- 

 tain lands, which carry poplar, oak, chest- 

 nut and a variety of other woods in- 

 digenous to these regions, this company has 

 preferred to remain strictly poplar producers. 

 In a way it has indulged in forest conserva- 

 tion. While it has taken the poplar off thou- 

 sands of acres of land the remaining forest 

 has been left in such shape that the concern 

 has been able to market the property thus 

 deforested of poplar at prices often in excess 

 of the original cost, with improvements in- 

 cluded. 



Leon Isaacsen was born in Copenhagen, 

 Denmark, and originally came to this coun- 

 try as a buyer of export stock for Shadbolt 

 & Co. of London. After spending a year at 

 Atlantic seaports as buyer for this house, 

 he became convinced that this method of 

 securing stock was not the most desirable 

 one and went into the mountain regions 

 where high-class poplar and oak abounded 

 and entered upon manufacture of lumber 

 by moans of a number of small mills. He 



NUMBER XCI 

 Leon Isaacsen 



continued to act on behalf of the Loudon 

 house. In this way he became familiar with 

 the many problems incident to getting logs 

 out of the Appalachian country. This ex- 

 perience ripened until now he is recognized 

 as an authority on the best methods of get- 

 ting timber out of the mountains. 



Mr. Isaacsen became identified with the 

 Yellow Poplar Lumber Company in 1891. 

 He is an extremely modest man and is not 

 well known to the generality of the trade. 

 He has always concealed his identity, as has 

 also C. M. Crawford, secretary and treasurer 

 of the company, in charge of the manufac- 

 turing and sales end of the business, behind 

 the company name. Neither gentleman has 

 ever sought publicity or preferment, but 

 have simply devoted their lives to the great 

 work they had in hand. The standing of 

 the Yellow Poplar Lumber Company today 

 is conclusive evidence of what hard, un- 

 ceasing work and intelligent endeavor will 

 accomplish. 



Mr. Isaacsen is an unostentatious man. He 

 holds that there are no secrets in logging 

 operations or lumber production. Every 

 scintilla of knowledge that he possesses con- 

 cerning the details of woods work is at the 

 disposal of his contemporaries as an open 

 book. He talks with extreme modesty and 

 diffidence about his accomplishments, but 

 does so without restraint. If there are any 

 secrets in the details of his business, he does 

 not seem to kuow what they are. 



To the student of human nature Mr. Isaac- 

 sen is a most interesting study. Those who 

 come in contact with him soon realize that 

 ' ' he knows every foot of the way. ' ' He 

 studies a timber proposition carefully; he 

 is a strenuous worker; he knows every creek 

 and cove as well as the general lay of the 

 land on the big holdings of the company 

 which he operates. 



On an average he takes the poplar timber 

 from about twenty thousand acres each year. 

 He makes the acquaintance of every party 

 in interest. Personally, he buys the right 

 of way to cross the mountaineer's farms; 

 arranges for the housing, provisioning, gen- 

 eral equipment and feeding of the army of 

 men he employs in getting out this timber. 

 He lays out every tram-road; buys every 

 piece of machinery, and works out every 

 problem in detail connected with the great 

 enterprise. His spirit of forcefulness, some 

 portion of his vast knowledge of lumbering, 

 he somehow instills into his entire force of 

 assistants. He is beloved by his crews and, 

 without regard to the high salaries he pays 

 them, to a man they will go through the most 

 strenuous endeavor to assist him in carrying 

 out his plans, and make the monumental ac- 

 complishments he outlines possible, Mr. 



Isaacsen is essentially a just man, and it is 

 an axiom in the mountain country that "if 

 Isaacsen says it's right, it's right." 



After Mr. Isaacsen makes an analysis of 

 a business proposition and figures the cost, 

 if his decision is favorable to it, the matter 

 of expense never frightens him. The in- 

 vestment of well towards fifty thousand dol- 

 lars in the splash dam, which he built last 

 year above the breaks of the Big Sandy, and 

 which, say what you please, had conjectural 

 possibilities, did not make him in the least 

 nervous. He believed he knew his ground; 

 he backed his judgment with his money. In 

 this judgment he was heartily supported by 

 Mr. Crawford and other stockholders of the 

 Yellow Poplar Lumber Company, who be- 

 lieved in the man as he believed in himself. 

 The success of his work is now a matter of 

 history, and simply adds new laurels to the 

 career of one of the most successful busi- 

 ness men connected with the lumber indus- 

 try in this country. 



The ' ' team work ' ' of the Yellow Poplar 

 Lumber Company is worthy of comment. Mr. 

 Isaacsen is held and holds himself responsi- 

 ble for log supplies. When he gets the sea- 

 son's crop of the company delivered into 

 floating water below Elkhorn City, Mr. 

 Crawford becomes the ' ' boss ' ' of the job. 

 Mr. Crawford never even suggests means 

 or methods concerning the timber in the 

 woods or the way in which it shall be de- 

 livered in the form of logs. On the other 

 liand, Mr. Isaacsen never suggests to Mr. 

 Crawford methods of manufacture, re-manu- 

 facture or selling the product. They believe 

 in each other and work in absolute harmony. 



Both these gentlemen have remarkably 

 simple tastes and habits. Enthusiasm and 

 forcefulness are their marked characteristics. 

 They are both students of lumber affairs and 

 can see well into the future. They hold 

 their trade to yellow poplar closely, having 

 an axiom "to take care of every customer." 

 Their stocks of lumber are always well bal- 

 anced, and year after j-ear almost the same 

 customers are on their books. These buyers 

 know that they can depend ou the Yellow 

 Poplar Lumber Company for their wants, 

 and that they will invariably get a good 

 grade and a square deal. It is a great repu- 

 tation that these two men have, and this 

 perhaps is one of the strongest features that 

 has made for the success of the big enter- 

 prise of which they are the managerial 

 geniuses. 



While Mr. Isaacsen is a ceaseless worker 

 ho takes some time away from business for 

 home pleasures. He resides at Brooklyn, N. 

 Y., and repairs there at frequent intervals 

 to rest and keep in touch with his family 

 and general affairs outside of the lumber 

 business. 



