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HomeMy Public PortalAboutBrown, Carl EBilly Mitchell Carl Brown Snow Bird Mill Mrs Fulton Ida Brown Brown Lumber Company Whitefield Edwin H Fearon 1900 1 ChRL E. BROdN, MCChLL IS SENIOR 'CITIZEN By Helen Miller (Reprint from Payette Lakes. 5tar,__sometime in 1950) of life Carl E. Brown, senior citizen, counts 47 years /., in the state of Idaho, 47 years crammed full of living as only a tjigorous and adventuresome man can hack the years. Carl Brown saw the hard years on the tdil end of the gold boom on Thunder 1ountain in that lustyand brawling young Idaho when the snows of winter lay deep and unbroked over all the mountain roads, or mud in the Spring sucked at the hips of team drivers as they urged sweating horses through the streets of McCall. '"e has watched the mud tracks changed to paved roads, the rutted. freighting trails re- placed by the railroad line and the huge motor trucl;.. A modest man is Carl Brown, whose lumber industry has grown until it is the sustaining factor of the villa -e of McCall. Asked for an interview of his accomplishments, he said, "What for? I eve not accomplished much with my life- -just stag6ered around from job to job until I got what I wanted- -the lumber industry. Took me until I was 37years old just to find myself." Interested in lumbering was born in this vital man, but not bred. His §randf:,.ther /Brown owned a lumber company and sawmill on the Pemi gewasset River in New Hampshire. Carl Brown's father, Warren G. Brown, and an uncle were both lumbermen. Tne mother, Charlotte Elliott, a meticulous Scotch housekeeper, wanted none of the lumber business for her son. She hated the smell. of oxen, of sweat, of ne °w cut wood, and disliked the sturdy vlass of people who followed the lumber trade. She put her son Carl into a general store as a clerk, where he tried to kill tAs desire to be a logger. Before his first vtarriage, ;Darren G. Brown at 22 had crossed the Isthmus of Panama in 1858 to join the rush for gold in California. Ii.SrQ.Ad� 2. Carl E. Brown, by Helen filler in San Francisco he purchased a logging and sawmill operation. Drifting up the coast to the Hood Canal, he made a stake in lashington terri- tory when its population consisted of 7000 white people and 21,000 Indians. Returning to Aew Hampshire he married his sweetheart, bought a farm, but after his first wife's death he returned to 4�ashington, made another stake, and with it went back to New Hampshire to marry Charlotte Elliot. Nith his brother as a partner, he bought abd operated the Brown Lumber Company in virgin timber near Ihite- field on the ed e of the 4hite mountains. The mining bug, however, had bitten deep into arren G. Brovrfi. +'v'hen he was 70 he urged Ctrl to come out to Idaho in 1903 to look into some mining interests in the Thunder Mountain district. The mine didn't pan out and most of the family money was washed out with the sands in the goldpan. The father went to Nampa, where a rea*state broker talked rim into buying an alfalfa meal plant. The plant went broke, and young Carl saved what he could by buying a team of horses, baling the h,-,Y and hauling it into Nampa to sell: Gradually he worked into the hay business, buying, baling and selling. Chance stepped into the picture again. Mrs. Brown had her first baby. Her trained nurse had a husband who interested C,<<rl Brown in a partnership in the sugarbeet business. The Browns had made enough money from the hay to invest 42,000 in sugarbeets. They rented 100 acr,-s on Indian creek near Nampa and 80 acres of hay and grain land for a place to live. A partial crop f ailure the first year put the partners into debt for exactly what the Browns had invested. The note of indebtedness was split by the bank into J p 1000 for each partner. Mrs. Brown, a frail little woman of 94 pounds lived in one room in Nampa with her baby while her husband snowshoed 100 miles over 4p�E summit, through Barren, and over Elk Summit to Ramey Ridge, where he could 'et a job working in a prospect mine at �t& � 7 3. Carl E. Brown, by Helen Miller a month and board. The monthly checks were sent to ors. Brown wh paid to the bank the 412 interest due each month on the note. In the Spring Tars. Brown joined her husband, and the two worked hard khR for three years until they had paid back the indebtedness on both notes. they lived first in a small cabin on the Crown dining Compar�,v 's land. In January with the snow 12 feet deep they left the cabin and packed out to Barren. Five days later a snowslide came down the mountain and took the cabin with it. "Those were desperate times we had in the mountains," Carl Brown said, reminiscing as he leaned back in his chair in his pleasant livingroom. "For six months 1virs. Brown didn't see another woman and for six years she didn't see a railroad. ie bought a little shoestring ranch on the South Fork and Mrs. Brown kept stoppers. Writes were 50 cents a meal and 50 cents a bed. She churned butter to sellat 50 cents a pound in 4arren, a bib price for butter in those days. Eggs sold for 25 cents a dozen,. I got the contract to haul mail between -,:�dNardsburg and Darren. Had two big dogsand a sled to cart the mail, and 1 broke trail for the. dogs on showshoes. The snow was deep on the level, and you never knew what a snowslide would rumble down from the mountains." 1�:ny interesting people were "stoppers" at the Browns in the summer days of those years, staying on to eat Ida Brown's cooking and to fish or hunt. Professor Holden of Iowa State College, Ames, was a "stopper" as were I+1r. and -&jrs. idedill Rc0ormick of Chicago, and - alargaret Cobb, now `11rs, Ailshie of Boise, publisher of the Idaho Statesman newspapers. ' vhhen Carl Brown was underbid for the mail route, he came out of the mountains and bought the mail contract from Lardo to warren. In four years he was again underbid, and this time he purchased an in- terest in a business that he had always wanted to enter, lumbering. It was in 1913 that he bought out Bert Bills, a partner of Theodore 4. Carl L. Brown by Helen k�liller Hoff in the lumber business in McCall, using as capital the money saved from his years on the mail route and cash from the sale of horses and equipment. The total was 4'3500. The Browns moved into a tiny two -room house, where lairs. Bennett's home now stands. Carl Brown was a logger at last. The lumber 6ompany contracted to sell lumber to the Payette Lakes Inn, then being built, at 412 a thousand feet. Four horses, axle deep in mud could haul only a thousand board feet per load. ( "There goes a good bunch of logs, Pa," "'rs. Brown interpolated here, looking out the window at a huge Brown's Tie and Lumber Co. truck as it thundered by with its load of great logs bound for the mill. Poaerful purring machinery rolling by on a smooth highway seemed a long cry from those days of mud and straining horses.) Business looked good for Hoff and Brown until the Payette Lakes Inn decided it could pay only half of its 1,0400 bill. " Je got only 4'6 a thousand feet for that lumber. i4e get approximately p90 now, -arl Brown said. The lumber company was pretty h_-,.rd up after this material loss. To add to the difficulties, snow blocked the railroad line that winter, and no lumber could go out to market. Carl Brown went back to his mailhauling to earn enough money to handle the payroll at the mill. he hauled the mail from ideCall to Cascade for 450 a trip, tNice a reek through deep snow with six good logging horses Fulling the mail, and he himself on snowshoes. In 1916 -17 he hauled the mail from Lardo to ,iarren to feet mill expenses. After the bad years, times grew easier. Indebtedness was paid off at 12J interest, and contracts rolled in. In 1929r. Hoff sold his shire in the company to Yjr. Brown. tinder his management the business grow until its next setback, when in 1931 -32 a bad financial slump caught the company with all its money tied up in a million feet of logs and an order on hand for only 30,000 ties. kany sawmills 5 Carl E. -Drown. By Helen tiller _round the country closed r:7own, but Brown's Tie and Lumber `company weathered the depression. In July, 1940, the mill burned to the ground, but so good was Carl Brown's name in the state by this time that he was able to borrow enough money on his personal note to rebuild his mill. At the present time the company cuts 19 million feet of lumber each year, ships imny cars to Brooklyn, New York, and last year Jias a gayroll of , 654, 000. 14ainy men have worked for the lumber company for m .ny years, haue built homes in McCall, often with the aid of the company. They pay on a home only during the summer :working months, and the company nev._�r has taken a home from an employee in financial troubles. warren Brown, who inherited his f;_zther's love of the lumber business, has worked up from the bottom. At 10 years of age, he started to work on the pond; at 12 he was in the woods. Now a capable and efficient lumberman, he has a half interest in the business and is vice- president and assistant manager of the company. Carl Brown's creed in business is a simple one, but sound as the heart of the good yellow pine trees that he cuts. "Honesty," he says, "is the foundation of a successful life. deep your word at any cost ith a nyone to whom you give it, whether it is to your banker or to your humblest employee." CARL ELLIOTT BROWN tA�rt� 00 It seems logical to start my autobiography with a statement about being born. This portentous occasion happened to me on Sbptember 10, 1878. Simple mathematics would provte that I am 80 plus years old. it was 1899 that I graduated from New Hampton Institite and for three years 1 worked in the Brown Lumber store in uhitefield, New Hampshire', for my father. The company was sold in 1902. I was sent to Idaho in 1903 to look after some mining interests owned by my father and have resided here continuously for the intervening 55 years. Ida Harrington End I were married on August 28, 1902, and we have four children, three daughters and one son, and in addition we have twelve grandchildren and one greatgrandchild. Ay introduction to Idaho and the mining industry involved going into the great prmmitive area of this state on horseback. It was 30 mil.�s to the nearest settlement. Two years of hard work proved the futility of that venture, and I went to Nampa to dispose of a great deal of hay that had been purchased for use in the manufacture of alfalfa meal. The sale of this material was successfully acco,.plished and by 1906 i had accumulated three t earns of horses and 412,000. 1906 was the first year of operation for the sugar beet plant in Nampa. The crop that year had been good, and 1 was persuaded by a Mr. Fred Stewart to form a partnership for the raising of beets. Ne rented land, used my teams and my capital/ In 1907 there was a crop failure, a financial panic a.nd we wound up less all assets and owing the bank 422000. My partner arranged to set this debt up as individual obligations of :4"1,000 each, interest at 12 %, and therein lies the secret of my subsequent successful years. 1 paid that debt off in 410 and larger payments over the next four years and establshed a credit reputation that i have. anxiously guarded at all times since. That P"1,000 repayment under difficult circumstances has been t::e basis for F. personal credit line that has recently reached one half 2. Autobigoraphy of Carl Elliott -brown At any rate, after the sugar beet fiasco, I worked for a survey and crew /later that winter was offered a job in a mine in the prii,itive area providing I was willing to snowshoe 95 Miles over three high summits to reach the mine. This I did. Ivy employer ran out of money in a s port time and I then worked for another mining concern. lbiy wife and infant daughter came in the following spring by horseback. That summer, 1908, I contracted t he digging of 110' feet of mine shaft and we worked until the snow was so deep that it was necessary to use snowshoes to get to the outhouse. iVe completed the contract and Mrs. Brown and I snowshoed to the summit two miles away, carrying our daughter. There we met the mail carrier with his dog team. On the way to McCall, we stayed the we first night at an overnight stopping place and while there /were offered the entire place including 160 acres of land, house, furniture and animals for .'500. tirrangements were made for the purchase. The mail contract from Narrens to Edwardsburg was secured and for 2 years 1 c, rried the mail on snowshoes, and with snowshoe -shod horses in the winter, and a team and wagon in the summer while 2vrs. Brown kept bstoppers" at 50¢ a mean and 50¢ a bed. le finished paying the bank. The mail contract raa out in 1910.. I sold the place for part cash and a parcel of land in McCall. in a very short time I purchased the McCall to idarren mail route for J5,000 and carried the mail with dog teams;, snowshoe -shod horses and any other way to get through. Snow was often 20 feet deep. This ran out in 1914 and I sold the outfit for �3, 500 cash. There was at this time a sawmill in McCall owned by tufe men in partnership. 1 was approached by one of the partners to buy the other Imo. rtner's share, which I did for P3,000. I had no atcual logging experience but had been exposed to it for years at home while my father owned and operated the Brown Lumber Company. 4e put logs in the pond for 4 "4 per thousand boL:_rd feet,, and in this connection I out up my remaining cash to buy a stand of timber, thus leaving hn money 3. nutobioraphy of Carl E. Brown for living; expenses. Fortunately the railroad which had just been built to McCall was snowbound for seven weeks, and I packed the mail on their contract, t ,vo times a week from McCall to Cascade, 30 miles,, for "50 a trip. This income supported both my family(wife and four children) and my partner'd family (wife and six children) for those long months and again I .vas forced to use snowshoes and snowshoe -shod horses as the roads, tooj: were blocked. Je began selling t ies t o the railroad in the second year, and for years we did well to mike expenses. 14y partner ran the mill and I took care of the logging and fin-.ncing. In 1929, we had accumulated a few assets, and my partner forced me to buy him out. Again the years were lean and it was only through good management on the part of hrs. Brown and myself that we managed to keep operating and to educLte our children in the schools of their choice. 1940 was the year the mill burned, and it was then that the personal credit that i had watched so carefully paid off. h Boise bank loaned me '220,000 to rebuild, and our success has been assured ever since. Today we cut and saw 33 million bo.rd feet of lumber each year. Ne have markets from coast to coast and we employ approximately 220 men on a year -round basis. 1 have served as senator from this county for five terms. I have been a national committeeman from Idaho. ors. Broom and i have traveled extensively and have a most of friends from everywhere. All in all we have had a lot of the worse and much more of the best. Ne have ;one from a very rugged t3pe of existence to the very convenient and modern. In retrospect, there is little if any that we would changa,� :. The changes we have seen and in which we have ; rticipated have run the Gamut from dogsleds. to airplanes, from sanitary facilities which could be reached only on snowshoes to luxurious bathrooms, from team logging sleighs to high trucks and tractors, from melt -.n,, snow I' 4 rutobiography of Carl Elliott -Brown for grater to an abundance of hot water from a tap. It was wonder: ul experience to have lived in this age, and it is even more wonderful to have made the change from a protected Eastern life to the rugged challenging life in the remote pri Ative areas of Idaho. 4.yutobiography of Carl Elliott Brown DATES 1899 Gradyated from New Hampton Institute 1899 to 1902 .forked in Brown Lumber Company Store in Ahitefield 1902 -karried to Ida Harrington 1903 To Idaho-- rri:-itive area -- mining 1904 Summer - Mining 1905 Summer - Mining 1903 'linter Selling surplus alfalfa Hay 1904 Winter Same as above. 1905 Winter Same as above 1907 Spring and Summer, Raising Sugar Beets 1907 Fall -- Survey Crew 1907 -08 riinter-- lMlines at Edwardsburg 1908 Summer-- 101ines contract for tunnelling 1908 'rJinter -- purchased halfway house and 1.1cCall- to- Edwardsburg Mail Rt. 1910 Purchased i�a,il Route McCall to ,Darren 1914 Purchased ',, interest in Hoff7& Bills L'ill -- Renamed it Hoff & Brown Lumber Company 1940 Mill burned and rebuilt on new site. 1945 2 interest to my son i;arren H. Brown 1952 Mrs. Brown and I celebrated Golden 4edding Anniversary. Children: 10 -rs. Elizabeth B. Harwood, McCall Ir. :Darren H. Brown, McCall Mrs. Dorothy B Beyerle, Boi -se Mrs. lKargaret Davies, Nampa Written By Grace McRae IDA BRO19NfS PION +Z BACKGROUND The year is 1909. It Is early su3maer and the sun is hot. Mr. McRae and I are jogging along a dusty, mountain road on the South Fork of the Salmon River, Vie are weary from our three day horseback ride from YcCall. Presently we come to a lovely garden spot, then a rose-covered cottage with shade trees all around. We stop at the gate. A pretty,, brown-haired, young woman comes to greet us. This is Ida Brown as I first knew her. A New England girl, daughter of a Baptist minister, she had left her fine, old Ne.i Hampshire home and cast her lot with her husband who had bought mining prospects in the remote and rugged Big Creek Country in central Idaho. 'then these prospects proved disappointing, Mr. Brown was forced to take a mail contract from Warren to �dwardsburg to obtain a livlihood. Thus they had established this home which also served as a way station on the mail route. It was there that 1:-,rs. Brown kept open house for all the prospectors and mining people who travelled those long, hard trails. All who stopped were assured a cordial welcomet good meals, and comfortable beds. Most visitors were of necessity men and it was a rare occasion, indeed, when L:rs. Brown could enter- tain and visit with another woman. -2- After a few years when it came time for their little daughter, Elizabeth, to start school, they moved to McCall, where 1-Tr, Brown secured a contract to carry the McCall- `,warren mail. At this time there were no modern homes on the shores of Payette Lakes. The town consisted of a handful of crude, frame dwellings. The Browns finally secured a small house and Ida set to work at once to make it a home where they could be comfortable and where their many mountain friends would be w-elcome, I looked forward with pleasure and anticipation to my trips from Old Yeadows to stay with them. Their small home radiated with cheerfulness, friendliness, helpfulness, and fun. We would go to Sunday School where Ida played the organ and lead the singing. In those days when a doctor was many miles away, we often travelled by buggy down the valley to see someone who was ill, Mrs. Bro,;m seemed to have an in- tuition for medicine and knew many remedies for sickness. Of her time and knowledge she gave willingly and was ever Lw> present with comforting words and deeds at times of misfortune or death in the small community. About 1913, they decided to put their roots do-an in McCall and 11r. Brown purchased an interest in a sawmill on the shores of Payette Lake, -3- It was through Urs. Brown's efforts that Community Church Services vrere started. In due time a modest church was completed, sponsored by the Women's Church Organization in which she was an active leader. Fortune was kind in their new business venture and soon, together, the Browns planned and built the lovely, friendly home on the shore of the Take in which they have lived some 32 years and in which their four children have grown to man and woman -hood. As the years pass their same wonderful hospitality and generosity is shared with old friends and new. I,s of yore, the old timers, miners, and prospectors co °pie to visit and talk over days gone by. Here, too, their new friends dro;:3 in for a chat, a dinner, or a lively bouquet from Mrs. Brawn's flo =wer garden. At all times from her early South Fork home to her present one, Ida Bro.fn has stood for the good things in life. It can truly be said, 'She has built her house by the side of the road and has ever been a friend to roan'. Mrs Dan C McRae CARL E. BROWN Idaho Daily Statesman Carl E. Brown, senior citizen of McCall and owner of Brown's Tie and Lumber company, is doing the work he loves to do, lumbering. And he's been following that profession since 1915 when he bought out Bert Bills, a partner of Theodore Hoff in the lumber business in McCall. Brown has been a citizen of the Gem state for the past 47 years and his lumber company is a sustaining factor of the village of McCall. He said he had "just staggered around from job to job until I got what I wanted- - the lumber industry. Took me until I was 37 years old just to find my- self". In the days when the Brown Lumber company was having its hard times, Brown went back to hauling mail, something he had done before enter- ing the lumber business, to earn enough money to meet the ihill payroll. He hauled the mail from McCall to Cascade for $50. a trip, twice a week and often through deep snow. In 1916 -17, he hauled the mail from Lardo to Warren to meet mill expenses. At the present time the company cuts 19 million feet of lumber each year, ships many cars to Brooklyn, N. Y., and last year had a payroll of $654,000. He is a member of the Elks club and the Masons. One of his hobbies is dancing and another is the game of bridge. His wife is the former Ida Harrington, formerly of White Field, N. H. They have four children: Elizabeth Brown Harwood, Warren Harrington Brown, Dorothy Brown Beyerle and Margaret Brown Davies, and 10 grandchildren. Here is Brown's creed: "Honesty is the foundation of a success- ful life, keep your word at any cost with anyone to whom you give it, whether it is to your banker or to your humblest employee". AN MOCALLIS BROWN VERSATILE A versatile career in clerking, minings haulings surveying mail carrying, limbering grid politics records the success of Valley Countyfs Senator Cerl Brown,, owner of the Broi.n-i 'LJe & '-i Lrnber Company it McCall. 3rown cone to Idaho from New Hampshire '.n 1903 with a back- gronndof experience clerk.-Il.ng in a generi;J storc but out to make 111s fo�-tune from mining gold. Furch.::sing a prospect in the Big Creek niininE d-istrict froirt J. G. Green, Boise, he imnediately started learning the mining game. He learned it thoroughly,, of that there Is no doubt.Tho discourging factor was that the ed- ucation cost him jl-'8000. '1I-icn 1�1.e hnd to start over again-broke. ­1 So Brown moved to Np-rtpa and started hauling hay. He purchas- ed hay, sold it b,,_,led or loose. 3usiness was good. He was a stalwart young man willinr- to wo3.-k hard and came out with %'1'2000 anal a set of five sound tc,@>',ds of horries. That was when he met Fred 3?;eward.. An energetic fellow with a headful of ideas was Stewart. He sold Brown on the idea of goift into a partnership to raise sugar beets. With pooled capital and $2000borrowed from the Bank of Nampa with a 12% interest they rented 100 acres of ff.ne sugar beet land on Indi-in Creek near Nampa. But they did not get rich. That was the yeas of a Martial crop failure. They lost their shirts and found t1 L themselves, after sellinL off their horses in debt $2000 to the bank. So Steward told Brown how he planned on sttv-'ng him a thousand dollars. • Steward had learned fast talk back in Boston and thought talk ,Tas easier to dish out than money. 1'o Bank Cashier Givens he went with a story saying that he would take reponsibility for hald of thE partnersh 'p debt if the bank divide it into two notes of a thousand dollars each, one for eachof the p,,:'.rtne•s. Know-.LnE he would not pay bJ.s own note,, he thereb;r relieved DPown of the responsibilty of assuming full parterships debts and saved him the money Eis proriised. Steward E.ot J.nto the bank deepen through mismvnaCement of a livery stable and absconded -with mortgaged horses,, finally getting in tho cluthes, of the law. After four years of fenagling and scrimping, Brown and his wife ri-,anagod to pay off their share of the debt. Leaving Nampa, Brown got a snrVey job at M a month, send- ing his salary to his wife who I)a::d off X10 interest 1.1us the principl- on their thousand dollar note and managed to live; on the balpnco..Then he went back to mining, knowing the business well because of extensive but expensive experience. Opporturity beckoned when the star route mail contracts were 'let. Brown secured the contract from Warren to Edwardsburg in 1909 and 1910. At the cnd of this period he eas underbid and lost the contract but cleaned tip his n:" .te at the Nampa Bank and cleared his records. Interest for thl.", last two years had been reduced from 12% to 10%. Clearing of the rote gave Brown a sound reputation for honesty. When he lost the Edwardsburg contract, Brow.n bid for and won • the stgr route mail carry-,'-ng job from Warren to Lardo., carrying the nail this toute for four Then he --as on Years. underbid again by a man named Zumwaldt, It Jas at this time that Brown's career as a lumber man was started. `fire old McCall mill had burned down in 1913 leaving Hoff & Son severly flattened. Hoff induced Burt Bills to put X1500 int-- rebu_;'_lding the P.All,, purchasing equipment from a Weiser firm for 43000 with 6 500 down. This X500 plus V1000 BROWN VERSATILE, CONIT. • balance -11 T3111ts savings, paid the cost of re-establishing the mill. Bill Is and Hoff -:uarrelcd Violsntl-,v. Finally Bills left selling his Interost to Brown for $5500. To sceure h^.If interest cost Broijn a total of 1 0 d. 000 because Bill's ha lost partial control by this time. For several cars Hoff and Brown found desperate going to keep the sawtr.111 on its feet. When Zumwaldt went broke on his star route in 191-6 19ro-Arr, again bid -arid got the route, uslnr; t1li s in"mo to bolster losses at thy; mill and to help support his P-Tiii3y. For the next two years he hauled ma l - 1 while pressing every minute to kec., -) th,5, Y--,ill from cloosing. A fortunate break wh--',-eh oaved the day for the Brown family was -the result of a t tough 111inter L-i 1917. Sev-re landslides crd4.1)plod vailro-sd connee- tj`.ons out of Cascade. With r,)a('As blocked and mail routes cril):,Ip-d Brown Recepted a contract bo haiLl. tha nail t4ice a week be- tween tho two toi-zis at X50 a trip. In seven Vreeks, by paying expenses with passengers and. ex-,rr(,sso he cleared $700- This life saver was nade possible because Brown knew from previous ex- perience, how to rim horses through blocked roads aver snow with the use of a wooden snowshoe i-hhich he contrived for horses Snowshot-s for horses may seem like a jokes but they proved to bw a boon to Brown, Brown ,lmd Hoff found a hard uph.4.11 pull for a niviber of years but evontuilly, qot things in shape, On Dec. 15,, 1939, Brown bought out Hoff s intcrest and changed the naune of Lhr oawznill to the Br6wn Tie & Lumber Co., as it remains today. • Me mill which out 10,,000 board foot in a ten-hour day now cuts 602 000 board feat in an eight-hour day. A specialty developed by Brown as a r suit of ei;:sperJi-cents A:* in building cabins for sxnner resort homes is thetie cabs .n made From reject tles. `.These railroad tiios are slotted and trimmed so thoy can be readUy fitted toCether for a solidly consteucted inexponsivo and easily built cabin. lie 11.3 now consider i__ng the davolopnent of a ready-made cabin from this invention. In 1923 and again in 1927 and 19C29, Carl Brown -oias olected se­iator from Valley County. Today he is still an active r-sl.c3ent of McCall., managing tho sawmill, helping his employees ,.,ith their �-,wesana` L problems aand having as much fun -iq any of the Younger fellow. The man iAho invented wooden. snoi-T-Thoes for horses is an old-timer who shows no signs of grow1ing old. • l f� i 1� CA.0 nROWN MARK GOLD 11t1 1VEDDING A7 PAFiTY Au7ust 23, 1952 By Hcler ;_ller sir. and Mrs. Carl E. Brown eelebrated their -olden vveddinn anniversary l"nur "day, when. they sere nostS to 1000 �ue� +.� at an everinr, onen house. Included in the west list were the nioneer residents of the village, the 200 i3rown employees and their families, �`IcCall friends, and a large number of summer colony residents from Boise, Caldwell and Nampa. Soecial out -of -town r7uests were . r. a -d. lv'Irs. Ronald On.ratling of Salt Lake City, Julius Stul:nan of i4eva 'ork City, - -ir. a, d stirs. Paul Drew of Omaha, v: braslia, r. and 1vlrs . Dan IIc ae and LIobert lac tae of Stibnite, any?. iT r�, . J. Blake of Caldwell. j:3efore the open house, kr. an ! ivirs. Brown were entertained by t- ei Bona and daughters with a famil7T dinner z)arty at Sl:iore Lode. Present were -r. ca'n(i „`!rs. S. 1,7. Harwon(I, Stan and Ann; M-. al-id ';its. 'Marren Brown, Frank a, -)^ Diane, all of ilrlcCall; 1 -r. and iplrs. TtzctT Beyerle, Carol and Susan, of Boise and ;sir. and Mrs. Ho-mer :Davies and children of Namna. LIVED I4 IDAHO: All but one of the 50 ?ears of the Brown's ma.,riage have been s ,)ent in Idaho, part in the Boise valley, most of it in the Payette Lakes area. The have watched Idaho grow up from a brawling youngster of a state, whose scows lay unbroken in winter over all 4- -he mountain -roads and whose sorina mud sucked hio -deep at fre-i. -'-t a -ivQrs wi t:n thei - four horse teams. They have watched the rut'(-ed freight trails change to oaved roads and have seen the coming of the railroads and motor trucks to the inland areas. The Browns came to Idaho from New Hamnshire in 1903 to look after family m1nin7 interests in the failing Thunder Idlountain district. The mines didn't pan out and 1.`ne bought an alfalfa meal nlant near Nampa. When the olant went broke, i -s owner bought a team of horses, baled the AM r 4 Carl brown Golden Wedding - -2 alfalfa, and hauled. it to town to sell, gradually !,orkln-� into the hay business. GREW SUGAR BEETS: With the money accrued, the Browns invested in the sugar beet business, renting 100 acre-, on Indian creek near Nampa. A a Qartial crop failure th^ first year ade this venture that nut them into debt tha!-. took the -:i three --ears to repay. ,�'rs Brown lived in Nampa in one room with her first baby while her husband snow -shoed a. hundred miles over cecesh summitt, through Warren, and over Elk summitt to Ramey ridqe where he found a ninint job at `1'75 a - Month. Mrs Brown joined . her husband in the siring and both of them worked to rena- thei debt. "Those were pretty hard t:i-rles vie 'pad in the :mountains," Carl Bro ,,n said. 'liiirs. Brown didn't see another woman for six months. We bought a little shoe strinm ranch on the South Fork and Mrs. 3rovrn kebt "stogie ers" at 50 cents a .teal, 50 cents a bed. She churned butter to sell at 50 cents a ooun� and we sold eg> s at, 25 cents a dozen. tr GUESTS WERE WELL- KiORN: Many interesting people were "stooeers" during the summer days, glad to eat Ida 3rown's cookin7 be ti,��een fishing and huni_.ing exneOitions. Margaret Cobb now ial.rs Ailshie, publisher of the Idaho Statesman net�,snaner, was a "stoner" as were ir'r. a-nd firs. Madill Me- Corni ck of Chi camo . Carl brown earned -ronpT T on the side durin.r° those hard � -e „rs by carr77in7 the mail by dog team between Edwardsburg and Warren through snov.; so deep that he often had to break trail on snow shoes for the dons. Underbid on the nail route., he came ou.t of the mountains to buy the mail contract from Lardo to Warren. BOUG'gl” LU�;;rE.Z BUSI1ESS: Underbid again he invested the money saved from mail routes in the lumber business in r cCall. Pa,yetto Lakes I-in wcts bein.m built at tha F- time, and the new lumber cn- nan;r won the PAYETTE LAKES STAR, JUNE 277 1957 Carl Brows Honored At Rotary "Lumberjack" Program A TRIBUTE FROM AN OLD FRIEND As you know, 1 have known Carl Brown for a great many Years and I surely highly respect Carl and the Brown family, and it has been a lot of satisfaction to me to see Carl maintain the Position that he now holds, es. pecially since I know the struggle that he had in the early 'teens to get started and get on his feet. It has been a pleasure through the years to deal with a man who, when he gave his word, you did not need a written contract or any other confirmation. This type of man is getting more and more scarce and many of us like to re- member the times in the develop- ment of the West in our industries when this integrity and the old saying that, "a man's word was as good as his bond" still exists. Windsor J. Lloyd Forest Resources Stud;ed It was "Carl Brown Day" at the Payette Lakes Rotary Club last Friday noon. The meeting was held in the big dining room- at Shore Lodge with a large crowd of members and visitors attend- ing. The program was about forest resources in the Payette Lakes area and the timbermen "Lumber- jacks" who work in the woods, haul the logs and man the mills and yards. Trees make news and so do the men who work with trees, "men to match the moun tains." Program Chairman Britt Nedry arranged the timber resources program and dedicated it to Carl E. Brown, "The greatest Lumber - jack of Them All," founder of the Brown's Tie & Ur. Co., one of the business leaders of Idaho. Carl was unable to be present because of confinement in a Boise Hospital but his courageous spirit pervaded the meeting. The chairman point- ed out the economic value of the timber industry to McCall, the Payette National Forest, and all of the related factors contribu- ting to the large payroll here. He also called attention to the extensive civic activities of Carl Brown and the Brown 'family and their leadership in communi- ty developments. The speaker of the day was I George Hjort, Boise, Vice- Presi- 1 dent of the Boise - Cascade Lum- ber Co., in charge of production. Mr. Hjort paid tribute to Carl Brown as one of the leaders of the lumber industry in Idaho. He cited the predominating position of the timber resources in Idaho, second only to agriculture in dol- ]ar value, employing 12.000 peo- ple with an annual payroll of $53,- 000,000. He told of the broad tax base on lumber — on timber lands, logs, mills, and inventory. He explained the experiments be- ing made to utilize the waste pro- ducts, of the tremendous possi- bilities for the "chip" products in hardboards, pulp and chemi- cals. "Timber is a crop ", said Mr. Hjort. "With good management tree farm expansion and sound conservation practices, our for- ests will be an everlasting re- source to this area and our State." Visitors at the luncheon were Warren Brown, Joe Kasper, Brow- nie Hoff, Les Ulmer, Pete Wal- lace, all of McCall; Jack Morgan, J. I. Morgan Logging Co., Bob Day, New Meadows; Harry Flee- nor, Harry Poulsen, and Julius Shorlaks, Boise. At a special table were Jayne Brown, Elizabeth Ned - ry. Eva Boydell and Betty Har- wood. Ida Brown on right Theoa, •ewniak Bud Mason Ronald C. Dunlap W. J. Dooley Howard H. Meador Eino M. Arola M. E. Heikkola Matt Paananen John Hillberg Frank C. Woods Martin Hoff Warner Willey, Dick Krahn Brownie Hoff Walter J. Smith FREIND CARL BROWN the known you thru the years birthday, we give three cheers. health, when the going got rough, rays proved that you are tough. JNGRATULATIONS _ THE OLD TIMERS_ David H. Jordan Ben Lawrence Robert Bruce Alfred Jussil.a Bud Coonrod Harvey Bloom Keith Webb J. D. Moore Glenn Burnside Edwin J. Fors Lawrence Dutton Don Sanford Lee Bruno William Coburn Les Ulmer Henry Allen Glenn Wright John Takala Dori Willis Harry Krahn Fred Brown Milt, Hansen Ernie Ward Cash Crawford Bob Brandenburg C. R. M. Johnson Red Gantz Hud Henderson Fred Adkins Bill Harp Tex Chitwood J. L. bRISCOLL P. O. BOX 830 BOISE,IDAHO October 18,1965 Mrs. Betty Harwood Box 605 McCall,Idaho Dear Betty: Thanks for your letter of October 15th.. I am pleased to learn that Mrs. Jellison will stay on at .150.00 per month, paying; her own grocery bill. I believe that will be money well spent until we can get things rolling a little further down the road. I think probably under the circumstances we should pay the fuel and power bill. They cani!t amount to very much so I would rather pay them than to have any question on the subject raised with Mrs. Jellison. JLD:mce Carl E Brown Statesman oct 13 1951 Statesman Oct 13 CARL E. BROWN, senior citizen of McCall and owner of Brown's Tie and Lumber company, is doing the work he loves to do, lumbering. And he's been following that profession since 1915 when he bought out Bert Bills, a partner of Theodore Hoff in the lumber business in McCall. Brown has been a citizen of the Gem state for the past 47 years and his lumber company is a sus- taining factor of the village of McCall. He said he had "just staggered around from job to job until 1 got what I wanted —the lumber industry. Took me until I was 37 years old just to find myself." In the days when the Brown Lumber company was having its hard times, Brown went back to hauling mail, something he had done before entering the lumber business, to earn enough money to meet the mill payroll. He hauled the mail from McCall to Cascade for $50 a trip, twice a week and often through deep snow. In 1916 -17, he hauled the mail from Lardo to Darren to meet mill expenses. At the present time the company cuts 19 million feet of lumber each year, ships many cars to Brooklyn, N. Y., and last year had a payroll of ,$654,000. He is a member of the Elks club and the Masons. One of his hobbies is dancing and another is the game of bridge. His wife is the former Ida Harrington, formerly of White Field, N. H. They have four children: Eliza- beth Brown Howard, Warren Harrington Brown, Doro- thy Brown Beyerle and Margaret Brown Davies, and 10 grandchildren. Here is Brown's creed: "Honesty is the foundation of a successful life, keep your word at any cost with anyone to whom you give it, whether it is to your banker or to your humblest employe." LY STATESMAN i Carried bail le'rMountain pleased to present two old pho an. tographs which revive memories ley of those days of long ago. )ic- One of them is a photo of the rly old Schaefer homestead on the south fork of the Salmon river. ly, The site is said to be where a detachment of U. S, cavalry y camped while enroute to the I Bib' Creek country where ram. paging Sheepeater Indians were captured in 1878. This is the place where Mr, and Mrs: Carl Brown made their home when Carl back - packed the mail into Edwardsburg via Elk Creek summit in 1909 -10 — a treacher. ous, snowblanketed route of howling blizzard conditions, with every mile a gruelling task. The companion photo shows Carl's log home on Logan creek in the Edwardsburg area where he was engaged in mining op. erations for a time just pre - ceeding the turn of the century. It depicts an old timer "Boston" Brown, and Mr, and Mrs. Brown's daughter Betty (now Betty Harwood) in the fore- ground. Carl, who was a rugged char acter, seemingly able to cope with the rigorous task that Un= cle Sam demanded in the car- rying of mail into remote iso- lated areas, asked for and got the mail contract out of Lardo at Payette Lakes, via Burgdorf Hot Springs to Warren during 1911 through 1914. It was a route over which it was neces- sary to use dog teams, snowshoe equipped horses and skis or "webs." Thus it was that Carl Brown worked his way, unknow- ingly, into a successful lumber business, and thence into the Idaho Legislature where he served as senator from Valley county for several sessions. Retired from active manage - ment in the Brown Tie and Lumber company which he helped found, Carl at age 83,'' may reminisce back to those .pioneer days just preceding the Thunder Mountain gold boom; to the days when the vast wil- - we now call primi -I BOISE, IDAHO, MONDAY MORNING, MAY 8,1961 e _ , OLD SCHAEFER HOMESTEAD on the Salmon river's south fork served as the home Mr, and Mrs. Carl Brown in the early 1900's when he was backpacking mail into the rev Edwardsburg area. -LUU CABIN on Logan creek served as the home of Mr. and Mrs.' Carl Brown at the turn of the century. Shown in this Photograph taken early in the 1900's are an old -timer, known as `Boston" Brown'and $etty, daughter of the Carl Browns. now Mrs. Betty Harwood. Carl Brown - (to a Nampa associate) - 1956 It has occurred to me that you should be interested in things that have happened in your community. It was just 50 years ago in Nampa that Carl and Ida took the first steps that were to lead them to and across the frontiers of success. It is also interesting to note that that first step toward success was a failure. In 1906 the sugar factory opened in Nampa and the crop of beets in that area was excellent. In 1907 Carl decided to make his debut into the field of farming and ran headlong into a partial crop failure. No one made money that vear -- particularly the Browns. When the smoke cleared away and everything had been sold - Carl and Ida owed the Bank in Nampa $1,000.00. Interest was at the rate of 12%. No work was available in or around Nampa that fall, but Hub Frier of Big Creek assured Carl that if he could and would snowshoe the 90 miles from McCall to Ramey Ridge he would give him a job at $75.00 per month and his board. Carl made the trek, accepted the job and the paychecks were sent to Ida at Nampa. She religiously paid the $10.00 a month interest on the $1,000.00 note. In June of 1908 Ida and one and one -half year old Betty made the trip to Big Creek (then called Edwardsburg) by horseback. The following spring mining played out in the back country and Carl began carrying the mail from Warren to Edwardsburg. It was 40 miles and a round trip had to be made in four days. The route covered altitudes of from three to nine thousand feet and snow depths in the spring were from 0 to 22 feet. Government pay was $75.00 a month for one trip in the winter and $150.00 a month for two trips a week by saddle and pack horse in the summer. There were no fringe benefits, no expense accounts, no deductions - -it was catch your own rabbits and feed your own horses. Ida boarded and roomed travelers at 50¢ a bed at the old Jack Shafer homestead on the South Fork. Carl augmented the family income by packing supplies to prospectors at 3¢ a pound and early in 1910 they were able to pay off the bank in Nampa. Because they had faithfully paid their interest and had paid off the principal within what was then a very reasonable time, thev had established a reputation for honesty and a basis for credit that was to be the foundation for their considerably more than modest success in the years to come. Financing their operations since those years has involved large sums - yet they have never been refused credit. T1,eir ao:i:»ty and integrity has never been questioned and by the same token, they have never failed to do exactly as they promised they would do. We, in McCall, are extremely proud of our Senior citizens; we are proud of what they stand for and of what they have done. On this 50th anniversary of their migration, we want to thank the people of Nampa for their faith and trust in these wonderful and gracious people and for the circumstances that made the Browns our senior citizens and not yours. "The greatest lumberjack of them all -- founder of Brown's Tie and Lumber." "It has been a pleasure through the years to deal with a man who, when he gave his word, you did not need a written contract or any other confirmation. This type of man is getting more and more scarce and many of us like to remember the times in the development of the West in our industries when this integrity and the old saying that 'a man is as good as his bond' still exists." October 18, 1965 Mr. Harley !1. McDowell Idaho Buildin'-:,r Boise.Idaho Dear "Ir. McDowell: Last week you advised me in connection with our arrangement for you to appraise the Ida H. mown home in McCall,, th,,t you would be in McCall Friday next, the 22nd, on another appraisal and. that you WoUld make the Brown appraisal at that time. You should contact ?;Irs. Ted Harwood or her husband, Ted Harwood direct to make arrangements to 7o thru the house. Vert; urs, JLD: -nee L. -)ri coll, ---xecLtor Estate f Ida. 11. Brown,rjecld. cc: Mrs. Ted Harwood '1cCall,,Idaho h J. L. DRISCOLL P.O. BOX 630 BOISE,IDAHO October 18, 1965 Mrs. Elizabeth B. Harwood McCall, Idaho Mrs. Dorothy Carolyn Beyerle Rimrest Apartments 109 Crescent Prim Drive Mrs. Marcaret J. Davies ► 305 West Emerson Street Seattle, Washington 070,199 Dear Girls You have or will shortly receive a notice from the Probate Court of Valley County instructing: you to appear at the hearing for Admission to Probate of your mother's will at 9:00 A.M. November 10th. There is no reason why any of you need to appear, unless -- (1) You want to contest part or all of the will, which I know you don't; or (2) You simply want to be there to hear the proceed.i ngs . The notice or order by the Probate Court is siraply part of the requirements of the statute. The hearing itself is purely perfunctory where there is no contest. It mia;ht� last as much as thirty minutes. Furthermore, the hearing will not be at 9:00 A.M. that morning. That hour, again, is just the common practice of the Probate Courts to set all such hearings at 9:00 A.M. Actually, it will probably be held about 11:00 A.M. by which time fir. Roden and I can drive up to Cascade.. One think, however, will be required and this part of the letter is addressed. primarily to Betty. We will need the two witnesses, Mrs. Jack Hayes and Mrs. Jellison present at the hearing. Will you, Betty, arrange with them to be present? I don't know whether Mrs. Jellison or Mrs. Hayes will want to drive down by themselves or whether you will want to drive them down but in any event, will you make the appropriate arrangements with them to be there? I will advise both you and them later at about what hour the hearing will actually be held so that they won't have to corae down and sit around waiting for some of tie rest of us. I Mrs. Elizabetil 3. Harwood et al ;72. 10 -1(S-65 !Normally we coo not call for a professional appraiser in an ordinary estate but rely solely on the local appraisers appointed by the Court. But since U is t kinq the home_as part of her z= share of the estate, she will be charged with whatever value the app_ raisers set on it. I therefore feel that for the protection of all three of you and for the assistance of the three court appointed appraisers, I should, in this instance have a professional appraiser furnish. an appraisal. It will not bind the local appraisers to the value he may set but it may be helpful to them. With these t: :?_oughts in mind i have arranged with Harley McDowell of Boise, who is a professional appraiser, owns property in 'HcCall and Blair has had experience with him in mazinm other appraisals there in McCall, to make an appraisal of your mother's house. He will be in McCall Friday to make this appraisal. I know Varren will be out of the city at that time and T am advised Blair will, so, _Betty, do you suppose r can impose on you to make arrange- ments for him to see the house and so forth so that he can furnish this appraisal? i don't know just what hour of the .day he will want to do this but I am addressing a letter to him asking him to contact you direct on that question. am arranr;ing for photographic copies of your mother's will to be made and their will be sent along; to each of you in Re �L.))I scoll, Executor Estate/of lda li. Brown, Dec' d. AN AUTOGRAPH PARTY was held Saturday at Nampa's Carnegie Library on the occa- sion of publication of Mrs. Grace Jordan's latest book, "The King's Pines of Idaho." The book is largely about the Carl Brown family of McCall. Pictured at the event are (from left) Mrs. Ernest Day, Boise, who created the book's cover; Mrs. Carl Brown, McCall; Mrs. Jordan, who wrote the book; and three of Mrs. Brown's daughters: Mrs. Tuck Beyerle, Boise, Mrs. Homer Davies, Nampa, and Mrs. Stanley Harwood, McCall. (FREE PRESS PHOTO) Idaho Sunday Statesman The Carl Brown Family: Carl Brown, Warren Brown, Frank Brown, Charles Carl Brown Carl Browns 80th birthday party Carl Browns Mark Golden Wedding at Party By HELEN MILLER McCALL (Special) — Mr. and Mrs. Carl E. Brown celebrated their golden wedding anniversary Thursday when they were hosts to 1000 guests at an evening open house. Included in the guest list were the pioneer residents of the vil- lage, the 200 Brown employes and their families, McCall friends, and a large number of summer colony residents from Boise, Caldwell and Nampa. Special out -of -town guests were Mr, and Mrs. Ronald Sprat - ling of Salt Lake City, Julius Stul- man of New York City, Mr. and Mrs. Paul Drew of Omaha, Neb.; Mr. and Mrs. Dan McRae and Robert McRae of Stibnite, and Mrs. T. J. Blanke of Caldwell. Before the open house, Mr, and Mrs. Brown were entertained by their son and daughters with a family dinner party at Shore Lodge. Present were Mr. and Mrs. • s r S. W. Harwood, Stan and Ann; Mr. and Mrs. Warren Brown, Frank and Dianne, all of McCall; Mr. and Mrs. Tuck Beyerle, Carol and Susan, of Boise, and Mr. and Mrs. Homer Davies and children of Nampa. Lived in Idaho All but one of the 50 years of the Browns' marriage have been spent in Idaho, part in the Boise valley, most of it in the Payette Lakes area. They have watched Idaho grow up from a brawling youngster of a state, whose snows lay unbroken in winter over all the mountain roads and whose spring mud sucked hip -deep at freight drivers with their four - horse teams. They have watched the rutted freight trails change to paved roads and have seen the coming of railroad and motor truck to the inland areas. The Browns came to Idaho from New Hampshire in 1903 to look • • • wedding anniversary Thursday at an open house for 100 guests in their McCall home6 after family mining Interests in the failing Thunder Mountain dis- trict. The mine didn't pan out, and they bought an alfalfa meal plant near Nampa. When the plant went broke, its owner bought a team of horses, baled the alfalfa, and hauled it to town to sell, gradually working into the hay business. Grew Sugar Beets With the money accrued, the Browns invested in the sugar beet business, renting 100 acres on In- dian creek near Nampa. A partial crop failure the first year made this a venture that put them into debt that took them three years to repay. Mrs. Brown lived in Nampa in one room with her first baby, while her husband snow - shoed a hundred miles over Secesh summit, through Warren, and over Elk summit to Ramey ridge, where he found a mining job at $75 a month. Mrs. Brown joined her husband in the spring, and both of them worked to repay their debt. "Those were pretty hard times we had in the mountains," Carl Brown said. "Mrs. Brown didn't see another woman for six months. We bought a little shoe - string ranch on the South Fork, and Mrs. Brown kept 'stoppers' at 50 cents a meal, 50 cents a bed. She churned butter to sell at 50 cents a pound, and we sold eggs at 25 cents a dozen." Guests Were Well-Known Many interesting people were "stoppers" during the summer days, glad to eat Ida Brown's cooking between fishing and hunt- ing expeditions. Margaret Cobb, now Mrs. Ailshie, publisher of the Idaho Statesman newspapers, was a "stopper," as were Mr. and Mrs. Madill McCormick of Chicago. Carl Brown earned money on the side during those hard years by carrying the mail by dog team between Edwardsburg and War4 ren through snows so deep that he often had to break trail on snout shoes for the dogs. Underbid on the mail route, he came out of the mountains to buy the mail con- tract from Lardo to Warren. Bought Lumber Business Underbid again, he invested the money saved from mail routes in lumber business in McCall. Pay- ette Lakes Inn was being built at that time, and the new lumber company won the contract to sup- ply lumber, hauling from mill to inn with four horse teams, and wagons axle -deep in mud. During all the ups and downs of the business that has made a successful and full life for the Browns, they have kept to one sound creed: "Be honest. Keep your word at any cost with any- one to whom you give it, whether it is to your banker or to your humblest employe." Last Will and Testament Va)-'Ic Jovnt-z- IdLq':.o, being of sound anO '.:)vt ,1ndful of the' 'uncerLainty of tiuis life, dc, majco, publish, FirtO doclarn this ''to be my Dast Will and Testaric it, P-.,3 follows I diroct that all my Jj.,,,t debts and furic-ral CIZOUrIS;S ✓ be peAd as soar_ -.n practicable aftcr my clout1h, anJ all Valid ectute, Inhorltruicc., transfer and s-,�ccessloit ticxca ii�iicil -vviy.bo ---ri r--) y t )ro 'perty or ucttttc or in L`-ic I—Luis-, T11 ssioti tku-eot' by my dcat!i or or, my b(-.,(j-.u(.,-stS or -,r on my othor property -trans forroO bJ -.,,Ao wwin,- lifotiiiuj be paid out of the principal Q-1, Uic 1---s'iduc u ' 11.Y Ontate. � I I S P, -11- OITD CL j.---,1vc wn(i bequeath to Imne Varicu, ".)f Diccall, valloy "oun,"Y' !L:1111'10, ia: sbe survive P, e, the sum, of COIJ :.', and N o 10 0 'DO L LA 1-US 1.. J 0 0 0 Tli I LIZ D I ancl bruc.lucati-, all U I . 4-11:, v e r, c u and V r- 0 m In. �.!-,r of ny pror-c-rt-,1• and estatc- of wh-at:--o(:vc-r lAn("I LNC. (It t;j�.C. ti!,,,Q ()J: T.; V' doatia f1.,1(21. wLcre-coover the rmtrlo Til J Uf C il I MFAY Lave Polver of --n Uz�dc my B., lic-rwoodj DortAhy 10 Davies, hereinafter' callc--,d C, .t1 C1. s h.- i r o talillcoq and if. any of such 13:--ncflciaric7 iii u i J-, y cloatt-i un�:1- -hall leavo it;f4me ().L m surviv.luv- 111urs ttic sLarc of fiuo!-j. deco aso., r3ouf, ` tt of Vc,ljl*.4E;r,(.,):..t"A.i;,-,Lc.: ;t j to W'C' T 10 .13 ✓-ao smIlIVIVI, c S 0 C f�, T'S0rt(;IjC* .I. "0 the SUI'viving issue (ix Iway (aocc,,_-Ls.-a ueneficiarY# hcrotofoe acquiod Illy Son, Warron H. 13110wrl, r r fatty ' arld 11.10 a forty-nine porCOnt into eat Ju to CO. Lan rcqI.'-C-C;tcd MUlt 0,12 no lly to t t a; public Or t o ov, Iro.b2 e t 1:1,:; ,.ts of my ocAL, Ak. awl, I h,�vcb;y sp-PoInt and noi-A-InFitc J - L,* ")Jl of all o- any T,art: of 1.1y properLy, "for e,-f tiliu., my U.i-st 7$1111 t,, 0,�j 0.51 r-ly 0 t ourt L that lio S(,,-Vo wittlout bo 4' 1, tny Ll to 30 11 61 public Or t o ov, Iro.b2 e t 1:1,:; ,.ts of my ocAL, Ak. awl, exchmiges treul.1 for, Cow, 7 or all o- any T,art: of 1.1y properLy, "for a p:AC,0 171-lcll t,, 0,�j 0.51 r-ly 0 t ourt qv:lil L4 'lit Or c t all willn a A 4M j. rc,, codicile I v ry arla q- Ti we -9 TV' Cal -4b 1-ioincl, , mod yen,, cf our Lord One Thous Ak. , I, -, . , - V— co was, nt tkl.,,.; 0 sealed, -and by Said 1piod unCI J ceclared to' be her Last Will and Tcsta�muntq Sl.Our T.-'rosence sm.id in tho pr.csonce O:r Osel. OL us, anct t ho- anct in 'Ll"al" -C-c;"-' -0, 'Ive .0-cullto lbar! a o a t t eI t; i TI L, I-AtTIO 1964 • Amos Brown Among the residents of Seattle once prominent in her public affairs who have now passed to that "undiscovered country from whose bourne no traveler returns," is numbered Amos Brown, one of the honored peoneers of the city, whose labors were od material benefit in the improvement and upbuilding of this beautiful metroplis. A feeling of the deepest regret spread through the city as the news of his demise was received by those who knew him, not so much because of the part which he tool: in business life, not so much for the aid w?iich he gave to public enterprises, but because the sterling traits of his character had endeared him to those with whorl he was associated and because his benevolent spirit and generosity were so often and yet so unostentatiously manifested. Mr. Brown was born in Bristol, Grafton county, New Hampshire, on the 29th of July, 1833 and died April 8, 1899. His parents were Joseph and Relief (Ordway) Brown. The father was also a native of iyew Hampshire and was of Scotch and English ancestry, the family, however Navin bsen founded in America at a very early day in the history of the old Granite state. Joseph Brown was a prominent lumber manufacturer with extensive mills on the Merrimac river, where he dealt in masts and spars and conducted a general millLng business, which he superintended until sixty years of acre. He was then succeeded by his sons, who carried on the business for any years, the enterprise proving a very profitable one. Amos Brown w,s reared to habits of industr*T and as work was considered more important than study in those days, his opportunity for acquiring and education was extremely limited, although in the school of experience he gained much valuable knowledge. At the early age of ten years he began work in the lumber camp and later was employed at driving the logs on the river, becoming a hardy fearless and daring youth. Ile soon excelled in this occupation, becamean expert in t1is line of business and was thus enabled to command the highesyprice for labor of that Character. Sub- sequently he worked in the mills and rose from one position to another until he was mad superintendent and possessed a thorough and practical knowledge of the business 2 in all its departments, both in principle and detai. Leaving home at the are of twenty -one years, he followed lumbering up to 1858 when the Fraser mines gold excitement broke out, and desirous of rapidly acquiring a fortune in the gold fields he left for the northwest, after selling his interests in the east. Going to New York he secured steerage passage, by way of the Isthmus of Panama, to Victoria, British Columbia, paying two hundred and twenty -five dollars for a continuous passage. The voyage was uneventful save for the discomfort of over- crowded vessels, but suffering no accidnets and little delay, he eventually reached Victoria, there to find the gold bubble had exploded and that the hopes of thousands were doomed to bitter dis- appointment. The town was crowded with suffering starving humanity. Disappointed but not disheartened, hsr. Brown began looking about for work, and believing that he might utilize his %nowledge of lumbering, he at once sailed for Port Gamble, where he found ready employ-nent at seventy -five dollars per month and expenses. During the first year he had charge of a logging camp and then purchased an interest in logging teams and secured contracts with the talling companies to furnish them with looms. This business he carried on successfully for two years and then sold his interest and returned to the emplo-7 of the company with which he had previously worked on salaay. He occupied various positions of trust until 1865 when he resigned in order to visit his old home in New 1ampshire. In 1859 without visiting Seattle, Mr. Brown had been induced to purchase property on Spring street, between Second avenue and the water front, and in 1861 he m ade his first visit to the to,M, In 1863 in connection with M. R. Maddocks and John Condon, he built the old Occidental Hotel, on the present site of the Occidental block, and this hotel was conducted for two years by Messrs. Ma' docks, Brown and Company, at the end of which time he sold his interest to John Collins. In September, 1967 following his visit to his old hone in New Hampshire, 111r. Broom returned to Seattle and entered into partnership with I. C. Ellis, of Olympia. Ile conducted a lumber business in that city until 1882 and alas very successful in the conduct of the enterprise, a large business bringing to him an excellent financial return. For ten years he was in partnership with tor. 73llis and after that was alone. In 1832 he sold out and from 3 that time until his death practically lived retired, merely giving his supervision to his invested interests, which, owing to increased values and extensive operations in real estate, had grown to considerable proportions. Up to the time of his death he reatined large interests in Seattle property, in addition to having extensive tracts of timber in several counties adjoining the sound. In his political views Mr. Broom was an enthusiastic Republican and in his early life was an active participant in political work, doing everyning possible to promote the success of his party and secure the adoption of its principles, but in later years he left the party wort; to younger men. Ile was very public - spirited and co- operated in many movements and measures for the general good and for the improvement of Seattle. Ile served the community in various positions of responsibility and no trust reposed in him was ever betrayed to the slightest degrees. He served as a mamber of the city x council ,,nd for two years was a state official, acting as a director of the Stsilacoom Insane Asylum. lie was most generous and benevolent, his generosity amounting almost to a fault. Any tale of distress awalcened his ready sympathy and was immediately followed by an impulses to a-:sist in any way which he could. In the fall of 1867 1r. Brown, was united in marriage to Bliss Annie 14. Peebles, a native of New York, and the same fall they erected their cotta;e on t he cornar of Front and Springstreats, which district was then almost an unbroken wilderness. In the family were five children: Alson L., of th_a firm of Kinnear R Brown, real estate a;ants of Seattle; Brownie, tree wife of 21. Kinnear, her brother^ partner; Ora, Anna and Helen, all at hors. 'ale children were provided with liveral educations and the sucess of the father enabled hire to 17,ave his family in independent financial circumstances. Mrs Brown has erected a magnificent re,icletic� in oil(: o" the _� ;t Jistri.Cts of tiles Cl.ty a'w i:1111.3 `landso %r).'s a.')ode is C lei)? - >.i:? for i. s attract:l.v(3 socl.aj J" V • " Tian death claimed lir. 3ro -i-ni, one iiho knew i:�'.? wrote o:� "Ti', phe passing of Amos Brown the sounc country, loses one of its best pioneer citizens. For over forty years a citizen and actively identified as he was with the growth of the country, his death cannot be considered in any other light than as a loss to the community. 4 He was public - spirited and interested in any movement for the promotion or advance - vent of measures for the general good and he was scrupulously honest and upright in his dealings with his fellow men. The punctual liquidation of a debt or obligation was one of the cardinal principles of his character. Liberal and benevolent, he was well known for his generosity, yet his giving was always without ostentation or dis- play. When but a boy he exhibited this same generous s-)irit and T °indly solicitude for othars, and often when w^t, cold and hungry himself, he would carry-Wood and food to a poor widow, 1.7110 lived n•aighbor to his parents, befora providing; for his own comfort. 'He always tool; a_. livel�r inter st in young r2erT � d aided many in securing positions Where tl!e? could, advarce tT?eir o ?,tz inter,�sts th-011 :1* 1L- f2'-ice an,l ljOrt'i 733t .13 7'71" Iidiats 1�3 a. _ ;,e nev.r t:Di% A-,?antage of them or Vetrayed their confidence '1e w�17- loved and t TSte b -, t ;gym. He always had a kindly fe eling for the unfortunate and erring and of-ten vy, an 'ran arrested for vagrancy or -trifling offences he securad their release, pledging lii*aseli to f .lrnis'.. 'I _T1 and 53co13 respon- si ?1L for t�b�-�. It is plersi:z to . :10'7 tli.�� LS .:.�:1dn3 3 was ciat. a, 11 7,2110 -1 ' •r to that band Of strong, uc:lr- ral_a'1't, u'1:rr V`r ;' `O "'r�V�•`..�.� n , , ment of the notthwest, and Nr. Bro:an also lived to take and active part in building the superstructure of the great co- Maonwealth through the advancement of one of thn leading cities west of the Rockies. Copied from A VOLT -R.E. OF � 7,210IRS AND GENEALOGY OF RRPR3SENT.',TIV3 CITIZENS TIlF CITE' OF SF.ATI'LR AND CO T dP" OF MU WA.ST? IIdGTON THS LS TS PTMISTiII1G CO. OF 1903 1902 Virgil DeWitt Harrington oof the class of 1902 passed away January 18th last, after sixty -five years of a happy, active, useful life. "Bill ", as he was known to all of +022 early decided on his life work. Even when in college he had. started, on his career in the hotel business, and he learned it from the ground up. Beginning first as a bell-hop, he later became clerk, then office manager; then having determined to learn the business thoroughly, he went back into the kitchen and worked up from checker to steward. Shortly after his graduation, he became assistant steward at Randall Hall, Harvard University, and shortly thereafter he was engaged by Phillips Academy at Andover to take over the management of the student dining commons there, and. see if he could make it pay its way. At the time he took over, it had been an expensive liability to the academy, but "Bill" made it pay, and was so successful and so univer- sally liked that he was ultimately made general superintendent of grounds and buildings and. purchasing agent. While there he also took over the management of the Oceanic Hotel at the Isles of Shoals, then owned by the Unitarian Association, and still later, along with these duties, took over the management of the Ocean. Wave hotel at Rye North Beach, and afterwards purchased it and changed the name to the ha.rrington House. In all these ventures he was uniformly successful. In 1931 he was retired by Phillips Academy, and thereafter devoted his whole attention to the hotels at Rye and the Isles of Shoals. At about this time he bought a large farm near the Harrington House, completely remodelled it, and made it a delightful and modern home, where he lived at the time of his decease. Notwithstanding his many duties he nevertheless found time to take an active part in the work of the communities in which he 1'.ved, and gave liberally of his time and substance to those causes in which he was interested. He was a member of the New nampshire Hotel Mens' Ass +n, and. the Rotary Club, the Yacht Club and the Warwick Club, all of Ports - ipouth, N. H. He also served as chairman of the Portsmouth rationing board and just prior to his death had been elected chairman of the Red Cross for the town of Rye, N. H. In 1905 he married Alice M. Howard of Cambridge, Mass. Four children were born of this marriage, all. of whom survive him: Mrs. James Wilson, of Port Washington, N. Y., Mrs. Frederick Farr of Westfield, N. J., Howard, manager of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, and Warren, who is also a Bates gradn..ate, now with the DuPont Company at Oak hidge, Tenn. His wife passed away some years ago after a long illness, and in 1941 he married Ethel A. Hitchcock, of Andover, Mass., who survives him. ne was always a loyal son of Bates and although he was rarely able to attend the class reunions in June owing to the great press of business at that time due to Commencement duties at Andover and the opening of his summer hotels, he was always a generous contributor to the class expenses. At the time of his death he was class president. Boy and. man, "Bill" harrington was a friendly person. To that fact plus his never flagging energy and his boundless good humor was due his success In life. be classed among his friends many in the seats of the mighty, and no less was he a friend to those of low estate. I have never known him to refuse to do a favor for any person if it was within his power, and he was never too busy to give a joyous welcome to an old fttand. He still lives in the hearts of all who knew him. Those spiritual qualities of kindness, generosity, helpfulness and friendliness which he so abundantly manifested throughout his entire life, can never die 18hitefield, N.H. 4!:5/'76 Tear Betty Harwood; Hope your weather is much beLuer then purs we are hsving our March weather now. Very cold and windy. The Old Brown Homestead has been sold to a man who just loves that place. He will really make a show place out of iL. He has gone through any books that might have history about the Brown family, he has been down to Concord to look up any History regarding; the Brown family. He has not been able to find out when your Grand Father built the house. I told him I would write you and see if you knew the year he built.. If so would you let me know here. I hope you are all well and happy. My wife has been an invalid since 6I. - With my kindest regards to the Brown fanily, I am Sincerely, f ` C Payette Lakes Star 1950 HELEN MILLER Brown, art E. Brown, ears of senior 1��z^� Keealls fa; zen, counts n, years l' life in G , state of Idaho, 47 years craru- A full of living as only a �;1; I bitten deep into Warren G. Brown. Prices were 50 cents a meal and To add to the difficulties, snow pus and adventuresome marl can ! When he was 70, he urged Carl 50 cents a bed. She churned but - blocked the railroad line that win- us the years. to come out to Idaho in 1903 to ter to sell at 50 cents a pound in ter, and no lumber could go out Carl Brown saw the hard years look into some mining interests in Warren —a big price for butter In to market. Carl Brown went back the tail -end of the gold boon. the Thunder Mountain district. those days. Eggs we sold for 25 j to his mail hauling to earn enough Thunder Mountain in that lusty The mine didn't pan out, and most cents a dozen. I got the contract I money to handle the pay roll at d brawling young Idaho when of the family money was washed to haul mail between Edwards - the mill. He hauled the mail from e snows of winter lay deep ana out with the sands in the gold pan. burg and Warren. Had two big McCall to Cascade for $50 a trip, ibroken over all the mountain The father went to Nampa, dogs and a sled to cart the mail, twice a week through deep snow ads, or mud in the Spring suck- where a real estate broker talked and I broke trail for the dogs on with six good logging horses pull- ! at the hips of team drivers as him into buying an alfalfa meal snowshoes. The snow was deep on ing the mail, and he himself on ey urged sweating horses thru plant. The plant went broke, and •the level, and you never knew snowshoes. In 1916 -17, he hauled e streets of McCall. He has young Carl saved what he could when a snowslide would rumble the mail from Lardo to Warren to itched the mud tracks changed by buying a team of horses, balin^ down from the mountains." meet mill expenses. paved roads, the rutted freight- the hay, and hauling it into Nampa Many interesting people were After the bad years times grew g trails replaced by the rail- to sell. Gradually he worked into "stoppers" at the Browns in the easier. Indebtedness was paid off ,ad line and the huge motor the hay business, buying, baling, suinmer days of those years, stay- at 12% interest, and contracts roll - uck. and selling. ing on to eat Ida Brown's cooking ed in. In 1929, Mr. Hoff sold his A modest man is Carl Brown, Chance stepped into the picture and to fish or hunt. Professor Hol- share in the company to Mr. hose lumber industry has grown ` again. Mrs. Brown had her first den of Iowa State College, Ames. Brown. Under his management the ntil it is the sustaining factor of I baby. Her trained nurse had a hus- Iowa, was a "stopper" as were Mr. business grew until its next set - le village of McCall. Asked for band who interested Carl Brown in and Mrs. Madill McCormick of back when in 1931 -32 a bad finan- n interview of his accomplish- a partnership in the sugar beet Chicago and Margarr_t Cobb, now cial slump caught the company rents, he said, "What for? I've business. The Browns had made Mrs. Ailshie of Boise, publisher of with all its money tied up in a of accomplished much with my enough money from the hay to in- the Idaho Statesman newspapers. million feet of logs and an order fe —just staggered around from vest $2000 in sugar beets. They When Carl Brown was underbid on hand for only 30,000 ties. Many ob to job until I got what I want - rented 100 acres on Indian creek for the mail route, he came out sawmills around the country clos- d —the lumber industry. Took me near Nampa and 80 acres of hay of the mountains and bought the ed down, but Brown's Tie and .ntil I was 37 years old just to and grain land for a place to live. mail contract from Lardo to War - Lumber Co. weathered the depres- ind myself." A partial crop failure the first ren. In four years he was again sion. Interest in lumbering was born year put the partners into debt underbid, and this time he pur- In July of 1940 the mill burned n this vital man, but not bred. for exactly what the Browns has Phased an interest in a business to the ground, but so good was [is Grandfather Brown owned a invested. The note of indebtedness that he had always wanted to en- Carl Brown's name in the sl umber company and sawmill on was split by the bank into $1000 ter — lumbering. It was in 1915 this time that he was able I he Pemingassett river in New for each partner. that he bought out Bert Bills, a row enough money on hi iampshire. , Carl Brown's father, Mrs. Brown, a frail little woman partner of Theodore Hoff in the sonal note to rebuild his M. Warren G. Brown, and an uncle of 94 pounds ( "and who's going to lumber business in McCall, using At the present time the cc ",vere both lumberman. The moth- believe that ?" asked Mrs. Brown, as capital the money saved from cuts 19 million feet of lumb( er, Charlotte Elliot, a meticulous I listening) lived in one room in his years on the mail route and year, ships many cars to Br. Scotch housekeeper, wanted none Nampa with her baby while her cash from the sale of horses and New York, and last year ha . of the lumber business for her son. husband snowshoed 100 miles over equipment. The total was $3500. roll of $654,000. She hated the smell of oxen, of Secesh summit, through Warren, The Browns moved into a tiny Many men have worked sweat, of new cut wood, and dis- and over Elk summit to Ramey two -room house. ( "About the size lumber company for many liked the sturdy class of people Ridge, where he could get a job of a chicken house," Mrs. Brown have built homes in McCal who followed the lumber trade. working in a prospect mine at $7b i said) where Mrs. Bennett's home with the aid of the compan- She put her son, Carl, into a gen- a month and board. The monthly now stands. Carl Brown was a pay on a home only duri eral store as a clerk, where he checks were sent to Mrs. Brown, logger at last. summer working months, tried to hill Ms desire to be a log - who paid to the bank the $12 in- The lumber company contracted i company never has taken . ger. terest due each month on the to sell lumber to the Payette Lakes from an employee in E Before his first marriage, War- note. In the Spring Mrs. Brown Inn, then being built, at $12 a troubles. ren G. Brown at 22 had crossed .joined her huusband and the two I thousand feet, Four horses, axle j Warren Brown, who it the Isthmus of Panama in 1852 to 'Fork: d hard for three years until deep in mud could haul only a'• his father's love of the join the rush for gold to Califor- they had paid back the indebted - I thousand board feet per load. I business, has worked up ft nia. Instead in San Francisco hell cress on both notes. "There goes a good bunch of, bottom. At 10 years ,of purchased a logging and saw mill ; They lived first in a small cabin logs, Pa," Mrs. Brown interpolated, started to work on the pon operation. Drifting up the coast oil the Crown Mining company's here, looking out the window at a he was in the woods. Now to the Hood canal, he made a stake land. In January with the snow huge Brown's Tie and Lumber Co. able and eff cient lumberr in Washington territory when its 12 feet deep they left the cabin truck as it thundered by with its has a half interest in the 1 population consisted of 7000 white and packed out to Warren. Five load of great logs bound for the and is vice president and people and 21,000 Indians. Return- days later a snowslide came down mill. Powerful purring machinery manager of the company. ing to New Hampshire he married the mountain and took the cabin rolling by on a smooth highway Carl Brown's creed in his sweetheart, bought a farm, but with it. i seemed a long cry from those is a simple one, but soun( after his first wife's death he re- I "Those were desperate times we days ;of mud and straining horses. heart of the good yellow pi turned to Washington, made anoth- I had in the mountains," Carl Brown Business looked good for Hoff that he cuts. er stake, and with it went back to I said, reminiscing as he leaned and Brown.until the Payette Lakes "Honesty," he says, "is t New Hampshire to marry Char- back in his chair in his pleasant Inn decided it could pay only half dation of a successful lif lotte Elliot. With his brother as I living room. "For six months Mrs. of its $3400 bill. vour word at any cost Witt a partner he bought and operatea Brown didn't see another woman., 'We got only $6 a thousand feet to whom you give it, whet the Brown Lumber company in and for six years she didn't see a for that lumber. We get approxi- to your banker or to yo virgin timber near Whitefield on railroad. We bought a little shoe- mately $90 now," Carl Brown said. blest employee." y the edge of the White mountains. string ranch on the South Fork The lumber company was pretty The mining bug, however, had and Mrs. Brown kept stoppers. j hard up after this material loss. TL.o Tp,oa R nnta ni Idaho. New Grace Jordan Book toru of Rpown,j of McCall N the summer resorLur Sylvan Beach and looks acr smoke of McCall's lumber mill possible some whisper of the pic Never could he catch more than But one of Idaho's most talent. ed writers has done it for him. Grace Jordan's newest book, "The King's Pines of Idaho," published by Binfords and Mort of Portland, Ore., traces the story of the Carl Browns, pio- neer Idaho lumber familywhose footsteps are important ones throughout Middle Idaho, and especially in McCall. In an important sense this book, Mrs. Jordan s third, is about the roots of Idaho, but Mrs. Jordan has done a beauti. ful job of making a biography read like a warmly humorous and suspense - filled novel. Mrs. Jordan says, "Aided and encouraged by the caring of the Browns, McCall has become a uniquely satisfactory place to live, self- dependent, spirited, and beautiful. My hope has been to make clear that life in a small town can be not only amusing and dear, but to the soul, satis- fying. Here are people I have come to love." This kind of book has long been overdue. oss big Payette Lake to see the drift across the sky, it is just neer past may touch his heart. a murmur of it, all by himself. snowshoes for horses, lemon pie in a lumber camp and the Pay ette Lakes sea serpent. Each chapter is full of fa miliar faces and places for the Idahoan . . . Boise, Ashton Boulder, Sun Valley, Lardo Roseberry, Meadows, Nampa.. the CCC camps, Shore Lodge the Payette River . . . all th Brown clan, including the Hai woods, the Beyer 1 e s, th Davieses ... Britt Nedry, Hela Markley Miller, the Hoff! Pearl Boydstun . the list i endless and fascinating. A, A, . • s hie nastrard made about 1y15. There was a big celebratioi in McCall on Saturday for Mr: Jordan, and her husband, for mer Governor Len Jordan. Th first of her three autograp: parties was held there in th Carl Brown home. The second autograph part will be held Friday in the Boo Shop in Boise, preceded by WARREN STREET SCENE about 1905. 1 tie nuuamg on the right has an ornamental front that appears in numerous old pictures. noon luncheon in the Owyhee The oil painting on the book Hotel, to which the public is in- jacket is by Mrs. Emma Day, vited and at which the Brown Boise artist. It pictures the family will be represented. Brown Tie and Lumber Mill as On Saturday an autograph it looked in 1940. Several photo• party will be held in the City graphs are included in the book. Library in Nampa. —(B. P•) In her foreword Mrs. Jordan wrote, "Idaho is still young and vigorous. Its first permanent ILLUSTRATION on book jacket is from an oil painting by Mrs. Emma Day of Boise, shows 1940 view of Brown Tie and Lumber Mill. settlement, at Franklin, is but a hundred years old. That means that some of the men and women credited with its develop. ment still live. The story of one such family, it has seemed to me, should be put into type." How well Mrs. Jordan has succeeded in her intent is real. ized by the reader more and more as he follows young Carl Brown through his life from New England boyhood to the domains of a western lumber king. • « r The book is built of anecdotes that tell a story full of vitality.' The author has taken great, care to make the book strictly I factual in its foundations, but! she has shaped her work with her own laughter and under -' standing and her own love. of the Idaho forest lands and peo- ple. She does not merely de. scribe the incidents. She makes' the countless small tales and tall tales into a richly detailed pattern of family affairs ... a i red evening cape, the holy mail' The Star News Groups Page 1 1 Wow bf Tl. rt�•N.w Y1MN Near BROWN REUNION - Susie Beeede- Reams and Ann Harwood- Blackwell look over thew unique family tree on Saturday mm ing during a Brown familt reunion atPonderom State Park Itwasdw 5ra6e1Mo..120oo for the deweudents of Cad and Ida Brown, who OPeratedUWU49 ou Pgvette Lake dmW the igoos. About go People attended '. from as far away m 86 Hawan and Colorado. Page 1 of 1 http: / /www.mccallstamews .com/pages /groups _page.php 7/25/2013 e levels old McCall mill office. Fitzwater said Tuesday after- noon that the cause of the fire is under investigation, and that nothing has been ruled out, in- cluding arson. He said it was difficult to put a dollar value on the loss of the structure, which was operated by Boise Cascade Corp at the time of its closure in 1977. remember `other fire' two r for [rren, ast in Street i the moke n the i had ing, t sad ough he sold the mill in 1964 to Boise Cascade Corp., and even though the mill had not sawed a log since 1977. "A lot of sweat has gone into that thing," said Brown, 71. "1 had hoped they would do something to it. Although Monday was a sad day, the fire rekindled vivid memories of the day 44 years ago when a similar fire had much more devastating results. It was on July 16, 1940, that the fully operational Brown's Tie and Lumber Co. sawmill burned to the ground. That mill had been built in 1910 on what is now a vacant lot along Payette Lake next to the McCall Hotel. Carl Brown, War- ren's father, bought into the mill in 1914 and acquired it outright in 1929. "That was it; there was no in- surance," said Brown, who was 28 at the time of the 1940 fire. "We were broke, worse than broke. The only thing that saved us was good friendly bankers." Brown remembered that it took only a matter of days after the fire that Joe Casper, who was millwright for Brown, began (Continued on Page A -2) Bill Onweiler of McCall, a member of Red Mill Group that owns the structures, said the loss was more of a nostalgic nature than an actual dollar loss. Red Mill Group is composed of about 10 investors who bought the mill from Boise Cascade in 1978 with the intentions of developing the land into housing and commercial shops. "There's a building that was the most painted and photographed in the state, in- cluding the Statehouse," Onweiler said. The buildings had no fire in- surance coverage, although the owners held liability insurance, he said. Commenting on the fact that a state investigator has been called to the scene, Onweiler said, "I think that's proper in light of the way everything happened, and the way it exploded.' A nearby resident, Jackie Sproat, was among the first to spot the blaze shortly after 6 p.m. Her husband, Jim, is credited with first calling the fire depart- ment. "There was a lot of very black smoke drifting out," she said. "Our home is about 200 yards north of the mill. We were just engulfed in smoke." After about five minutes, she said the building erupted in flames. At about the same time, the wind changed direction slight- ly, blowing sparks more to the northwest, out over the lake, Sproat said. Fitzwater said 18 volunteer firefighters responded to the 6:07 p.m. alarm, but by the time they fought through deep, soft snow, it was too late to save the building. Efforts then turned to saving nearby homes and the sawdust storage shed and boiler building, which were damaged but not destroyed, he said. A flare -up in the sawdust shed threatened that structure at about 5 a.m. Tuesday, but Fitzwater said his crew handled it without any problem. Two firemen were kept on the scene during the night to watch for just that sort of thing, he said. The fire chief praised the way his crew dealt with the difficult conditions. "I'm super proud of them," he said. Rumors that the fire had been a controlled burn circulated im- mediately around McCall. But, the fire was not set as an inten- tional controlled burn, Fitzwater said. Onweiler said he was convinc- ed that someone started the fire. "The thing has set through five dry summers " without any fires, he said. Fitzwater borrowed a term from arson investigators when he described what caused the fire to spread so rapidly. "The `accelerant' was already in the building," he said, in the form of saw dust and oil that had accumulated in the mill during its years of operation. State Fire Marshal Bill Wallis said his investigator, borrowed from the Idaho Department of Law Enforcement because of a temporary manpower shortage, would come into the investigation with an open mind. It is sometimes impossible to determine the cause of fires in blazes that completely destroy the structure, Wallis said. Narrowing down a cause could take months, he said. Fitzwater said his reasons for suspicion are based on several (Continuer) on Page A -2) No one was killed or injured as the blaze completely engulfed the 43 -year old mill building izable within 10 minutes of its along discovery, according to J in a eyewitness accounts. even - of An investigator from the Idaho '.I Fire Department of Law Enforcement Tues- has been called in by Fitzwater through the State Fire Marshal's office. Fitzwater said Tuesday after- noon that the cause of the fire is under investigation, and that nothing has been ruled out, in- cluding arson. He said it was difficult to put a dollar value on the loss of the structure, which was operated by Boise Cascade Corp at the time of its closure in 1977. remember `other fire' two r for [rren, ast in Street i the moke n the i had ing, t sad ough he sold the mill in 1964 to Boise Cascade Corp., and even though the mill had not sawed a log since 1977. "A lot of sweat has gone into that thing," said Brown, 71. "1 had hoped they would do something to it. Although Monday was a sad day, the fire rekindled vivid memories of the day 44 years ago when a similar fire had much more devastating results. It was on July 16, 1940, that the fully operational Brown's Tie and Lumber Co. sawmill burned to the ground. That mill had been built in 1910 on what is now a vacant lot along Payette Lake next to the McCall Hotel. Carl Brown, War- ren's father, bought into the mill in 1914 and acquired it outright in 1929. "That was it; there was no in- surance," said Brown, who was 28 at the time of the 1940 fire. "We were broke, worse than broke. The only thing that saved us was good friendly bankers." Brown remembered that it took only a matter of days after the fire that Joe Casper, who was millwright for Brown, began (Continued on Page A -2) Bill Onweiler of McCall, a member of Red Mill Group that owns the structures, said the loss was more of a nostalgic nature than an actual dollar loss. Red Mill Group is composed of about 10 investors who bought the mill from Boise Cascade in 1978 with the intentions of developing the land into housing and commercial shops. "There's a building that was the most painted and photographed in the state, in- cluding the Statehouse," Onweiler said. The buildings had no fire in- surance coverage, although the owners held liability insurance, he said. Commenting on the fact that a state investigator has been called to the scene, Onweiler said, "I think that's proper in light of the way everything happened, and the way it exploded.' A nearby resident, Jackie Sproat, was among the first to spot the blaze shortly after 6 p.m. Her husband, Jim, is credited with first calling the fire depart- ment. "There was a lot of very black smoke drifting out," she said. "Our home is about 200 yards north of the mill. We were just engulfed in smoke." After about five minutes, she said the building erupted in flames. At about the same time, the wind changed direction slight- ly, blowing sparks more to the northwest, out over the lake, Sproat said. Fitzwater said 18 volunteer firefighters responded to the 6:07 p.m. alarm, but by the time they fought through deep, soft snow, it was too late to save the building. Efforts then turned to saving nearby homes and the sawdust storage shed and boiler building, which were damaged but not destroyed, he said. A flare -up in the sawdust shed threatened that structure at about 5 a.m. Tuesday, but Fitzwater said his crew handled it without any problem. Two firemen were kept on the scene during the night to watch for just that sort of thing, he said. The fire chief praised the way his crew dealt with the difficult conditions. "I'm super proud of them," he said. Rumors that the fire had been a controlled burn circulated im- mediately around McCall. But, the fire was not set as an inten- tional controlled burn, Fitzwater said. Onweiler said he was convinc- ed that someone started the fire. "The thing has set through five dry summers " without any fires, he said. Fitzwater borrowed a term from arson investigators when he described what caused the fire to spread so rapidly. "The `accelerant' was already in the building," he said, in the form of saw dust and oil that had accumulated in the mill during its years of operation. State Fire Marshal Bill Wallis said his investigator, borrowed from the Idaho Department of Law Enforcement because of a temporary manpower shortage, would come into the investigation with an open mind. It is sometimes impossible to determine the cause of fires in blazes that completely destroy the structure, Wallis said. Narrowing down a cause could take months, he said. Fitzwater said his reasons for suspicion are based on several (Continuer) on Page A -2) Photo by Randall Brooks Blaze levels ol By Mike Stewart The Star -News McCall's most recognizable landmark, the red sawmill along Payette Lake, was destroyed in a spectacular blaze Monday even- ing. The blaze was of "suspicious origin," McCall Fire Chief Don Fitzwater said Tues- day. No one was killed or injured as the blaze completely engulfed the 43 -year old mill building within 10 minutes of its discovery, according to eyewitness accounts. An investigator from the Idaho Department of Law Enforcement has been called in by Fitzwater through the State Fire Marshal's office. Fitzwater said Tuesday after- noon that the cause of the fire is under investigation, and that nothing has been ruled out, in- cluding arson. He said it was difficult to put a dollar value on the loss of the structure, which was operated by Boise Cascade Corp at the time of its closure in 1977. Browns remember `other fire' By Tom Grote The Star -News Jayne Brown poured two glasses of scotch and water for herself and her husband, Warren, and the couple clinked a toast in the kitchen of their Lake Street home. Through the window, in the distance, a huge billow of smoke could be seen spewing from the sawmill that Warren Brown had built 43 years earlier. "Here's to the next thing," Brown told his wife. Warren Brown said he felt sad about the mill fire, even though RE , he sold the mill in 1964 to Boise Cascade Corp., and even though the mill had not sawed a log since 1977. "A lot of sweat has gone into that thing," said Brown, 71. "I had hoped they would do something to it. Although Monday was a sad day, the fire rekindled vivid memories of the day 44 years ago when a similar fire had much more devastating results. It was on July 16, 1940, that the fully operational Brown's Tie and Lumber Co. sawmill burned to the ground. That mill had been built in 1910 on what is now a vacant lot along Payette Lake next to the McCall Hotel. Carl Brown, War- ren's father, bought into the mill in 1914 and acquired it outright in 1929. "That was it; there was no in- surance," said Brown, who was 28 at the time of the 1940 fire. "We were broke, worse than broke. The only thing that saved us was good friendly bankers." Brown remembered that it took only a matter of days after the fire that Joe Casper, who was millwright for Brown, began (Continued on Page A -2) Star News April 16, 1992 Browns sign family history Photo by Tom Grote Warren Brown of McCall signs a mint - condition copy of the 1%1 book "King's Pines of Idaho, A Story of the Browns of McCall," at a signing ceremony held at the 1920 House bed - and - breakfast. Looking on are Brown's wife, Jayne, house owners Bill and Bonni Shikrallah, and Shawn and Joy Miller. Joy Miller found and purchased the rare copy of the book, written by Grace Edgington Jordan, after visiting the restored home on Lake Street that once served as the home of the Brown family. Miller then presented it io the Shikrallahs for display in the historic house. The book details the history of the Browns and the family. owned sawmill that was the centerpiece of the town's economy for decades. The book already contained the signatures of several members of the Brown family when Miller found it, as well as the signature of W.C. Brassey, who apparently was the book's original owner. Payette Lakes Star Aug 22 1963 Carl Elliott Brown Carl E. Brown, 84, prominent McCall lumberman and civic leader died in the McCall Memorial oHspital Tuesday after an extended illness. Funeral arrangements will be handled by the Walker Chapel in McCall. Details of the services were not available Wed- nesday afternoon. Carl Elliott Brown was born in to be. Whitefield, N. H., September 10, This partnership continued un- 1878, the third child of Warren til 1929, .through wars, through !, Goodhue and Charlotte Elliott prosperity, and through the deve- Brown. Whitefield lies in timber- lopment of McCall from frontier ed country, and for two genera- -type town into a thriving little tions the Browns had engaged in resort city. The railroad had come, lumbering on a large scale. From Ischools, churches, businesses had childhood Carl Brown was fam- been founded, and the Payette ar with the woods, with lumber Lakes Inn had been built. ing, and with beautiful mountain I The Browns were tireless work. country that could get very cold ers for anything that was good for in winter. I the community. They gave not He was educated in the local just money; they gave themselves. schools and at New Hampton In- Buying out his partner and go- stitute. ipg on his own at the time of the On August 28, 1902, he was mar- stock market crash in 1929 again ried to Ida Louise Harrington, and required courage and- foresight, a few months later they made a and again Brown's reputation for trip West with his parents. His complete honesty and industry father had put some money into made bankers willing to trust him. the Independence mine, 75 miles Through the depression the mill high in the mountains northeast continued to keep running, one of of McCall, Idaho, a spot he had the few "small" mills in the never seen, and subsequently Carl Northwest that did; and its pay - returned to see to these interests. roll stabilized the town. In 1940, Joined by his wife, he tried a with World War II begun in business venture in Nampa, but Europe, the mill burned. But with the financial panic of 1907 again Brown's word was so good he returned to the mining area. with his bankers that he was able. in ,1908 he bought the Shieffer to borrow and rebuild immediate - ranch on the South Fork of the ly. Brown's Tie and Lumber mill Salmon river, and using this as a and operations emerged bigger base carried the United States and more complete. mail under contract from Warren to Edwardsburg, now Big Creek. To Carl and Ida Brown r This meant crossing winter sum- born four children, Fli -1-- mits uD to 8000 feet, with snow woofll of "" - 1, IDAHO Carl E. Brown Funeral services for Carl Elliott Brown were conducted Saturday, August 24th at the Masonic Hall ' in McCall. The Reverend R. N. ' England of the McCall Congrega- tonal Church officated, and music was furnished by Mrs. Lois Free.) man, organist, and Dewey Row- land, soloist. Acting casket bearers i were Jack Hayes, E. A. Watkins, John Takkinen, Harold Rutherford, pPat Hayes and Les Ulmer, Honor - ary casket bearers were J. L. Dris- Coll, Ronald Spratling, Theodore Hoff, Sr., Windsor Lloyd, Ike West. Cott, Paul Drew and William Dein- hard. Interment followed at the McCall cemetery under the direc- tion of the 'Walker Chapel. Mr. Brown, prominent McCall resident and co- founder of the lumber in- dustry which hears his name, pass- ; ed away August 20th after an ex- tended illness. He was 84. Carl E. Brown, 84, prominent McCall lumberman and civic leader died in the McCall Memorial oHspital Tuesday after an extended illness. Funeral arrangements will be handled by the Walker Chapel in McCall. Details of the services were not available Wed- nesday afternoon. Carl Elliott Brown was born in to be. Whitefield, N. H., September 10, This partnership continued un- 1878, the third child of Warren til 1929, through wars, through Goodhue and Charlotte Elliott prosperity, and through the deve- Brown. Whitefield lies in timber- lopment of McCall from frontier ed country, and for two genera- -type town into a thriving little tions the Browns had engaged in resort city. The railroad had come, lumbering on a large scale. From .schools, churches, businesses had childhood Carl Brown was fam- been founded, and the Payette iliar with the woods, with lumber- Lakes Inn had been built. ing, and with beautiful mountain I The Browns were tireless work- country that could get very cold lers for anything that was good for in winter. the community. They gave not He was educated in the local just money; they gave themselves. schools and at New Hampton In- Buying out his partner and go- stitute. mg on his own at the time of the On August 28, 1902, he was mar- stock market crash in 1929 again ried to Ida Louise Harrington, and required courage and- foresight, a few months later they made a and again Brown's reputation for trip West with his parents. His complete honesty and industry father had put some money into made bankers willing to trust him. the Independence mine, 75 miles Through the depression the mill high in the mountains northeast continued to keep running, one of of McCall, Idaho, a spot he had the few "small" mills in the never seen, and subsequently Carl Northwest that did; and its pay - returned to see to these interests. roll stabilized the town. In 1940, Joined by his wife, he tried a with World War II begun in business venture in Nampa, but Europe, the mill burned. But with the financial panic of 1907 again Brown's word was so good he returned to the mining area. with his bankers that he was able. rranch he bought the Sof to borrow and rebuild immediate - the ranch on the South Fork the ly, Brown's Tie and Lumber mill s Salmon river, and using this as a and operations emerged bigger base carried the United States d more complete. and mail under contract from W to Edwardsburg, now Big Creek. To Carl and Ida Brown born four children, Flizabeth (Har- This meant crossing winter sum- of McCaii; Warren H., man- mits uD to 8000 feet, with snow wood) -- -- __..__. ,.. ,. Dada• Carl E. Brown Funeral services for Carl Elliott Brown were conducted Saturday, August 24th at the Masonic Hall in McCall. The Reverend R. N. I England of the McCall Congrega- , 1 tonal Church officated, and music was furnished by Mrs. Lois Free- I man, organist, and Dewey Row- land, soloist. Acting casket bearers i were Jack Hayes, E. A. Watkins, John Takkinen, Harold Rutherford, 1 Pat Hayes and Les Ulmer, Honor- ary casket bearers were J. L. Dris. coll, Ronald Spratling, Theodore Hoff, Sr., Windsor Lloyd, Ike West - j Cott, Paul Drew and William Dein- hard. Interment followed at the McCall cemetery under the direc- tion of the Walker Chapel. Mr. Brown, prominent McCall resident and co- founder of the lumber in- dustry which bears his name, pass- ed away August 20th after an ex. tended illness. He was 84. Community Pauses In Tribute To Mrs. Brown Mrs. Ida Brown McCall paused Friday to pay tribute to Mrs. Ida Brown, whose life reflected the growth and deve. lopment of the village as a lumber ing town and resort center. Downtown stores and office,, closed during funeral services for Mrs. Brown, held at 11 a.m. ai years they made their home on the the Masonic hall. Mrs. Brown, edge of central Idaho's primitive widow of Carl Brown who found area, where Mr. Brown engaged ed Brown Tie and Lumber Comp- first in mining, then in carrying any ,here in the early part of the mail between one -time mining century, died at tier home at 3:3C centers of Warren and Edwards a.m. Wednesday. budg, through some of the state': The Rev. Elmer Jeske of th, most rugged country. Community Congregational churcr In 1910 the Browns established officiated, with Walker chapel it a home in McCall, where he trans charge of arrangements. The Con ported freight. from McCall tc gregational choir sang, accompan Burgdorf and Warren. In partner ied by Mrs. William Hall. Inter ship with Theodore Hoff, Browr ment followed at the McCall ceme established a lumber mill and tery. logging operation here in 1914 Active pallbearers were Pat which the family has operatec Hayes, E. A. Watkins, M. E. Hoff, since that time. Harold Rutherford, Kenneth John. Mrs. Brown, noted for her son and Tom Hastings. Honorary sparkling humour and spirit, waE pallbearers were Theodore Hoff, instrumental in establishing the Sr., C. J. Westeott, William Dein- !Congregational church in McCall hart, Ronald Spratling, Roy Stover, as well as helping to found the Paul Drew, J. L. Driscoll, Chester Payette Lakeg progressive club. Stephens and L. H. Ulmer. Always deeply involved in com Mrs. Brown was born Nov. 24 munity affairs, she worked for any 1880, in Hillsdale, Mich., the project that would beenfit the daughter of the Rev. and Mrs village and its residents. John Harrington. She traveled She is survived by one son with her parents to various parson Warren Brown, McCall three ages before moving to Whitefield daughters, Mrs. Elizabeth ,liar N. Hamp., where she was mar ; wood, McCall Mrs. Dorothy Bey ried to Carl Brown on Aug. 28 j 'erle, Boise and Mrs. Margaret 1902 I Davis, Seattle 12 grandchildren The following b year the couple and seven great - grandchildren. Mr. moved to Idaho, living briefly it 1 Brown preceded her in death in Boise and Nampa. For several 1963. PACIFIC PRESS CLIPPING �q- U SEATTLE, WASH. This Clipping from: Sandpoint cItfal Nortb Ida NPCvs May 3, 1940 M ALL LUMBERMAN SEEKS DE1�I0. PQ51' Carl E. Brown, Valley County Senator. in Race for National Committeeman. ,BOISE, Idaho. —Carl E. Brown of McCall, late last week announced he would seek election as Idaho's demo- cratic national committeeman at the party's delegate convention in Twin Falls ' May 16. Senator Brown, who resides in the 1 "irst congressional district of Idaho, seeks the post now held by Ramsay Walker of Coeur d'Alene. CARL E. BROWN. ,Brown operates a lumber mill at Mc- Call and has served three sessions in the state legislature as Valley county senator. "I am in favor of the present demo - eratic national administration of Pres.- dent Roosevelt and would like to sea a.n uninstructed delegation go to the na- tional eonvPntinn in chines..., T?., _ ��a441U rtutherford, Kenneth Johns Mrs. son and e Tom Hastings. Honorary sparklin, Brown ;! Pallbearers noted for her were g humour and Theodore Sr., C. Hoff, instrumental in d , wa; J. Westcott, William establishing { hart, Ronald Spratlin De !Congregational church in g the z Paul Drew, g, '0Y Stover, as well as helping McCall a ' Stephens and L. Driscoll, over Payette to found the I° H. Ulmer. eke` P� Ogressive Mrs. Brown Always deeply involved club.N� in n was born Nov. rrLUmitY affairs she m COm' ` 1 Hillsdale, worked for an daughter o f the Mich., the Protect that would :beenfit b John Rev. and Mrs villhgge and its residents. the Harrington: She traveled is survived with her parents to various Warren b son ages before parson Broom Y one N Ha movin McCall mP•, where gshe Whitefield wow tern, Mrs. Elizabeth three McCall Mrs. J 19 02. to Carl Brown on Aug. 28 t erle, Boise and Dorothy Bey Davis, Seattle Mrs. Margaret The following year the 12 grandchildrer moved couple 1 B o seven great - grandchildren. Mr. to Idaho, living 'briefly Boise and Nam a. Y it 1963. Preceded her in death in p For several � CARL E. gown o BROWN. -- Operates a lumber mill at Brc- j �aella s served three sess state le ions in senator, g�slature as Valley county "I am in favor of the present de ,crane national administration of Y dent mo- Roosevelt and would like ros` uninstructed delegation tb se xn tional convention iu Ch g° to the na_ Port will be for the Chicago My sup - re- nominated President if ne is might be or to an yone else who selected to succeed hi.., Brown said in making known his didacy, can_ "I have yielded to the demands of leading democrats in all who have been Urging i p4'ts of I1aho position of nationrg ng me to seek the Simultaneousl mmitteeman. °� announcement Y with Senator Brown's vent Bo' ' Ralph J. Davis 'don't Ofithebpsahessy ' . f rmerPpres. clubs Idaho Young• Democratic declared he was withdraw,ng -from the race in favor of the Ville r county senator. Eroavn came to Idaho in 1943 ;end prior to entering the lumber business in northern Idaho engaged -r business Idaho county, farming in Can ty and o gin Aerated star mail rouesn C., of Warren and McCall. He is ou'' °f has four children, married and