Multnomah County OR Archives Biographies.....Sargent, Henry A. 1867 - 
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Ila Wakley iwakley@msn.com October 25, 2009, 6:41 pm

Source: History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Vol. III, Published 1928, Pages 125-126
Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company

     Through concentrated effort and fidelity to duty Henry A. Sargent has 
risen to an influential position in manufacturing circles of the Pacific 
northwest and is widely and favorably known as one of the executives of the 
Simonds Manufacturing Company, which he has represented in Portland for a 
period of thirty-six years. A native of Fitchburg, Massachusetts, he was born 
in 1867, a son of James Bellingham and Susan (Daniels) Sargent. His father, a 
mechanic, was a descendant of Richard Bellingham, an Englishman, who emigrated 
to America in 1634. He was governor of Massachusetts colony in 1641, 1654, and 
from 1665 until 1672.

     Henry A. Sargent received a public school education and at the age of 
fifteen became an office boy in the employ of the Simonds Manufacturing 
Company. His industry and adaptability were rewarded by promotion and he 
advanced through the various departments, assimilating the technical details 
of the business. In 1891, when a young man of twenty-three, he was sent to 
Oregon and opened the Portland branch, of which he has since had charge. His 
administrative power is supplemented by broad vision and rare judgment and 
under his expert management the business has assumed large proportions. The 
firm has established branches in Los Angeles and San Francisco, California, 
Seattle and Spokane, Washington, and Vancouver, British Columbia, making 
Portland the headquarters for the business on the Pacific coast. In 1881 the 
company had a capital of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars and it is now 
a five million dollar corporation. The firm recently took over the business of 
the Abrasive Company of Philadelphia, rated as one of the three largest 
manufacturers of grinding wheels in the world. These wheels are used in all 
sawmills and in plants where steel and iron are fabricated. This line has been 
added to the Simonds' regular product of saws and machine knives, and in the 
latter connection the company enjoys the distinction of world supremacy. Mr. 
Sargent is vice president of the home company, which employs over one hundred 
traveling salesmen and a large number of men in its various plants. The 
following description of the industry was published in the Oregon Journal 
under the caption of "Nothing the Matter With Portland".

     "Probably ninety-nine of every one hundred citizens of Portland have the 
impression that those big saws used in the great sawmills of Oregon are made 
in the east, and if this be the case those ninety-nine individuals cherish the 
wrong idea. It is not a fact. The truth is, that many of them are made right 
here by Portland labor. Portland mechanics are paid liberally to do this work, 
and they spend their money here. These concerns represent a portion of the 
industries of our municipality, and they fill an important niche. Without them 
there often would be consternation, not to say chaos, among the lumber 
manufacturers of the Pacific northwest.

     "Saws are made of a plate of steel rough and black as the ace of spades 
and round as a wagon wheel. It is not polished, and if laid upon a perfectly 
level surface would not touch it in all places. It is therefore uneven itself —
 like a plate of tin with little dents in it. In other words, it is slightly 
warped. The saw plates are received in Portland from the east in this 
condition. There is not a tooth in them, nor a place for them.

     "Let us step into the shop of the Simonds Manufacturing Company at No. 85 
First street and note the treatment these tempered blank steel plates, in size 
from six to eighty-six inches in diameter, receive. Twenty men are operating 
about a score of machines, but when the Journal representative called there 
they were working over a big blank plate and making all the noise the law 
allowed. They had the thing on a great anvil. Two were holding and turning and 
a third was beating it with a sledge hammer. They were 'leveling' the blade, 
for it was not yet a saw. Another workman had another rough black plate and a 
powerful machine was punching slices out of it in places where the teeth were 
to be inserted. It was nearly a quarter of an inch in thickness, but that 
didn't bother the punching machine. If the plate had been cheese the machine 
could not have performed with greater ease.

     "As soon as places for the saw's teeth have been made the plate is taken 
to another machine which grinds it smooth and to another which polishes it. 
The saw, minus its teeth, is mounted and put in operation, revolving as 
rapidly as if in service in a mill, the blade pressed against a soft brush. 
This process makes it shine like a new knife. Now comes the saw dentist, and 
individual teeth are inserted. These are made by the thousands at the factory. 
Operators of saws buy them, and filers, when the teeth are worn down in the 
blade, insert new ones. By this process the life of the saw is greatly 
prolonged — is really indefinite.

     "The Simond's Saw & Steel Company carries many thousand dollars worth of 
these saw blades, as well as a great stock of the common sizes, made up and 
for instant sale and use. These teeth can be pulled with as little effort as 
those of a child and new ones inserted by even the most inexperienced. These 
are circular saws and are used in a majority of the mills. But not all mills 
employ circular saws. Several of the very large ones in Portland use band 
saws, and the Simonds Company carries a big stock of these, too. They come to 
Portland in various lengths, and here the ends are brought together and welded 
so that they are an endless saw. These are thinner than circulars, have 
less 'set' and waste less timber. It is for this reason that sawmill 
manufacturers are coming to use them more and more. The Simonds Company is not 
confined to sawmill saws only. It makes more than fifty types, for every 
imaginable use, and its catalogue, embracing its different manufactures, 
contains one hundred and seventy pages. Employes of saw factories are paid 
very excellent wages for their services."

     In 1897 Mr. Sargent married Miss Edith W. Kittredge, a daughter of 
Jonathan W. Kittredge, who went to California in the Humboldt by way of Cape 
Horn and cast in his lot with the pioneers of San Francisco. To Mr. and Mrs. 
Sargent were born three children: Alexander, who was graduated from the 
University of Oregon and is associated with his father in business; Mayanna, 
who is taking a course in the State University; and Susan, a student at St. 
Helen's Hall in Portland.

     Mr. Sargent is a Knight Templar Mason and has taken the fourteenth degree 
in the Scottish Rite. For three years he was president of the Multnomah Club 
and also belongs to the Waverly and Arlington Clubs. He is an adherent of the 
republican party and for eight years has been secretary of the port of 
Portland. His life has been a valuable asset in civic advancement and his 
energy and ability have placed him with the men of large affairs and far-
reaching influence. By nature he is genial and companionable and his excellent 
qualities of mind and heart have drawn to him a large and ever widening circle 
of sincere friends.

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