Outagamie County, WI - "Hatten Lumber Co. - From River Drives to Railroad Cars"
        
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 Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives
 Subject: newspaper article "Hatten Lumber Co. - From River Drives to Railroad Cars"
 Submitted by: county coordinator 
 EMAIL: jmmarasch@aol.com
 Date Submitted: 15 March 2000
        
 Source: New London Press newspaper article from Bicentennial issue, undated.
 
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     Hatten Lumber Co. - From River Drives to Railroad Cars
                                
                          by Lyle Brumm
                                
      One of the major industries in the history of New London was the Hatten Lumber Company.  This company was incorporated
 in 1903.  Prior to that time it had been known as Meiklejohn and Hatten Lumber Company.  This mill was located on the old Nash and
 Weatherby site on the Wolf River.  At the time of its incorporation the business had a capital of $100,000.  By the early 1920's this
 was increased to $1,500,000.
      During the height of its operation logs were obtained from farmers along the banks of the Embarrass and Wolf Rivers and
 driven to the mill in the spring.  The last log drive was held in the spring of 1928.  After 1928 all of the logs were brought to the mill
 by rail.  Most of the logs at this time were cut in upper Michigan and northern Wisconsin.  Because the mill was located farther south
 than most of the other mills at this time it had the advantage of being closer to the southern markets.  This resulted in lower freight rates
 and allowed Hatten to sell his lumber cheaper than his competitors.  This proved to be a good part of the success of the mill.
      During its operation the mill sawed mostly lumber from pine, hemlock, spruce, maple, elm, oak, ash, and basswood.  Cedar
 shingles and lath were also manufactured.
          In later years the huge circular saws were replaced with band saws because the band saws were more efficient and took out less
 than half the amount of saw curf resulting in a large saving for the mill.  Saw curf is the amount of wood taken out by the saw in cutting
 the wood.
          The mill ran both day and night for many years.  At its peak it employed 160 men at New London plus the many men working
 in the woods.  The company also had a planing mill, lath and shingle mill, and a retail yard . The pulpwood that Hatten had were sold
 to the paper mills in the Fox River Valley, the bark was sold to tanners.  The major portion of the hardwood was used as flooring and
 for the manufacture of furniture.
          Operations of the Hatten Lumber Company ceased in July, 1939 shortly after the death of William H. Hatten.  At that time there
 was an estimated 15,000,000 feet of lumber piled in the yards.
          After the death of Mr. Hatten the mill was taken over by Henry Miles, Sr.  He operated the mill for many years.
 
 Picture: Business slowed down and the logs piled up during the depression when this picture was taken. Pictured are New
 London Mayor Ed Wendtland, Ben Hartquist, head of Hatten Lumber Co.; Sen. William Hatten, owner of the lumber
 company. Chet Feathers is atop the log pile, and Leslie Freeman, superintendent of the logging operation, is standing on
 the rail car.