Illinois Valley news., May 09, 1940, Page 24, Image 24

PAGE 8
ILLINOIS VALLEY NEWS
Villair Mill Is Illinois Valley's
Outstanding Industrial Venture
THE VILLAIR LUMBER COMPANY MILL
Built in 1931, the Villair & Ander­
son mill was destined to become one
of the outstanding industrial enter­
prises in this section. Located on the
Caves highway about five miles from
the Junction, the mill utilizes loca*
timber and supplies lumber products
of many types both for shipment and
local use.
The mill, which is now operated by
J. J. and M. R. Villair as the Villair
Lumber company, has a capacity of
45,000 feet in an eight-hour shift.
When both mill and logging crews
are operating, the company gives em­
ployment to more than 60 men. A
full season’s run will amount to
5,000,000 or 6,000,000 feet depend­
ing on weather conditions.
Several additions have been made
this year to the automotive equipment
operated by the company. These in­
clude three new Ford trucks with
Mercury engines and an RD 7 Cater­
pillar. They also have a second trac­
tor, one of them being equipped with
a bulldozer, Le Tourneau, for log­
ging operations. They have two other
trucks for lumber handling and one
for general use.
The present outlook for timber is
much better than for some time past,
according to the owners of the mill.
They are now getting out a superior
quality of sugar pine and ponderosa
pine. Quite a lot of white cedar is
also being cut this year. In addition
to this they are handling some in­
cense cedar pencil stock and some
red cedar. Just enough fir is run each
year to supply local demands for min­
ing and farm use.
If timber supplies are adequate,
it is likely that other improvements
will be made in the future. These
would probably include the installa­
tion of a planing mill and dipping
vat.
Briggs 'Strike' Was
Of Fairy Tale Nature
PUSH DEVELOPMENT
OF BIG BOY MERCURY
A few years back when Mr. Briggs
was a lad, he was out hunting up on
the divide at the head of Sucker
creek. He sat down to rest. Looking
about him, he spotted a yellow gleam
on the ground. He promptly filled
his pockets with some four hundred
dollars in gold and went home. That
was the beginning of a gold rush.
While the Briggs family were mining
out many thousands of gold from the
find, people were pouring into the
hills in the surrounding country.
The outfitting point was Holland
store, where Mr. and Mrs. J. M.
Smock, thrt proprietors, were kept
busy filling orders for back pack and
burro. The store was busy far into
the night; many would not stop even
to rest, but rushed on up the trails
to sleep in the hills, expecting to find
when daylight came a bonanza un­
der their pillow.
Many of the gold seekers figured
to be gone a day or so and come back
laden with fortunes. Everybody was
in a fever of rush. The general idea
was that one only had to pry the stuff
loose from the top of the ground as
the Briggs family had done.
All were equipped with leather
pokes in which to carry out the gold
they expected to pick up in chunks!
The Big Boy, a mercury deposit
that has lain idle for many years,
is in the test stage of development
by Drews, Dudley, Brooks and inter­
ests in Portland.
Big Boy is a low grade deposit of
cinnabar of considerable extent.
Methods of concentration are being
tested and satisfactory amounts of
mercury recovered from the product.
Mercury is one of the mineral pos­
sibilities that has been overlooked
by the prospectors in the valley, and
in case of involvement of this nation
in war hostilities might overnight be­
come a major industry in the valley
since mercury is used in vast quan­
tities in the manufacture of detona­
tion caps for high explosive.
--------------0...... . ■■
Oregon Placers. Inc.
To Install New Power
The Oregon Placers, Inc., operating
on the Illinois at Josephine creek, con­
template the installation of new pow­
er for their dry land washing plant.
This plant is equipped with Pan-Am­
erican placer jigs for recovery. The
property is under the direction of Mr.
Hanlon as engineer and Mr. Frank­
lin Hunsacker as superintendent. The
operation is on the Dixon group of
claims and patented ground.
THURSDAY, MAY 9. 1940
A Business
Built Upon
Natural Resources
Wealth is not a matter of dollars and
cents, not a matter of cold cash, not a mat­
ter of how much gold the government has
buried in Frankfort, Kentucky.
True wealth springs from Mother
Earth, in oil, in grain, in useful minerals,
in Timber.
An industry built on developing the na­
tural resources, of putting products of Old
Mother Earth into a form useful to man­
kind, is a basic source of all wealth.
Today many entities arise to thwart
such development — many of these have
worthwhile objectives wThich are being ser­
iously considered by those concerned w’hile
others oftimes become stumbling blocks
which retard development. It becomes a
problem to choose that w’hich is best.
Although this firm is small when con­
sidering the lumber enterprise in its huge
entirety, we are faced with like problems.
It is only the indomitable spirit and
general common sense of small operators
such as this firm that keep the industry as
a producer of material wealth.
The home-towrn business, however small,
must of a necessity cultivate the confidence
and seek the cooperation of its neighbors
to the end that it will prosper and in
its prosperity bring benefits to the entire
communit.
Remember this when purchasing or re­
commending to others the purchase of—
Sugar Pine
Ponderosa Pine
Fir and Cedar
They’re Home Products—Basic Wealth to
Your Community.
Villair Lumber Co.
Cave Junction, Oregon