Ozan Lumber Company

The Ozan Lumber Company was a wealthy and productive timber company owned by the once powerful Bemis family of Arkansas during the early 20th century, based out of Nevada County. The company would dominate the economy for that region for decades. It played an integral part in providing employment for citizens of the county during the Great Depression.

Origins and expansion

The company can be traced back to 1891, when Texas businessmen J.H. Bemis and his cousin Benjamin Whitaker opened a mill in Prescott, Arkansas, calling it the Ozan Lumber Company. Bemis had originally moved to Texas from New York. One of his four sons, Horace Erastus Bemis, who died in 1914, had purchased the Prescott and Northwestern Railroad, which would play a vital part in transporting the timber and company supplies, effectively providing the Bemis family with everything they needed for the mill to succeed.

H.E. Bemis would operate the mill in partnership with his brothers, J.W. Bemis and William N. Bemis, and it would eventually see its greatest success under W.N. Bemis's son, James Rosborough Bemis, known as J.R. Bemis. Over the course of the next decade the mill became extremely successful, with the Bemis family becoming especially wealthy as a result. Benjamin Whitaker was no longer a part of the mills operations by the early 20th century, having sold out to J.H. Bemis, the primary stock holder for the company.

Along the turn of the century, mill towns were popping up all around Arkansas, most notably Graysonia, in Clark County. In December, 1915, the Bemis brothers merged their company with the Grayson-McLeod Company, creators of Graysonia, and by that time Graysonia had gone from being a small logging camp to a thriving town of more than 1,000 people, with a movie theater, three hotels, numerous restaurants and cafes, a school and a church. The merger prompted the new company name of Ozan-Graysonia Lumber Company.

J.H. Bemis died in 1918, leaving his sons to run the company. W.N. Bemis and J.W. Bemis were the main share holders, and both had been active in the company since its beginnings. In 1919, J.R. Bemis, the son to W.N. Bemis, moved to Graysonia to learn the lumber business. He was twenty years old at the time, but he and his father thought it best that he learn the business, as it would one day be his to run. He remained in Graysonia until July, 1920, when he traveled to St. Louis and began working with Don Lambert, learning how the lumber sales business worked from the standpoint of working off commission. By 1921, J.R. Bemis had returned to Prescott.

J.W. Bemis died in 1922, leaving W.N. Bumis and his son J.R. the only remaining Bemis family share holders. J.R. took over the management of the Ozan Lumber Company, while his father opened a wholesale lumber business in St. Louis. In 1929, J.R. and his cousin Hubert Whitaker opened a wholesale lumber business in Prescott, with J.R. managing the production and Whitaker handling the sales. The Ozan Lumber Company by this time was operating in Whelen Springs, in Clark County. Although the Great Depression was on by this time, the Ozan Lumber Company never slowed, and was invaluable to people in that region of Arkansas in the way of employment.

J.R. Bemis takes over

In 1935, W.N. Bemis died, leaving J.R. as the main share holder for the company. In 1936, the mill in Prescott burned. At the time, another mill was being built by the company in Delight, Arkansas, but the loss of the Prescott mill severely hampered construction on the latter. In January, 1937, the Delight mill was completed, behind schedule, and started operation.

In 1939, the Whelen Springs mill was closed, with J.R. Bemis opening another mill in Rosboro, Arkansas, on the heels of Thomas Rosborough closing down his operations there and moving his company, Caddo River Timber, to Springfield, Oregon. Rosborough's company, Rosboro Lumber,[1] is today one of the largest private timber holders in the Pacific Northwest.

J.R. Bemis used his new Rosboro mill as a feeder mill to the Delight sight, via the Missouri Pacific Railroad. By now Bemis had his Prescott mill back in operation, the Delight mill was running full force, and his Rosboro mill was feeding Delight.

Ovan Lumber Company and Ozan-Graysonia Lumber Company had been two separate companies since the 1920s. However, they were merged after W.N. Bemis' death. Through this merger, the company now ran by J.R. Bemis acquired mills in Hope, Prescott, Arkadelphia and Nashville, Arkansas, as well as more than 52,000 acres (210 km2) of timberland. D.K. Bemis, a cousin to J.R., had begun handling the land and timber operations in 1935. He became the savior of the company, by constantly having their areas replanted following the timber being cut. Using the companies Chief Forester, T.R. Moberg, the company began selective harvesting. D.K. Bemis pioneered the school forest idea, which is now widespread. Beginning in the late 1930s, school children were asked to assist in the replanting of trees, as a part of their school's education program. By the 1950s many of these children would see at least one cutting of the timber they planted.

Due to this modern thinking on their part, and the part of J.R. Bemis, the company thrived. Companies of the past had merely cut over all virgin timber, then moved on to another location. By replanting and selective harvesting, the Ozan Lumber Company was able to constantly replenish their timber supplies. By 1956 the company owned 132,000 acres (530 km2) of timberland. The company would thrive and be successful throughout J.R. Bemis' lifetime. In March, 1952, the mill at Delight burned, resulting in the Rosboro mill being placed on a two shift schedule to pick up the slack. In October, 1952, the company leased a mill in Antoine, Arkansas, and by November, 1953, the second shift at Rosboro's mill was discontinued. Ozan Lumber Company also ventured into the automotive industry, managing the Smackover Motor Company and the Prescott Motor Company. The company sold out to Potlatch Corporation in 1965. J.R. Bemis died on March 16, 2000.

References

  1. ↑ Rosboro Lumber
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