Dollar, Robert, 1844-1932

Biography

The founder of a vast lumber and shipping empire, Robert Dollar was born in Falkirk, Scotland in 1844. He emigrated to Canada with his father in 1858 and started work as a cook's boy in a lumber camp. By 1866 he was foreman of a camp and, in 1871, bought his first piece of timber land. He continually enlarged his scope of operations, moving first to Michigan, and, in 1888, to California where he opened an office in San Francisco and established his home in San Rafael. By 1893 Dollar had established a mill and lumbering business at Usal in Mendocino County, and shortly thereafter embarked upon his shipping career with the purchase of the steam schooner Newsboy, used to transport lumber to coastal markets. In 1901 he bought his first large steamer. In 1903 he and his three sons -A. Melville, J. Harold, and R. Stanley -incorporated their lumbering and shipping interests into one parent company, The Robert Dollar Company.

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