Records, 1839-1969.

ArchivalResource

Holt Lumber Company (Oconto, Wis.). Records, 1839-1969.

Records, 1839-1969.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/123129205

Records of the Holt Lumber Co., one of the largest lumber companies operating in northeastern Wisconsin, which had its headquarters at Chicago, Illinois, and at Oconto, Wisconsin. Extensive series of letterbooks, journals, ledgers, cash books, purchase records, cruisers' reports, log drive records, log books, price lists, time books, payrolls, and other papers document the varied operations of the business. The majority of the volumes cover 1865-1888, when Devillo R. Holt (1823-1899) and Uri Balcom (1815-1893) were in partnership. These two natives of New York State founded a company which engaged in the lumbering of white pine in Oconto and Marinette counties, and also operated cargo vessels on the Great Lakes, a sawmill, feedmill, general store, several farms, and a boarding house in the Oconto area. Despite gaps in the several series, the records contain data on almost every aspect of the business from logging to marketing, the structure of the company, its operations, its varying financial condition, and its relations with other companies. Later records, 1890-1943, describe the formation and operation of the Holt Lumber Company, successor to Holt and Balcom. This organization was run by William Holt, son of D. R. Holt, with the assistance of other members of the family until the dissolution of the company in 1938. Records for these later decades contain detailed information on the type and volume of business done and indicate the changes wrought by the shift from pine to hardwoods and hemlock, from oxen to motorized equipment, from lake carriers to railroads. Scattered records of several subsidiary organizations are included in the collection: the Oconto River Improvement Company, 1893-1901; the American Lumber Company, 1901-1904; the Sever Anderson Logging Company, 1925-1926; and the Oconto Electric Company, 1911-1924.

78.6 c.f. (49 archives boxes and 129 separate volumes)

University of Wisconsin, Green Bay, Cofrin Library