SAGINAW AND MANISTEE: A PREQUEL TO THE WILLIAMS OPERATION

 SAGINAW AND MANISTEE: A PREQUEL TO THE WILLIAMS OPERATION 

The following comments are meant to be a prelude to the history of the Saginaw and Manistee Lumber Company in Williams, Arizona. Comments and references are based on the book "Indians, Jacks and Pines," by Stuart Gross (1962.)

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The Michigan forests that surrounded the town of Saginaw were considered to be so dense that it would take "a hundred years to cut." This comment was often spoken, and then repeated, from the New England forests to the magnificent stands of mature trees in the Pacific Northwest. The wonders of ever evolving technology would over and again prove such a statement to be short-sighted, and ignorant of the capable creative intelligence of humanity. 

According to Stuart Gross, the Saginaw area was the lumbering capital (of the nation) from the year 1851 until the 1890s (page 48.) From the earliest mills of the Saginaw country in 1835, to the closing years of 1897, some 83 mills produced over 25 billion feet of lumber, 5 billion shingles and other wood products to the nation (page 49.)

From the early years, the main mode of transporting the timber to the mills was by floating the logs downstream on the numerous river systems. This provided a cheap method of moving large quantities of raw product (logs) to the production facilities (lumber mills.) As the forests were cut further inland from the waterways, another method needed to be employed to transport the logs. 

Railroads had developed from the most primitive concepts to a proven mode of transportation. It was becoming more reliable and would evolve to become an efficient method transporting logs to the mills. Once processed by the mill, the lumber could be marketed throughout the nation by the burgeoning railroad industry. 

With the diminishing forests around Saginaw, the lumber barons of the Michigan forests began casting about a large net, seeking virgin forests that could potentially provide lumber for a growing nation. One such area were the vast Ponderosa Pine forests in Arizona. The building of the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad allowed access to the timber stands.  With the railroad came land grants, deliberately sectioned into a checkerboard pattern across the territory as dictated by Congress in the 1860s. Other investors had purchased land holdings from the railroads, so some haste was needed to take advantage of this opportunity. 

Once the investment was made in the timber rights, the Saginaw Lumber Company (and later the Manistee, who merged to form the Saginaw and Manistee Lumber Company) began a methodical and well-planned move to Arizona. This was not to be solely a new operation, but a relocation of company assets and personnel. 

The Saginaw applied their long-standing expertise in the timber trade to acquiring and designing a mill site in Williams, and a short lived second mill at Challender. With the mills came the machinery and trained craftsman who applied the art and technology of producing lumber. Housing was arranged for the mill personnel who moved with the company. The operation of a railroad was not unknown to them, and surveying was begun as to reach the stands of timber.