| The village
of Hermansville was founded in 1878 when Mr. C.J.L. Meyer of Fond du Lac,
Wis., started a saw and shingle mill for the purpose of sawing up the
pine and cedar timber on lands purchased by him. Mr. Meyer operated this
mill until 1883, sending most of the product to Fond du Lac to stock his
sash and door factory. In 1883 Mr. Meyer organized the Wisconsin Land
& Lumber Company, which acquired the mill and landholdings, he being
the principal stock-holder. In 1886 and 1887 the company began plans and
experiments to utilize their hardwood timber. Up to this time there had
been little, if any, hardwood cut and practically no maple had been used
for flooring. In the early stages of manufacture of maple flooring, it
was customary to match the lumber as well as possible with the machines
then on the market, and after it was laid to traverse and cross plane
it to bring it to a uniform surface. This was not only very tedious, hard
work but was too expensive to admit of its general use. The machinery
used for the hard rock maple of the Upper Peninsula developed so many
defects that flooring shipped in long strips had to be cut into short
pieces when laid, and a large percentage thrown away. The idea was conceived
of cutting out all the defects and the factory and shipping nothing but
clear or serviceable flooring, all of which could be used. As no machinery
was then made that would successfully work the hard rock maple, a series
of experiments in machine building was undertaken which resulted in the
special machinery used to produce the justly celebrated IXL maple flooring.
All the difficulties of uneven matching were overcome and these machines
produced a flooring whose uniformity of machine work had not been equaled
by any other make. In 1887 the company built a second saw-mill and commenced
the erection of a large maple flooring factory. In 1889 the company become
involved in the failure of C.J.L. Meyer at Fond du Lac and Chicago and
for two years was in the hands of an assignee for the benefit of its creditors.
But in 1892 a settlement with the creditors was made and the property
returned to the Wisconsin Land & Lumber Co., who operated it during
the following three or four years under considerable difficulty. In 1896
Up to this time the company was operating under the laws of Wisconsin,
but in 1900 the present organization was effected under the laws of Michigan
with a capital stock of $1,000,000 fully paid in. Dr. Geo. W. Earle acquired
practically all the bonds and stock of the Wisconsin Land & Lumber
Co. and its progress grew steadily upward from that point. The Company
owned over 60,000 acres of land, which was selected for its hardwood timber,
much of which was uncut, besides controlling much additional stumpage.
They could readily see a supply for their mills for twenty-five years
to come. In addition to the celebrated IXL maple and birch flooring, the
company handled all the pine, hemlock, tamarack and cedar timber, cedar
posts, poles and pilings, spruce and hemlock pulpwood that grew on the
land they cut each year. These amounted to an enormous traffic. Over ten
thousand cars were loaded for shipment and received loaded with logs and
other forest products each year. The company owned practically all the
buildings in the village and took pride in keeping the village clean,
and beautifying the grounds. They planted over four hundred shade trees
and have endeavored in every way to make the village attractive to their
employees and a credit to the county. The company began selling their
lands to settlers after the timber had been removed, and had settled two
hundred families. These lands were in most instances sold for small payments
spread over a long period of time. |
