Sawmills in Arcadia:
The Arcadia Lumber Company Sawmill

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Around 1910, the Arcadia Lumber Company opened a sawmill along the northeast shore of Lake Arcadia on Arcadia Point. The sawmill sold lumber to the Starke Land & Lumber Company and other businesses that could be reached by ship.

Arcadia Lumber Company Officers, Directors, and Stockholders:

  • President: Joseph Crotcher of Traverse City, Michigan
  • Vice President: Ralph Case of Kingsley, Michigan
  • Secretary and Treasurer: John Grund of Arcadia, Michigan

 

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Arcadia Lumber Company Sawmill
This view is from the north end of Lake Arcadia looking south. The Arcadia Lumber Company's sawmill is on the left in an area known today as "the point." The channel to Lake Michigan is behind the sawmill and to the right. 

"The logging and lumbering industry of Arcadia supported still another saw mill. It was started by Mr. Crotcher, Mr. Case, and Mr. Grund. These three men were lumbering over in nearby Boyne City when they made a deal with Mr. Starke to buy the standing timber on a tract of land on the "Arcadia Point. "This mill started operation around the year 1910. It was a good sized operation and in its day employed about sixty men. John Grund, father of Harvey Grund, was mill supt. and ran a "good operation." Mary Ebert fondly recalls the workers shortcutting through her yard, lunch pails in hand, hurrying to their jobs." -- Arcadia 1880-1980. Arcadia Centennial Committee.

The company's 1910 annual report included a contract with the Arcadia Furniture Company for $156,622. 

 

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Arcadia Lumber Company Crew
This is a closer view of the north end of the sawmill. John Grund managed the mill, so locals referred to it as the "Grund Mill." John Grund is fourth from the lower right. 

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View East with Schooner
Many schooners like this one were used to haul lumber all over the Great Lakes. Postcard Photograph.
The L. L. Cook Co., Milwaukee.

"They shipped most of their lumber and boards to markets in Chicago and Milwaukee. When the town people saw the carrier "S.O. Neff" sailing in the harbor, they knew another load of lumber was ready for loading at the Grund mill, to be sent off to these distant ports." -- Arcadia 1880-1980. Arcadia Centennial Committee.

Annual reports show the mill closed soon after the death of John Grund on August 26, 1916.

 

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Sydney O. Neff
The steam barge shown here docked along the northeast shore of Lake Arcadia is the Sydney O. Neff, a work horse that hauled lumber primarily for the Arcadia Lumber Company.

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