Georgia, McIntosh County, Darien
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Taken approximately from where you are now standing, the photograph to the top left is of the Savannah Lumber Company’s sawmill, circa 1905. The ruins of this mill are in front of you. At the beginning of the twentieth century, due to lack of conservation, large cypress and yellow pine trees up the Altamaha River were severely depleted. This brought an end to the much larger Hilton & Dodge lumber mill operating on this site. In its place was built this smaller, more efficient mill. This mill ran from 1905 until 1923 when the timber era in Darien came to a close due to depleted resources and decreasing demand. Also pictured below left is a 1918 Core of Engineers field survey map that shows a railroad tram running to this mill. A part of the Georgia Coast and Piedmont Railroad system, this tram brought logs from inland areas. Note how the railroad tram split as it approached the mill. The land shown at right was for transporting logs in, while the lane at left was for transporting cut timber back out. The old beds for these trams make up the nature trail on this site.
(Forts, Castles • Industry & Commerce • Railroads & Streetcars • Settlements & Settlers) Includes location, directions, 3 photos, GPS coordinates, map.
Taken approximately from where you are now standing, the photograph to the top left is of the Savannah Lumber Company’s sawmill, circa 1905. The ruins of this mill are in front of you. At the beginning of the twentieth century, due to lack of conservation, large cypress and yellow pine trees up the Altamaha River were severely depleted. This brought an end to the much larger Hilton & Dodge lumber mill operating on this site. In its place was built this smaller, more efficient mill. This mill ran from 1905 until 1923 when the timber era in Darien came to a close due to depleted resources and decreasing demand. Also pictured below left is a 1918 Core of Engineers field survey map that shows a railroad tram running to this mill. A part of the Georgia Coast and Piedmont Railroad system, this tram brought logs from inland areas. Note how the railroad tram split as it approached the mill. The land shown at right was for transporting logs in, while the lane at left was for transporting cut timber back out. The old beds for these trams make up the nature trail on this site.(Forts, Castles • Industry & Commerce • Railroads & Streetcars • Settlements & Settlers) Includes location, directions, 3 photos, GPS coordinates, map.
There were numerous styles of steam engines used during the Age of Steam circa 1790-1920. Though there were variations, all steam engines used the same basic concept. Through a system of heat, metal rods, and pistons, very high pressure steam was produced and used to turn a flywheel that, once connected to a conveyor, sent out enormous power. Steam engines spawned an Industrial Revolution in the United States during the nineteenth century. By powering industries such as this mill, steam power brought enormous wealth for this country. Also , as industry grew, large cities did as well, thus helping to transform the United States from a primarily agrarian society, into an industrial super power.
The ruins in front of you were the foundations of the Darien Eastern Sawmill, later to be called the Hilton & Dodge Lumber Company, or Lower Bluff Mill. The Darien Eastern Sawmill built in 1819, was one of the first steam-powered sawmills to be operated in the Southeast. The picture to the above left, made in the late 1800s, was taken from the tiny island hammock in the log basin behind you. By the time it became the Hilton & Dodge Lumber Company in 1888, this mill was a major economic engine for the area. It sawed millions of feet in lumber each year, helping to make Darien on the richest timber ports on the east coast. Cypress and yellow pine were cut far upriver, snaked out of the swamps, made into rafts and floated down to this site where they were stored in large log basins. The logs were later retrieved from storage by a steam-powered conveyor belt or crane that entered logs into the mill where they were processed. Timber schooners from all over the world came to this bluff to pick up this highly valued lumber. Ballast stones from these ships are found on this site. The two islands in the marsh beyond the bluff are made from ballast stones emptied off schooners arriving to this bluff. Due to the major depletion of large cypress and pine trees upriver, this mill shut down in the early 1900s.
Colonel Barnwell in early colonial records wrote about an Indian village that inhabited the site of Fort King George “for 40 acres round.” Thousands of sherds of Indian pottery, along with remains of 15 crude wautle and daub houses, have been found here. The Guale, decimated by European diseases, were attacked in 1661 by a tribe from the north and their village burned. Escaping to nearby Sapelo Island, their home was never reoccupied.
On March 1, 1838, Fanna Pier, the first white woman to live in Fond du Lac County, died at the age of 30 after a short illness. Her death was the first of a white person in the county. This plot of high ground was selected for the burial two days later. The eleven remaining pioneers in the county attended the funeral officiated by Rev. Cutting Marsh, missionary to the Stockbridge Indians.
James Kneeland, one of the founders of West Bend, purchased this plot of land in the early 1840s. This 2 ½ story side gabled cream city brick building was erected in 1858 and is one of the oldest buildings in West Bend.
The United States Government Land Grant transfer from Byron Kilbourn, et al to Caroline P. Brown took place March 10, 1847.
Stephen F. Mayer (1854-1935) was a prominent resident of West Bend, held numerous elected offices and leadership positions at various levels of government and local businesses, and established several businesses and organizations that still exist today. He married Isadora Pick on May 23, 1877. In 1893, they built this 3,754 sq. ft. Victorian home, heated by steam piped from the West Bend Brewing Company on Main Street.
Thomas Weaver, born Oct. 1, 1822, Sussex, England. Sailed to New York, 1830 with parents, James & Elizabeth. Came to Lisbon 1837. Tom married Betty Craven April 7, 1847, had 10 children. Home built 1860's. Called “Flowery Lawn Home.” Tom was hop farmer, lime kiln & saw mill operator, postmaster, was elected state assembly 1865, active with town government, schools & St. Alban’s Episcopal Church. Died July 25th 1885. Son Elmer (1867-1941) took over property. Grandson Harcourt (1895-1963) was final Weaver owner.
Muskego’s only town hall was built in 1921 for community purposes. From 1842, town meetings and elections were in homes, school houses and saloons.
The first dam was built here in 1853 of logs and earth fill by Caleb and W.H. Woodbury. It washed away in high water in the Spring of 1854. A second dam was built in 1854 by James McCann. This dam and its pool provided 5 sluiceways for water power for 5 separate mills located near here but these furnished inadequate power so steam boilers and engines were installed. In 1969 the wooden dam was removed and the concrete dam seen here was built.
On Aug. 8, 1853 Captain Alden led 10 men of the 4th U.S. Infantry from Fort Jones and 80 volunteers from Yreka over these mountains to the assistance of the Rogue River Valley.
Near this spot in March of 1851 a real “Greenhorn” Englishman traveling through the country inquired at the Bean-McConnell diggings where he might acquire a gold mine. Mr. Bean as a joke sent him to the most unlikely spot up the hill and told him to dig under an Oak tree. No one dreamed he could strike it rich and the joke got funnier and funnier until they found he was quietly working the richest ground along the creek. To perpetuate the joke on themselves the miners baptized the creek “Greenhorn.”
The Arcade Saloon once stood on this site in 1856 where Lotta Crabtree began her singing and dancing profession, and John C. Heenan, ‘The Benicia Boy’ started his fighting career. The building was completely destroyed by the Great Fire of 1871, but rebuilt in 1880 by Hugo Miller who operated a hardware store here. The second story was expressly designed by Miller to be used as a lodge hall by the Redmen of the World.
Sam Lockhart owned this property in 1852 and leased it to a gentleman who ran the Bella Union Saloon for a time. When German-born Charles Iunker and Louis Rapi became new owners in 1859, they prided themselves on service, superior liquors, and elegance of appointments. Iunker later operated a brewery on Oregon Street producing around 7,500 barrels of beer annually. He was an energetic and enterprising man dedicated to the advancement and prosperity of Yreka and Siskiyou County. The Bella Union building was replaced in 1861 by a two-story residence, but continued to provide space on the ground floor for a variety of businesses.
Named during Arizona’s Territorial period to honor Estevan Ochoa (b.1831 – d.1888), whose ancestors arrived in Mexico with the Cortez expedition. He was born in Chihuahua, Mexico to a wealthy mining and ranching family. Before settling permanently in Tucson in 1860, he lived in Mesilla, New Mexico. He was a prominent Tucson businessman, politician, and philanthropist, helping fund the construction of the city’s first schools.
Abslom Barton Gillum (1836-1923) and his wife, Hannah Emmaline, arrived in Texas from Alabama in 1872. In 1880, Gillum bought land at the present site of the cemetery. A.B. Gillum served in the Civil War, was Postmaster of Oakalla, was recognized as a Master Mason and owned a cotton gin. The first person buried in the cemetery is four-year-old William “Willie” Peter Gillum (1878-1882), the son of A.B. and Hannah. Other burials include Woodmen of the World and veterans from the Civil War to the present. An additional 2.5 acres was added to the cemetery in 1990. The Gillum Cemetery Association maintains this historic cemetery, a reminder of the area's pioneer ancestors.
Historic Texas Cemetery - 2010
Co. E 4th Infantry