Butte County
Biographies
FRANK MARION THATCHER
FRANK MARION THATCHER.—Actively identified with the
business interests of Stirling City, Frank Marion
Thatcher has made his mark in the world and by his well-directed energy and
business ability has become one of the leading business men of the Sacramento
Valley. Notwithstanding his great business ability and achievements, he is
still the same approachable, friendly, kind-hearted man he has ever been. He
has worked his way from the bottom to the top round of the ladder of success. A
native of Batavia, Solano County, Cal., he was born October 20, 1869. His
father, David, and his mother, Cynthia Ann (Owens) Thatcher, were natives of
Iowa. The families became acquainted at Calistoga, Napa County, Cal., where the
young people were married. David was a farmer in Yolo County and moved from
there to Solano County, where he continued the occupation of farming and
stock-raising, afterwards coming to Butte County, where he farmed on the Pratt
Grant, near Durham.
Frank Marion grew up in Yolo, Solano and
Butte Counties, and he was five years of age when his parents came to Butte
County, in 1874. He received a public school education at Durham and later
attended Woodman’s Academy at Chico. At eighteen years of age he began working
for the Sierra Lumber Company at Butte Meadows, packing supplies on mules and
horses for construction work on tramways, from Butte Meadows. Then the Dolbeer steam donkey took the place of bull teams and he
was engaged in supplying sufficient water for the engine and for domestic
purposes at the camp. He packed the water by using two water-bags of
twenty-gallon capacity each, on either side of the pack saddle. He worked his
way up in any capacity that was needed, until, at the age of twenty-three he
had charge of Thatcher’s camp of the Sierra Lumber Company’s operations at
Butte Meadows, in Plumas County. In 1894, he moved with the company to West
Branch, and when Superintendent Barney Cussick
resigned 1896, Mr. Thatcher was promoted to the position of superintendent at
West Branch, and not only had supervision of the logging operations, but was
also superintendent of the West Branch mill. He remained in this position until
the fall of 1908, when the holdings of the company were purchased by the
Diamond Match Company, and he continued with that company until the West Branch
mill was closed down. It was then that Mr. Thatcher was placed in charge of
railroad construction at Stirling City, until the
death of Jack Turner, superintendent of the Lyonsville
plant, when Mr. Thatcher succeeded to his position and he remained there as
superintendent for one year under the new company.
In 1909, Mr. Thatcher came to Stirling City as general manager of the Diamond Match
Company’s plant, and here he had one thousand men under his direction, and
continued in that position until January 1, 1916, when he arranged with the
company to take over all their operations at Stirling
City, under contract, for ten years. Under the existing contract he has the
full responsibility of all the men, machinery, equipment and lumber-woods, his
part of the work being completed when the logs are made into lumber and loaded
on the cars at Stirling City. They are now sawing at
the rate of one hundred fifty-two thousand feet per day, or about 35,000,000
feet a year. About fifteen per cent of this lumber is manufactured into
flooring, siding and ceiling, and is dried and planed at the mill. The capacity
of the mill is such that he can manufacture 50,000,000 feet per year if it is
required. An idea of the magnitude of the operations can be had when it is
stated that the value of the manufactured product amounts to over $1,500,000
each year. He employs about two hundred seventy-five men.
The Diamond Match Company platted the town
of Stirling City and built the important buildings
and these have also been taken over by Mr. Thatcher in his operations. In 1916
he bought out the Stirling Merchandise Company and
has a very complete stock of well selected and first-class general merchandise,
it being the largest stock in Butte County. He operates three warehouses in
connection with the business, and he owns and works forty draft horses, as well
as several trucks, which he uses to supply the surrounding country, besides his
own operations, and for this purpose has built a large and well-equipped
garage. In connection with his operations he has three principal foremen. His
brother, William H. Thatcher, is outside foreman and fireman of locomotives and
has charge of the railway crew. Herschel Cullens is
woods foreman, A. W. Ballard is mill foreman, and
A. D. Rockwood, formerly purchasing agent for the Diamond Match
Company, is manager of the store.
On June 21, 1903, Mr. Thatcher was united
in marriage, at Chico, with Miss Mattie Enloe, a
sister of Dr. Enloe, now Captain in the Medical
Department of the United States Army, and stationed in San Francisco. Of this
union four children have been born: Harold, a student in the Chico high school;
Dorothy, Thelma, and Frank M., Jr. Mr. Thatcher and his interesting family
reside at Stirling City. He is a member of Stirling City Lodge, No. 178, I. O. O. F. He was made a
Mason in Chico Lodge, No. 111, F. & A. M., exalted to the
Royal Arch in Chico Chapter, No. 42, R. A. M., and belongs to Chico Commandery, No. 12, K. T., and is a life member of
Islam Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., in San Francisco; he
is a member of the Northwestern Logging Congress, with its headquarters in
Portland, Ore. Interested in preserving law and order and in maintaining high
standards of morals, Mr. Thatcher has consented to serve as Deputy Sheriff and
Deputy Game Warden. Mr. and Mrs. Thatcher are active in church work and are
members of the Presbyterian Church of Stirling City,
of which he is a member of the board of trustees, while Mrs. Thatcher is
superintendent of the Sunday School.
Transcribed by Marie Hassard
07 June 2009.
Source:
"History of Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Pages
951-952, Historic Record
Co, Los Angeles, CA, 1918.
© 2009 Marie Hassard.
Golden Nugget Library's Butte County Biographies