Sierra
County
Biographies
LOUIS W. CONKLIN
Louis
W. Conklin, who is now serving his fourth consecutive term as president of the
board of trustees, or mayor, of the town of Loyalton,
and is the oldest employee of the Clover Valley Lumber Company, being the
purchasing agent for that concern, was born at Newark, New Jersey, June 4,
1867, and is a son of Edward L. and Leonore (King)
Conklin. His father, who was a veteran
of the Civil War, served a term as postmaster of Newark, where he was the owner
of a lumberyard, planing mill and box factory. He was of Scotch descent and lived to the age
of sixty-eight years. The maternal
grandfather, William King, was the pioneer lumberman at Newark, and built mills
and factories. The King family is
probably of English origin and settled in Newark in a very early day.
Louis
W. Conklin graduated from the Newark high school when fifteen years of age, immediately
after which he entered his father’s employ as a common laborer in the
lumberyards and mills. He was connected
with his father’s retail lumber business in Newark for fifteen years, after
which he went to New York City, where he engaged in the wholesale lumber
business for three years. In 1902 he
reached California and became connected with the Towle
Lumber Company, at Fulda, Placer County, as manager, which position he held for
two years. In 1904 he came to Loyalton and found here five mills in operation: the
Roberts Lumber Company, the Reno Mill and Lumber Company, the Marsh Lumber
Company, which was burned out in 1919; the Horton Brothers Lumber Company,
which later sold out to the March Lumber Company, and the California Lumber
Company. The Clover Valley Lumber
Company, which was organized in 1916, took over the interests and mills of the
Roberts Lumber Company and the Marsh Lumber Company. When the mill of the last named concern was
burned down, the Clover Valley moved into the mill of the Roberts Company. This has since been greatly enlarged, being
now a two-band mill, with a productive capacity of four hundred thousand feet
every twenty-four hours. It also
operates a large planing mill and an extensive box
factory. The company has built about
forty miles of railroad, and has several locomotives and other equipment for
the purpose of bringing in the sawlogs. This is now the chief industry of Loyalton. Mr.
Conklin has devoted his time and attention closely to the interests of the
Clover Valley Lumber Company, which owns a large acreage of timber in its own
right, in addition to which it has the right to cut timber for fifty years on
the United States forest reserve. At present the company has thirty million
feet of lumber cut and drying in the yards at Loyalton,
and is regarded as one of the largest and strongest lumber concerns in this
section of the state.
Mr.
Conklin was the head manager of the California Lumber Company for six months,
after which for five years he served as assistant manager of the Roberts Lumber
Company and as manager of the Marsh Lumber Company until 1912. From 1912 until 1916 he was the manager of
the Standard Lumber Company’s mills at Standard City, California, and on the
organization of the Clover Valley Lumber Company, by Cecil D. Terwilliger, he became the resident manager at Loyalton, in which capacity he has served ably and loyally
to the present time.
On
January 18, 1892, in Newark, New Jersey, Mr. Conklin was united in marriage to
Miss Carolyn Shepard, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs.
Cyrus G. Shepard, the former a prominent member of
the great Colgate Company of New York City.
Mrs. Conklin received a high school and normal school education and is
also a graduate of the Barnard College of New York. For one and a half years prior to her
marriage she taught in the schools of Newark, New Jersey. Mr. and Mrs. Conklin are the parents of a
son, Joel S., who graduated in civil engineering from the University of
California and for the past nine years has served as civil engineer for the
Clover Valley Lumber Company. Joel S.
Conklin is greatly interested in Masonry is a past master of Loyalton Lodge, No. 359; is a district deputy and a Noble
of the Mystic Shrine. He is married and
has a son, Joel W., one year old, and the family resides in Loyalton.
In
his political views Mr. Conklin is a Republican and has served on the county
central committee for many years. He is
mayor of Loyalton by virtue of his position as
president of the board of trustees and has rendered splendid service to the
community. The present members of the
board of trustees are, Louis W. Conklin, president; W. Schroeder, Attilio Lombardi, Fred Squires and Louis Genasci. Mr. Conklin
was made a Mason in Loyalton Lodge, No. 359, and is a
member of the Knight Templar Commandery at Nevada
City, Nevada.
Transcribed by
Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
Wooldridge, J.W.Major History of Sacramento Valley
California, Vol. 3 Pages 156-157. Pioneer Historical
Publishing Co. Chicago 1931.
© 2010 Gerald Iaquinta.
Golden Nugget Library's Sierra County
Biographies