Sierra
County
Biographies
JAMES M. TURNER
Numbered
among the veteran lumbermen of the Sacramento Valley is James M. Turner, who is
a member of one of the pioneer families of this locality, and has done his full
share in the development and advancement of this section of the state. Born at Sattley,
Sierra county, California, on the 4th of
June, 1875, he is a son of Hartwell (commonly called Frank) and Agnes
(Galloway) Turner. His Grandfather
Turner came to California with the first rush of gold seekers, and followed
mining until his death, which occurred on the Yuba River in the ‘50s. Hartwell Turner, who was one of the earliest
sawmill men in Sierra county, was born at Whitefield, Maine, grew up in the
lumber business, and was one of the pioneer sawmill owners of Sierra county. He met with a fair measure of success, but
also met with reverses, so that he advised his son to follow some other line of
business than lumbering. In Sierra
County he was married to Miss Agnes Galloway, whose parents came to California
from Pennsylvania in 1849. She was born
in San Francisco in 1850, and in the following spring the family moved to
Sierra County, where she was the first white child. Grandfather Galloway crossed the plains, with
ox team and covered wagon in 1849, coming to California as a gold seeker. But he later took up the practice of law in
Sacramento, becoming one of California’s early and successful attorneys. He died in Sierra county
when James M. Turner was but a child. To
Hartwell and Agnes Turner were born four children, namely: Harry A., who resides on the old Turner ranch
at Sattley; James M., Thomas K., who is engaged in
logging and contracting and resides at Sattley; and
Daisy A., the wife of Thomas Miller, of Sierraville,
this state. The father died in Sattley in 1922. James
M. Turner’s early life was spent in Sattley, where he
received his educational training. On
starting out for himself he engaged in teaming and logging, buying his first
team of horses on credit. By tireless
and well directed effort he succeeded and eventually he had a ten-horse team
and was doing a good business, logging and freighting from Truckee to Sierra
City and Downieville.
He was working long hours day after day, but had the satisfaction of knowing
that he was getting ahead, and during that period he put his surplus earnings
into timber lands. He and his two
brothers built a sawmill in 1902 and operated it
successfully for some years. The three
brothers built their first sawmill three miles north of Sattley. It was a steam mill, with a capacity of thirty-five
thousand feet of lumber a day. They
freighted their lumber to Loyalton by horse teams,
and thence shipped it over the Boca & Loyalton Railroad. This mill was operated under the name of the
Sunset Lumber Company until they sold out in the fall of 1906. In partnership with his brother Thomas K. and
a cousin, F. H. Turner, James M. Turner bought and reconstructed the old mill
at Sattley.
They leased the land on which the mill stood and bought a lot of
standing timber, which they cut and sawed into lumber during the period from
1907 to 1912. However, disaster overtook
them, for they had previously secured some large contracts at Tonopah and
Goldfield, Nevada, and when the gold boom collapsed they were left with a large
quantity of lumber on hand that they could not sell. In the meantime the railroad from San Pedro
to Nevada was completed and lumber could then be shipped over that road cheaper
than they could haul it by teams.
On
the failure of the mill, Mr. Turner turned his attention again to his old
occupation, that of logging, teaming and contracting, which he followed alone
until 1917. He then formed a partnership
with a Mr. Jorgensen, and bought the Reese mill, above Loyalton,
which they moved to Portola and organized the Beckwith-Peak Lumber
Company. They operated this concern
there until 1920, when they moved the mill to a location three miles south of
Portola. Mr. Jorgensen sold his interest
in the business to Mr. Turner, who admitted F. P. Myers to a partnership and
the business continued under the name of the Beckwith-Peak Lumber Company. They ran the business until 1928, by which
time the timber was all cut and they quit the sawmill business. Since then Mr.
Turner has successfully devoted his attention to building and selling residences
in Portola. Owing to the fact that his
buildings are well constructed and are attractive and modern in every way, he
has no trouble in selling the houses, which are built on land owned by him.
In
1903, at Placerville, California, Mr. Turner was united in marriage to Miss
Ethel Perryman, who was born in Sierra City, California. Her father, William Perryman, who was a
native of Cornwall, England, came to California many years ago and here
followed mining as an occupation. Mr.
and Mrs. Turner are the parents of a daughter, Ann, of whom they are justifiably
proud. She is a senior in the College of
the Pacific, at Stockton, where she is majoring in art, specializing in drawing
and painting, and giving abundant promise of a brilliant future in that field
of work.
Mr. Turner is a Republican in his
political views and during all the years of his residence here he has shown
interest in those things which have a bearing on the welfare and prosperity of
his section of the valley. He is a
member of Sierra Valley Lodge, No. 184, F. & A. M.; and Nevada Consistory,
A. A. S. R., and Karak Temple, A. A. O. M. M. S.,
both at Reno. He belongs to and is a
trustee of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Portola, in which Mrs. Turner is
an active and effective worker. Regarded
as one of the community’s capable, substantial and public-spirited citizens, he
commands uniform respect because of his sterling and genial qualities.
Transcribed by
Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
Wooldridge, J.W.Major History of Sacramento Valley
California, Vol. 3 Pages 168-170. Pioneer Historical
Publishing Co. Chicago 1931.
© 2010 Gerald Iaquinta.
Golden Nugget Library's Sierra County
Biographies