Monday, November 24, 2008

A Peek into the Past!


The first Jackson Lumber Harvester sawing at the Frank  Kothbauer farm near Mondovi, WI.  (May 1935)

As we think of Thanksgiving coming up, we are reminded of the heritage we have right in this Company, and of how God has blessed us through the years.

Many of you know that Jackson Lumber Harvester Company was started by Clint Jackson, back in the 1930's, with his idea of the portable sawmill, which was patented, and trademarked as the "Lumber Harvester."

The second individual to become President of the Company was Howard Fimreite, husband of Clint's daughter, Rosalie.  Howard was a Mondovi boy, who joined the U.S. Marines Corp. as a young man.

After enlisting in the Marines in 1943, he finished Avation School at Navy Pier in Chicago and attended the Navy's Advance Hydraulic Training School there.  Then he was assigned to the VMB-612 Rocket Squadron in the South Pacific.

He saw action in such places as Okinawa, Saipan, Iwo Jima, and the Philippines, receiving seven battle stars for service in World War II.  When the war was over, he returned and headed up Jackson Lumber Harvester Company.  About this time, the Company's manufacturing facilities, which had been in Wisconsin, were moved to Brewton, Alabama.

As a direct result of Howard Fimreite's hydraulic schooling and experience with Marine VMB-612, he had the training necessary to design and build the first hydraulic feed portable "Lumber Harvester."


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