Hartwell Timber Co.
The company that built the town: Elias Hartwell's timber operation, its rise and end, and the men who worked its camps and mills.
Founder & Owner
Notable members
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Clarence Ashton
Clarence AshtonClarence Ashton was one of the original eight men of the Hartwell Timber Company and served as its early head of operations.
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Edgar Briggs
Edgar BriggsEdgar Briggs was one of the early men of Hartwell Timber Co., first employed as a saw hand and camp medic before eventually rising to become foreman of the sawmill.
Other members
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Holt Briggs
Holt BriggsHolt Briggs was the son of a Briarmont millworker and the first of the three co-founders of Alpha Chi Epsilon Fraternity (AXE) .
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Ward Ashton
Ward AshtonWard Ashton was the third of the three co-founders of Alpha Chi Epsilon Fraternity (AXE), and in some ways the least obvious candidate for what he became.
Employees
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Gideon Rourke
Gideon RourkeGideon Rourke was Hartwell Timber Co.’s hauling foreman and ox-team lead, responsible for the brutal, necessary work of moving cut timber out of the forests and across the unstable ground around Briarmont.
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Amos Pike
Amos PikeAmos Pike was one of the most elusive men ever employed by Hartwell Timber Co., working as part of its scouting and surveying efforts during the company’s early years.
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Nathaniel Vale
Nathaniel ValeNathaniel Vale was born around 1843 to a struggling farm family somewhere on the western plains, where drought, poor soil, and bad harvests kept hunger close at hand.
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Levi Boone
Levi BooneLevi Boone served as Hartwell Timber Co.’s camp carpenter and structural foreman, responsible for the rough-built infrastructure that allowed the company’s operations to function from season to season.
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Bernard KesslerBernard Kessler
Bernard Kessler was one of the older men employed by Hartwell Timber Co., already in his forties by the time Elias Hartwell brought him into the company.
