Grit
Nine years after his first mortgage at Turkey Run, Teddy bought out Rodgers,
Scovil, and Fullager, and with his brother, J.V. Collins, held full title to
the original 1,480 acres and mill at Turkey Run. That was November 25, 1864.
But even before that deal was completed, Teddy had extended his operations
over to Beaver Valley, Pennsylvania, where in 1860, he bought an interest,
along with Sanford S. Holbrook, in a sawmill, grist mill, and store.
Before Teddy Collins died in 1914, he would own, along with others, a handful
of sawmills in the Tionesta Valley, including: Nebraska (originally called Lacy’s
Mill), Beaver Valley, Pine Hollow, Bucks Mill, Old Salmon Creek Mill, New Salmon
Creek Mill, and the Mayburg Mill. Add to that mix the Tionesta Manufacturing
Company, the Nebraska Box Mill, the Mayburg Chemical Plant, and the Clough Lands
in Pennsylvania; timberland in Tehema and Plumas Counties, California, (known
as the Curtis, Collins & Holbrook lands); redwood property in California;
and timberlands and mills in Washington and timber in Oregon.
 |
||
|
 |
|
| The Heisler locomotive #4 worked its days for Collins’ Salmon Creek Lumber Company. | ||
|
||
Railroads
But a man couldn’t run all these timber operations in the late 1800s,
early 1900s without the rails. The creeks and rivers that used to be jammed
with timber gave way to the rails. And there was no doubt that railroads were
in Teddy’s blood. He had started out by driving stakes for the Binghampton
and Syracuse Railroad, and by the end of his life, he owned over 100 miles
of logging railroad, 41 miles of main line, and 25 locomotives.
Oil
For a man with the gumption of a Teddy Collins, timber, mills, and railroads
were not quite enough. There was oil. Now oil could have been Teddy’s
unmaking. It certainly was a temptation that many a man succumbed to and
from which few made a fortune. In Teddy’s time, Pennsylvania was virtually
floating in undiscovered oil. But Teddy was a tree man. He liked the possibilities
of what was on top of the ground, and while he would invest in oil most of
his life, it was always secondary to trees.
Colonel Edwin L. Drake was the first to discover a major oil field in Pennsylvania
in 1859. By April 7, 1860, Teddy and J.V. were leasing their first oil lands,
38-acres from one Nancy Griffin. It was located along the Allegheny River near
President, Pennsylvania. The lease turned into a purchase of the land, but
the Collins boys came up pretty empty-handed. No oil was ever found on the
property, but that didn’t stop them from looking for more.
Teddy and J.V. shifted their oil interests to Walnut Bend, also along the Allegheny
River. There they built and operated a small oil refinery. By 1865, Teddy sold
his share of the land and refinery to the Collins Oil Company of Syracuse,
New York for $100,000. The oil company was now owned by six men, one of whom
was J.V. Collins. That didn’t mean Teddy was through with oil. As late
as May 19, 1892, he and a partner, Orion Siggins, purchased what became known
as the Cook Oil Lease lands in Pennsylvania.
Media
•
An Experiment in Sustainable Forestry —Forest
History Today
•
Mission’s Living Legacy
—New World Outlook
The Collins Companies
1618 SW First Avenue, Suite 500
Portland, OR 97201
800.329.1219
503.227.1219
503.227.5349 Fax
HISTORY
& PHILOSOPHY