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Land Family Photographs and Records MSS.319
MSS.319  
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Collection Details
 
Table of contents What's This?
  • Arrangement note
  • Biographical/Historical note
  • Access Restrictions
  • Usage Restrictions
  • Immediate Source of Acquisition note
  • Publication Rights
  • Preferred Citation note
  • Related Archival Materials note
  • Scope and Contents note
  • Processing Information note

  • Title: Land Family Photographs and Records
    Identifier/Call Number: MSS.319
    Contributing Institution: California State University, Chico, Special Collections, Meriam Library
    Language of Material: English
    Physical Description: 4.0 Linear feet 8 Boxes
    Date (inclusive): 1927-1957, 1987
    Abstract: The collection contains the photographs and business records of Feather River Pine Mills and the Land family, including, correspondence, financial statements, reports, and legal documents. The majority of the collection consists of photographs and negatives documenting mill construction and logging operations of Feather River Pine Mills (FRPM), including Feather River Railroad, and the National Wood Treating Corporation. The Land family was heavily involved in the business and operations of FRPM.
    Language of Materials note: English
    Alternate Form of Material: No other forms of material.
    creator: Feather River Pine Mills.
    creator: Land Family

    Arrangement note

    The collection has been arranged into 2 series.
    Series 1: Papers Series 2: Photographs/Negatives
    Note: Many of the photographs contained within the collection are duplicates of the negatives in boxes 7 and 8. All negatives are nitrate based and for staff use only. Scanned copies are available.

    Biographical/Historical note

    A. H. Land was born November 24, 1866 in Concord, Virginia and died in Oroville, California on July 26, 1953. Land graduated as a captain from the Virginia Military Institute in 1890 and taught chemistry in the science department for several years. He was married in 1893 to Catherine Elizabeth Evans and entered the mercantile business in Bluefield, West Virginia. Holding interest in mining and lumber at various times throughout his life, Land became president of the First National Bank of Logan, West Virginia, and served as an assistant federal fuel officer during World War I. He served several terms as mayor of Bluefield, West Virginia and was the manager of the opera house. Mr. and Mrs. Land had seven children, including Charles Hunter Land, John Daniel Land, and Jacob Golden Land, all of whom were involved in Feather River Pine Mills business.
    Feather River Pine Mills, Inc. was a major Northern California lumber company for a number of years. In 1920 the Hutchinson Lumber Company (a West Virginia hardwood lumber company established in 1908 by Robert Lee Hutchinson), bought the Wheeler timber tract northeast of Oroville. The company purchased large tracts of timber in Butte and Plumas counties in California and began building railroad lines, sawmills a planning mill and dry kilns. An office and plant were officially operational in Oroville in March 1922. Hutchinson Lumber Company was one of the largest lumber companies in Northern California (during its 1925 season the company cut 100,000,000 board feet of lumber).
    A. H. Land served as vice-president and treasurer at the West Virginia Corporation (Hutchinson Lumber of West Virginia) for two years (February 1922-Feburary 1924). Land moved to Oroville in 1922 to help improve the financial situation of the company. In 1923 at A. H. Land’s suggestion, the California operations of Hutchinson Lumber Company was reorganized and incorporated as the Hutchinson Lumber Company of California. Land became the president and treasurer of the California Corporation and from that point on he was completely in charge of the operation of the lumber mill and other properties of Hutchinson Lumber of California. C. H. land, A. H. Land’s son, was given the responsibility of managing all operations and sales for Hutchinson Lumber of California.
    Financial trouble continued for Hutchinson Lumber Company and on the morning of April 22, 1927 the real and personal property of the Hutchinson Lumber Company was offered for sale on the steps of the Butte County Courthouse in Oroville, California. A. H. Land submitted the only bid and purchased Hutchinson Lumber on behalf of himself and a group of associates for $1,960,063.13. Land and his partners formed a new firm in the space of a month, and incorporated it in Nevada under the name of Feather River Pine Mills (FRPM).
    In October 1927, the mill in Oroville was completely destroyed by fire. A. H. Land began to negotiate a Federal Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) loan that was approved in February of 1938, providing $385,000 for the construction of a new mill. The Adelaide site on the outskirts of Oroville was abandoned, and the company decided to locate its operations near the town of Feather Falls. Construction work on the mill and town site soon began, and the rehabilitation of the railroad followed beginning in 1929. The new plant and railroad project were completed and ready for operation on July 1, 1940. Mr. Land organized National Wood Treating Company as a subsidiary in 1947. The plant was located in South Oroville. Feather River Pine Mills continued operations until 1955 when the Land and Cooper families sold the company to Georgia-Pacific Corporation.

    Access Restrictions

    Collection is open for research without restriction.

    Usage Restrictions

    No restrictions.

    Immediate Source of Acquisition note

    Land Family

    Publication Rights

    The library can only claim physical ownership of the collection. Users are responsible for satisfying any claimants of literary property.

    Preferred Citation note

    Land Family Photographs and Records, MSS 319, Special Collections, Meriam Library, California State University, Chico.

    Related Archival Materials note

    Feather River Pine Mills Records, MSS 191, Special Collections, Meriam Library, California State University, Chico.

    Scope and Contents note

    The collection contains the photographs and business records of Feather River Pine Mills and the Land family, including correspondence, auditor’s reports, appraisal reports, examination reports, inventory, balance sheets, agreements, schedules, financial statements, income tax, employment record, proof of labor certificates, grant deed, deed of easement, newspaper clippings and a Leavers Official Feetage Estimator booklet. The majority of the collection consists of photographs and negatives documenting mill construction and logging operations of Feather River Pine Mills (FRPM), including Feather River Railroad, and the National Wood Treating Corporation. The Land family was heavily involved in the business and operations of FRPM. A few of the photographs are personal and depict the Land family.
    Some of the records include materials relating to the following companies: Hutchinson Lumber Company, Monarch Lumber Company, Ralph L. Smith Lumber Company, Olive Products Company, Western Terminals Company, S. River Timber Company, Mooney-Andrews Lumber Company, Geo. B. Mallory Company, Spencer Candy Company, Land Nash Motor Company, Gates Hardware Store, and Hardware Stores Corporation. Names associated with the collection include, John Daniel Land, Jacob Golden Land, Jack Land, Charles Hunter Land, Andrew Hunter Land, Charles Everett, and C. R. Buchanan.

    Processing Information note

    Processing of the Land Family Photographs and Records was generously funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and administered by the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR). The [ABC repository] was awarded a Cataloging Hidden Special Collections and Archives grant from 2010-2012, "Uncovering California's Environmental Collections," in collaboration with eight additional special collections and archival repositories throughout the state and the California Digital Library (CDL). Grant objectives included processing of over 33 hidden collections related to the state's environment and environmental history. The collections document an array of important sub-topics such as irrigation, mining, forestry, agriculture, industry, land use, activism, and research. Together they form a multifaceted picture of the natural world and the way it was probed, altered, exploited and protected in California over the twentieth century. Finding aids are made available through the Online Archive of California (OAC).

    Subjects and Indexing Terms

    Feather River Pine Mills.
    Feather River Railway.
    Hutchinson Lumber Company.
    Land Family
    Land, Andrew Hunter
    Land, Charles Hunter
    Land, Jack
    Land, Jacob Golden
    Land, John Daniel
    Butte County (Calif.)--Photographs.
    Feather Falls (Calif.)--Photographs.
    Logging--California, Northern--History.
    Lumber and lumbering--California, Northern--History.
    Lumber and lumbering--California--Butte County--History.
    Lumber camps--California--Butte County--Photographs.
    Lumbering--California, Northern--Photographs.
    Moore Town (Calif.)--Photographs.
    Uncovering California's Environmental Collections Project