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Justus Smith Stearns (April 10, 1845 – February 14, 1933) was an American lumber baron and businessman.〔Gateway, Volumes 1, 1903, pp 22–24〕〔(Michigan County Histories and Atlases Digitization Project - "History of Northern Michigan", page 1311–12 )〕 He was Michigan's secretary of state in 1899 and 1900.〔''Michigan Biographies,'' p. 320〕 == Biography == Stearns was born in Pomfret, New York, April 10, 1845. He was an only child. He had limited formal education, with common schooling at the district school of Chautauqua County, New York. Stearns was trained as a farmer's chore boy as was usual at the time in the area. One of his duties was to milk twelve cows each day. His first exposure to the lumber business was in Pomfret at his father's retail lumber business where he took on a passion for the industry.〔〔 His parents moved from the Pomfret area to Erie, Pennsylvania, when he was sixteen in 1861. Stearns' father was in the retail business there for about ten years. Stearns worked with his father there until 1867 when he moved to Conneaut, Ohio.〔Ludington Daily News, April 11, 1923 '' Townsfolk give dinner in honor of Hon. Justus S. Stearns''〕 Stearns married Paulina Lyon (b. Nov 24, 1849, Conneaut, Ohio; d. May 5, 1904, Ludington, Michigan) on March 4, 1868, at Conneaut.〔Lyon, p. 202〕 They had one child, Robert Lyon Stearns, born March 14, 1872. Because of a tight financial situation with a venture with his brother-in-law Captain E. B. Ward and influence of the lumbermen of the Lyon family, Stearns decided to move to Ludington, Michigan. Initially he was a cashier working for his brother-in-law, Thomas R. Lyon.〔〔Mason County Historical Society, pp. 320–21〕 Stearns came to Michigan in 1876. He first worked at sawmills in Big Rapids. This early Michigan venture did not prove successful, and he then moved to Ludington. There, about east of Ludington, he operated a portable sawmill on the line of the Pere Marquette Railroad and founded "Stearns Siding" lumber camp in 1880.〔 In 1882 Stearns built a house for the family at the corner of Washington Avenue and Fourth Street in Ludington at a cost of something over $6,000, a large sum for the time. In 1898 Stearns bought out the extensive lumber operation of Thomas R. Lyon and formed Stearns Salt & Lumber Company and Stearns Salt Block company.〔 It soon became a large company in Ludington with of lumber output annually and 300,000 barrels of salt yearly. He soon became one of the top businessmen in the state of Michigan.〔 In 1893 he formed Flambeau Lumber Company in Lac du Flambeau, Wisconsin, with Fred Herrick. In 1894 he started Stearns Lumber Company in Odanah, Wisconsin.〔 In Ludington he not only was in the lumber business, but was also in the salt business. Around 1890 his annual cut of the mills averaged yearly, with a daily production of 1,200 to 1,500 barrels of salt.〔 In 1898 he manufactured of lumber and was the largest manufacturer of lumber in the state of Michigan.〔 Stearns had large timber interests in Michigan, Wisconsin, the Pacific Northwest, and Florida by 1901. At this time he started acquiring of timber on the Cumberland Plateau in Kentucky, referred to as the "Big Survey." 〔Rehder, p. 192〕 This acquisition consisted of parts of southern Kentucky and northern Tennessee. Stearns, at this time, leased another in Whitley County, Kentucky. He opened a company store there in 1902, and it became the hub of the new founded town of Stearns. The Stearns Lumber Company was renamed Stearns Coal & Lumber Company in 1910.〔(Profile for Stearns, Kentucky )〕 Stearns secured transportation of his logs and lumber from the town of Stearns with the Kentucky and Tennessee Railroad. Initially the rails went from his town to Barthell, away. Then the lines were extended to Yamacraw and Oz. They eventually were extended in 1909 to White Oak Creek away from his town. Stearns was referred to as the "Pine King" because of his vast timber holdings in the Ludington (Michigan) area and at Lac du Flambeau, Wisconsin. In 1901 he purchased of timber in Kentucky. Later with partners he acquired further large tracts of timber near Ashland, Wisconsin. Three years later he sold his interests to his partners and then took this capital to leverage it to acquire in Tennessee and Kentucky. It turned out the timber land in Kentucky contained large coal deposits, and Stearns became quite wealthy from that. Stearns acquired of pine timber land in 1903. He set up a mill at Bagdad, Florida, which he operated until 1919.〔Ludington Daily News, Vol XLIII, No. 92, February 14, 1933, front page obituary〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Justus Smith Stearns」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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