BioA: Miller, Mr./Mrs. Smith (Gold – 1959)

Contact: stan@wiclarkcountyhistory.org 

Surnames: Miller

----Source: Greenwood Gleaner (Greenwood, Clark Co., Wis.) 05 Mar 1959

Miller, Mr./Mrs. Smith (Gold – 23 FEB 1959)

On Monday, February 23rd, 1959 it will be 50 years since two transplanted Wisconsin young people, Smith H. and Maude L. Miller, were married by Rev. Mark Matthews in Seattle. Their many LaConner friends join in wishing the happy couple a very happy Golden Wedding Anniversary.

Mr. Miller, or Smitty, was born in Greenwood (Clark Co.), Wisconsin and his wife, Maude, was born in Benton, Wisconsin, but they met at a social party in Chehalis in 1899. Ten years later, on February 23, 1909, they were married in Seattle.

Smitty had entered into the lumbering business with his brother and another party in 1905, at the terminus of the Tacoma and Eastern Railroad, on the way to Mt. Rainier. Here to the little town of National at the end of the line, Smitty brought his bride for their first home in 1909. Needless to say there was quite a charivari to welcome the newlyweds – 100 men from the sawmill got out all the big old circle saws and the shotguns in town and gave Mr. and Mrs. Miller an enthusiastic and noisy welcome.

There were very few automobiles the, and the road to Mt. Rainier that went just past the mill was just an ordinary country road and wound through heavy trees with very little grading. One deviation was around the Nisqually Canyon with about 7 miles of corduroy road which was no boulevard – that part was a very bumpy trip for a ca. You tied up your car in the winter, you couldn't go much of anyplace with it, says Smitty.

Smitty had his first car in 1905, another in 1906, and a white Steamer in 1909. He owned and drove the first car to negotiate clear to Paradise Valle in the summer of 1910.

Smitty and his associates operated the mill at National and another large mill until near the start of the first World War. The two mills had a combined output of 175,000 board feet a day and it was grand lumbering and logging country then, said Smitty. Tall, straight timber running 150,000 feet to the acre, in a setting that was perfect. They specialized in long timbers and ship spars – shipping many schooner loads to the United Kingdom.

Then just before the first World War, Mr. and Mrs. Smith Miller moved to Seattle for a number of years. 12 years ago they came to LaConner. Smitty, as he is known here, is not intending to retire as of yet.

Incidentally, Mr. Emil H. Miller (not a relative), owner of the Columbia Hotel in Wenatchee, stood up with Mr. and Mrs. Smith Miller at their wedding 50 years ago. Emil and Smitty had been pals since 1902.

(Editor's Note – The above was taken from the Thursday, February 19, 1959 issue of the Puget Sound Mail, LaConner, Washington. We of the Gleaner Staff join their many friends in extending best wishes to them.)