Logger Days tradition largely a legacy to the Neils family

Neils family members were stewards of the early Libby community, committed to civic affairs. As they always had, the Neils became a functioning development of their own environment when they joined the Libby community in 1910. 

The J. Neils Lumber, Co., was a force to be reckoned with across the Northwest, composed of one of the best work forces in the lumber industry.   

“I’m very proud of what the family did for Libby and it’s history,” said Joanne Neils, who was married to Vincent Neils, a grandson to Julius Neils. “I’d like to see it remembered for what it was.”

Julius Neils was an honest, hard-working man, with an aptitude for progression, innovation and family values. He wasn’t even president of the company bearing his name until 1919, 24 years after the creation of the company and dismissal of three business partners. 

Although he didn’t literally build Libby from the ground up, Julius Neils’ legacy provided a financial stronghold for the development of the renowned timber town Libby would become.

“They built Libby. If it hadn’t been for them coming in with the mill this town might not have gone up,” said former J. Neils logger Bill Crismore. “When I came up here 60 years ago, I went to work sawing logs for them. There were always jobs ready for people to get to work.”

Julius Neils beared a family of strong Lutheran values that committed to the Libby St. John’s Lutheran Church. Other projects included the St. John’s Lutheran Hospital, which was funded largely through the church by the Neils family. George Neils was an avid baseball fan, who made donations in materials and lumber to build a field in Libby. The Cabinet View Golf Course and Turner Mountain ski development were also cooperative efforts aided by members of the Neils association.  Donations were made in resources and manpower to the town that had always lent a working hand of their own.

To put this chronicle together, The Western News researched into several articles and resources enveloping the family’s history and the role of the J. Neils Lumber Co. We were provided with different issues of “Timber”, the family’s treasured newsletter, continued by descendants and published to hand down a well-written history of the Neils to future generations. We reached out to local family members as well as members of the community who have a special interest in the legacy. This collection of historic memories even refers to an article of our own, published in July of 1964.

Early Endeavors

In 1855, the Kootenai Native American Tribe was relocated south of Flathead Lake from the area that would later be called Lincoln County. The Butte copper boom was in full swing, and the American Civil War was closing in on the world’s fastest industrializing nation. In the same year, Julius Neils was born to Ernst and Henrietta Neils, of Pomerania, Germany, a region lining the south shore of the Baltic Sea.

Initially, Julius Neils took an interest in becoming an educator. He found early role models in his teachers working out of a modest schoolhouse. He pleaded with his father to allow him to enroll in a private class that would give him a better education. Ernst Neils conceded to his son’s wish.

In 1872, Ernest Neils sold his property to emigrate to America, following the course already made by Julius’ older brother, August. His family, including parents and brothers Herman, William and Ferdinand, relocated from Germany to New York, to Wisconsin, where they found support in several family members on his mother’s ascendants.

While his father was discouraged by the resources of the land, Julius Neils sparked a new interest in the American dream of independent business. He returned to school in an effort to learn English and become a literate affiliate of his new community.

“I studied for about six months and learned to translate and read,” Neils wrote, “and still was not able to carry on a conversation in English.”

Julius Neils soon worked at a cousin’s dry-goods store in Milwaukee but put his new aspirations to the side when he was approached by local pastor to provide education services during summer months to a parochial Bible school. Once sought to fill the place of a missing minister, Julius Neils nervously and successfully gave a sermon in English and was commended by members of the congregation for his courage.

Julius Neils remained in education and church service, ultimately leading him to the love of his life, Mary Geiger, in 1877. They were married the year after and gave birth to their first child, Julia, the next year in 1879. Two years after he became a full-time teacher, Julius Neils resigned because of severe headaches.

Back to business

In 1881, Julius Neils fathered another daughter, Martha. He decided to step back into the arena of business, with a savings of $400 raised in his career as an educator. He invested with his brother August, in the town of Spencer, Wis., where they took on a hardware store and, through business with the nearby sawmill, acquired a knowledge of the lumber and timber business.

“It was a new country,” Neils wrote, “and was being settled up by strong German farmers who cleared the land, which was covered with a heavy growth of timber.”

Neils and his brother’s hardware store did very well for a half-decade. They lived above the hardware store during the first year in Spencer, and built themselves a small, frame house during the second year of business.

These years would also give him two more daughters and his first son; Anna, Ida and Paul. But in 1886 the store burned down in a fire that would flatten a quarter of the Wisconsin town. Casualties included the local sawmills and lumber yards. Julius Neils and his brother acquired another hardware store upon moving to Minnesota, although Julius Neils would break away from their small enterprise only months later to dive into the lumber business.

Lumber, Co. is Born

Mr. Thayer (Neils did not include Mr. Thayer’s first name in his biography), whose sawmill and lumber yard were victims of the same fire that took Neils’ hardware store in Spencer, joined Julius Neils in ownership of the Thayer and Neils sawmill. Thayer ran the mill and Neils covered sales and accounting. They encountered much success in their venture, as well as several hardships.

In 1893, a dam in which Thayer and Neils used to divert water and logs was damaged by huge chunks of floating ice. The company suffered a major loss of assets, so much in fact, that Thayer declared he would not allow more capital to drain down the river, figuratively, as their logs had done literally. In 1895, Thayer’s age required him to retire his half of the business to Tom Shevlin, in turn creating a new business form under the name of J. Neils Lumber, Co.

This was an era of depression for businesses across the country, but the J. Neils Lumber, Co., maintained a steady profit of about $40,000. President William McKinley was elected in 1897 and, as his term was best remembered for, business boomed once again. Neils and Shevlin saw a profit of $78,000 the next year.

Records show that Neils’ sons, Walter and Gerhard, were born in 1890 and 1898, respectively. His latest sons, Marcus and Victor came shortly after. Marcus died in his infancy, but Victor, born in 1902, would survive the times.

Opportunity led Neils to Cass Lake, Minn., where he and Shevlin built a new mill that ran day and night. In 1906, Neils began to see that resources were draining quickly, and he made several purchases of timber from Flathead County.

Rocky Mountain Horizon

In 1910, Julius Neils made an investigative visit to Libby. The Western News reporter Olga Johnson made a timely interview with Neils on his first outing into Rocky Mountain country. This quote comes from that article:

“This is Mr. Neils’ first visit to Libby, and he expressed himself as being greatly surprised at the wonderful country that surrounds the town, always thinking it was a mass of mountain ranges, capable of raising nothing but mountain sheep and goats. Mr. Neils is one of the big lumbermen of the country and has large holdings of timber in both Flathead and Lincoln counties.”

Neils then decided to buy out the prominent Dawson Lumber, Co., in Libby. He took Libby as his new home, implementing his oldest son, Paul, as management back in Cass Lake.

Shevlin, who was company president since the birth of J. Neils Lumber, Co., died in 1913. His son, Tom, Jr., a Yale football hero, stepped in to replace him. This shortly preceded the beginning of World War I, which may have put Neils, a prominent German, and Shevlin, Jr., of English descent, at odds. Because of perhaps philosophical differences, Julius Neils returned to Cass Lake to operate a mill of his own.

In 1919, the same year World War I came to a close, Shevlin Jr. died of pneumonia, and Neils saw an opportunity to reclaim the Libby mill. For the first time, Julius Neils was about to become president of J. Neils Lumber, Co.

He refused the transition until the safe return of his boys from war activities. Neils employed his sons at the mill upon their return, Walter Neils as general manager and George Neils as logging manager. Paul and Gerhard Neils remained in Cass Lake until the mill was terminated upon allocation of assets in 1924.

In the same year, Neils expanded operations by purchasing a mill in Klickitat, Wash. He built operations there with his son Gerhard and son-in-law, Hugo.

Building a Legacy

From Jan. 1, 1919, until 1957, Julius Neils operated the sister mills with great success. The company outlasted the Great Depression and World War II, when prices on Ponderosa pine wood halved from $27.35 in 1929 to $14.83 in 1932.

“J. Neils helped build this community,” said Lincoln County Commissioner Tony Berget, in a brief interview. “When unemployment was high, they put people to work. They really helped develop this community and put a lot time and effort into building the community into what it is today. They were vital to this town.”

Success in longevity of the J. Neils Lumber, Co., may be attributed to being among the very first lumber firms to practice “plans for permanency,” translated today as sustainability. At the time, the trend of lumber companies was to establish a mill and cut until resources were drained.

Remembering the timber desolation by two J. Neils mills in Minnesota, Julius Neils decided to take the next forward step progressively. The innovative blueprints for a sustained yield were implemented in 1936 in Klickitat and 1939 in Libby.

“I think the family name needs to be commended for these pioneers coming out west and trying to do things differently; trying to do things the right way.” said Libby High School teacher Jeff Gruber, who has done extensive research into the Neils history and how they served. “That showed that their values reflected their principles and we should be appreciative of that.”

In 1924, Neils moved the main office to Portland, Ore., at the age of 69, joined by his oldest son Paul. The J. Neils Lumber, Co. was then headed by Julius Neils, president; Paul Neils, assistant to the president; Walter Neils, Libby mill general manager; George Neils, Libby logging manager; Hugo  Schmidt, Klickitat general manager; and Gerhard Neils, Klickitat sales manager. When Paul Neils became president at Neils’ retirement (an official date or even confirmation of his retirement is not documented), this lineup of management would remain unchanged for the next 35 years. Jeff Gruber speculated in his research presentation that this was, “a testament of the leadership quality in the family.”

“They were a very close family,” said descendant Faye Schoknecht, “There’s so many descendants and family members, but we’ve all stayed very close.”

For Libby, For Family

Julius Neils died in 1933, but the lumber company he built retained his name until the fatal merger with St. Regis Paper, Co. in 1957. By law of tradition, Paul’s oldest son Art would have been the heir of the J. Neils Lumber, Co. After several considerate objections, it was clear Art Neil’s heart was not in succeeding the family’s legacy. The best chance to cash out came with the St. Regis Paper, Co., who in turn took the company forward for another 30 years before it was dissolved into the stock market during the 1980s.

“They had something like 1,500 people employees,” said Jay Goley, president of the Libby Heritage Museum. “If they had continued to operate that mill, that many people may still be working. Everyone I’ve talked with about the family has always had high regard for the Neils.”

During the era of the J. Neils Lumber, Co., the family expanded with marriages, bringing in new family names like Schoknecht and Agather. Forty-two families still retain the Neils name. During time Neils’ descendants spread across the region and the world. Today, family members can be found in parts of Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, California, Great Britain and even Brazil.

“Oh, they’re all over,” Joanne Neils said. “Everywhere, really.”