Handbook N-P - Fulton County Public Library

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quarters of an acre, and its equipment of costly machinery and electric motors, Mr. Pike suffered
the loss of over a thousand cords of wood which was stored next to the building.
The sawmill, which employed between 25 and 30 men, had been operating at full
capacity during the past two years and loss will not only be a severe one to the owner, but to the
entire community and county. D. A. Pike, sole owner of the mill, who resides on East Rochester
street in Akron, has not as yet announced whether he will attempt to rebuild the mill.
[The News-Sentinel, Rochester, Indiana, Saturday, August 31, 1929]
REBUILD SAW MILL
D. A. Pike of Akron, owner of the Pike Lumber Company at Akron which was burned
last Saturday morning causing a loss estimated at $60,000 with no insurance, stated today that he
will rebuild his saw mill. He will install a band mill instead of circle mill as the old one was.
Steam will be used in the future to power the mill.
[The News-Sentinel, Saturday, September 7, 1929]
SAW MILL OPENED
The D. A. Pike saw mill in Akron, which was destroyed by fire several months ago, has
been re-built and operation was resumed Monday. Thirty-two men are employed.
[The News-Sentinel, Tuesday, November 19, 1929]
AKRON GIRL RUNS OWN SAWMILL
JUST LIKE HER FATHER DOES - FEATURED IN NEWS
A feature story of an Akron girl who has made good in business in her own way recently
appeared in The Michigan City Dispatch. The young lady is Miss Helen Pike, daughter of Mr.
and Mrs. D. A. Pike, well known in the Akron and Rochester communities. A picture of Miss
Pike was carried with the story and the same write-up later appeared in The Plain-Dealer at
Wabash where the Pikes formerly lived. The story follows.
__________
“I told my daddy I wanted a sawmill of my own, and I no sooner said it than I got it - just
like that.”
The words are those of buxom Miss Helen Pike, young woman from Akron, Ind., who
has the distinction of being the only woman operating a sawmill in LaPorte county and possibly in
the entire state. She also manages another mill for her father now operating near North Liberty.
“We have been working in the woods about three miles west of the prison farm - about
seven and a half miles from Michigan City, but we had to shut down because we ran out of wood,”
she explains.
Runs Mill Herself
Yes, she actually operates the sawmill herself. She’s the boss of the works and the 20odd
men she employs regard her as such. She knows her business, too. She should, for she’s been
helping her father run his business since she was old enough to add and subtract.
Her dad’s a sawmill man, too. Helen says he has a big one at their town of Akron and
several other smaller ones like her’s scattered over Illinois, Indiana and Ohio. He is head of the D.
A. Pike Lumber Company.
The Pike family were for many years Wabash residents and are well known there as well
as in Fulton County.
“Gosh, you ought to see my mill when it’s running,” Miss Pike said enthusiastically. It’s
the slickest little thing you ever want to see. I tell you, I’m mighty proud of that sawmill and so
are my men. They work like beavers for me when there’s wood to saw up, and I’m just more than
sorry we’re not going right now, only we ran out of wood.”
Would Buy Timber