"Today, scattered fruit trees and concrete foundations can be found at the old Cluff Dairy site, while a few rusted relics mark the location of the Jacobson Sawmill a short distance away. "
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"Valley, mountain was home to many sawmills"
Eastern Arizona Courier
By Steph Slater, Staff Writer
Published on Tuesday, August 22, 2006 9:41 AM MST
"In the late 1800s, the Gila Valley needed lumber to build homes, businesses, barns, wagons and furniture, so the early founders of the community looked up to the towering pines of Mount Graham and then built a sawmill or two.
The Fort Grant sawmill, built in 1872, was the first sawmill of the Gila Valley. It was at the base of the south side of the mountain. The next sawmill was constructed by Alfred Frye in 1876 in Frye Canyon, which was named after him.
In the second volume of the “Mt. Graham Profiles,” Ryder Ridgeway wrote that Frye used a lateral-type saw in his milling operation instead of the conventional circular-saw. Frye sold the sawmill to Hans Chlarson of Sweden in 1892 when he became the Safford postmaster and opened a business. He later built a shop in 1892 to sell lumber and other items near his home just north of the former Buena Vista Hotel (now the Division of Motor Vehicles).
“Although no few of the Thatcher populace had utilized Frye Mill lumber in the construction of homes, barns, etc., it was not until the acquisition of the Frye holdings by members of the Chlarson family that this early enterprise took on a Thatcher hue,” Ridgeway wrote.
Chlarson set up a lumber yard at the rear of his home, creating much needed jobs for the area. The Gila Valley economy grew stronger still with the addition of a planning yard and considerable lumber storage near Robinson Ranch.
Ridgeway said several pioneers told of the wild grandeur around the Chlarson Mill, which featured a tumbling, sparkling stream and magnificent vistas. Rollicking dances were hosted and superb food was served at a boarding house near the mill. This area was affectionately known as Camp Inception.
Several other sawmills made a name for themselves in various parts of the mountain, according to a publication called “A History of Mount Graham” by Allen and Cherrel Weech,. Ebenezer Bryce Sr. (who also discovered Bryce Canyon in Utah) built a sawmill with Hyrum Weech and John Moody Sr. in late 1882. The canyon the sawmill was built in was later named Nuttall Canyon. The mill was run by waterpower and was the third sawmill in the Gila Valley.
“We found enough timber to justify putting a mill on the east fork,” Hyrum wrote in his autobiography. “We hired teams and men and moved the mill to the site selected.”
The mill used a circular-style saw and used a road started by William Ransom and E.J. Dodge for access to the mill. Because of the high demand for lumber and other problems with running the mill, it was later sold to John H. Nuttall and became known as the Nuttall Sawmill.
Around the same time period, a sawmill was also built in Twilight Canyon and called Jacobson Sawmill. Just below Turkey Flat in a very steep canyon, the Jacobson family recognized the need for lumber in the sprouting community. Anita Jacobson Crockett later rewrote the story of the sawmill for a publication of its history.
“Peter Jorgen Christian Jacobson came from Denmark in 1862 at the age of 16,” Crockett wrote. “A few years later, he married and settled in Idaho, where he learned the trade of sawyer, and he became skilled in this occupation.”
He later moved to Safford in 1885, and Crockett wrote that he was eager to carve his niche in the beautiful valley. He opened a big supply store using the slogan that it “sold everything from a needle to a haystack.” The second floor was often used for dances, socials, political events and church meetings.
“P.J. ( as he was known) had not lost his interest in steam sawmills, and he, with his oldest son, George, decided to build one high up on Mount Graham to help serve the needs of this busy little community,” Crockett wrote.
The site for the sawmill was selected by the two and was at the foot of the mountain on the east end. Today it is known as Jacobson Canyon. This mill later became the site for a dairy known as Cluff’s Dairy in the mid-1900s. The trail leading to the Jacobson Sawmill was later named Swift Trail after T.T. Swift.
Yet another sawmill existed in the early 1900s in Ash Creek called the Cluff Sawmill. It was later renamed the Mount Graham Lumber Company and had two locations, both in lower Columbine, and one later became a ranger station.
The mountain was probably the home to more than five sawmills..."
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