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CITY OF DUBOIS Page 79
of the mill none of the lumber ever took a backward step, but kept
going forward and forward until it landed, graded for shipping, in
the yard for curing purposes. In his mills he always used the most
up to date machinery, including other inventions as well as his own.
He loved to work at these inventions and usually kept a
mechanic in his employ to whom he would impart his ideas and the
mechanic would work out the details. One of his inventions was used
in the manufacturing of shoes and is still used for that purpose,
the shoe factories having paid him considerable royalty for the use
of his patent while it was in existence. In the planing mill
business he made many useful inventions, and in fact it is alleged
that he originated the planing machine, the first one being a very
crude structure, having a wooden cylinder with steel knives fastened
on it, revolving at a high rate of speed planing the lumber.
Mr. DuBois was always kind to his men and associated
with them. He did not hesitate to argue with them and quarrel with
them, but when the argument was over he was still John DuBois and
his employee was still his friend.
Mr. DuBois never had any labor trouble. If his
superintendent (bosses, as they were then called) became a little
"hard boiled" it took Mr. DuBois but a few minutes to remind the
superior that the employee had rights, and that these rights must be
respected.
He saw to it that his men were well cared for,
encouraged them in buying land and building houses, and helped them
to build by giving them extended credit for all kinds of material.
Mr. DuBois had the happy faculty of being able to
select men of ability who assisted him in his many enterprises, he
being the directing head, and they working out the details.
As before stated, he first came into the forests of
Clearfield County about 1842. From that time on he purchased large
tracts of land in Brady and Huston Townships, Clearfield County, as
well as in Jay. Township, Elk County. His lands extended from below
the present city limits as far east as beyond Tyler, and comprised
the land on both sides of Sandy Lick Creek in Brady Township,
extending over the summit into Huston Township. His holdings east of
the summit were largely on the southern side of the Bennetts Branch
of the Sinnemahoning.
Prior to Mr. DuBois' locating here a lot of timber on
his Bennetts Branch lands was cut and floated to his mills at
Williamsport. Mr. DuBois, finally tiring of his operations at
Williamsport, about 1870 disposed of his mills at that point. At
this time he had accumulated an abundance of wealth, and many men
would have retired to live in ease the balance of their lives.
However, the pioneer spirit of his ancestors rankled in
his veins, and at the age of sixty-three he came into the wilderness
which he
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