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Page 86 JOHN DUBOIS
Mr. DuBois did not own all of the timber on the streams
above his operation and therefore he had to provide a chute at his
dam for the purpose of passing through the logs of other operators.
For this purpose he purchased a strip of land beginning at his dam
and going west to a point below the present B. R. & P. Railroad,
from John Rumbarger. For this strip of land he paid $50.00, and it
subsequently became known as "Shaffer Ditch." "Shaffer Ditch" has
been a thorn in the side of the municipal Council for many years.
Mr. George C. Kirk, who made the survey, stated that he located this
ditch and he saw Mr. DuBois pay Mr. Rumbarger the $50.00. The next
morning after the purchase, a crew of men with teams and scrapers
started to dig the ditch.
Mr. DuBois, having "put his hand to the plow" in 1871,
could not turn back. In order to help himself through, he issued a
currency of his own, which later became known as "DuBois Scrip."
This scrip was an order on Mr. DuBois' store, payable to bearer and
was issued in denominations from 5 cents up to $5.00. He established
a bi-weekly pay day and Tuesday was known as "Scrip Day," at which
time his employees would receive their previous week's wage in
scrip, which they dealt out at his store. At the end of the month,
whatever was coming was paid in legal currency. This is the first
weekly pay day to be established in this section of the State of
Pennsylvania, and Mr. DuBois may have been the pioneer of weekly pay
days. This scrip bought as much at Mr. DuBois' store as a gold
dollar. His prices were no higher than the prices of other merchants
in the town for the same grade of goods.
This development of Mr. DuBois' properties created a
great influx of labor from other territory and the new town that
John Rumbarger mentioned in his advertisements of 1872 and 1873
sprang up like a rocket, and by 1881 at the time of the formation of
the Borough, there was a young city in what had been a dense
wilderness. In 1887, what was known as "Mason's History of
Clearfield County" had the following sketch of Mr. DuBois'
operation:
"Manufacturing and Mining ---John DuBois commenced
`little' mill in the fall of 1872, and the large mill in 1873,
completing the same in 1876, and put in operation in May of that
year, at which time the writer took up a permanent residence here.
"The large mill is two hundred and fifty feet long,
eighty feet wide, and fifty-five feet high, with a two hundred and
fifty horsepower engine, and had a capacity, in 1876, of 120,000
feet boards, 60,000 shingles, 40,000 lath, and about 10,000 pickets
per day. This mill has undergone several reconstructions, always in
the line of improvement. During the winter of 1886-7 it was again
entirely remodeled, by putting in a Sinker & Davis band saw, one
large circular saw, and one set Wicker's 'gang' saws. This change
did not, however, increase the capacity, but left it about the same
as before; the great consideration being
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