December 2024

But (hello old age) my memory was off. When I checked our records, “not long ago” was a mere 28 years ago, about the same time Patrick was born.

Tommy Walker, an associate editor on my staff at the time, was the one who visited J.M. Jones Lumber back then. He spent a winter day with Lee Jones, grandson of the company founder, and toured the sawmill on the edge of the Mississippi River. And I do mean “edge,” as much of their conversation was about the company’s battles with historical flooding. “To tell you the truth, that river is a tremendous pain,” Lee said.

In fact the company was about to begin a major multi-year construction of a levee that would successfully fight off the Mississippi River through ceaseless bouts of historical flooding to this day. The rigorous labor and materials involved even received national attention.

Another big part of their conversation was that J.M. Jones Lumber had some years before gotten into the export lumber market. Lee Jones said at the time, “A lot of people don’t want to hear this, but the U.S. doesn’t need all the hardwood lumber we’re producing. The market’s just not here, so we went out looking for it.”

Another thing that was so striking about the operation in 1996 were the beautiful and big hardwood logs in the wood yard and flowing through the mill.

On a sad note, when Patrick visited recently, we learned that Lee Jones had passed away this past May at age 85. Lee was the one who really had organized the company’s log procurement program with area landowners. In addition to being a highly respected hardwood lumberman worldwide, Lee had deep religious faith and taught Sunday school to children and adults for decades, and traveled abroad to do likewise. Unfortunately, sometimes family news such as this takes a while to trickle down to our magazine.

Patrick spent the day with Lee’s son, Howard, and much of their conversation touched on the same subjects—the challenge of the river, export markets, log procurement, the family generations who have worked at the mill— not just the Jones family, but employee families as well. And oh yes, those big hardwood logs are still looking good.