ELK TANNING COMPANY WORKERS
Jamison City, August 5, 1905
Construction of the Bloomsburg & Sullivan Railroad from
Bloomsburg to Jamison City in the late 1880s, a route of twenty-nine
miles long up the Fishing Creek Valley to northern reaches of Columbia
County, was a very important factor in the economic development of the
area. Aside from the lumbering business, there emerged the tanning
industry that used the bark of hemlock trees that contained an acid
needed in making leather. With the completion of the railroad in 1888,
Jamison City came into existence the next year with the building of a
lumber mill and tannery. This new boomtown had its future entwined with
the success of these two industries. The railroad was the economic
conduit; it brought in boxcar loads of hides as well as hemlock bark to
the tannery and retuned with thousands and thousands of board feet of
lumber for eastern markets.
The tanning industry at Jamison City became the largest operation in
Pennsylvania. This success resulted in part to the government’s tariff
policy in 1909 that removed duties on imported hides which in turn had a
very beneficial economic impact for tanneries. It helped to insure
ensure a supply of inexpensive hides for The Elk Tanning Company that
operated until 1925. This was a much longer life span than the lumber
business which had exhausted the local supply of trees from the North
Mountain area. The Central Pennsylvania Lumber Company ceased operation
in Jamison City in 1912.
For additional information read Jamison City, A Quiet Boomtown:
Jamison City, Pa., 1889-1912, by Craig A. Newton and James R.
Sperry. Paperback copies are available at the Society or go the Sales
Page on this Web site and click on the book title to download
an order form.
