Two brothers, Walter and Sheldon Helle, who started sawing native logs with a portable, gasoline-engine mill in 1941 have built a lumber business hiring 60 employees and grossing three-quarters of a million dollars last year.

The Helles of Savanna call their company Wood Products, Inc. and their business in supplying major companies with crating and blocking lumber grew to such proportions by 1955, that General Motors Corporation selected them to represent the lumber industry at their "Powerama" show in Chicago. Today they pick up logs within a radius of 75 miles and deliver products up to 350 miles from home.

The Helles came to Carroll county in October 1940 and located their sawmill east of the viaduct at the Milwaukee railroad yards. Most of the products were sold to Chicago brokers. Logs were cut with a crosscut saw, rolled on to trucks, hauled to the mill and rolled off by hand. Sales in 1941 were $8500. Walter and Sheldon were strangers in a strange city, but the people of Savanna were friendly, though some felt that the mill could not survive more than a few years.

When World War II broke out, the brothers converted to crating and blocking lumber for Clinton (Iowa) and Sterling (Ill.) factories engaged in war production. At the end of the war, the mill had only two full-time employees other than the Helle brothers themselves. A few patriotic railroad workers came in nights to help run the mill sawing logs delivered during the day. Slabs were sold for fuel and the sawdust was carried out by chain to rot on the ground except for that used by farmers in bedding live­stock.

In February 1946 a production record was set; more than 100,000 board feet of lumber sawed in one month or at the rate of more than one million board feet per year. The mill also did custom sawing for $10 per thousand board feet. It sawed many barn frames and corn cribs in the area. White oak was used for bridgeplank and delivered all over northern Illinois.

On the morning of April 1, 1946, an employee, using a cutting torch to cut a spring from a logging truck, carelessly started a fire unknown to him that consumed the whole mill in about 30 minutes. The day was warm, dry and windy. The fire cost $14,000 and was covered by $4,000 insurance.

Friends volunteered help to rebuild. Soon another mill was located and cement poured for the present location. Three weeks after the fire the mill was back in production. The new mill was set up with diesel power which was far superior to the former gas engine. The year 1946 was a good one. The firm sawed more than one million board feet of timber while sales grossed $55,000.

Then came rapid changes in the industry. With the use of power chain saws, fork trucks, bigger trucks and the need for wood pallets used in handling materials, the company enjoyed 10 years of growth.

In 1955, the firm with new techniques developed labor-saving methods ahead of its time. Sales in 1956 climbed to $231,000. By then the company was handling logs with a rubber­tired Michigan loader; it had acquired a 34 foot tandem trailer and a truck tractor for delivering lumber. For the first time it was moving pay loads of more than $1,000 per load using native timber growing within fifty miles of Savanna.

Then came a major setback in a logging accident on September 7, 1956 that claimed the life of Lyle Helle, son of Sheldon Helle, one of the partners and owners, and also destroyed a new GMC tractor which was not replaced at that time. Six months later another accident occurred; a log fell on a key employee, Ben Malane, of Hanover, who was 42 years old at the time. Insurance rates doubled from $2,500 per year to more than $5,000. The growth of Wood Products came almost to a stand still. The whole operation suffered as if it was in a trance and it was slow in recovering.

At a time that change was inevitable the company was hardly staying even. Customer demands for products were so great that the men were soon working so much overtime that profits were consumed in production costs, partly due to obsolete equipment. The firm needed a nailing machine and automation, also heavier trucks and tractors. The brothers wanted to continue but it seemed nearly impossible financially. They considered quitting, but with customers who had depended on the company since the 1930s and employees who had worked for it most of their lives the owners felt a responsibility to them that overrode their personal desires.

With the experience of the mill operated by the brothers at Oregon, Ill. for guidance it was not too difficult to figure out what had to be done. In 1962, the company installed the nailing machine; a year later the first band saws. By 1964 they were able to automate their handling equipment and secured a used tandem semi­trailer. A year later came a chipper and debarker, then all machinery was moved to co­ordinate the work and a new edger was installed.

During the years 1965 and 1966, more than $250,000 was spent in modernization. Now with production at an all time high, the firm is producing wood products at the rate of some $750,000 annually with more than 60 employees. The company feels it has the most modern operation in the state.

Illinois - "Our Way"