The Western Lumber and Supply Company, of Council Bluffs, was established in 1888 by Jacob Martinson, Lewis Hammer and Ed Mott. In 1889 Mr. Mott withdrew. They first established with a cash capital of

$35,000, which was afterward increased to $45,000. The annual amount of dues is $100,000, wholesale and retail. They deal in all kinds of building material and deliver at any point. The yards and office are at the corner of Third Avenue and Thirteenth Street, and are managed by Mr. L. Hammer. This gentleman is also interested in another lumber yard, at the corner of Second and Vine Streets, under the firm name of L. Hammer & Co., established by them in 1867, with a cash capital of $25,000, afterward increased to $35,000. The annual amount of business there is $65,000, and the scope is the same as at the other place already mentioned.

Lewis Hammer was born in Lorain County, Ohio, September 4, 1847, the son of Godfrey and Catharina (Dochtler) Hammer, and of German ancestry. The parents both died in Ohio. Mr. Hammer, one of their six children, was reared in his native State, to farm life, and at the age of twenty-one struck out in the world for himself, first working at the carpenter's trade seven years, two years in Ohio.

In July, 1857, he came to Council Bluffs and followed his trade here five years, when he engaged in the lumber trade, purchasing a saw mill, which he operated two years. He furnished the first ties for the Union Pacific Railroad. The ties and lumber were rafted down the river to Omaha. After running that mill--located on the Boyer River in Harrison County--two years, he came to Council Bluffs, where he has since been engaged in the lumber trade. He is also carrying on farming and stock raising extensively, under the firm name of Hammer & Wood. They have a farm of 2,500 acres, and real high-grade cattle, horses and hogs; 600 acres are under cultivation. The grazing lands are in Dawson County, Nebraska, on the Fort Kearney and Black Hill Railroad. Mr. Hammer has assisted largely in building up Council Bluffs in all its interests, especially in the line of manufactories, etc. In 1859 he went by ox team to Pike's Peak, being on the road thirty days from Council Bluffs to Denver, and spent a year there.

Politically he is a stanch Republican; has been Alderman for the city two terms. He is a member of Council Bluffs Lodge, No. 49, I.O.O.F., in which he has passed the chairs; and he is also a member of the encampment.

He was married in March, 1869, to Rhoda A. Wood, daughter of T. K. and Deema (Mann) Wood, of Kentucky, where she was born in 1858; and four of their five children are living: Etta, wife of Henry Brier, of Council Bluffs; Lewis H., at home; Elmer Arthur, deceased; Hazel J. and Bessie L., at home.