Baker's Sawmill, 1901
Courtesy of Phil FitzgeraldBaker Brothers' Lumber Company operated a sawmill in Onchiota.
Michael Tormey was accidentally killed there in 1901.
Malone Farmer, June 20, 1900
The work of constructing a trestle over the A. & St. L. railroad at Tekene, about one mile north of Loon Lake over which a branch of the Chateaugay rail-road is to be built to connect with the little road which runs from Tekene west to Rockefeller's preserve, has been practically completed and trains will be running over it on Monday next. It cost about $5,000. This will enable the Chateaugay road to haul 12,000 cords of pulpwood which Rockefeller has cut and sold to the International Pulp and Paper company's mills at Cadyville, as well as the 3,000,000 feet of timber which Rockefeller has sold to Baker Bros., of Plattsburgh, which is to be sawed up into rough lumber at Onchiota, and then brought to Plattsburgh to be finished in Baker Bros., mill here.
Malone Farmer, August 10, 1904
Baker Bros.' saw mill at Onchiota was destroyed by fire Friday afternoon. Luckily the wind veered the flames away from A. W. Baker's residence and the piles of lumber and the fire did not spread. The mill was valued at $10,000. The origin of the fire is a mystery, as the mill had been shut down for over an hour before it was discovered to be in flames. Mr. and Mrs. A. W. Baker had rowed to Kushaqua and were on their way back when the flames broke through the roof of the mill. The night watchman had banked the fire under the boiler and had gone to the storehouse to fill his lantern when Mr. Baker's daughter looked out of a window at her home and discovered the blaze. The mill hose and engine were used to quench the conflagration but without avail.
