The New Era - All about Sweet Home since 1929

“Go talk to Lynn Rice,” a pair of East Linn Museum volunteers were advised after expressing an interest in collecting stories about disappearing area mills.

So Mike Sele and Glenda Hopkins did just that, enriching the museum’s resource room with the interview in 2005.

Lynn began their session by trying to remember as many mills as he could, reaching between 20 and 30, depending on whether portable mills counted. He also threw in interesting autobiographical details of his younger years and his work as a sawmill man.

When we look at his background, Lynn seemed destined for some angle...