Helle Sawmill History - Fred Helle and Katherine Krauser were German emigrants who met and married near the Spoon River Country. In 1869 Fred purchased 80 acres of unimproved heavy timbered land in Cass County for $300. The family found shelter in a cattle shed on a bluff overlooking Spoon River. He erected a cabin on a hill. Frederick and Katharine worked clearing the land for the plow. About 1873, Fred bought a small sawmill to saw the timber on his farm. Their home caught on fire and the family once again was forced to take shelter in the cattle shed. He reconstructed another cabin, which also later burned. The first sawmills used 10 to 30 horsepower steam engines. All sawmills were portable, pulled by horses from one job to another. Horses were used to skidlogs until the mid 30's, when caterpillar tractors took their place. Around 1882, Fred's son, George, took over the operation of the sawmill. George relocated the sawmill to Kewannee and to Wyoming, IL before selling it in 1940. George died in 1943. George's sons have continued in the Sawmill Industry.
Ethel: "Dad was such a gentle man. He really enjoyed all of us, was so proud of his big family. He was very sensitive about being German and the Germans starting World War I, and World War II. Dad's first and last occupation was sawmills. He was such a capable lumber man, he could walk through a woods and estimate the number of board feet in it. He could add long numbers in his head quickly without pencil and paper. One form of entertainment when Dad was a young man was debates. It is said he neverlost a debate, and one senator said to him, after losing a debate, "What do you do for a living?" Dad told him he ran a sawmill. The senator then said, "My god, man, quit it and go to school." Pop always told us kids, "Once you lose your temper, you lose your argument." Dad was a greatbeliever in self-education, only having four years of school for himself. His older sisters taught him English in secret. They were not allowed to use it at home. Pop always had to have his Chicago Tribune which he would read and drop on the floor. Mom scolded him for being messy until one day, in their early days of marriage, Pop was working away from home doing threshing and became very ill. Mom went to care for him and in his delirious fever he was saying "Ida, I'll pick the papers up", over andover. (Sharon Bearce)