5 PAGES, GREAT CONTENT MENTIONS UNION STAGE, GREAT DEAL OF BUILDING, STREET RAILWAY, LOTS OF MONEY THERE, AFRAID IT WILL BE A LONG TIME BEFORE THEY LET MUCH OF IT COME TO SIOUX CITY, THEY ARE CHANGING THE CABLE INTO ELECTRIC, HOPE TO CONSOLIDATE ALL THE LINES, ETC, ETC. -- 

LETTER TO FRANK S AMES, ONLINE INFO / 

John K. Ames was born in East Machias, Maine, on November 7, 1831, a son of Alfred and Mary Gardner Ames. He was in the lumber business in Machias for nearly fifty years. As a young man,he was employed by S.W. Pope and Company, lumber manufacturers, becoming their agent and manager. This company had been formed by Samuel W. Pope and operated sawmills in East Machias, Whitneyville and Columbia Falls. It also owned the railroad at Whitneyville, Harwood Mills, wharves at Machias, and timberland in three townships and parts of three others. It had a business in Boston conducted by William Pope and Sons; John Ames was William Pope's nephew. In 1880 he bought an interest in the company and operated its mills until 1899, when he formed the Machias Lumber Company. He had interests in timberland holdings, a log-driving company on the Machias River, a sawmill and a company store in Machias, as well as involvement with schooners sailing from Machias. The Machias Lumber Company owned about 100,000 acres of timber as well as nearly all of the waterpower, sawmills and wharves on the Machias River. It also had interests in the booms and canals in Machias. By 1908, the company employed thousands of men and shipped its products throughout New England and New York. It produced long and short lumber, shingles, laths, and box shooks.

John Ames was also president of the Machias Water Company, director of the Washington County Railroad, the Bucks Harbor Packing Company, and the Machias Electric Light Company and a trustee of the Machias Savings Bank. He and his sons were also incorporators of the Old Stream Dam and Improvement Company in 1897 and the Machias Lake Dame and Improvement Company in 1899. Mr. Ames was a selectman in Machias for thirty years and served in the Maine Senate from 1893 to 1897. He was also Collector of Customs from 1897 until 1901.

John Ames married Sarah Sanborn in 1855 and they had six children: Edwin G., Anna M., Julia P., Frank S., Alfred K. and Lucy T. Ames. John Ames died in 1901.

Frank S. Ames was treasurer of the Machias Lumber Company and also operated F.S. Ames and Co., dealers in fine groceries, dry goods, boots and shoes in Buck's Harbor, Maine.

Alfred K. Ames was born in Machias on September 4, 1866. In 1900 he married Nellie E. Hill and they had one son, John Keller Ames. Alfred Ames succeeded his father as president and general manager of the Machias Lumber Company. He continued the company's logging and mill operations until 1930 when the firm's holdings were sold to the Seaboard Paper Company. He was also president of the Machias Water Company and the Machias Savings Bank. He served in the Maine Senate from 1915 to 1919 and had an unsuccessful run as the Republican candidate for governor of Maine in 1934. Alfred Ames is also known as the creator in 1930 of a film called "From Stump to Ship," which documented his lumber business and the changing nature of lumbering in Maine. He later worked for the Burrowes Corporation in Portland. Alfred Ames died on May 19, 1950. ---