Hooper Floating Sawmill, ca. 1918

Perry Hooper is seated on lumber wearing a hat.

Submitted by Donald Hooper who writes:

"My grandfather, Perry Hooper, operated a floating sawmill in the rivers of Northeast Arkansas during the early 1900s.  Because many of the woodlots were not accessible, except from the rivers, my grandfather would float his sawmill to the wooded area to be harvested.  The sawmill was disassembled and moved from woodlot to woodlot where it was assembled, used to cut the lumber, and then moved to another area.  I think this picture was taken on the Black River, but it could have been on any of the rivers in the area of NE Arkansas.

My grandfather, Perry, left the lumber business, and started a trucking and hauling company in the 1920s.  My father, when he became of age, was one of his drivers.  The company went bankrupt in the midst of the depression.  My grandfather lived in Paragould, AR until the middle 1950s, then moved to Ohio to live with my uncle Carl in Akron, OH were he died."