McCracken Sawmill

"In the early 1870's [sic] Captain Joe McCracken came to Clay County from Grey County, Ontario, Canada.  He started out in life a young man with almost an iron constitution, indomitable will and an energy that never flagged.

"He began working by the day hewing square timber used in ship building.  For many years he floated rafts of square timber down the Little Black, Current and Big Black and the White and Mississippi rivers to be loaded on board a steamer at New Orleans.  Captain McCracken many times going down personally on the raft and sharing with his men the hardships of the lumberman's life on the river.  After his square timbers had been loaded on the steamer, he would return to the North and go to the foreign port whence his cargo had gone and personally conduct the sale of it.  In this way he crossed the ocean from New York to Liverpool many, many times.

"He was always a believer in the future of Clay County and invested largely in its land.

"In addition to his lumber business, he built a gin at Success and began dealing in cotton.  His transactions in cotton were of great benefit to the farmers of his community who raised that staple, for the reason that Captain Joe, as he was familiarly called, always paid the highest prices the market could stand. 

"In the matter of personal integrity no man's word stood above his and it was a common saying that Captain Joe's word was as good as his bond.

"Joe McCracken, for many years an honored citizens [sic] of Western Clay County, died in 1909 and was buried in Hitt Cemetery near Success.  He was in many ways a remarkable man."

Submitted by Danny Moore