The land on which the Great Lakes Tissue plant stands today has played an important role in our economy for 250 years.

Early on, the powerful currents in the Cheboygan River made it attractive for sawmills. Alexander McLeod built the first sawmill at the site in 1844.

The W&A McArthur Lumber Co. later opened a huge mill on the site. They sold the mill in 1902 to the American Bag and Paper Co., which sold it to the Cheboygan Paper Co. In 1915, it was purchased by The Union Bag and Paper Co., which operated it until the Great Depression of 1929.

The mill would not reopen until 1956 when it was bought by Charmin Paper Products. The next year, Charmin was bought by consumer-products giant Procter and Gamble. P&G operated the plant until 1990. In 1993, Great Lakes Tissue Co. re-opened the facility to produce recycled towels and tissues.

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, Cheboygan pioneer Millard David “M.D.” Olds was one of Cheboygan’s leading entrepreneurs and lumber barons.

Olds was born in 1860 in Hartford, Michigan to Joseph Ransom and Jerusha (Hurd) Olds.

In his early 20s, Olds worked at the Young and Hinkley barrel stave mill in nearby Shelby in Oceana County. He quickly developed a love of all things wood and lumber. It was a love that would last a lifetime.

When timber was exhausted in southern Michigan, Olds partnered with Hinkley to move north.

Olds soon fell in love with Leora Williams, daughter of George and Sarah (Kenyon) Williams. They married October 23, 1885, in Indian River.

Six years later, Olds and Hinkley built a mill in Vanderbilt, and a year later, a second one on the Cheboygan River.

Olds also purchased the Clark and Nelson Sawmill on the east bank of the river. The mill was a great success, employing approximately 125 men at its height. When the supply of trees was exhausted around 1915, Olds closed it.

In the late 1800s, W&A McArthur Co. operated a huge mill on this site. The mill was subsequently operated by the American Bag and Paper Co., the Cheboygan Paper Co. and The Union Bag and Paper Company until it closed in 1929. The site was idle for 27 years until it was purchased by Charmin Paper in 1956. The next year, the consumer product giant Procter and Gamble bought it.

P&G closed the facility in 1990. Three years later, Great Lakes Tissue Co. re-opened it to produce recycled tissues and towels.

Never at a loss for new ventures, Olds purchased the holdings of the Cheboygan Lumber Co., including land on both sides of the river from State Street north to the Straits, including the huge McArthur Dock on the west bank.

You may remember the long, red wooden building at the north end of Main Street. That was the headquarters of Northwood Oil Co. early in the last century. The building housed the McArthur operations.

The McArthur Dock was extremely important to Cheboygan’s economy. Passenger steamers enroute from Detroit to Chicago would make regular stops. Massive amounts of lumber were shipped south to the rapidly growing cities.

In 1908, a fire fueled by hundreds of acres of lumber waste raged east through Presque Isle county to the outskirts of Alpena. It stopped at Lake Huron.

Seeing opportunity, Olds purchased the burnt timber and built five miles of train track to haul it to his mill on the river. The mill could process 30 million board feet annually.

He was also heavily invested in delivering wood and coal to homes and businesses in town. Known as Olds’ Dock and Coal, the company was purchased from his daughters in 1964 by George and Fern Schryer and Sam and Eloise Fralick (G.E.F.S. Marine Terminal).

Olds was seen as a shrewd and visionary man. Many people went to him for business advice.

Olds loved playing golf. He helped found the Cheboygan Golf and Country Club.

Olds’ good deeds, while enormous and endless, were never made public. He helped many young people afford a higher education. He loaned money to many people, with no thought of ever being repaid.

And then it ended. M.D. Olds died suddenly Sept. 8, 1935, at the age of 75. His funeral was conducted in Cheboygan, where he was greatly loved and will be long remembered. He is buried in Pine Hill Cemetery.

On June 16, 2000, the mooring of the U. S. Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw was rededicated in honor of M.D. Olds.