Hunt, Herbert and Floyd C. Kaylor.  Washington: West of the 
Cascades.  Vol. II.  Chicago: S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1917.  p. 
621-622.

	J. A. VENESS:  Among the most successful of the earlier 
lumbermen in western Washington was J. A. Veness.  Coming west 
in the pioneer days when the primitive and cumbersome methods of 
logging were still in use, he played an important part in the 
development of the lumber industry.  He was among the first to 
conceive the idea of substituting steam for ox power as a means of 
bringing logs in to the mill.  The first donkey engine used by Mr. 
Veness in his logging operations was to a very large degree 
designed by him.
	A native of New Brunswick, Canada, Mr. Veness early in 
life located in the state of Maine, where he remained for a few years.  
At length, however, the call of the west lured him to far-away 
Oregon.  At Independence, in that state, he set up a sawmill, which 
he operated for some time.  But seeing greater possibilities in 
western Washington, he decided to cast his lot here and came to 
Winlock, Lewis county, when this place was a village with less than 
one hundred and fifty people, surrounded by practically untouched 
virgin forests.  Here he associated himself with A. Prescott in the 
lumber business under the firm name of Prescott and Veness.  The 
venture was a success from the beginning.  They gradually 
increased their output until they were cutting fully one hundred 
thousand feet of lumber a day.
	In 1904 Mr. Veness bought out the interest of his partner, 
the name of the firm being then changed to J. A. Veness Lumber 
Company.  He had great confidence in the future of the lumber 
business and constantly kept adding to his holdings until at length he 
became one of the heaviest individual timber holders in Washington.  
In 1908 the O'Connell Lumber Company bought his mill and 
holdings, but he immediately acquired other holdings and built a 
new mill having a daily capacity of one hundred thousand feet, 
constructed and equipped sixteen miles of logging road, and again 
commenced operations employing one hundred and fifty men.  This 
mill was later sold to the Black Diamond Lumber Company, of 
Portland.
	Mr. Veness has been married twice.  His first wife was Miss 
Carrie Hall.  To them was born a son, F. E. Veness, of whom a 
more detailed mention will be found below.  His second wife was 
Miss Augusta Baldwin.  By this second marriage there is a 
daughter, Mrs. Marie Newman, of Portland.
	Mr. Veness has had wonderful success in dealing with his 
men, many of whom have never worked for anyone else.  A man of 
large affairs, he has ever been a most public-spirited citizen.  For 
eight years he rendered his state and county valuable service in the 
capacity of the state senator, to which office he was elected on the 
republican ticket.  He has always been a man of great energy and 
force of character, a born leader.  Since 1908 he has resided at 
Portland, having retired from the active management of his interests.  
He is thus enjoying a well earned rest which he richly deserves.
	Born in Maine in 1877 and coming to the Pacific coast in 
early boyhood, F. E. Veness, to whom reference has already been 
made, is virtually a westerner.  Having been thoroughly apprenticed 
in all phases of the lumber business, he was well prepared to 
assume the management of the Veness interests upon the retirement 
of his father.  That the younger Veness has inherited his father's 
sagacity and talent for business is testified to by the fact that he did 
not content himself with keeping the business at the high level of 
efficiency to which his father had brought it, but greatly 
strengthened the organization and equipment.  It was in 1909 that he 
became general manger of the J. A. Veness Lumber Company.  
Since selling out to the Black Diamond Lumber Company Mr. 
Veness has been operating various smaller mills, and he now has a 
new and up-to-date one under construction.  He has courage and 
shows none of that hesitancy which so often bars the path of 
progress.  He works intensively, but when the day's work is done 
he banishes from his mind all cares and worries.
	Off duty, so to speak, Mr. Veness is the most human of 
men.  He enjoys a good story, a good smoke, tennis, billiards, and 
books.  His beautiful lawn, with its tastily arranged bushes and 
shrubbery, is very largely looked after by himself during spare 
minutes.
	In 1909 he was married to Miss Nellie Arct.  They have 
become the parents of two bright children, Eugene and Ruth.


Veness  Prescott  Hall  Baldwin  Arct
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NB-CAN>ME>OR>Lewis-WA