This story written by Vincent Malcom was found in very rough draft form and it appeared that Uncle Vince reworked the story and rewrote it many times.  I could not tell which was his latest draft.  So, I took the best from all the drafts and wove them into one complete story.  I wished many times that I could have consulted with him, but alas, that was impossible. There were many run-on sentences and words that did not seem to fit in some cases.  His pencil handwriting is very difficult to read but I think I figured out even the worst cases.  The words that I added to make the story more understandable are printed in red.

Also, this story, of all the stories and family history narratives he wrote, seemed to contain more personal opinion and emotional content than any other.  I have no way of telling when in his life he "put pen to paper" for this story.  His other stories seem to retain a more cool and objective point of view.  Anyway, the story is a good one.  He appears to have consulted with his father and draws a lot upon his memories of past conversations with his father and Grandfather Josh.  

After their marriage, Will and Minnie went to live with Joe and Permelia for a period until Minnie became pregnant with Fern. At that time, Josh approached Will with a proposition. Josh had purchased a lumber mill at the little town of Ina, Tennessee (in Fayette County, between Whiteville and Memphis about 40 miles away) and wanted to move down there and run it. He was very enthusiastic and succeeded in getting Will and Minnie to come along.  Will was probably looking for a way to be independent of his own father at this time and Joshua was reported to be charismatic.  Joe Malcom was known to be a man of independent strong will.

When they reached Ina, Will made an in depth inspection of the mill. He was surprised to find that the equipment was almost new and all in good working order because Josh had bought the mill at an extremely low price. He was also pleased to find that the timber for miles around was white oak, all virgin growth, and that several sections belonged to the mill. Plus, they had cutting rights on land about twice as much as they owned. Negro labor was plentiful and they were not only cheap in price but made good hands. The surrounding country had a large supply of mules. The idea was to have the trees cut, trimmed, and sawed into long large logs in the woods. Then they could place a two-wheeled cart under the large end of the logs and hitch them to enough mules to drag the logs to the mill. So, they bought mules and hired a group of husky laborers.

Will taught one group how to notch and saw down the trees and one group how to handle larger teams of mules. In a short time, he had men who could handle axes and notch trees as well as handle the big crosscut saws. He also had men who could handle the mules and take care of them. Father told me that most of the Negros could drive mules hitched parallel but he wanted them to be hitched in tandem because when hitched four mules abreast, the team was too wide to go between the trees. He finally solved the problem with two teams of mules, four each, and the two mule teams hitched in tandem and pulling on chains attached to the tongues of the two-wheeled cart with two drivers, one for each team. There was a well-equipped blacksmith shop connected to the mill and Will built the two-wheel carts himself with help from the Negro who understood how to use some of the tools.

At the same time, Josh became aware of the number of men they needed to operate and their families, which they brought with them. He realized that when the mill began operation they would need to supply 2 x 4s and 1 x 12s and bats (battens) so the Negros could make their own huts. Since Josh was physically incapacitated and could not do or oversee any outside work (which Will already knew), Josh designed and opened a general store and laid in the needed supplies of food and cloth. He contributed his share, was a good merchant and a fair one. (Josh’s inability to do physical labor is mentioned here for the first time and is never explained in any of the other writings by Vincent.) The store was a moneymaker from the start.

In summary, Will found that they had a good mill, an adequate supply of large white oak trees, plentiful help and plenty of mules. They used wood to supply power. They also had a sizable village of well housed Negros and a good store where they could buy supplies at reasonable prices. They had Josh to mind the store and Will to manage the cutting crews, the hauling crews and the mill. In addition, it was understood that Will did the purchasing but Josh did the paying. Will sold the finished lumber and Josh did the collecting and kept the money. After the bills receivable began to come in, Will gradually learned that the mill and equipment belonged to Josh alone and he doled out just enough wages to the two sons and son-in-law to pay for their rent and groceries. If you had additional expenses, you took them up with Josh and got his approval or no purchases.

Will understood all this but the larger immediate problem was lack of sales.

When Will began production and after they had lumber stock on hand, he began to look for orders. It was then he found out the reason that Josh had been able to buy at bedrock prices. He found that the railroad, in the absence of government regulation, based their rates on total volume of shipments rather than separate shipments. (This meant that large volumes of lumber from large mills had lower rates than did small volumes of lumber sent from small mills.) In those days, there was no Interstate Commerce Commission, and the large mills conspired with the railroads to set rates so that competitive small plants could not ship and make a profit. In fact, these rates were so high that Josh and Will could not ship to Memphis, only 40 miles away, and remain competitive because by the time the product reached the buyer, it cost them a good deal more than if they had purchased from the larger mills. That was why Josh was able to buy the operation at a ridiculously low price.

After almost 2 years, when it became clear that Josh ran his household in an old fashioned and feudal way and he had no intention of changing his method of operation, Will realized that the understanding with the Humphreys family was unsatisfactory. (Remember that it was In 1895 that Will and Minnie lost their first born child, Fern and that their daughter Fannie was born in September of 1896.) The mill could not be made a financial success and Will was determined to return to Iowa and seek a more independently profitable way to earn a living for his family. Will discussed the situation with Minnie and they decided what was to be done. First, they pooled their money on hand. Will said it amounted to some $25.00. Will told Minnie that he was going back to Anthon, Iowa where he was sure he could get a job and promised Minnie that he would send for her and their little daughter Fannie as soon as he had accumulated enough money for their fares but that she should not come unless she wanted to.  He did that and he told me he had $8.00 left of the original $25 when he got there. He must have done all right for Minnie and baby Fannie joined him in a few months. My guess is that Will left for Iowa in the spring of 1897.