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Lake City, Florida: A Sesquicentennial Tribute (2009) H. Morris Williams, Dr. Kevin M. McCarthy
Chapter Twelve: 1920 - 1929
A local company established in Lake City in 1928 was the
Mathis Welding and Machine Company. It was there that Leon
Mathis built the Mathis Plow, which has been used for forest-fire
protection. The principal products manufactured in the early years
were Fireline Plows and related equipment. The company built the
first Fireline Plow 1932. In 1965, the company was incorporated as
Mathis Plow Co. In 1975, officials of the St. Regis Paper Co. and
Mathis Plow Co. donated one of their plows, built in 1933, to the
Smithsonian Institution for a forestry exhibit (see photo below).
In the photo above officials of the Mathis Welding Company
of Lake City and St. Regis’ Southern Timberlands Division pose with
a Mathis Plow; from left to right: Nelson Blocker, Ed Cooper, Bill
Oettmeir, Marcus Rawls, L.H.Mathis Sr., and L.H. Mathis Jr.
The plow was used to cut fire lanes on forest lands as part of the effort
to fight forest fires.
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