JOHN H. SHIELDS. – The reader of this sketch can find elsewhere within these pages an excellent view of the mill and lumber yard of the gentleman named above, and upon glancing at its proportions will not dispute the assertion that Mr. Shields stands well to the fore among the more prominent of the lumber merchants of the Pacific Northwest.
Being attracted with the location of Sprague, Washington Territory, he established himself there in 1882. His business grew to such proportions that in 1885 he found it necessary to add to his equipment a large planing-mill. His enterprise occupies one block on the corner of G and First streets and the Railroad avenue. Some idea of his business can be gleaned from the fact that he keeps in stock about a million feet of dry and Oregon dressed lumber.
Mr. Shields was born in Lockport, New York, April 6, 1855, and came to the Pacific coast in 1873. He is one of the most active business men of the Columbia basin.