There seems to be a basic difference in father and son.  William Jr., or Bill as he was commonly called, wasn't afraid of innovation.  On the contrary, he embraced it.  The Cleereman-Jauquet Lumber Co. wouldn't have stayed in business through the decades if it hadn't changed with the times.  A good example is the use of tracked logging machinery.  When the time was right to eliminate horse pulled sleighs and switch to Caterpillar 22's or ten-ton Holts, and subsequently trucks, the change was made.  But, a comparison can be made to today's computer industry.  There are people who design and build computers, and there are other people who can use this technology to make a buck.  Francis was the innovator, and his father put the innovations to practical use.

     By the time WWII came along, Bill Cleereman and the Jauquet family had divided their partnership.  The Cleeremans built a new band mill a little further north of the original mill.  Francis took time off to fight in Europe, and when the army no longer needed his services, came back to Newald to work in the company business.  The post-war period saw changes in the timber industry.  The days of big sawmills and camps were over.  While the war years produced a tremendous demand for lumber, the slowdown afterward hit hard.  One day, Bill told Francis that it really didn't pay to run the mill anymore.  He said that the expenses just about equaled the receivables.  There were 16 men working at the mill.  This was a fraction of the men that used to be employed by the operation, but too many for the times.  Francis told his father that he thought he could replace 8-9 men with equipment if he would give him a little time.  Before long, only 8 employees were needed by the Cleereman Lumber Company.  There is no doubt that Francis Cleereman is one of those gifted people who possesses the genius necessary to see through complex mechanical problems and find solutions.

     His designs were simple and efficient.  His carriages no longer required a head sawyer, a man to turn the log, and another for set-up riding the carriage.  The head sawyer did it all, using electricity and compressed air, all at his fingertips.  The edger he designed was all push-button.  This type of equipment is common as wool socks today, but it was a startling innovation in 1950.  He developed a method to heat tension saw blades that kept them tensioned for months of running, to replace the pounding method of trueing a saw that was short-lived.  He designed and built the feed for moving the carriage, using hydraulics and air.  What was important was that it worked, and worked well.  The Cleereman mill turned a profit.

     By this time, it is safe to say that Francis was a millwright-one hell of a millwright.  His duties were first and foremost to keep the mill operational, and that he did it with so much inventiveness was amazing, but he was not a manufacturer.  According to Francis, a stranger walked in the mill and changed his status one day.  It was just another day at work in the Cleereman mill, when Francis looked up and noticed a stranger standing behind the head sawyer, watching him work.  Francis says that he thought he was a lumber buyer.  When he approached him, the stranger said, "I want a carriage just like that one."  When Francis explained that he wasn't in the business of building carriages, he just made equipment for the mill's own use, the man became insistent.  As Francis started to lose patience with his first customer, his father walked into the conversation.

     According to Francis, Bill told him to; "Go ahead and build him a carriage.  You've got the time."  Francis agreed, and the first ever Cleereman carriage, sold to the public, was built and left for the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  The proverbial cat was out of the bag.  The word spread around the Lake States that a new type of sawmill carriage was being built that eliminated people, was efficient, simple to repair, and increased profitability.  Francis found a small work space under the mill, and always had a carriage under construction.  Sawmillers came from northern Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, and even from Canada to buy carriages.  There was no advertising campaign, just word of mouth. 

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Cleereman Industries, Inc.
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Newald, WI 54511

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