John Stafford McMillin was educated as a lawyer but made his name as a shrewd, ruthless businessman in nineteenth-century robber-baron style. In less than a decade he developed the Tacoma and Roche Harbor Lime Company on San Juan Island into the largest lime quarrying and processing enterprise west of the Mississippi River. A long-standing feud with a competitor led to a major lawsuit that was decided in his favor but disrupted his expansion plans. He maintained tight control over his workers and the company town of Roche Harbor that surrounding the lime works, and exerted similar dominance in the Republican Party in San Juan County where the company was the largest taxpayer. McMillin built a gracious home and lavishly entertained large groups of friends, business associates, political luminaries, and fraternity and masonic lodge members; his sons and daughter, however, offered challenges. In his last years he designed and built a unique mausoleum to honor immediate members of his family and reflect his philosophy of life, varied interests, and religious beliefs. In the 2020s it remains a popular tourist attraction in Roche Harbor, a memorial to this remarkable island personality.
Building a Company and Reputation
John S. McMillin was one of eight children born to John King McMillin (1807-1896) and Sarah Ann Stafford McMillin (1820-1885) on a farm near Sugar Grove in Indiana limestone country. In 1876 he graduated from Ashbury (now DePauw) University, where he honed his speaking skills on the debate team, and in 1879 he earned a master's degree in law, presenting the master's oration at graduation. While working on his law degree, he married his cousin and childhood sweetheart, Louella Hiett (1857-1943), a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University. Both families must have been comfortably well-off, as it was said the parents of each child gave $25,000 as a wedding present. For the next few years McMillin practiced law in Indiana, but in 1883 moved with his family to Tacoma in Washington Territory. He was admitted to the Washington bar but decided that potential for more lucrative success lay in the business world.
Having come from a part of the U.S. where lime quarrying was well-established, McMillin soon developed an interest in lime operations in the Puyallup Valley and purchased shares in the Tacoma Lime Company of which Henry Cowell (1819-1903) was the largest stockholder. Cowell also owned the largest lime company on the West Coast, the Henry Cowell Lime and Cement Company of Santa Cruz, California. Word had spread through the industry that two brothers had been working a promising lime deposit at Roche Harbor on San Juan Island between the Washington coast and Vancouver Island. Cowell asked McMillin to act as his agent and take a scouting trip to determine the potential for a new operation there; he advanced McMillin $2,500 for the undertaking.
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed primarily of calcium carbonate (CaCO3), formed generally from the remains of millions of sea creatures compressed over eons of time. The amount of pure lime (CaO) in the rock determines the value of the deposit. Passing quarried limestone through intense heat in a kiln releases carbon dioxide and leaves a residue of dry lime. Lime was an important element in the manufacture of steel and other metals (a ton of limestone was needed to produce a ton of steel), paints, glue, paper, glass, and in sugar refining. It was used in building materials such as cement, mortar, and stucco. And it was used as a fertilizer. Cowell and McMillin's investments in the lime industry were prescient, as the demand for lime was increasing rapidly, and the prospects for business and profit seemed excellent.
Lime had been processed in a small way at Roche Harbor by British troops garrisoned nearby for 12 years while Britain and the U.S. argued over the island's sovereignty. When the British left in 1872, the Roche Harbor area was briefly claimed but never developed and soon sold to brothers Robert (1834-1913) and Richard (1832-1909) Scurr, who operated a small two-kiln lime plant that produced a modest 8,000 barrels of lime a year. When he arrived at Roche Harbor in 1884, McMillin must have been stunned by what he saw: a lime deposit extending three-quarters of a mile along a bluff a quarter-mile wide, a few hundred feet above sea level. Later engineers estimated that the deposit contained more than 20,000,000 tons of lime, and it was found to be 98.32 percent pure carbonate, possibly "the most valuable supply of high-grade lime in the world" at that time (Bailey-Cummings, 164). And the deposit was near a deep harbor that would expedite transport of the processed product.
The site offered tremendous potential for development, and McMillin quickly decided that he wanted that opportunity for himself. He immediately offered to buy the company; the Scurrs were put off by his patronizing attitude and demanded the impossibly high price of $37,500. To their surprise, he immediately agreed and prepared the sale documents, providing a deposit and a personal note for the remainder of the cost. When he returned from the trip, he convinced his mother-in-law to finance the purchase, assigning 70 percent of the stock to her, giving slightly less than 30 percent to his brother-in-law and retaining a small share for himself. He returned the $2,500 to Cowell, who was enraged at McMillin's underhanded betrayal, precipitating a feud that was to last beyond the deaths of both men. McMillin soon managed to seize total control of the Tacoma Lime Company and by 1886 the Tacoma and Roche Harbor Lime Company had been incorporated.
McMillin immediately began expanding and improving the Roche Harbor lime operation. He added new kilns (to a total of 13) in the latest design with steel chutes, coolers, and scales. He built a system of steel rails for cars to carry lime from the quarries to the kilns and used the bluff to develop an efficient gravity system for moving the cars down the slope from the quarries and lime from the cars through the kiln chutes. He built warehouses, and a 450-foot wharf, housing for workers, a store, and a farm raising prize chickens, ducks, turkeys, and rabbits.
Barrels were needed as lime containers, so a barrel factory was established on the north side of the more-than-3,000-acre property, much of it heavily wooded; the basic resource needed for barrel-making was immediately at hand. The barrel factory was a marvel of productivity, based on a process to which McMillin had personally purchased the rights in 1891. Instead of needing 17 staves to form a barrel, the new process cored out halves of a barrel, thus allowing a barrel to be formed using only two staves. Always maneuvering to maximize his personal profit, McMillin organized the Staveless Barrel Factory of Tacoma as a separate legal entity in 1894. McMillin then sold his privately owned rights for the barrel-making process to the newly incorporated barrel company for $2,300 personal gain while retaining control of the operation; Louella McMillin was officially the barrel company's principal stockholder.
A workforce of 50 men could produce thousands of barrels a day, and the barrels were not only used for the lime works but also sold to hold candy, coffee, oatmeal, and fire clay. It seemed "John S. now had two hats: lime baron and barrel magnate. Wearing the manufacturer's hat, he asked for a contract to provide all the barrels for the lime works. A quick change of headgear and he accepted the kind offer on behalf of the lime company" (Bailey-Cummings, 167). Barrel prices went up; lime prices came down. McMillin was able to use the barrel factory to shield profits that did not have to be reported through the lime works. The barrel factory paid no dividends to stockholders until 1897 while providing him a handsome income.
A reporter from the Everett Morning Tribune was thoroughly impressed by the lime and barrel operations. "Wherever the eye roams some time or labor-saving method attracts attention, and it is doubtful whether any other plant of western Washington, whatever its product, is more remarkable in this respect" ("Islands of San Juan County," 18).
McMillin wanted to be able to control all aspects of the lime business, including the transport of the finished products to customers, thus securing another revenue stream. He purchased ships including a tug, barges, and ocean-going ships that delivered to cities along the coast. Other companies also sent steamships into the harbor to pick up orders of lime. Warehouses on the wharf and waterside could store 20,000 barrels of lime. McMillin was active in marketing and made frequent trips to Seattle, San Francisco, and other cities, as well as to Hawaii, where sugar-cane plantations were fast becoming a major market. By the early 1900s he was president of the most-productive lime operation on the West Coast, rolling out 150,000 barrels a year. It continued to be the foremost lime works for decades.
The Company Town
All these operations required a substantial workforce. Eventually a community of more than 800 employees and families lived in a largely self-contained town around the factories. The town was fenced in and access well-controlled. Both single and married workers lived in company housing -- barracks for single men and small cabins for married couples. Many nationalities were represented among the workers including numerous recent European immigrants. Japanese workers were hired as powdermen in the quarries and especially as domestic staff for the McMillin home and the Hotel de Haro, built in 1886 not only for visitors but also as a temporary residence for McMillin's family and newly arrived employees. In 2025 it is the oldest continuously running hotel in the state. McMillin encouraged single Japanese men to bring mail-order brides to the island. Japanese employees were housed separately near the quarries.
McMillin thought that having cash encouraged workers to squander it on liquor and unsavory entertainments, and employees were therefore paid almost entirely in scrip. Individuals wanting cash (generally no more than $3 at a time was doled out) were required to state why it was needed. And, of course, since the cash wasn't in the hands of employees, it was available for McMillin to use for the business. Scrip could be used at the company store, and employees were expected to do all their buying there. It was unacceptable to shop in Friday Harbor (the only town on the island, 10 miles away on the east side) or to place orders by mail (which would come to the attention of Louella McMillin, Roche Harbor postmistress). Transgressors were severely reprimanded and subject to firing if the offense was repeated.
McMillin had a strongly patriarchal attitude toward his employees and provided what he considered appropriate services and entertainments. A staunch Methodist, he built a church north of the lime operation on a bluff overlooking the harbor and employed a teacher to conduct school there for children of his employees and from surrounding farms. In 1898 he hired Dr. Victor Capron (1868-1934) to provide medical care for the residents. As the lime business was dangerous and safety measures minimal, Capron was often called after a workplace disaster, such as when a sling of barrels being hoisted to a ship broke, bringing the more-than-200-pound barrels down on a worker whose leg was so shattered that Dr. Capron had to perform an immediate amputation above the ankle at the hotel. The local newspaper cheerfully reported that "so far Kubo is doing quite well and will probably make a speedy recovery" (San Juan Islander, March 20, 1902).
Holidays brought celebratory activities. Performances by the children enhanced Christmas activities. July 4th was always (and in the 2020s remains) a festive occasion with games, sports contests, and fireworks. When motion pictures became available, there were weekly showings in the community hall built for large employee gatherings. Roche Harbor always had the latest in technology including its own early electric and telephone systems. McMillin made certain that every detail of his community was under his control. "This was a very tight Feudal Empire and John S. held the reins with an iron hand" (Scott, 2).
Republican Party Leader
In 1888 McMillin entered the political realm as a staunch and vocal Republican determined to gain influence and power in local and state politics. In 1894 he made his only bid for public office, pursuing the Republican candidacy for the Senate from Washington. A. J. Paxton, then editor of the local newspaper The Islander and no fan of the man he scornfully referred to as "the Duke," opined that "Mr. McMillin is neither of the people, for the people, or by the people" (Islander, August 16, 1894). McMillin was ultimately unsuccessful at the state caucus. Nevertheless, he took great pride in his ability to control all Republican activities in the county and heavily influence them at the state level. He attended all county, state, and several national Republican conventions, and was rewarded for his steadfast and effective Republican support (and business acumen) in 1905 when Governor Albert Mead (1861-1913) appointed him to the newly constituted three-person Railroad Commission responsible for setting rates for transport of a range of products across the state. Serendipitously, the position meant that McMillin could assure that his lime company was able to pay lower rates than any of his competitors.
McMillin insisted that all residents of the precinct that included Roche Harbor vote "correctly." New workers, including recent immigrants who may or may not have been fluent English speakers, or able to read or write, or citizens, were registered to vote when hired, and before elections all workers were given an "inspirational" speech and instructed how to mark their ballots. The more educated new hires were strongly persuaded to align themselves appropriately and "any skilled and trusted workman who was suspected of voting Democratic faced an immediate layoff of six weeks without wages. Repeat offense meant immediate dismissal" (Crawford, 196). Dr. Capron noted, when presiding over the initial meeting of the Republican Club organized at Roche Harbor in 1904 by McMillin, that although he had arrived from Hawaii with, perhaps, some differing views, he had quickly "seen the error of his former ways since he [had] allowed the light of Republican doctrines to illuminate his inner conscience" ("Rally ...").
Cowell v. McMillin
Henry Cowell had never forgotten nor forgiven what he deemed McMillin's treachery concerning the purchase of the Roche Harbor lime works, and the feelings were quite mutual. McMillin had offered Cowell (who purchased several lime deposits around the edges of the Roche Harbor property primarily to annoy McMillin) the opportunity to invest in his lime company, but Cowell refused and bided his time. Then in 1901 Cowell invited McMillin's unhappy and disenchanted brother-in-law to San Francisco where he wined and dined him and persuaded him to sell his 30 percent share in the lime company. Cowell now had a seat on the Board of Directors and a platform for complaints and actions. McMillin was so incensed at the maneuver that he declared that the company would never pay a dividend to shareholders.
Henry Cowell died in 1903, but his eldest son Ernest (1858-1911) was determined to make McMillin pay for his father's frustration and humiliation. Having inherited his father's shares in the Tacoma and Roche Harbor Lime Company and his seat on the board, he filed suit in1906 claiming that McMillin had committed fraud. He alleged that McMillin had used illegal tactics in gaining control of the lime company and that the barrel-factory organization and management were questionable. He further claimed that McMillin used the company's ships for projects resulting in personal gain and that he had sold lime to smelters and paper mills without proper accounting of profits. A statement by William Schultz, recently retired from serving in management of both the lime company and the barrel factory, supported some of Cowell's claims. An affidavit signed by the principal stockholder of a transport company stated McMillin had demanded a rebate of 2.5 cents per barrel on transporting lime from Roche Harbor, clearly in violation of the rules imposed by the Railroad Commission on which McMillin himself served. Cowell requested that the court prohibit McMillin from selling any shares in the lime company while the suit was being adjudicated.
Cowell (no doubt deliberately) filed the suit at a critical time for McMillin's plans. Aware of the growing importance of cement as the country's construction practices evolved, McMillin had been negotiating with companies in the East and Canada to purchase shares in the Tacoma and Roche Harbor Lime Company in return for an interest in a cement factory slated to be the largest on the West Coast. In anticipation, he had already incorporated the Roche Harbor Lime and Cement Company in November 1905. The suit brought a halt to the sale of any shares. By the time it was decided two years later the companies previously in negotiation were no longer interested in the cement-factory venture, which died for lack of funding. However, the Cowell Portland Cement Company, established in 1908, was an enormous success.
The suit was finally decided in 1908 in McMillin's favor. Judge Cornelius H. Hanford (1849-1926) ruled that none of Cowell's accusations could be verified and that the lime company Board of Directors had never indicated concerns as the various projects and reports were presented at their meetings. When news of the outcome reached Roche Harbor, a "most enthusiastic meeting of the Lime Company's employees was held at which resolutions of congratulations and esteem were adopted" and presented to McMillin ("McMillin Wins ...").
Family and Friends
John Stafford McMillin was an imposing figure. A little more than six feet tall and weighing 265 pounds, McMillin looked the part of the rather pompous, domineering, and unyielding person he was so often characterized as being. A practicing Methodist, he refrained from alcohol and business associates gave him the nickname "Lemonade Johnny." John and Louella's first son died soon after birth in 1878. However, when they moved to Washington Territory they arrived with son Fred Hiett McMillin (1880-1922). Paul Hiett McMillin (1885-1961) and Dorothy Hiett McMillin (1894-1980) were later additions to the family. The boys when young were often described as rather wild and, as the presumptive heir to the family fortune and business, Fred was always the favored child. Both boys were educated at schools in California. Dorothy presented challenges from an early age with a rebellious manner and what was described as tomboyish behavior. She first attended the Roche Harbor school but was soon withdrawn, and a governess was hired to oversee her education.
Another member was added to the household when Adah Beany (1868-1955) was employed for a somewhat nebulous role, often acting as companion to Dorothy (who was almost never unattended throughout her life) and assisting Louella and Louella's mother. When McMillin built Adah a house next door to the family home, rumors flew that she was his mistress, but there was never any evidence. She lived quietly and was a strong, stable family support in the challenging and often turbulent McMillin household.
John McMillin loved to entertain in a "Lord of the Manor" fashion and gave lavish parties with guests often numbering many hundreds. He built a gracious home for the family in 1910 overlooking extensive gardens and the harbor together with a tennis court and, for a time, a golf course. He had a large outdoor area prepared with two enormous fireplaces for extravagant salmon barbecues and space for dozens of elegantly spread tables. Parties also took place on the beach on nearby Henry Island and dances were given on barges in the harbor. As a devoted yachtsman McMillin also took guests on cruises in his 50-foot launch, Calcite, that could sleep 10 and had a crew of three. He was an avid photographer and enjoyed recording events, scenery, and guests.
McMillin was a 32nd Degree Mason and remained active in Sigma Chi college fraternity affairs. Members of both these organizations were frequent guests. Republican politicians visited; he even welcomed Presidents Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), William Howard Taft (1857-1930), and Grover Cleveland (1837-1908) to Roche Harbor. Billy Sunday (1862-1935), the famous temperance speaker, gave a rousing sermon at the hotel and was treated to a special explosives demonstration at the quarry during his visit. But McMillin entertained the community too, providing a warm homecoming reception for two young Roche Harbor brothers injured in World War I and giving a party of appreciation for all who helped during a disastrous 1923 fire that destroyed several lime-works buildings.
The Later Years
A deep personal loss for McMillin was the death of his son Fred at the age of 42 in 1922 after three months of hospitalization. It is notable that only The Seattle Times carried any acknowledgement of his passing (just a few lines) and an extremely brief invitation to fraternal organization members and friends to the funeral in Seattle. No mention at all appeared in the San Juan Island newspaper. Paul was now the heir, but he and his father had never gotten along well. John McMillin often compared Paul's performance to what he claimed Fred would have accomplished and blamed Paul for the company's diminishing success. It was an acrimonious relationship.
By the late 1920s, the lime business had begun to decline. As McMillin aged, his thoughts turned to creating an appropriate resting place for the family. In 1930 he began design and construction of Afterglow Vista (in acknowledgement of the beautiful sunsets seen from the site), a mausoleum designed with numerous fraternal, masonic, and biblical symbols and references to his personal philosophy of life; it is still impressive in the 2020s. In a grove of trees, a 28-foot-diameter platform is reached through graceful arches and up sets of steps whose numbers all have symbolic meaning. On the platform a table is surrounded by six chairs, each housing the ashes of a member of the family. One chair was reserved for the infant who had died in Indiana; Adah Beany's ashes are interred in that one as well. The platform is surrounded by seven Ionic columns; one is broken to symbolize those tasks left unfinished in each person's life. The structure, costing $30,000, was finished in spring 1936. McMillin had ordered a beautiful bronze dome to complete it, but Paul canceled the order, claiming that the company could not afford the $20,000 cost during the Depression. McMillin never forgave him.
By late 1936, McMillin no doubt realized with dismay that the country would once again choose Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945), whom he whole-heartedly despised, as president. Perhaps fittingly, John Stafford McMillin died on election day, November 3. It was truly the end of an era.
The lime company continued to decline. Revenue dropped; the operation and equipment had not changed in a half-century; relations with workers deteriorated. In 1956 Paul McMillin sold the property, and new owners with a different vision for the waterside site revamped the facilities to create a "boatel" for vacationers, forerunner of the popular tourist destination and residential village that Roche Harbor has become in the twenty-first century.
