H. H. RICH, President of the Ontonagon Lumber Company, was born in Tompkins County, N. Y., in 1827. He was brought up in the lumber business, and in 1844 moved to Dodge County, Wis., and from there to Omro, Wis., in the spring of 1873; there he formed a partnership in the lumber business with Mr. Stillman, under the firm name of Rich & Stillman. They bought the Johnson Saw Mill, and were engaged in the manufacture of lumber three years. In 1876, Mr. Rich came to Ontonagon, and with his brothers, A. J. and Martin, purchased the saw-mill on the island, and began the manufacture of lumber. In 1877, they started a store with a stock of general merchandise. October 4, 1880, their mill was burned, together with a lot of lumber, entailing a loss of $40,000, on which they had only $10,000 insurance. They rebuilt the mill as it is now in 1881, putting in the most improved machinery. In September, 1881, they formed an association with David Kelley, G. B. Shaw and others, of Chicago, under the title of the Ontonagon Lumber Company, of which Mr. H. H. Rich was chosen President. (See history of Ontonagon Lumber Company.) The Rich Bros. were also proprietors of a planing-mill on the island, which burned while stocked with seasoned lumber June, 1879, by which they sustained considerable loss. Mr. Rich is also President of the Ontonagon River Improvement & Boom Company, and has materially improved the river under his management.