C.K. Sober Nurseries , Largest In the World, Lewisburg 1913

Largest Nursery In The World, Lewisburg Pa, 1913
Although this article ran in the Lewisburg Newspaper, and the Sober Nursery Main office was in Lewisburg, the Chestnut farm was located in Northumberland County, in "Irish Valley".    The Sober Brothers owned and operated the Sober Paragon Chestnut Farm that was once the largest chestnut tree farm in the nation before the chestnut blight took its toll in the early 1900’s.  

The stories about Coleman K. Sober related in Commemorative biographical record of central Pennsylvania by Beers remind one almost of the tall tales of Henry Shoemaker, or the legend of Paul Bunyan. Write ups about him mention of some of his various careers [teacher, lumberman, coal hauler, iron mill worker, and more] hobbies [including skilled taxidermy, blacksmithing, and engraving  - all of which he excelled at without any training], appointments [Post master, game commissioner..] and some of his patents.  He was a renowned marksman,  performing at events across the state, and being written up in various magazines.  His mother was also a skilled riflewoman, and had learned the skill of making guns from her father.  Later in life,  Coleman  owned the Sober Chestnut Nursery, the largest nursery in the world.

Coleman Kreighbaum Sober was born Nov 24 1842, one of 10 children born to Isaac & Mary [Kreighbabaum] Sober, who lived "some seven miles distant from Shamokin, Northumberland County... The mother of this interesting family was not only an excellent rifleshot, but was also an expert mechanic, many a time in her girlhood assisting her father in his shop, he being a gun maker by occupation. In fact, so skilled was she that with her own hands manufactured a gun that became the property her future husband. [Beers]

Beers history states that Sober left home to begin a teaching career in 1860, and that during that time he also worked pumping oil in the oil regions of Pennsylvania, working in a saw mill, in the blast furnaces, and in the Rolling Mills at Danville.  "His industry knew no bounds, and when he had a night turn he would take contracts to unload coal boats or draw board rafts during the day."

The stories related in Commemorative biographical record of central Pennsylvania by Beers remind one almost of the tall tales of Henry Shoemaker, or the legend of Paul Bunyan.  They can be found beginning on page 800 and covering 4 pages, primarily devoted to Sobers feats as a marksman.

  Included is a tale of Sober out husking other workers on the Fox farm,  making a nail at a blacksmith shop without any training [a skill blacksmiths of the time spent a year as an apprentice learning], a "marvel of ambidexterity with  shotgun", and highly skilled in taxidermy "an art that cannot be learned in a day, yet one that came to him naturally and without any instruction." His taxidermy work was exhibited in the Worlds Fair in Chicago in 1893.  Additionally, again without receiving any teaching or instruction, Sober was a skilled engraver, engraving horses, dogs, violins, locomotives, etc, on various metals. He was the inventor of a thresher which shelled the burrs from the chestnuts at the rate of a bushel in less than a minute. Some of his other inventions and patents include a wedge graft, an insect trap, and  an acetylene gas generator

By 1880 Sober was a partner in the lumber firm of Beecher and Zimmerman. One of the largest lumbering concerns in the state, in 1898, the sawmills in Glen Union, Clinton County, turned out one and one half million feet of sawed lumber and at least 125 car-loads of timer each month.

In 1884, Sober was commissioned Postmaster.  In 1870 Gov Geary appointed Sober one of 6 men to be  Coal and Iron policeman for Pennsylvania.  In 1878 he was appointed as mercantile appraiser for Northumberland County. In 1892 he was appointed state game commissioner holding the office for three terms.

Located on Irish Valley Rd, Shamokin Twp, Northumberland County PA

40°48'27.0"N 76°38'31.0"W

According to Floyd's history, Sober was one of the first farmers in the state to "become interested in Alfalfa"

"We now pass from Coleman K. Sober, the business man, the blacksmith, the engraver, the taxidermist, the private gentleman, to Coleman K. Sober, the champion shot-gun shot of the world, the "Wizard Of The Gun" [Beers]

His skill with a rifle was often mentioned in magazines and articles.  One of these many articles was 4 pages of illustrations, in the Strand, 1910.

According to Beers, "In this connection it must be borne in mind that he is not a professional s hot, nor has he ever posed as such, notwithstanding his well-known ability; and moreover he never performs for money, his public exhibitions being for the benefit of some public charity, or to ait in the attraction to State and County fairs, grange picnics, Grand Army reunions or such like, and he is always sure to be a "drawing card" as the wonder shot of the world...."

This is one page of a 4 page article, full of illustrations, that ran in Strand Magazine.  See the entire article at the bottom of the page.

At an exhibition in 1889, the winds were particularly strong, and yet Sober continued, unbothered.  The Mifflinburg Telegram reported "Everybody expressed astonishment at the remarkable work, no one having any idea that it was possible under the circumstances and no one will believe hereafter that there is a man on the face of the earth that can compete with C.K. Sober when it comes to fancy shooting."

" A number of years ago his love for field sports led him to join a syndicate composed of prominent Pennsylvania capitalists in the purchase of a large game preserve, which is probably unequaled in the many advantages it possesses for the purpose. The syndicate purchased Wallop's island on the eastern shore of Accomac county, Va., just  south of Chincoteague island. Wallop's island has an area of twenty-five hundred acres and is said to shelter more game than any similar spot in the south - a section of this country which is highly favored with game and the island has one of the finest sea beaches on the Atlantic coast, six miles in length. The men have on the island a clubhouse of thirty rooms and a good wharf; and with the oysters, fish, all varieties of shore birds, waterfowl, and the delightful climate for which Wallop's island is noted, they have every facility for enjoyable outings. Mr. Sober sold his interests in this property in 1911." - Floyd's 

Beers History was published in 1898, before Sober entered into the chestnut business.  Floyd's Biographical annals, published in 1911, gives us more details on this part of Sobers life.

"The story of Mr. Sober's interest in chestnut growing begins in his boyhood. Brought up on a farm, he was but twelve years old when he persuaded his father, who was grafting fruit trees, to let him graft small chestnut trees.

 His father treated the matter as a joke, but the boy clung to it, and though it was not until forty-two years later that he put his ideas to practical test he never lost faith in them. Nor were his theories vain. The result of his experiments, the Sober Paragon chestnut has attained such a degree of perfection that it is in demand everywhere that chestnuts find a market, and thousands of scions and trees from Mr. Sober's trees and nursery stock are sold yearly."

In his obituary, we read:

 "He also gained fame throughout the State with his Paragon Chestnut Farm of 800 acres in Irish Valley, which was conducted with such success, that it attracted the attention of scientists all over the country and Department of Agriculture of the United States. He was the first man to ship out of the country a carload of chestnuts"

" The farm has been the object of wide attention and many prominent men have visited the property, particularly to investigate the chestnut proposition, a number of the States having mentioned the Sober groves in their annual agricultural reports. Frequent mention is made in the National reports. 

Chestnut harvest at the Sober Farm

A trip to this place is not only interesting, but instructive in the highest degree. There have been many press notices regarding it in the papers and magazines. A writer who visited the estate early in September, 1911, a man widely traveled and familiar with the beauties of art and nature in many parts of the world, after a drive over the four hundred acres of bending, bearing trees spoke of the scene as one passing description. At the season when the green of the chestnut buns was changing to autumn tints, it was a picture which defied the best efforts of brush or pen." - Floyd

The Chestnut Farm featured a half mile race track, where pedigreed horses raced.  "Mr. Sober has made a specialty of raising high-bred horses, and has a number of fine pedigreed horses, some with excellent track records. There is a full half-mile race course on the farm, uniquely located on a knoll a short distance south of the road."

 Mr. Sober "was the inventor, patentee and manufacturer of acetylene gas generators, conducting this business at Lewisburg, Pa. He has done much to popularize this method of lighting, and the gas being also usable for cooking purposes, clean, economical, convenient, the business is in thriving condition.".  The generator lighted the house, barn, and other buildings on the chestnut farm.

A chestnut blight in 1917 destroyed the nursery.  A 1976 article about the farm states" "The fungus disease was discovered in New York and is believed to have started at the Sober farm from excessive ingrafting of trees, making their resistance to disease low.". 

 The farm was sold in October of 1920, for just $30,000  [close to half a million dollars in 2024].  Although that sounds like a lot of money, papers reported it as extremely little in comparison of the value.  That sale did not come to fruition - liens against the property totaled nearly the entire amount of the sale price. 

 The following month, the farm was sold at Sheriff's sale for $1400 [about $22000 in todays equivalent].  By 1928 the farm was mentioned in the papers as a place of ill repute.  Illegal stills were raided there during prohibition.   

Coleman K. Sober died in November 1921, a year after the farm had been sold.   His obituary in the Lewisburg Journal read:

COLEMAN K. SOBER WIDELY KNOWN RESIDENT DIES 

A Famous Sportsman and Naturalist Passes Away. Successful Chestnut Grower. Great Lover of Nature.

L-R, Back: Clint & "Martin" Luther Sober

L-R From: Freeman "Ed" & Coleman K. Sober

Coleman K. Sober, who for many years has been a prominent figure Lewisburg and vicinity, died on Saturday evening at 7:30 o'clock at home on Third street after a months illness. The last few days he was a state of coma and died without regaining consciousness. He was 79 years old two days before his death. 

Mr.Sober had a varied career, is remembered as one of the greatest of marksmen, and at one time world's champion with the shot who was never defeated. "The Wizard of the Gun" was title Mr. Sober won, he being declared the champion all-around shot shot of the world, distinguishing himself at many difficult shoots.

 Mr. Sober received trophies in form of gold medals, gold and cups, as well as numerous prizes. Among the many difficult feats performed with the shot gun, and apparent ease, was to spring two birds from a trap, shoot one of from between his legs while standing with his back toward the trap, turn quickly and drop the second with a shot from the shoulder. performed over two hundred each shot being more marvelous the preceding one, all from different positions or under new forms handicap. 

One of Mr. Sober's many shooting feats was the use of his weapon breaking blue rocks, king birds,  with a barrel of flour over the barrel of rifle. With his weapon thus encumbered he performed shots from difficult angles; one of his many most famous performances being at a York County fair many years ago when he broke 452 targets successively. In recent years his challenges to meet with a good trapshooter have gone unanswered, even though at one time he is said to have offered $10,000 for the privilege of meeting Dr.F. W. Carver in a match at Harrisburg.

Please note that I have NO idea if this is the taxidermy done by Sober.  I found the photo on an auction site that merely said it was vintage, and no notes about the taxidermist are on the piece.

 On his fifty -eighth birthday, Mr. Sober shot pheasant on wing with a weasel attached to its neck taking its life blood, and he has  the same mounted; it is this is not the only specimen of its kind in the world.

 He also gained fame throughout the State with his Paragon Chestnut Farm of 800 acres in Irish Valley, which was conducted with such success, that it attracted the attention of scientists all over the country and Department of Agriculture of the United States. He was the first man to ship out of the country a carload of chestnuts. When he saw how the demand was increasing, he turned many acres of his farm into a nursery. About the time that a million or more young trees were ready for the market and enough orders from western nurseries to make him a wealthy man, the chestnut blight swept the State causing disaster, just when he was about to realize the dream of his life.

The department of Agriculture at once put on a quarantine forbidding the exportation of chestnut trees. And a few years ago Mr. Sober was forced into the realization that a million dollars worth of trees and the labor of a greater part of his life were gone. He was the inventor of a thresher which shelled the burrs from the chestnuts at the rate of a bushel in less than a minute. In 1892 he was appointed state game commissioner holding the office for three terms.

Mr. Sober was also lover of thoroughbred horses and on his Irish Valley farm he maintained stables of race horses. Mr. Sober was born in Irish Valley and later moved to Trevorton, afterwards taught school in Milton, coming from there to Lewisburg about 40 years ago, and since has made his home here. Surviving him are his wife and two children by a former marriage, Mrs.M. H. Lesher and W. B. Sober, both of Lewisburg.

The afternoon funeral from was held on Tuesday his late residence in charge of Rev. B. F. Everett of the Presbyterian Church, Rev. William Taylor, of the Methodist Church.

Many friends from all parts of the State were in attendance. Burial was in the Lewisburg Cemetery..

When I stopped to take photos of this old barn back in 2016, I knew nothing of it's history, and had no idea that it was on the former grounds of the old Sober Chestnut nursery.

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Four Page Article From The Strand 

A Wonderful Marksman, C.K. Sober

 

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THE PARAGON CHESTNUT

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FROM: GENEALOGICAL & BIOGRAPHICAL ANNALS OF NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY. BY J. L. FLOYD, 1911.

COLEMAN K. SOBER, of Lewisburg, Pa., is as much a citizen of Northumberland county as he is of the former place. He belongs to a family which has been settled in this county for a hundred and fifty years, since pioneer times; he himself is a native of the county, and the care of the extensive landed interests he retains here has kept him in touch with the affairs of the locality, where his value to the community is universally recognized. Mr. Sober has been a successful man from the worldly standpoint. His profitable operations in lumber, covering many years of an unusually energetic career, would alone entitle him to that distinction. But he has led a life useful to others as well as to himself. His active intellect has enabled him to discover more than mere business opportunities in the pursuit of his various ventures; and his inquiring mind has led him into investigations which have yielded much of real utility and added definitely to the sum total of serviceable knowledge.

 In practical illustration of this tendency of Mr. Sober's may be mentioned his chief interest in Northumberland county, the extensive chestnut groves on the mountainsides that inclose the beautiful Irish Valley, the outgrowth of an experiment which has attracted attention all over the country. It is the only commercial chestnut grove in a sufficiently advanced stage of development to permit an estimate to be formed of the possibilities of such an enterprise.

 Mr. Sober is a native of this region, born Nov. 24, 1842, at the old homestead of his parents in Northumberland county, seven miles from Shamokin.

 His ancestors were among the pioneers of the county, where the family has been settled for a hundred and fifty years. His grandparents were Samuel and Isabella (Moore) Sober.

 Isaac Sober, father of Coleman K. Sober, was a native and lifelong resident of Northumberland county, where he was a wealthy and influential agriculturist. He was born Feb. 23, 1814, and died June 12, 1882. His wife, Mary (Krighbaum), daughter of George and Barbara (Reed) Krighbaum, was also of Northumberland county birth, and ten children were born to their union, namely: Freeman W., who was a farmer in Virginia, where he died; Harriet, wife of Samuel Swinehart, of Northumberland county, Pa.; Coleman K.; Clinton D., a farmer and dairyman of Northumberland county (he is a great shot with the gun); Isabella, widow of F. W. Gilder, who died in Philadelphia, Pa.; Barbara Ann, widow of Mahlon C. Moyer, who died in Shamokin; Amanda, deceased, who was the wife of George Startzel, of Shamokin; Adeline, deceased, wife of A. J. Campbell; Martin Luther (another phenomenal shot in the family, and in whom Mr. Sober says he finds the nearest approach to a rival in game shooting); and Clara, wife of exCounty Treasurer D. S. Hollibaugh, M. D., a prominent physician of Shamokin.

 Mrs. Sober was not only an excellent rifle shot, but also an expert mechanic. She was the only child of a famous gunmaker of the Susquehanna Valley in his day - the latter part of the eighteenth and the early part of the nineteenth century - and many a time in her girlhood she assisted her father in his shop. Her skill in shooting was acquired in testing the guns turned out in the shop, and so adept was she that with her own hands she manufactured a gun that became the property of her future husband.

 Coleman K. Sober remained at home up to the age of eighteen, his summers being spent in farm work, and his winters in study at the neighboring schools.

 So well did he improve these educational opportunities that he prepared himself for teaching, and on leaving home in 1860 he engaged in that profession with such success that he continued it for eighteen terms with increasing reputation.

 His vacations were spent in study at higher schools, or in various occupations, such as pumping oil in the oil regions of the State, working in a sawmill, in blast furnaces, or in the rolling mills at Danville, Pa. His industry knew no bounds, and when he had a "night turn" he would take contracts to unload coal boats or draw board rafts during the day.

 Among the higher schools he attended was the Danville Academy. In 1854, at the close of his term there, he found himself obliged to look around for work of some kind, his circumstances, financially, not being the best, and he was too proud to accept any assistance from his father. It so happened that one of his schoolmates, a lad by the name of C. B. Savidge (now judge of Northumberland county), having exhausted all his means, was obliged to seek some kind of employment before the term of school came to a close, and procured work at corn husking for a farmer named William Fox. Through this old school "chum" young Sober, now twenty-two years old, and of slight build, made application to William Fox for similar work. The latter, however, having "sized up" the youthful applicant, remarked that he was too light for such a task, and that his earnings thereat would be very meagre (the corn shocks were cut 7x9, or sixty-three hills). Nevertheless, the lad's application being favorably received, he began work on the following morning, at five cents a shock, and when night came it was found that he had husked no less than eighty-six shocks. Mr. Fox having left the farm for a few days, a report was made to Mrs. Fox by some of the hands of the rapid work done by the new man, whereupon she immediately sent for Mr. Sober and informed him that he was discharged for the reason that he "would break her husband up!"; his commissions amounted to $4.30 for this day's work. He thereupon demanded settlement and his pay; but Mrs. Fox being unprovided with necessary funds, young Sober was permitted to remain at work until her husband's return. On the latter's arrival home, and on his learning of this phenomenal record in husking, he at once set about to investigate whether or not the work was well done. In his examination he failed to find a single stalk with an ear remaining unhusked. All this might be counted a mystery were it not explained away by the fact that Mr. Sober accomplished with two motions what others required four to do.

 Another anecdote, bearing on Mr. Sober's innate skill and natural adaptability to existing circumstances, is recorded of him in quite a different trend. "The hammer in the hand above all the arts doth stand" is a well known adage, and Mr. Sober's present expertness with the anvil is better known than is his boyhood experience with one, as here related. When he was a sixteen-year-old lad he had a long distance to tramp to school, and about midway between his home and the schoolhouse was a blacksmith shop or "smithy," where on cold days he would stop to warm himself and watch the smith forging horseshoe nails, etc.

 One day young Sober asked permission of this son of Vulcan to make a horseshoe nail, whereupon the latter laughingly asked the lad if he was aware that to learn to do such a job properly required usually a full year's apprenticeship.

 Nevertheless, the undaunted stripling insisted upon being allowed to try his hand, at least, and after but five attempts he presented to the astonished blacksmith a perfect nail ready for use.

 In 1880 Mr. Sober became employed by the day by Beecher & Zimmerman, lumbermen, who, quickly realizing his ability, at the end of the month offered to receive him into the firm. He accordingly purchased a one-third interest and at the death of Mr. Zimmerman, a year or two later, he bought half of the deceased's interest, thus becoming half owner of the entire business. The firm, the Glen Union Lumber Company, which is one of the largest lumber concerns in the State, its offices and freight depot being situated at Glen Union, in Clinton county, now owns over 45,000 acres of the best timberland in the State of Pennsylvania, employment being given to a small army of one hundred men. The sawmills turn out each month one and a half million feet of sawed lumber, and at least 125 carloads of prop timber per month. In this connection it might not be out of place to cite an illustration of Mr. Sober's business acumen and foresight. His first purchase of prop timber was 1,100 acres bought "on the stump," and by the ton, at fifty cents per ton, and he immediately arranged for its transportation by rail, securing a reduction of fifty cents per ton (just the sum the timber cost him) from the regular rate; thus his purchase in reality cost him nothing, while at the same time he was the first in the United States to buy, sell and transport timber by the pound.

 Mr. Sober became the head and front of this concern, everything being under his supervision, he giving his attention mainly to the field work of the company, his special province being the examination of timberland and the direction of operations in the woods. Independent of the Glen Union plant, he conducts an extensive personal business; his shipments for the fourteen years beginning Jan. 1, 1897, to Jan. 1, 1911, being 18,140 carloads, or an average of 1,295 carloads per year, of prop timber, pulpwood, lumber and hay. His administrative and executive ability is well exemplified in the generalship he displays in handling and controlling his many employees, something that in the lumber woods requires no little tact and discretion. He is a master of every detail of his business, and has never had a mechanic in his employ to whom he could not teach something, while he often finds points in the machinery of his plant upon which, perfect though it may seem, he could suggest some improvement.

 This comprehensive grasp of detail is characteristic of the man; and it is also said of him that wherever and whenever he sees an effect he is sure to find the cause - that is, in anything that may interest him. He is so thorough a business man, and so prominent as a citizen, that it would be injustice to him to give undue prominence even to his marvelous feats with the shotgun, which will be fully spoken of farther on. He has made his own way in the world with clear-eyed singleness of purpose which reminds one of his unerring aim at a target. In all has enterprises, great and small, he is precise and painstaking, and the strictest integrity marks his business dealings, every obligation being met promptly and fully. While he would not take an unfair advantage of an opponent in a shooting-contest or an athletic game, and would not accept a penny that he did not consider his due, neither would he smother his sense of right and yield tamely to an infringement upon his own just claims. Thoroughness in everything is one of his strong points, and he will never allow himself to he excelled in any respect, if earnest, persistent thought and labor will win.

 Mr. Sober is not only a marvel of ambidexterity with the shotgun, as the reader will presently discover, and an expert in work on the anvil, as above recorded, but he is also highly skilled in taxidermy, an art that cannot be learned in a day, yet one that came to him naturally and without any instruction. Some fine specimens of his skill in mounting birds, etc., including an eagle shot by N. B. Grugan, of Glen Union, and which measured seven feet from tip to tip of wings (prepared for Dr. B. H. Warren, the State zoologist), were exhibited at the World's Fair held in Chicago in 1893, and attracted much attention, winning many encomiums; while among other specimens he has in his possession some five deer heads, taken from noble animals of his own slaying, and mounted by himself. On his fifty-eighth birthday Mr. Sober shot a pheasant on wing, with a weasel attached to its neck taking its life blood, and he has same mounted; it is a question if this is not the only specimen of its kind in the world.

 Then, also, as an engraver on gold and other metals, he excels, in this respect being not one whit behind professionals, though he never received instruction in the art, his designing and engraving of horses, dogs, violins, locomotives, on a ten-cent piece, etc. (from tools of his own making), being surprisingly clever.

 Socially Mr. Sober is looked upon as a prince among men, exceedingly pleasant and affable, and he is a perfect gentlemen, hospitable and liberal - in short, a royal good fellow, as he is called by his closest acquaintances; and he always carries under his vest a big heart. He is a man of fine physical proportions, active, strong and quick, in height about five feet, ten inches, and weighing some 175 pounds; his complexion is somewhat sandy, much tanned by his outdoor life. Possessed of the bright blue eyes of a sure shot, he is in fact what might be expected in the makeup of a sportsman; and although in age he is now nearing the three score and ten mark, he only shows a better developed maturity of vigorous manhood. In his habits he is very abstemious, using neither tobacco nor liquor in any shape. In his political predilections he had always been a Democrat, until the campaign of Gov. D. H. Hastings (now deceased), and since that time has been a stanch Republican; but he has never found time to seek official preferment or recognition, save that in May, 1884, he was commissioned by Postmaster Walter Q. Gresham postmaster at Sober (Center county), which office was named in his honor, and of which he was first postmaster. He also was postmaster at Glen Union, Clinton county, from 1892 to 1897. In 1870 he was appointed by Gov. John W. Geary coal and iron policeman for the State of Pennsylvania, he being one of the six first commissioned in Pennsylvania, and clothed with all the authority of the city police. In 1878 he was appointed mercantile appraiser of Northumberland county, Pa., being chosen from among twelve. He long ago received his first appointment as State game commissioner, and was reappointed in 1892. On Nov. 17, 1896, he was again appointed by Gov. D. H. Hastings, and he has held the office continuously to the present, by successive re-appointments. This is not a salaried position, but its duties, the propagation and conservation of game, are so thoroughly to Mr.

 Sober's liking and in accord with his principles that he takes pride and pleasure in their performance.

 In 1864 Mr. Sober was united in marriage with Bernetta Anderson, of Northumberland county, a daughter of Jacob and Phebe Anderson. She died Jan. 4, 1906, and is buried at Lewisburg, Pa. Four children blessed their union, two of whom are deceased. (1) Mary B. has been twice married, first to Harry Grove, by whom she had one child, Helen Mary. After Mr. Grove's decease she married, Oct.

 14, 1896, Martin H. Lesher, of Shamokin Dam, Pa, and they have five children, Bernetta Edna, Isabelle M., Martha S., Coleman K. and Thornton S. Mrs. Lesher is skilled in oil, pastel and crayon work, and excels in free-hand drawing. (2) Oswell Coleman; and (3) Hudson Atwood both died young. (4) Waldron Bland married R. Elizabeth Bright, daughter of William H. Bright, and they have four children, Bernetta E.; Mary B., Coleman K., Jr., and William Bright; the last named, born Sept. 6, 1908, celebrates the anniversary of his birth on the same date as his father and his grandfather Bright. While still a youth W. Bland Sober acquired marvelous skill as a trap-shooter, and as a sportsman few of the old hunters can bag more game in a day than he.

 On Dec. 27, 1906, Mr. Sober married (second) Hannah Alvirda Cummings, daughter of James and Mary Rebecca (Stover) Cummings.

 Mr. C. K. Sober maintains his residence at Lewisburg, Union Co., Pa, where he has a pleasant home, whose perfect appointments show his  attention to detail. Every part of the premises gives evidence of his careful management, and his stables, in which he keeps some fine horses, some of them being fast trotters, are sufficiently neat and comfortable for the habitation of human beings. He has a beautiful summer home on the large estate in Irish Valley upon which his wonderful chestnut groves are located.

 The story of Mr. Sober's interest in chestnut growing begins in his boyhood. Brought up on a farm, he was but twelve years old when he persuaded his father, who was grafting fruit trees, to let him graft small chestnut trees.

 His father treated the matter as a joke, but the boy clung to it, and though it was not until forty-two years later that he put his ideas to practical test he never lost faith in them. Nor were his theories vain. The result of his experiments, the Sober Paragon chestnut has attained such a degree of perfection that it is in demand everywhere that chestnuts find a market, and thousands of scions and trees from Mr. Sober's trees and nursery stock are sold yearly.

 Their pedigree is of interest as showing the beginnings of an industry that has already attained notable proportions, and that promises to be more generally engaged in as its advantages become known. Almost thirty years ago Mr. W. L.  Shaffer, of Germantown, near Philadelphia, discovered a tree growing in his lot from an unknown source. It may have been from a foreign nut, which produced the Paragon chestnuts, about five times the size of the average American chestnut. Crisp and sweet, it differed from the Italian chestnut, which is either coarse and tasteless or possesses an unpleasant acorn favor. The first scions used in grafting the Sober trees were of Paragon trees obtained from W. H. Engle, of Marietta, Pa. In the Irish Valley, six miles from Paxinos, and seven miles west of Shamokin, Mr. Sober has a property comprising about eight hundred acres. It is a beautiful and fertile depression, walled in on the east and west by parallel spurs of the Alleghenies; whose sloping, rocky Sides were originally covered with oak, sap pine and chestnut timber. About half of this is now under chestnut cultivation. The pine and oak were cut down years ago, and subsequently some of the chestnut was marketed. A second growth of chestnut later sprang up. Such were the conditions on about half of Mr. Sober's large estate. Ordinarily this would be waste mountain land, soil that could not be utilized profitably even as sheep pasture. In the fall of 1896 he cut down the standing trees on the land where his first attempts at chestnut culture were to be made. By spring young shoots had appeared around the stumps of the fallen trees. These shoots were grafted with the scions of the Sober Paragon nut, before mentioned, which had been cut in February and laid away in sand until needed. The grafting was begun early in the spring, and Mr. Sober, with the assistance of a farm hand or two, looked after all the work himself the first year. From this modest beginning has been developed an industry which requires a considerable working force and promises to make the land as profitable as it would be under ordinary agricultural conditions. The principal grove stretches along the bordering mountainside - for over a mile on one side of the mountain, and comprises about 300 acres, the southern part of the farm. The hillside to the north is crowned with a two-acre grove. Then there are three hundred thousand Sober Paragon Registered seedlings and grafted trees, from one to three years old, grown from the Sober Paragon nut ingrafted with the scions from the true Sober Paragon tree in bearing. Over two hundred bushels of Sober Paragon chestnuts were planted in the spring of 1911, thus adding more than a quarter of a million seedlings, which will be grafted at two years onto young chestnut seedlings growing on what would be waste land. The process of establishing a grove by planting nuts would be too slow, hence Mr. Sober has adopted this method of gaining time in the production of valuable trees.

 In this country the popularity of the chestnut as a food is still in its initial stages. However, it is gaining recognition daily, so much so that arboriculturists are interesting themselves in its culture, with the view of presenting its attractions to owners of available land. The fact that chestnut trees may be cultivated successfully on land valueless for other purposes will undoubtedly influence many to attempt their cultivation. The interest has become so widespread that the national government through the United States Department of Agriculture, and the State government through the Department of Forestry, and Chestnut Tree Blight Commission, have seen fit to investigate his experiments and results thoroughly. Commission President Winthrop Sargent, of Philadelphia; Commission Secretary Harold Pierce, also of Philadelphia, of the Chestnut Tree Blight Commission; Hon. I. C. Williams, deputy State forestry commissioner; S. B. Detwiler, executive officer of the Chestnut Tree Blight Commission; Dr. J. W. Harshberger, professor of botany of the University of Pennsylvania, and Dr. Haven Metcalf and Professor Collins, of the United States Department of Agriculture, visited the farms and chestnut groves Sept. 7, 1911.

 Mr. C. A. Reed, special agent of United States Department of Agriculture, visited the farms and chestnut groves on Sept. 8, 1911.

 Not long after commencing this work Mr. Sober realized that a nursery branch of his business would be almost a necessity if others were to profit by his experiences, and the demand for nuts and young trees has far exceeded the supply. Rows  of young trees have been grafted to the Sober Paragon nut, and heavy shipments are made each season. At first the orders were mainly from the New England States, but now they come from all parts of this country and even from Europe.

 In 1908 a solid carload of the Sober Paragon nut went to Seattle, Wash. In the summer of 1910 a Seattle man who had an ambition to enter the business on a large scale offered to buy Mr. Sober's entire yield for that year. Several carloads of young trees are sold every spring. In 1910 Mr. Sober shipped and sold to one concern, Glen Brothers, of Rochester, N. Y., seven carloads of bearing trees, and in addition to this shipment sold to various other concerns over five thousand grafted trees (nursery stock, two and a half to three feet high). In 1911 he shipped to Glen Brothers two carloads (one shipment) of bearing trees, eight to twelve feet in height, and in addition to the same concern at various times over ten thousand trees.

 So much for Mr. Sober's success in chestnut growing as a business proposition. As a benefit to those who have waste land to convert into paying property the value of his enterprise is inestimable. His idea for the reclaiming of waste land, of which there are hundreds of thousands of acres in Pennsylvania alone, is the transplanting thereon of young chestnut seedlings. The grafted trees begin bearing the second or third year, the yield increasing annually.

 There is comparatively little expense beyond the initial cost of grafting, but care expended in keeping a grove in apple-pie order is more than repaid in results. In the case of the Sober groves, scientific management prevails even in attention to apparently unimportant details. Every experiment is closely watched, and such reliable statistics have been kept that the Sober Chestnut plantation has become the object of observation by government experts, who have invited Mr. Sober to contribute to the department such advice and instruction as he thinks necessary for the guidance of those about to undertake chestnut culture. He is always ready to give others the benefits of the knowledge he has acquired. Special devices which he has developed or invented in the course of his work have been patented, but he is willing to explain his methods in any branch of the business, to share his ideas, to assist any who are earnestly interested in the subject. He invented a wax for holding in place the "tongue"  or "whip" graft, which on his place has entirely superseded the old wedge graft, and has published the formula. Mr. Sober has this wax colored, arranging to have each man he employs at grafting use a different color, thus enabling him to follow up the work of any one man, when necessary. Mr. Sober's early experiences with the wedge graft were so discouraging, in spite of the fact that he engaged professionals to do the work, that he determined to give the whip graft a thorough trial, and the process has been so improved that 90 per cent of the grafts are now successful.

 Mr. Sober has devised an insect trap for night use that does notable work.

 He has made a close study of the various insects that blight or destroy chestnut trees, and has originated ways of exterminating them or protecting the trees against their ravages. He himself keeps a large flock of game chickens which, he allows to ran about in the groves to help make away with insect pests, and sheep are turned to pasture in the groves to keep the grass and undergrowth cropped close. The groves are protected against fire on two sides by fire roads, wide avenues denuded of timber and then burned over. Brush and debris of all kinds are gathered and burned to prevent accumulation of any waste matter that might endanger the trees in case of fire; and the employees on the property are fully instructed as to their duties. It is not always smooth sailing. In 1906 the crop was almost ruined by locusts, but one of the results of the calamity was that Mr. Sober applied himself more earnestly than ever to the study of this and other pests, their habits, etc., until his investigations covered the field thoroughly and yielded valuable information. There are other enemies of the chestnut, thieves for instance, which have to be guarded against, but with all these drawbacks the venture has paid and the profits are increasing steadily.

 Chestnut Grove Stock Farm, the beautiful model farm of which the chestnut groves are a leading feature, has been described as "destined to be one of the most famous farms in the United States." There is an abundant water supply from never failing springs located on the tract, twenty-five of them, and one situated 160 feet above the house feeds a large reservoir from which the dwelling and buildings are supplied with running water. The main house, a beautiful three-story frame residence, is situated to the north of the main road leading to Sunbury, and there are four modern tenement houses. The big barn, 50 by 125 feet in dimensions, and 75 feet from the ground to the top of the cupola, is a model of convenience. Underneath are twenty box stalls of the most approved type. There is a hay shed of 100 tons capacity, corncribs lined with galvanized wire netting and granaries lined with iron, practically rat-proof.

 Farm machinery in almost endless variety, for performing and facilitating the work, is at hand, and there is perhaps no better equipped blacksmith shop in the region than the one on this place. There is a large acetylene gas generator, of Mr. Sober's own manufacture, which lights the house and barn, and all the other buildings in which artificial light is useful. The chestnut groves border that part of the estate devoted to ordinary agricultural purposes, and 

 sides there are thousands of bearing fruit trees on the land, ranged along the public and private thoroughfares which intersect the property, apple, cherry, peach, pear and other fruits, all 40 feet apart, stretching along three miles of highway. These include over two thousand grafted cherry trees.

 Mr. Sober has made a specialty of raising high-bred horses, and has a number of fine pedigreed horses, some with excellent track records. There is a full half-mile race course on the farm, uniquely located on a knoll a short distance south of the road.

 Mr. Sober has made numerous experiments on his land, and he was one of the first in the State to become interested in alfalfa. He has also tried Alaska wheat, having put five acres under cultivation in the latter crop one season to test its possibilities in the neighborhood. He grows the finest cantaloupes raised in this region. He has demonstrated in numerous ways the possibilities of a well managed farm property.

 The working force on this extensive domain has naturally been added to meet requirements as the property has been developed, and in the month of October, 1910, when the chestnuts were being gathered, Mr. Sober had 115 helpers on his farm payroll. Ordinarily, twenty-five men are employed on the estate, and five teams of horses and mule's are required to carry on the work. As previously stated, when Mr. Sober began grafting chestnuts he did all the work himself, having one or two farm hands to help him. From twenty to forty nurserymen, who graft on an average 300 to 500 trees per day each, are now engaged for several weeks in the spring. The property is under the management of Mr. Sober's son.

 The farm has been the object of wide attention and many prominent men have visited the property, particularly to investigate the chestnut proposition, a number of the States having mentioned the Sober groves in their annual agricultural reports. Frequent mention is made in the National reports. A trip to this place is not only interesting, but instructive in the highest degree.

 There have been many press notices regarding it in the papers and magazines. A writer who visited the estate early in September, 1911, a man widely traveled and familiar with the beauties of art and nature in many parts of the world, after a drive over the four hundred acres of bending, bearing trees spoke of the scene as one passing description. At the season when the green of the chestnut buns was changing to autumn tints, it was a picture which defied the best efforts of brush or pen.

 Mr. Sober is the inventor, patentee and manufacturer of acetylene gas generators, conducting this business at Lewisburg, Pa. He has done much to popularize this method of lighting, and the gas being also usable for cooking purposes, clean, economical, convenient, the business is in thriving condition.

 Mr. Sober has always been a public-spirited citizen, ready to give aid and encouragement to worthy enterprises affecting the welfare of his community. He has been active in promoting agricultural fairs, and has been a prominent figure at such gatherings for years, not only as a land owner and stock breeder, but also as a "drawing card" in his capacity of expert marksman. This brings us to another side of his remarkable career. A fine shot and an enthusiastic huntsman from his youth, Mr. Sober has gone into the field of sport with the same zeal and keen intelligence that he brings to bear in all his other interests. So he has not only become an expert, but he has made it possible for others to enjoy hunting and similar pastimes under the most favorable conditions. In the pursuit of his lumbering operations, covering a period of forty years, Mr. Sober has found great opportunities to familiarize himself with the habits and habitat of game, and his keen powers of observation, together with his natural inclination for systematizing his knowledge on any subject, have made him a recognized authority on such matters. He took the position of game commissioner with an object. In this official capacity he has been able to influence the enactment of many of the wisest provisions now embraced in the game laws of Pennsylvania. The preservation and propagation of game have been guarded carefully, with the result that conditions are improving steadily, and hunting facilities are increasing yearly, adding much to the enjoyment of those who indulge in this recreation. Mr. Sober himself has purchased large numbers of birds, particularly quail, and liberated them in different localities in the various fertile valleys of the Susquehanna. His love for trout fishing has led him to stock numerous streams in Center, Clinton and Lycoming counties with brook and other varieties of trout. He is noted as a hunter throughout central Pennsylvania; in whose remotest recesses large numbers of bear, deer and wildcats are still to be found. For weeks during the open season he will desert his office, abandon the industries with which he is connected, and seeking the seclusion of the forests or mountains, accompanied usually by another noted sportsman, will spend a large portion of the hunting season in rudely constructed camps far from the haunts of men.

 A number of years ago his love for field sports led him to join a syndicate composed of prominent Pennsylvania capitalists in the purchase of a large game preserve, which is probably unequaled in the many advantages it possesses for the purpose. The syndicate purchased Wallop's island on the eastern shore of Accomac county, Va., just  south of Chincoteague island. Wallop's island has an area of twenty-five hundred acres and is said to shelter more game than any similar spot in the south - a section of this country which is highly favored with game and the island has one of the finest sea beaches on the Atlantic coast, six miles in length. The men have on the island a clubhouse of thirty rooms and a good wharf; and with the oysters, fish, all varieties of shore birds, waterfowl, and the delightful climate for which Wallop's island is noted, they have every facility for enjoyable outings. Mr. Sober sold his interests in this property in 1911.

 Mr. Sober's record as champion gunshot of the world, as "wizard of the gun," deserves more than passing notice, though it is only in a somewhat limited manner that we can speak of his marvelous skill, for his wonderful gun feats number over two hundred, and he can entertain a multitude of spectators three full hours with his fancy shooting alone. It is but just to say of him that he is not only the champion trick (or trap) shot of the world, but the champion all-round shot of the universe. We have here used the word "trick" as a sort of colloquialism, but it is not the correct term, as, in truth, Mr. Sober's feats with the gun are not mere "tricks," but the effect or result of scientific and skillful calculation. He says he does not know how he acquired his experience, but "guesses it was born in him." Indeed, inheritance, as has already been mentioned, has no little to do with this astounding skill of his, in which he has no rival the world over, and this same inheritance has clung to him from early boyhood, through every change in occupation and fortune. His expertness in the use of the gun has been acquired through pure love of the sport. When, as a boy, he began to handle a gun, he determined to excel in its use, and often he would do his farm work at night in order to gain time for practice in the woods by daylight. Many an hour he has also spent at night in practicing some difficult feat or some new method of handling his weapon. With such persistent exercise in rapid and accurate use it is no wonder that he does marvels, and his constant travel in the forest in connection with the business enables him to continue his favorite sport almost constantly.

 It will be seen that in 1875 he was but little more than a boy, and, to show that he has from early boyhood been a prodigy, we cite some remarkable local sweepstake exhibitions given by him between September, 1875, and August, 1877. During this time he participated in various contests - shooting at 481 live pigeons, and killing 440, an astounding record of more than 91 per cent! It must be remembered, also, that these birds were killed at twenty-one yards rise - and with the use of only one barrel; excepting that out of this number he shot nineteen doubles, standing midway between the traps forty-one yards apart, shooting one pigeon from the left shoulder, the other from the right shoulder.

 For several years past Mr. Sober has hunted ruffed grouse only, as that is the quickest bird in America to get in full flight upon discovery, and gives him the rapid work which he enjoys. During the fall of 1890 he shot thirty-two of these birds without a miss, and in the last fifty that he killed that year he shot at fifty-five only. The press of this and other States has often made extended mention of his wonderful feats, and from the "American Field" of Jan.  9, 1892, we glean the following:

"In the spring of 1880, he shot 537 wild pigeons in three days at Kane, Pa., while the birds were flying to and from their feeding grounds, and at no time did he kill more than one bird at a shot. For a number of years, however, the increased pressure of business cares has prevented Mr. Sober from attending trap shoots, from which fact some people think he cannot shoot over a trap, but his scores on record show he had no difficulty in winning when he did attend.

 He broke 452 King-birds straight, at the York fair. He has never killed 100 live pigeons straight, but he killed ninety-six out of 100, at twenty-one yards rise, using one barrel only. At a match at twelve live bats to each man, in which seventeen shooters contested, Mr. Sober won with a score of eleven killed, it being the only match at bats in which he had contested.

 "When he attended trap shoots he often made clean scores at glass balls, King-birds and live pigeons, often making from fourteen to thirty straight kills, and readily defeated all who shot against him. The most remarkable exhibitions of Mr. Sober's skill, however, are in trick shooting, or as he terms it 'rough and tumble shooting,' in which he handicaps himself in many different ways, shooting from all sorts of positions at King-birds, glass balls or live pigeons sprung from a trap, in which his scores are fully equal to those made by many trap shooters who shoot from the shoulder and are not in any way handicapped. Through long practice of these feats - many of which he originated - Mr. Sober has become so expert that he can perform more unique shots with the double-barreled shotgun than any other living man. He performs over two hundred feats, each shot being more marvelous than the preceding one, all from different positions or under new forms of handicap. He breaks glass balls or King-birds from either shoulder, with handkerchiefs tied around both barrels of his gun, with the barrels thrust through objects of different sizes varying from a cigarbox up to a flour barrel, with his gun either side up, and in many other ways, with wonderful accuracy. He even springs his own target (single or double), and then breaksthe targets. He shoots from almost every conceivable position, standing or lying, holding the gun over his head, between his legs, at his neck or breast, etc.

 "Mr. Sober commences with simple shots, single and double, and goes from one feat to another, handicapping himself not only as we have described, but in many other ways. At Lewisburg, Pa., in the fall of 1886, he gave his fourth public exhibition, when he shot at 130 glass balls from fifty-one different positions, and missed but eight. At the tournament of the Elmira (N. Y.) Gun Club, in July, 1887, Mr. Sober made a phenomenal record. He shot at 108 glass balls, from seventy-nine difficult positions, and missed but fourteen.

 "The most difficult of Mr. Sober's shooting feats cannot be photographed for the purpose of illustration, such as placing his gun on the ground at a distance of eighteen feet, springing his own trap, then, after running and picking up his gun, breaking single or double targets - King-birds or glass balls. In many of the feats which he performs Mr. Sober can turn back to the trap, call 'pull,' pick up his gun with the box, keg or barrel on it, as the case may be, turn around and score 'dead bird' on either single or doubles.

 "He can break double King-birds, one with his gun overhead and the other from his shoulder, or one from between his legs and the other from the shoulder.

 Scoring doubles, one from each shoulder, is to him but a simple pastime. The feats Mr. Sober performs in shooting with boxes, barrels, tables and similar obstructions around his gun barrels are rendered successful only by reason of the nicety of calculation which he has acquired by long practice. Many who see the King-birds, glass balls or live pigeons fall before his unerring aim wonder how he had got sight over or under such obstructions. He does not take sight, for that would be impossible. His success is due to remarkably accurate calculations. When it is remembered that there are at least two hundred different trick shots on his list, many of them more difficult than we have described, and the fact is considered that Mr. Sober's challenge to the world in his line of shootings remained open two years, and that he has never been defeated in that line in a match, it is not strange that he is called the champion of the world by many admirers in his native State."

 There is hardly a sportsman in the State of Pennsylvania who has not seen him shoot, and few in the United States who have not read of his accomplishments with the gun. He takes pleasure in showing the world what perfection can be attained in the handling of the shotgun, and there is scarcely an exhibition of importance in the State to which he is not invited. To give a full detailed account of his exhibitions would be unnecessary in this article; but his achievements cannot by any means be passed lightly over.

 Mr. Sober has proved himself to be, beyond a peradventure, the champion all-round shotgun shot of the world, a title he does not assume, but which belongs to him by right, and by virtue of his challenge to the whole world to enter the lists with him. This challenge has never been accepted; but a critical view of Mr. Sober's marvelous shots will remove all doubts as to his ability to vanquish any other specialist in his line. The case stands as follows: In the "American Field" of Feb. 23, 1889, Mr. Sober "issued a challenge to any man in the world - Dr. W. F. Carver preferred - to shoot an exhibition match against him with a double-barrel shotgun for a stake of five hundred dollars a side; and he offered to pay the expenses of any one who would meet him and shoot at Sunbury, Pa., the following May." Previously Mr. Sober and Dr. Carver had correspondence through the columns of he "American Field" and the former had deposited fifty dollars forfeit as an earnest of his sincerity.

 Subsequently H. C. Fuller and Mr. Sober had some correspondence through the same medium, but in neither case was a match made, and Mr. Sober's money was returned to him after the lapse of a couple of years. In this connection it must be borne in mind that he is not a professional shot nor has he ever posed as such, not withstanding his well known ability; and, moreover, he never performs for money, his public exhibitions being for the benefit of some public charity, or to aid in the attraction to State and county fairs, Grange picnics, Grand Army reunions, or similar affairs, and he is always sure to be a "drawing-card" as the wonder-shot of the world, thousands of delighted spectators witnessing with interest his bewildering feats. What adds a charm to the occasion is his modest, unassuming manner. He comes on the scene with a calmness and unobtrusiveness that at once win the attention of the spectators, then what he does is square business, with nothing to attract but the merits of the very fine work he does with the shotgun. An article in the Meadville Republican of September 10, 1894, written by an eyewitness of one of these exhibitions, covers in a few words what might be said of all Mr. Sober's performances, and we quote therefrom in part: "The members of the Gun Club visited him in large numbers, and got from him many points of instruction, which he seemed very much pleased to impart. His skill with the gun was even more than advertised. He shot with effect in almost every conceivable position, and the gun in every variety of grasp - under him, over him, to right, to left sitting, standing, lying, with gun above his head, between his feet, upside down, thrust through barrels, boxes, tables, and in every position, except with the muzzle in his hands. Loud applause greeted his numerous, wonderful shots." Indeed, we might quote page after page of similar encomiums, did space permit; yet a just tribute to "creation's greatest shot" we plead as excuse, were such necessary, for dwelling longer on this highly interesting subject. In addition to newspaper and other extracts in this article we quote the following: "At Center Hall, in 1889, Mr. Sober commenced shooting. The wind was blowing a regular gale, and no one of the ten thousand visitors expected to see more than a few plain shots. But Mr. Sober is not built that way. He believes in giving every piece on the program, gale or no gale. All the fancy shots were made, and in all his shooting he missed but one King-bird, which was caught by the wind, and darted down in such a manner as to make it impossible to hit it.

 Everybody expressed astonishment at the remarkable work, no one having any idea that it was possible under the circumstances; and no one will believe hereafter that there is a man on the face of the earth that can compete with C. K. Sober, when it comes to fancy wing shooting."- Mifflinburg Telegram.

 "Dr. Carver, Buffalo Bill, Captain Bogardus, and many other renowned marksmen have given exhibitions, but none have excelled Mr. Sober's." - Elmira Daily Advertiser, July 2, 1887.

 "He handles a shotgun as a boy would a tin rattle - is as quick as lightning and as sure as fate. He accomplishes all - even the most difficult shots with the greatest ease and grace, and by the time the ordinary marksmen get through aiming Mr. Sober will have broken a barrel of King-birds." Middleburg (Snyder County) Post, Sept. 24, 1891.

 "But the greatest feature of the day was the shooting of Mr. Sober and his son. This was a revelation to the visitors to the fair. Mr. Sober is a wonderful marksman. He shot at 147 targets yesterday, from a great number of different positions, and at all sorts of disadvantages, yet he did not miss a single one.

 This is, perhaps, the greatest exhibition Mr. Sober ever gave and this is equivalent to saying that the York county fair grounds have been the scene of the greatest shooting ever done in the world. Nothing can prevent him from scoring. He shoots just as accurately with the gun turned upside down and thrust through a flour barrel as he does in the usual position." - York Gazette, October, 1894.

 We will conclude our description of Mr. Sober's trap shooting with an account of a couple of amazing and almost incredible shots that he made: A bird is thrown from the trap thirty yards away from the shooter, who stands with his side toward the trap, with inverted gun, the barrel of which is passed right through a wooden box, 14X16 inches in size, the gun (with barrel in the box as described) held at arm's length directly above his head. Thus handicapped, the marksman pulls the trigger and the bird drops to the ground. This feat has been accomplished by no other being, and reads like one of Baron Munchausen's fictions, but it is nevertheless true in every particular. Another remarkable feat Mr. Sober accomplishes with ease is to spring two King-birds from a trap, shoot one of them from between his legs while standing with his back toward the trap, then turn quickly and drop the second King-bird. We cannot avoid giving special emphasis to the four exhibitions given by Mr. Sober at the York county fair before a multitude of fifty thousand people, where he shot at 588 targets with but five misses, two of which were made on his first day's trial, three being lost on the fourth day toward the close of his final exhibition. At one of Mr. Sober's shooting entertainments given at Brook Park (Lewisburg), in October, 1897, he killed 65 pigeons without a miss and broke 200 targets without an error. And it must be borne in mind that not a shot was made without some form of handicap - shooting from both shoulders, gun inverted, and above his head; with gun thrust through powder kegs, flour barrels, boxes, etc. - yet he seemed to experience neither hindrance nor inconvenience. It was like the legerdemain of some great wizard.

 For several years past Mr. Sober has passed most of his time in the forest, hunting out timberlands, and superintending lumber operations. These pursuits have rendered it possible for him to follow his favorite sport of shooting ruffed grouse (Bonasa umbellus) almost uninterruptedly during the proper season, and a gentleman who has accompanied him on such expeditions says that, although he has hunted with many expert wing shots, it has never been his privilege to meet any one in field or cover who was able to demonstrate the phenomenal skill which Mr. Sober displays at different times when grouse shooting in the wilds of Pennsylvania.

 Mr. Sober, it would seem, shoots by instinct rather than by sight. The number of ruffed grouse, alone, killed by him during the last few years is astonishing. In 1884 he shot 95; in 1885, 87; in 1886, 108; in 1887, 40; in 1888, 117; in 1889, 116; to Dec. 15, 1890, 148; to Dec. 21,1891, 103; in 1892, 105; in 1893, 79; in 1894, 97; in 1895, 84; in 1896, 92; and in 1897, 106 - a total for the fourteen years of 1,377 birds, or an average of over 98 each season. On Nov. 5, 1897, he killed seven ruffed grouse out of eight fired at and many a day he shot at and killed every grouse he would see. In a two days hunt in December, 1880, at the foot of Shade Mountain, near Adamsburg, Pa., he shot sixteen pheasants (ruffed grouse), twelve rabbits, four wild turkeys, and one gray squirrel.

 Mr. Sober says that most of his birds were killed on his own lands during his business tramps and that one of his best shots he ever made at ruffed grouse was as follows: He had been on the mountains chestnutting and was returning home with a bag of chestnuts on one shoulder, his gun with a basket hanging from the barrels slung over the same shoulder, with an ax in the other hand; while walking along a lumber road a ruffed grouse suddenly flushed from the side of the road. Mr. Sober dropped the ax, bag and basket in time to shoot the bird. He has never met any one who had the requisite endurance to stay with him an entire day in field or cover shooting when he traveled at the gait he usually takes while hunting alone. To still more fully set forth the wonderful ingenuity of our subject, it is proper here to speak of a simple device he invented and always carries with him on his hunting expeditions. It is an implement for eviscerating game birds, and whenever he kills one he immediately, or as soon after as he may have opportunity, uses the little instrument. It is very simple, merely a little twig, sharpened at one end, with a small spur near the pointed end. This he inserts under the tail of the bird, then gives a twist of the arm and the entrails are at once ejected. The larger part of the game he kills goes to the tables of his friends and the bedside of the sick. In hunting the ruffed grouse (which, by the way, he claims is the gamest bird in America) he uses pointer dogs trained by himself to such a marvelous degree of perfection that their intelligence seems almost human. He has no use for setters in that pursuit for, as he says, they are too headstrong and fast and not sufficiently cautious.

 About his guns we must also say something. The first one he used was, when he was a lad, an old "flint-lock" owned by an elder brother, and with that the boy killed squirrels and rabbits by the hundreds (game was plentiful in Pennsylvania then), and with it he downed quails, occasionally on the wing, as well. The first gun he owned he bought for $1.50 and it was a 28-inch, 20-gauge, single barrel, which he says was made from pot metal for all he knows; but with it he did great work on quails and pheasants (ruffed grouse) on the wing and he still has that old gun. Next he had another single 28-inch; 14-gauge gun made to order, with which he did fine shooting also. His third gun was a double barreled (30-inch barrels), 14-gauge, that weighed six pounds, and with it he defeated the best shots in Pennsylvania, at the trap in pigeon shooting. The next gun he bought was a Parker Brothers make. He still uses their guns, and says he will do so until he finds a better arm; for shooting game he uses a cylinder-bore, 28-inch barrels, of either 10-gauge or 12-gauge. In his "den," as he calls it, a room which he has appropriated to his exclusive use in his beautiful home in Lewisburg, there are suggestions, from the number and variety of guns, of a small arsenal. But after long experience with various makes of shotguns he has arrived at the conclusion that American-made arms are equally as good as and he believes superior to, those of foreign manufacture, for shooting in the field and cover.

Although this article gives an excellent description of the property, the sale in October 1920 fell through - liens against the property totaled more than the sale price and the buyer backed out.  In November of 1920 the magnificent estate was purchased for just $1,400 by A.A. Leiser of Lewisburg.

Book: Historical and Biographical Work: Or, Past and Present of Clinton County, PA, 1892. 15

GLEN UNION is a small village in Grugan township. The place received its name because of the close proximity of two glens through which Baker's run and Baker's mill run pass. It was named by J. C. Past, formerly superintendent of the West Branch Canal & Lock company. The village proper is located on the west side of the Susquehanna, and consists of about fifteen double houses, a church and school house. The railroad station and a few houses are on the east side of the river. A new station has lately been erected a few rods above the old one, and the postmaster, J. K. P. Grugan, has the post-office in his residence. The chief industry at Glen Union at the present time is the shipping of prop and mining timber to the anthracite coal fields by the Glen Union Lumber company. This company began operations in 1890. The main office of the company is at No. 110 South Centre street, Pottsville, Pa. The officers of the company are as follows: E. L. Bullock, of Audenried, Schuylkill county, president ; J. W. Beecher, of Pottsville, Pa., secretary and treasurer. C. K. Sober, of Lewisburg, is the general manager, and his nephew, E. J. Sober, foreman. This company has erected a steam saw and planing mill, with a capacity for sawing 40,000 feet of lumber per day. The main part of their business is the shipping of prop timber, an average of five car loads being shipped from Glen Union station every day. The lumber is all carried across the river by means of a cable bridge hung on two wire cables, and worked by a stationary engine on the west side of the river, capable of bearing a weight of eight tons. The lumber is all loaded on trucks, which are run on the bridge and fastened. The engine is then started and the bridge carried to the east side, where the cars are unloaded. The invention was designed and patented by the Trenton Iron company, of Trenton, N. J., and is the only one of the kind in use in the world, so far as known. The power is furnished for the saw mill by an eighty-five horse power engine. From fifty to seventy-five men are given steady employment. A dinkey engine is used to carry the logs to the mill and the prop timber to the bridge. A neat and cozy station has been built by the company. It contains a handsome waiting room, ticket office, telegraph office, store room and ware room. A very pretty residence has also been built by the company, which is occupied as a dwelling by C. K. Sober, and used as a stopping place for the members of the firm and their friends, who frequently visit the place. The Glen Union company will, in all probability, open up the coal and clay mines in the vicinity in a short time, and if this is done the coming historian will have more to say of the village of Glen Union.

Book: Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of Schuylkill County, 1893. 1

J WILLIAM BEECHER, one of Schuylkill county's well-known business men, is a son of Orson and Angeline (Zimmerman) Beecher, and was born in Schuylkill county, Pennsylvania, June 23, 1850. Plis grandfather, John Beecher, was a native of Massachusetts. His great grandfather was Thomas Beecher, of the famous Beecher family of Massachusetts. John Beecher died in Williamsport, January 5, 1859, where he had gone to reside a few years prior to his death. His business was that of a railroad contractor, and to him is due the distinction of having built one of the first roads in the State, that from Blossburg to Corning, in 1834. His marriage resulted in the birth of six children, four sons and two daughters. His father, Orson Beecher, was also born in Wellsboro, Tioga county, the date of whose birth was the year 1815. From this place he moved to Camden, New Jersey, where he remained for a period of twenty years. He afterward went to Virginia, and finally returned to Pine Grove, Schuylkill county, where he now resides. While in Camden, New Jersey, he was a wholesale coal dealer. His family included three children: J.William, the subject; Ella C. and Orson, Jr.

John William Beecher was educated in the public schools of Camden, New Jersey, and Philadelphia, and at the Polytechnic College, Philadelphia, from the latter of which he was graduated in the class of 1870. After graduation he engaged in civil engineering and continued this class of work until 1875, when he entered the lumber business with William Zimmerman his grandfather on the maternal side, under the firm name of Zimmerman & Beecher. Subsequent to this C. K. Sober became a member of the firm, and it was then styled Zimmerman, Beecher & Sober. After the death of Mr. Zimmerman, the firm became Beecher & Sober, and was finally dissolved in January, 1893. In 1887, the Glen Union Lumber Company was organized and Mr. Beecher elected treasurer. The seat of this company's operations is at Glen Union, Clinton county, Pennsylvania. Beside this business interest, he is connected with the lumber business of Center, Clearfield and Schuylkill counties, in all of which he is an owner of timber lands for himself and in conjunction with other parties, aggregating about fortyfive thousand acres. In his own city he fis director of the Schuylkill Electric Railroad Company.

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COLEMAN K. SOBER

At the thirteenth annual convention of the Northern Nut Growers' Association, held at Rochester, N. Y., September 7, 8 and 9, 1922, a committee was appointed to express the feeling of the association at the death of one of its life members, Coleman K. Sober, at the age of seventy-nine, at his home in Lewisburg, Pa., in December 1921, and to inform his family of its action.

Colonel Sober, as he was most often called, was a frequent attendant at the meetings of the association in its early history. He was a pioneer in the culture of the chestnut in America and the grower and distributor of a variety which he called the Sober Paragon. He developed the production of this valuable variety, and its nursery stock, on a large scale and had demonstrated chestnut growing as the first of the established nut industries in the northeastern United States. He devised methods of grafting and cultivating the chestnut and invented means and machinery for harvesting and shelling the nuts, for which he found a ready market at good prices.

A man of strong personality, capable of large operations and unaccustomed to failure he found it hard to admit defeat of his deeply cherished purpose, and success already within his grasp, by that great national calamity the invasion of this country by the fatal chestnut blight. Undoubtedly he foresaw, as did other advocates of nut culture, the great help and stimulus to the industry that would result from the commercial success of chestnut culture, and it was a bitter disappointment to him to find himself helpless before the irresistable progress of the blight. This failure came too late in life for him to recover and develop new fields in nut culture which, let us believe, he would have done if he had been younger, for we know that he was an advocate of the roadside planting of nut trees and a supporter of the efforts of those of us who are striving for the success of all forms of nut culture.

Nut growing and this association have lost an able and energetic worker.

An account of Col. Sober's life and works may be found in the August 1922 number of the American Nut Journal.

Telegram from Washington, D. C.

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 This is one of a series of  advertisements and  and photos from a 1913 edition of the Lewisburg Journal.  Some time in the future I may add more research, but for now, I simply wanted to get them online where they could easily be seen.  If you have more information on any of these items, I'd love to hear from you!