Documenting his business and public service activities, the Herman Lunden papers cover the period from the late 1890s to 1929. The collection includes Biographical/Personal material; Correspondence; Kneeland-Bigelow records; and an Alphabetical File.
Herman Lunden was born in Sweden in 1859, the son of a lumberman. In 1877 as a young man still in his teens, he immigrated to the United States to seek work in the lumbering camps and sawmills of Michigan.
During the 1890s Lunden was company scout for Michelson and Hanson Lumber Company. Because the company would not exploit hardwoods and thus lengthen the life of the operation, Lunden decided to strike out on his own. Needing capital for his venture, he approached David Kneeland, the supervisor of Michelson and Hanson's general office in Lewiston, Michigan. In turn, Kneeland went to Charles Bigelow, a successful Bay City lumber salesman. The two men decided to provide the necessary capital and in 1901 the Kneeland-Bigelow Company was formed.
Lunden served as the coordinator for all of the company camps in Montmorency County. The first camp was about five miles north of Lewiston in Montmorency County. A permanent headquarters was later established at K-B Valley, nine miles west of Atlanta, Michigan. All K-B timber was shipped by the Michigan Central Railroad to Bay City where the main office and two sawmills were located. During the next few years Lunden gradually shifted his base of operations into Otsego and Cheboygan counties.
Eventually Kneeland-Bigelow had camps spread throughout Montmorency, Otsego, Presque Isle, Cheboygan and Crawford counties. The company owned approximately 27,500 acres of land, carrying about 700,00,00 feet board measure, and the timber rights on about 15,000 additional acres.
Herman Lunden, in addition to his business interest, was active in various public service endeavors. He served on the State Conservation Commission during the early 1920s where he championed the cause of reforestation and fire prevention. Lunden was also involved in various county road commissions and the Michigan Association of Road Commissions and Engineers, where he argued that "good roads" were essential to the development of the business and recreational potential of the upper and northern lower peninsula. A booster to his home region, Lunden served on the Upper Peninsula Development Bureau and the Tri-State Development Congress, and was a supporter of the Northeastern Michigan Development Bureau. Lunden was an active Republican, serving on the Republican State Central Committee.
Herman Lunden died January 11, 1929 after having given a talk before the Bay City Chamber of Commerce about the paving of M-76 from Standish to Roscommon.
