The Passenger Pigeon (1907)

William Butts Mershon (1848-1943) of Saginaw, Michigan, was a multi-faceted person who involved himself in industry, politics, lumbering and mining enterprises, and serving as mayor of Saginaw. He was also noted as a sportsman, conservationist, and author of sporting books, popular magazine articles, and scientific ornithological contributions, particularly to The Auk, the prestigious journal of the American Ornithological Union. In 1866, he first became active in the business of lumber milling and manufacturing of knock-down wooden shipping boxes so essential then. He also founded William B. Mershon and Company that manufactured band-saw blades for logging and lumber milling. Also, he served as president of the Saginaw & Manistee Lumber Company, headquartered in Williams, Arizona. Wealth and time enabled him to serve various city and state posts, and to participate in and at times lead the early Michigan conservation movement. Mershon lobbied for bills relating to fish and game protection before the Legislature of Michigan, especially in 1911 on behalf of the Michigan Association for the Protection and Propagation of Fish and Game. He has the unusual distinction of having a trout fishing fly named for him.Mershon was an avid hunter and he made annual trips to North Dakota, near Dawson, and later to Saskatchewan. To facilitate these distant hunting excursions for himself and friends, he purchased and remodeled a railroad passenger car and named it the City of Saginaw.–Henry M. Reeves.