Last week, Kevin Usealman visited the historic and recently re-opened Bonnymill Inn. This week, Kevin returns to Chesaning and heads next door to the only remaining independent lumberyard in Saginaw County.

Swartzmiller Lumber is about to enter its fourth generation as a family business.

"My grandfather bought the lumberyard in 1912, " said third-generation owner Don Swartzmiller. "My grandfather and my dad were integral parts in my training and my daughter will soon take over."

Swartzmiller says his family's roots in the area run deep.

"My father was one of the original seven that started (The Chesaning) Showboat," Swartzmiller said.

Swartzmiller's love for boats was obvious when he suggested building a boat at the lumberyard. But the project went a bit overboard.

"And, of course, it wouldn't go out any door," he said. "It kind of became a community project to get the boat out of the lumberyard."

Just one of many examples on how synonymous this lumberyard is with Chesaning.

"The community has supported us with four generations of customers," Swartzmiller said. "We knew their hardships, we knew the good times."

So, how do they compete with the big guys?

"You adjust to them and perform things they don't do in order to survive," Swartzmiller said. "People can bring in their antique items that they wanna sell. We'll put them on eBay, do all the selling, listing and shipping for them.

"We sell items that are made in the U.S. and they go to 40 countries."

While other businesses have come and gone, the lumberyard is still a mainstay on Broad Street.

"They'll bring in a label of something we sold them in the 40s or a newspaper article of what we did back then," Swartzmiller said. "Or (they'll) remodel houses and find different items we sold."

While Swartzmiller's father helped plan the first Chesaning Showboat, he never got to see it that year because of a serious accident in which he lost his leg. The successful re-attachment was one of the first ever.