Submitted photo
MT. VERNON — In 1993, Mandi Clark went to work at the Edgar Clark Pallet Mill in Mt. Vernon. She took the job, at the time “just to help out, for one of the workers was ill.”
She had just graduated from Maranacook School and was looking for work. She was already doing bookkeeping for the family business, when Don Clark asked her if she could operate the Champion Viking pallet nailing gun. Mandi said she knew what she was “getting into,” for besides doing the company’s paperwork, she had grown up in the business.
The year was 1945, when the elder Clarks, Edgar and Bertha Nason Clark purchased the then farm buildings on Route 41 in Mt. Vernon. The plan was chickens. It was said, “not a good time for poultry operations and many houses were closing.”
A small pallet mill came up for sale. The family purchased the mill, moved from the farm and “Edgar Clark and Sons Pallet Mill” took up residence where it remains today.
Edgar and Bertha Clark and their four sons, Bob, Tom, Don and Jerry all worked together, the parents working days, the brothers helping out after school and vacations.
After graduation Bob and Jerry left for other employment. When Tom lost his life in a tragic accident, Edgar and his son Don carried on with the business. Edgar Clark died in 1994. Because of Bertha’s declining health, Mandi, the third generation, came to work with her dad.
Twenty-eight years later, it was time for retirement for her dad. Mandi Clark and her husband Dave Linton are now the owners of Edgar Clark and Sons Pallet Mill.
Dave Linton says he has known the wood business since he was 16. He purchased his own wood/ tree service in 2003. He has to admit he “misses” the big trucks, but from time to time he can be seen driving the big truck of the pallet mill.
Family at Clark Pallet does not stop there. The Linton’s son, Sam, between school and hockey stops in to give a helping hand. And when grandfather, Don makes an appearance, 12-year-old, Jack Clark is not far behind.
In March 2019 the mill caught on fire when ice sliding off the roof took the furnace chimney with it. The fire did not spread because fire fighters from Lakes Region Mutual Aid, (Mt Vernon, Manchester, Readfield, Wayne ,Vienna, Fayette, Belgrade, Winthrop, Monmouth, New Sharon) were quickly on hand. With the firemen as well as employees, family and friends, Mandi Clark Linton says with pride in her voice, “the mill did not have to close.”
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