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New Hampshire

Business and Industry Guaranteed Loan Program

Outline of Need:
D&C Lumber Co., Inc., a sawmill in Springfield, NH, specializing in finished white pine boards, began operations in 1976. The business grew and has a reputation for producing a quality high-grade product. Durgin & Crowell is the largest employer in a town of 945 with very limited employment opportunities within commuting distance; paying wages with benefits of $4.7 million. Additionally, Durgin & Crowell provides for indirect employment for loggers, truckers, contractors, and pays +$100,000 in taxes to this small rural town. At the same time, D&C partners are connected through ownership and site location to Hemphill Power, which provides a needed market for inferior and waste wood to be used as biomass fuel in this neighboring electric generating plant.

D&C was hit with a natural disaster in March of 2001. A heavy snow load completely crushed the new 625’ x 125’ planing/finished inventory building. Besides the building, +$2.5 million of equipment was lost and $500 million of inventory was either ruined by water or destroyed in a subsequent cutting torch fire. The business was struggling to stay open and retain their 92 employees with 38% less production, in default of their loans, litigating insurance claims and facing closing.

How Rural Development Helped:
RD was invited in to meet with Congressional and Gubernatorial representatives along with State, Federal and local Economic Development Agencies to help find a way to save this business and the local economy. It was a complicated project that took a year to structure, but in the end, RD was able to guarantee a $5,000,000 loan from Banknorth Group, Inc. to Durgin and Crowell. Without RD’s daily hands-on participation and our guarantee, the deal would not have gone through and Durgin & Crowell would have had to close their doors.

The Results:
We are very pleased that a new larger building has been rebuilt on the old site, there are now two production lines running, D&C is performing as projected; ninety-two jobs were saved and 14 more created totaling 106 plus owners. These numbers do not reflect the positive effect this project has had on indirect employment, woodland owners and benefits generated for the community.