Employee Randy Austin works on an moulder at Hickman Lumber. The sawmill manufactures logs into lumber, railroad ties and specialty hardwood flooring.

EMLENTON, Venango County — What started as a team of horses and an ambition to stave off Depression-era hardships has grown into a thriving fourth-generation family business.

For the Hickman family of Emlenton it's all about wood — Western Pennsylvania grown and cut only.

The wood is milled at Hickman Lumber into forms ranging from industrial uses like railroad ties to fine-cut fancy flooring.

At its sister operation, Allegheny Mountain Hardwood Flooring, customers choose from some of the nicest cuts and species to add to their homes and businesses.

The business, which has 65 employees, is still growing. Of course, it's been growing since Day 1 when it was a one-man operation.

Harry Hickman was a farmer. At first he tried to follow in his father's footsteps as a sign painter. But the Great Depression pushed him to add other skills to his repertoire to keep the family afloat.

He continued painting signs; he sold eggs at the local market; he did what he could. During the winter, he used a team of farm horses to cut and skid logs.

Then one day he bought the motor from an old calliope and fashioned a portable mill. He'd take the mill to a property owner and work on that site.

By the mid-1950s the milling business was growing, and the Hickman family put the first permanent mill in place on Route 209 near Emlenton and Clinton.

There, trees mainly turned into boards and industrial grade products.

In the late 1950s, Larry Hickman, one of Harry's three children, got involved in the business mainly on the production side.The business grew again, and by the 1960s it was incorporated.“I grew up working in the saw mill,” said Dennis Hickman, one of Larry's children.Larry Hickman attended Penn State University and then a lumber grading school in Memphis, Tenn., before joining the family business full-time in January 1981.At that time, the family ran a green mill, which means the wood could be cut only into boards.They added the first two of their seven dry kilns and expanded the types of products they could offer to include the grades of lumber needed for finer products such as furniture.The business again thrived and grew. But furniture production in this country took a downturn.“Since 2008, 40 percent of hardwood saw mills have gone out of business. A lot has to do with furniture business leaving the United States,” Dennis Hickman said.In 2000, the company started searching for a new value-added product. The family picked hardwood flooring and now offers mainly high end flooring that is specialized or even custom-made.The company makes products the average homeowner can afford, but it also creates products that have drawn celebrities to the doorstep, which still is in Emlenton.“Our sales are all over the nation,” he said.All of the flooring products are made from Pennsylvania wood and milled at the company's own location. About a third of the lumber from the mill now goes to the flooring plant.

In addition to offering an array of species for flooring, the company can do finishing techniques to give a floor a unique look.“We're not competing with commodity products,” Dennis Hickman said. “Nothing we make looks like the products you buy at a standard hardwood store.”They sell specialty products, sometimes as stock and sometimes with texturing or hand scraping.Dennis Hickman said his past customers are his best marketing tool.“Like Happy Valley Brewing. We did a floor there in white oak, 5, 6, 8 and 10 inch planks,” he said of the business in State College. “We added saw marks and roughed it up to look like an old barn floor. Many people who have seen it have become our customers.”Dennis Hickman's daughter, Jessica Hickman, is involved with the company's marketing and sales, and his son, Jacob Hickman, runs the mill.Jessica Hickman said the Internet helped open windows for new sales across the country, but the company's bigger selling point dates all the way back to her grandfather's practices.Jessica Hickman said forest management and sustainability always have been a priority to her family. But since 1999, the company has been certified by the Forest Stewardship Council.“Instead of telling customers, 'We are green,' this is a third party who comes in and says, 'Yes, this company is doing it properly,'” she said.

And the growth continues. Within the next few weeks, the flooring company plans to expand again, hiring another six to eight employees.“And it all started with a team of horses and a crosscut saw,” Dennis Hickman said.

Jacob Hickman, front, and his grandfather Larry Hickman grade lumber at their family business in Emlenton, Venango County. In 2000, Hickman Lumber picked hardwood flooring as a new value-added product and now offers mainly high end flooring that is specialized or even custom-made.

Jacob, Larry and Dennis Hickman continue the family tradition started decades ago by Harry Hickman. Hickman Lumber employs 65 people, a hefty increase over just Harry, who founded the company by himself.