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Small Town Means Small Businesses
Big timber used to
be big business in Osborn and northern Hancock County.
Today, private
woodsmen are harder to come by.
But two Osborn
residents’ early toils in the forest helped pay for the businesses
they own today.
Larry and Maxine Cobb stand
before the sign near their Osborn business. Maxine will soon be
joining Larry in the garage as a state vehicle inspector. |
Their past
lumbering labors also formed their solid work ethics.
Osborn residents
Dave Magoon and Larry Cobb own the only two businesses in town of
Osborn—both situated along Route 179.
Cobb now owns a
small garage on Moose Hill.
One good thing
about the garage life, Cobb said, is that he’s able to take things
at his own pace.
That’s partly due
to the fact that his wife, Maxine Cobb, has been studying automobile
diagnostics. She soon will be able to inspect vehicles and help in
the garage herself.
In their business,
the couple often rescues stranded cars on local roads and nearby
Route 9.
When the customers
don’t know the area, the Cobbs find them a place to eat and a place
to stay at the nearest motel.
“We make plenty of
friends from all over and we get a few more cards at Christmas,”
said Maxine Cobb.
Just down the hill
sits Osborn’s other business, owned by Dave Magoon.
After a stint in
the woods as a young man, Magoon decided to set up shop on native
soil.
One door down from
the house he grew up in, Magoon started his own oil and gas
business. Osborn Transport Inc. was founded 10 years ago.
“The front room of
my [new] house used to be the potato and bean patch,” Magoon
remarked. It’s also where he learned to drive—in his father’s Model
A Ford.
Magoon explained
that while lumbering used to be the town’s mainstay, the private
sector since has died out almost completely.
“I’d like to see
the town do more with the land,” he said. “We have the land and
lumber—we should use it to help the town prosper.”
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