Redbow
Senior Member
Back when I was growing up on the farm there was one not very far from our house. Many communities had a small sawmill close by back in those days. I went over there at times with my Grandpa. He would hitch up the Mule and wagon and away we would go to get some of the first cuts that had the bark on them, the sawmill always had a big pile of those slabs and they gave them away to anyone who wanted or needed them...Many folks back then sawed them up for firewood.....Grandpa would pick out the ones he wanted load them on the wagon thank the sawmill man and away we would go. Grandpa repaired his hog fattening pens with the slabs as did many farmers in our area years ago. Some farmers even used those slabs to repair an old barn shelter that was about to fall apart.
Now days and for years all of the log is used nothing is wasted we used to have big hopper cars on the railroad loaded to the top with wood chips and I still see semi-trucks on the highway loaded with them headed for the plywood making plant or the paper mill...
I always liked the old sawmill and walked over there at times to watch it in operation. The men working and shouting to each other as they processed the logs into lumber. I loved to watch the big buzz saw cut the logs and sometimes wondered if anyone had ever been killed by the thing or badly injured. No doubt over the years someone probably had...They stacked the lumber in neat piles and then a big truck came, the lumber was stacked high on the truck, forms were signed and away the truck would go. I used to for some reason love the smell of the big truck tires in summer when they pulled in off the hot asphalt...
I remember my cousins decided to sell some of their timber on the farm back in the fifties. I would say about sixty percent of the farm I was raised on was in woods with some big fine pine timber, oak and other hardwoods.. The logging crew came they had gas powered chain saws I had never seen a chain saw in operation at that time.. It was amazing to me that a big pine tree could be felled so quickly compared to what we were used to which was an old cross cut saw, wedges and an ax.. They had Mules to snake the logs out of the woods so they could get the big log carts to them for hauling over to the sawmill.
I remember the log carts very well, I could not believe how large the wheels were on those thing's.. I stood and marveled at them many times while waiting for the men to pull a log out then load the cart with the log. Those poor ole Mules, they did some hard work back then at times I felt sorry for them as they strained to pull a heavy pine log out of the woods. The loggers stayed for a couple weeks and on a saturday some of the neighborhood boys and I got together and went down and climbed upon and played around the log carts.. We even tried to move one of the things a couple times but we couldn't do much with that, those old carts were very heavy. That gave us a good indication of just how strong the Mules were, they could pull the cart to the sawmill with a big log hanging beneath it..
Today everything is modernized with logging and I have not seen a log cart in many years. I hope some were saved from the scrap pile. I am sure there are lots of folks around today who have never seen a log cart or seen one in operation, they would more than likely be amazed by it, especially the size of the wheels..
Now days and for years all of the log is used nothing is wasted we used to have big hopper cars on the railroad loaded to the top with wood chips and I still see semi-trucks on the highway loaded with them headed for the plywood making plant or the paper mill...
I always liked the old sawmill and walked over there at times to watch it in operation. The men working and shouting to each other as they processed the logs into lumber. I loved to watch the big buzz saw cut the logs and sometimes wondered if anyone had ever been killed by the thing or badly injured. No doubt over the years someone probably had...They stacked the lumber in neat piles and then a big truck came, the lumber was stacked high on the truck, forms were signed and away the truck would go. I used to for some reason love the smell of the big truck tires in summer when they pulled in off the hot asphalt...
I remember my cousins decided to sell some of their timber on the farm back in the fifties. I would say about sixty percent of the farm I was raised on was in woods with some big fine pine timber, oak and other hardwoods.. The logging crew came they had gas powered chain saws I had never seen a chain saw in operation at that time.. It was amazing to me that a big pine tree could be felled so quickly compared to what we were used to which was an old cross cut saw, wedges and an ax.. They had Mules to snake the logs out of the woods so they could get the big log carts to them for hauling over to the sawmill.
I remember the log carts very well, I could not believe how large the wheels were on those thing's.. I stood and marveled at them many times while waiting for the men to pull a log out then load the cart with the log. Those poor ole Mules, they did some hard work back then at times I felt sorry for them as they strained to pull a heavy pine log out of the woods. The loggers stayed for a couple weeks and on a saturday some of the neighborhood boys and I got together and went down and climbed upon and played around the log carts.. We even tried to move one of the things a couple times but we couldn't do much with that, those old carts were very heavy. That gave us a good indication of just how strong the Mules were, they could pull the cart to the sawmill with a big log hanging beneath it..
Today everything is modernized with logging and I have not seen a log cart in many years. I hope some were saved from the scrap pile. I am sure there are lots of folks around today who have never seen a log cart or seen one in operation, they would more than likely be amazed by it, especially the size of the wheels..