The Old Neighborhood Sawmill And Log Carts

[Artfuldodger]

I've seen signs that the Blacks/Lumbee/Croatan's from Robeson County. North Carolina would come to Georgia to work in the turpentine camps. Many of them stayed. Stateboro and Claxton area and there were some below Augusta as well and other towns.
Maybe the 1890-1920 era.

I've heard older people call them Croatan pronounced "Crow-E-tan."

 

[Redbow]

I'm assuming you've made a few trips across the old 301 bridge or trestle over Lake Marion. I've only made one trip over it on I-95/301 in 1975. I was stationed in Charleston and we used to fish Lake Moultrie at Moncks Corner.
People used to come all the way from South Georgia to fish Santee Cooper.

Yes, I sure have made quite a few trips across the old 301 bridge over Lake Marion. We used to fish around the bridge many years ago. I think people fish off the old 301 bridge I haven't been down that way in 18 years as we moved back to NC in 2002 after living in SC for a very long time. Wish I had stayed in SC..

My Grandpa that helped raise me was born in 1892. He told me about the turpentine people back in his day many times. Some around the area where he lived worked in Georgia. Grandpa's brother worked in Georgia quite often before I was born with the power company.. Grandpa was born and raised around the Edenton NC area and moved to Johnston County NC in 1922 on a Mule and wagon with his Wife. I can only imagine that was quite a trip back in those days..

 

[specialk]

When I was a kid around 1970, my family took the train. They might have had a dinner train as well. On this one though some wild Indians rode up on us, boarded, and attacked us. One passenger got scalped even. It was a lot of fun.

I remember that one too....i went in the 70s as well....stn mtn was a much different place back then.....do you remember the museum with the old tucker's......

 

[NE GA Pappy]

my mom has home movies of us going to Stone Mtn in the early 60's and riding the train. I have a digital copy of it on my computer, and I watch it from time to time just to see how my brothers and parents looked back then.

 

[Timberman]

I was a young forester when the change from shortwood to longwood took place. I was in charge of the shortwood yard west of Quincy Fla on Hwy 90. We ultimately built a chip mill in Cairo and shut the woodyard down.

We had a railroad spur at the woodyard where the cars were backed in to be loaded and every couple months the RR would get slack in their duty of keeping us in rail cars. I'd go to the liquor store and get a half gallon of Crown and stick it in a hollow log and the cars would be on time again lol.

At the time Hercules was still buying stumps in N Fla so we sold to them regular. They would come in after we logged and grub the stumps. Seems like we got a couple bucks a ton for them.

I then moved to Upstate SC and fooled around and bought a grade hardwood sawmill. It was circle headrig but I added a band resaw to go with a bull edger and went to town.

My time in the the sawmill business was both the best and worst time of my life depending on what day it was.

 

[Artfuldodger]

This guy made an Old Sawmill model. It cuts Polystyrene-derosa Pine, lol.

 

[Redbow]

Bet that thing would make a mess of your finger also..

 

[Artfuldodger]

This is a bigger one powering a car alternator to charge a battery. You could actually use this if you lived off the grid. I would love to have one this size. I wish he would have blown the whistle.

 

[Artfuldodger]

Bet that thing would make a mess of your finger also..

I'm sure, I bought some little saw blades at the flea market for my Dremel. The man said these are real saw blades, they will cut your fingers, be very careful!

 

[Redbow]

I'm sure, I bought some little saw blades at the flea market for my Dremel. The man said these are real saw blades, they will cut your fingers, be very careful!

Yeah I have a Dremel tool as well it will cut you for sure. I used to do some wood working projects cut outs and such but too many folks started doing that no money to be made so I quit years ago.. Made clocks out of cypress and cedar logs and lamps for the house out of driftwood..

 

[Artfuldodger]

This is an old Sawmill boiler someone found in Coffee County out the Lax highway. They had a couple more pics of the saw blade and the flywheel pulleys. Not engine though.
It must have been a pretty big sawmill to have a boiler that size. Someone said it might have provided steam to multiple engines and a drying kiln.

 

[Artfuldodger]

Here is a similar one from somewhere else in Georgia. I wonder when sawmills quit using steam and went to hit & miss engines or regular combustion engines?

 

[Redbow]

Someone needed a lot of steam with those big boilers in use...

 

[trad bow]

I’d like to see them boilers in person. Worked my entire career in a powerhouse on boilers and associated equipment. Our feed water heaters were larger but looked exactly like those boilers.

 

[Resica]

Love the stories and history!! Thanks to all.