History of Lumbering ls q History of Progress

(Reprinted lrom fhe GULF COAST LUMBERMAN, March |, 1956)

By A. J. BR.OWN Assistqnl Editor, The GULF COAST IUIIBERMAN

When the Centennial Exposition was held at Philadelphia, Penn. in 1876, there were two visitors among the gaping crowds who brought home with them ideas which had their imprint on the lumber industry. W. Scott Gerrish, a logger who did a great deal of contract work in southern Michigan, saw a small steam locomotive offered for sale. He came away with the idea that a steam-railway could be used in the woods. Like so many pioneers in thought, he was told that he "was getting foolish,". but he went ahead with his idea anyhow. Not long afterwards he had a seven-mile logging road in operation. It connected Lake George with Muskegon. Five years after his locomotive puffed its way along the track with log cars behind it there were 71 logging railroads operating in Michigan

Another man who made his name known in the lumber and logging industry was another logging contractor by the name of E. E. Shay. He designed a rather unusual type of steam locomotive. which made use of gears for driving power, rather than the usual piston and drivihg wheels. Some 40 to 50 years ago the Shay locomotive was a common sight in the woods. It is difficult to find one today outside of a museum.

The handling of logs from the woods has come a long way, but even more astounding is the advance n-rade in sar,r,.mills themselves. As you stand on the cat 'ivalk of a modern mill, shut your eyes for a moment and consider the evolution of making square boards out of round logs.

Sawmaking Old Art

Saws go back deep into antiquity. Probably the first tools used as saws rvere long pieces of flint chipped so as to have a series of teeth. Such tools have actually been found. Sbme of them were fitted tightly into a stick. Saws such as these have been found in the bottom of a lake in

Switzerland, where men thousands of years ago lived in houses built on pilings to be safe from animals and enemies. In Mexico, primitive people made saws somewhat like these with bits of sharp volcanic glass. In the South Seas they used shark's teeth. The Egyptians had the first metal saws, made of copper and bronze. These saws, u'hile in principal much like our own, had no "set." For thousands of years all boards were either split or sawed by hand.

Pitsawing

All over the world this sawing was done very much in the same way. The log was placed over a pit (hence the term "Pit sawing") or else the log was held in a framework. Two men furnished the motive power. One man stood on or above the log, while the pitman stood below. The saw, a crude instrttment not entirely unlike an ordinary crosscut handsaw, had a handle on each end. Only the ancient sal',/ was raked to lvork in one direction-in tl-ris case it was the down stroke. Thus the pitman did most of the work by pulling the iaw down. This methocl is still used in some primitive countries today. There was an early pitsawing operation in Texas, something over a hundred years ago in Sabine Pass, where Davis R. Wingate had such a plant.

The saw evolved into a most useful instrument as man learned to make better steels. Usually the sawmills in the Middle Ages and down to pioneer times in America consisted of a .fairly thin blade held under tension in a big wooden framework, much as a hacksaw works today. The