Did you ever think about how trees in the forest become boards to build houses? We saw today how they did it 80 years ago. Lois is standing at the right of the photo.
This is a typical “portable” sawmill operated in the Pisgah Forest in the 1920’s. It was typically set up in a draw, downhill from the timber to be cut so that oxen and mules could haul fallen trees to the mill site. However, sawmills like this, powered by a diesel engine were used here up until the 1940’s.
Portability is a relative term. Here it means three or four days to move from one site to another and set up again. The steam engine was relatively easy because a team of mules could pull it. The circular saw blades and sliding racks holding the logs could be dismantled and hauled on wagons. The roof was probably the most troublesome, because it had to be torn down and rebuilt at the new site.
What this means is four days without production because the sawmill was key to making money back then. It was easier to transport cut lumber out of these mountains than logs. Two or three men could run a sawmill, but it took dozens of men to cut the trees down and get them to the sawmill.
Sawmills like this aren’t used any more. Today they have huge, sophisticated machines to cut trees and turn them into regular logs for transport to a permanent, centrally-located sawmill.
This is a typical “portable” sawmill operated in the Pisgah Forest in the 1920’s. It was typically set up in a draw, downhill from the timber to be cut so that oxen and mules could haul fallen trees to the mill site. However, sawmills like this, powered by a diesel engine were used here up until the 1940’s.
Portability is a relative term. Here it means three or four days to move from one site to another and set up again. The steam engine was relatively easy because a team of mules could pull it. The circular saw blades and sliding racks holding the logs could be dismantled and hauled on wagons. The roof was probably the most troublesome, because it had to be torn down and rebuilt at the new site.
What this means is four days without production because the sawmill was key to making money back then. It was easier to transport cut lumber out of these mountains than logs. Two or three men could run a sawmill, but it took dozens of men to cut the trees down and get them to the sawmill.
Sawmills like this aren’t used any more. Today they have huge, sophisticated machines to cut trees and turn them into regular logs for transport to a permanent, centrally-located sawmill.
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