History Undressed would like to welcome back guest author, Laurel Wanrow, with Part Two of Lessons from a Family History on Sawmill Operation.
I’d never heard of a portable
sawmill, but understood why Herb moved the operation when she reminded me that
back in those times transporting the sawmill was easier than hauling the logs
for a building’s worth of lumber to Herb’s farm—and back again! There was one
caveat: the location had to have a supply of water. Usually the farmers in the
area cut from their timber and dragged the logs with teams of horses or mules to
a local water source, then put in a request for Herb to come out.
However, I learned ‘easier’
was relative when my aunt relayed this story. Herb and his fireman would set
off in the morning with the steam engine pulling the entire rig: sawmill on its
wheeled platform, water tank mounted on iron wheels and a wagon filled with
slabs. First, he’d stop at his parents’ windmill to fill the water tank—just as
we would begin a car road trip with topping off the gas tank. With the twelve-foot
long metal chamber full, they wouldn’t risk running out steam power.
The steam engine was
powerful, but slow. Steering wasn’t ‘power steering’ but a chain running from
the steering wheel to each front wheel to change directions. At three to four
miles per hour, it took them most of the day to drive to one of the places they
frequently set up, Lenning’s farm, five miles away.
I started to correct my aunt
on this math, but she reminded me they had to stop to stoke the fire, add wood,
and add water to the steam engine, which meant unhooking and bringing the water
tank around each time. He’d pretty much use up that tank of water. My
grandmother knew the route, so would catch them at noon, taking Herb his lunch
along the road. He ate as he drove—fried chicken, pickles, bread and pie or
cake.
Once there, the all the
equipment was unloaded and the sawmill set up again, including digging a pit
for the sawdust to fall into, aligning the engine to the sawmill so the belt
ran straight between the pulleys, and leaving room for the rails and log
carriage.
Then, Herb, could remove his coat and get to the business of directing the next set of customers on how to handle the logs while he operated the sawmill’s blade.
Then, Herb, could remove his coat and get to the business of directing the next set of customers on how to handle the logs while he operated the sawmill’s blade.
Seeing this really drove home
the teamwork involved. Herb might have owned the rig, had the willingness to
tinker and adjust, the ability to detect when it was working properly, and the
skill to use up that cant efficiently, but he couldn’t do the work by himself.
A lot of steam stories seem
to be romanticized, making machinery operation sound easy—the heat, fuel needs
and labor to run them glossed over. Listening to my dad and aunt tell these memories
of their family helped me to imagine many details for my steampunk story and
brought up a few realities I wanted to get right.
Steam machinery is big and
slow. I realized that once their equipment was out in the field, my farmworkers
would not be returning it to the
outbuildings each night. I gave them ‘equipment sheds’ in the fields for
temporary storage, and even set the shapeshifter hero’s opening scene there,
chasing one of the mysterious pests through the spindly legs of the stored
clockwork machinery.
Most importantly, I didn’t
worry about making all my characters knowledgably about mechanics. In my story,
as in real life, not everyone has the same skill set, but everyone’s help is
needed.
Herb Wanrow operated his
sawmill every winter from the late 1910s to the 1940s. After a couple of
seasons, he achieved what he set out to do: he was able to purchase a new car,
a 1922 Star Car.
~ ~ ~
Laurel Wanrow has dabbled in
genealogy since high school, recording family history tales from both sides of
her family, and her husband’s. She’s lucky enough to be caretaker for the
Wanrow family cabin in the Rocky Mountains, built by her father and his
parents, though the lumber did not come from Herb’s sawmill.
It’s available on Amazon in ebook and print if you’d like to hold that
gorgeous cover in your hands. Laurel can be found on Pinterest, Goodreads, Facebook, @laurelwanrow and blogging at www.laurelwanrow.com. To be notified of new releases sign up for Laurel's Newsletter.
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