The Lumbering Process

Lumbering has four phases: logging, driving, manufacturing, and transport. The details varied depending on whether a homesteader was carving a farm out of a forest, an independent logger was felling and selling logs to a mill, or a commercial mill handled the entire process from logging through

sales. Early on, logging was generally limited to the winter months, mid-November through mid-March weather permitting, when horses or oxen could drag felled and trimmed logs and sleighs of logs on snow-covered ground to collection points at the edge of a nearby river, lake, or later a railway stop. With the invention of big wheels, logs could be more easily moved throughout the year. Driving involved getting logs from a collection point to a sawmill. Early on this generally meant floating logs down a river after the spring thaw, which was a dangerous ride for the men called "river

hogs." When a stream was not available as was the case for Arcadia, railroads were used to get logs to mills throughout the year and much more safely.

Manufacturing wood products involved cutting logs into lumber and other wood products. Early on, this might have been as low tech as moving the log over a hole deep enough for a man to stand and then using a two-man saw to cut up and down the length of the log. Where a dependable source of

moving water was available, water powered mills made the process more efficient, and just a couple men could produce many more board feet per day. Later steam-powered systems linked to belts could drive a series of saw blades and increase output dramatically. Transporting wood products involved finding a buyer, taking the products to market, and selling wood products. Small local mills would sell to local people who carried lumber home with them. With

improved manufacturing techniques, mills could produce much more lumber than was needed locally, and the excess could be taken to market by sailing ship, steam ship, rail, and eventually trucks.

The Lumbering Process

Cant Hook

This lever and hook were used to

handle logs.

Caption

Dragging Individual Logs

The man with the axe probably removed branches from the log. The man with the cant hook, Lee

Fuller, rolled the log into position. A third man used the team of horses to drag the log through the

light snow to a collection point.

Logging Teams near Arcadia

Several teams of men and horses are getting ready to pull the logs stacked in the background.

Using a Sleigh to Move Logs

Lee Fuller and a team of horses use a sleigh to haul logs out of the woods in the winter.

Stacks of Logs at a Collection Point

This is an area just east of Arcadia. The Lutheran church steeple is just barely visible in the

background.

Big Wheels

Using a pair of enlarged wagon wheels, an axle, and chains to lift the logs, they could be moved

several at a time even in summer.

Big Wheels

Driving

River Hogs Driving Logs down the River

Armed with a piked pole and spiked shoes, men known as "river hogs" rode logs down river where

boats could not go. This was dangerous work. Arcadia did not have a stream that would support this

way of getting logs to a mill.

The Head of a Log Marking Hammer

This log hammer was used by the Starke Land & Lumber Company to brand its logs. Note the hole

shown at the top for a handle.

A Marked Log End

This is the end of a log with an impression of a star and K, one of the brands of the Starke Land &

Lumber Company.

Log Mark Closeup

Caption

The Trestle East of Arcadia

This is the Starke Land & Lumber company's narrow gauge railway hauling a load of logs across the

trestle west toward the mill in Arcadia. Because of the grade and heavy loads, the train could only

head out empty and return harrowingly downhill filled with logs.

Crane and Big Wheels

On the left is the big wheels used to bring logs to the collection point near the ABRR railway tracks

where a crane loaded them onto railway cars.

A Sawmill Out in the Country

Temporary sawmills like this one were often set up at collection points. Note the wagon on the left

collecting shorter logs used perhaps for wood burning stoves.

Logs Delivered to the Starke Sawmill

This photo shows the view looking north at the north end of Lake Arcadia. The logs in the water were

carried up the conveyor belt on the left and into the sawmill.

Sawmill Workers

Larger sawmills employed more people to produce many more board feet.

The Arcadia Approaching the Sawmill

This photo shows the steamer Arcadia in Lake Arcadia heading north toward the Starke sawmill. The

Arcadia was a steam barge used by the sawmill primarily to haul lumber to other ports. Note the

lumber stacked everywhere along the shoreline.

Loading Lumber onto the Neff

Workmen for the Arcadia Lumber Company add lumber one board at a time to the Syndey O. Neff, a

steam barge similar to the Arcadia. This is the shore of Lake Arcadia near "the point" looking north to

the Arcadia Furniture Company in the background.

The Lumbering Process

The Lumbering Process

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