Sawmill
A 200 foot log haul picks up the logs from the 8 acre log pond and conveys them to the log deck. A Nicholson Rotobarker - a 60 inch mechanical ring-type barker removes the bark from all logs that are not more than five feet in diameter. the rotating ring supports air cylinders which hold scraper bars against the logs to remove the bark while the log passes thru the ring. Occasional logs, too large for the barker, are moved along the log haul after the barker has been raised. After debarking, the logs are either sent into the mill, kicked to a live storage deck outside the mill, or sent to the chipper.
The sawmill itself is 32x150 feet in length. It has a left-hand nine-foot Diamond band mill, steam electric powered. The carriage is a two-block, with electric set works, electric dogs and a 12-inch shotgun feed. The edger is an 84x10 inch Allis-Chalmers, split bed stub, which is itself large enough to serve as a resaw as well as an edger. A Filer and Stowell horizontal resaw is positioned ahead of the edger in the production line. All roll cases are powered, feeding direct to edger, resaw or trimmer. The trimmer is an electric 11-saw, air controlled.
The edger and roll cases positioned snugly at one side wall and the carriage and trimmer at the opposite side wall. An overhead catwalk bridges the center length of the mill, providing passageway through the plant, with steps at the entrance door near the headrig and at the opposite end of the mill for the trim saw and edger operators. A flight of stairs also leads from the catwalk up to the overhead filing room.
All lumber from the mill is routed to the single green chain. Large timbers go directly to the timber dock, with lumber going to the 120-foot stacking shed. Sorts of 6'/8', 10'/12' and 14' lengths are usual. Only one pocket of the same species, length, thickness width and moisture content is fed to a Horstkotte stacker at a time. Lumber is then stacked in carrier package units for yard handling with Gerlinger lumber carriers.
The file room is equipped with two Covel NO.130 left-hand grinders, the headrig saw and a No. 120 right-hand grinder for the resaw, in addition to an Armstrong stretcher.
Dry Kilns
In 1948 double-track Moore dry kilns holding 100,000 feet of one-inch stock were installed. Thee kilns are steam heated, the steam coming from bark, sawdust and plant shavings from the sawmill. Fuel oil is a backup.
Planing Mill
Located adjacent to the main mill buildings, the planning mill plant provides easy access for the lumber coming from the dry kilns or the storage yard. Built on a concrete slab that facilitates the operation of lumber carriers, the structure is of timber framing with a corrugated metal roof that covers the dry chain, operating equipment and filing room.
All lumber to be surfaced is first seasoned. All of the Douglas fir production is kiln dried. Some of the fir is sent to the kilns and some is air dried for short periods. Material is brought from the kilns and the yard to the mill by straddle carriers and deposited on a set of floor chains that move the loads to a Moor Breakdown Tilting Hoist. Capacity of the transfer chains is such that there is always plenty of rough lumber on hand.
From the tilt hoist, lumber is sent through a Woods 415M2 Planer and Matcher at the rate of 750 lineal feet per minute. On leaving the planer the direction of flow is once more changed as the lumber is deposited on the grading chain. It is carried by lug chains to and thru the 32 foot Irvington Trimmer. The trimmed lengths are then end marked with a stamping machine that was also supplied by the Irvington Machine Works.
From the trimmer and marker, the direction of flow is once more changed as the lumber is moved to a Moore Lumber Stacker for unit packaging.
Chip Mill
Chip mill was added to the lower level of the main sawmill in 1948. A jack chain was installed between the barker and the deck and all timber 24 inches and smaller goes directly to the 48-inch Carthage chipper. It is driven by a 100-hp General Electric motor. Chips are sent 200 feet through an 8-inch line by a Rees high pressure system to a cyclone located over a spur railroad track. The chips are discharged into the cyclone, through a spreader into the open top cars. If pressure drops in the system, the conveyor to the shaker and the shaker automatically stop. If pressure builds in the line, due to a plug, an alarm sounds automatically. Trims, slabs and edgings from the sawmill, broken lumber and damaged stickers. 2-carloads = 100 units of wood chips per day from 110,000 board feet of bark-fee edgings, slabs and trimmings.
The loading facility consists of a car puller inside a shed and the framework for the plenum and Chute. The car puller is a 10-hp General Electric gearhead motor powering a drum about 16 inches in diameter- the 1800 rpm speed of the motor is reduced to 2 rpm at the drum. A 3/8-inch Wickwire rope goes thru two sheaves of each side of the shed and is attached to the car. Two limit switches are used to reverse the drum. Pulleys on both sides of the loading facility anchored to the ground, one with a heavy spring and 2 inch bar eliminates the shock on the electric motor during directional changes. Eight passes (four round trips) are made under the chute per hour.
The loading plenum is a series of I beans welded together to form a rigid box - supporting a square chute that directs the wood chops down into the top of the woodchip cars.
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