100 Year Old Original Growth Firewood

[svk]

Our area was originally known for the largest white pine mill in the world.

In the winter of 1911-1912 our hunting area was logged. Our cabin actually sits on the grounds of the old logging camp: our cabin is on the very spot of the blacksmith shop. Blacksmith died in a fire that consumed his shop/living quarters. We've had "visits" but that's another story.

Anyhow the logs were skidded by horses onto the lake for loading onto a small train to be shipped out 5 miles to the major railway. Apparently it was a very early thaw and they ended up leaving 100,000 board feet of logs on the ice which ended up in the lake. Loggers moved on and left the remainder floating. Many sank and there are still several dozen "deadheads" partially floating.

Fast forward to the early 30's. a sawmill company set up operation and began retrieving logs and sawing into lumber. One problem. The logs had a type of rot that made the lumber very brittle (I'm told you could break a 2x4 over your knee). So after retrieving 10,000 board feet the rest was left in the lake.

One of these ended up on my boat landing so I pulled it out, bucked, and split. Next year I shall enjoy a sauna burning virgin wood that's been preserved on the lake bottom for a century. Wood is still solid although basically completely void of any smell.

In the first picture you can see the notch as this must have been the first length from this tree.

Second picture shows what came out of the 100" log.

This stuff would have been worth a fortune if it was solid and not affected by rot!

 

[mga]

free wood is always the best type to burn.
i guess retrieving the logs is no bigger hassle than hauling them out of the woods some where.
you never know...you might find a hardwood log worth money (supposedly, if you believe swamp loggers)

 

[zogger]

That's pretty cool!

I once found an old horse drawn wagon while snorkeling up in Maine, must have been the same deal, left out on the ice, but..as soon as you touched any part of it underwater it crumbled.

 

[blacklocst]

Blacksmith died in a fire that consumed his shop/living quarters. We've had "visits" but that's another story.

View attachment 374831 View attachment 374832

Halloween night would be a good time to tell us that story.

 

[1project2many]

You know, that's kind of neat. There's a small dam where I grew up that was built below an old village. Divers have said parts of the old buildings are still there and it's a similar story with the rot and brittleness.

Up here we have Turkey pond. A large hurricane ripped up the east coast in '38 and laid waste to forests all over New England. 12 million board feet of timber had been dumped in Turkey and floated there for years. There were two mills operating on the pond with one that operated from '41 to '43 being almost entirely run by women. It's an interesting story to read. There are still plenty of logs in the bottom of that pond although most of what I hear about them is they help make the pond great for Bass (and tough for Bass fishing).

Lotsa folks are looking for old wood for ornamental reasons. People buy foam "beams" to make a house look rustic so that vintage lumber just might have some value.

 

[svk]

It's interesting that the stuff left in the lake is smaller logs mostly 10-14" stuff. Knowing how big virgin white pine could get, they must have given priority to getting the big stuff shipped out and left the little stuff in the lake.

I could slab off another piece and cut it down on my table saw to see how the wood grain looks. Could make cool picture frames with it or other stuff that doesn't need structural strength.

 

[benp]

Since you bring up old growth pine in MN, you should check out the "Lost 40."

http://www.minnesotafunfacts.com/minnesota-geography/the-lost-40-a-minnesota-forest-legacy/

http://www.minnesotanorthwoods.com/nature/CNF/lostforty.html

Really a neat place one of the last remaining unmolested stands of old growth timber in MN.

It's in between Black Duck and Bigfork, just a hair west of Dora Lake.

I have taken a lot of people there that have come to visit. I actually prefer taking them there over the Headwaters at Itasca.

If ever in that area you should check it out. Really really cool.

 

[svk]

Since you bring up old growth pine in MN, you should check out the "Lost 40."

http://www.minnesotafunfacts.com/minnesota-geography/the-lost-40-a-minnesota-forest-legacy/

http://www.minnesotanorthwoods.com/nature/CNF/lostforty.html

Really a neat place one of the last remaining unmolested stands of old growth timber in MN.

It's in between Black Duck and Bigfork, just a hair west of Dora Lake.

I have taken a lot of people there that have come to visit. I actually prefer taking them there over the Headwaters at Itasca.

If ever in that area you should check it out. Really really cool.

I've heard of that one. Also supposed to be one south of International Falls in Ray, MN but it's not listed on the MN DNR website.

 

[Zeus103363]

I work at a sawmill. The old sawmill was built out front of where the modern sawmill is now. They used lots of trains to move the timber around, there is still railroad tracks going everywhere in the mill, and they haven't been used in a long time. The old resaw is still there too. Just sitting, kinda like the land that time forgot! Its cool so see how automated lumber making process is now compared to the old processes.


Thanks