Zip-O Log Mill/Logging Co

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that's what we called them , "wigwam's" . last one around here got scraped about five years ago. funny how that was the last thing to go at the one mill.
 
There was one out near Oakville standing not too long ago. I wonder if it's still there?
Last time I was through there it was still standing.
I've heard all of those names but just can't put my finger (brain) on it. Old age I guess.
Randy, if you look at this thread there's one as you head down the river from Weitchpec a few miles above the road all grown up with alders. Do you know the one?
 
I started as a mill-rat when I was 12 and got paid $1.00 @ hour to put dots in a tally book for the inspector at my fathers mostly maple mill in western NY state . I had to hide when the insurance guy made his inspection since I was to young and off the books . $40 @ week was a lot to me then . When a maple log hits a hot saw, it smells like an IHOP ! Mill-rats and yard-varks are the guys that keep the whole thing rolling along .
Back then, Japan had discovered bowling and the price of hard maple for pins and alleys was going up like a rocket . The price changed weekly and people speculated on the price of timber like tulips in Holland in the 1500's . The AMF plant in north NY state had so much green maple coming in that it was rotting before they could get it on sticks so some mills would ship beech or soft maple (WAY cheaper timber) knowing it would be black mush by the time anyone looked at it .
One day, Japan looked around and said; "I think we have enough bowling alleys, no more maple thank you". Overnight the price went into the toilet and timber bought on spec was worthless .
Cherry and oak have had a similar bubble in the last decade and two years ago high priced cherry logs were being cut into RR ties as there was no market for the lumber .
Not a business for the faint hearted ... or the stupid !
 
Last time I was through there it was still standing.
I've heard all of those names but just can't put my finger (brain) on it. Old age I guess.
Randy, if you look at this thread there's one as you head down the river from Weitchpec a few miles above the road all grown up with alders. Do you know the one?

I must have missed that one, probably was preoccupied looking for savages. The last one I saw in full 24/7 use was in Happy Camp, although the Englewood mill in Redcrest used theirs sporatically into the '80s. Palco pretty much stopped using teepees in the mid '70s, they were using bunker oil in the generating plant, they converted to wood waste.

"Old age" pretty funny :hmm3grin2orange:
 
There's still a good example of the old style tepee burner just south of Live Oak on Hwy 99. It in a moulding mill. It hasn't been used for years but the people who own the mill have a sense of history and aren't inclined to tear it down.

And RandyMac is right. When we were kids the big burners were just an accepted part of the landscape and the smell of burning sawdust and woodscraps was as natural to us as the air itself.
 
There were sawmills or remains of mills everywhere. The little family operated mills held my attention more than the new monster mills. I would spend days watching them work, sometimes I'd toss boards or pull cants for a way to spend time talking to whoever was running the place. No guided tours here. In one day you can see decades of innovative jerry-rigging. The odd mixture of equipment, power supply and such. One thing about the old sawmills, they are almost completely bio-degradable. They almost always burn, rust follows, then Fireweed, Alders and onward.
 
One of the hardwood mills I used to call on, in N. Penn., was an ash handle/hockey stick mill . They used a cone burner into the mid-80's . The smell would waft down the valley for miles . Ash smells a little like butterscotch when it burns and when passing a house with a woodstove, I can always tell when they are burning ash - or maple . Between the two, it's like going past a candy store that's on fire .
 
Here is a picture of a picture that I took with my phone. This is from the "old mill" (26' and shorter, single cut). The particular log in the photo should have been quartered but somebody had already got it in the cradle to feed the debarker and they had no way of getting it back out to the pond. If you look close you can see how much bigger the log is than the cutting region of the bandmill. The Sawyer had to cut a little off and roll it back, cut a little more, roll it back (you get the idea) to make it fit under the saw guide. That is why the log looks like it is being sawn so weird. We used to cut a decent amount of 12" clear and while the picture isn't the clearest, it looks as though it may be a peeler...

27be4cf3.jpg
 
Here is a picture of a picture that I took with my phone. This is from the "old mill" (26' and shorter, single cut). The particular log in the photo should have been quartered but somebody had already got it in the cradle to feed the debarker and they had no way of getting it back out to the pond. If you look close you can see how much bigger the log is than the cutting region of the bandmill. The Sawyer had to cut a little off and roll it back, cut a little more, roll it back (you get the idea) to make it fit under the saw guide. That is why the log looks like it is being sawn so weird. We used to cut a decent amount of 12" clear and while the picture isn't the clearest, it looks as though it may be a peeler...

27be4cf3.jpg
Where are they getting meat like that to cut? Has to be some piece of old private ground. It'd take an act of congress to get the FS to let loose of a tree like that. I'd love to see some of the lumber from a clear piece like that. I wonder if the county building codes would let anyone build from some clear piece like that. They would probably require it to be some laminated beam. Beautiful log. Get some more pics.
 
Where are they getting meat like that to cut? Has to be some piece of old private ground. It'd take an act of congress to get the FS to let loose of a tree like that. I'd love to see some of the lumber from a clear piece like that. I wonder if the county building codes would let anyone build from some clear piece like that. They would probably require it to be some laminated beam. Beautiful log. Get some more pics.

This particular picture was off of one of the computers there. I'll see if I can weasel a couple more out... They try to be pretty secretive about the operation (not sure why). For some more good pics of nice, big, clear timber check out Starfire Lumber.... They are a local mill about 15 miles south of here. They are probably the last ones to still cut 12" clear. You'll have to just poke around their website to see all the pics. They have a few of a 6' P1 that they cut about 8-10 12" and thicker clear. One of the pieces was an 18x28 FOHC clear!

Starfire Lumber | Eugene, Cottage Grove, Lane County, Oregon
 
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