The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1872-09-11
Lumber Operations on the Connecticut.

A correspondent of the Boston Journal,
describing the business facilities and progress
OF Holyoke, Mass. refers to a new enterprise
in which prominent parties in Maine are in
terested
Within the past few months new and val
liable enterprise has been established here,
laage lumber and saw mill. The enterprisng
lumber dealers and builders of Ho-
yoke hive heretofore been obliged to pur,,
chase their lumber already sawed in upper
Vermont, New Hampshire, Canada and the
West. 1 he finishing has been done here to
suit. In consideration of the immense amount
used in this vicinity the lumber business has
assumed vast proportions and the freight bills
of the dealers are heavy. The question has
often been raised why logs could not be float
ed down the Connecticut and sawed here,
thereby saving considerable onthe cost of the
finished material. There has never been any
one bold and enterprising enough in late years
to attempt it, owing to the uncertainty of the
river and the heavy freshets during the year,
and otheg reasons. Some twenty-five years
ago it was tried but was found to be loosing
business owing to cross-firing lawsuits about
logs and riparian damages. The usual mode
in late years, whenever attempted, has been
by rafting, but even this method was finally
given up so far as any amount is concerned.
Last year Mr.. Eli Hanson, an old lumberman,
of Bangor, Me-, conceived the idea of finding
suitable place for the establishment of a saw
mill and the opening of general lumber bust
ness nearer the central markets, to which he
could transport the products of the mill at
greatly reduced rates. He made a tour of the
Connecticut from its very headwaters for the
purpose Of becoming acquainted with it and
finding the desired location. Here at Hol-
yoke he discovered the very place he was after.
41,., i l;a4o
above the famous dam. where the water
sweeps in great curve, thanked at its north
erly point by long narrow island, separated
from the main land by only a few feet of wa
ter, and extending considerable distance
down the river, was natural basin, the is
land acting as a boom where many million
feet of lumber can float in perfect safety I'M
til desired for use. He comprehended at once
the splendid advantages of Holyoke as bust
ness location, in view of its nearness to Bos-
ton, New York, Hartford and other places,
and also considering the enterprisng increase
in building here, and he went Immediately
back to Maine and reported his observations
In Portland, Bangor and elsewhere the in
fiuential and moneyed men, lumber dealers
and mill owners looked npon his story as al
together too highly colored, and they refused
to join him in the enterprise. Finally he
prevailed upon two gentlemen prominent and
experienced in lumaer business at Ellsworth, |
Maine, and leading Commercial street bust |
ness firm in Portland, and one or two others |
to look with favor upon the project and CO.
-operate with him They have talo.,-tha
name of the HOlyoke Lumber Mill. The lum- !
Der privileges at the headwaters of the Con- /
necticut, in upper New Hampshire, were Sc
cured and gang of men were set at work
last winter chopping spruce-pne and cedar
in tn Sc grand old forests. The logs were
hauled to the banks of the river and its trib-
utaries, and as soon as the ice entirely disap-
peared and the usual spring floods had sub
sided, one hundred men, armed and equipped
in lumberman style started down the river
with the immense drive and they
arrived here July q and IS. Some thousand
spruce logs were sold at Southampton for
piles. A shearboom had been stretched
across the river here from the east side above
South Hadley Falls, over to the northerly
point of the island, in order to turn the LOGS
into the basin already alluded to, where they
were held by log boom chained to piers.
which are anchored on the bottom of the
river with very heavy stones. Some of the
logs, from the breaking of a boom up the
river, came rushing over the dam. The
Holyoke people looked on aud wondered.
They were fearful that the enterprise would
turn out failure, but they soon found them
selves mistaken, for those logs were sold to
parties in Hartford, Thompsonville, and other
places along tile river in Connecticut at re-
prices, thereby giving the lumber
company handsome lift. Some 100000
feet of logs were 'boomed' safe and sound
at the company's basin-a handsome sight,
never before witnessed in this section of New
England at least
This natural basin is Just east of the Con-
necticut River Railroad track, about half a
mile from the town proper, and Messrs. Han
ion d Go. purchased sixteen acres of land
lust west of the railroad and within few
'ods OF their boom, and have completed a
arge saw mill where the logs areto be worked
up. The building is of wood and it is {
damned with every modern improvement.
wo stories high, and is 113 feet longby Is feet
vide. 1t sits upon piling, and the foundation
S most excellent and it is most substantially ,
suilt. 1t has gang of SAWS and q muley.
o arranged that log can be passed from the
'asln through the culvert under the railroad
rack, passed into the mill and come out on
he other side in any shape desired Two ro-
airy saws are also running, with clapboard !
hinge, lath, matching and planning machines !
ocated and contemplated ia various paris of
ne building. The motive power is a Wood
uff d Beach engine Of $50 horse power / ,
nth six large boilers in the brick wing or fire.
rQof Spler house, with corrugated iron roof. I
NE main building is rooted with shingle. {
Dated with fire proof paint. The FIRE proof Z
''iSi oOlIlS oCpdId te uO}ih blle nam building ,
enders the establishment very safe indeed ,
N the ridge is 9 deck RAINING the entira
myth OF the building, with casks of water nj
'nvenient points for use in case Of fire The
ost q the building and machinery is some
oO,oou. There is one saving which can he
'ade here, and that is in the .,iahs and edg-
rs, which to a considerable extent are not
liable way up in the back coaapry lumber re- !
ions: we know OF several saw mills in up :
'om $4,000 to $4,000 a year to burn up the
lwdust and and other refuse, it being against
ne law to throw them into the river. Here
Holyoke the sawdqst runs the fires of the
ill, and the slabs and edgings as above noted :
re articles Of profit.
The lumber which will mostly be BROUGHT
ere is spruce, with some cedar and gJse.
n Office has been built, and boarding house j
f the employees will soon be Commenced,
reefs laid out, tenements put Up, and new
wn within the town" will be the result,
nus adding considerably to- the manufacture