The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1879-06-05

Walla Walla Union.

One day this week, III company with
our editorial brethren, we visited
Flumeville, and inspected the works of
Blalock, Son a. Co. Flumeville is sit
uated twelve miles southerly of this
city, on the Walla Walla river, about
Il mile above the forks, and consists of
half a dozen buildings, including
dwellings, shops ard barns, located on
bit of bottom land quarter of
mile wide Here is the end of the
hume used for carrying lumber from
the saw mill in the mountains. This
hume is V shaped, is six inches wide
on the bottom and three feet and
half wide on the top. 1t is built of
inch and quarter boards, and is sup
ported by trestle work made of 4x4
stuff. An average of 10000 feet OF
lumber were used in constructing each
mile of the flume, which is s miles
long. In that distance the fall is
1927 feet; 300 feet of the fall is in
the first 3ll miles of the hume from
the mill. 1t takes about 45 minutes
for board or rail to float from the
mill to Flumeville. Twenty thousand
feet of lumber have hosted through
the tlume in one hour. The longest
stick of timber which has yet passed
through the tlume was As feet in
length, though the tlume has curves of
400 feet radius. Employees FIRE
quently ride on some of the oating
lumber from near the mill, to the end
of the hume, making the trip in less
than an hour The daily work of the
tiume is 10000 feet of lumber, 10000
fence rails and posts, and 100 cords of
wood. There are employed at and
near the mill so men, and a large
number of teams. Thirty-fve men are
employed at the dump, and an ..verrge
of 40 teams day haul away lumber,
rails and wood. The day before our
visit seventy teams had loaded at the
dump. The mill and dump are con
nected by telephone, through which
all orders are given and received. At
the dump a steam engine is kept busy
driving the machinery for the manu-.
facture of the ''rough and ready fence"
better known as the "Moore fence"
Dr. Blalock has invented II way of
keeping the fence from blowing over
the greatest objection to it. One post
in every ten panels is huge fir one
set two or more feet in the ground
BY this simple device he claims to
overcome the tendency Of the fence to
lay down in windy weather The ca
pacity of the fence machine is 1000
rails and 200 posts every ten hours.
A pack train makes daily trips to and
from the mill, carrying provisions for
man and beast. The pay roll of the
company averages $500 per day. Or
ders for lumber are received faster
than they can be filed. Mrs. DIR.
Blalock does the bookkeeping at the
flume; receives and gives receipts to
the teamsters, and is kept very busy,
from early in the morning to late in
the evening, doing mans work. DIR.
Blalock acts as the general superin-
tendent, and sees that all are kept
busy. In addition to his lumber in
terests Dr. Blalock carries on farm
near by, of several thousand acres.
This season, besides wheat, oats and
barley, he will plant 400 acres of corn,
and has so acres of beans of various
varieties growing. He is now en-
gagged in getting ready to carry water
from the Walla Walla river by means
of a hydraulic ram and pipes to his
farm. To do this he will use four
miles of pump logs. A force of ten
men are kept constantly employed on
the farm.