The Asheville citizen. [volume] (Asheville, N.C.) 1885-1889, 1888-06-20
bushnell,

Bushnell,
At the junction Of tie Tennessee
md Tuckaseegee rivers, in Swain
county. is the largest lumber mills
ing establishment in the State. 1t
IS known as the Tuckaseegee Lum>
Der and Manufacturing Compans.
working under a regular charter of
Incorporation. The company in
eludes eight corporators with equal
interest. ". II. Young of Kenton,
q is president; J. E. Hefelfnger, of
piingfsld o., treasurer; VIM. Ed,
monston do. secretary, and NJ A
Gee Of Chattanooga. superin-
dent.
'hise 5Esiaany was organized 10
tuary 1886, with an aHfheEized
q llal Of $500 900, ST which 500 900
has been paid inI and expended in
tie erection and pipmeut Of mills !.
thase Of timbsH etc. In
with A4Ee 4eiecsfon d :
,17;fl1l1= l1=aleas>--:sss-s;sssa-sli also theoWner
oySbout one Thousand acres en-
braced in the peninsula lying be-
tween the two rivers.
The site was fixed upon as COM
paanding the two streams which
reach the timber supplies lying
along the banks far back into Jack :
son and Macon counties one a SO
in position to use the timber lying
among the Nantahala mountains,
through which the river of that
name rushes, but which is available
during high water for passing down
logs. The location derives its
available value from the railroad
which passes by the mill door, and
furnishes the transportation indis-
pensable for operations.
The country around in wilder
ness of mountain and forest, and the
settlements are few and small. The
mountains crowd down closely and
precipitately to the water side, leav-
ing only narrow run for the pas
sage of the railroad; and on the
Tennessee, near the junction, belt
from fifty to seventy five yards in
width; and on this, the mill and its
adjuncts find narrow footing. The
mill is IL most complete of its kind
we have ever visited. When Capt
Gee invited us to walk into the
''mill rom" We thought the name a
somewhat ambitious one to apply to
a saw mill floor, usually encum-
bered with strips of refuse, slabs,
sawdust heaps, and confusion of
planks and logs and saws. But
when we stepped on the well
planed floor, and looked up at the
broad, clear, truss roof, aud saw the
admirably arranged carriage tracks,
and the perfect machinery, bright
and clean, disposed ss if in an ex-
position building, we yielded very
submissively to the correctness of
Capt. Cess descriptiYe name of the
"mill room. y 1t is one hundred feet
long dfid fifty wide the roof is
metal one, upheld by trusses so that
the eye encounters no obstruction
through the the presence of fupright
The machinery is run by
steam, an engine of 175 horse power
giving motion to the saws. A bat
tery of three steel boilers each %
feet long generates the steam. There
are two saws, one band, the other
circular, the former constituting a
nine foot band mill, the saw, i'm
ported French blade, being So feet
long and 10 inches wide. Besides
the saws, there is a gang edger for
cutting out defective heart lumber,
and saw for equalizing the length
of lumber. and in fact all the appa-
ratus needed for a perfect mill, such
as this is.
Between the mill and the
river is the basin, dug out
with great labor, supplied with
water by canal "a feet wide and
1000 ieet long, at the head (which
Il the boom, at which the logs from
above are caught and floated down
to the slip.
Extending from the mill along,
and parallel with, the railroad track
is platform for asserting lumber,
with track for loading. This is to
be extended farther up the river.
Another canal is to be cut
on the Tuckaseegee side to float the
logs from that stream into the basin.
In addition to the supply of tim
her by water, the railroad brings a
large quantity; and all the lumber
is taken away by rail, though CONF
plant is made Of insufficiency of
transportation. During the past
season about one million feet were
and at present there are
about three quarters of a million feet
in the yard, chiefly poplar and ash.
The market for this is mostly in the
New England States, with occasions
ally large orders for car building
purposes from Pennsylvania and
Baltimore. An order for the car
works Of the North Carolina railroad,
at Burlington, amounting to $50
Thousand feet, was recently received,
and also large order for the Ashe-
vile Furniture Works.
At present, owing to the tearing
away of the boom by a freshet. the
mill is idle, hut the work of repair
is going on rapidly.
The working force in and around
the mill is thirty, and the log cuts
ting force about the same. The mill
men are mostly Ohio men, skilled
wOrkmen, and work with a system,
a Judgment and a vim that is much
at variance with the easy, indolent,
and usually shlftless southern way.
Capt. NJ. a. Gee is the very enn-
bodiment Of every qualification
.s.a. L IL