Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1894-01-12
NOVEL SAW-MlLL.
IT Is OPERATED ALMOST EN-
TIRELY BY ELEPHANTS.
A Force Of Giant Pachyderms Iha'
Carry Logs and Arrange Ihem
ir Piles-TwO Act as over
secrs and FlOg the Lazy.


- cannot offer The slightest com
parison in interest to the
trained elephant exhibition one sees
in the city Of Moulmein, British Bur
nah. The most absorbingly enter
tanning feature Of the novel sight is
the paradoxically industrial character
which the work of these huge Indian
pachyderms assumes. 1t hardly
seems possible that the work Of saw
mill, usually done by human hands,
could be accomplished through the
medium of the elephants trunk and
the elephants sagacity; nevertheless
It is fact that the Irrawady Steamship
Company uses some forty to fifty ele-
plants in the operation of its saw-mills
1t Moulmein, and the teakwood so
largely entering into the construction
Of ships is here made ready for the ar
tisan, says the st. Louis Globe-Demo-
crat.
The logs are chopped in the interior
and hoated several hundred miles
down the Salwin river to the mill,
which is situated on the banks of the
stream at Moulmein. Here the logs
are formed into boom, and hence
forth the work Of transportation Is
done by the elephants.
The boom is very similar to those
we see in the numbering districts Of
Wisconsin and Michigan, but instead
of the sight of men, brightly garbed
in red and blue, running from log to
log and moving them with long steel
pointed poles, we see great, ponderous
elephants wading and swimming among
the teak logs and pushing them toward
the shore.
The logs are not sawed directly from
ths water, but are first seasoned, aud
the elephants not only bring the logs
from the water to the land, but also
stack them in huge piles, convey them
to the mill, saw them and afterwOrd
pile the lumber. OF course each ele-
phaht performs only such certain parts
of the work for which he has been
trained and the entire herd is divided
into companies of from two to eight.
One division of the pachyderms does
the work in the water, another com
pany carries the logs to the drying or
seasoning stacks, others pile them, an
other class conveys the dry logs to the
mill. where some Of the elephants do
the work of saving. still others pile
the sawed lumber and another herd
carries hay and prepares the food for
this great industrial combination OF
brute strength and intelligence.
But the most wonderful, interest
ing, novel and almost incredible
feature of the entire combination is
the sight of two monstrously large
male elephants that actually act in the
capacity of bosses or oyerseers Of the
work. These move from place to
place among the working elephants,
spurring them on, pushing, driving
and frequently chastising a lazy or
recalcitrant member ofthe force.
Very few men are needed to direct
the elephants in their work. From
six to eight of the animals usually
work in the water These wade or
swim, according to the depth of the
water, to the log boom, and, loosen
ing several logs at time, tow them to
shore at a certain point. Each of the
CON pany of elephants that convey the
logs from this point to the drying
place has a chain attached to his neck
and reaching to the ground. At the
bottom of this chain is a loop through
which the log is run. A man directs
the movements of the elephants in
placing the log within the coil of the
chain. The elephant picks mp another
log by his trunk, and in this manner
drags two at a time to the seasoning
stacks About eight elephants are en-
ployed in this capacity. The work of
piling the logs to dry is done by TWO
female elephants. Each winds her
trunk about the log near the end, and
together they raise it in a horizontal
position and place it on the stack.
After the logs have dried sufficiently
they are ready for the mill. Two fe-
male elephants take the dry logs from
the piles and deliver them to herd
similar in training to those that work
between the water and the seasoning
stacks These convey the logs to
track over which small car runs to
the mill. Only one log at time Is
placed upon this car. As soon as
log is in position on the car an ele-
phnnt trained for this particular part
of the work pushes the car 10 the mill.
Arrived at the mill the log is pushed
from the car to "a carrier that passes
beneath the buzz-saw. As soon rs the
log is thus transferred to the carrier
the elephant operating the car returns
for another log, while another huge
beast. trained to do the saving,
operates the carrier and pushes the
log against the saw Butthe interest
ing part Of the work does not end here,
for as the log is being sawed into
the desired boards and timbers an
other eleDhant receives the completed