The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1895-07-27
In a Modern Lumber Mill.
From the Minneapolis Press.


mill. When | was boy in the pine woods
on the Allegheny hills they had sawmills
ON the creeks and rivers that used to do
business with the logs in a way that seemed
to be amazing They used to have buzz
saws in those days about as bio around as
the full moon, and the way that little
Gypsy engine of three or four horse power
could make them reyolye was wonder.
But they told me here that | was out or
date, and that the Allegheny pine woods
were not in it.
50 | went down to a real lumber mill
Minneapolis lumber mill-yesterday.
The show is worth the price of admission.
A Minneapolis lumber mill is place where
they feed forest into one end and draw
frame house out of the other. 4 Mime
apolis lumber mill is the Keller of the
mechanic art 1t swallows log and
yomits a wagon-load of toothpicks. There
is prestidigitation for you. The modern
lumber mill Is place where the men are
machinery and the machinery seems to do
the thinking. Seems ism really the word
1t does think, Or, if You can prove that
IT doesn t, You can make me believe it.
| saw ii think. saw a great big leviathan
of a thing, jagged hooked long-toothed
monster, reach over and pick up log.
log that was half as big as the steel arch
bridge, and pat it and caress it and turn it
over as a woman would baby. tuck it in.
and then-rip 1t was all over with Mr..
Log 1t made me think of when the wolf
unmasked himself to Little Red Riding
Hood. He had been good and kind and
loving. and all that, You know, but finally
he showed his cruel teeth. That the
way this human monster. this machine that
thought did with the log; the poor log
that it had pretended to be so fond of, and
had eoddled and made love to.
Down in this mill where | was there
were three saws running. This ism tech
nical, and | don know for sure what they
call them, but one was buzz saw know
\ buzz saw when see it-and another
was saw like leather belt. piece o1
leather betting, | mean. 1t must have
been % or 30 feet long. and it ran over
big wheel that went around million times
a second Four or FIVE feet ofthe saw came
down vertically, just at the edge of little
railroad about 80 or 60 feet long, inside
the mill There was fiat ear on the rail
road aud big piston rod was its motive
power. The car was fastened to the rod.
Ruth was half as surely tangled up.
Whittier thou goest 2 Well. when the
nod went you may be sure the car went.
night away. 4 man pulled string and
the rod did the rest
Ii was on to this ear that the thing with
the wolf teeth dumped the logs. one by
one When they were in position, all
tucked IN and feeling pretty comfortable,
| thank you, all at once that string was
pulled and in about second the poor,
nususpecting log bad its nose up against
that leather belt saw aud was being sliced
and trimmed into a stick of square timber
In about two minutes it had lost all its self
respect. Il was nude, shamefaeed. pitia-
bic,
Then some one pulled another string or
touched button. | don know which, and
what was left Of the log was ignominio,tsly
thrown overheard 1t fell upon a moving
sidewalk, something like that thing they
had down By the steamer pier at the
World Fair and the sidewalk carried it
of, first south, then east | think this
sidewalk thought too 1t seemed to. Ii
did just the right thing at the right time
Il never made anything that looked to me
ike a mistake 1t took this bic timber
and ran /; over To the middle Of the mill
and laid il on another sidewalk that was at
rest The brother of the moving sidewalk
was very busy on the other side Of the mill
taking care Of the timbers the buzz saw
was turning out turning them into the
same centre Every few minutes six or
eight squared timbers would be piled up on
the sidewalk that was at rest. Then some
one pulled another string. The sidewalk
that was at rest GOT move ON itself; not
very fast, but about as fast as fat man
with Sl60 in his pocket would walk after
taking dinner AT the West.
Down the pike little way was cider
press, or something. Maybe it wasn't a
cider press. for am not a mechanical ex-
pert. but it looked like it, Ii was about
as big as ton Of hay, and inside of 4
twenty -foar SAWS were going up and down.
not around, but straight up and down, like
a typewriter girl jaws when she chews
gum aud thinks she is thinking. The
sidewalk in the middle Of the mill walked
right into the mouths of these twenty four
devils that were doing this vertical dance
And it was all off You have seen,
possibly, eolored gentleman, an attache
OF your fayorite free lunch counter, cut up
a cheese haven't YOU. Well, his work
was hard compared to that Of the cider
mill Ii seemed to have positive relish
for timber II went through that stack of
lumber-about a half a ear load-hke a
tramp through hand-out; and when, in
about seven seconds the sidewalk had
pushed them entirely through the mill.
there was a pile Of inch planks ready for
market
This sidewalk business seems TO be a
sort Of main push-a sort of floor walker
that not half bad around lumber
MILL When the cider mill gets through
with the inch planks they travel right
along on to another moving sidewalk. 1t
receives them courteously to its bed and
bears them away as bridegroom Most
any old place around the mill yard is good
enough for the moving sidewalk to 90 to-
The new made lumber is carried along
east, west, or south until good easy place
to dump it shows up, and then the side
walk lets 90 of its load, stops, piles ii up,
and goes back after more That the
honest truth
stood on the bridge and saw two men
with pike poles steering the logs that came
down the hoom An endless cable road
came out of the water and ran up sharp
incline into the mill 1t had great hooked
teeth in it every ten feet. The men with
the pike poles would push the nose of
log on to the cable, and in half second
the big teeth would seize it by the throat,
then by the belly, then by the feet, and it
was gone. 1t was as apython carrying off
a crocodile.
Dr Alfred |. Kannadv tho am;nant