The record-union., 1896-04-19

new, man must have been a very slow
creature indeed. The horse was then
in miniature, so scientists assure us,
and could not have been utilized for
purposes Of locomotion, while bicycles,
trolley lines and steam power were in
allegiance, patiently awaiting the arri-
val of the nineteenth century men who
were predeStined to make their age the
great era in the worlds history. In
those days men lived in caves and sat
on the sunny side Of the house to get
warm, and there learned to worship
the sun for the heat he gave to them.
But one day streams of lava came
out of the tops of mountains and set
fire to the underbrush, and the men Of
that age found that it resulted in heat
even more intense than that Of the
sun, and some of them seeded from the
original congregation and filed articles
of incorporation to conduct business
as fire worShiperS.
Thus it came about that primitive
man came to understand one of the
values of wood as a servant, and ever
afterward when men built tepees, the
Chinese, according to Charles Lamb
(whose humor to the average American
is rather obscure) discovered that pig
was better burned than raw, and when
ever roast was needed poor piggy was
driven into the tepee, to which the torch
was applied, thus securing feast fit for
king, and making the lumber yard
mans position a sinecure.
Men build houses with wood, some
times and live in them, too, but they
build other things also, and among
those other things is one of the nine
teenth century innovations-cars.
And as cars are built and repaired
every day at the Southern Pacific Com
pany's car shops stacks and stacks Of
timber is used. 1t may be stated here,
however, that the position of the lun-
Der yard man is no longer a sinecure.
The lumber used in the car shops is not
laid down smoothed and planed and
ready for use by any means, and much
of it is not even tongued and grooved.
There is no need of that, for the pro-
moters Of the shops provided for just
such emergencies as those when the
sawmill was erected.
Very few persons are there who have
not at some time in their lives visited
a sawmill and watched the big teeth
rip their way through giant logs, and
have seen the smoothing plane pass
over timber, leaving it smooth and
shining. but not everyone has visited
the railroad shops sawmi1l and been
edited by the knowledge to be picked
up and confused by the sounds which
assail them.
There may be seen not one saw at
work, but many. Not huge saws with
monster teeth perhaps, but conningly
arranged contrivances, perfected each
for a particular purpose There is the
peculiar buzz and whizz and hum to
be found nowhere else in the shops,
and there is the usual number of wheels
and belts and bars and bolts turning
machinery which makes it possible to
work UP the great quantities of lumber
used daily.
Inside the sawmill are curious ma
chimes chipping, cutting, smoothing
and growing pieces of timber into al
most every conceivable shape, and su-
perintending each machine is man
who thoroughly understands the ins
and outs of it all. Sawdust and shaw
ings are, next to the prepared lumber,
the principal output of the shops, and
men are constantly kept busy removing
the same.
And then there are other men who
lCdu lue CIuuc Oll IL 0NhSs
which they wheel in the shop to the
sawyers, and others, who load and
wheel the prepared lumber to the car
penters who are repairing cars or build
ing them from the ground up.
The car department, it may be said,
is under the charge of H. J. Small Su-
perintendent of Motor Power and Ma
chinery, assisted by Benjamin Welch,
phil Victor ia
the general foreman. Under their su-
pervision is conducted every division
of the car building department, and
upon their shoulders rests an enormous
responsibility.
That same lumber yard already re-
ferred TO happens to be one division Of
the car building department, and, as
has already been asserted, lumber is
one Of the necessary factors Of car
building.
The lumber-yard Of the Southern
Pacific Company in Sacramento is GER
tainly an extensive one, and contains
many millions of feet of humber of
many different varieties and dimen-
sions There is pine and spruce and
redwood and oak, and each has its par
ticular purpose, and all enter largely
There is also shining poplar and ash
from both the effete East and moist
Oregon; there is walnut and cherry
from the Mississippi Valley, and there
is teak from the East Indies and ma
hogany from Central America, and
there are other hard woods which are
used in constructing and finishing cars.
When 1t is considered that the amount
of lumber received at the yard annual
IL is estimated at 100000 feet; and
when it is further considered that those
millions Of feet of lumber must be un-
loaded and properly set up for season
ing. the enormity of the labor required
to handle it may become perceptible to
even the man who puts in his time tell
ins his friends how much work he is
capable of doing.
The idea of seasoning lumber Is not
new, and while history is not explicit
about the matter, it may reasonably
be inferred that the timbers used by
Father Noah in the construction of the
ark were all stuck up on end and prop
eriy seasoned The process OF seasoning
is, indeed, a very necessary one, FOR
green lumber worked into car would al
low an amount of shrinkage which would
rot only allow ones foot to go through
the cracks in the floor, but would also
weaken the car so that 1T would be
practically worthless, and would at best
he a very 'shaky'' affair; and the work
men of Sacramento's car-shops are not
in the habit OF turning off "shaky'
affairs.
"a Ia