Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1902-08-13
AN IDEAL LUMBER PLANT.
Messrs. shockley & Arlington, Of West Union,
Own the Best In The up-Country.

A recent visit to the lumber plant of
Messrs. Shockley & Arlington, in West
Union, revealed to us the fact that we
have right in our midst the most COM
plete and best equipped planning and
resaw mill in the upper part of South
Carolina. Aside from the plant In West
Union Mr.. j. @. Shockley, the senior
member of the firm of Shockley & AIRING
ton, owns and operates three saw mills,
which supply the resaw plant with the
rough lumber. Being an expert in the
selecting of timber and the handling of
rough lumber, Mr.. Shockley personally
supervises this branch of the business,
the resaw and planning plant being in
charge of Mr.. j. s. Arlington, who has
spent many years in the study and prac-
tical operation of similar mills, princi-
pally in Augusta, Ga.
The resaw and planning department is
operated by a 30-horse-power Erie City
the machinery is run by the power fur
nished by this engine and boiler, and in
addition to this the dry kiln is heated
entirely by steam from the boiler, con-
vcyed by pipes to the kiln, thus distrib-
uting hot air evenly through the 10000
to 10000 feet of lumber, neatly stacked
on cars and run into the kiln, the capac-
IVY VI WhtOf 10 duOuI LO,OOU Ic6U OI
finished flooring or ceiling, or 80, O,OO0 feet
of heavy flooring, such as is generally
used in the construction of cotton mills,
etc. phe lumber is thoroughly 1ried in
thirty-six hours, and there is absolutely
no danger from fire, as the only means
employed in the drying process is the
surplus steam from the boiler. The
feet of finished lumber.
The resaw department is a very inter-
esting place to visit. Here are seen the
planer, resaw, rip-saw, six-inch moulder,
turning lathe, scroll and band saws Fur
nished with the power from the large
engine, these various saws speed through
the heavy lumber or whistle merriiy
through the lighter stuff at surpris-
ingly rapid rate. Under the skilful
manipulation of Mr.. Arlington piece
of lumber ten by twenty-fo inches is
placed against the flying band saw, and
in less time than one has to think of
what is going to be done he shows the
looker-on a neat and handsome orna-
mental bracket. He makes his own de.
signs, and in this work he looks not only
to beauty and symmetry, but to utility
as we'll. All work of one pattern, no
matter what the size of the bracket NAV
be, is made on uniform basis. Hence
an eight-inch bracket is, say, on a basis
of two inches in width; so also are the
fourteen and twenty-inch brackets. To
increase the size and amount of fapcy
work of a bracket one has only to join
two of thcm together, and an eight and
twenty-inch bracket can be made one
simply by joining the bases together,
not only retaining, but adding to, the
grace and symmetry of the ornament.
ANY, size or style of grille and bracket
work can be turned out-the small and
delicate or the mas 'ive and substantial.
"A in rfn hoe hna ~.
the lumber business for twenty years,
q, great deal of his time being spent in
the large mills at Augusta, Ga, from
which place he, with his family, moved
to West Union about six years ago. His
speciality is the finishing of lumber and
working it up for building and ornamen-
tai purposes, though he is thoroughly at
home in any department., and knows
every piece of machinery in the plant so
| well that the slightest irregularity at any
point is speedily detected and as readily
| righted. Mr.. Shockley finds in Mr.. Ar.
| rington valuable second, and the two
members of the firm, the one an expert.
enced and practical timber and lumber
man, and the other an exceptionally fine
judge and manufacturer of the finished
product, give the Shockley & Arlington
plant the full benefit of the best practi.
cal and business method in the conduct
of their business.
Mr. Shockley has been in the lumber
business continuously for thirteen years,
and during that time he has shipped from
his mills over 100000 feet of rough
and finished lumber. Speaking of the
available supply of timber for the future
he said there is an abundance in the for
ests, within reasonable distance from
his mills, to supply every demand for the
next twenty years; and the present
growth of young trees, now too small for
use IN the manufacture of lumber, will,
he thinks, make ample provision for the
t!um6ermen of twenty years hence. His
plant is being increased and impro we'd as
to machinery, etc., in proportion to the
manufacturing enterprises in operation
in upper South Carolina none has a
brighter prospect than that of Shockley
d. Arlington, in our little sister town Of
West Union.