Daily Kennebec journal., 1908-06-02
Sp|endid|y Equipped Plant
at TayIor's Point.
What Hume & heWhaII Co.
is Doing at Fairfield.
Mill Will Saw Ten Million Feet Of
Logs Yearly.

Fairfield Village, was sold to The lafS-
est electric power corporation in this
section of the State. Many OF the Older
settlers then agreed that the last Of
the saw1nills, which had so much con-
tributed to the growth and prosperity
of Fairfield for a long term of years
had been seen; that the mill was going
to the forest in the future and that as
a consequence the fame of Fairfield as
one of the leading numbering towns on
the Kennebec was thing of the past
Despite the fact that such was the
conviction of a large majority OF the
tOwnspeople, there has been q fiXed
idea for a year or more in the minds
of two enterprising young business
men of the town that Fairfield could
be put back on the sawmili map once
more and in few brief months that
idea has blossomcd into one of the fin
est sawmil plants in the East, perhaps
the fullest equipped, when it shall be
completed, of any yet built on the
Kennebec waters.
This mill is situated on what is
known as Taylor's Point at the north
end of the village and is owned and
will be operated by the Hume & New
firm being c. Guy Hume and Henry c.
Newhall. The mill is modelled after
the western style and has been planned
and built principally according to the
ideas Of Charles II. Nichols, for many
years a practical !nillman with the
large numbering concerns at Shawmut.
1t is built very substantially through
out, is finely located both for its ac-
feasibility to the Kcnncbcc river and
the Maine Central Railroad, from
which sources it will get the millions
of logs required for its supply, and
being on the main highway about d
third of a mile above the village
proper, is easily reached by operators
and patrons alike.
The mill is q three story structure,
45x209 feet, SO planned tnat logs Will
come in at one end, be sawed accord
ing to demand in the latest approved
way anG sent from the mill ut the
other end, the design being to keep
the log and finished product ON the
move all the time with the least cn"i@y
possible. The mill sets on Sc concrete
piers, each with Il SiX-foot base resi-
ing on foundations five feet below nc
surface of the ground. The first story
is given over entirely to the extensive
shafting and gearing and the main elc-
vator which carries away The waste OF
the mill. The second story is for the
manufacture of the lumber and the
third story for the filing room where
all the saws and tools necessary for
their repair are installed.
On the second noor is found the chief
interest. The log comes into the mlli
by way of a long sluicc fitted with the
latest contrivanceS for This purpose.
The big bed saw is at the very en-
trance and cuts the log into the de-
sired length. Then the live rolls take
the log and according as it goes into
long or short stock is shot off quickly
to the right or LETT side of the mill.
II to the right side the band saw does
it's work smartly. the sawed lumber
going rapidly on its way to the edger,
trimmer and marker, helped along
principally by system of live rolls
and chain transfers which one man
standing on platform at the west
side of the mill controls largely with
u set of levers, q feature of this mill
which makes it distinctivcly western
in type, along with the entirely new
wrinkle in eastern manufacture, the
Saginaw band resaW. The band saw
plant is from the Prescott people and
operates with steam feed. The gun
shot feed is employed and the carriage
is in two sections, so as to allow of
taking on the longest or shortest logs
and saving them with the least ex-
penditure of power. The set works
operate by steam and the log gets
quick handling here, and the steam
"niggcr" does its work thoroughly in
stopping and loading the log as it
comes from the bed of the mill. The
Saginaw resaw, known as the inven-
ton of VIM. b. Mershon. is calculated
to add 35 per cent to the output OF the
mill. Ii is a new machine for this part
of the country and while having some
of the features of the regulation band
saw does a work peculiarly its own,
taking the lumber from the band saw
after it has been "sided up" and split
ting it into the required dimensions at
a considerable saving OF time and ex-
pense of handling, two extra men only
being required to get the extra output.
This machine is simple in principle,
comprising a band saw with futed
rolls horizontally placed at either side
capable of being moved toward or
away from the saw as required by two
levers handy to the man operating the
machine. BY having this resaw the
So per cent increase of output is oh
tanned, as when saving dimension the
band saw practically has only to go
through the preliminaries of saving
up the log, and thus takes on one log
after another in rapid rotation.
The gang cdger works practically the
same as ever and from this machine
the lumber goes TO the trimmer. also
of western pattern, where it is trimmed
to the exact lengths required, and
passes on to the marker, thence out of
the mill to the big platform and then
either onto cars or to the yards.
The short lumber is worked up with
equal facility. The east side of the
mill is entirely given over to its manu-
facture, the clapboard, shingle and
lath machines being located con-
yeniently from north to south. The
clapboards go out the east side of the
mill to the piling grounds on the shore
of the river. The shingles when sawed
are sluiced to the sorting bins in rhe
l. u