The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1915-08-03
'ENNSYLVANIA LUMBERME|N m
THE NORTH CAROLINA MOUNTAINS
Doing Big Work in Big WayAccompsh Wonders Railroad
BuldngHau Logs From Some of the Steepest Declvties
Attacked by Man Anywhere.

piete biG double band and resaw mill
at Hlhck Mountain. and year ago
they sold 1t to two more Pennsylya-
mans, Perley and Crockett, from VIII
Transport They brought in somo |
more Pennsylvanians, until il you sit |
down and talk to q stranger around |
here you are likely to find presently |
that he is Charley Steiner. of Clarion |
or j. a. DOutt. Of RidgeWay. or Ray |
Dlckey, OF Brookville, or T. +. Lundy. |
of WllliamSport, or some other promi- |
nent Pennsylvania .woodsman or mill
builder or operator, for the woods is
full Of the kind And they are making
lumber
What do you suppose these Penn
sylvania North Carolinians are turn
ing out from the big spruce forests?
Wen, for one tNins, they are making
the structural 4 for the air ships
that are buildir1 RAPIDLY every
where. Spruce is the Hehtest
strongest wood that It will
carry a bigger load in ~ ION to
its own weight than any otit| q. her
to be had by the flying machinCe5o i.
and one, two, and three-inch q ar
lumber nearly any length is a prin-
cipal product of the big saws. This
stuff goes to the aeroplane men An
| other big demand is from the piano
| men who want light, resonant wood
| for sounding boards for pianos. So
Black Mountain is called on for this
material. The peculiar properties of
spruce which respond to the demand
| for a wood that vibrates with the most
delicacy and accuracy has made this
who'd the dream of musical instrumen
| makers for ages. This fiddle has
| idealized spruce and sugar maple. A
spruce top and hard maple back
make the best fiddles, so Black Noun
$oSv
/ musical world. Then comes another
peculiar demand. Thel ess valua bic
grades of spruce are cut into box
boards to make packing cases for the
food preparations that cannot use
woods that taint the contents Of the
package. Spruce gives no taste or
odor to anything packed in it, and
, and similar articles are packed in
spruce, and the demand for packing
, boxes is big.
A peculiarly about this lumber op
} Grafton Is that the twenty miles Of log.
7 ging road is all down grade SO thai
5 it is all down hill haul except the
empties, and the number Of emptie.
/ the locomotives can haul back deter
3 mines the number Of cars they car
! hold back on the down trip. Tha
, sounds easy. but Ray Dickie who
gives most of this information, say:
: it is deceiving. To get a train O
a empty cars up a five per cent grade
, | around 80 degrees curves is no pic
mic. In it's travels thatr DAD crosse
. the summit Of the Appalachians thre
, or four times. rising from one gap t
$ another. It will one day be one O
t the most attractive passenger road
y Of the world if the government get
! that national park in these mountains
= for when the cars are not hugging tn
r | face of the mountain they are croSsin
: | back and forth on the SUBMITS of tn
" gaps, and the scenery is the kind tha
= | makes you hold your breath and won
: | der where you will find a chance t
, gather up the remains if you happeI
to fall out Of the car window an
g start down the bank.
= These folks are cutting about 100,
- 900 feet Of lumber day, cleaning tn
. trees from five to six acres or NOR
n in their days work. They will b
q busy for four or five years at thi
! rate. They are working entirely abov
y, the 5000 feet altitude level, as spruc
: does not grow below that. Thus tn
>, I forests are still wooded below tn
=, spruce level, but above it they ar
II going rapidly.
e Climb that tree" said Ray Dicke
is on the summit Of Mount Mitchell.
z obeyed his instruction, and he pointe
o out a railroad on the north side Of tn
e mountain. That" he said, sis tn
is operation of Brown Brothers,
is PunXsutawney, Pennsylvania The
lr have 4O0OO,000 feet OF some of tn
Ie finest hardwood in the world. The
l. have a standard gauge road comm
l. CONTINUED on Page Ffft~ ~en)