Leon Bussell, interviewed by Edward D. “Sandy” Ives and members of the Fall 1973 Class of FO 107

Series

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

From the Collection:

The Argyle Boom Collection consists of approximately seventy-five hours of tape recorded interviews (now digitized). The interviews deal with Argyle Boom, which was one of several locations at which logs that had been cut upriver and floated or “driven” down the Penobscot River were sorted before being sent on to the lumber mills in Old Town, Orono, Veazie, Bangor, and Brewer, Maine, from approximately 1900 to 1930. The material includes interviews with people who had worked on the boom and essays on various aspects of boom construction and operation and the daily lives of the workers.

Dates

1973-1975

Creator

From the Collection: Ives, Edward D. (Interviewer, Person)

Conditions Governing Access

For digitized items free from access restrictions, we are working to upload this material (pdfs, mp3s, jpgs) for public access, but it is an ongoing project. If you don’t find what you are looking for here, contact Special Collections (um.library.spc@maine.edu).

Extent

From the Collection: 31 items

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

Leon Bussell, Emile Leavitt, Ernest Kennedy, Stephen “Rex” Buzzell, interviewed by class of FO 107, November 8, 1973, November 15, 1973, November 20, 1973, and November 27, 1973 (respectively) Room B South Stevens Hall, UMaine, Orono, Maine. During the interviews, there was a model of Argyle Boom on the table, tools of the trade, maps, aerial photographs, and a number of Archives photographs available for the respondents to comment on. Bussell, Leavitt, Kennedy, and Buzzell talk about the Argyle log-sorting boom on the Penobscot River; the construction and operation of piers, gaps, and headworks; tools and techniques for sorting, rafting, and dropping off logs; wedges and mallets; stray pen; prize logs; beats; joints; swings; jigger and trapeze line; endways rafts; backway drive; jail boom; jobbers marks; living conditions and meals; Pea Cove, Nebraska, and Cuba booms; Black Island; Freese Island; Foster Island; Sunkhaze; Old Town; Gene Mann and Billy Mann. The interviews are part of a project that led to an issue of Northeast Folklore, XVII: “Argyle Boom.”