Newell Beam, interviewed by Edward D. "Sandy" Ives

1908 Newell Beam, 1903 - 1995, interviewed by Edward D. “Sandy” Ives, March 10–May 25, 1986, Cutler, Maine. Beam talks about his experiences working in the woods along the Machais River; breaking through heavy snow; a block of land owned by two companies; logging around Fifth Lake in the early 1920s; pay fluctuations and what the company provided; description of photographs; construction of camp buildings and beds; lice and ridding the camp of lice; superiority of selective cutting; camp life and recreation in the evenings; sings and recites “The Jam on Gerry’s Rock”; predominance of local workers; peeling pulpwood and hemlock; axes; number of logs the could be gotten from a tree; how to lead a tree; problem of trees getting caught in birches; crew composition; road maintenance; toilet facilities; games and tricks; special jobs in the camps; difference between single and double camps; hunting and poaching on Sundays; footwear; scaling logs; marking logs; using horses in the woods; Sunday recreation; scaling units; use of Lombards to haul logs; burning trees to create light; camp meals; and locations of lumber camps. Includes drawing and catalog of Beam’s homemade cassettes plus two homemade cassettes of Beam’s storytelling and singing. Text: 139 pp. transcript. Recording: T 1927 – T 1928, T 1941, C 0235 CD 2134, C 0236 CD 2135, C 0249 CD 2136 4 hours. Photographs: P 6163 – P 6166.