Chain saws

Abstract 1913 Adin R. McKeown, interviewed by Edward D. “Sandy” Ives, March 13 – May 24, 1986, Crawford, Maine. McKeown discusses his experiences working in the woods and on drives along the Machias River; founding of Sullivan’s lumber business; salvaging burnt timber; shared drives between Sullivan’s and Machias Lumber Company; towing log booms on lakes; playing baseball when wind was unfavorable; importance of dams and water levels; pay in the late 1910s; tasks of a road monkey; description of a...

Abstract

1322 Ansel Stevens, interviewed by Pamela Webber, April 12, 1980, Wells, Maine. Stevens discusses his childhood in Wells during the 1930s and 40s; working as a firefighter for the Navy and then Portsmouth Naval Shipyard; his preference for his wife not to work outside the home; the Great Depression on his family’s farm; and the introduction of new saws to the Maine woods. Text: 26 pp. transcript. Recording: T 1441 1 hour. mfc_na1322_t1441_01, mfc_na1322_t1441_02

Abstract 1929 Donald McLellan, interviewed by Edward D. “Sandy” Ives, May 22, 1986, in South Princeton, Maine. McLellan talks about working in the Machias Region woods as an independent operator; use of trucks 1946-47; pay rates in the mid-late 1940s; how he worked as an independent operator; hauling logs; accidents in the woods; his cutting arrangements; dishonesty in scaling; pay in the mid-1930s; making homemade snowshoes out of barrel staves; spring poles; where he sold his lumber; introduction...

Abstract 1905 Irving Bangs, interviewed by Edward D. “Sandy” Ives, March 8, 1986, Machias, Maine. Bangs discusses his experiences working in the woods along the Machias River beginning in the late 1930s; driving logs using a splash-dam; driving boom logs; how he began scaling; surveying work as mediating a fight; building roads to transport pulpwood; French-Canadians as good workers; no need to replant because seedlings were left standing; skidders as wasteful; introduction of chain saws and problems...

Abstract 1905 Irving Bangs, interviewed by Edward D. “Sandy” Ives, March 8, 1986, Machias, Maine. Bangs discusses his experiences working in the woods along the Machias River beginning in the late 1930s; driving logs using a splash-dam; driving boom logs; how he began scaling; surveying work as mediating a fight; building roads to transport pulpwood; French-Canadians as good workers; no need to replant because seedlings were left standing; skidders as wasteful; introduction of chain saws and problems...

Abstract 1911 Robert Wright, interviewed by Edward D. “Sandy” Ives, March 12 and October 6, 1986, Machias, Maine. Wright talks about his experiences driving and supervising the final years of Machias River drives; quantities of logs; dates for river drives; job positions in a woods camp; location of dams; the ‘Driving Rock’ in the Machias River; names of river branches; splash dams on small streams; tradition of eating four meals daily; reasons for the end of river driving; scows; the fun of riding...