Xiiv.Miili.r 111. llill 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



41 



Tin- fort which Daviil Miiiear built passoil oijt of use al Ihu I'lOhi" 

 of thi' luiliaii wars. The ruins wore cleared awa.v in 1(S56 to make 

 room for Tucker county "s first courthous<>, which still stands. 



The sawmill never sawed n plank after the death of its liiiildrr. It 

 was a hea|i of ruins at the licj;inninj; of the Civil War, and at that 

 time such of the irons as were servicealile were carried away and 

 u^ain saw use in a muley sawmill three miles distant. About a 

 ((uartor of a century ago that mill was abandoned. The represen- 

 tative of H.VRDWOOD Record visitoil the site and found only a pile of 

 rotten timbers, partly covered by driftwood lodged there in times of 

 Mood. After a search of an hour and some excavatinj;. the old crank 

 that drove the .saw was found. It was carried out and photographed. 

 It is shown in an accompanying cut. Rust has not greatly damaged 

 it during the 141 years of service and abuse since a packhorse carried 

 it over the mountains. Its weight is about seventy-five pounds. 



David Minear was not only a lumberman and an Indian fighter, 

 but also a church missionary who worked hanl to plant Methodism 

 in the western wilderness. He was ahead of Bishop .\sbury in that 



region, but his work was only local. On one occasion he rode horse- 

 back IfiO miles through the woo<ls to Winchester, Va., to ask that a 

 preacher be sent "to head otT the work of the devil among the 

 frontiersmen. ' ' His stone house was the earliest religious meeting 

 house in that region, and occasionally a missionary stopped there to 

 preach while passing through the wilderness. But David Mincur 

 wanted a better meeting house, and he built one, and in memory of 

 his little daughter, he called it "Ann Eliza." It may have been the 

 earliest memorial church west of the Appalachian Mountains. The 

 villagers have worshipped in it for more than a hundreil years, and 

 today it is scrveil by a Methodist circuit rider, and it is still known 

 bv the name its builder gave it. The peo|ile Uiere say that the Indfry 

 and the weather boarding have been addeil within the past seventy- 

 live years, but otherwi.sc the building is about as its foumler left it. 

 Tradition says that Bishop Asbury dedicated the church; but the 

 truth of the tradition is doubtful. Asbury docs not moutiou the 

 church in his diary w'hich records his doings day by da.v, which is 

 circumstantial evidence that he was never there. 



Dimension Stock Drying 



A factor of considerable importance in connection with the dimen- 

 sion stock business is that of drying the material. Most of the dimen- 

 sion stock must Vie thoroughl.v dr.v before it is used, and the questions 

 turn upon when and how to dry it. 



Much is reduced to its size from green timber and the drying is 

 done afterward. In opposition to this, however, a concern quite promi- 

 nent in dimension stock business, making a specialty of mahogan.y, 

 follows the practice of thoroughl.v drying the lumber and flitches 

 before working them into dimension stock. Ordinarily this would 

 seem like waste of time and dry-kiln space, because it takes longer 

 and requires more room to dry rough lumber than to dry the product 

 after it is refined into dimen.sion. 



The arguments put up by these people in support of kiln-drying 

 lumlier first was that a wide variety of dimensions was made and 

 that to cut the stock green and then dry it would necessitate drying 

 not only the original dimensions, but other dimensions made from 

 the trimmings from these dimensions and so on. This makes quite 

 a confu.sing list of articles which would have to be gathered up and 

 dried separately, and it was figured it would simplify the matter 

 considerably to dry the lumber first, then reduce it to dimensions. 



It would be hard to apply this idea in getting out oak and hickory 

 dimension stock, especially where the dimensions are larger than 

 could be obtained from ordinary inch boards. In making dimensions 

 from regular lumber stock, say from 4/4 to 6/4 boards, there may 

 he times when it would be best to drv the lumber and then cut it 

 into dimensions. This may apply to maple and gum used in broom 

 handle work, because the trimmings from the dried lumber would be 

 alreaily dry and ready to use for smaller dimensions like chair rungs, 

 rods and small turnings and mouldings. It might apply also in the 

 ash handle trade. 



There is room for an interesting investigation along this line not 

 only to determine when it is best to ilry the lumber first, and when 

 best to do the drying after the dimension stock is cut, but also to 

 get light upon the best ways and means for handling different size." 

 and kinds of dimension stock to get it ilry or seasoned in the best 

 shape at the lowest cost. 



Adding New Languages 



One thing this war will do for Americans is to make them feel closer 

 and more neighborly to those of the Continent with whom they are 

 fighting. Our boys will come back from France with a working 

 knowledge of the French vocabulary, just as many of them came back 

 from the .Mexican border with some knowledge of Spanish. And this 

 greater familiarity with and interest in other languages is a pretty 

 good entering wedge for enlarged commercial transactions with those 

 using them. 



Spanish especially is a mighty good thing to know just now. Eng- 

 lish is perhaps the most widely spoken language on earth, due to the 

 fact that "the sun never sets on the British Empire"; but Spanish is 



a good second. A man equipped with a knowledge of English and 

 Si)anish could not only travel comfortably, but do business, in most 

 of the countries of the world. 



It ma.v be that before long lumbermen with a vision of the future 

 will be having classes in modern languages for their salesmen, putting 

 them in a position to go out ' ' on the road, ' ' and to include in ' ' the 

 road ' ' some of the great markets in other lands across the seas. In- 

 deed, something of this sort has already been attempte<l. For instance, 

 the C. C. Mcngel & Bro. Company of Louisville had a class in S[ianish 

 several years ago, for the benefit of those who either had correspoml- 

 ence with the Mexican and Central American points where the mahog- 

 any coiii[iany is represented, or with a view to going there. 



Knowledge of other languages than English is a real as.set for the 

 nloilcrn business man, especiallv in sales work. That it is of (iractical, 

 conmicrcial value is indicated by the fact that not a few men who 

 understand other languages make a fair income by translating corre- 

 spondence which business houses have with customers in foreign 

 countries. 



Woods and the War 



One of the advantages which the lumber imlustry will reap from 

 the war is a more general knowledge of the availability of certain 

 woods for certain work. 



In these days of high pressure operations, when immense quantities 

 of nuiterials must be produced on short notice, it is not always feasible 

 to wait for the wood which has always lieen used for the purpose. 

 Something else must be adapted to the use, if it is found on investi- 

 gation that it will serve. And in many instances the something else 

 is located, and tests demonstrate that it will answer the purpose ex- 

 cellently. 



The use of oak lor acruiilaiu- propellers is a good example of this. 

 Heretofore other materials have been specified, but because a great 

 (|uantity was needed oak was stuilied and found to be suitable. Other 

 .situations of this kind are arising, and the net result of the war's 

 experience will be a better knowledge and appreciation of the possi- 

 bilities of wood in its various forms. 



It is of course true that ui peace times, when purely conunercial 

 considerations prevail, the price element is often a controlling factor. 

 That is to say, a wood is selected primarily because it is the cheapest 

 available material suitable for the purpose. Some other wood may l>e 

 somewhat better, but too high-priced to justify its use under the con- 

 ditions. Hut this is not the big consideration in war-times. It is a 

 case of getting the product into use, and of supplying the necil in the 

 shortest possible time. The fact that a suitable wood may be a few- 

 dollars higher in price than that which has always been used is not 

 likely to prevent its being specified for the work. But while this i» 

 so, the actual trial of new woods in work for which other materials 

 have always served cannot but prove suggestive wheu this experience is 

 applied to the commercial field. 



