MEMORIES OF THE 



turned and set by hand. All the lumber and slabs, heavy or 

 light, had to be carried out of the mill, also by hand. In early 

 days the slabs were mostly given away, wasted, or floated down 

 the creek; but later they were cut into stove-wood and long 

 wood for boiling sap. Cutting ice when the mill was frozen up, 

 fighting anchor ice, repairing the ditch when it broke and washed 

 out, cleaning the flume and tail-race, were incidents of the work. 



Sawing all night was hard, cold work, and full of danger 

 which we then but slightly realized. Occasionally the saw 

 would '^run" — that is, bind, heat and get off the line, cutting 

 lumber thick at one end and thin at the other. The crank-wrist 

 or piston-rods would heat, the binder get loose, and the crank- 

 shaft jump and pound, and the log would get away from the old 

 dogs and jump up and down as if it were going through the floor, 

 or, in ''gigging back," the log would be pulled off the head- 

 block. Worse than all these, the sawyer sometimes got careless 

 and sleepy and " sawed the dog." This was great damage and 

 an utter disgrace. Then the saw had to go to George Ripley's 

 and be " gummed " — that is, new teeth must be cut, filed and 

 reset, as the old ones were battered down and knocked off by its 

 unsuccessful contest with the dog. 



Father was very handy in the use of tools and did much of 

 his own repairing; but he had to have a millwright at every 

 radical change or rebuilding. It was quite a pleasure to him to 

 overhaul and improve the mill, and many a good dollar from the 

 farm went into it and stayed there. 



The sawmill, being located at the crossing of two principal 

 roads, largely took the place of the country corner store. It 

 made a convenient meeting and lounging place for men and boys, 

 out of reach of the critical eyes and ears of the women — about 

 the only one there was in the neighborhood — and there they 



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