66 REDWOOD LUMBERING. 



A description of the redwood saw-mill here, in detail, 

 might seem unnecessary to the practical millman ; for, as be- 

 fore stated, the process of manufacturing is not materially 

 different from that of lumber mills everywhere, the distin- 

 guishing feature only being the " Evans' Third Saw." For 

 the benefit of the novice, however, we quote from Bonner's 

 graphic description. While it does not go into full details 

 and give technicalities, it may give to the uninformed a gen- 

 eral idea of the work performed in a saw-mill. He .says : 



" In these mills, as in the woods, one is quickly impress- 

 ed with the fact that the work is not the easiest in the world, 

 nor the most desirable to a ' thin-skinned ' person. The inces- 

 sant din of machinery, the flying belts and pulleys, the end- 

 less chains, the rattle and jar, the escape of steam ; not to 

 mention the inclines and chutes, and other contrivances 

 which seem to be ever waiting to swallow up the unwary, 

 must make it a perfect pandemonium, and place of fear and 

 dread. At least, to the visitor they seem all this. Now a log 

 conies creeping up from the mud and slime of the boom ! 

 Beyond you the great saws are screeching as they hurry 

 through the log, which may have been growing yesterday 

 miles away in the forest ; to your left a small flat car, pro- 

 pelled by two men, bearing away bits of slab and small rub- 

 bish to a mild sort of Gehenna, which is ever kept burning, 

 fifty or sixty yards beyond the mill. From the saw carriage 

 runs an elevator, which carries the sawdust down to the fur- 

 nace room, or directly into the furnaces. To your right 

 the great planers send out their demoniac yells, as they take 

 the rough surface from the boards. And then the -chutes, 



