248 REPORT OF THE 



the old-fashioned mill had only one saw, it did not require much timber to stock it, 

 and hence several years would elapse before the haul became too long to be profit- 

 able. Then the lumberman would move his mill into another tract of timber and 

 resume logging. It was not until years later that the Fox Brothers, the pioneer 

 lumbermen of Warren County, conceived the plan of driving the logs to the mill 

 instead of moving the mill to the logs, and so sent the first log drive down the 

 Schroon River branch of the Upper Hudson. 



For the first two hundred years the mJlls were of rude, primitive construction 

 and of small capacity, being limited to a single upright saw. At first the saw was 

 attached direct to the pitman, the blade being steadied by a side pressure from 

 guide blocks. Then an improvement was made by straining the saw between stir- 

 rups in a frame or " gate," the pitman being attached to the latter. As the turbine 

 was then unknown, the power was obtained from a single overshot water wheel. 



Many of the first sawmills were built in combination with a gristmill, the power 

 being used to drive them both or singly as needed from time to time ; and in most 

 instances both were under the same roof. 



There were timber thieves in those old days as well as now. Mr. Nathan Ford, 

 the pioneer of Ogdensburg, in a letter to Samuel Ogden, December 27, 1799, wrote: 

 " There are several persons now cutting timber upon the two upper townships. 

 Mr. Wilkins took down the names of several who pretended to settle ; their motive 

 was only stealing off the timber. If something is not done about this business 

 great destruction will arise. An example ought to be made, and this cannot be 

 done without sending an ofificer from Fort Stanwix. They have got the timber so 

 boldly that they say there is no law that can be executed upon them here." 



A DangeroQS Life. 



The life of the pioneer woodsmen or lumbermen was always beset with dangers 

 peculiar to their work. The early town records make frequent mention of the fatal 

 accidents which befell them. It is remarkable how often the first death in a settle- 

 ment was that of some man who was killed by the falling of a tree'* which he was cut- 

 ting ; of one who was crushed by a load of logs ; or of one who was killed in his saw- 

 mill. Not only the pioneers, but their successors have contributed to the same death 

 roll every year. The causes are various ; a heavy limb falls, broken by the wind ; a 



*In the foot notes appended to the town histories in Hough's Gazetteer of New York there are 

 twenty-one different instances mentioned in which the first death among the settlers was that of 

 some man who was killed by the falling of a tree. 



