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Mills and Pulp Wood
Operations in Keene Valley
The last days of the sawmill operations in and around the Town of Keene, particularly in the Hamlet of Keene Valley, was paralleled somewhat by the pulpwood operations which were conducted by the Rodgers Company and their subcontractors. During my boyhood and young manhood extensive cutting was carried on in Johns Brook Valley, on Giant Mountain and also in the Valley east of Spread Eagle and north of Hopkins. The extensive growth of spruce trees which grew in these regions were valued, not only for its qualities as timber and lumber, but also for its excellent qualities in the production of pulp fibers for paper making. The Rodgers Mill at Ausable Forks, made a very high class paper from the local spruce pulpwood fibers.
My most vivid memories of this pulping operation goes back to the late teens and early and middle 1920's. During this period, Orlando Beede was conducting a logging operation for the Rodgers Company in the John's Brook Valley. Fletcher Beede, brother of Orlando, died suddenly and prematurely about 1915. Orlando survived Fletcher for many years. He and his wife lived in the home where Judson Whitney and his family have resided fin recent years. The long Beede horse barn stood on the property which my brother and I now own and is situated between Adirondack Street and the former home of Mrs. Van Loan. The Whitney Trailer Park is now located to the east of this area and the Edmonds storage sheds are to the west.
The largest barn had a central aisle running north and south down the middle of the long axis of the structure. On the right and left and at right angles to the central passage there were individual stalls for horses. According to my recollection, this building housed about ten teams or twenty horses. The teamsters obtained board and room at the Orlando Beede home, and perhaps at other homes nearby.
The pulp cutting operations were carried on during the spring, summer and early fall of the year. In the Johns Brook area, the regions being cut within my memory where those sections on the northern slopes of Armstrong and Wolf Jaw, and southern and southeasterly slopes of Big Slide Mountain. The pulpwood was cut four feet long, by two man crews of sawyers. The wood was piled four feet high in short ranks in the region where it was felled.
When the first snows came, teamsters having light, quick horses and short bobracks hauled the pulpwood from the mountainsides to a so called header, or yarding area, one of which was situated just west of the present Swing bridge which crosses Johns Brook near the New York State Ranger's camp and just downstream from the site of Johns Brook Lodge which is now owned and operated by the Adirondack Mountain Club.
This header, or loading point, was constructed of logs similar to a wharfing which one still occasionally sees along a river bank. The top was made level for a distance of perhaps forty to fifty yards. The roadway was constructed closely parallel to the loading header and gradually sloped downhill to the east. As the pulpwood was brought down the mountainsides by the short racks and snappy teams, it was scattered in a long narrow row along this landing and loading point known as the "header".
The teams which came up from Keene Valley to transport the pulpwood from that location to the Valley were heavier draft horses which were hitched to much longer bobracks, varying in length from 24 feet to 40 feet. The front end of the rack was elevated and placed on a sled to which it was attached by a so-called bunk and kingpin. The rear of the bobrack dragged on the ground, These bobracks were made of long spruce trees or timbers about 12 inches in diameter at the front end and tapering to a lesser diameter at the rear. These two parallel poles were held together by cross beams and iron rods positioned at the front and back of the rack. This kept the center line of these two poles about thirty inches to thirty six inches apart.
Other primary parts of the bobrack were:
1.), a bunk which was attached to the underside near the front end of the bobrack; this bunk rested upon the front sled.
2.) A "kingpin" was the member which fitted the bunk and bobrack to the sled. The "kingpin" was a shaft of iron about two or two and one-half inches in diameter and about twelve to eighteen inches long, with a head on the top end. The kingpin was passed down through the center of the bunk and extended into the crossbeam of the sleigh at its center. The kingpin was always loosely inserted without being fixed on the underside. This freedom of the kingpin allowed a load of pulpwood to turn and to tip over in case of an emergency, thereby preventing possible injury to the horses, in as much as the bobrack and its load would be quickly detached from the sleigh.
3.) The rear end of the bobrack which dragged on the ground was shod with a band of flat iron approximately three inches wide and securely bolted to the end of the rack. This iron shoe retarded the wear of the wooden rack which dragged on the ground.
4.) An upright hardwood stake was mounted at the front end and at the rear end of each log runner of the rack. These were held in upright by being inserted in a U shaped iron socket which was bolted through the parallel logs which formed the base of the bobrack. A hardwood cross beam was bolted across the logs behind both the front and rear stakes. The height of these stakes varied somewhat in length but I believe the ones in front might have been six or eight feet long, while those at back were four to six feet high. In a any case, it was possible to load six to twelve cords of pulpwood on these racks, depending upon the length of the rack, the experience of the team and teamster, and the condition of the roadbed.
Another important feature of the bobrack construction was a series of long pointed iron pins which were driven into the log on one side of the rack. These pins were perhaps four to six inches long and protruded an inch above the top surface of the rack. The purpose of these spikes was to keep the bottom row of pulpwood from shifting, or shucking, off the rack and thereby causing the load to tip over.
The loading of the pulpwood racks was an operation which required a great deal of skill and practice. The men who did this work were known as "professional loaders." At the "headers" of which I have spoken, being located just west of the Swing Bridge and northeast of John's Brook Lodge, the teamsters would turn their racks around upon arriving from Keene Valley and proceed to a point where the top of the rack was on a level with the header. The professional loaders then ranked the wood on the bobrack in a very precise and careful manner. As the height of the load increased, the loaders would need to lift the heavy pulpwood to a disadvantage. However, by driving the "rig" ahead, the teamster could bring the top of the unfinished load to a point level with the top of the header at that point. Because the road sloped downhill from the level header the loaders could easily continue to fill the rack without strenuous lifting. This periodic forward movement continued until the load was entirely filled to its desired height some twelve feet above ground level. A heavy chain was extended over the top of the load, the front end of which was fixed firmly to the front cross beam of the rack. Extending over and along the centerline of the load of pulpwood the chain acted as a " binder", since at the back end of the rack, several very large pieces of pulpwood were suspended in the chain.This "binder" helped to keep the load in place during the period of transportation to the river bank in Keene Valley.
In the years of these pulpwood operations, great care had to be given to the construction and the maintenance of the road extending from the John's Brook header all the way to the landing place in Keene Valley. There would usually be one hundred days of sleighing during the winter season. Obviously, the hauling of the pulpwood from the mountainside in the vicinity of Johns Brook Lodge to Keene Valley had to be carried on during this favorable period of snow. When the first snows arrived and when later snows prevailed, the roadway was plowed by means of horse drawn wooden plows. According to my recollection, these roads were not over four or four and a half feet wide. The singular feature of their construction, was the presence of two parallel side walls of snow; one on either side of the road; and a roadbed, the cross-section of which was kept very hard and very level. These conditions were maintained by spraying water on the road from a horse drawn vat during subzero temperatures. This water, spilled upon the roadbed on a cold night quickly became frozen and thereby made a very hard, firm bed for the horses and bobracks.
A cord of pulpwood weighs about thirty hundred pounds, or a ton and a half. therefore, a ten cord load of wood would weigh approximately fifteen tons plus the weight of the sleigh and the bobrack. Larger or smaller loads of wood would weigh more or less accordingly. Owing to the drop in elevation between Johns Brook Lodge and the riverside in Keene Valley( about 1,500 feet), it can be appreciated how important it was to have an excellent roadbed, experienced teamsters and teams, and ideal winter weather conditions.
Where steep downward slopes occurred in the road system between the point of loading and unloading, the surface had to be "guarded" in such a way that the load would be slowed to a speed whereby the horses could retard and control the forward moving weight without falling down and being injured or killed.
Incidentally, the so-called "bone yard" is a spot at the foot of Beede Hill and Chapel Pond Hill just east of the main highway, and is known by that name because this is a spot where the dead horses were drawn after they had been killed on the road coming down from Giant Mountain via Putnam camp. According to my information, numerous horses were killed each winter on that much steeper roadbed.
Fortunately, the Johns Brook roadbed was not as steep as the road from Giant Mountain. In the former area where the steepest slopes were present, sections of the road were well guarded by a liberal application of hay or ashes upon the surface of the hard roadbed. For example a man was stationed ( during periods of hauling) in a little shelter at the "Rockcut" Hill along the Johns Brook Road. The duty of this workman was to sprinkle hay along that hazardous section of the road in such amount as would sufficiently guard the surface against the increasing momentum of the team and its load. The heat generated by the pressure and the weight of the load would burn the hay in the runner track to a crisp, blackened condition; consequently, the hay had to be shaken up and redistributed between each load which came down the road. Equally important, was the necessity to remove the hay and place it under a shelter at night, since the presence of snow upon the hay was the equivalent to greasing the surface of the roadbed.
Charlie Barton was the knowledgeable, dependable man who guarded the "Rock Cut" hill for several seasons. According to my recollection, Johnie Bruce and his team from Upper Jay hauled the biggest load of pulpwood-12 + cords in size.
At least ten thousand cords of wood were piled along the river bank for a period of several years in the late teens and 1920's The pulpwood was cut four feet in length. When it was "landed" in the valley it was piled in long, four foot wide horizonal ranks by individual sticks fitted tightly together six feet in height. The section of the Hamlet of Keene Valley where this wood was piled, was in the open fields lying east of the houses extending from the former Texaco Station( opposite the present Hardware store) all the way to the Beede Road. The first wood which was hauled into the area was piled along the west side of the Ausable river. As hauling continued during the winter, the ranks of wood extended further and further from the river toward the rear of the homes in the above mentioned area.
During the winter season, rain and snow was driven by the wind in among the ranks of pulpwood. Often these pulpwood ranks became tightly frozen masses which were extremely difficult to separate in the early spring of the year.
When the high waters arrived with the melting of winter snows, the pulpwood was hurriedly tumbled into the river and floated to Ausable Forks where it was captured by a "Boom" strung across the stream. At this point, the Rodgers Company removed the pulpwood from the river by an elevated moving chain and piled it in huge heaps with convenient access to their paper making mill.
I do not recall where they landed the pulpwood that was cut on the slopes of Giant Mountain. I do know that this wood was hauled down a road which came into the main road at, or near, the present entrance to the Putnam Camp property.
Certain sections of the road leading down from Giant Mountain were so steeply inclined that a winch was improvised by which a rope was wound around the base of a stump; when a team and its load came to a certain point at the top of these inclines one end of the rope was hitched to the back of the bobrack while the balance was coiled around a big sturdy stump. By means of a lever device, the rope was paid out very slowly as the team and the load moved forward holding back the movement of the load allowing the team to arrive safely at a more favorable incline. On those occasions when the rope broke, the teams where shoved off the road over the bank or into a tree, often killing the horses.
To counter these tragic conditions at this logging area it was considered more practical and economical to construct a series of dams in Putnam Brook for the purpose of holding back a large volume of water. At intervals along the brook below the dam, the pulpwood was dumped into the brook bed, following which the water in the dam was released. The pulp wood was flooded down the brook by the pressure of the volume of water coming behind it.
Sometimes too much wood was piled in the brook in relation to the volume of water which was held for its flooding. As a consequence of too much pulp, a deficiency of water and the limited opening under the Putnam bridge the wood became packed in huge jams above the Highway Bridge.
My most vivid memories of the pulpwood operation in the Giant area is that of going to a point at or near the entrance to Putnam Camp and seeing the huge pulpwood jams which developed in the vicinity above the bridge off the main highway.
Gradually, the workmen re-distributed the wood above and below the narrow bridge. Through repeated flooding, the pulp wood was moved down stream until it entered the Ausable River in the little Hamlet of St. Huberts.
Others who conducted logging or pulpwood cutting operations in and around Keene Valley were the following: In the early years, after the Adirondack Lodge fire, Jim Hall and his wife, Edith had a lumber camp in the Slide Brook Valley at a point where the old Slide Brook Trail crosses Slide Brook, about one mile west of the present Marcy of "Garden" parking lot. The remains of the camp is still evidenced by the presence of an old stove, or two stoves, which may be seen beside the trail just west of the point where the Old Slide Brook Road, or trail, crosses the brook. There are two or three very large boulders which pinpoint the former location of these lumber camps.
Jim Hall had another lumber camp in the valley between Snow Mountain, Hedgehog and Rooster's Comb While hunting in that area I have frequently seen parts of stoves which remained after the logging camp structures decayed.
Jim and Edith Hall were joint partners in these lumbering operations. Their son, Ed, and their twin daughters Grace and Daisy, lived in these camps and assisted their father and mother. Mr. Hall supervised the cutting and loading operations and Edith did the cooking and maintained the camps for the workmen.
At a later date, Al Call and Emmett Parker, lumbered on Giant Mountain above Putnam Camp. John Theriault, a Frenchman from Canada, lumbered on the lower slopes of Giant Mountain above "Mossy Cascade". He brought his wood out near the Ogden Bridge, which stood just north of the bridge which now spans the river at the entrance to Walter and Florence Beer cottage, the home of Mrs. Corscaden and the home of Mr. and Mrs. Theodore Stebbins. (The Ogden Bridge and the bridge which spanned the river just north of the present country club paddle court washed away in the flood of 1926).
George Senecal lumbered in the Valley east of Spread Eagle and north of Hopkins. The logs and wood from this Senecal operation were hauled down the road which entered the present road near the Beede farmhouse and continued on to the valley over the so-called Beede Road.
In the middle or the late 1910's and early1920's, a man named Strack lumbered on the southeastern slopes of Big Slide Mountain. I can remember the remains of his camp being evident when I hunted in that region at various times during the late 1920's or early 1930's. "Mikes" lumber camp stood at or near the point where the north John's Brook trail approaches the present ranger's cabin on John's Brook.
Benney's camp, was situated on the south side of John's Brook and served the lumbering operations which were conducted on the slopes of Armstrong and Wolf Jaw Mountains.
It should not be overlooked that David Hale, the father of LeGrand Hall and the grandfather of Mason Hale, had a mill at the outlet of the Lower Ausable Lake in the middle 1850's. I believe the record of the flood of 1856 is a document wherein David Hale testified that he was at the site of the dam the night it ruptured and flooded the valley from St. Huberts to Keeseville. David Hale had a local home at the base of the hill just behind what is now the Keene Valley Hardware establishment.
There were numerous mills and lumber operations conducted in the Hamlet of Keene, but I am not as familiar with the activities in that area as I am with the areas around Keene Valley where I lived. My recollection of one sawmill operation in Keene was that of Wallace Murray. The mill stood at the point where the Keene Milldam is now fast disappearing just west of the Hamlet of Keene Center. This "Wall" Murray Mill was also a very productive operation which compared favorably with the Beede operation in Keene Valley at about the same period.
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