I have to note that my remembered dates for the mill were also wrong it
dates 1900-1914 in the town of Sanford.  I'll make sure I have an actual
source in front of me instead of relying on memory in the future.  As for
the type of mill, it was a modest sized steam mill with brick foundations,
about as permanent as any mill could be in such an extractive industry.  It
had its own railroad, with some information on it in "Logging railroads of
Alabama" by Lawson.  We already have some pictures of mills and plans giving
the layouts.  I'll have to get Gilmer; his book is in the university library
here.  We found tremendous quantities of ferrous metal, much of it fragments
of curved sheet or plate metal.  We also found an intact stoneware liquor
jug from a wholesaler in neighboring Andalusia Alabama.

Sincerely,


Charles P. Redwine
Lab Director
Panamerican Consultants, Inc
Tuscaloosa
205-556-3096
[log in to unmask]

-----Original Message-----
From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Lyle
E. Browning
Sent: Tuesday, March 08, 2005 11:44 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Late 19th - Early 20th Century steam sawmill context


On Mar 8, 2005, at 11:55 AM, Charles Redwine wrote:

> Histarchs-
>
> I am going to write a context and site history on the Henderson/Boyd
> Sawmill
> in Coffee County Alabama.  This steam sawmill was in operation for a
> couple
> of decades, burning in 1906, being rebuilt, and closing in 1913.  I
> would
> appreciate secondary sources in any of three areas.  First, U.S. steam
> sawmill industry from this period, to provide interregional
> comparisons.
> Second, specifically the steam sawmill industry of the south Alabama
> pine
> belt.  Third, sources on the sawmill industry in different parts of
> Europe
> and their influences on the industry in this U.S. region, i.e. was
> there a
> specific region of Europe whose sawmill and logging industry provided a
> model for that of the southern U.S. pine belt.  Thanks in advance for
> all
> who reply.

I presume you've read the contextual history in "A history of
industrial power in the United States, 1780-1930" by Louis C. Hunter.
One entire volume is dedicated to steam.

The Civil War vintage Jeremy Francis Gilmer maps of VA have annotations
for "SSM". What one sees in the field are a platform that the engine
sat upon, a sipping hole for water and for some reason lots of broken
cast iron parts on the ground. There is no means of determining where
they will be for obvious reasons.

I'm presuming yours is a stationary "bring the mountain to Muhammad"
type of operation versus the mobile "one tract at a time" type shown on
Gilmer? How was this thing supplied with logs?

Interesting subject, if perniciously difficult to deal with.

Lyle Browning