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Driving Logs on Mohawk near mouth of Mill Creek, 1899
Driving logs on the Mohawk River near mouth of Mill Creek, 1899
In Louis Polley's book he labels them as L-R: "Whistling Rufus Mathers, Charley Adams with peavey, Ed Hadley, Sherman Adams driving team and Wash Adams with maul over shoulder".
Before Booth-Kelly and the Southern Pacific railroad, floating logs out on the rivers was the primary way to transport logs to the mills. Drives normally ran from 3 to 10 million board feet per drive.
Before 1888, the logs were usually piled in the river all year and then floated out as the winter rains raised the water to a level that the logs would float. They had booms across the Mohawk and McKenzie at key checkpoints and at the mills. In 1886 and 1887 the river never got high enough to float the logs, so they began building splash dams. So far we have identified over a dozen dams on the Mohawk system and there may have been over 20 through the years.
Given the water level and the way the logs are scattered this appears to be in the splash dam era. After each 'flush' the crew would need to use horse teams and peaveys to get all the logs back into the main portion of the stream before the next flush.
Louis Polley notes in his book that his copy of this picture was labeled by Washington Adams as being taken on the Mohawk near the mouth of Mill creek in 1899. and alludes that this drive may be from the Adams place to the Columbus Cole mill (which was located where the Marcola Christian Church is today).
This was the year (May 1899) when the first splash dam was built on the Mohawk (funded by Columbus Cole for a Mr. Stryker) just upstream from the current town of Mabel.
In the early 1890s Columbus Cole's mill cut railroad ties (as well as several other mills in the valley) for the Springfield/Woodburn railroad line that was being built at that time. Later his mill cut all the lumber to build the original mill, town and camps in Wendling.
Driving Logs on Mohawk near mouth of Mill Creek, 1899
Driving logs on the Mohawk River near mouth of Mill Creek, 1899
In Louis Polley's book he labels them as L-R: "Whistling Rufus Mathers, Charley Adams with peavey, Ed Hadley, Sherman Adams driving team and Wash Adams with maul over shoulder".
Before Booth-Kelly and the Southern Pacific railroad, floating logs out on the rivers was the primary way to transport logs to the mills. Drives normally ran from 3 to 10 million board feet per drive.
Before 1888, the logs were usually piled in the river all year and then floated out as the winter rains raised the water to a level that the logs would float. They had booms across the Mohawk and McKenzie at key checkpoints and at the mills. In 1886 and 1887 the river never got high enough to float the logs, so they began building splash dams. So far we have identified over a dozen dams on the Mohawk system and there may have been over 20 through the years.
Given the water level and the way the logs are scattered this appears to be in the splash dam era. After each 'flush' the crew would need to use horse teams and peaveys to get all the logs back into the main portion of the stream before the next flush.
Louis Polley notes in his book that his copy of this picture was labeled by Washington Adams as being taken on the Mohawk near the mouth of Mill creek in 1899. and alludes that this drive may be from the Adams place to the Columbus Cole mill (which was located where the Marcola Christian Church is today).
This was the year (May 1899) when the first splash dam was built on the Mohawk (funded by Columbus Cole for a Mr. Stryker) just upstream from the current town of Mabel.
In the early 1890s Columbus Cole's mill cut railroad ties (as well as several other mills in the valley) for the Springfield/Woodburn railroad line that was being built at that time. Later his mill cut all the lumber to build the original mill, town and camps in Wendling.