The Old Sawmill

 

I have blogged about Gary's sawmill before; quite a few years ago.  He doesn't use it actively any more; just fires it up occasionally to cut stuff we might need, or he might just want.

He had bush-hogged down around there and it was looking very picturesque when I walked by it a couple of weeks ago.  

And having gotten this far with this blog post, I can't think of another blamed word to write about it.  Haha...  Well, let me ramble around a bit I guess.

Gary worked this sawmill quite extensively back in his younger years, even before he did dairy farming, I think.  He might have  had a few cows and still worked it at the same time, but I can't recall if he has ever mentioned it specifically.  At any rate he has many memories from when he was sawmilling. 

It makes me remember my dad and how he was a lumberjack back in Northern California in the 40s and 50s, I think.  He never did own his own sawmill, but he sawed down many a tree.  Now, in the 2000s, we gasp in horror at the very idea of sawing down redwood trees, but he spoke of doing so many times. I remember he'd tell of the special process they would  have to do through to fell on properly.  Redwood is very...I'm not sure of the correct word...fragile?  Perhaps "splintery" would be more accurate.  They would have to make a "bed" to fall the tree on to cushion it.  If it were to hit the ground it would splinter and you'd not be able to saw it for lumber.  So they'd use brush and old tree limbs and maybe a long pile of dirt, I cannot recall exactly what all he said they would use.  But it was quite the process because these trees are huge.  

Dad also said redwoods were renowned for being "widow makers." Occasionally when you'd saw into them the bark, which is quite thick and heavy, wouldn't be attached to the actual trunk of the tree.  It could break off quite far up the trunk and come plummeting down to crush anything underneath.  

As a child, or as a teen, I didn't pay much attention to his meandering tales.  As an adult now, I wish I'd paid more attention to his stories of lumberjacking.  He talked about being stalked by bears, of a deer with a coyote behind it taking shelter behind him, of the time a tree fell on him and broke his leg.  All of those stories are now lost to time.  It's a pity that is the way it works for every generation.

Nowadays there in the California Redwoods they have an organization called "Redwoods Rising."  It was formed a few years ago with the goal of undoing the damage that logging did to the redwood ecosystem back in the my father's days of logging there.  They are uncovering the little streams that were filled in to make logging roads.  I am glad of that.  I am so glad that maybe my daughter's generation will be able to see the delicate redwood ecosystem restored in areas where it can be preserved for generations to come.