Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Sawmills in Pacific Northwest & Clinton, Iowa

     The greatest part of picking a new research topic is well everything is new. So while I'm sure this timeline, http://www.opb.org/programs/oregonstory/logging/timeline.html, is old news to many, I was blown away by the history. I am excited to be able to make some connections between this timeline and Clinton's history. Doing so, will allow me to better sketch Clinton's role in the national lumber & sawmill story. Context is everything in history, and we want to make sure to not overstate or understate any event in Clinton's lumber history.

      According to OPB, 1827 saw the first sawmill in the Pacific Northwest. According to John Walkowiak of IDNR, the first sawmill in Iowa was 1831. While the full extent of the involvement of the future Confederate President in the Blackhawk War and Iowa is debatable, it seems that Jefferson Davis was charged with commanding the site of this sawmill in NE Iowa. I can't say either date for the sawmill is too surprising when you think about it. The question for Oregon though was the original outlet. Iowa's original outlet was partly to help provide lumber to the treeless parts of Iowa.

     An interesting Oregon outlet was China. In 1833, Oregon began shipping timber to China, which intensified after the First Opium War of the 1840s. The 1850s allowed Oregon to increase production of lumber through the use of steam power. Iowa? That said, according to the timeline by the 1870s, there were 173 sawmills and 138 were powered by water.

       The most intriguing timeline events are the 1865 Silverton Fire and the 1868 Elliott State Forest fire. The burning reminded me of the book, The Big Burn, but the Silverton Fire of 1865 and its million acres of burnt timber didn't ring a bell.

          Putting the Oregon fires in context, the book Drift Smoke by Strohmaier bookends Silverton with events like the Hinckley Fire in Minnesota that burnt 160,00 acres but killed over 400. The most devastating fire, in terms of land and life lost, seems to be the Miramichi Fire of 1825 in Maine. Over 3,000,000 acres and 300 lives were lost due to the inferno. Yet, the 1871 Peshtigo Wisconsin fire killed over 1,500 people and destroyed over a million acres. There are many books on forest fires, but what about Iowa & Clinton?

          I would be curious to see how the fires in Michigan  Minnesota, and Wisconsin impacted lumber production in Clinton. Cursory readings make it seem that a fire,a bad drought, or other unforeseen acts wiped out a sawmill.

       An odd note on "fires" in Iowa: A Guide to the Hawkeye. Clinton had a unique problem, a sawdust problem. As I've heard in my short time here, the ground in Clinton is literally sawdust, as the mills had nowhere else for it. So, from time to time in the past  (and maybe still does), the dust would escape its grave and spontaneously combust when hitting the air.

   Then the 1890s saw the passage of the General Revision Act, timber reserves, Organic Act, Forest Reserve Act, and the  appointment of Gifford Pinchot. How did this affect Iowa? Well many of my early sources paint the picture that by the time these acts went into full swing, the primacy of Clinton's sawmills were waning, if not flat out done.

     So many questions, so little time. Questions like the government's role in the creation of early, or first, sawmills in the territories place the lumber industry and the sawmills in the western expansion of America. People needed housing. My notion of everyone clearing their own timber and building "cabins" is all Lincoln's fault. Who knows where my research will take me next, but I'm excited.




Sources

http://basineducation.uwex.edu/gpsp/Session%203A%20Walkowiak.pdf

http://books.google.com/books?id=DzFToePugBEC&pg=PP5&dq=silverton+fire+oregon+1865&hl=en&sa=X&ei=4lJSUcPcO6nf2QWL7oCIAg&ved=0CDQQ6AEwAQ
http://www.ncrs.fs.fed.us/gla/reports/history.htm




Friday, March 15, 2013

What To Explore in Lumber's History

      My approach to history is to study it through the lens of race, class, and gender with the interpretative focus on agency. Basically I understand the true nature of a subject by adopting multiple perspectives and focusing on the actors and their actions. In regards to the Sawmill Museum, here are my exploratory questions. I will examine these issues further, and as always, I will find I greatly underestimated the depth and power of the history.  

Some questions:

1. African-Americans in the lumber mills or sawmills. Prior to the Great Migration, vast majority of African-Americans lived in the South. Many worked in the southern lumber mills. With the Migration they moved north and west looking for opportunities. As the book The Tribe of Black Ulysses shows though, the history of African-Americans laboring in Jim Crow southern sawmills shouldn't be forgotten. So, my initial feeling is that there won't be much on African-Americans in Clinton's sawmills due to the period the sawmills existed compared to the period of migrations.  Some of the other references detail the meaning of the environment and forests to African-Americans. I think there will be an amazing exhibit, or at the very least, a presentation or two. Even if there isn't much on Iowa history, the absence of a history is equally important. 

2. Latinos and Asians in lumber mills. I will admit that even though my girlfriend is Asian and I had a best friend for many years who was Latino, I don't do much here. Yet, both in the West and Southwest historically and worldwide in modern times, I can't leave out the experiences of these groups. 

3. Modern Slavery & The Lumber Trade: Sadly, many products made in America and abroad use slave labor. Most likely multiple slaves, if not thirty or more, work for you every day. I will have to explore how many slaves built your house. I will explore the modern issues of the dispossessed being used to produce a cheap product that "everyone" needs. 

4. The Lumber Baron vs Lumberjack. Is there a labor history in lumber history? What would exploring a day in the life of a lumber baron vs day in the life of a lumberjack highlight about the issues of class? When you think of the Joyce Foundation and you walk/drive through Clinton though you see the impact of the lumber barons though. These men, and women, used their wealth for much good. This will be the hardest the hurdle, and I feel it always is. 

5.Women in the lumber camps and mills. The women behind the lumber barons. The lumber baron women who used their power to affect change. The women who mothered future lumberjacks. Women play an integral part in the history of Clinton's lumber saga. The question is how to talk about the role of women. Hopefully I find some nuggets of pure gold. 


Then there are plenty of science topics that will be explored. My main interests in science is climate change, environmental history, and the life of a tree. I will get to those topics next time.... 



References: 
http://www.blackpast.org/?q=perspectives/working-quincy-mill-african-american-lumber-mill-workers-northern-california-1926-1955 

http://www.fs.fed.us/people/aasg/PDFs/African_Americans_and_forests_March21%202006.pdf

http://history.wisc.edu/people/faculty/jones.htm

http://erg.berkeley.edu/people/Starkey%20masters%20paper%20F05.pdf


Tuesday, March 12, 2013

This Director's Connection to Lumber


         Some of my earliest memories revolve around Alexander County, Illinois, the southern most county in Illinois. For what seems like eras, my mother's family have called this bucoclic, yet poor, county home. Nestled in the heart of the county, hailed Ralph Denton, a man I remember who walked with a limb, spoke sparsely, and lived as a bachelor.

             Well, I truly remember his 100s of acres juxtaposed against a house that had no running water or electricity.  Surrounding the dilapidated house were seemingly thousands of barns full of millions of "old stuff." By old, I mean Ralph probably never bought anything he didn't inherit from his parents. Being that he was my grandpa's uncle, well... this was an American Pickers' dream.

            Sadly probably in 1997, Ralph passed away, and this dream came to an end, as the family had to tear down the house and "burn" most of the stuff. Yet, the family did keep many items, and one that stood out was a hundred year old two person saw. As today was my first day at the Sawmill Museum, I went up to this two person saw on display. I swear ours was twice as big, and twice as heavy. Funny how memory works. And to be honest, even when I first interviewed for this job, I forgot about the rich lumber history my family had.

              The lumber industry started with, well I don't really know. I guess it started with my great-great grandfather, if not before. My grandfather's grandfather must have started it when he settled in Alexander County. By settle, I mean he shot his mother or father "accidentally," and was driven out of the house. He "settled" with a local man named Denton, or so I think. Anyways, Ralph was my grandfather's uncle. Most likely in the 50s or the 60s, Ralph was applying his trade in our woods, mind you successfully. This being before the days of OHSA, even the best of workers could fall pray to the bad ideas. While Ralph was sawing down the tree, his bud was to push the tree out of the way. Not by hand, but with a bulldozer.

               Imagine a 1950s bulldozer. Imagine lil ol' Ralph, maybe 5'8 120 pounds. Imagine a giant tree. Now imagine how well all of these go together with Ralph's head being the center of attention. Ralph loses and dies. Being the family story, he died to all who had sense, except himself as he had no sense -- he was knocked out. He eventually woke, and walked out with a life long limp.

                 So that's my affairs with the lumber industry. I look forward to expanding my knowledge about the lumber history, and most of all, Clinton's role in this history. Remember to check this out from time to time for more stories and notions.

Greetings From the Sawmill


           Hi, I'm Matt Parbs, the new Executive Director of the Sawmill Museum. I'm a young un', just over 25, and I hail from Springfield, Illinois, the home of the Railsplitter himself. I spent the previous couple of years at the National Museum of Surveying where I helped preserve the legacy of surveying while ensuring its future. 

             Due to the struggling economy, which decimated the surveying community, the museum had to close to start the 2013 year. So I'm now here. Thank you to the Sawmill Museum Board for picking me as their leader, and while today was my first full day,  a big thanks to Clinton for welcoming me with open arms.


             So what to expect from this blog? Find fun stories; analysis of lumber & sawmill history; discussions of agency, history, nerdy museum stuff, and race/gender/class; and most of all, updates on some of our events. To be honest, I will go anywhere "my pen" takes me, as I follow it rather than force my pen to form the words.  Most of all, this site is for dialogue between the museum and our guests. We want to have you engaged with the museum.