White Lake WI Tweedsmuir Community History - Volume 1, [ca. 1965]-[ca. 1981], page 1

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(. *gb“ One of the Iorriesi one of the “big tomes" do " ' I I r _ H ' > scnbed m umber Was King is pictured here, These .t-alls ran for miles D‘Oug‘h the 'big' McLa‘ehlin piliu r 1‘ ' ' f the big McLa'chiin mms may 1;: sags. In “he has“: mum one â€" Photo courtesv or P, Hail \‘ .this instalment. of "When When Lumber Was King The Indian bhrk canon \V‘JtS the most ucloqun te means of transportation ever tic d by primitive m :m For in 0 cent 7 ill-ti“ H thvr‘u! tlt'v‘, .H. «M. ..t “Hâ€" Ltncut. L‘tt-l‘l‘YIHL' l er urvest of a vast wilderness three thousand miles to our eastern seaboard (By T. C. Mulvihill) seven feet ten feet long and wide; with tour thenvy Flanged wheels. A steel iurnwhlv \vm» nv‘tli‘wwl \lt Hm nun it ]I" it“ . iliCL’ _t mu quanta ‘tklll u mum-u [\u I||,ll tin limited it in place Two rows of steel rollers. set in healings on {the turn table carried the load. two bunches of lumber, Big lorry horses were lighter and faster than car horses. They spent the day between the rails and such became sure fccted around frogs and switches; learned to switch smart-1y horn and to end of the lorry. or squeeze between lorry and lum- ber plies to reverse direction. They travelled over twenty mi- les daily, rain or shine. A brakeman rode a lcng [hardl- wecd pole extending in the rear. The brakema-n changed ends with the team. He Was young. ntiive and -a sprinter. for the had to 5|:lllt ahead of a trotting team to throw switches. A simple yet lngeulaus hook up was devised for lorry horses. The heavy awkward whifer trees and pole were discarded. An evener, a seven foot hard- Wclz'l piece. one inch thick and s ' inches wide. tapered at the ends to acccmtntdete end trans and a heck, took the draught. at the thick centre portion a pulley was attached With a re» volt’ing chain. Heel chains from short hip-length traces were dropped over tthe hooks at tthe end of the evener and. Ito the revolving chain in the centre. This was light. and convenient for shunting. but neither horses nor team ter had any control C! the lead. The brakeman was in charge. The output. from two mills reached a 325 It. ilong sorting liable - a massive berl of wooden rollers. Here the lumbar was scrted and stacked in high bunches. the width of the roll- ers. ready to he transferred to the piling; grounds. A track fronted the table. Twelve (cams kept that table clear. It was bustling place at leading l'uw An M21)th turn- “mu Wu skrue 11v mum mm; in. team at Ll my in» um mum-rm mp bun: as [u be loaded. The makem. pulled the pin and swung t'l table. Lorry end table rolle must be in line. if mot, It} bmkeman rescrted me the crew bar to pinch :the wheels and Mn them up. The tennister swun off. a tableman jumped to +11 ground. picked up the end of : cn=ble and hauled it over m lorry. between the mwo buncth’a to he il‘c‘nded, placed in Wardwo‘o: ba-r ytluougth a loop in the ca- ble and held the bar can the end or the bundhes. ’Ilhe ister hacked ihis evgt‘ier on the lather end of the cable and the two bunches rolled into place on the lorry. A reckless rteam- s-ter with fierv imrsesr often pulled the lead. over the rollers onto the ground. k-atrting the loriy, scattering the lead and blocking traffic. Gmnnhli- g rte,â€" -ble~men than had a. mess mo clean up. A steel crank on a roller shaft locked the load The twine was turned and the pin driven home: the teamster hacked On. crawled atop the high land. while the team scmmbled and clawed on that plank plaitform to get the lcad moving. The brakeman Itr-ailed behind or rode the side of the load 1011 up- grades. Tracks swimhed penpen'dicu- lnrly from the table through two hundred acres of piling grcunds on both sides of High- way 17. TWO tracks crossed (the highway just west of the Hydro Office into a South and. Ano- ther used by big car men crossed east ‘of the bridge A round trip was over two miles. There were twenty-five miles of track in that lumber yard. Spring floods and winter frosts played ‘hcb with tracks. Despite :1 gang of trackmem, rails sprung, switches jammed. unions opened and lorries rock- ed, bumped and swayed. shift- ing loads and splitting bunches from top to bottom. A split hunch was a hazard for Perry- men and pliers.

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