For my logging layout, which represents the Camas Prairie loosely, one side will be “Lewiston” and focus on the lumber production industry. I plan to use this kit:
http://walthers.com/exec/productinfo/933-3236
…for my sawmill. The thing is, I don’t understand how logs got to the sawmill. I have seen log ponds modeled on some layouts (Like MR’s “Northwest Timber Company” project layout from December 1997) but the logs were just there. Are the rough cut logs brought in by train, and then dumped in the pond? Why would you intentionally soak the wood before cutting? Or, are they floated in by river and it just wasn’t modeled on the layout?
I would like to include the sawmill, PLUS a lumber yard, and maybe a paper mill all relatively next to each other. Is this prototypical? (Not for Lewiston the city itself, but for anywhere)
I guess I would like my layout to model logs brought in by train to the sawmill, then chopped into lumber and moved by forklift to an adjacent lumber yard to be further cut down, and meanwhile parts of the wood used for the paper mill. Is it okay then to model a sawmill without a pond?
Sorry for all the confusion, and I DO know that a book outthere exists that Walthers put out with their series of lumber kits, but funds are a bit low right now. Also, not sure it is actually worth the $50 that Walthers wants.
Thanks to anyone who can help set me straight! [:)]
sawmills come both ways , with and without a pond . many lumber operations cut the trees , dragged them to a river , and floated the logs downstream to where they built a sawmill . if there isn’t a convenient river then some other method of getting the logs to the sawmill was needed , our favorite of course is by train [:)]
if the same person or company owned the sawmill , lumber yard and paper plant then i suppose they would be as close to each other as possible , it would keep the transportation costs down (it’s usually cheaper to move the finished product than to move the raw materials) . for our purposes it’s more fun to have them far apart to generate traffic for the railroad . typically the sawmill would be as close to the trees as possible , the lumber yard would be as close to it’s customers as possible . the paper mill could be just about anywhere
so yes , a sawmill without a pond is ok . go to google.com , click the ‘images’ link and enter sawmill for your search , you’ll find plenty of photos of both types
Paper mills need a healthy supply of water for the pulp processing - and a place to dump it afterwards!
Pond, lakes, rivers were favored places to store logs waiting to be sawn. Setting up a dumping system for log cars (or trucks 
) into the water log storage was comparatively simple. Then the appropriate logs could easily be selected from water storage when wanted and brought into the sawmill. The flexible storage was more important in areas where trees were only cut at particular times of the year.
No water storage was a little more rigid process with less selectivity/flexibility - the saw mill would generally saw the logs in the order they arrived, rather than sort through large piles.
yours in logging
Fred w
Depends alot on the era you are modeling. If modeling modern times (the last few decades), logs are delivered by truck and typically stored on the ground in neat piles. Also, you wouldn’t see a(n) (operating) burner, since all “waste” is useable. Modeling an earlier period will bring back log ponds, waste burners, and possibly delivery by rail.
There’s a huge paper plant close to where I live. It’s Glatfelters Spring Grove PA. They use a man made lake for their water supply in the paper making process. However all pulpwood comes in via truck and is stocked in HUGE stockpiles at a shredder facility about a 1/2 mile down the road from the actual plant.
Have fun,
~D
Thanks all. I will put in a small pond to store logs by the Sawmill. I guess I am still unclear on whether a sawmill could be logically adjacent to a lumbermill.
You could put the buildings together, but like Ereimer stated, having them apart from each other generates traffic for the railroad. I plan on having seperated for just this reason.
There are some places, not now of course, they transported the logs with a plume. This consisted of a temporary tub shaped wooden waterway sometimes traveling a few miles and feed with water. The logs were dumped into the plume and traveled down to the mill by the flow of the water.
I don’t think these are used anywhere any longer. These were in use in the 19th and early 20th centuries. In someplaces in Oregon you can still see the remains of these decaying structures.
One reason for keeping logs wet is to prevent premature drying, which causes the wood to split along the grain. I recall seeing a land storage yard (Standard, CA) which had irrigation-type sprinklers soaking the stacked logs.
In rail-to-pond operations the incoming logs, on skeleton flats or (until they were outlawed) disconnects, would be pushed out on a track along the shoreline or on trestlework in the pond, then unloaded by stretching a chain or cable under the load from the pond side, hooking the loose end to a hoist and lifting.
In a model, if you are primarily interested in modeling the mainline connection, the woods line can be simulated with a short length of track and a couple of non-interchange log cars, either loaded or empty. I am doing this on my home layout, but with a bit more equipment. I originally intended the logger to operate, but reality (aka lack of space) intervened.
Chuck.
Thanks for all your responses! Just what I needed to know.
prior to the 60’s a lot of the logs to the Lewiston mill were transported by the Clearwater river and its tributaries, Later by train on home made log cars with special bunks converted from box cars. Currently most of the logs come in by truck. And chips are hauled in by truck from up to 100 miles away. The logs are currently stored in huge piles called “cold decks” and are indeed sprinkled as Tomikawa stated. The Lewiston mill also produces paper and pulp for synthetic fabric production. Thats why all the chips. Also in Lewiston is the Bennett lumber company which is quite a sizable operation thiugh nothing like the huge Potlatch Mill which once boasted to be the largest white pine mill in the world.
That is fascinating to hear. I plan on modeling a representation of the area, not the real thing. I still need to locate good photos that show ballast colors and soil colors. Any chance you would be willing to collect some soil from the area and mail it to me? I am willing to pay for the shipping? If so, contact me offline at BENLMAGGI at Hot MAil dot Com.
Check out the Hull-Oakes Sawmill photos. Not to be confused with the singing duo Hall & Oats
(click on highlighted words for link)
I am glad that you asked that question. I would like to make my Walther’s kit more realistic. Thank you to all who commented. [:D][8D][:D]
Ditto to:
“tomikawn” regarding wet storage: A wet log will saw better and produce more usable lumber…Even our local paper mill keeps the wood wet, it chips/grinds better!
So, model a pond (as large as you can) for dumping, storage and sorting or in modern days, model a sprinkler system.
“ereimer” regarding closeness: Keep in mind that the majority of the logging roads operating in the late 19th. and early 20th century (at least here in Minnesota’s Arrowhead) were pretty short, with some only being a few miles long.
“fwright” regarding selectivity: You can bet your last dollar that when the Virginia and Rainy Lake Co., located in Virginal , MN. was sawing a million board feet of “White Pine” per day (there is a world record for that mill also, somewhere in my brain, but memory will not serve this evening) that the logs coming out of Silver Lake were just what the sawyers wanted at that moment.