This Was Sawmilling

Rating:
Summary: One of Very Few Sources to Document When Sawmilling was King
Review: Comprehensive books on early sawmilling in the Pacific Northwest are very rare. This book is as good as it gets. Andrew's companion book (both published by Superior Publishing in the 1950s) was called, "This Was Logging" and together they describe an industry mostly lost to history. There are hundreds of outstanding photos in "Sawmilling", on the other hand I found the book to be somewhat unorganized based upon the chapter headings and sub-headings. After studying the book for some time I was never able to discern where Andrews was going with the organization. Added to that is the lack of references or index, but it's worth the price of these distractions to have these photos and stories of yesteryear still available to enjoy. In some cases he captures pieces from trade journals or company magazines that would have been lost to history if not for his efforts. But that can be said about all three of Andrews works, the third being, "Redwood Classic". The book includes an explanation of the sawmill sign language between the sawyer and setter. Having been around sawmills as a youngster and having worked in a plywood plant for Robert Dollar Co. during breaks from college, I love to learn the job titles of the different folks in a mill. But even more interesting was the language in a shingle mill. Titles as the shingle weaver, upright sawyer, short staker, hand machine sawyer, packer, double-block sawyer and knot sawyer...all jobs where men labored long hours under very tough conditions and now lost to obscurity except for in books such as this one. While this book documents many of the big operations such as Pope and Talbot and many small ones, there were literally thousands of small mills throughout the Pacific Northwest and the photos in the book could have come from any of them. If you want to learn about a livelihood that is only a shadow of it's former self get a copy of Andrew's book and see an industry as it once was.

Rating:
Summary: One of Very Few Sources to Document When Sawmilling was King
Review: Comprehensive books on early sawmilling in the Pacific Northwest are very rare. This book is as good as it gets. Andrew's companion book (both published by Superior Publishing in the 1950s) was called, "This Was Logging" and together they describe an industry mostly lost to history. There are hundreds of outstanding photos in "Sawmilling", on the other hand I found the book to be somewhat unorganized based upon the chapter headings and sub-headings. After studying the book for some time I was never able to discern where Andrews was going with the organization. Added to that is the lack of references or index, but it's worth the price of these distractions to have these photos and stories of yesteryear still available to enjoy. In some cases he captures pieces from trade journals or company magazines that would have been lost to history if not for his efforts. But that can be said about all three of Andrews works, the third being, "Redwood Classic". The book includes an explanation of the sawmill sign language between the sawyer and setter. Having been around sawmills as a youngster and having worked in a plywood plant for Robert Dollar Co. during breaks from college, I love to learn the job titles of the different folks in a mill. But even more interesting was the language in a shingle mill. Titles as the shingle weaver, upright sawyer, short staker, hand machine sawyer, packer, double-block sawyer and knot sawyer...all jobs where men labored long hours under very tough conditions and now lost to obscurity except for in books such as this one. While this book documents many of the big operations such as Pope and Talbot and many small ones, there were literally thousands of small mills throughout the Pacific Northwest and the photos in the book could have come from any of them. If you want to learn about a livelihood that is only a shadow of it's former self get a copy of Andrew's book and see an industry as it once was.