Wednesday, September 22

from stump to ship

I had heard about, and seen VHS copies of this historical document From Stump To Ship for a few years and not sure why never watched it. It is online though, 28 minutes, as below. The added narration explains (Maine humourist Tim Sample keeping it restrained) that Alfred Ames, the then president of Maine's Machias Lumber Company brought his camera out to the logging camps and the river drive to document the goings on. Priceless stuff.

This is 1930 and already the trees felled are not as big as in years gone by (we learn)... but the fortitude and agility of these guys is pretty inspiring. Lots of historical terminolgy and info; caulked boots from Bass in Wilton, ME? Yup. Anyone slightly interested has probably seen this already -some pieces of it are used in Woodsmen and River Drivers, another documentary on old loggers from the Machias Lumber Co. but more recent. Great stuff too.