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86-533: The Madera Sugar Pine Company was a United States lumber company that operated in the Sierra Nevada region of California during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The company distinguished itself through the use of innovative technologies, including the southern Sierra's first log flume and logging railroad , along with the early adoption of the Steam Donkey engine. Its significant regional impact led to

172-647: A rip saw is the most common method, because sawing allows logs of lower quality, with irregular grain and large knots, to be used and is more economical. There are various types of sawing: Dimensional lumber is lumber that is cut to standardized width and depth, often specified in millimetres or inches (but see below for information on nominal dimensions vs. actual dimensions). Carpenters extensively use dimensional lumber in framing wooden buildings. Common sizes include 2×4 (pictured) (also two-by-four and other variants, such as four-by-two in Australia, New Zealand, and

258-455: A "class 1 flame spread rating of 25 or less, when tested in accordance with ASTM standard E 84," which means it burns more slowly than almost all treated wood lumber. A timber mark is a code beaten on to cut wood by a specially made hammer to show the logging licence. The basic understanding of lumber, or "sawn planks", came about in North America in the seventeenth century. Lumber is

344-400: A 1-inch-thick (25 mm) board, 8/4 (eight quarter) is a 2-inch-thick (51 mm) board, etc. This "quarter" system is rarely used for softwood lumber; although softwood decking is sometimes sold as 5/4, even though it is actually one inch thick (from milling 1 ⁄ 8  in or 3.2 mm off each side in a motorized planing step of production). The "quarter" system of reference is

430-534: A 10-foot-long (3.0 m) 2×4 ( 1 + 1 ⁄ 2 by 3 + 1 ⁄ 2  in or 38 by 89 mm) into two 1×4s ( 3 ⁄ 4 by 3 + 1 ⁄ 2  in or 19 by 89 mm) of the same length is considered re-sawing. Structural lumber may also be produced from recycled plastic and new plastic stock. Its introduction has been strongly opposed by the forestry industry. Blending fiberglass in plastic lumber enhances its strength, durability, and fire resistance. Plastic fiberglass structural lumber can have

516-503: A chain drive from the engine through the floor to the truck axle. It is not known if he powered one or both axles, but he soon found that the chain drive was not practical and he next tried a belt drive. It did not take long for the idea to become popular. Shay applied for and was issued a patent for the basic idea in 1881. He patented an improved geared truck for his engines in 1901. Lima Locomotive Works of Lima, Ohio built Ephraim Shay's prototype engine in 1880. Prior to 1884, all

602-520: A considerable effort involving transport by the San Joaquin Valley and Yosemite Railroad to Raymond and then by mule teams to the Sugar Pine mill, approximately 30 miles (48 km) miles away. Operationally, Engines 2, 3, and 4 typically moved 15 empty log cars from the sawmill to the logging areas. The larger Engines 5 and 6, with three trucks each, could pull 22 empty log cars. The capacity of

688-399: A cost of $ 250,000, ready for the 1877 season. Facing the problem of lumber slipping over the sides of the flume, William Thurman, one of the company’s co-founders, developed a new technique to clamp bundles of lumber together, enhancing their stability during transport. His invention, known as the flume clamp, was patented in 1877 and effectively reduced the risk of losing lumber and damaging

774-467: A framer much time, because they are pre-cut by the manufacturer for use in 8-, 9-, and 10-foot ceiling applications, which means the manufacturer has removed a few inches or centimetres of the piece to allow for the sill plate and the double top plate with no additional sizing necessary. In the Americas, two-bys (2×4s, 2×6s, 2×8s, 2×10s, and 2×12s), named for traditional board thickness in inches, along with

860-414: A minimum of time. It is designed to take any curve on which standard cars can be operated." The company emphasized its performance on "steep grades", "uneven track", and "track too light for a direct engine of the same axle load". Shay locomotives had regular fire-tube boilers offset to the left to provide space for, and counterbalance the weight of, a two or three cylinder "motor," mounted vertically on

946-571: A patent on an improved geared truck for such locomotives. These became known as Willamette locomotives . Since "Shay" was a trademark of Lima, strictly speaking it is incorrect to refer to locomotives manufactured by Willamette and others as "Shays". Six Shay Patent locomotives, known as Henderson-style Shays, were built by the Michigan Iron Works in Cadillac, Michigan . According to Lima Locomotive Works in 1925, "The Shay Geared Locomotive has

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1032-399: A relatively small set of specified lengths; in all cases hardwoods are sold to the consumer by the board-foot (144 cubic inches or 2,360 cubic centimetres), whereas that measure is not used for softwoods at the retailer (to the cognizance of the buyer). Also in North America, hardwood lumber is commonly sold in a "quarter" system, when referring to thickness; 4/4 (four quarter) refers to

1118-449: A timber is referred to as one "timber" (材), and the dimensions of other structural components were quoted in multiples of "timber"; thus, as the width of the actual timber varied, the dimensions of other components were easily calculated, without resorting to specific figures for each scale. The dimensions of timbers in similar applications show a gradual diminution from the Sui dynasty (580–618) to

1204-443: A traditional North American lumber industry nomenclature used specifically to indicate the thickness of rough sawn hardwood lumber. In rough-sawn lumber it immediately clarifies that the lumber is not yet milled, avoiding confusion with milled dimension lumber which is measured as actual thickness after machining. Examples – 3 ⁄ 4 -inch, 19 mm, or 1x. In recent years architects, designers, and builders have begun to use

1290-481: A two-mile (3 km) section of the original railroad grade used between 1908 and 1924. The California Lumber Company was founded in February 1874, initiating an ambitious project to move lumber from the Sierra Nevada to the new railroad in the San Joaquin Valley . This extensive project required setting up lumber camps and mills in the mountains and building a log flume to transport the lumber from higher elevations to

1376-501: A two-truck tender was necessary because the poor water quality along the line meant that the locomotive had to carry enough water for a round trip. Lewis E. Feightner, working for Lima, patented improved engine mounting brackets and a superheater for the Shay in 1908 and 1909. After the basic Shay patents had expired, Willamette Iron and Steel Works of Portland, Oregon , manufactured Shay-type locomotives, and in 1927, Willamette obtained

1462-426: A unit of dimensional lumber is limited by the height and girth of the tree it is milled from. In general the maximum length is 24 ft (7.32 m). Engineered wood products, manufactured by binding the strands, particles, fibers, or veneers of wood, together with adhesives, to form composite materials, offer more flexibility and greater structural strength than typical wood building materials. Pre-cut studs save

1548-406: A wide and varied range of service, being used in industrial, quarry, contractors, logging, mining and plantation work; (also on branch lines and mountain sections of trunk-line railways). It is especially adapted to industrial railroads in and around large manufacturing plants. Its value as a switching engine is due to the rapidity with which it will accelerate a load and to its ability to spot cars in

1634-543: Is critical, such as trusses , rafters , laminating stock, I-beams and web joints. Machine grading measures a characteristic such as stiffness or density that correlates with the structural properties of interest, such as bending strength . The result is a more precise understanding of the strength of each piece of lumber than is possible with visually graded lumber, which allows designers to use full-design strength and avoid overbuilding. In Europe, strength grading of rectangular sawn lumber/timber (both softwood and hardwood)

1720-633: Is done according to EN-14081 and commonly sorted into classes defined by EN-338. For softwoods, the common classes are (in increasing strength) C16, C18, C24, and C30. There are also classes specifically for hardwoods and those in most common use (in increasing strength) are D24, D30, D40, D50, D60, and D70. For these classes, the number refers to the required 5th percentile bending strength in newtons per square millimetre. There are other strength classes, including T-classes based on tension intended for use in glulam . Grading rules for African and South American sawn lumber have been developed by ATIBT according to

1806-656: Is mainly used for construction framing , as well as finishing (floors, wall panels , window frames ). Lumber has many uses beyond home building. Lumber is referred to as timber in the United Kingdom, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand, while in other parts of the world (mainly the United States and Canada) the term timber refers specifically to unprocessed wood fiber , such as cut logs or standing trees that have yet to be cut. Lumber may be supplied either rough- sawn , or surfaced on one or more of its faces. Rough lumber

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1892-406: Is minimally 1 + 1 ⁄ 2 by 3 + 1 ⁄ 2 inches (38 mm × 89 mm). As previously noted, less wood is needed to produce a given finished size than when standards called for the green lumber to be the full nominal dimension. However, even the dimensions for finished lumber of a given nominal size have changed over time. In 1910, a typical finished 1-inch (25 mm) board

1978-551: Is more commonly made from softwood than hardwoods, and 80% of lumber comes from softwood. In the United States and Canada, milled boards are called lumber , while timber describes standing or felled trees. In contrast, in Britain, and some other Commonwealth nations and Ireland, the term timber is used in both senses. (In the UK, the word lumber is rarely used in relation to wood and has several other meanings.) Re-manufactured lumber

2064-591: Is required. Under the prescription of the Method of Construction (營造法式) issued by the Song dynasty government in the early twelfth century, timbers were standardized to eight cross-sectional dimensions. Regardless of the actual dimensions of the timber, the ratio between width and height was maintained at 1:1.5. Units are in Song dynasty inches (31.2 mm). Timber smaller than the 8th class were called "unclassed" (等外). The width of

2150-459: Is smaller than the nominal dimensions because modern technology makes it possible to use the logs more efficiently. For example, a "2×4" board historically started out as a green, rough board actually 2 by 4 inches (51 mm × 102 mm). After drying and planing, it would be smaller by a nonstandard amount. Today, a "2×4" board starts out as something smaller than 2 inches by 4 inches and not specified by standards, and after drying and planing

2236-422: Is still continued in some places. Otherwise, logs were sawn using a two-person whipsaw, or pit-saw, using saddleblocks to hold the log, and a pit for the pitman who worked below. In 1420 the island of Madeira  – an archipelago comprising four islands off the northwest coast of Africa and an autonomous region of Portugal – was discovered. King Henry VI sent settlers to Madeira and

2322-526: Is the raw material for furniture-making, and manufacture of other items requiring cutting and shaping. It is available in many species, including hardwoods and softwoods , such as white pine and red pine , because of their low cost. Finished lumber is supplied in standard sizes, mostly for the construction industry – primarily softwood , from coniferous species, including pine , fir and spruce (collectively spruce-pine-fir ), cedar , and hemlock , but also some hardwood, for high-grade flooring. It

2408-437: Is the result of secondary or tertiary processing of previously milled lumber. Specifically, it refers to lumber cut for industrial or wood-packaging use. Lumber is cut by ripsaw or resaw to create dimensions that are not usually processed by a primary sawmill . Re-sawing is the splitting of 1-to-12-inch (25–305 mm) hardwood or softwood lumber into two or more thinner pieces of full-length boards. For example, splitting

2494-605: Is well utilised in the construction industry. Attempts to maintain lumber quality over time have been challenged by historical changes in the timber resources of the United States – from the slow-growing virgin forests common over a century ago to the fast-growing plantations now common in today's commercial forests. Resulting declines in lumber quality have been of concern to both the lumber industry and consumers and have caused increased use of alternative construction products. Machine stress-rated and machine-evaluated lumber are readily available for end-uses where high strength

2580-503: The American Lumber Standard Committee , appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Commerce . Design values for most species and grades of visually graded structural products are determined in accordance with ASTM standards, which consider the effect of strength reducing characteristics, load duration, safety, and other influencing factors. The applicable standards are based on results of tests conducted in cooperation with

2666-702: The American colonies began in 1607 when the Jamestown settlers cut timber to build the first settlement in the new world. America's first sawmill was built at the Falls of Piscatauqua , on the line between the Province of Maine and the Province of New Hampshire , in 1634. Unauthenticated records, however, claim that as early as 1633 several mills were operating in New Netherland . The American colonies were essential to England in

Madera Sugar Pine Company - Misplaced Pages Continue

2752-471: The Great Depression . With the economic situation showing no signs of improvement by 1933, the flume, lumber yard, planing mill and box factory were permanently closed. Every locomotive was sold or scrapped. he Madera Sugar Pine Company (MSP) managed a fleet of seven locomotives. Four of these engines were named, while the others were known by numbers. The first engine, known as Betsy or Engine Number One,

2838-539: The USDA Forest Products Laboratory. Design Values for Wood Construction, which is a supplement to the ANSI/AF&;PA National Design Specification® for Wood Construction, provides these lumber design values, which are recognized by the model building codes. Canada has grading rules that maintain a standard among mills manufacturing similar woods to assure customers of uniform quality. Grades standardize

2924-404: The "quarter" system in specifications as a vogue of insider knowledge, though the materials being specified are finished lumber, thus conflating the separate systems and causing confusion. Hardwoods cut for furniture are cut in the fall and winter, after the sap has stopped running in the trees. If hardwoods are cut in the spring or summer the sap ruins the natural color of the lumber and decreases

3010-433: The 1860s, he became a logger and wanted a better way to move logs to the mill than on winter snow sleds. He built his own tramway in 1875, on 2 ft 2 in ( 660 mm ) gauge track on wooden ties , allowing him to log all year round. Two years later he developed the idea of having an engine sit on a flatcar with a boiler , gears, and trucks that could pivot. The first Shay only had two cylinders and

3096-529: The 1923 case Madera Sugar Pine Co. v. Industrial Accident Commission of California , the United States Supreme Court upheld death benefits to the non-resident alien dependents of employees who died as a result of no-fault industrial accidents. The decision upheld the Workmen's Compensation Act of California , which was found to not be in violation of the U.S. Constitution . The ruling required that

3182-409: The 4×4 (89 mm × 89 mm), are common lumber sizes used in modern construction. They are the basic building blocks for such common structures as balloon-frame or platform-frame housing. Dimensional lumber made from softwood is typically used for construction, while hardwood boards are more commonly used for making cabinets or furniture. Lumber's nominal dimensions are larger than

3268-594: The Chinese workers' experience, particularly in the wake of the Chinese Exclusion Act . In 1922, Madera Sugar Pine decided to replace these Chinese laborers with Mexican laborers who had become readily available following the Immigration Act of 1917 . In a move that would send a clear signal that Chinese workers were no longer welcome, the company set fire to Chinatown at the end of the logging season, waiting until

3354-742: The Lewis Fork of the Fresno River served two purposes. It formed a log pond to serve the new Sugar Pine mill and created a water source for a new flume head. The completely rebuilt flume followed the original fifty-four miles (87 km) route through Fresno Flats, dropping a total of 4,500 feet (1,400 m) elevation on the journey to Madera. To maintain the proper grade, over 200 trestles were built, some of them 65 feet (20 m) high. The flume cost $ 275,000 to construct, an average of $ 5000 per mile. It used approximately 5,700,000 feet of redwood lumber and 2100 kegs of nails. A catastrophic fire swept through

3440-677: The Madera Flume and Trading Company. This new entity expanded its operations by adding a four-mile narrow gauge railway connecting the Soquel Mill with the flume, facilitating the transport of timber from more remote locations. In the late 1880s, the Madera Flume and Lumber Company made history by being the first logging operation to swap traditional oxen teams for steam-powered donkey engines . These compact yet potent steam engines allowed loggers to cut and transport trees under any weather conditions, thereby boosting overall timber production throughout

3526-577: The Madera Sugar Pine Company compensate the partially dependent survivors of two Mexican laborers who had died on the job. This case established the legal principle that non-resident alien dependents are entitled to the same compensation as citizens under the state's worker's compensation laws . The mill at Sugar Pine ceased activity in November 1931 with wood piling up in the Madera lumber yard due to

Madera Sugar Pine Company - Misplaced Pages Continue

3612-538: The Madera Sugar Pine Company, and all the engines were sold and scrapped by 1937. In 1967, service resumed as the Yosemite Mountain Sugar Pine Railroad , a heritage railway . The railroad is built on a two-mile (3 km) section of the original railroad grade used between 1908 and 1924. Lumber Lumber is wood that has been processed into uniform and useful sizes (dimensional lumber), including beams and planks or boards . Lumber

3698-517: The Shays Lima produced weighed 10 to 15 short tons (8.9 to 13.4 long tons; 9.1 to 13.6 t) each and had just two cylinders. In 1884, they delivered the first 3-cylinder (Class B) Shay, and in 1885, the first 3-truck (Class C) Shay. The success of the Shay led to a major expansion and reorganization of the Lima company. When Lima first received the Shay idea it was not impressed, until John Carnes influenced

3784-825: The UK), 2×6 , and 4×4 . The length of a board is usually specified separately from the width and depth. It is thus possible to find 2×4s that are four, eight, and twelve feet in length. In Canada and the United States, the standard lengths of lumber are 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22 and 24 feet (1.8, 2.4, 3.0, 3.7, 4.3, 4.9, 5.5, 6.1, 6.7 and 7.3 m). For wall framing, precut "stud" lengths are available, and are commonly used. For ceilings heights of 8, 9 or 10 feet (2.4, 2.7 or 3.0 m), studs are available in 92 + 5 ⁄ 8 inches (2.35 m), 104 + 5 ⁄ 8 inches (2.66 m), and 116 + 5 ⁄ 8 inches (2.96 m). The length of

3870-499: The United States began with the publication of the American Lumber Standard in 1924, which set specifications for lumber dimensions, grade, and moisture content; it also developed inspection and accreditation programs. These standards have changed over the years to meet the changing needs of manufacturers and distributors, with the goal of keeping lumber competitive with other construction products. Current standards are set by

3956-422: The actual standard dimensions of finished lumber. Historically, the nominal dimensions were the size of the green (not dried), rough (unfinished) boards that eventually became smaller finished lumber through drying and planing (to smooth the wood). Today, the standards specify the final finished dimensions and the mill cuts the logs to whatever size it needs to achieve those final dimensions. Typically, that rough cut

4042-450: The amount of oxygen is inadequate. Fungi lumber/timber defects: Following are the insects and molluscs which are usually responsible for the decay of timber/lumber: Shay locomotive Ephraim Shay (1839–1916), was a schoolteacher, a clerk in an American Civil War hospital, a civil servant, a logger , a merchant , a railway owner, and an inventor who lived in Michigan . In

4128-580: The camps to the mill. Expenses at Madera and in the woods now exceed $ 15,000 per month – truly an enterprise of which any area might feel justly proud. Betsy had a unique design, with a small cab that required the engineer to also serve as the fireman. Despite this quirk, Betsy became one of the longest-serving Shay locomotives in the Sierra and remained in service through the 1930s. In the late 1800s, loggers in Nelder Grove cut down many giant sequoias . However,

4214-491: The company introduced Betsy, an early Shay locomotive . She was the first of her kind to operate in the southern Sierra Nevada and represented a significant advancement in logging techniques and efficiency. The Visalia Weekly Delta reported on the innovation. Logging on the Madera Flume and Trading Company has been greatly facilitated this season by a new narrow-gauge (3-foot) railroad. Cars especially made for this purpose have done away with many [ox] teams in bringing lumber from

4300-444: The company store and received medical care at the company hospital. They accepted all customers, showing no discrimination beyond the ability to pay. The first brothel for the loggers of Madera Sugar Pine Company was called Kamook, located four miles from Sugar Pine . Tipperary was the most popular. Named after the popular song , Tipperary featured a main parlor house and four individual cabins. Accommodations at Kamook were scarce, so

4386-503: The company to use the idea, resulting in the classic Shay design. In 1903, Lima could claim that it had delivered the "heaviest locomotive on drivers in the world", the first 4-truck (class D) Shay, weighing 140 short tons (120 long tons; 130 t). This was built for the El Paso Rock Island Line from Alamogordo, New Mexico to Cox Canyon, 31 miles (50 km) away over winding curves and grades of up to 6 % . The use of

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4472-403: The company was its involvement in a landmark 1923 U.S. Supreme Court case where the court confirmed death benefits for non-resident alien dependents, marking a major step in workers' rights and setting a precedent against discrimination in cases of industrial accidents . In 1967, service resumed as the Yosemite Mountain Sugar Pine Railroad , a heritage railway . The railroad is built on

4558-402: The conversion of log timber into planks 30 times faster than previously. The circular saw, as used in modern sawmills, was invented by an Englishman named Miller in 1777. It was not until the nineteenth century, however, that it was generally applied, and its great work belongs to that period. The first insertable teeth for this saw were invented by W. Kendal, an American, in 1826. Logging in

4644-408: The countries with significant sawmilling industries. Historical wood-frame home building regions are: Europe, North America, Japan. Different areas of the world are recognized as significant timber suppliers; however, these areas (Indonesia, Sarawak, New Guinea, etc.) are exporters of raw logs and do not have a significant domestic lumber producing industry. The largest lumber manufacturing regions in

4730-486: The end of their usefulness in the US. Approximately 2,770 Shay locomotives were built by Lima in four classes, from 6 to 160 short tons (5.4 to 142.9 long tons; 5.4 to 145.1 t), between 1878 and 1945. Two 15 short tons (13 long tons; 14 t) Shays were built with two cylinders and three trucks. Four Shays, 600 mm ( 1 ft  11 + 5 ⁄ 8  in ) gauge, were built left-handed, all special ordered by

4816-466: The establishment of towns such as Madera , Fish Camp , and Sugar Pine , as well as the growth of Fresno Flats and the formation of Madera County . At its peak, the Madera Sugar Pine Company employed over 600 men in its logging operations, another 1,000 in its lumber mill , and produced an annual output of 50 million board feet of lumber. Most of its production was exported beyond California, notably supplying two carloads of "the finest Sugar Pine in

4902-440: The first snowfall to ensure that no other structures would be damaged in the blaze. This incident highlights the discrimination and injustice faced by Chinese workers in the logging industry during the early 20th century. Prostitution flourished in the Sierra during the logging days. The San Francisco fire of 1906 left many sex workers without work, so they went to the logging camps. Law enforcement left them be, and they traded at

4988-475: The flume. His flume clamp was patented in 1877. However, despite these innovations, the California Lumber Company encountered financial challenges. Lack of sufficient funds and the 1877 drought significantly affected its operations, resulting in the termination of the company's activities after only three seasons. In 1878, the California Lumber Company underwent a major overhaul and was rebranded as

5074-403: The front truck was mounted normally while the rear truck was fixed to the frame and could not swivel, much as normal drivers on a locomotive. He mounted the 3-foot (914 mm) diameter by 5-foot (1,524 mm) tall boiler centered on the car with the water tank over the front trucks and with an engine supplied by William Crippen mounted crossways over the rear trucks. Shay experimented first with

5160-405: The jobs in the Sugar Pine lumber yards. However, these Chinese workers faced significant discrimination and segregation in the workplace and in their daily lives. They were relegated to low-paying jobs as common laborers, were hired and paid through a middleman, and lived in a separate Chinatown apart from the rest of the community. Anti-Chinese sentiment and lack of legal protection also hindered

5246-429: The mill site. Operations resumed the following April with an expanded capacity of 350,000 board feet a day. The sawmill community at Sugar Pine was diverse, with workers from many different nationalities. Social status within the community was based on a person's position with the company, and housing was allocated accordingly. Management lived in the upper canyon, sawmill workers in the lower canyon, and shop workers on

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5332-543: The modern era; a 1st class timber during the Sui was reconstructed as 15×10 (Sui dynasty inches, or 29.4 mm). Defects occurring in lumber are grouped into the following four divisions: During the process of converting timber to commercial forms of lumber the following defects may occur: Fungi attack wood (both timber and lumber) when these conditions are all present: Wood with less than 25% moisture (dry weight basis) can remain free of decay for centuries. Similarly, wood submerged in water may not be attacked by fungi if

5418-491: The most common and widely used method of sawing logs. Plain sawn lumber is produced by making the first cut on a tangent to the circumference of the log. Each additional cut is then made parallel to the one before. This method produces the widest possible boards with the least amount of log waste. Lumber manufacturing globally is determined by the preferred style of building; areas with a "wood building culture" (homes were built from wood rather than other materials like brick) are

5504-505: The quality of lumber at different levels and are based on moisture content, size, and manufacture at the time of grading, shipping, and unloading by the buyer. The National Lumber Grades Authority (NLGA) is responsible for writing, interpreting and maintaining Canadian lumber grading rules and standards. The Canadian Lumber Standards Accreditation Board (CLSAB) monitors the quality of Canada's lumber grading and identification system. Their common grade abbrievation, CLS, Canadian Lumber Standard

5590-431: The right with longitudinal drive shafts extending fore and aft from the crankshaft at wheel axle height. These shafts had universal joints and square sliding prismatic joints to accommodate the swiveling trucks. Each axle was driven by a separate bevel gear , with no side rods. The strength of these engines lies in the fact that all wheels, including, in some engines, those under the tender , are driven so that all

5676-653: The role of supplier of lumber for the British fleet. By the 1790s, New England was exporting 36 million feet of pine boards and at least 300 ship masts per year to the British Empire. The timber supply began to dwindle at the start of the twentieth century due to significant harvest volumes, so the logging industry was forced to seek timber elsewhere; hence, the expansion into the American West. Logs are converted into lumber by being sawn, hewn , or split . Sawing with

5762-511: The rules of the Sciages Avivés Tropicaux Africains (SATA) and is based on clear cuttings – established by the percentage of the clear surface. In North America, market practices for dimensional lumber made from hardwoods varies significantly from the regularized standardized ' dimension lumber ' sizes used for sales and specification of softwoods – hardwood boards are often sold totally rough cut, or machine planed only on

5848-496: The settlers started clearing the huge expanses of forest in order to grow crops. Felled trees were made into planks by water-powered mills and the timber (cedar and yew) was shipped to Portugal and Spain. About 1427, the first sawmill in Germany was built. Cornelis Corneliszoon (or Krelis Lootjes) was a Dutch windmill owner from Uitgeest who invented the first mechanical sawmill, which was wind-powered, on 15 December 1593. This made

5934-459: The sex workers set up a tent community called "Happy Camp" two miles away in Fish Camp, California . Business boomed, and the sex workers soon hired carpenters to construct a permanent brothel. Prostitution houses stood for just over twenty years, Tipperary being the first to fall when the logs near Big Creek were depleted and the logging moved on. Happy Camp and Kamook persisted until the 1920s. In

6020-497: The side of the hill. Loggers would live in seasonal camps in the woods, where they would sleep four to a shack and eat in a common cookhouse. Chinese laborers, whose jobs were limited to the flume, drying yard and sawmill, lived in a separate Chinatown area south of the mill. Chinese workers, many of whom had arrived during the California Gold Rush , played a significant role in completing the Madera Flume and filling many of

6106-498: The town on September 9, 1922. The sawmill, lumber yard, and 75 acres (0.30 km) acres of surrounding forest were destroyed. Madera Sugar Pine immediately announced plans to rebuild and expand. Equipment was ordered, manufactured and shipped from the eastern US by rail, including a modern two-band sawmill. Crews worked throughout the winter to transport and assemble over 500,000 pounds (230,000 kg) of equipment, hauling it over 60 miles (97 km) miles of dirt road from Madera to

6192-410: The trains was largely dictated by the steepness of the railroad grade. Notably, the Shay locomotives were designed to be adaptable, never needing to be turned around; they were always positioned with the front end facing uphill, highlighting their flexibility in handling the rugged terrain. In 1933, the sawmill closed, and the company chose to dismantle the railroad in 1934, marking the end of an era for

6278-533: The turn of the century, the old-growth white pine of the upper Midwest had become depleted. Sugar pine , with its large size and straight grain, became a highly valued substitute for white pine. This led many established lumber interests to push westward into the Sierra Nevada. In 1889, Arthur Hill, a Michigan-born timber magnate, and his associates purchased the assets of the Madera Flume and Trading Company and expanded its operations. Its existing logging railroad

6364-453: The two (broader) face sides. When hardwood boards are also supplied with planed faces, it is usually both by random widths of a specified thickness (normally matching milling of softwood dimensional lumber) and somewhat random lengths. But besides those older (traditional and normal) situations, in recent years some product lines have been widened to also market boards in standard stock sizes; these usually retail in big-box stores and using only

6450-466: The valley. Between 1874 and 1877, a 54-mile (87 km) log flume , the longest ever built at that time, was constructed to transport rough-cut lumber from the mountains to Madera in the valley. There, it could be finished and shipped worldwide via the Southern Pacific Railroad . This project involved constructing many high trestles across the variable foothills' terrain and was finished at

6536-459: The value of the wood for furniture. Engineered lumber is lumber created by a manufacturer and designed for a certain structural purpose. The main categories of engineered lumber are: In the United States, pilings are mainly cut from southern yellow pines and Douglas-fir . Treated pilings are available in chromated copper arsenate retentions of 0.60, 0.80 and 2.50 pounds per cubic foot (9.6, 12.8 and 40.0 kg/m ) if treatment

6622-468: The weight develops tractive effort . A high ratio of piston strokes to wheel revolutions allowed them to run at partial slip, where a conventional rod engine would spin its drive wheels and burn rails, losing all traction. Shay locomotives were often known as sidewinders or stemwinders for their side-mounted drive shafts. Most were built for use in the United States, but many were exported, to about 30 countries, either by Lima, or after they had reached

6708-450: The wood from these trees had limited commercial potential due to its tendency to break apart when felled and its inferior suitability for construction compared to old-growth sugar pine and ponderosa. Despite this, more than 100 of the largest sequoias in the grove survived clearcutting by 1897. By the late 1890s, the Madera Flume and Trading Company was in decline. The reasons were twofold: the available timber tracts were depleting, and there

6794-424: The world are: China (18%); United States (17%); Canada (10%); Russia (9%); Germany (5%); Sweden (4%). In early periods of society, to make wood for building, the trunks of trees were split with wedges into as many and as thin pieces as possible. If it was necessary to have them still thinner, they were hewn, by some sharp instrument, on both sides, to the proper size. This simple but wasteful manner of making boards

6880-510: The world" for the reconstruction of the White House under Theodore Roosevelt . Overall, the company logged more than 6,200 acres (25 km) acres and generated over 1.3 billion board feet of lumber before its closure in 1933, a downturn driven by the declining supply and demand during The Great Depression . Despite these economic challenges, the Madera Sugar Pine Company maintained profitability in each year of its operation. A key moment for

6966-481: The year. In 1881, the company constructed the Soquel Mill and connected it to an extended log flume, positioned upstream from the original California Mill. The following year, they established a second mill near Nelder Grove. However, this new mill did not have a nearby water source, necessitating the use of a forest tramway to move the lumber to the flume. By then, the company had the capability to transport 100,000 board feet of finished lumber to Madera daily. In 1889,

7052-514: Was 13 ⁄ 16  in (21 mm). In 1928, that was reduced by 4%, and yet again by 4% in 1956. In 1961, at a meeting in Scottsdale, Arizona, the Committee on Grade Simplification and Standardization agreed to what is now the current U.S. standard: in part, the dressed size of a 1-inch (nominal) board was fixed at 3 ⁄ 4  inch; while the dressed size of 2 inch (nominal) lumber

7138-516: Was reduced from 1 + 5 ⁄ 8  inch to the current 1 + 1 ⁄ 2  inch. Dimensional lumber is available in green, unfinished state, and for that kind of lumber, the nominal dimensions are the actual dimensions. Individual pieces of lumber exhibit a wide range in quality and appearance with respect to knots, slope of grain, shakes and other natural characteristics. Therefore, they vary considerably in strength, utility, and value. The move to set national standards for lumber in

7224-402: Was a decrease in the demand for lumber exports due to a prolonged economic depression . Earlier, the California Lumber Company mills had been permanently closed, and the company itself had declared bankruptcy in 1878. Despite these setbacks, the Madera lumber yard managed to keep running, albeit on a smaller scale, supported by contracted loggers who continued to supply cut logs to the flume. By

7310-411: Was an early model that became a reliable part of the fleet, serving until the early 1930s despite its unique design requiring the engineer to also act as the fireman. Betsy stood out for its durability and became one of the longest-serving Shay locomotives in the Sierra Nevada, even though it had a tendency to derail occasionally. The company's larger locomotives, Engines 4 and 5, were delivered through

7396-533: Was extended to newly secured timber tracts, and the flume to Madera was reconstructed. The scale of the operation was expanded to rival the Fresno Flume and Irrigation Company and Sanger Lumber Company , which had sprung up as competitors. The sugar pine tree became the central symbol for the reincorporated company. It featured in the company's name and logo and became the namesake for the newly constructed company town and state-of-the-art mill. A new earth dam on

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