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Vintage lumber yard, built to air dry lumber

Started by low_48, May 08, 2016, 11:30:07 PM

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low_48

I stopped in and visited with a distant senior family member at the Emden Lumber Company, Emden, Il. The Coers family has worked at or owned the company since 1911. Saying family,  currently means a different generation, cousin's husband, but I still call him family. He's in his late 80s and works every day. My Dad worked there as a teenage in the late 1930s and early 1940s as a teenager building farm truck beds and livestock loading chutes. My Grand Uncle is shown in this vintage photo. He worked there when they opened, and latter bought the company around 1922. His Father (my Great Grandfather) immigrated to Emden, Il in 1885. Sorry for the long intro, but now to the meat of the story.

I asked Melvin what those cat walks were up in the peak of the building. He explained how there had been two huge cupolas on the building when it was built. They had as many windows in them as possible. Down low on the outside of the building, there were panels that were hinged on top. Each morning my Grand Uncle Dan would climb up the cat walks and open all the windows. Then come down and open all the low panels, propping them open. On either side of the center drive way, there are double high racks where lumber was stickered when fresh on the low bunks, moved to the upper bunks when dried.  Of course this would set up a nice chimney effect that would draw the air through the bundles of lumber. As you also see, there were doors on each end of the drive way, so an incredible amount of air could be drawn through the building.

The building is as built in 1911 except one of the cupolas is missing. The mill room doesn't appear to be touched or anything moved in 10+ years. I started talking about buying the vintage Foley hand saw filer, and other vintage tools, but Melvin acted like they might be used yet! About as much about history as lumber drying, but the way it was done 100+ years ago. It was a fun day of reminiscing. I bought materials for Industrial Arts class in the 1960s at the place, and they built our family home in 1961 for $10,000 plus used lumber we had salvaged.

 

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