New England Sawmillers in Scotland – Sawmill Unit No 3 – Teamsters and Horses
The Images are courtesy of https://www.actonhistoricalsociety.org/ww1-sawmill-unit.html Also check out Records No 4778 – 4789 or under ‘Groups’ the ‘American sawmillers in Scotland 1917’.
A fantastic image of Teamsters and helpers with their twelve horses either before or after a working day. Four or five teams worked in the wood dragging timber down to the mill and another team or teams cleared all the sawn material from the mill and took it down to the lower levels for stacking near to the public road. From these points at this mill site, and the other nine, a fleet five ton lorries on hire to the Board of Trade loaded and transported the sawn timber to the railway station at Ardgay.
The collar, hames and bridles all look very similar to that used in Scotland but the body harness may be a little different. The sledges, carts and wagons all appeared to have double shafts or a single shaft that went between a pair of horses. The shaft also allowed the horses to push back or prevent sledges or wagons from running into them and harness was designed for this function as well as for forward pulling with the chains.
The teams were complete with skilled farriers, blacksmiths who had access to supplies of spare horseshoe material and nails. Fodder was supplied by the British Board of Trade but some was brought over from New England. Summer grazing may have been available locally. One or two of the team members are distinctive enough to recognise in other group photographs.
Note that the back ground in this image gave an indication of the location as near Hilton, Strathcarron.
The first image in the attached PDF shows horses moving material via pack saddle or a version of a pack saddle. Very unusual but looking at the ground this appears to be a very soft muddy area over which the loaded sledges may have been having difficulty crossing. It may well be the discarded ‘backs’ from the sawmill cut into short lengths and being used to fill over the muddy spots. In fact if one looks closely there are outlines of boards lying in the mud.
The second image is that of Joe Fontaine and Frank Greenough working with a traditional two wheel cart top move some soil and material. Horse harness for cart very similar to that used in Scotland at the time.
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Groups: American sawmillers in Scotland 1917, Forestry Areas, Forestry in Action, Groups of people, Horses at work in Forests