Steel and Davies Sawmill in Strathdon 11 Sep 1911 – at Inverernan close to Edinglassie House
The image is courtesy of Bob Munro, Huntly, and features a sawmill team posing with annotated circular saw blades outside on the stack of logs at the loading bank leading to the sawmill bench. Some of the men (all unnamed) have heavy bib and brace type garments typical of those handling logs onto the bench and the miller setting up the log and moving it with each pass.
The logs appear as if they have been peeled and the butt ends show the axe cut chamfers acquired during the felling process of laying in. The younger team members would be employed in picking the waste slabs from the mill and throwing them onto the slab heap seen on the extreme right of image. They would also have to stack the sawn timber somewhere on the lower side of shed. The man on the left has an oil can on his knee and may signify his position as steam engine engineer. The smoke stack from the engine is just visible on the smaller rear roof and seems to indicate that the engine, may, unusually be sitting parallel to the saw bench and not in line. This would complicate power transfer from the engine to the saw blade but overcome possibly by a long metal shaft with belt drive pulleys on either end.
The double ended farm or estate building on the left is still in existence as is Edinglassie House well up on the right in middle distance. The mill position indicates that the team were milling timber from Torrandhu Wood and probably clearfelling the area thus providing enough timber to justify setting up a mill. The stack of small conifer poles behind the men may be for future conversion into rough pole building timber or for fire wood.
Bob has also supplied an image of an article from the Press and Journal dated May 27th 1910 describing a sad accident and death at the mill featured above. It reads:
“MAN KILLED AT STRATHDON - A SAWMILL ACCIDENT.
A sad accident occurred at Torrandhu, Strathdon, on Wednesday morning, resulting in the death of a man named Alexander Gauld, belong¬ing to Find rack. The unfortunate man was employed as an engineman at one of Messers Steel and Davies's sawmills at Inverernan.
It is supposed that he had been attempting to put on or take off the belt which drives the pump by reaching over the intermediate shaft, and that his jacket had been caught by the shaft.
One of the men, working at another part of the mill, thought he heard a shout, and immediately rushed to the engine and shut off steam. On search being made the body was found with the jacket twisted tightly round the shaft.
Medical aid was at once summoned and Dr. Howie, Strathdon, was very soon in attendance.
It was found that Gauld's neck was dislocated, as was also his left thigh, while several ribs on the left side were broken. The body, however, was not much disfigured, and it is supposed that death must have been almost instantaneous.
The shaft was running at almost 300 revolutions per minute. Deceasedt who was 55 years of age, was unmarried. He was a native of Cromar, Migvie”.
Any information on and names of employees at Steel and Davies’s Sawmill would be very welcome.
Please see large image link below for detail.
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Groups: Forestry Areas, Groups of people, Sawmills, pulp mills, chipboard mills