Maine USA – Mill Unit no 2 in Scotland June 1917 to June 1918 – Newspaper clips
The USA images and letters are courtesy of Stacey York, Mechanic Falls, Maine, USA. The series of images from Stacey are in the sequence on Forestry Memories from No 6282 to No 6298 and forms part of the Forestry Memories Groups collection ‘American Sawmillers in Scotland 1917’.
In the Great War of 1914-18 the UK and its allies were facing severe shortage of timber products to keep the coal mines operating and providing power for manufacturing for the war effort. Timber railway sleepers for the railways to the war front in Europe were urgently required and also wood for manufacturing of boxes and containers for munitions and other products. German submarines were severely interrupting timber imports and there was a great shortage of men to work in the forests and timber industry in UK because they had been called up in their millions to serve in the war effort as soldiers and sailors. An original request for assistance with timber cutting and sawing in British forests from the British Government was directed to the New England States.
A rapid response to the British crisis was taken on board by six New England States and a specially convened committee organised the supply of one sawmill unit funded by each state. The states involved were Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island. In addition several individual companies and many individuals provided the necessary funding for a further four sawmill units resulting in a total of ten units and all their equipment being sent to Liverpool and eventually to Ardgay in Ross-shire in the summer of 1917. The timber workers and saw millers were on a contract to the British Government for a period of one year.
A number of newspaper reports in Maine, USA and also in Sutherland, Scotland were produced during the year long period of the lumber cutting and milling contract in Scotland. The main image depicts the 1917 report on the large diner event in the City Club, Boston for the 350 or so lumber men heading off to Scotland a few days later. More clips are located in the PDF link below this text and includes one clip with a list of lumber workers in Scotland that came from the Rumford area of Maine State. The second and third clips are of the article written by Lacy Judkins of Unit No 2 for the Rumford Falls Times describing their living and working conditions in Scotland. The final two clips are from newspapers local to Bonar Bridge, including the Highland News, describing a wrestling and boxing match in the Dornoch Drill Hall between members of the American lumber units and the Canadian Forestry unit in Dornoch and lastly the details of a wedding ceremony between Randall Sessions, American lumberman, and Georgina (Ina) Ross a local girl from the Ardgay area.
Please see the PDF link for images of other news clips.
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Groups: American sawmillers in Scotland 1917, Caithness and Sutherland