Timber Industry

From the early days of its history wood played an important role in Clermont. Beginning before the turn of the century in the 1800’s it provided work for many men. Huge tracts of land were logged using hand tools similar to the ones shown here.

The huge logs were loaded onto horse drawn wagons and hauled to the railroad to be hauled to other parts of the country.  Butt’s dock had been constructed for this purpose and was used for a great many loads of logs.  The men who drove these wagons were called teamsters.  As told to me by his daughter, Ada Searfoss Widmann, Paul Searfoss was a teamster. He worked in what was called the Butterfield tract, which was developed by Hildebrand Gunshon.  Since that time, this area has been called Gunshon’s Flat.  One former resident spoke of riding to Clermont from Johnsonburg on the railroad and seeing nothing but stumps on both sides of the track for mile and miles.

        The final harvest of logs, as well as the closing of the Gumboot mines, certainly contributed to the demise of the Pennsy Railroad through Clermont. Even though the large trees were gone woods still contributed employment to some men with the cutting of wood for the paper mill in Johnsonburg and chemical wood for the plant in Marvindale. Usually the men worked in two man crews and used 2 man saws, double headed axes, sledges, and go-devils. Here is a picture of one of the men who was a woodcutter. His name was Artie Jacobson and grew up on the Jacobson farm.

The bark had to be removed for the paper wood.  Both types of wood were piled in cord piles and were scaled by a wood scaler.  The men were paid a price, one or 2 dollars, for each cord.

          In recent years the timber has grown big enough to be logged again.  Large corporations have purchased thousands of acres of land and employ foresters to manage the timberlands. Gone are the two man saws and in with the chainsaws like the ones shown here.

Without the railroads to haul the logs these companies employ trucking firms with log trucks like this one.

Finally the paper mills now use chippers to grind up the wood for use in making paper so now only logs are used in this process. No more chemical mills exist in the area so there is no need for chemical wood.