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Interior view of Schafer Brothers Shingle Mill and workers, Montesano, n.d.
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| Title | Interior view of Schafer Brothers Shingle Mill and workers, Montesano, n.d. |
| Photographer | Kinsey, Clark |
| Date | n.d. |
| Notes | Caption on image: Schafer Bros. Shingle Mill, Montesano, Wn. C. Kinsey Photo. No. 104
PH Coll 516.3865 |
| Contextual Notes | Schafer Brothers Logging Company got its start in 1893 when brothers Peter, Albert and Hubert Schafer began logging on the family homestead 6 miles upstream from the mouth of the Satsop. They logged with oxen and horses for 20 years. The company's first donkey engine was purchased from Washington Iron Works. Hubert went to work at the factory to learn how donkey engines were made and also to have all of his wages, except for living expenses, applied toward the cost of that first donkey engine. In 1913, they bought a 45-ton Heisler locomotive and laid tracks into the woods from Brady to begin their railroad logging operation. A shingle mill was purchased in Montesano in 1919, the first of many manufacturing plants the company would own throughout Grays Harbor County. At the peak of operation, the Schafers were running one of the largest logging, milling and shipping concerns in the lumber industry of the Pacific Northwest. Their properties and equipment at that time, not counting ships and tugs, included five sawmills in operation, served by six camps sending logs over 100 miles of rail. This required 18 locomotives, both geared and mainline types, and a total of 70 donkeys and 325 logging cars. To operate all of this equipment called for approximately 3000 employees. Simpson Timber Company purchased Schafer Brothers Logging Company in 1955.
The "shingle weavers" as they were called, depended for their livelihood on the dexterity of their hands. They juggled the freshly sliced shingles which fell from the flashing blades of the saws in a manual ballet which the director of a symphony might have envied. They caught the pungent cedar boards in the air, flipped them from one hand to the other and "wove" them into finished bundles ready for shipment. A journeyman shingle weaver could handle 30,000 singles in a ten hour shift. Each time - 30,000 times a day - when he reached for one of those flying pieces of cedar, he gambled the reflexes of eye and muscle against the instant amputation of his fingers or his hand. [Source: Prouty, Andrew Mason. More Deadly Than War: Pacific Coast Logging, 1827-1981. New York; London: Garland Publishing, Inc. 1985.]
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| Subjects (LCTGM) | Interiors--Washington (State)--Montesano
Schafer Brothers Logging Company--Facilities--Washington (State)--Montesano
Schafer Brothers Logging Company--People--Washington (State)--Montesano
Schafer Brothers Logging Company--Equipment & supplies--Washington (State)--Montesano
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| Subjects (LCSH) | Shingle industry--Washington (State)--Montesano
Shingles--Washington (State)--Montesano
Shingle industry--Washington (State)--Montesano--Employees
Sawmills--Washington (State)--Montesano
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| Location Depicted | United States--Washington (State)--Grays Harbor County--Montesano |
| Digital Collection | Clark Kinsey Photographs
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| Order Number | CKK0751 |
| Ordering Information | To order a reproduction, inquire about permissions, or for information about prices see: http://www.lib.washington.edu/specialcollections/services/reproduction-info Please cite the Order Number when ordering. |
| Negative Number | C. Kinsey 3865
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| Repository | University of Washington Libraries. Special Collections Division |
| Repository Collection | Clark Kinsey Photograph Collection. PH Coll 516
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| Object Type | Photograph |
| Physical Description | Silver gelatin, b/w ; 11 x 14 in. |
| Digital Reproduction Information | Scanned from a photographic print using a Microtek Scanmaker 9600XL at 100 dpi in JPEG format at compression rate 3 and resized to 768x512 ppi. 2003. |
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