Recollections

[Al B]

The following rememberance was written by Louis A. Cyr, age 84, of Madawaska, Maine.  He writes of his experiences and sends them to his family as emails.  I am not of his family, but do enjoy the privilege of reading them.

He has given his permission for me to post this one about "Firewood".  Hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did.


 Hi everyone,
>>      It is now getting to the point, that I have nothing of interest to
>>write about.  So I am going back in history and find something that most
>>of you don't know too much about, except maybe Paul, Greg and Mike.  I'm
>>not sure about Mark and maybe Ralph.
>>       Once a year my father and my Uncle Luc Hebert would join forces and
>>cut the fire wood needed for the  two farms.  My uncle had a big shed,
>>that we would fill up every year.  All split, piled and ready to burn.We
>>also had a big shed that we had to fill up.  My father would furnish
>>himself, our hired hand and me.  I was about 9 or 10 years old, old enough
>>to drive the horse used to twitch the trees to a yard where the trees were
>>piled up, prior to sawing them up into firewood length.  My unce had 4
>>boys, Claude, norman, Guy and Edgar. Edgar and I were the drivers for the
>>two horses needed.
>>      The senario would go something like this. Everything was cut with an
>>axe.  No chainsaws in those days.  So the first thing to do, was to
>>sharpen all the axes.  A whole days work.  We had a round cement wheel,
>>about 20 inches in diameter, mounted on a bench, a handle on the wheel
>>that someone had to turn, and someone who knew how, would hold the axe on
>>the  cement wheel.  Then we needed chains,  and the  necessary harneses
>>for the horses.  Edgar and I would ride the horses horseback.  It was
>>safer than walking,where we could get hit by the trees.  We did that for
>>many years and Edgar and I never got hurt.
>>        When the big day came, usually in the early fall we would get up
>>very early,, get on a wagon with all the necessary supplies , and head for
>>the woods. Felling trees with an axe is an art, and it takes a while to be
>>good at it. We would have what wa.s known as the yard keeper.  He would
>>clear a place near a road,and pile all the incoming trees in a pile, prior
>>to cutting each tree into firewood that would go into a stove.  Usually 16
>>inches in length.  This this was done with a rotary saw  driven by a paf
>>paf type ,one lunger which did the job quite well.
>>        This operation needed one man to  chop all the small branches off
>>the tree, two men to lift the tree onto the saw and the boss who would
>>actually push the tree into the high speed saw, at the right length. Many
>>people have been hurt doing this type of work, but we were very lucky, no
>>one ever got hurt.
>>         Now we go back in the woods where a  two or three men would fell
>>the trees.  Since it was all hand work, you can understand that we did not
>>cut big trees.  Just big enough so we could handle them.  The horse would
>>back up to two or three trees, chained together and the horse and rider
>>would proceed to the yard.  The yard keeper would unchain the trees,  and
>>the horse and rider would go back to get another twitch.  We would keep
>>this up until noon, when we would stop, build a fire, cook beens and
>>hotdogs, make coffee and tea (no soft drinks, probably couldn't afford
>>them), rest for 45 minutes and continue until nightfall.  This type of
>>  operation would usually fill up one shed.  Another weekend we would do
>>our thing again for the other shed.  Very hard work.
>>         Now the wood had to be hauled to the sheds, and be split, and
>>piled so it would dry,  You do not burn green wood.  All the wood was
>>hauled with trucks owned by my uncle Luke.  I guess he was well off,
>>because he had lot of equipment.  We did the above for many years and I
>>don't ever remember running out of wood.  For both heat and cooking.
>>       Today' most of you guys are lucky.  You want to cook, you turn on a
>>switch, you want heat, you turn up the thermostat.  You can even make it
>>cold if you want to.  Enough on wood, see you next time.  If you like
>>these let me know and maybe I'll write more.   Best Personal regards,
>>          Louis, Mon Oncle Peewee and Dad
>

[leweee]

Can never get too many of them oldtimer stories

[Rockn H]

I could listen about the old days forever.  By all means, keep'em coming.

[moosehunter]

 
More, More !!!

[asy]

Hey Al,

Please pass our great thanks on to Louis. I felt very privelleged to be allowed to read this.

Please ask him whether we might be allowed to read a few more. They are fascinating. You could start a thread "Louis' ramblings" and post one every now and again...

The other thing is, is someone amassing all these into a book? If he's been writing heaps of letters, maybe someone in his family could collate them all and print them. I'll be first in line for a copy.

Thanks again.

asy

[Al B]

asy,

I have relayed a link to him, so he can read the comments and enjoy them.  I
 
I'm working on getting more posted.  Thought I'd do one a week, maybe.

[Al B]

   
 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The following rememberance was written by Louis A. Cyr, age 84, of Madawaska, Maine.  He writes of his experiences and sends them to his family as emails.

 
>Hi everyone,                            April 7, 2002
>     The last time I wrote I was 9 or 10 years old.  This time I'm a little
>older.  I am 26 years old, got married, and decided to build a house.  So I
>bought a lot on School Street. and got started.
>     As you know I owned a big farm on Gagnon Road, lots of trees, so I
>decided to cut the framework there and save a few bucks.   I had already
>decided to buy all the boards from Fraser Paper where I worked.  Kiln dried
>boards, tongue and grooved cost at Fraser's, #50 per thousand board feet. 
>I could not do any better than that.  I gave my order to Fraser's, and will
>be told to pick it up when ready.  Their mill was in Cabano, Quebec about
>50 miles from Madawaska.
>     My father was in good shape at that time and he said he would help me 
>cut the trees, yard them up and haul them to a sawmill to make 2 x 4's,
>6x6,s, 2 x 8's, 2 x 10's and so forth.  The house would be 26 x 30 feet,
>would contain 4 bedrooms,  complete bathroom, upstairs, kitchen, dining
>room, living room, one half bath, and washroom, downstairs..  And a
>complete cellar.
>     The trees would be cut down with a two man saw about six feet long,
>very sharp, and when you know how to use it, does a very fast job of
>cutting.  Sharpening was very important and my father was an expert at
>that.
>     We used two horses, used as a team, provided by my uncle Luc,  that we
>hitched to a scoot.   A scoot is like a small winter sled, two wood runners
>very strong, with a way to hitch up the horses for towing. The front part
>of the tree would be chained to the scoot, and the rest of the tree would
>drag on the ground. All the trees that we cut were very big, some over two
>feet in diameter, and some bigger. We would normally put or chained two or
>three on the scoot, then I would drive the team to the yard, where I would
>roll them on skids, and make a pile ready for hauling to the sawmill.  Some
>were so big so that we could only haul one tree at a time. We probably cut
>most of the big trees that were on the farm at that time.  Not many big
>trees left.
>     Since we were both working full time at Fraser's, it took us many
>week- ends and days to get all the trees cut, and all very hard work.  At
>that time we did not have any chainsaws.  One was purchased a few years
>later. It was a Homelight and very heavy.
>
>     All the time that I was twitching the trees to the yard, I kept a
>small notebook, and kept track of the pieces we needed to frame the house.
>Finally, when we felt that we had enough logs for all the framing, we hired
>two men and a truck and on to the sawmill.  The sawmill was about ten miles
>from the farm, and was owned by Alphy Levesque.  He did all the sawing,
>then we hauled the lumber to my lot in Madawaska, Where it was neatly piled
>where it would dry and remain straight.
>     Since construction would only begin in the spring, we also hauled all
>the boards from Fraser's, piled them on the lot and waited for spring.
>               By Louis, Granpa and Peewee (all same person)

[asy]

Hiya Al,

Thanks again!!

I just love reading these, not sure if one a week is enough

Thanks also to Mr Cyr for allowing us the great privellege of sharing his stories. It is truly appreciated.

asy

[tnlogger]

Al thanks i'm realy enjoying this   
 Mr.Cyr thanks. a good friend of mine now passed on was in the Madawaska area back in the early
1900s his name was adam Galuza i rember sitting hrs on end listening to his stories on logging, wine making, and living.  He was the one that made a map of the Appalachian Trail.

[moosehunter]

Mr Cyr,
 Thanks for the stories, they are much appreciated. Kind of humbling to think of how our elders did by hand what we do with machines.
 I have been to Madawaska a few times, a friend has a camp on Mud lake(Sinclair) and that is where I go Moosehunting when lucky enough to get drawn. Wonderfull country.
Moosehunter

[Norm]

Mr Cyr,

Thanks for allowing us to read your remembrances.

Thanks Al for posting them here.

[Al B]

The following rememberance was written by Louis A. Cyr, age 84, of Madawaska, Maine.  He writes of his experiences and sends them to his family as emails.

                                                         HEATING WITH WOOD
                                                                  By Louis A Cyr      84 years old     May 1st, 2005
    During the late 70’s and the early 80’s the US had an oil crunch and the oil prices went sky high,  which prompted  many oil users to go back to heating with wood.   Since I owned a large farm, with over 100 acres of woodland I decided to heat with wood for a few years, or until the oil prices stabilized.   I also thought that if I did most of the work I could save a pot of money.  I would have to do many things before I actually went in the woods to cut my first tree.   
   I had installed a nice fireplace when I built the house I live in.  So I looked into the possibility of putting the stove in the living room and stove pipe into the fireplace.  I had a piece of steel cut to the right size, and installed it in place of the fire screen, with a hole for the smoke pipe.
   With this done, I next had to purchase a stove.  All kinds in the market, and all at that time very expensive.  We ended up with a Nashua, a nice air tight  stove, and  it weighed about 400 pounds.  With this done I had to get ready  to  go in the woods and cut about 7 cords of hardwood, which is what I would need to heat  for one year.
   Since I already owned a farm, I had most of the tools needed to cut wood.  I owned a farm tractor, a couple of chain saws, a farm trailer capable of hauling 2 cords of wood., and a few other tools needed, such as axes, chains, peveys etc.
   I retired in 1980, so I could do the cutting at my leisure.  A usual day would go like this.  I would start around 7 AM, drive to the woods with the tractor and trailer, chop down the trees, limb them, twitch them to the parked trailer , cut them up in 16 inch lengths, and load them on the trailer.  Usually by noon the trailer was full with about one and a half cords of wood.  I would then drive back to the old farm house, and probably wait until the next day to split and stack the wood to dry.  Believe me, all this is very hard work. The Arthritis in my arms and legs did not help. The trees I cut were all hardwood.  Mostly yellow Birch, a few white  birch, Maples and white ash. The fact that years ago I had cut a roadway from the main road to the top of the mountain which is where all the hardwood was, made it easier, because making new roads in the woods is not an easy job.
    I learned one thing about harvesting wood in a small way.  In the spring, before the leaves come out, I would go into the woods, and cut down about 7 cords of wood and leave them there.  In just a few weeks, all the leaves would come out, and suck all the water out of the tree. This helped the drying process tremendously.   I learned that from an old friend of mine. About three months later I would twitch the trees to the trailer and cut them to fire size.
     Spliting the wood is quite a process.  In my case I did not have a wood spliter, so I decided to build one.  They did not seem to be too complicated  I bought most of the parts from Northern Hydraulics.  I needed a steel beam, a three foot hydraulic cylinder, a forward and reverse valve to activate the cylinder, hoses, a tank for the hydraulic fluid, a
hydraulic pump,  an engine to drive the pump, and a set of wheels to mount everything.
    I was a very good welder and inside of a few weeks the spliter was built, and if I do say so myself, it worked very well.  Now about 25 years later it still runs very well, and will split almost anything.  The  welds have all held up and it is very trouble free.  The engine and the pump develop over twenty tons of power to do the spliting. And twenty  tons will split almost anything.  In this day and age, we use it very little, but it is always ready to go. The spliter is mounted on a set of wheels, which can be trailered anywheres.
    I must digress here a little bit.  The above spliter was not my first attempt at building a wood spliter.  As you remember, I had a farm tractor, that had a hydraulic system on it.   Including a pump.  I did hook up the system to the spliter, but it did not work very well.  Many pieces I could not split.  Not enough power in the pump to split things like yellow birch which is very difficult to split.  So after a short time I decided to rebuild it on a set of wheels, with a new pump and an engine to drive it. Which is described above.  Since I was retired I had the time to do all this work and if I took my time, my arthritis did not bother me too much.  In fact the Doctor said it was good to do the work and exercises.
    At this point, I began to figure what all this was going to cost.  I have already spent over  $300 and I wasn’t in the woods yet. I began to count all the steps necessary to do from start to finish, the last step being to remove the ashes from the stove and dispose of them. Step 1, would be to cut down the trees. Step 2. Cut up the trees to a 16 inch length for the stove.  Step[ 3. Load the trailer.  Step 4.  Drive to the farm.  Step 5.  Unload the wood and pile it outside so it could dry.  Step 6.  Early fall, load the wood and haul it to my two car garage. I have to say here, that I own two cars, and this means that one of them will have to stay outside under the snow for the winter.  Not very smart. Step 7.  Pile all the wood in neat piles in the garage.. Step 8.  Haul an arm load at a time for burning during the day.  At night I would fill up the stove and it would last most of the night. Step 9.  Every once in a while I had to clean out the ashes. Step 10.  Dispose of the ashes at the town dump.  Early next  spring I will start the process all over again for next winter.
   I burned wood for about 5 or 6 years, and did I save any money doing so?   If  I did, it wasn’t much.  Good hardwood at that time sold for about $100 a cord.  Oil was under one dollar.  During the first year, I purchased a stove, $760, A chain saw,  $200, steel for the fireplace, $25, gasoline for the tractor and saw, $25, Misc. $20, I paid myself $1.00 per hour.  Hours unknown but at least one hundred hours, $100.  Add all these up and I’m sure I lost money the first few years.  Oh well, but I had fun doing it.
    .
   
   

[moosehunter]

Thanks again, I look forward to these stories
MH

[woodsteach]

Great reading! 

It sure makes me stop and think and be thankful for what I have.  I should make my students read them and show them that hard work won't kill you.

Keep 'em comming.

Paul

[gary]

Nice stories. Reminds me of when I used to live in Hamlin Maine . The firewood story makes me remember why I moved to Pennslyvainna. It gets real cold there.

[Al B]

Sorry to be gone so long.  I do have some more "recollections" from Louis,  and I will once again try to post them.  Here are a couple to start.

                                                             WINTER DRIVING

   It is amazing, that most people driving in winter do not know what to do, and what  not to do, under many varying conditions.   Most are very good summer drivers, but as soon as the roads become icy or covered with one or two inches  of snow, they seem to forget that a car weighing more than 3000 pounds, can be controlled as easy in winter,  as it is in summer.  It cannot. 
   Another misunderstood concept, is that you need to install studed snow tires in the winter.   I can understand if you have a rear wheel drive car, then you probably should install winter tires.   But, and I emphasize, that you don’t need winter tires on a front wheel drive car.  I have been driving cars for over 75 years, and  I stopped buying snow tires in the 50’s when front wheel cars began to be popular.  If you know how to drive in winter, then you can go almost anywhere, where the roads are plowed.    And most roads today, are kept in good condition in winter.
   So you get up one morning, and the roads are covered with two inches of snow.  There are two kinds of snow, dry fluffy snow and heavy wet snow.  Both need a different kind of driving.   It also depends a lot on where you live.  If you live in a heavy traffic area, then all bets are off.  Heavy traffic will tap the snow, and repeated driving will eventually become ice and then the fun and fender benders begin.   Of course, if the town or city, covers the road with salt, then that makes it again a different kind of driving. 
   One of the worst device ever installed on a car, and most cars today are installed with the ABS device, which should be banned from being sold in the northern part of the US.  If not banned, then ABS systems should be installed with an ON-OFF  Switch, so the owner can do as he wishes to use it or not use it.  ABS systems, lock and unlock  the wheels if the brake stops them from spinning.  And on snow, it does not take much pressure on the brake pedal to lock the wheels.   I know a lot of people who remove the fuses that operate the ABS system, and they have excellent brakes on snow.  It takes a little bit of know how to operate the brakes in winter, but don’t use the ABS system.  You will have a fender bender.
   I tthought thatI could write one time, and be able to cover the subject of winter driving, but now,  I can see that it will take more than a few letters.   So I will close this and see you next time. 


 
April 2006                                                                       Farm8

   I was going to write about building the big garage and Mike’s office, but I will wait until next time.  I will write today about living on the farm when my sister and I were toddlers.  Rose was also born on the farm, but about that time we moved to Madawaska on 7thAve ,so Rose  never realy lived on the farm, except when we were moving up every summer to do some farming. Our life changed dramatically when we moved to Madawaska.
   As young kids we naturally roamed at large on the farm, however, there were many places, where we could not go. I remember we could not venture into the woods  behind the house /  There was a road behind the barn which led to Lea Albert,s  farm, but it was through the woods , and I suppose we could get lost.  So it was tabou. Another was Dufour Road.  Our first school was on that road,and that was tabou.  We could go on school days.  We knew where we could go and not go, so we towed the line.  As we grew up, we had enough chores to keep us busy.
   Picking up eggs was one job  I did not like.  Some hens did not like us reaching under them to get the eggs.   Twice a day I watered the horses if they were out of the barn working.  I was big enough to drive them down to a small brook nearby and let them drink there fill.  Cleaning the animals in the barn was another bad chore.  It was heavy work for a small kid, and I don’t remember Lilly helping out.   Going to the potatoe house to get potatoes for the various meals.  Going in the fields to pick yellow weeds,  Picking up the beatles in the potatoe fields and burning them.  Another bad job was turning the butter making machine.  It was a small barrel, mounted on a frame of wood, we put the cream inside, and Lilly or I would turn the barrel with a crank until the cream turned into butter, and then my mother would finish it by hand.  A long process.  We  also had to help my father with the milk, which had to be put in  a machine, called a separator, we turned a crank, and it would separate the cream from the milk.  With the cream we made butter.  My mother also made soap.  We had to help.   In season, we also picked raspberries, strawberries, cherries (to make wine),  hazel nuts in season, apples had to be picked up.  I think we had 7 or 8 trees behind the house We also had  small trees that produced groiselle (french word), high bush cranberries, (pavina) french word,  rhubarb for pies, and I suppose many other things my mother grew that I don’t know about.
   In reading the above paragraph, I can’t believe we did all those things.  But I’m sure we did most./  On almost every 4th of July we would pile in the Model t and go down to van buren for the celebration.In the early 30’s, Van Buren was  a nice town and I remember my father would buy us an ice cream cone.  That was a real treat, one we did not get very often.  Also, once every summer we would go on a picnic, usually around Long Lake .  Sometimes we even had watermellon.   Something not too often. 
   In winter, when we were on the farm,  Lilly and I were very young,  but old enough to slide down the small hill in front of our house.  The winters were long, and we probably spent most of the time inside the house, playing with the phone. The phone had a horn to talk into, and an ear thing to listen, and if you put the ear thing on the horn, it would make a horrible noise, and my mother would scold us for doing that.  Anyway it was a lot of fun, because the phone was a one line deal and everyone could listen to everyone else, excpt when we put the ear piece on the horn, no one could understand anything. 
                                                    To be continued

[beenthere]

Interesting stories. But can't agree on your take on winter driving. I find the ABS brakes work their best on snow and ice. Just can't pump them, like one needs to do without the ABS, but apply them steady and let them do the 'pumping'.   
But carry on as you like.........

[SPIKER]

Interesting stories. But can't agree on your take on winter driving. I find the ABS brakes work their best on snow and ice. Just can't pump them, like one needs to do without the ABS, but apply them steady and let them do the 'pumping'.   
But carry on as you like.........

I agree with NO ABS on ice/snow, worst scare I ever had was due to ABS kicking in     nearly had to clean my shorts!!! I was only going a couple MPH in a parking lot heading towards a busy road.   driving the boss's brand new 1 ton dually barely pushed the brake when it kicked in I thought the dang thing would never stop.  and almost got a fence to boot.    I'll manage my OWN brakes than you very much!   that dang computer may be able to PULSE the brakes faster than me but I don't need PULSING I need STOPPING!.   I can tell when a wheel is locked up and or sliding and I can correct for that pretty easy.   and while it MAY be able to stop faster in a panic stop on DRY pavement I'm sure it can't in as now/ice.   Its even a statistical FACT that there are more accidents with cars that have ABS than with out in recent reports.   Some claim it's because the car has ABS that people don't pay enough attention, but it sure wasn't the case for me back then I had plenty of room to stop if I had locked all 6 tires up, but that dang ABS kicked in and I ended up nearly in middle of street before it stopped.  luckily no one was coming!



Mark M

[Paschale]

I agree...I feel ABS is more dangerous in winter than without.  You can feel the way a car is braking, and pump as needed...but when the ABS is going hogwire, you have no control whatsoever.  I always skid WAY further with ABS than I do on cars that don't have it.  I agree with Louis:  they should have an on/off switch.

[Furby]

Same here!