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28 THE RURAL VOICE
wide variety of soil conditions within
the woodlot with about 25 to 30 per
cent of the area god for hard maple.
From his observation, however, it
seems his soil is more suited for ash,
with that variety seeming to grow
about twice as fast as maple.
Because of the devastation of
that harsh logging of 20 years
ago, there hasn't been much to
harvest in the years since, though
Roger has taken out a few saw logs
along the way. This fall he may take
out a few more trees — the first time
he's had a truckload -sized cut since
the harmful logging two decades ago.
He'll do the cutting and skidding
himself, he says, because the amount
of wood is small. Most loggers won't
come in for a load or two, he says.
Besides, he now has a new option
for using the wood from their own
farm. Sitting beside the barnyard is a
new open -sided building that houses
a century -old sawmill. Roger calls it
his "heritage project". Built in Port
Huron, Michigan around 1900, it was
moved to New Hamburg where it
was operated by a Mr. Clements until
1912. That year it was moved to
Amulree, just down the road from the
Cook farm. There it was operated
from 1912 to 1956 by Henry and
Herbert Wettlaufer. From 1956 to
1985 Ross McGonigle, operated the
.mill, then it was owned by his
children until 1998.
"The owners were using it Tess
and Tess," says Roger who sometimes
helped out at the sawmill and was
Roger made a display of tree
varieties which he can take to
public events.
always intrigued by it. When the
owners, Murray McGonigle, Betty
(McGonigle) Roth and Jean
(McGonigle) Scott, started talking
about donating the sawmill to a
museum, Roger convinced them this
part of local history should remain in
the community. He bought the saw,
then went to work building a new
building to house it.
The mill had been unused for only
a year and needed relatively little
restoration — just the replacement of
some wooden parts. "It wasn't
something we had to bring out of the
ashes or rot," he says. Still, the
process of building a new home for
the saw, moving it and setting it up
was a major task. "But I enjoyed it."
"I still enjoy operating it," he says
of the antique machine that has been
working well, despite its age. He's
been using it to saw wood for the
Cooks' own use and for neighbours
and friends. Most of the work has
been with hardwoods, especially for
farm use for timbers and joists for
farm buildings. He's cut some fancy
woods like walnut and cherry and
some beech which he's saving as
possible hardwood flooring for the
house. Cedar, spruce and pine have
also been cut at the mill.
Changing their farming focus has
allowed more time for their hobby.
They decided to give up milking
cows when there was no one in the