Logging In Reynoldston
Early Settlers
Trees were the most abundant resource in the area and the community’s economy depended on the exploitation of this resource. The first settlers to Reynoldston moved there to establish farms and as they cleared their lands, they used the forest wealth as a good source of cash income – from making
potash from trees they cleared from their land to selling bark to tanneries to cutting logs to sell to mills. The lush hardwood forests of beech, ash, maple and black cherry were a good source of cash in settling a new community.
potash from trees they cleared from their land to selling bark to tanneries to cutting logs to sell to mills. The lush hardwood forests of beech, ash, maple and black cherry were a good source of cash in settling a new community.
The Reynolds Bros. Mill & Logging
Reynoldston grew as a community in line with the scale of the Reynolds logging operations. Originally the Reynolds logged the area around the mill and processed most of the wood in their own mill on the Deer River. Many of the loggers and workers boarded with the Reynolds families. Initially the Reynolds operated no more than two logging camps, but at the peak of the logging between 1915 to 1925 four camps were in full operation with more than 120 loggers.
For the loggers the work was hard, but provided a solid income and the more they cut the more they were paid. While the logging camps were at best rough, basic buildings, the food was good and
plentiful.
plentiful.
Brooklyn Cooperate Ltd. Contract
During the Brooklyn Cooperage Era ( 1908-1918) the hardwood logs were shipped to St. Regis Falls by a railroad spur that was built just south of Reynoldston near Mutton Ridge. Hardwood logs from the Reynolds lands were drawn by horse to the railraod to be carried to the mill in St Regis Fall and milled into barrell staves and tops.
Malone Paper Contract
As hardwood trees were exhausted, the Reynoldses cut more and more pulp and for the Malone Paper Company. During this time every winter the road between Reynoldson and Malone was filled with horses and sleds drawing pulp logs to the mill in Malone. The continual need for wood drove the Reynolds brothers to buy thousands of acres of forest land, reaching almost to Duane. At one time, the Reynolds timber holdings exceeded 10,000 acres.
Reynolds Bros. employed many locals
Over the years hundreds of men and horses worked in the Reynolds logging woods in all sorts of weather, including the deep cold and snow of winter. The logging industry supported not only the Reynolds family but other Reynodston families and a large number of lumberjacks from Canada and from other parts of the state. Farmers from the community and Bangors contracted their teams to draw the logs for the Reynolds. The Reynolds also spent a lot of funds within the community buying
supplies for their store and camps as well as feed for their own teams of horses. In its time the Reynolds Bros Mill and Logging operations had a significant inpact on the the entire area.
supplies for their store and camps as well as feed for their own teams of horses. In its time the Reynolds Bros Mill and Logging operations had a significant inpact on the the entire area.
For Reynoldston and nearby communities the logging business provided easily available jobs for young men fourteen years old and up and they readily took up axes and saws in the nearby logging camps. While logging was hard work,it was good job for strong young men.