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About The west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1875-1891 | View Entire Issue (June 1, 1880)
ib4 THE WEST SHORE. June, 1880 leg, doing builneu tad enjoying lift ibould never be exchanged for the itnlghMneed) sectarian methodi that invariably obtain In the older State of uur Union To bring about thin great deiidera nun, mid thus MUM iir hopei to be. oonta realitUt) we lee but one way of prooatding. Amid the din and jostle mi Idonl t the influx of 1 large Immi gration, our own peculiar institutions iimiki ba preeerved from the inclusions of Ettterfl heterodoxy) Living at we rc, in the beautiful nineet land oi reality n well a romance, let us fottti with ilne fidelity, whatever i really occidental In oni phyilcal( moral ami IntsUoctnal temperament While "in language ami literature is nttlonali in the metai then is, after all, like our forest hrcccs, a refreshing odofi all our nwn, pervading ami den lifying ull we say cir ilo, National in ley lily nml unity do not necessarily im ply stiiit homogeneity of constituents; nor tin they preclude the existence oi those pleating varieties which Nature Ik ist If isrtes ami maintains in the economy of the human race. Our fauna nml oni differ very widely from tbott of the Atlantic States. Our charming landicapei and mountain teener) lurpaet the power of ordinary language to detcrlbe, hit climatic pe CUllaiitiet have more than once pro voiced the dreamt of Paradhe in the mlndi and aouli of out poctt, Bvenin the .it puis department! of inorgank 1. .i..... ... j . , .in 1, linings Departure! are pre tented thai geologitti have regarded in land m .1 newei creation than the Vtlanlii coaal. , , itrange, then, thai amid all these sum.,, through the pro. DMOI M leWM and reaction, many I "uoohiioiis Milium UIKOVCI the anal m among em people, and thus lend iheii chamu to itrangeo and ms Hon from other land ? Let us look well, then, to the faithful prcservntioi I out i,k .(i patriot! tm, our truly West mi irwnrnttoai, ihr nvereignty of our mannart and customs, ,,,.1 tbttoy. out eccinenui langeagi ami literature, aeje mmm "1 h.vra sa..i ceoceitad nattdan, in the eenm 1 coDvenatton, -So have all lM ssrs" irptinl I bj slaiulrr. To reeaOV mil from steel, nil. well wuo .wcrl ML In forty right hcuri use Oackad line, powdered rcrj Bnc mn until trie nitt .Iivipprms. MULTUM IN PARVO. To the uninitiated, hewing money out of fir and cedar stumps may appear to be a rather paradoxical business, but we beg the indulgence of our readers hile we show them that such a Uimg clearly and practically possible. In craft of a thousand tons .. (,-""15 burthen, there are from three to five hundred ship knees utilized to impart strength and rigidity to the frame work of the hull. A double-decker, f course, requires nearly twice as 1 ... i many knees as arc useu in a siugic- cked vessel. The general reader may form something of an idea of the immense number of these pieces used, hen he is told that each end of every icaiii is secured DV three Kneel ninny Kilted to the ribs and girders of the hip. In fact, wherever BO angle offers the opportunity, there a knee is fitted in'! bolted. These rugged and ugly-looking pieces of gnarled timber are the thews it the ship, being somewhat analogous o the bracei in the frame of a strong house, and vet far superior in strength. since they are so fashioned as to become solid angles themselves. The size of a ship-knee is rated according to the width of its vertex, or "elbow," and priced at so much per inch for this di mension. Thus a knee which would iquare, or "face," as the carpenters say, ten inches, would he worth, at fifty entl per inch, live dollars. Hence, it w ill lie seen that the ml rinsir v iln,. r ........ , WI 1 tree sending forth spurs at its base large enough for ship-knees, amounts lo considerably more than what the b ar lumber it contain! would sell for. These Important elements of a shin's frame arc gotten out at nearly all angles acute, obtuse or right angled just lis the fangs of the stump will work most easily and profitably. It is often remarked thai there is neither a right angle nor a straight fine in any of (he WOod-WOrk of a shin's 1,1,11 ' Wi.:i 1 "" one this may not be atricttv true, it is n-r. dn that very few of the thousands of kuccs meti , a ship-vard are finished with an apex at a right angle, or their Meittnlght tinea, rbit fact redounds essentially to the favor of the contractor who saws ad rwe tl kneee from the stumps. We are informed by woodmen who expei ienced i Ut work, that from two to five good ihlpVkueea can ba taken from the base of fir and cedar trees, and that on an average, three can be safely counted on in the forests of this part of the coast. The history of marine architecture, unlike that of house carpentry, shows a gradual increase, rather than a falling, off, in the amount of timber used in the construction of wooden ships. As deep sea-going vessels are much larger now than formerly, they would be relatively much weaker were it not for the more complete consolidation of timber con sumed in the construction of the frames; and as this tendency to consolidate pro ceeds, there is a much greater draft upon angular sticks worked from nat ural crooks than upon any other kind of timber used. Again, traversing as they do, every navigable body of water on the globe, ships of all kinds are more severely tried, now, than in earlier times, and as a necessary consequence, they arc proportionately much stronger. From what has been said, farmers and woodmen will see that there is both economy and profit in the utilization of sound stumps in the way and manner we have endeavored to set forth above. Hut especially is this true in the neigh borhood of our navigable streams and other bodies of water bearing our na tional commerce. No especial me chanical skill is required to carry on this industry. By cutting, sawing and cleavage, the spur or fang is separated from the base of the tree ; it is then rough hewed in the usual way, and finished with the adz and broadaxe. (letting out ship's-knees is a much more lucrative employment for farmer's sons, during the winter months, than hunt ing and fishing. Let the sticks be taken from good, sound trees, let them be of all sizes and angles, and nicely finished, and our word for it, they will find ready sale in any of our seaport towns. Should there be a temporary lull in the market, they can be easily boused from the weather. Not a winter passes but hundreds of trees arc turned over by wind storms, the roots of which are easily accessible for the prosecution of this enterprise. The Eastern demand for ship timber of all kinds is rapidly increasing. Deck plank and spars constitute the bulk of out-going cargoes at the present day, but we believe the time is near at hand when the smaller and more rugged pieces will be shipped from Oregon and